Sitting in the kitchen, Nozna and his father ate in silence. On the table sat two bowls of steaming mutton stew that his father had cooked up alongside a plate of rough rye breads. The sound of crackling fire was accompanied by the hasty slurping and chewing of food with the occasional grunt of satisfaction. The kitchen's candle brightly flickered, casting dancing shadows across the walls.
Outside, the sun had long dived beneath the horizon leaving the sky with a beautiful blanket of darkness freckled with glowing stars.
Swallowing a chunk of bread, Nozna asked. The words slowly stumbled out of his mouth. "Da, what are your thoughts… towards the south of the forest?"
"Well, it is dangerous." His father responded flatly. "But we'll be alright."
Seeing Nozna still uncertain, he added.
"Boy, if you think about it, before the incident two years ago, we…well, mostly I, was already cutting in the south of the forest, and nothing happened."
Deciding to change the subject, Nozna asked. "What do you think about Arlacter Uddin's situation?"
Jack chuckled. "Boy, from one dread to another, why don't you ask how I made these stews or what I think about the elder's messy room?"
Nozna quickly replied. "You already taught me how to make them, and also, I don't think I've seen the elder's place that messy, it's almost as bad as Grant's bed."
Jack laughed. His deep and hearty laughter seemed to dissolve the tension in the air.
"About Arlacter… I actually don't know, I'll ask the elder in two days when I make my first report."
He took another bite, before glancing at his son.
"Boy, I should be asking you the questions, you weren't yourself after I talked with elder Lobertman…did you read one of his work papers or something, those weird words you asked me afterwards…hahaha you sly boy."
"Kind of…" Nozna smiled weakly. "But Da, it was weird…I was…I was strangely attracted to that specific sheet so I ended up reading it, it's like I really wanted to read it without realising I wanted to." He decided to hide his sudden gain of knowledge.
"Hahaha, today is not a normal day, first the foreigners, then the elder's Huntary plan and your weird desire to read the elder's work. Well if you count yourself waking up late because of yestnight too…that makes it four."
Nozna blinked. The realisation hit him.
"Heh, let's talk about something normal for once. What was the new table game you were talking about this morning? The one that kept you up so late yestnight."
"Oh it was a card game called Seasons, you play with the four suits. It's a two against two…the rules are quite long to explain."
"Go on," Jack smiled at his son, his eyes seemed to sparkle. Nozna proceeded to explain the remaining rules whilst both finished their stew.
The aim of Seasons was to win as many harvests as possible, the first stage was known as the bidding stage, all 4 will receive 13 cards all from different suits: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Every round, a season will be decided through bidding. Every harvest, everyone would place down a card, the card with the highest value that is 'in the current season chosen' will win the harvest, taking all the other cards. The team with the most cards wins. *[1]
Nozna's explanation was occasionally disrupted by his father's sarcastic remarks such as "So it's just a fancier way to gamble." or "How do you even harvest in winter?" or "how can there be no seasons?" *[2]
Eventually their bowls became empty. The solemn tension had fully disappeared, instead, the joy and warmth of a shared dinner at home took place.
Jack sat back with a satisfied sigh. "Ah that's the food of the heavens."
Noticing Nozna's silence. Jack let out a roaring laugh. "Hahaha, still worried? Nozna, there's nothing to worry about, I promise. I'm your Da remember. Don't underestimate the great Jack Aurelin."
Nozna gave a nod as he headed back into his room, leaving his father to put the bowls away. The broad smile on Jack's face slowly disappeared, replaced by a despondent look. His eyes were bleak. At one point, he remained rooted for a whole minute before retreating to his own room.
"Goodnight Nozna."
In his own room, Nozna sat on his bed, holding a wooden box he retrieved from a hidden compartment under his bed. The piercing gaze of his sapphire eyes was fixed onto the item inside of the box.
It was an amulet that shimmered with an ethereal fuchsia glow, at its core was teardrop-shaped gem embroidered with countless swirls of deep violet as if containing a storm trapped in crystal.
The gem was held in a cradle of dark purple material, and hung from a darkened chain made up of the same purple material. The amulet was without a nick or cut. As he continued studying the amulet, his mind drifted back to his fear.
I hope Da will be safe tomorrow. Ugh, I am still thinking about this, should I just skip school to help him out. But I am scared as well. Haha, I've never been a brave soul. Hmph! A prince has his own guards, he doesn't need courage. Save the courage for his knights…But I'am a lumberjack…in a poor village, not a prince.
His thoughts scattered in a frenzied mess.
