Chapter 1 - He didn't reply

“Aw damn it.”

Melodi cursed as she stepped in a patch of mud. Her right boot was colored brown with dirt. Melodi was in a bad mood. It was a crap day. Gray clouds covered the sky. A light drizzle was coming down. And here she was trying to sneak through the forest to find some crappy little cave her teacher told her to get to.

She clenched her teeth. She had no doubt that her teacher was probably enjoying himself in downtown Quiroso. Despite the gray weather, they were holding a festival for a week to celebrate the twin lords’ birthdays. Her teacher was most likely stuffing his face with treats and desserts, while she was having the time of her life in this shitty forest.

She had been trekking for about a couple of hours, and she couldn’t wait for it to be over. She continued walking for a few more minutes, taking a look at her compass every now and then to find her direction. Suddenly, she spotted something red up ahead in the green of the forest. She stopped walking and tried to be as quiet as possible as she walked up ahead.

Two men wearing red uniforms stood in front of a small opening in the side of a cliff. Stone steps led up to the opening. Melodi stared longingly at the those steps. Her feet ached from hiking throughout the forest. But she had to sneak her way here, so the steps were not an option. She looked at the opening.

That was the cave that she was looking for. But now she had to get past by the two guards standing in front of it. They each held two long spears, and Melodi had no desire to fight the both of them at once. So she only had one choice. Wait.

Melodi waited an hour hiding in the forest. Nothing exciting happened at all during that time. The guards didn’t move or talk, so Melodi wasn’t sure they were even alive until one of them coughed. She passed the time thinking about how she would fight one of them with the sword attached to her hip. But she didn’t really have the confidence to fight them. These were trained guards of the royal family. And her teacher still hadn’t taught her anything she could use in real combat. Breathing techniques and mental training wasn’t going to help her in a real fight.

After an hour of waiting, Melodi spotted someone walking up the steps to the cave. It was another guard, wearing a red uniform and carrying a spear. As he came up the steps, the other two guards greeted him.

“Morning, Cail. Where’s your partner?”

“Off puking his guts no doubt. He got trashed last night at the bar.” The new guard Cail replied.

One of the two guards sneered. “It’s his first month after training isn’t it? He’s sure quick to start celebrating while we have to stand here for guard duty.”

Cail shrugged his shoulders. “Give him shit for it later. I don’t really care about it. I just want to get this over with.”

“Well, alright then. See you later Cail.” The two guards left their post and walked down the steps. Cail stood in front of the cave, watching them go away.

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Melodi stayed still until she was sure the old guards were gone. Once she couldn’t see them anymore, she emerged from the forest. Cail glanced at her, apparently unsurprised to see her.

“You must be Melodi. Melos told me ‘bout you. Been waiting long?”

Melodi glared at him. “For about an hour.”

Cail shrugged as if it wasn’t his problem. “Well go on in. And try to be quick about it yeah? My partner will be coming up here soon to take up his post.”

Melodi walked past Cail without another word. Her boots clicked against the stone ground as she did. There was no light in the cave. So as she walked in, it quickly became dark. She took out a lantern from her bag and lit it up. A dim light filled up the cavern. She held the lantern in her right hand as she continued on, the darkness seemingly endless up ahead. She walked for a few minutes, but then she suddenly heard a soft noise. She stopped moving as she tried to listen closely.

And then she heard it again. A soft hiss. Her face paled a little. She moved her lantern to her left hand and then unsheathed her sword in her right hand. Her teacher warned her about that she would have to watch for cave snakes. They weren’t poisonous, but that didn’t stop Melodi from feeling a little nervous. She took a few breaths to get a little calmer and then continued walking forward.

And then she saw them. Long, black, scaly bodies slithering across the floor. They were jet-black snakes with no pattern on them. Their green eyes stared at Melodi as she glared back at them. Once she was sure that the snakes weren’t moving towards her, she sheathed her sword. She placed her lantern on the ground and then began to move quickly. She pulled a bottle of alcohol and uncorked it. She took it a cloth rag and wet it with alcohol. She stuffed the rag in the bottle, leaving a little peeking out. And there she had it, her own little makeshift bomb. She took a deep breath and then lit a match. She lit the rag and then flung it towards the snakes.

A huge fireball lit up the cave. Melodi realized that the cave was a lot smaller than she thought it was. Her eyes widened as the flames rushed towards her. She quickly scurried backwards. She felt the sudden heat hit her face. She raised her hands to her face. If her hair had been burned up, she was not going to be very happy. After confirming that her hair was intact, she looked back at the flames. The fire was still burning, so she picked up her lantern and waited for the flames to die down a little.

When she felt it was safe, she walked forward. Dead snakes littered the floor. She wrinkled her nose as the smell of burnt snake flesh invaded her senses. It was a strangely fishy smell. As she walked ahead, she suddenly smelled something new. It smelled like burnt hair. Her hands instantly went to her head again. Once she was sure nothing happened to her hair, she realized that something wasn’t quite right. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she smelled something else in the air. Burnt fat. A bit acrid. It smelled good but also it made her feel a little sick. She walked a little faster and then she confirmed her fears.

A burnt body was lying on the ground ahead. It was big enough to be a human boy. She stared at the body in horror. Suddenly, it moved. She jumped up with a start, and then she moved in closer. And then something launched itself at her.

She screamed and fell backwards. A giant snake fell onto the ground. She took a quick glance at it, and her eyes were instantly drawn to the beautiful patterns on its body. It looked like seven snake eyes were drawn on its body. Melodi instantly knew what she was looking at. A Nine-Eyed Viper. One of most venomous snakes, one thought was to be just a myth to scare children. Its venom could instantly kill a grown man. It could kill a lion in less than a second.

All these thoughts passed in a second. The Nine-Eyed Viper coiled itself and then sprung at Melodi once more. She shut her eyes and screamed once more. She waited for everything to end.

But nothing happened. There was no excruciating pain. No sudden death. She opened her eyes. There was no snake. It was gone. She looked around, but the Viper had disappeared. And then she noticed something else had changed.

The burnt body was… no longer a burnt body. It was a human body, intact and unburnt. Melodi looked closer and realized it was a naked boy. He had black hair and a young face. He looked to be around 12 or 13. His eyes were shut closed. He wasn’t moving, nor did he appear to be breathing. His chest was still and he wasn’t making a sound.

Melodi was confused. Had she been hallucinating? What had happened? She really didn’t have a clue as to what she had just experienced. Before she could think longer about it, the boy stirred. Melodi watched as the boy picked himself up and then looked at Melodi. Green eyes stared wordlessly at Melodi.

Melodi weakly smiled. She felt rather tired, but she had done what her teacher had asked of her. To find and retrieve the boy inside the cave behind the city of Quiroso. Now she just had to sneak him out.

She extended a hand out to the boy.

“Hey there.” She gave the boy a smile. “I’m Melodi. What’s your name?”

The boy stared at her. He didn’t reply nor did he move. Melodi felt a little awkward just standing there, so she took back her hand. Then she realized she really didn’t want to waste anymore time, so she grabbed the boy’s hand and then led him back to the entrance. She cursed her teacher under her breath, swearing that she would never do something like this again for him.