Chapter 4

The next day, I was sitting in Momo’s home at their table drinking tea when I noticed something move from the corner of my eye. I just smirked and continued drinking. That’s when something suddenly smacked me straight in the face, knocking the cup out of my hands. I flinched as it shattered upon impact onto the floor and glanced up at the source of the “attack.”

“So, why’ve you been hiding from me?” I asked a bit confusedly.

The attacker was Chow. She just tossed her hair over her shoulder and wound her right arm up like she was prepared to toss something else at me.

“Weirdos, strangers, and boys like you need to get a good ol' smack in the face sometimes. Face reality, right?” She grinned.

“Pardon…?” I slowly stood up and walked around the chair to push it into the table properly.

“Tell me, why did you come to our village? What do you want with Dispero?” She crossed her arms in front of her and squinted her eyes at me.

“Did you want money? To steal some land or cattle from us? Are you even a magic user?” She asked clearly, not trusting me.

“I er…” Did I use magic? I tried to think about it, but for some reason, it just wouldn’t pop up. I couldn’t remember anything from the last 5 years or so, in fact. I couldn’t even remember how I got her.

“Dispero? That’s your village's name?”

She just blinked at me.

“You’re not-” She froze as a giant shadowy figure suddenly loomed over her, and made me jump a bit. She turned on her heel as slowly as possible, and with a gulp, she reached her arms over her head and let out a yelp as the figure landed a hard bop onto the top of her skull.

“Quit testing the boy. If he were suspicious or…one of THEM, we’d probably all be dead by now! He would’ve nabbed some of us and killed the rest!” Momo spat as Chow rubbed her head.

“Excuse me, I don’t-” I jumped again as their backs suddenly straightened. They both moved to look at me square in the face, and their eyes looked haunted, spooked, but also a bit surprised.

“Er, you…Do you not know of the hidden city?” Chow asked, her voice lowered to a whisper.

I just shook my head at them both.

“Son, listen. If you ever move to other villages, avoid the ones near the main road. I’ve never been to it myself, but there’s a giant blood red line somewhere far from here that splits the land. It was made by the King of Karmaeo-esk, King Akiyo.”

Upon hearing the name of the king, Chow’s lower lip began to tremble slightly, and her eyes began to water, but I could tell that she was trying to keep it together.

“King Akiyo is a ruthless, sadistic, cruel, evil man, and Karmaeo-esk is a place that folks like us don’t belong unless we’re “food,” if you get what I mean.

“It’s home to those unable to control or use magic, ie, those not gifted with the power of our God, Angtada. He does everything he can to try and destroy fellow villages nearby that house magic users and take those he deems “special” prisoner. Nobody knows what he does with his prisoners, but the less we know, the better. He hates our guts, and while he hasn’t been to our village yet, nor have his men, that’s why this fool here, Chow, questioned you so harshly.”

Chow just rubbed her shoulder guiltily as a blush crept onto her cheeks.

“King…Akiyo? Karmaeo-esk? I…wait, am I-”

We all jump at the sound of a child crying and something breaking just outside the house. I hurried over to the nearest window, and my eyes widened at the sight before me. It was the kids, those same kids from yesterday. The boy, Jio, was kneeling on the floor and hovering over a small broken pot. His sister, Alyz, was rubbing his back and was also crying. The villagers all either ignored them or just stared in shock. I couldn’t handle the sight of nobody helping them and hurried out of the house as Chow and Momo followed after me.

“What’s wrong, you two?” I asked a bit worriedly.

“I-” Alyz started, and then when she looked up and saw that it was me, she closed her mouth, pressing her lips tightly together as her brother just kept sobbing.

Jio finally began to rub his eyes a bit, and once he glanced up and met my eyes, his chest still struggling to catch a breath, he froze.

I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, what I could’ve done to cause them to be so scared of me. But then I remembered what Jio called out to me before his mother picked them up to go back home.

“Jio, why did you tell me that you wanted to go home? Is this not your village?” I asked, wanting to know more about them. Whether it was to distract them or help them, I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to know more.

“W-We can’t tell you or…mama will take our stuff away,” Jio whispered between shuddering breaths.

“Yeah. Mama says that strange boys like you-” Alyz stopped talking as Jio shot her a harsh look, causing her to stare at the ground in shame.

“She said not to trust boys like me? Why would she say that? We don’t even know each other.” I mentioned trying to get them to tell me more.

“Come on, Jio. We’ll just have to tell mama that we broke her flower pot. It’ll be fine. Just, don’t cry this time.” Alyz almost begged as she helped him back onto his feet. I watched as they stumbled away, their shoulders sunken and backs rigid. They didn’t want to confront their mother, and it worried me. Perhaps Momo and Chow could tell me more?