The last thing Farin saw was the sight of the beautiful but huge two-winged door in the middle of the mountain.
Whether the temple master had some knowledge of who first placed it there was unknown to Farin, but he never had the thought of asking. That door made of an unknown material had been there forever, and it would continue to be what kept curious people away from randomly entering the God's domain.

The blindfold around his eyes immediately turned his world into pure darkness, leaving only the old temple master's gentle voice.

"Alright, it sits tight enough. You don't feel uncomfortable anywhere, do you?"

"No, not at all."

Farin bent down to pick up the basket at his feet. The most beautiful and fragrant fruit, as well as carefully packed meat, were placed inside it, rendering the basket surprisingly heavy. Farin moved his fingers slightly when a strand of his hair got caught under them and tugged at his head.

"I'm ready to go, Master."

The old man gave a quiet sound of assent before his steps lead towards the door. After some rumbling and scraping, cool air hit the youth's face. The door was open.
Without another word, Farin walked forward, steadying the basket on one arm and raising his right hand to the cold stone wall. The door fell shut behind him, though the sound of the lock clicking was missing.

Taking a last deep breath, the lone boy walked forward, holding back the urge to hum. It was quiet inside the cave path, almost eerily so. He didn't know for how long he walked until he could smell the scent of flowers. Slowing down his steps, he touched forward and reached the end of the path. The cave was opening up before him.

Completely blind, Farin focused on his other senses.
Delighted, he barely managed to hold back a smile. The soft rustle of leaves created a symphony with the singing of numerous birds, a song so beautiful Farin felt he could listen forever. If he strained his ears he could sometimes catch the gentlest ring of tiny bells, but the sound was too quiet to locate.

Sweet scents were drifting through the air, like honey or perfume, each breeze bringing a new one, inviting to stay.

Sighing softly, Farin let his hand sink down to the basket. A mere ten steps, only the shortest time inside this beautiful heaven. He didn't need his sight for his ears and nose to draw the most beautiful landscapes around him.

Grass and small stones rustled beneath his feet, the thin sole of his sandals transmitting any unevenness directly.
The beautiful youth's steps were uniform and straight, well-practiced, leading him to the same spot as always. Counting them inside his mind, Farin was already slowing his steps down when a rustle caused him to freeze.

One more thing he had been trained to do was to freeze up at an unknown sound. In case a God really did approach a carrier, standing still was the best to do. The carrier was supposed to be nothing but a moving doll for the sacrificial goods, and dolls aren't supposed to disturb their surroundings.

Repeating the teachings inside his mind, Farin steadied his body before feeling a heavy chill. The rustling came from close to the ground, indicating something small approaching. A low growl, terrifyingly familiar, reached his ears.

Oh no. No no. Goddamnit. They can't be here, too, can they?

The thought made breathing hard. 
The six hooved beasts that lived around their village were everyone's nightmare. Fast and nimble, with a thick hide, they were annoying to hunt. Generally, compared to other animals, they could be considered weak in strength and small but...

They made everything up in mindless ferocity. It didn't matter if anyone was disturbing them or not, any living creature in sight was hunted mercilessly. The creature, which was more of a mutated beast than anything else, did not care about its own well-being. Every fight was a battle to the death.

Even a group of hunters would have trouble dealing with the foul being, let alone a blindfolded young man.
Shivering, Farin's hand grasped the basket tighter as he slowly slid a foot backward.

Against all hope, the growl of the thing only grew louder before it grew all quiet.

With a shriek, all fruits tumbled out of the falling basket. 
White with fear, the lone human turned and tried to run, even forgetting the sensible choice of taking off his blindfold in the panic. Almost instantly a dull force hit his calf, suddenly blooming into terrible pain and throwing him off balance. Falling to the ground, the youth tried to shield his body as best as possible, the fall still taking away all of his breath.

Gasping, he curled up his legs, wincing in pain and pulling himself away from the sound as the blindfold slowly loosened.

A pained squeal, a sharp crack. Silence.

The white cloth fell, softly gliding down over his nose and lips before finally slipping down to the ground.
Still wheezing in fear, eyes glittering, Farin clenched his fingers around the soft grass, eyes staring up.

The man was easily holding the thing's neck, carrying it like a toy.
Golden, shining eyes were focused on Farin, blinking quietly. Their owner was perfectly still as his clawed fingers loosened, letting the beast slide to the ground. Farin's breath got caught in his throat once more, the feeling completely different than before.

