The sun rises over an old, abandoned church. Well, previously abandoned, seeing as it currently has three new inhabitants. Four actually, if you count a bodyless being as an inhabitant aswell. "So", Emela asked, with a bright smile on her face, "what's the plan for today?"
Oltes stretches himself. He slept on the cold floor of the church last night, like the other two, and even though the stone floor is quite overgrown, the plants didn't quite found purchase on the floor yet, so soft spots are sparse. It didn't bother him much, though, and he feels the weird kind of energy from the previous days coursing through his body, filling him with vigour.
"Same thing as yesterday, I think." Oltes has a very neutral expression on his face, and does not turn to face the girl, instead opting to meticulously analyze the crumbling building with his eyes. "the walls still seem sturdy enough, but I've gotta do something about the roof. When it rains, it pours, and in this building that's more literal than anything."
His gaze goes along the ceiling, old wooden beams holding up a roof of clay shingles, with holes practically everywhere. While the walls are made of sturdy stones of irregular size, stacked on top of each other perfectly, the roof is not quite as enduring, and it's only a matter of time until it completely caves in. "You're making a trip back to the village?" he asked his new companion, "you think you might find an axe? And a saw maybe, so I can replace those beams."
"Yeah, I'll keep an eye out for these. Also, yesterday you said something about a river?" Emela moves towards the entrance, Oltes following her closely.
"A creek, yeah", the man says, "it's water is clear, so should be safe to drink. But it's not really a river. And while you're gone, I'm gonna clear a path to it. Got to put that sword to use again. This way!" As they both step out of the old building, he takes the lead, moving into the underbrush of the forest, whacking a few choice branches with his shortsword, making a path barely big enough for them to not get their clothes stuck on thorny bushes.
Meanwhile, the third person wakes up, rising from a softer, makeshift bed of moss and leaves. At first she feels scared and confused, but a reassuring presence fills her, and she remembers the past few days. She looks up to the wooden sculpture and prays, and she feels the presence of the being that inhabits it. Images fill her mind, of two people making their way through the forest, her friend and what used to be a bandit.
She now knows where the creek is, what the two other people are planning to do today, and she feels safe. But then she remembers why she is here in the first place; the attack, how she will never see her parents again, or her other friends, and she starts to cry, letting her emotions run free.
Her new protector wraps itself around her, giving her warmth, the feeling of being hugged, and it surpresses the urge to sap away the sadness. For some reason it feels like this is important to the shy girl; she does not want to part with it, and therefore it stays, and the crying continues, as does the healing.
The being begins to understand more and more about the girl. While she cries, she shares her experiences through the telepathic link. Usually, when someone cries, they can't share what makes them cry, due to their vocal cords being occupied. This falls away when it comes to communicating with metaphysical beings however, and while the girl surrounds herself in sadness, she tells her story to the one who is listening.
It was mostly luck that allowed her to survive. Early in the morning, she woke up before her parents did, and she snuck away into the forest to gather some of her favourite berries. The forest area near the village is usually safe, and there's one patch of berry bushes near where she used to play with the other kids, or rather, where she accompanied the other kids to, while she sat away from them listening to the birds and looking for berries.
She did the same thing this morning, carefully sneaking through the forest, looking for the telltale bushes she memorized the locations of, and trying to listen to the morning birds, when different sounds started to fill the air. Sounds of screaming, cries of help, maniacal laughter. She was immediately scared, and she could see plumes of smoke through the treetops.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She never returned to the village, instead opting to run to the hideout, cowering in fear between the roots, paralyzed for hours, until emela found her and brought her here.
The being listens for all of this, the story being presented like raw memories to it, and it feels what she felt that time. The hopelessness, the fear of being found by the wrong people, the loss of home. It wraps itself like a blanket around her, tightening even more, pushing away the fear with feelings of protection, of reassurance. It still didn't eat the fear and sadness, like it did with Emela. It just doesn't feel right.