I don't want to lose Da. Ah what are you thinking, you stupid prince! Nothing will happen, nothing will happen, nothing will happen…
Jack Aurelin was Nozna's only family, in fact, Nozna didn't know anything about his biological parents. His father had found Nozna in the Nameless forest when he was just a little baby 16 years ago.
The only thing that gave hints about his origin was the fuschia amulet that was around Nozna's neck whilst he was in the small basket. Since it was the only thing that could tie back to Nozna's origin, it was safe-kept very tightly, never being lost or sold.
The amulet was evidently of high quality and expensive, to the point that no one in the village knew about its existence, it was too risky to divulge.
Throughout the 16 years, the father and son made attempts to find out the possible origins of the amulet, through travelling vendors and tourists. However, it was hard to get more information whilst trying to hide the amulet's existence at the same time.
Jack would often joke about Nozna being from royalty due to the quality of the amulet, they both knew that Nozna more or less came from a privileged background, perhaps being the child of a royalty's affair and, thus, discarded silently.
As Nozna grew up, he began to care less about his origins, his only father was here with him, he was someone very dear to him. Despite calling himself a prince, if he had the chance to re-enter royalty, he would confidently choose to stay with his father in Savoda Village.
Nozna blew out the candle, plunging the room into a soft veil of darkness. He hid the amulet box under his bed with practised care. As he laid on his bed, a faint blissful smile lingered on his face.
"Goodnight Da."
…
Inside Mawisa Inn, Savoda Village.
The man named Tomir sat on his straw filled bed as he pulled out a piece of paper from his wool bag. His navy blue hair cascaded in gentle waves, brushing the collar of his white tunic. Two circular earrings hung from his round ears that were partially hidden behind his navy locks, the silver glistening against the candle's flickering.
His skin was ash brown whilst his face betrayed his young age. His eyebrows were dark and slender, sharply arched. Beneath those, his blood-kissed ruby eyes were staring at the piece of paper he was holding.
Dark Morph Recipe:
Core material: 1 Spirit essence of a Sinking Tree, Shadow Tulip petals, Dark Raven feathers
Base material: bark of a sinking tree, Hide of a Rustic Hound
Ritual recommendation: To be done in dark areas and at night
His gaze remained on the parchment, expressionless. Eventually, he put the mystical recipe back into his bag with care and went to snuff out his flickering desk candle. Preparing to sleep he leaned over the candle to blow. At that moment, a voice erupted in his head.
I need to go out, something happened. Stay here, if I don't return in 10 minutes, run. Head towards the river and go upstream to the next settlement. Don't forget to check your receiving runes.
The voice carried a commanding urgency but no panic. The voice was from his captain, Khamat.
The sudden warning was followed by absolute silence. It was eerily quiet, as if nothing happened. The air grew heavy as the candle fire carried on dancing.
Alarmed by his captain's warning, Tomir began to count.
One… two… three…
In the room next door, Khamat moved without hesitation. He swiftly grabbed his robe and wrapped it around himself in one fluid motion. After a quick glance at the window, he opened it, jumped through and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Without wasting another second, he broke into a sprint down the dirt path.
He had felt something earlier, the unmistakable eruption of Essence. His supernatural powers allowed him to sense when Essence was being used. And just now…
It was being used. Deliberately.
The source of the disturbance came from the direction of the forest, more specifically it came from the hut that he saw Nozna head back to earlier. He had already sensed a source of Essence on that lumberjack, but dormant Essence and Essence being actively used were two different feelings. They were definitely two different situations. The latter meant that he was actively using his supernatural abilities for something.
Is he in danger? Is he a threat? Nothing around this village should force him to use Essence.
The looming moonlight reflected his deep scar whilst allowing glimpses of his robes fluttering against the pale winds. His figure was mostly shrouded in darkness. As he approached the silhouette of the hut, his brows began to furrow.
It was undisturbed. Tranquil even.
There were no signs of damage or any struggle. There wasn't a fight. Nothing happened. He stood outside the hut and waited silently, his robes swaying ominously.
Like an apparition, his figure was barely distinguishable under the moonlight.
…
[15 minutes earlier]
Nozna was finishing school, his memory was in a hazy blur, his mind was unable to recall anything from the school day. A heaviness sat in his chest instead of the supposed joy he should have had after the long school day. Leaving the village hall, burning rays of sunshine kissed his face as his eyes were immediately drawn to a gathering crowd in the village square. A symphony of hushed conversations could be heard, gradually growing louder as Nozna approached the crowd. Once closer, he realised that they were weirdly all unfamiliar faces, something was wrong. The crowd opened up to allow him through, as if expecting him.
