Monica slammed the door shut behind her.
Vigil managed to enter before his tail was wedged by the door.
The panicking girl braced her back against the wooden door and slowly slid down.
Clothes sticking onto her skin, a mix of hot and cold sweat around her body as her heart thumped at a mile a minute.
Burying her head into her hands, she mumbled.
“What was that? How did I do that?”
A hoarse sound came out, as she realized her lips were dry and her throat parched.
“Did I mess up?”
A sense of warmth around her body as the gentle snowball nuzzled against her body, as if noticed that she was feeling cold and needed an affectionate touch.
Wait. Around her body?
The warmth that remained where the divine being had hugged her earlier was now back.
“Worry not, youngest. You did not mess up. Your arrival in this world has been noticed. It was a signal sent not by you, but by a powerful presence far away.”
A melodic song of melancholy whispered itself into her ears.
Monica turned her head.
“Wait, who are y-”
Her question cut short as she banged her head against the wooden door.
Vigil, with beady eyes, looked over with concern as he hugged his young master and patted her back with furry paws, imitating what he had once seen.
“Vigil, did you hear that?”
The white snowball, gently pushed away by Monica, tilted his head to the side, ears perked up looking confused, as they were the only two entities in this room.
?? ? ? ? ??
Inside a separate room and carrying two wooden swords, Morus sat on his bed.
He laid one on the bed and held the other with a two handed grip.
He held it overhead and swung downwards.
Whoosh.
“Light. About a kilo? Or less.”
He practiced the steps that Asa had shown earlier, and he was able to replicate it, although at a slower pace than what she did.
Attempting to stab multiple times like what was shown, he only managed to do one stab.
The young man sighed.
“My body’s moving the way I want it to. I shouldn’t overdo it now that there’s a chance of recovery.”
His eyes moved towards his backpack.
It was just a normal backpack he had bought off the internet, a large capacity one with many zips and compartments.
It lasted him years and so weathered from use that it was more grey than black.
He looked at the ouroboros keychain in the shape of the infinity symbol.
It was bought during his college years. A friend told him that it symbolizes creation and destruction, and through death, new life will be created.
With his death, Monica can live freely.
A life without a burden named Morus.
Or that’s what was supposed to happen, if they weren’t spirited away into another world.
Sighing, Morus opened the zipper of his backpack, laid down and dropped the sword he was holding inside, tip first.
As the young man spent the next few minutes staring at the ceiling thinking about contingency plans and how to use his affinity, space, or whatever that was, he looked over to his backpack.
The wooden sword was gone as the backpack’s gaping mouth stared back at him.
“Huh?”
Getting up, he checked the floor, wondering if he had missed putting the sword into the backpack and instead dropped it on the ground beside it.
“No, that’s not right. I definitely put it inside.”
Morus picked up the other wooden sword on his bed and held it vertically beside the backpack.
Even if the backpack stood at full height, a portion of the blade and definitely the hilt should be sticking out like a sore thumb.
Holding the sword by the hilt, he dropped it tip first into the gaping maw of the backpack.
The darkness within the backpack gobbled up the sword the moment it passed between its zippers.
“What the f-”
???????
An hour or so later in the dining hall.
The siblings sat opposite each other at the same table again as they waited for dinner.
The same meal buddies sat with them, but at a comfortable distance away to avoid scaring the siblings.
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Within a minute, all of the villagers filed in and sat in their favourite spots with their favourite mates.
Feeling the stares on her back, Monica quietly whispered.
“Brother… They’re staring at me, aren’t they.”
Morus scanned the room with his eyes, careful not to make any big movements.
He expected fear or horror or malevolent feelings, instead, they were looking at them with awe and… was that a hint of fervor?
The brother nodded his head slowly, but his eyes told Monica that there’s nothing to worry about.
Not a second too late, Chief Ata appeared from his office.
“Evening everyone. I won’t waste time. We’ve all seen what happened earlier at the training grounds.”
The crowd snapped their heads towards the Chief, giving him their full attention.
“The siblings are already proving their magical prowess, and we could use their help. The plan remains! In 9 more days, we will depart for the Sword of Tenora!”
The crowd cheered and the siblings felt like they were deafened for a few seconds.
Holding a hand up, Chief Ata continued.
“Carpenter, how’s our logistics looking?”
A man spoke up, presumably the Carpenter.
“The oxen are being assembled, and I’ll be done in another two days.”
“That is great news.” Chief Ata scanned the room and nodded, “Everything will proceed as scheduled! We have a lot of food stockpiled, so we shall feast until we depart!”
Another wave of cheers and barrels of drinks, presumably alcoholic, were rolled out into the dining hall.
Once the bountiful dinner was served to each grand table, Jin slid into the seat beside Asa.
“Hey Asa. Mind hunting for more chicken next time you go out? We’re running low on that.”
The ranger nodded.
“We’ll be heading out tomorrow morning, how many would we need?”
