John Grandth

The geezer at home was babbling about sending me to the Blest Academy in Varlem. Though I told him there isn't anything that they could teach me, he commanded me to go there. That old man is going mad because none of his ‘honorable ancestors’ were a blest but I agreed since it will be a nice change of scenery, away from these two pigs and that turd.

Come to think of it, he hasn't been around here has he? Did he drown himself in the river realizing all that he was worth? Nah, he won't have the courage to do even that.

These two pigs followed me near the village's outskirts after eating whatever that chef had brought me. I don't really get why they act so disgustingly for something like food and stay around just to lick my arse but I deem them better than that turd in a way that they know their place while he always had a sliver of contempt in his eyes as if he was looking down on me even though he didn't dare raise a finger. It really rubbed my nerves but I restrained myself from ending his pitiful life since that old fool of my father would just go berserk, he somehow seems reluctant to interact with this turd's family.

"Tchh. Let's go." I said kicking a stone as we had reached the end of the village. My father must have slept so no pests would annoy me now.

"Aye" Bran replied. I turned around to walk back but something felt odd.

I didn't hear the sound of the stone hitting the ground.

Though I turned back but couldn't see anything beyond what small area the torches feebly lit, a few moments later, two gems shone from the dark. They gleamed brightly green, unaffected by the night's gloom, slightly reflecting the torch's crimson. I impulsively stepped backward as I realized those gems were nearing.

"Jo-John wha's dat?"

They were eyes. I could make out a figure in the dark as it came closer. I suddenly crouched and placed my hand on the ground to cage in that thing but it still moved straight towards us. Are my powers not working? No, they are, this thing is just eluding them...effortlessly. More importantly, why am I even attacking someone who's just coming to the village?

A crown? No, they are hair. The silver strands shone orange, reflecting the flames. Wait-What?

Turd? Is it him?

All of my suspicions vanished as the figure emerged from the dark, standing a few steps beyond me.

It is him. But then why? Why is it that I am hesitant to say anything? Am I afraid? Afraid my ass! I am the only blest in this whole village, all nearby villages. I controlled my ability at such young age that even the veteran warriors stayed awestruck. Why would I be afraid of this unsightly cockroach.

"Where have you been? Got abducted or something?" I asked. He has been beaten down bad. Welts and bruises all over his body and tattered clothes. But still he seems to have managed to save that jacket draping over his shoulder. How I would have treated him had I been the one of those abductors, just imagining it makes me laugh.

No reply. He just silently walked towards us, no, towards the village, dragging a pile of what seemed like squirrel corpses.

Did he just ignore me?!

I furiously put my hand over his shoulder, pressing it hard. Still, he just silently walked past as if nothing ever touched him. This turd!

"How are those freeloaders in your house?" I sneered. Can't ignore now, can you turd? He abruptly stopped and looked back over his shoulder. His eyes made me uneasy...What is this? " Tell them I'll be more than willing to let them stay with me if Sara comfor-"

I was cut short by a laugh, his laugh. He laughed while his eyes bore straight into mine. A sudden burst of cold took over my body, I was enraged yet even my brows refused to move into a frown. It was a thud that made me realize the two bastards around me were down, splayed out with their eyes wide open. What the?! This filth dared to stay around me all the time?

Then it happened.

It was no more than an instant yet I felt as if I had been encased in ice for hours... Am I imagining things?

The green in his eyes had moved out, unveiling a disc of gold from underneath. A broad grin on his face put an end to his former laugh...I felt a cold current from his direction, as if the very air was being obedient to him. That air, which normally would have been a relishing breeze somehow pierced through me, making even my heart stop, as if whispering in my ear to just stop, play dead.

The grin on his face straightened as his brows came closer and those golden eyes probed my face, almost curious, then that expression turned into something inexplicable. Those beautiful golden discs suddenly turned into a cold gaze. The face had an expression of genuine uninterest... as if looking at a dog... no, it was as if the person in front of me-Stevenson Willwin-was just deeming an insect that just bit him, not worth squashing.

Have I ever felt this? No, I had never felt it and maybe that's why I didn't realize sooner. Horror took over me in the truest sense...I was kneeling...even though I didn't remember having done so, I was kneeling as if it was the most natural thing to do.

A sense of calm warmed my whole body as I saw his head turn back towards the village. He lifted his hand, which a strange bird came down and perched on. Then he walked on, dragging that pile behind him, as he said in a deep, cold tone in complete contrast to his usual timid squeaks:

"A louse survives only as long as it stays obscured."

Sara Hangham

I came back to my room after washing up the dishes. Mother is the one who usually does all this, in fact, she never made me do any of the house chores which I never objected to either but now...she's acting differently. She's been acting strange ever since he left. That dunce.

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She makes me work a lot these days. In fact, she even insisted that I learn the appropriate prices of each type of harvest from our fields and help her make the accounts.

Though we do have a piece of land, since mother doesn't know much about farming, she hires freelancers to work on the field. Either because the harvest turns out bad or maybe because the workers embezzle us, in the end we are hardly able to get by but...she is strong. I remember occasionally hearing her sobs from her room calling dad's name but she stayed strong.

She seems to have changed, perhaps she thinks I too will leave someday so she must teach me things to survive. Though sometimes my body urges me to tell her that that fool will be back anytime soon but I'd rather see it happen than telling her.

Yesterday's snowfall marked the beginning of winters, it's the season that's the hardest on us financially since nothing can be sown in the thick snow but that's trivial in front of the beauty that this time of the year brings. It's far more than worth sleeping a few nights with a little less than a full stomach.

