Kevin looked closer at the gem, squinting his eyes at it's shiny surface.
“Who… Who..is that?” Was all he could mutter out under his breath.
Kevin, in shock, ran to get Retta to show her what he saw. He knocked on the wooden door before changing his mind and barging in her room. Inside, he saw Retta sitting on her desk writing on a piece of parchment. She was looking at him with a confused and rather surprised expression on his sudden appearance.
“Rae, you know the- the cursed gem?" Kevin asked. " Well...just look!
Kevin brought out the black gem impatiently and shoved it in front of Retta's face, forcing her to look at the gem's shiny surface. To Kevin, there were no words good enough to describe the feeling and situation he was in. He hoped that if he gave Retta a look for herself at the gem she would understand. Though instead of the shocked and confused face Kevin had made before, Retta blankly stared at it.
“What..am I supposed to be seeing here?”
Kevin took the gem back and saw nothing but the clear, shiny, rough and cracked surface on the black gem. He could feel his heart drop. Where had the girl in the gem go?
“What?!” He exclaimed. "But-but I swear I saw something- a person!" He stuttered and fumbled upon his words as he talked. Shocked beyond relief that it was no longer there.
“Are you sure Kev? You’ve gone delusional, it may be hallucinations from the hyperthermia or-“
“I'm not delusional, I swear I saw her! Or it, whatever.” Kevin gave another look at the gem. Yet she did not appear once again..
He did not want to appear as looney or nuts or out of his mind. No. He wanted the opposite. He swore he had saw the girl, or perhaps was Retta right all along...?
“Anyways, we’re running low on supplies, can you get some wood from the village?” Kevin snapped his head to look back at Retta, her voice snapping him back to reality. She took the parchment on the desk, folded it and gave it to Kevin. "And you don't mind by helping me give this to a fellow friend of mines named Kim, right?"
Kevin grumbled slightly. He was still frustrated at the fact Retta doesn't believe him. Frustrated that he was seen as looney one here.
“Maybe you’re the one who’s delusional, there’s not a single village until this tundra ends, and this one tundra stretches miles!” He shot back, though he did not know exactly why. It might possibly be the embarrassment.
“I did tell you to build this cottage closer to the edge of this tundra, so.. your fault, not mine!” Retta said, sticking out her tongue playfully with a light playful smile at him. "Besides, you never get out of the tundra. Most of the time it was me who's gone out."
“Alright fine, you'll go there by the horse.”
“Well you have visited the villages multiple times before and had gotten out of the tundra most times so because of that you know the way there. Unlike me, who doesn't!” Kevin retorted back.
It took a long while of quarrelling before they finally agreed that both of them would go to the village. They had planned to travel to the nearest and most familiar village: Firmwood.
As Retta tied Pedro to the fence, Kevin petted the brown mustang a goodbye.
"Don't worry, Pedro. We'll be right back as soon as we can. And if we don't arrive 'til morning comes.." Kevin paused. "Tug your rope as hard as you can until it snaps and track us down immediately." He ended dramatically, his voice filled with determination. Pedro gave a small gruff of understanding and Kevin petted him again with the same light smile he had before.
"Alright Kevin, let's go!" Retta called, already at the entrance of Dargon Forest.
They entered the forest. Grass crunching beneath their shoes as they walked.
"Ugh, why couldn't we use another route instead of entering Dargon Forest?" Kevin shivered. "It always gives me the creeps, not to mention how this used to be the forest where Dargon-"
He looked into the dark void between the spaces of the trees, the shadows slowly devouring the hard, rough bark on the trees and the leaves hanging onto the slim branches. He then felt a strong urge. An urge that something was waiting for him behind those dark covers. Something he'll never forget...
"Kevin? Are you ok? Kev?" Kevin could hear Retta calling. But that didn't bother him in the moment. It feels as if something was calling him. Calling him to go through those dark covers and finally get the truth.
“Kevin? Kevin!” Retta's calls were now slowly tuning out, fading away. It was all as if she was a long mile away. As if she was trying calling him over the large, noisy crowd. But then there was someone else, someone louder, that called to him. Someone he could hear more clearly. Unlike Retta who was just a distant call that he could barely hear. Kevin slowly walked closer and closer to the dark space.
Kevin raised his arm, his fingers centimetres away.
He took one step inside. And-
He had tripped on a nearby pebble.
He sat up, immediately his eyes started scanning the area. He was in a flower meadow of bird's-foot trefoil that was hidden under the towering and tall trees of Dargon Forest. In front of him, he saw what was perfectly placed in the middle was a marble fountain that has vines and flowers spiraling all the way up to the small eye on the top of the fountain.
Standing up, he walked to the fountain curiously while his mind is whirling and spinning in thought; what was that strange urge he had a moment ago? Why did it lead him here? Or was that really an urge? Was he possessed?!
