It had been a while since the three had left the secret "hideout" area and they were nearing the village by the sound of the frequent screaming of children. They weren't the only people nearing the village however, as they could all hear the rustling of leaves behind them. Celia had begun to get slightly scared from the possibility of a predator stalking them but was quickly disproven by Korin's speech that predators hadn't roamed the Calabrian woods for more than 20 years, calming her down. Korin suspected that it was the other three boys stalking them hoping to find out where the girl and two boys were going to play with. No matter, the other kids wouldn't let them play anyways. A boy about the age of Korin ran towards them while holding out his hands. Korin assumed that they were playing chase the rabbits and that the "wolf" thinks that Wincott and Celia along with himself are actually a part of the game. The three stop and immediately get caught. "Hah, got you!" screamed the wolf.

"We've only just got here, but we'd like to play if that's fine with you." replies Korin. "Sure, just go ask Frank and the others, I've already caught them so they'll be at my den." the boy was about to run off when Korin stopped him. "Where is your den?" The boy looked at Korin with confusion, but after realising that they weren't there at the start of the game so he needed to let them know. "It's just behind the nurses house, I've already caught most of the guys and girls so they should be there. I'm gonna go catch the rest of the rabbits, bye!" The boy waved and ran off while Korin waves back. He then turned to his sister and ruffled her hair.

"Do you wanna play a fun game Celia?" As soon as her ears picked up the word fun she perked up, nodding vigorously. "Alright, let's go meet the other children, don't worry they're nice." Korin and Celia began heading towards the nurses house until Korin realised that Wincott wasn't following. "What's wrong Wincott?" The boy looked visibly nervous, eyes pointing to the ground. "W-what if they don't want me to play? I know that I used to play with Serkata and the others, but I promise that I won't do anything bad." Korin didn't need to check whether Wincott was good or not. He unlocked the hatch for him back in the hideout and even admitted that he felt really bad. If it wasn't for him opening the door, then god knows what else would have happened to his sister. "Don't worry about it, I'll let them know that you're a good person. Come on, let's go." The third joined them in their walk, both boys having a small chat with each other while the little girl admired the look of the village. They had all decided to walk around the village rather than directly to the "wolf's den" because they were in no rush, and also due to the fact that Korin wanted his sister the rest of the village.

The village itself was surprisingly small for the over 100 villagers that lived in Hanan. There were quite a few wooden huts scattered around with no road or streets to connect the houses, only dirt paths. Houses varied in size depending on the size of the family, an average of 5 for the village, meaning that Korin's house was of mediocre size, being trumped by families that consisted of ten family members. During the afternoon it was mostly women that walked around the village to their destinations with rarely any men. After all most of the me worked on the crop farms and pastoral farms, meaning they were away from their houses from the morning to the evening. One of the villages traditions was that there were no bakeries or shops, all the goods acquired from the farms and the Calabrian woods would go straight to the doorstep of each house, also varying in amount depending on the size of the family. Then the family would make their own bread or strip the meat of cattle by themselves or with the help of neighbours.

Celia was watching a butterfly flying around her when she came across the largest building she had ever seen. It even had a floor that wasn't built by wood like the rest of the village. Korin noticed his sister in awe and began explaining what the building was. "That's the Village Hall where all the village elders gather to do adult work. It's the only building in Hanan which has a stone floor." Once the three were done looking at the large building they moved further, arriving at a large circle with a wooden platform about 4 feet above the ground. Instead of Korin explaining this time, Wincott chimed in. "My Pa told me this was where all the elders gathered and announced anything important, although last time it was used was before I was even born." Korin had heard of that story. Apparently there was an incident where an outsider somehow found managed to find Hanan village, so the elders gathered everyone to consult on what they would do. In the end he decided to live here.

"Just a bit more and we'll see the others." 

Without any delay the trio arrived at the wolf's den, surely enough a bunch of children were sitting in an outlined square. "Hey guys. Can we play?" All of the children sitting in the square look up, smiling at the sight of the siblings until they landed on the third one. "Yeah you guys can play, but why is he here?" said a boy with Auburn hair. Everyone that was present and playing the game hated Serkata and his mini gang with a passion, so it wasn't hard to recognise one of them. "I know that he used to hang out with Serkata, but he's actually a nice guy. After all he helped me out with...something. I promise he won't cause any trouble." After hearing those words from Korin the children decided to let the kid play, as long as he would be the wolf first. Then a girl brown hair and ponytails spoke up, bringing all attention to herself. "Ok! So Wincott will be the wolf, and we will be the rabbits. The rules are simple. We can only hide kin the village, if you leave then you get put in the naughty corner and you aren't allowed to play for three games." she says as she holds up three of her fingers." The only way for the wolf to win is if he or she catches all the rabbits. The rabbits can win when the wolf gives up." Korin was very happy with how the game was going so far. If it would have been Hestia or Frank then the game would have never ended because they rarely give up. At least this time it was Wincott, and he had a gut feeling that he would give up pretty soon considering how skinny he is. "Ok wolf. You have to close your eyes and count to 100 so that we have a chance to run. 3...2...1...go!" At the sound of Damelia's go everyone started running. Korin could easily outrun everyone and get a solid advantage since he was one of the oldest children but he had to hang back because his sister was still too slow. "Brother, I'm tired. My legs hurt." Korin already knew that his sister was bound to stop at some point, she had already walked too much anyways, so he told her to jump on his back and hold tight because he was about to go full speed.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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Korin and Celia we're now hiding behind a wooden crate near the village hall. They had already been found out quite a few times by the wolf but still managed to escape because he was so slow and already tired. During all the running around and hiding Korin could tell that his sister was enjoying herself. She would squeal when the wolf was after her and gasp while hiding, something that always revealed their location. Nevertheless as long as she was having fun, Korin was happy. During this whole time thinking about his sister Korin didn't notice that something was creeping up from behind him. "Boo!" Korin jumped in fear and Celia squealed. They both turned around to find a girl which looked to be about the same age as Korin with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. "Hestia, you almost blew our cover! What are you doing here?" he hissed. She giggled at his angry face. "I just wanted to come say hello to Celia. Hi Celia." Both girls greeted each other while Korin facepalmed. If she was really desperate to meet his sister, she could have just said Hello before the game started. Now the wolf will probab-"Iiiii foundddd youuuuuuuu". The wolf grabbed both girls and tried to grab Korin but he quickly backed out of the way. Now both girls lost and had to go back to the den, so it was just him. 