There was a man lying down on what seemed to be a wool cloth, at a closer look, the word 'man' barely applied anymore. Laying on the woolen, the corpse was missing half of his body. It looked like the other half had been ripped away from the poor man, what remained was a mangled mess of flesh drowned in blood.
Nozna began to tremble, his vision began to blur as his heart sank deeper. Rushing forward, he kneeled beside the dead man and screamed.
"Da!...Da!..." but nothing came out except for a quiet sob. The symphony of hushes grew into waves of shouting as a high pitch sound rang in his ears. His worst fear had come true. His father…
The world tilted.
Suddenly, he was awake, the loud talking sounds, the high pitch ringing, the oppressive heat from the sun, the blurry tears…all disappeared.
The sudden change in environment allowed a moment of peace as he controlled his breathing. Hasty and shallow. He slowly surveyed his surroundings, still trembling. This time, he was in a forest with his father felling the trees. The canopy was dense with thick branches and wide leaves cuddling each other, through the slight gaps stood a distant image of a towering mountain. Except it seemed close… closer than the mountains usually are.
This is… the South!
His shaking hands were held onto his usual axe. Before he had a moment to mentally recover, a faint rustle shook Nozna even worse.
As he turned towards his father, time slowed down. From the thick shadows emerged a round monstrous figure twice the size of a cart. Its ash-dark fur covered its body as its molten gold eyes pierced his prey. Pouncing towards his father, it snarled, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
His father turned towards him and shouted for him to run. But nothing reached Nozna's ears except for the terrifying roar from the beast.
Nozna stumbled backwards, his legs suddenly turned into straws. He fell, hitting the ground with a thud. He wanted to scream at his dad to run, but nothing came out.
Time passed slowly.
His father swung his axe to parry the lunging monstrosity, but the hound barely flinched. The beast slammed into him, knocking him off balance. During the fall, the hound clamped its jaws around his father's torso followed by a sickening crunch.
His father miraculously landed on one knee, his axe was still in his hand, but half of his torso was gone, a river of blood pouring out as bits of flesh dangled from his insides. In the next second, he began to fall over, his knee giving in.
Nozna lay frozen, paralyzed by terror. His axe was still tightly gripped in hand.
I- I could help him, the beast isn't looking at me, its- its wide open.
Nozna remained rooted to the ground, trembling.
All I need to do is to attack it, s- swing my axe…I can't stand up…why can't I stand up…I don't want to fight…someone…help…
He watched as the beast lunged once again, tearing into his father. Blood sprayed across the ground as the sound of ripping fresh seemed to echo in Nozna's mind. Warm tears spilled down his shaking cheeks as his heart screamed for him to stand, to fight, to save the man who was his father. The man who raised him.
But his limbs refused to move, his voice was stuck in his throat.
I'm… I'm useless, I'm a useless coward… Da!... Da!...
He couldn't stand, he couldn't fight.
All he could do was watch as the beast slowly devoured… devoured…
The world tilted.
Suddenly he was awake, but he was not quite himself.
He was small. Very small. He seemed to be laying on something, facing upwards. Still shell-shocked from earlier, he continued to stare blankly at the ceiling. The ceiling was beautiful. Patterns of golden lines carved out on a white marble background drew a mesmerizing illustration.
It felt like an eternity, once he mentally calmed down, Nozna stole glances at his surroundings. However, it was very familiar. He had already experienced this countless times. He seemed to be laying inside a wooden crib. Knowing what would happen next, Nozna relaxed, though he was still not fully recovered.
Moments later, a set of heavy doors creaked open as a young maid, barely in her twenties, hurried in, her breath shallow and eyes wide. Nozna watched as she approached the crib, reached in and cradled him. Slipping out of the room, the maid whispered, her trembling voice reaching Nozna's ears.
"...going to be…right…be alright…going to…"
The polished hallway stretched before them like a maze. More footsteps could be heard. In an instant, the shaky whispers stopped, Nozna looked up at the maid, her lifeless eyes wide with horror. Just as he began to fall, a strong force lifted him up and then-
Darkness. Then a new scene.
He could still feel his body, but a shroud of darkness enveloped him. Without warning, something inside of him surge, he felt his body grow, enlarging into several times his size. His body swole, stretched and twisted. Excruciating pain filled his body; it was like a mixture of being burned and having every cell of his skin being pierced by countless needles. Nozna let out a roaring howl until his throat became sore, black fur began to form on his body as some areas even began to bulge outwards.
His left arm began to tear open, the pain unimaginable. After experiencing it countless times, the searing pain was still punishing.
Then he woke up.
He was back.
*[1] Identical to the card game Bridge on earth.
*[2] No seasons = A no trump round