I opened the window and swept my gaze across the village, thin smoke rose from the many chimneys that jutted out of the snow covered roofs. Then I looked at the sky, the moon. Tonight's a full moon, this townscape looks beautiful in the dead of the night as the attention diverts from the shacks to the sky. Completely silent, the white landscape due to yesterday's snow reflected the moon's dim light.

That fool, he really thought he could become an adventurer? He must be on his way back after getting rejected out by the academy. I don't really care what happens to him but...it will be sad. Seeing his face, after he has realized that he was deluding himself into thinking of the impossible, will be sad. I don't know how he will react, he is very stubborn but what can he do about something that was never in his control?

"You fool...Can't we just stay here... together?"

Don't you see the moon shines brightest in the sky at the same place each night? Then why do you just think about moving out, wandering in the world.

A soft breeze shook me out of my daze, it felt different, almost familiar. My gaze returned to the village, the same white townscape with smoke coming out from fewer chimneys now but it was a bit different this time, there was someone walking towards the house from the plaza. The person wasn't clearly visible in the dark but I could see the ragged clothes, barely covering that man's torso, swaying around. Then my eyes went to his feet, he was bare feet. After he came a few steps closer, my eyes widened seeing the jacket draping on his shoulder, the black leather jacket that I was so familiar with.

Steve? He waved back his hair to the sides, to reveal his face. He looked at me and a sense of relief poured down on me. Why am I reacting this way even though I knew he would come back?

That's when I realized, my focus wasn't on his tattered clothes, or on the bruises and welts that covered his body or the strange bird that perched on his shoulder and nor on the pile that he hauled behind. His current site was chill inducing yet a smile crept up my face as he looked at me, scratching his ruffled silver locks, smiling.

His eyes hadn't lost their shine.

Stevenson Willwin

I am back. Finally, I could see them again. A sense of anxiety welled up inside me after John spat that remark. I was inclined to kill him at that moment but Adron took over, I didn't know before but he can take over my body forcefully now.

"What all are you up to when I sleep?" I asked.

[It is because your body needs sleep that I had to do this. You are clearly too vulnerable at the time.] He answered deadpan.

"That's all?" I suppressed a smile, raising a brow.

[It's also a reminder for you of your place in this symbiosis, lesser.] He was embarrassed but of course, it was beneath him to not be arrogant for even a second. A god trying to bully a measly peasant huh? Anyways, he was pretty excited after that encounter with John. Although he had partially possessed the body, just my eyes, the results were drastic. I was reminded of my reaction when he first spoke to me.

I was excited too, I wondered how they'd react, aunt Ella and Sara. I picked up the pace when my eyes landed on the house from the plaza. Coming near, my heart ached seeing that our chimney was the only one out cold, they didn't have firewood, but it was all going to change so I didn't let my mood go down to mud.

It was Sara I saw first, she was looking out from the window and although I couldn't see her face clearly, her cinnamon red hair gleamed in the moonlight. Everything paused for a moment as her face turned in my direction, I came to a still but then she vanished inside. She didn't recognize me. At that moment I just wanted to run to my house but there was the pile of gliders I had to carry. Incidentally, their bodies don't decompose easily, that's good, or else carrying them all the way from the forest while they rot would have made the way back much longer.

I stood before the steps and bore my eyes into every corner of the house, completely immersing in the stream of memories that flowed as I looked at it. I had never been away from home before, that's what I used to justify the tears that welled up.

[What? Just stop that drama and open the damn door, kid!] Adron's voice shook me out. I wiped the tears off and sighed.

"It's called a knock." I replied before bringing my hand to the door.

Before I could knock, the door opened just enough for me to see her face from behind. Sara stood there, at first her eyes widened as she peered at me but then her usual detached self took over. I was emaciated, my clothes in tatters, and I had welts

and bruises all around my body. Adron withdrew the healing effect to make me 'toughen up' but all it took for Sara to digest it was a fleeting moment. She is similar to someone else here in those regards.

[She would have been a much better host than you kid.] He groused just as I thought of the possibility.

"Come in" Sara hushed, opening the door wider, as I stood staring at her from behind it. Her sight then fell on something behind me. "And don't bring that in!"

I dropped the makeshift rope that I had made from tree vines to carry the carcasses. Come to think of it she didn't even ask why the hell am I carrying these?

"Won't you ask what they are?" I whispered, smiling. My eyes were still wet.

"I am not the one who wants to become rich selling pelts. Why would I care?" She replied with a smile this time. Right, she is the only one here that beats me in the area of knowledge.

She bore an expression of relief, looking at me with a smile as she waved for me to get in.

A strange sense of comfort engulfed me as I walked through the narrow foyer. Even the creaking of the floor, the very thing that I used to hate, sounded like a bell to me. Tears started rolling down my cheeks again as I walked.

[You only start loving them when they get far away.] Adron chimed in, his voice was faint. He radiated a feeling of sheer loneliness. That's when it struck me, all this time, he was away from his home too but unlike me, he can't go back. He feels lonely but he will never show that he is hurting. It's his decision whether he wants to share it or not and I chose to stay silent respecting his choice.

Sara asked me not to wake my aunt up as she was having a hard time sleeping these days so we went to the living room, I lied on the settee and she sat across on the wooden armchair. For a while, no word was uttered in that room but then a question broke the silence.

"Where did you get that?" She asked very softly as if she didn't want to ask it at all.

"I was training." I replied as if it was something obvious but then Sara raised her brow, piercing me with her brown eyes."...On my own."

"The academy didn’t take you in, did it?" More so than asking, it was like she just needed me to confirm her presumption.

Ahh, shoot! I told them I'd be going to the academy. What do I say now? There's no point lying since she would catch it easily and well, there is no need to lie either. "I didn't go to the academy," I paused, then looked in the direction of the main entrance where the glider's corpses were kept. "...Yet."