Korin quickly got up to his feet and began running away as fast as he could. He looked back to check if he was being chased and sure enough, Wincott had begun running after him as well. It was obvious that Wincott was losing ground so he decided to take a left between two houses, probably attempting to try and cut him off. He's smart he'll give him that, but he'll have to do better than that if he wants to catch the last rabbit. Korin wasn't watching the ground properly while running so he tripped on a stone, majorly slowing down his speed. Now he could see that Wincott was getting too close for comfort. Korin quickly got back up and began runnin once again, frequently looking back to see if he had lost him. Another mistake that Korin made was not looking front at all times. He hadn't realised that he had bumped into someone until he was thrown onto the ground. 

Korin got immediately tagged by Wincott who looked to be very pleased with himself, despite not playing a major part in catching Korin. Korin shook his head and looked at the man Infront of him. He was clad in brown leather armor and had a strap which held a pouch and something on each side. He knew it was made our of metal because it looked similar to the tools his father used in farming, yet he has never seen metal shaped so sharply before. "I'm sorry mister, didn't mean to bump into you." His apology was met with a grin from the large man. "Is the village of Hanan?" he asked. Korin replied by saying that it is the village of Hanan, eliciting an even wider grin from the man. "Lead me to the leaders of this sorry bunch boy." Korin was confused. "Sorry mister?" The man looked at him angrily. He grabbed Korin by his collar and easily lifted him up from the ground. "I said, take me to your fucking leaders." Korin was scared, really scared. As soon as the man let go of him he desperately ran away and towards the village hall. He arrived at the double door entrance, flinging it open. "What are you doing here young boy! You should know to never interrupt the elder gathering!" Korin couldn't care less for whether it was respectful or not, he had come to deliver a message. "There's a man...with pointy metal things and armor... He wants to see the village elders." He says, breathing heavily. The village elders stand up from their seated positions and hurry outside, only to be met by a man standing on the wooden platform at the village center holding a young girl with s whole crowd gathered around. "Celia!" Korin runs towards his sister who is currently being held by the man, only to be stopped by the village elders. "Stop they're young lad. Let us handle this matter." The leader of Hanan village steps up and begins talking with his bellowing voice. "How did you come here stranger?" The man turned around to the village elder and stared at him with eyes as if assessing him. "The Farron woods may be dangerous, but I can handle myself. I have been searching for suitable candidates to my lords experiments for quite some time." The crowd gasp and murmur while the village leader continues the conversation. "We did not grant you permission to enter our sacred village. Disarm and we will discuss whatever you are here for inside." He said pointing towards the village hall. The man starred down the whole crowd and then began laughing maniacally, his voice getting louder and louder. " I have entered without permission, what can you do to me. Even if I didn't use a single weapon I could still slaughter this entire village. Now for what I came for" he grabbed one of his daggers and slashed the girls forearm, blood gushing out rapidly. The girl yelped in pain, twisting and turning in an attempt to try and escape, but the man had s solid grip on her. The men of the village tried to move up to apprehend him but we're stopped by his threats. "Go on. Try it. See what happens when you step up here and I cut your throat open." He took out a vial from his pouch and placed it on the girls forearm. The blood poured into the vial, quickly filling it up then majorly slowing down. "Your unaffiliation with the system has left you weak, powerless against even the weakest of the many denizens that have recieved it's blessing, and yet your predecessors have placed a curse on you and broke your toes with the system. Now you are but a resource in my lords eyes, your blood a necessary ingredient for his experiments." He makes another slightly smaller gash on her left forearm, placing a vial once again under it.

Korin's parents who has just arrived had witnessed the scene, one in anguish while the other full of anger. One of them grabs a hoe from nearby and runs out if the crowd with the intent to slaughter that man. While running he stopped and noticed that something had just hit him. He looked down to find a dagger burrowed deep into his chest, blood already pouring out of the wound. He collapsed to the ground twitching. Tears rolled down his eyes as he ran towards his father. His mother was already there with the rest of the children, all kneeling down and crying as well. They didn't even have a moment to check whether he was still alive when the man spoke again, this time staring directly into the eyes of Korin. "Your father's dead little boy, and your sister will be soon if you don't attend to her." Then he looked at around and addressed the entire village. "My lord is currently handling important matters and cannot enslave you immediately, so we will be back in 5 years. Don't try to run, the Farron woods are too dangerous for the likes of you lot." He dropped the little girl and disappeared out of sight in a veil of dark energy.