"Where are we going brother?" said Celia in her usual cute voice. "Were going to a secret hideout, so you can't tell anyone ok?" replied Korin. Celia nodded as confirmation as well as an "oki doki". A while had already passed and the siblings were still walking, making Celia worry slightly. "Korin, mommy Said scary monster in forest. Me scared." Korin patted her on the head and told her that they were nearing the hideout. Surely enough in a few minutes the duo arrived... in the middle of an opening surrounded by trees.
"Were here Celia." Korin let go of her hand, knelt down and began rummaging through the leaves. "Where's the secret place Korin?" questioned Celia. "Just a minute. It's overrr.. ahh, here it is." Korin removed the leaves out of the way to reveal a wooden doorhatch with a circular metal handle on the left edge. He pulled on the lever to reveal descending steps which looked to be shaped from dirt. This was the special secret spot that Serkata and his friends had "built" a few weeks ago. Korin obviously didn't believe that it was Serkata who had built it and that it was probably owned by his father, but nevertheless it was somewhere where no one would annoy them.
"Come Celia, grab my hand." Korin extended his hand towards his little sister but she hesitated. "It's dark in there Korin. Me not like the dark, it scary." Celia took a few steps back from the doorhatch. "It's ok, I'm with you." Korin grabbed Celia's hand and descended into the dark steps. While descending Celia held onto Korin as tightly as she could by his waist. He couldn't blame her, after all he would be scared at her age. He was still a little scared even now. After taking a dozen steps down Korin and Celia found themselves in a 4 by 4 square room which had a lit lantern on a table in the middle of the room. Four boys all around Korin's age were huddled around the table chatting quietly.
"Woahhh, this is pretty cool Serkata. Are you sure this is your d- you built this yourself?" said Korin in awe. "Finally decided to show up Kor? And yeah of course I built this. Anyways you came here to see my wooden sword right?" All the boys had stopped talking and we're now looking at Korin with anticipation. "Yeah I came here to see your wooden sword. Where is it?" By the way all the boys looked at Korin he could tell they wanted something from him. "I have it with me right here, but if you wanna see it you need to agree to play with us with the sword." So that was what they wanted from Korin. So why did they look at him so weirdly, of course he would play with them, that's why he came. Besides even if they played unfair he wouldn't play with them again. Serkata and his small gang were known to be quite mischievous. "Ok, I'll play with you." Serkata took out his wooden sword and was about to place it on the table when he saw a small figure standing next to him. "Who's that Kor?" "Oh, she's my sister. I tried to..." Korin didn't want his sister to hear what he was going to say so he got closer and whispered in Serkata's left ear. "I tried to sneak out but then I got caught, so I had to say that I was taking my sister out." Serkata looked at the other three boys and then frowned. "Does she know that this is a hideout?" Serkata stared at Korin and then at the small girl, she met his gaze and then took a step back to go behind her brother. "Yeah she does. It's fine, she won't tell. Right Celia?" Korin lied to the boy. He knew that Celia had a good memory so she would immediately tell when they got home, meaning that he would have to once again give away another of his figurines. At least it would be one of the female princesses which he didn't care about much. "Yeah. I won't tell." Serkata looked at her and then smiled. "Ok then. Let's start the game, I'm going to be it, so I will have the sword and chase after you. If I find you and hit you with the sword you're out. Ok?" All of the boys nodded their heads and then began ascending the steps. Celia was about to follow Korin when he stopped her.
"You can't come with me Celia, I'm going to a place for big boys." He told her. "But this place is scary Korin, I don't wanna stay here." She grabbed onto his sleeves and tugged on them. "Do you remember what Mommy said Celia? If you stay next to the light then you will be ok. You see that lantern? If you sit next to it you will be ok." Celia hesitated and then finally stepped back towards the lantern and sat on the only chair. "Don't go for too much bro ok?"
"I won't be long. Maybe you could try and do that thing with your hair where you twirl it around while you're here ok?" Celia smiled. "Oki doki." Just before he left Korin waved goodbye to his smaller sister, and off he went to hide.
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Korin was hiding behind a green bush when he heard a murmur coming from a small distance away. He peeked over the bush to find that Serkata had already caught two of his friends, Jake and Wincott. Only two were left. Himself and Amri. He was about to switch to a bush behind the trio when he heard another rustle. Serkata and his mates had heard it as well, so they went to check out the noise. It turned out that the spot that Korin had wanted to switch to was already occupied by Amri, and that they had just found him. "Hahaha you dummy, making noise when hiding. Hyah." Serkata hit the newly found boy on the shoulder, eliciting an owe from him. After that Korin couldn't hear what they were saying as they all huddled together, probably discussing how they were going to find him. They had come very close to finding him, do he desperately wanted them to go away. As soon as he thought that the small posse immediately left, heading the opposite direction. Looks like it would be a long time until they found where he was.