Wild, red hair dancing in the soft breeze, blueish horns growing out of his forehead. The man was anything other than human and obviously very strong but Farin's head was empty, mindlessly taking in the sight of the one in front of him. All jewelry adorning the man wouldn't be needed at all, for the humanoid creature in front of him was a sight to behold anyway.

"Alvarr¹Another old name. 'Alvarr' can mean elf or warrior and is the name the humans gave their Mountain-Gods. Farin unconsciously uses it as a name here.", Farin found himself whispering, fascinated.
The man's eyes blinked once more, barely a ripple showing on their surface as he bent forward, repeating the word in sounds. His voice was husky compared to Farin's mellow voice, but at the same time, he seemed to sing rather than talk.

The man tilted his head, a long tail curling behind his back as he squatted down in front of Farin, staring with now unblinking eyes.

The human didn't know how much time had passed until he awoke from his stunned state, even though the Alvarr didn't show any sign of caring. Only when Farin slightly moved did he twist his head once more.

In the fallen boy's mind, thoughts began to run.

Bad. This is bad. Will he eat me? I've seen him, does that mean he will eat me? Although, he did help me just now- 
Panic and fascination were fighting for the first place inside Farin, both screaming for attention. On one hand, he felt he should take up the blindfold and put it on in hopes of the Alvarr accepting the gesture.

On the other hand, he really didn't want to.

Aah, what is up with this? Is this why we are supposed to be blindfolded?

A giddy feeling was spreading through his body as he kept on looking at the Alvarr's golden eyes. They were glowing in the sunlight falling through from god-knows-where, creating the illusion of the color constantly lightening and darkening again. It was a mesmerizing sight.

Completely unable to decide on what to do, Farin opted to just keep completely still, waiting for the other to make a move first. After an unknown amount of time, the Alvarr shifted his weight, the unnatural stillness dispersing.
With his singing voice and language, he called out, eyes on Farin, who just quietly swallowed before forcing out a whisper.

"I have no idea what you're saying", he somehow managed to say. The Alvarr froze for a second, then he began to change his posture into sitting on the ground.
For a stupid moment, a thought ran through Farin's head: Oh. He doesn't, either.

Farin's assumption was indeed correct; neither the carrier nor God had any idea what the other was saying.

This is a problem, Farin thought dumbly, trying to lower his eyes and looking at his fallen blindfold. The sacrifice has fallen to the ground, and I have seen one of them. Can I just stand up and walk out like this?

Stuck on the problem, Farin decided that any try was as good as another. Since he knew nothing about the Gods and couldn't understand their words, there was no way to find the right reaction. As it was, he might as well try to be as courteous as possible.

Half to calm himself and half in hopes of somehow conveying his intentions through his tone, Farin began to talk, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

"I apologize for disturbing you, it wasn't my intention. I beg Alvarr not to take any offense."

Alvarr's tail curled once more at the word, making it more or less the only direct reaction to the human's words. Wordlessly he stood up, turning to face the hideous dead beast on the ground before gripping it with dark, clawed fingers and... throwing it into a thicket.
Dumbfounded, Farin did nothing but stare as the humanoid being single-handedly dealt with the heavy corpse. Alvarr didn't look troubled by it in the slightest, his calm face keeping its stoic mask. When he turned to face the person on the ground again the movement was sudden, reminding Farin of a bird twitching their head.

Caught staring, Farin just waited.

Seconds passed.

Troubled, both sides were stuck with awkwardly staring at each other. At least that's what Farin felt. 
Uncertain, he began to move his body and, seeing that the God wasn't showing signs of displeasure, tried to stand up.

He grit his teeth at the heavy pang of pain inside his calf, immediately shifting his weight away from it and frowning slightly.
It might be broken. I hope it isn't.

The moment Farin's body steadied, blindfold in his hand, was the moment Alvarr turned his attention to the fallen fruit. Slowly picking out three of a single sort - small, almost round yellow fruits - he cradled them in his hands, glancing at Farin only once more before fully turning away from him.

Farin stood, frozen, as the figure moved soundlessly on the soft ground, walking towards the thicker areas of the forest and vanishing inside it. Only the slight sound of bells accompanied his steps.

Twitching, Farin clenched his fists, attempting to keep his thoughts together. Slowly breathing in and out, he couldn't keep himself from glancing around the world in the cave. Up above him, impossibly high, was a sky filled with white clouds in an opening of the mountain. All around him were trees growing up towards the sun's warm rays and flowers of all colors snaking up their trunks in beautiful vines.