He panicked for a while before shaking his head to get out of his thoughts. Once he he got a closer look at the fountain he noticed the small engravings on that surrounded the fountain. Everything engraved there seemed to be something written in some sort of symbols. Like hieroglyphics. Kevin had not understood what those symbols were but one little symbol caught his eye. An eye with a line in the middle. And soon it came back..
He could feel his arm raising and reaching to the symbol.
His eyes were unable to move
Unable to focus on anything else.
Unable to look at anything but the symbol.
He could feel the rough surface of the marble as his hands contuined to caress the symbol. It was until he felt the ground leave him that the urge has once again left.
He looked around him to see the colours of the forest he was in fade slightly. As if someone had spilt water on a painting that has not dried yet. As if it was the end of the page of an old storybook, where the ink stops and fades into a white void. Then, colours came fading back in. But it was darker than before and was mixed with a slight tinge of orange and yellow.
And soon, Kevin could feel ground once again. With a small thump Kevin landed on the ground in the same forest he was in before. Except it was much more cleaned out, there were not any overgrown grass or flowers surrounding the area. And the fountain with the peculiar eye on top was shining and polished. Once again, there were no overgrown flowers and vines surrounding the fountain.
Where was he? Kevin wondered as he walked around, then he heard the rustling of a bush. He turned around, curiously he approached the bush to see three kids each with a smirk on their face; one of them was holding a handheld gas lantern. He looked into their eyes yet they don't seem to be noticing him, in fact they seem to be looking right through him.
Kevin, for a long while, stood there wondering exactly why has these kids not noticed a stranger staring right at them? But it was until he finally have a glance at his own two hands has he understood. His hands, while still containing colour, was as transparent as a ghost.
But if he was a ghost, does that mean he died?
If so, how? Was it the fountain, perhaps, that killed him?
Was the fountain some sort of magical object that killed anyone who touches it's marble?
Kevin was thoroughly confused in the situation he was in at the moment but soon he decided to not press on it any longer. The thought of death lingering in his mind was already making him incredibly uncomfortable. Instead he went on and focused on the three kids hiding behind the bush.
There were two boys and one girl. The girl being between two of the boys. She had a slight stoic expression while the boy at the right of her had an expression of mischief and the boy on her left had an expression of impatience. All three of them were looking ahead at the empty scene of the forest. It was as if the were waiting for something. But waiting for what? That, Kevin did not know. But he guessed it must have been something that involves trouble, looking at the boy on the right's expression. Later, he heard the boy on left mutter impatiently to the boy on the right.
"Ugh, when is that stupid orphan boy gonna come? It's been ages! I want to beat him up noow!"
The boy on the right looked at him with an exasperated look, he let out a long tired sigh before whispering to her in a strict and irrated manner.
"Not now Kim. Don't be impatient, I know little idiot Jon here would come. He always does. It's just that he's a bit slow since he's a tiny, weak human."
Kim, which seemed to be the boy's name, grumbled slightly at his response.
"Ugh, I wish he was just a weak dragon and not a pewny little human so at least he would arrive faster. That way we could beat him up, that way we could show him who's really superior!"
"Your superiority complex is coming up again, Kim. What have I told you about toning that down?"
Kim looked at the boy again, his cheeks red and flushed.
"...Right. Sorry, Zak." Was all he really muttered before turning around and, now, patiently waiting for the kid named 'Jon' to arrive.
It took a few minutes to pass when the sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping could be heard in the distance. Soon came a small human boy with messy dark coffee hair and a bruised up weak body. A face that looked more human than any of the people present in this forest, cheeks scratched from the thorns that his weak human body could not handle and both eyes filled with a child-like wonder. It was obvious to see this was the human boy named Jon the kids were talking about. His humanity in him did not seem to fail. He indeed looked, walked and acted very much like a weak human being.
Jon with his thin twig-like legs walked all the way to the marble fountain and kneeled down in front of it on the dried up autumn leaves. And placed down a small book on the ground as he began to look at the tiny details of the fountain. The symbols.
Kevin looked back at the trio behind the bush. Kim was as ready as ever, the girl in the middle held the gas lamp slightly higher and Zak-who seemed to be the leader of the trio- held his hand up to tell the two to wait. They waited for about 2 to 3 minutes before Zak lets his hand down and the two ran up and ambushed Jon.
Kim pulled his hair, dragging him down to the ground to turn him around so he layed on his stomach as he took two of his arms and firmly placed them behind his back. His body then sat on top of his arms so he stays down on the ground.
Jon could be seen having a spark of loathing in his eyes. He gritted his teeth in anger and shot small little glares at the one above him, though he did not fight back. As if he already knew the consequences if he did. But even as he had already had that look of frustration and anger upon him, it seemed as it has increased as he heard the mocking, smug and teasing tone of Zak as he waltzes to Jon.