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"So what now Serkata? You found all of us but Korin. Should we spread out and try and find him?" said Amri. "No, leave him be. I want to make sure that something doesn't happen right now. I don't trust Korin, I think he lied to us when he said his sister wasn't going to tell. Let's go back and try and convince her." The four soon arrived at the hideout and descended the steps, making sure that the hatchdoor was locked. They went down to find that Celia was sitting next to the lantern and was twirling her hair in an attempt to create a braid.
"Hey Celia." Serkata waved at the small girl who then waved back with a smile. "Do you know the way to this place?" She replied with a nod. "Will you tell anyone that were here?" She nodded her head again. "I want to tell Fenny and Christa to come play with me here." Bad news. Serkata knew from the local boys that Christa was famed for snitching on everyone, even her siblings. "Don't tell Christa." said Serkata in a serious tone. "Why?"
Serkata face palmed. He hated Korin's siblings. They were always so happy and innocent and got all the attention of the Hanan adults, even his own parents. Korin was annoying because he was handsome so Hestia would always look at him during the Seed ceremony. Now it was time to get his revenge. He put his wooden sword on the table and then walked over to Celia. "What are you doing with your hair Celia?" happy that someone was asking about her hair she replied immediately. "I'm making braids that mommy teach me." she smiled at him. Serkata smiled back. "Can I see them up close?" he asked. "Oki doki!"
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Korin was now walking back proudly to the hideout after an hour of hiding. He knew that the other boys couldn't catch him after all. He tried to open the doorhatch but it didn't budge. He tried once more and then knocked, followed by Wincott who opened the door. He had a sad look on his face. "Why the sad look?" Korin was confused. "N-nothing" replied Wincott. He turned around quickly and headed down the steps, Korin following behind. As he descended Korin began to hear the sound of someone sobbing, so he pushed Wincott out of the way and ran down the steps, walking into the sight of Serkata poking his sister with his wooden sword while she is huddled in the corner crying.
Serkata stopped when he saw Korin, and then threw a disgusting glance at Wincott. "I thought I told you not to let him in yet!" Wincott was about to recede back into the shadow of the room but stood his ground. "I-im sorry. I couldn't bring myself to lock the door, sorry Serkata." By now Serkata was beginning to build up in anger. How could this mere farmer boy disobey the words of the son of a merchant? He needed to be taught a lesson. Serkata was about to turn around towards Wincott when he felt pressure build up at his right cheek. Korin had punched him hard in the face, leaving a red mark on the right hand side of his face. He was about to get back up when Korin jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. The two boys began brawling and trying to take the higher position, kicking and punching at each others body and limbs.
Serkata tried to hit Korin with the wooden sword knowing that it would hurt, but his attempt was thwarted as Korin yanked it from his hand and broke it in half. Serkata began crying and crawled to where his precious wooden sword laid in two pieces, only to be kicked in the face by Korin. "You broke my sword!" I'll make you pay peasant!" Korin ignored the ramblings of someone who had lost and headed towards his sister who had lifted her head from her fetal position. "Are you okay sis?" He grabbed her chin and turned her face sideways to see a small bruise on her forehead. "It hurts." replied the teary eyed girl. Korin had made the biggest mistake in his life, bringing his sister over here. He was also on the verge of tearing up at the fact that he was careless and was stupid for leaving her alone, so he brought her head closer to his chest and hugged her. "It's ok, I got rid of the bad guy, he won't hurt you anymore. Tell me where else does it hurt." The little girl pulled down her shoulder sleeve to reveal a small cut bleeding slightly. He didn't have anything to stop the bleeding, so he went to rip part of his shirt when he felt a light two on his shoulder. "Here, s-sorry for not helping your sister, I got scared." Wincott took out a small piece of cloth and handed it to Korin. "Thanks Wincott." Korin pulled down his sister's shoulder sleeve and placed the cloth in the cut, to which his sister bit her lip in pain. After a while seconds the pain subsided and the cut had scabbed.
"You didn't get to play today, right sis?" Korin wanted to make his sister feel happy, so he was thinking on taking her somewhere else to play. She nodded. "Ok, let's go play with Hestia and the others ok?" The siblings stood up and began walking up the steps. Korin opened the hatch and left, only to be followed by Wincott. "Can I come play with you Korin?" Korin considered whether he should let him play or not, after all he's one of Serkata's goons, yet he still unlocked the door and gave him a cloth. He couldn't ignore a kind person. "You can come play, but you need to promise me to never play with Serkata, ok?" Wincotts face lit up in happiness, and then he nodded. "Let's go."