Since he was standing not too far from the opening, Farin could follow the wall, seeing it vanish somewhere into the distance. The mountain was huge, and only then did he realize that the cave inside was just as big.
Forcing himself out of the daze, Farin left the basket and fruit on the ground, turning on his heels and hurrying out.

Only when he was deep inside the path already did he stop to rub his face.

Carefully testing how much weight his leg could handle and noticing in relief that he would be able to walk somehow. Tugging his hair back, he straightened out his robes, and put the blindfold back on, tightening it. There was no need to panic. Since he was alive, everything was still alright. With every passing second, Farin felt his usual calmness returning, the intoxication waning.

A human shouldn't be looking at a God.

The darkness was almost calming. Sighing to himself, Farin raised his hand to the wall again, walking back towards the exit.

Hearing his steps, the door was opened by the old temple master, who quickly closed the door behind him again. While Farin tugged off the blindfold, the old man put a hand on his shoulder.

"Farin, did something happen? You are later than usual."

The carrier kept his eyes closed for another second before opening them and smiling at the temple master.

"Please don't worry, Master. I stepped on some loose stones in the steeper part of the path and fell, hurting my leg."

"There were no problems otherwise?"

"No, none at all."

Seeing Farin's relaxed face, the old master seemed to be filled with relief as he answered with a joyful smile on his own.

"That's good, then. Come along and fetch yourself something to eat, change out of those clothes. After that, ask someone to take a look at your leg."

Farin nodded quietly, letting his fingers rub over the cloth in his hand.

The light blue of his long robes, trailing across the floor, suited his appearance well. The tiny stitching on the robe, formed like snowflakes, was glittering under the sun. Farin loved the robe, for it always made him feel calm.
Only, faced with a God, there really was nothing that could keep a human from turning giddy.

Tugging off a bright red hair from the hem of his sleeve, Farin tilted his head in thought.

Today was the first day of two for the week.
Maybe tomorrow he should make sure that the old master would add some more of the tiny fruits to the basket.

The man had come again, carrying the basket.

He had watched ever since he had noticed that the person had changed. The last one was older, this one was young. Whenever he stepped inside, the thick scent of fear was missing. Instead, his steps were light and joyful.

In fact, the visitors weren't anything interesting. They would come in, set down the basket, and leave. None of his people had been interested in finding out why and where they came from. The visitors did not look that different from themselves and were not hostile, so they didn't care. Why would they?

Those that were hostile were fast gotten rid off. A new one would come anyway, and even if no one came, it would not cause a disturbance.

He watched from up in a tree when the person came once again, completely oblivious to his existence. Sometimes, the person would appear to twitch when the bells sounded, but he didn't show any other reaction.

For him, watching the person coming in was merely a pastime. As long as he had nothing to do he might come over and watch for a few seconds.

That day, one of the hooved beasts had come by. They were annoying, always hunting after the children he was supposed to watch. It was for a personal grudge that he immediately came down, breaking the beast's spine. When he glanced at the person, the cloth around his eyes had fallen and he said something.

Against the other's stare, 'Alvarr' just repeated it. Was he being called? It was not what he was usually called, but he didn't mind. Instead of reacting, the person on the ground was completely frozen.

What is he waiting for?

Confused, 'Alvarr' tried telling the other that his basket had fallen. After a moment, a series of foreign sounds came from the other's mouth. 
...Can't understand at all. 

Suddenly faced with the realization that they did not share a language, 'Alvarr' changed his posture. Now that their eyes were on the same height, he waited for any sort of reaction. The person lowered their head and said something again.

'Alvarr' flicked his tail. The other's voice was quiet, their body lowered.
Was he younger than 'Alvarr' had thought? It seemed the beast was scaring him. The little ones did not dare approach them either. Since that was the case, just throwing it out of sight should do the trick. 

He looked back at the person. Now what? Is it fine now? Are you still scared?

The other reacted, standing up.

Satisfied with the result, 'Alvarr' merely bent down to gather some of the fruits the person had brought before leaving.

The person coming in never stayed long, so this one shouldn't stay long, either.
Not worried, he walked on to return to his task.

Owl

~ヾ(＾∇＾) Thanks for reading up to here! Another chapter is out, yay! Also, our other main character quickly entered the stage already.
I hope you like Alvarr's perspective, I might include it once in a while to clear things up, since communication is rather problematic for those two :D
There are two portraits of both characters under the spoiler, in case you want to take a look C: Farin looks a bit too soft there, but it's good enough for an initial image, isn't it~?

Spoiler

[collapse]

The next chapter will be up either tomorrow or in two days.