An hour later, Sana has just stopped her crying and feels parched. She knows the way to the creek and gets up, moving to the door. She knows that her friend is already on the way back to the village, and that the man is currently in the forest between the church and the creek, whacking away at bushes. This is why she is suddenly scared again when she notices two new shadows appearing from the forest.
"It's just a ruin, like the rest of them. Why are you even wasting your time with this one? We should move on", one of them said, annoyance in his voice. A deep, male voice, gruff sounding.
"It is important to look everywhere for clues. You never know if a ruin hides something interesting.", a second male voice said. This one sounding more calm and friendly than his companion's voice. "Besides, you're still getting paid regardless, so why are you so insistent on... Wait. Is that a girl?"
Sana freezes in place. Her legs are locked up, she can't run. She finds herself in front of these two men, one of them burly and muscular, wearing leather armour not dissimilar to the man currently clearing a path to a creek.
Correction: to the man who is suddenly overcome with a feeling of urgency, hurrying back to the old church.
The other man appears to be more scholarly; he wears finer travel clothes, and on his back is a burlap sack filled with scrolls, and while his companion is visibly armed and armored, all he has is a simple dagger attached to his belt. "Who are you and what are you doing here?", he says to the girl who still can neither move nor speak.
The burly one speaks up instead. "Seems like she's afraid of us, but doesn't seem like she's a threat. How about you do what you came here to do and then we simply move on?"
"I can see that she's scared. She might be from the village we passed earlier, or she might live here. If she lives here, I don't feel good disturbing her peace." He slowly takes a step closer to the girl and adresses her: "Hey there, don't worry, we..."
"Stop right there!" A sudden shout stiffens the two strangers up, and they quickly turn to where the shout came from, only to see a man dressed in leather armour and wielding a shortsword breaking out of the forest. "Don't take a step closer and explain yourself!" he shouts to them.
The burly man becomes visibly angry and starts shouting. "Don't you...", he starts, but he gets shushed by his companion.
"Don't worry, I got this", the scholarly man says to the brute, and he turns to adress the man. "I am just a wandering researcher, and this is my bodyguard. Apologies, we didn't mean to intrude. Do you live here? Do you mind us taking a look at this old building?"
Oltes throws a scrutinizing look at the duo, and after a few seconds of contemplation, during which Sana visibly calms down a little, he points his blade at them and answers. "You can enter, sure. But your 'bodyguard' stays outside here with me. Sana," adressing the girl in front of the church, slightly turning to her, but still keeping his blade pointed at the strangers, "You go with that researcher, make sure he doesn't do anything weird."
The girl shyly nods, then turns around and slowly goes back inside the church, the researcher a few steps behind her. "Thank you", the stranger says, "I promise I'll be quick. I just want to take a look around, and I'll be on my way before you know it."
With the two of them entering the church, Oltes turns to the bodyguard, still keeping his blade pointed. "What are you still doing here?" he asks, with venom in his voice.
"Oltes, dear friend," He answers in a friendly tone, "You should know by now what I am doing here. The question is rather, what are YOU doing HERE? Shouldn't you be back at the camp? Or are you trying to take that girl for yourself? Also, mind lowering your blade? You know that I am stronger than you, right?"
Oltes did not lower his blade. Instead, he takes a step closer. "Is that how you always knew where new villages are? You pretend to be a bodyguard, following this dude around, then reporting back to the camp whenever you found a new village?"
"Genius, right?" the burly man answers with pride in his voice. "This dude has some good maps of the area, and I earn some extra coin on the side. What, you mad that you could never get the bounty for yourself? This some matter of competition to you?"
"In a way." Oltes takes another step closer. He already made up his mind – if this man somehow gets back to the other bandits, his new life would be in danger, and they would not only force him back to being a bandit, but also take away his new purpose of serving this being, and he can't allow that to happen. This bandit has to die.
"Is that bloodlust I see in your eyes? You are not thinking of attacking me, right?" The burly bandit sprouts a creepy smile on his face. "Oh you are, are you?" His smile gets even wider as he effortlessly parries Oltes' lunge. "Then let's dance, shall we?"