“Two or three? It’ll have to depend on the size, I trust you on that.” Jin said as he twisted his pony tail into a bun. “No deers. Their meat is being smoked into jerkies and rations for the journey.”
Asa acknowledged the request from Jin, and turned her head towards the siblings.
“Nichole, Russel, do join me on the hunt. I’m sure you would like to explore more of the forest after being here for two days.”
The siblings looked at each other, confused and slightly worried, but steeled themselves and nodded their heads.
“Sure thing, when are we leaving?”
“If I don’t wake up, can you come wake me? Asa?”
The ranger smiled a little at Monica’s request.
“Of course, Nichole. We’ll be leaving at the crack of dawn. If I don’t see you in the dining hall at that time, I will wake you up.” She looked at Morus, and he nodded as well.
Dinner ended without a hitch, Morus ate his fill and so did Vigil.
The girl and her guardian retired to her room, while her big brother returned the writing brush he had borrowed from Chief Ata before doing the same.
Once the siblings were tossing and turning in their beds as they tried to sleep, be it from excitement of discovering new abilities, anxiousness from the possibility of being harmed, or relief that a precious family member will still be able to continue living… The world they were in also tossed and turned.
z? ??- ? -??⌒)?
On the snowy mountain ranges to the far North, within the greatest pantheon that rested on the summit of the tallest mountain, a dozen robed figures yelled at each other as they took sides.
“What do you mean, ‘Am I certain?’! When has my divination gone wrong! You old senile imbecile!” A middle-aged woman in her sixties shouted across the circular chamber.
“Who are you calling an imbecile, you twat! I’ll have you know you were but a babe when I joined this council!” An old man with long eyebrows drooping to the sides protested with his crozier raised.
“So you don’t deny being old and senile!”
“You little!”
“Calm down, both of you!” A lower-middle-aged man barely in his forties with golden hair interjected, “We’re here to discuss the oracle, not to have a battle of spittle.”
As the two vocal spirits calmed down, the hands that were holding them back also loosened.
“Madam Talia, please, would you repeat the oracle for those of us who arrived late?”
Straightening the creases on her robe as she calmed her fumes, Madam Talia grumbled before speaking up.
“Since you asked so nicely... As I was saying! ‘A beacon of light from the Untamed Forest marks the Age of Chaos. A duel between the Destroyer and Saviour shall determine the Fate of our world!”
“Do you have any idea how big the continent is!? It’s like finding a needle in a haystack! We don’t even know if the Saviour is a man or a woman, a baby or an adult!”
“Yeah! You senile old fool!? Any ideas better than scouring the Forbidden Forest?” Madam Talia harrumped as she gripped her holy symbol on her neck.
A vein bulged on the forehead of the old man as he slammed his crozier on the fine stone beside him.
“We just need to stop the Demon King from getting to them first!”
Madam Talia raised a finger and was about to burst, then realized that was quite good.
“How dare… That’s actually a good plan, Cardinal Alabaster, unexpected from a senile bastard.”
“Hmph! Talia you twat, you need to respect your elders!”
Glaring at Alabaster, Talia bowed towards the others at this summit, “I will retire to my convent, we have much to attend to and prepare.”
“Apostle Magnus, we appreciate you for hosting this at such short notice.”
The golden-haired man waved at Talia from his seat, “It is our duty as religious leaders to share information, especially one so crucial to our world deserves as much urgency.”
Bowing again at Apostle Magnus, Madam Talia turned towards Alabaster before she made her way out, “I hope you don’t trip and die on your way back to your church.”
Before Alabaster managed to curse anything, the woman was already gone from sight, he too, stood up and made his way back to his covenant.
—
In the lands on the Northeastern edge of the continent, a man in regal clothes shoved the doors open and sat before their sage.
“Madame Oracle, the servants summoned me so hastily, what is the matter?”
The old woman before him sat behind a crystal orb, her eyes white with blindness. Three long and gnarly fingers stretched out above the crystal ball.
“You have arrived, King. Find the girl. She is the key.”
Her ring finger folded down.
“Towards the Forbidden Forest. North of it.”
Her middle finger folded down.
“Under no circumstances… Antagonize her or become their enemy. Keep her safe.”
Her last finger folded down.
She sighed…
THUD
The King watched as the Oracle fell backwards, he tried to catch her frail bones, but he knew that the woman had lived long past her lifespan.
It wasn’t his first time dealing with death, nor will it be the last.
“Servants! Summon my children!”
—
About a week’s journey away from the village.
“Squad! Progress report!”
“No sign of them towards the East, Captain.”
“None towards the West.”
“Nothing in the North.”
“Tracks going further South, Captain.”
“Tsk. Hunt them down. We do not need vampiric scum roaming our lands.”
“Yes sir!”
“Mobilize the troops we received from His Highness. Dragoons like us aren’t supposed to do menial work like combing the forest.”
“Grasshopper, you go on ahead and track those girls down! I want their heads intact. Vampire fangs go for a fortune in the black market!”
“Understood. I'll leave signs.”
As he disappeared into the forest's shadow.
