The snow outside was getting thicker and denser as the night was coming, followed by horrible howls of wind, waiting outside the window as if it was about to swallow everything into that freezing cold. The barren tree line struggled to stand, the atmosphere became more and more gloomy under the pounding sound of the frozen icicles on the branches. Fortunately, no one had to endure that weather. Almost everyone was huddled around their fireplaces, under the warm fire. It would be nice to have a cup of hot cocoa on hand right now.
“So… exactly how long do we have to wait?” Ayen asked, with a hint of worry in her words. She was sitting in a worn-out armchair, her right hand resting on her chin, her eyes fixed on the boy in the opposite seat, whom she and Robyn had brought back a few hours ago. He was still lying in that tattered cloth and there was no sign of him waking up yet.
“How can I know? For now, just wait patiently until everyone has gathered.” Robyn replied. He stood with his arms crossed by the window sill, looking outside. Perhaps he himself was not interested in waiting, when he changed his position for a moment, his legs beat continuously. But at least he got used to it…
Ayen pouted at the other's somewhat innocuous answer. She turned her face away, trying to be patient as her brother said. This time, the red fire in the furnace caught the girl's attention. Ayen stared at it, her hands closer to the fire. She closed her eyes, feeling as if flames were taking hold of her hand. The room suddenly became strangely quiet, Ayen could hear the crackling of sparks, creating warm melodious music in the cold winter. Somewhere in the songs, the voice, the fire still exists, whether it's burning or glimmering, it still connects us closer together.
“Clack”, the open door suddenly sounded, breaking the inherent silence in the room, along with the entrance of a young man. He possessed strong dark skin covering his large and muscular body, which is probably what people will be most impressed with when they first see him, only after a pair of golden antlers like a deer on the top of his head.
He ruffled his messy black hair and waved his hand as he entered.
“Hello hello, having a good evening brothers and sisters?” Both Ayen and Robyn's eyes fell on the person who entered as if the positive energy he radiated was brighter than the fire in the furnace.
“Raymond! Come here!”
Robyn frowned in delight at the sight of the other man, the two of them moving closer to each other and high-fives, not forgetting to move a few chairs from their original positions along the way, of course.
“Where's Elyon? Doesn't he come tonight?” Ayen spoke, interrupting the two brothers' greetings that were coming to the climax.
“Elyon?” Raymond shrugged. “Looks like he's busy calculating something. But he's smart, he'll definitely catch everything quickly!”
He grinned, looking very confident in his assertion. Ayen and Robyn could only nod before Raymond resumed his chatter. “So our guest is that kid? Let me take a look!”
After saying that, he went straight to the boy sitting on the chair. Raymond used his fingers to open the boy’s eyelids, he himself widened his eyes as he did this.
“Um… Is he still alive?” Raymond showed a dumbfounded expression, causing Robyn to frown and scowl as he approached and pulled his shoulder away.
“Of course, he is, he's even snoring! But don't be so rough, he'll mess around with this place if he has a temper tantrum!” Memories of the previous encounter flashed through his mind.
Still, Raymond leaned forward to take a closer look. “This kid just looks weird, doesn't he? This is the first time I've seen someone with hair like that, maybe he's a god?!”
Ayen giggled in agreement, while Robyn sighed at the stupidity of the other two. He patted Raymond's shoulder then pulled up a wooden chair and sat back down.
“We'll find out soon enough, now sit down, big guy.”
Raymond still looked at the other, it took a long time for them to have a new member. No wonder he has a hard time sitting still. He sat down next to Robyn, crossing his leg on another nearby chair. Raymond glanced around the room, seemingly looking for some entertainment. He didn't understand how the other two could sit so still. His limbs began to twitch, he tried to search his pocket and took out a leaf. That was more than enough for Raymond, as he began to put the leaf in his mouth and began his solo. The sound resounded with a clear, sacred sound, soon attracting Robyn. He was about to say something but was stopped by Ayen, who wanted to enjoy the miracle.
“I didn't know Raymond could do that, I thought only the Elves could do this!”
Ayen excitedly whispered to Robyn, listening intently to the melody coming from Raymond's direction. He responded to her with a few slow nods in appreciation of Raymond's talent.
The sound of flute-leaf is low and high, but also gradually comes to an end when the sound gradually becomes smaller, and smaller, then there is only silence.
“So great! What an outstanding performance!” Ayen jumped up from her chair, clapping her hands excitedly. “Robyn, huh?”
“Yes, that's true.” Robyn raised his eyebrows admiringly and began clapping his hands at his sister's expectant gaze.
Waiting for both of them to finish cheering, Raymond spoke up.
“Wow, don’t mention it! Thanks for listening!” He stood up and waved, mimicking the artists after they finished their performance.
