“They’re back! They- MPH”
“Shhhh! Are you trying to wake the whole neighborhood?” Leo covered the blond-haired child with his hand. He was one of the village's outpost guards.
While he did eventually intend to tell the master of the village about the woman he had brought back, it didn't mean he wanted the master to know about it now. After all, he needed some time to come up with a good excuse for breaking the rules. If he was lucky, it'll only lead him to do a year's worth of manure cleaning for punishment.
“Mph-uff-oo?”
“No! Don’t tell anyone we came back”
“Offu-mmph-fofu?”
“This sack I’m carrying on my back? Don’t worry about it. It’s just some hunt I came across while we were out”
“How on earth can you understand all of that?” Rae shook his head in bewilderment at the conversation between the two. All he heard was muffled sounds.
It was decided earlier that the young man would be the one to carry the girl on his back since he was obviously the stronger one. The long cloak was pulled up to hide her hair and the ends of the cloak were tied to overlap her feet. The darkness of the night made it look like the young man was carrying a large cloth bag behind his back. A large, human-sized bag.
“Anyways, don’t say anything and I’ll give you some honeycomb later”
The child’s eyes looked gleeful as he agreed to the exchange. Honeycomb was a popular sweet that the village's children often loved to suck on. Despite being out of season for a while now, a few of the older villagers always kept some in their storehouse for other purposes. Leo was one of them, who also loved the sweetness of the honeycomb.
The young man and his younger brother stealthily made their way to a large tree on the far east side of the village.
“Here let me get that for you,” Rae said as he drew a symbol on the wood. Then, after a few moments of silence, it started to glow. The boy pressed his hand on the entrance that had appeared in place of the symbol, which opened a door towards the interior of the tree. Including the lookout that kept watch over any approaching figures, the secret entrance also made it extremely well hidden from outsiders.
From the outside, it simply looked like a normal large tree within the southern forest. However, the inside revealed a far different truth. Following the stone steps that spiraled downwards, one would be greeted to a spectacular sight below.
Underneath the tree was a huge man-made cavern that stretched for several miles- likely taking years for its early settlers to dig through. The stone pillars and ceiling supported the internal structure so that it doesn’t cave in and bury everyone living there. Several houses and buildings were erected all over, creating a bustling atmosphere filled with chatter and laughter. In the middle of it all, stood a large rotating circular object floating above- a magical item that mimics the sun or moon to provide natural lighting for the people underground. As it was already nighttime, the circular object now took the form of a moon and emitted a soft yellow glow.
This place was called Eclipse Village- a hidden underground town right underneath the southern forest.
----
Inside one of the underground houses was a house with a roof lined with red lanterns. Here, two boys who had exhaustively been taking turns kept watch over the unconscious girl sleeping on their spare bed. It has already been a week since they’ve brought her into their abode and she hadn’t shown any signs of waking up at all in that duration.
“Brother, when are you going to talk to master?”
“Get off my back, Rae! When he finds out, I’ll tell him,” the young man grumbled, flipping through the morning paper. He didn't want to talk about meeting the master any time soon.
“Are you attending the upcoming meeting?”
“No,“ came his curt reply.
Rae sighed deeply as he cleared up the dirtied, used bandages laying on the bedtable. He knew that although his brother was one of the most important members in the village, he was unruly and undisciplined, so expecting him to follow orders was like expecting the wind to go south when you tell it to- he simply did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Well, only his brother could get away with something like that, since he was someone the village couldn’t afford to lose.
“I’m going to pick some more herbs since we’re running out of disinfection paste,” Rae said as he slung his bag over his shoulders.
Leo only grunted in response.
Before heading out, the boy turned back towards his brother once more.
“By the way, don’t you dare touch her while I’m gone”
The young man’s mouth dropped, his face was in disbelief. This kid had the nerve to tell him that? When he was the one who kissed her to deliver medicine a week ago? He threw his slipper at Rae, which he dodged skilfully and stuck his tongue out and chuckled until he was out of range.
“As if I’ll touch a twig,” he muttered, sweeping a quick glance at the girl whose breath was falling up and down in a regular pattern, as she slept.
Leo dragged his chair closer to her to study her face. Propping his arm his leg to lean his head, he scoffed lightly.
"I admit, she’s a beauty ... but I prefer curvier women"
His eyes skimmed over the girl’s face, watching her long eyelashes flickering in her sleep.
"Is she dreaming right now?"
His gaze fell towards her obsidian colored hair. She probably hasn't taken a bath in over a week, yet it's still silky smooth. Did she naturally have a disposition for being effortless beautiful?
Leo's eyes then traveled to her face, his eyebrows suddenly lit up in surprise. There was a red mark on her neck. The young man wondered why it was there and why Rae hasn't said anything about it before.
Was it a beauty mark? A tattoo? A scar?
It wasn’t large enough to capture your attention from afar but, if you looked at her up close, it's obvious that it was there.
“Doesn’t it look kinda like a something with wings?” he mumbled under his breath. Without realizing it, his free hand moved on its own to brush her neck in curiosity.
Then his hand paused in the air.
Because all of a sudden, two silver-grey orbs were staring back at him.
