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Cradle
Chapter 1 - Inception

Chapter 1 - Inception

The midday sun lazily floats in the sky. A village vibrant with life, people going about their daily lives, tranquil and subdued by the simple lives lived by it's inhabitants. Some ways off from the village surrounded on all sides by plains, there lies an exception to that landscape, a group of rather sizable hills. It is a favorite spot for the village children, and even young men who wish to show their beloved a beautiful view when the stars shine.

It is here that a young blonde girl wanders by herself, preoccupied in her own world as she searches for adventure away from the village. As she proceeds, she comes across a completely naked boy with white hair, who appears to be the same age as her at sixteen, greatly startling her as she realizes what she's seeing.

The boy notices her, but makes no move to speak nor explain his situation. Rather, no sense of shame appears on his face at all, as he quietly observes the girl's face redden as she covers her face with her hands. Silence permeates the air for a long while, until the girl finally questions the boy.

"Wh-why are you naked?!"

She blurts out in a rush, due to the oddity of the situation as well as the boy's perplexing behavior. However the boy does not respond, and continues to stare at her.

The girl, continuing to be puzzled by the lack of response, peeks out from behind her hands, to return back the boys stare.

"Ar-are you okay? Can you speak?"

She asks the boy once more questions, trying to figure out the situation before her.

Yet once more, the boy does not respond to her questioning, and remains staring at her.

The girl, at her limit of handling the strange situation, starts backing away from the boy.

"Stay there..I'll be right back!"

After those words, the girl runs off towards the village.

The boy, staring at the spot where the girl ran off to, remains where he is. After awhile, his gaze sweeps around his surroundings, taking in all that passes. His eyes beam with curiosity.

Following that, he begins to examine his body in more detail, lifting his legs and arms, opening and closing his mouth, and rubbing his hand along his body. He finishes his off his examination at the top of his head, where he spends the most time when he found that it feels rather nice.

He watches intently the birds in the sky, studying their shape and movements, and looking at his own body to compare. The boy flaps his arms like the birds, but finding it not producing the same effect as the wings of the birds, he stops quickly.

Feeling something tickling his feet, the boy crouches down and observes ants crawling across them, staring as they march over his body as though he were simply a rock in the way and not human to them.

From his crouched position, the boy also takes notice of the green grass around him, reaching out his hand to touch it. While he does that, he uses his other hand to touch his head, comparing the feeling, and with a nodded affirmation, stops his comparison.

"This way Milton! He's over here!"

Hearing sounds of yelling, the boy stands back up and stares at the direction of the noise, the previous girls voice transmitting through the air.

Over the rise of the hill, the girl ran down from where she stood earlier towards the boy, panting from running round trip to and from the village.

Following behind her a little ways is a man in his forties, his hair gray yet tinged with strong, healthy black. Keeping up with the running girl while simply walking, the man exudes a strength that belies his age through his gait, a unmistakable soldier's march engineered to cross ground at a steady, reasonable pace. He eyes the boy while he calls out to the girl.

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"Lia! Don't just run towards him! We don't even know who or what he is!"

The man, Milton. picks his pace up after chastising the girl, Lia. The girl stops and waits for the man, shaking in excitement and exuding happiness at having found something interesting.

During this whole series of events, the boy remains silent and motionless, staring at the two.

"See Milton! He doesn't talk or respond at all. I think he might be ghost!"

"Lia, ghosts don't just appear out of nowhere, nor do they possess completely material bodies. Nor, mind you, do they ignore a naive body such as yours to possess. Besides all that, he-" Milton examines the boy "in every-way, looks to be just a regular person."

"But, aren't there monsters that take the shapes of humans to deceive and prey on them?"

"There are but there aren't any around here....nor do they just simply stand there as people watch them. This is rather peculiar....Lia, head back to the village and tell the chief that I'll be bringing this boy to him, we need to figure out what exactly is going on and I'd rather do it with help."

"Isn't it dangerous to bring him to the village though?"

"No need to worry your little head Lia, your uncle Milton hasn't lost his nose for danger, I can assure you I don't sense a threat from this boy. Now get along, as I see about getting this boy back."

"Alright~!" The girl, inhaling a deep breathe and giving a sharp exhale, began her trek back towards the village once more.

"Now then, lets see about this boy..."

Milton approached the boy cautiously, his words of encouragement towards Lia as much for himself as for her, as his mind was puzzled. While it was true that he did not feel a threat from the boy, that wasn't all. He felt nothing at all from the boy, no sense of feeling at all other than the curiosity that shined in his eyes.

"Boy, can you understand me? Do you have a name?"

Receiving no response from the boy, Milton scratched his head as his mind was further puzzled, and by now was in reaching distance of the boy.

"I'm going to take you back to the village, okay? Though you don't seem to have any preference on what should happen...."

Milton reached out his hand towards the boy, and seeing yet still no response from the boy other than his stare of curiosity, he grabbed the boy's arm. The boy shuddered at this new sensation, but did not jerk away nor make a noise.

Milton chuckled to himself at the scene before him, as he thought of the humor of a sixteen year old naked boy looking at him like he was the curious one. Pulling the boy along, Milton found no resistance from him, although his initial movements seemed to be foreign to him, after a few steps the boy, imitating Milton's gait, marched in step perfectly with Milton.

"Indeed a curious one...."

Thus, Milton lead the boy back to the village without a hitch, as the boy stared at his surroundings, his eyes opened wide upon seeing the village once they reached the crest of the hill along way, and did not cease moving about when he saw the villagers dotting his view.

Before long, they arrived at the village chief's home, a modest abode only slightly grander than the surrounding buildings to show off the importance of the one who lived there. This slight increase was bare minimum, as the one who inhabits it is a rather crotchety old man when it comes to gaudiness, only allowing for that much due to the requirements of distinguishing his role in the village. This temper stems mainly from his intense pride in the village, as the village chief, and thus it aggravates him to do anything that looks like he's abusing his job.

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