"Well, look who we have here. The pewny little human boy, how cute." Zak took Jon's hair and pulled it so he could be facing him and him only. His smirk widening as he saw Jon grit his teeth in anger.
"Oh don't you pretend that you weren't waiting for me to come here, you creep!" Jon shot back at him before groaning and hissing in pain when the girl kicked him.
"You have no right to call Zak a creep when you're the creepy freak here, loser!" The girl insulted, her voice cold and harsh.
Zak gave a light chuckle at this but soon spoke in a slightly bitter and annoyed tone, "Thank you, Kyoru. But don't you remember that I'm the only one who insults him and kicks him at the moment. You both already have your fair share in the beginning, so back off!" He gave a threatening pause. "Do you understand?"
Kyoru's stoic expression did not falter, instead she sighs and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Giving a small nod right after. Zak smiled at this and muttered a small 'good' before focusing on Jon again.
"OK, you got me. I was waiting for you. So what? All I want is to do is to have some fun with ya, besides." He paused, "...You know how much I would love to see ya squirm in pain."
Kevin could see how Jon was about to respond to Zak's answer until he was cut off by Zak kicking his nose. He could hear his scream of pain as Zak did. His face now bloody from the impact, his nose might have even broke. Tears were seen in his eyes as he squirmed and tried to break free from Kim's hold but he placed more of his bodyweight on him.
Looking back at Zak with a hard glare he mutter out a soft and raspy 'fuck you' before being kicked in the nose again. Laughter erupted from two of them as they heard his loud shout of pain.
"Hey Zak, look what I found." Kyoru called out to Zak with a small smirk shortly after the duo had stopped laughing, she was holding out the same small book Kevin had seen Jon place carefully on the ground. Once seeing the object in Kyoru's hands, Jon panicked. He squirmed and tried to lift himself up but no avail. He could not do anything without being pushed down with more force each time he moved. But with Zak, he looked at the book with mild interest that grew even more when Jon panicked. Giving a snarky smile, he waltzes to the book and snatched it out of Kyoru's hand before waving it mockingly in front of Jon.
"Awe what's this, your wittle diary?" He asked in baby voice before he slowly opened the book. And at the sight of Zak opening the book, Jon panicked even more.
"GIVE IT BACK!" He shouted as he squirmed even more. Trying to get out of Kim's hold.
But this amused Zac even more.
"Awe, don't worry wittle Jonny! I'll make sure to twurn around so nobody else cwould see!" He brust into laughter after he uttered another baby-voiced mock. Turning around he spoke once again.
"Now let's see what secrets wittle Jonny got here.." He slowly opened the book and began to turn a page where beind revealed whatever Jon was hiding...
Zak turned around at the loud noise to find Kyoru holding the gas lamp high and Jon lying down on the ground, a fairly large rock in his hand.
"The fuck happened?!" He exclaimed at the sight.
"He was about to bash your head in with that rock."
"He was almost about to what?!"
"I said what I said." Kyoru stated bluntly.
Zak looked at the unconscious Jon, his shocked face soon morphing into one of irritation.
"Kim, I thought you were suppose to hold him that little freak to the ground!" He looked at Kim, who was now sitting on the ground.
"I...I got slightly distracted and then he just got up and took a rock...and...you know.." Kim fumbled.
Zak groaned, irritation and bitterness written all over his face.
"Distracted? Distracted?! Distracted by what?! Kyoru?! I could've died! I could've gotten my head bashed by a fucking rock! And by this little freak of all creatures!" Kim flinched when Zak snapped at him.
"Zak...lay it off." Kyoru muttered sternly.
"You know, if it weren't for Kyoru I wouldn't have died! Why can't you just be like her?! Why do you have to be a no use, birdbrain, bonehead, Kimberl-"
"I SAID LAY IT OFF ZAK!" Kyoru shouted, her calm demeanour supposedly now thrown out of the window.
Though Zak was still irritated. He turned around to Kyoru, opening his mouth to say something but immediately shutting it at the sight of Kyoru's threatening glare.
It was silent after Kyoru's shout. The trio did not really say or do anything. Zak did not even looked at Jon's book anymore, he merely turned around whispering curses to himself.
It was until sounds of bushes rustling came that the silence of the trio broke. Kim looked around hastily at the sound of the noise.
"Someone's here..." Kyoru muttered, her eyes scanning the area of the forest clearing.
"Is it the other kids in the orphanage?" Kim whispered, panic lacing his words.
"No. They don't dare to come here...not after the ghost stories I told them."
"Yeah, Kyoru's right. It must be the adults then. We better go before we get caught, cmon."
And with that Zak, Kyoru and Kim ran off, leaving Jon unconscious and alone...
☆Writers: @thatb1tchisback & @thelastmasked