As soon as he finished speaking, another round of applause suddenly rang out from the entrance. They all turned to look. It was an elderly man in a dark leather jacket, with sparse silvery hai. On his face were visible wrinkles that time had left. He reached up to take the cigarette and said in a heavy voice through the smoke.
“Very impressive, I must admit.”
“Dad, you're finally here!” Raymond quickly darted across the row of seats and approached the man. Robyn and Ayen also stood up and bowed.
“Come on, I can still stand by myself!” The man shoved Raymond's hand away as he tried to help. “Don't underestimate this old man, I'm only a little over fifty!”
He laughed, patting Raymond on the shoulder a few times before approaching the fireplace, where the strange-haired boy was still unconscious in his chair, the cause of this evening's family gathering.
“So what condition did you two find him in? Anything unusual?”
“Father, I saw him under an old tree while picking fruit. Then Robyn came, and the two of them fought for a while before he got hit and passed out.”
“Old tree…? Then you must have gone quite deep into the forest.” Butcher paused, taking a deep breath. The smile on his face faded and gradually revealed a bit of concern. “You know it's dangerous there.”
“Yes, but if I didn't go in there, I wouldn't be able to find the person we need to save. Besides, I came back safe!” Ayen defended.
“If you feel that your actions are right, then I have nothing more to say. I just want to advise you to be more prepared if you want to go there again, your brother won't always be there in time.”
“Yes, I understand…” Ayen lowered her voice.
“That's good.” He approached her and gave her a gentle hug, then approached the other boy. “Have you tried waking him up yet?”
“Officially? No. But Raymond did try… to open his eyes, but there was no response.” Robyn spoke up, he pointed his thumb at Raymond, who only responded with a chuckle.
“Hmm…” The man rubbed his beard under his chin, thoughtfully. “We've been talking for a while, even the room is lit up, it seems there needs to be another way.”
“Like splashing water in his face?” Raymond shouted excitedly.
“No!” The other three all turned to him at the same time, making Raymond reluctantly stop there. He put his hand to his mouth and signaled “Locked it!”.
“What about the scent? Maybe my food might wake him up! This is The First Coin Tavern we are talking about!”
“Very wise, Ayen. But I think there's something else that'll wake him up even faster...” The man brought his cigarette pipe closer to the boy's nose, followed by the girl's somewhat disapproving sigh and a few groans from Raymond.
“Is this the same as splashing water…”
As expected, after less than a minute, he was coughing and quickly opened his eyes. He struggled while still tied, so he fell off the chair right after. Faced with the boy's more violent reaction than expected, Robyn grabbed Ayen's hand and pulled her back, Raymond also clenched his fist in case something went wrong. Only the man stood still. He crouched down and introduced himself slowly.
“Hello? I'm Butcher, Butcher Cain. Can you hear me?”
The boy only responded to him with a few meaningless growls and angry eyes. He tried to reach over to bite Butcher, but couldn't get close.
“You didn’t tell me he's not a normal human!” Butcher also has a point, no normal human being wants to jump in and bite someone. He stood up, rubbed his hands together, then motioned for Robyn and Raymond to come and hold the boy on the ground. But before they could even lift their feet, Ayen crept past all three, she stood in the middle of the way and raised her hands to stop them.
“He's just a normal person! I will prove it.”
Both young men looked at Mr. Butcher with suspicion, though he let Ayen do the work. She turned to the boy, slowly sitting down beside him.
“We, no, want, harm, you.” Ayen spoke, using sign language from her hands.
Meanwhile, Robyn tilted his head and whispered in Raymond's ear. “Where did she learn that?”
“I taught her!” Raymond smirked.
“Huh…” Robyn replied, frowning. It must be said that today is a day for him to witness many new things, and of course equally troublesome.
Ayen somehow managed to calm the boy, and she also untied him after making sure he wouldn't harm them. The men in the room watched Ayen's every move attentively, drawing closer and closer to hear what she had to say.
“My name, my, is, Ayen. You, name, is, what?”
“La…” The boy slowly parted his lips, the sound so hesitant and slow that Ayen could imagine it as a tangible object slowly moving out of his larynx.
“OH! He knows…” Before Raymond could finish his sentence, Robyn covered his mouth.
“Not now, shut up...” But then he was scolded by Mr. Butcher, who gave a deathly stare at them both, they were silent, not even breathing could be heard.
“These people are my family members. Family, do you understand? Come introduce yourself to them!” Ayen's voice cut through the commotion, and the other three turned their attention back to her.
“My name is… Ladius…” He paused, seemingly trying to say something but suddenly couldn't.
“You are doing great! Do you remember anything about your past?” Ayen moved closer to Ladius, she grabbed both of his hands. “No… No… nothing?” He raised his voice like a question before he fell to the floor once more.
