Chapter 5: Mystic

A few people came in and spread thin among the long table and busied themselves distributing food to everyone present. They moved with practiced motion and a woman left me with a piece of meat and I didn't hesitate to put it inside my salivating mouth.

From the corner of my round eyes, I noticed another group of people entering, some kind of instrument placed in their hands. They took position all around us and started tuning out a melodic sound. Ah, bards.

And along with the food and the tune that they played, the terseness was no longer present but filled with friendliness. Soft murmurs and laughs spread out and I quietly listened to them, sometimes interjecting.

"So tell me, kid, how was the sea like? I heard it tasted salty." One of the men asked me after I started babbling about my experience of the sea.

"Just salty is an understatement. It makes you want to bite your tongue," I said, and let out a disgusted expression.

"Hahahahah," they laughed and we continued until later into the night. Being too tired and the sleep, I slowly excused myself politely.

"Hah," I sighed, managing my first ordeal in this place. I would have expected you to treat me rudely, even hostile but that wasn't the case. Despite the cautiousness that was relevant at first, almost all of them soon opened up to me, disregarding my current age.

I continued to walk further away from the sound of talks and music and soon the silhouette of a human under the night sky came into my view. I walked toward her, recognizing, "What are you doing here?"

My voice seemed to startle her as she jumped visibly, "Ah, it's you." She sighed a breath, "I was waiting for you, zareth" It was nice to hear her say my name, without any hesitation now.

"Hmm, why?" I asked, her words picking my childish curiosity.

"Well won't you lose yourself in this place, " she paused, uncertainty flashing in her eyes then disappearing, "You are new here, after all." Perhaps? No, she couldn't know. I was certain of the fact that everyone thought I was from the place they called, north. There was no way she could tell I was from somewhere else.

"Heh, so you are also curious about me?" I teased and felt a smirk creep out on my face, aware that I should sort my situation alone first.

"W-wh-what?" She stuttered in her words but then admitted, "Yeah, you got me. So are you going to tell me?" She looked into my eyes, keeping my gaze until I withdrew mine, "Not now," I said, walking in front of her, I was too tired to repeat my words for the third time now, besides she could learn about it from them.

I asked her, not bothering to stop, "Why do you want to know from me?" I felt her feet stop and turning my head, found her uncertain. She opened her mouth a few times before closing it, I patiently waited for her to sort her words, "Because, you didn't tell everything to them, did you?" she paused, "And I want to know more of it, how it looks and what there are."

"Yes, you are right. I did not reveal everything," I said, making sure my words sounded right, "If you are curious about it, then I will tell, but not now." A thought of using her came into my mind, but I threw that at the back of my mind.

"Let's go," I resumed my walk.

***
The next morning instead of being woken up by the chirping of some birds, I was woken by the loud noise outside. Despite covering my head with the blanket it did nothing. Not finding any other method, I grumbled my way out, uncertain what I was supposed to do anyways.

There was a huge crowd that gathered centering around something, that I couldn't make out from my position. I pushed through the crowd, wanting to find the reason why my peaceful slumber had to be disrupted.

Ah...

There in the middle of the crowd, I found a boy laying down on the road and a woman beside him who had her hand on his, crying and asking for help. And then someone pushed me out of the way, "Move from here! We are the city guards. We will take the boy. Now move!" Two men shouted and made the crowd slowly disperse and they skillfully moved through the dispersing crowd. Reaching the boy and his mother, one of them picked the little boy on his shoulder while the other, consoled the mother

"Will my boy be okay, guard? Tell me!" She shouted, grasping the guard's hand tightly. And the guard stayed quiet. I watched them from afar and soon recognized the one who was carrying the boy, it was the one who had pushed me down last night.

Soon after picking up the-sickly boy, they ran off to somewhere I had no idea of. Curious about what was happening, I was about to follow them but a tug at my cloth brought me back to reality. I looked behind my back and found a man standing beside me, curiosity in his eyes. It was kaius if I remembered correctly.

"What are you doing?" he asked with one of his brows raised, " Don't tell me you were about to follow them?" I nodded at his words and he sighed.

"Zareth, you don't know about it because you are new here, but that kid there might have awakened. " What? Awakened? Dozens of questions rose to my mind and I asked one of them," What do you mean by awakened?"

He seemed to think about my question for a second before replying, "Simply when someone gains the mysterious power and becomes a mystic. Sorry, but I cannot tell you more than that."

"I see," I said and he told me to follow behind him. Mystic, is it? There was something about it...something that I had to know. And if I was right in my assumption, it would be my key to leaving this place.

Walking behind him I asked, "So where are we going?" I had a clue as to where we were going but asked anyways.

"To grandma dally."He replied while he continued to lead me toward our destination. Soon, we passed by the town complex and the snow arrived in my sight again. On the road, there was no snow, but now we were in the snow again.

My feet sank into the snow but we continued treading our path and soon a small hut came into my view. Both kaius and I approached it slowly, and soon we were in front of the door of the little hut.

Kaius knocked at the wooden door after climbing the two stairs, "Granny, it's me, kaius." It was weird that an old woman like her would be staying out of the town-in this wilderness and alone. But then, I heard a voice from behind, "Come inside".

"If you excuse me then," Kaius said before pushing the door and entering, and I followed suit.

Inside the room was a fireplace, which surprised me, since I'd thought that all of the people here used those weird gems, that provided adequate heat but it seems not to be the case. Maybe those were expensive?

Other than that, there were a bed and a rather large table with chairs beside it. I wondered who those empty chairs were for. I found another interesting thing inside, which was a bookshelf. Since I could understand their language, maybe I could also read their texts.

I had already gone near them and was about to touch them, when a voice cut me off, "Don't touch those, child. They are very precious." I followed behind the voice and found an older woman sitting in a chair beside the fireplace, a book in her hand, and a rimmed glass on her wrinkled face.

"Ah, sorry." I let out an apology not sure what else to say.

"It's fine," she began, then took off her glass and placed it beside an oddly looking glass on the table beside her," So why are you here, kaius? Did that child send you here?" She raised her brow in question and I wondered, how old she was.

Kaius closed the door-stopping the cold wind from seeping inside, then looked at her, "Yes, leader had sent him here, but it's a long story. And I'm sure you will be able to tell when you take a look at him," he said, looking at me which gave me slight goosebumps for some reason. The old woman also shifted her gaze at me, more wrinkles now visible on her forehead.

"Come close, " she ordered, and I obliged not that I could do anything else. When I was near enough she placed her cold hand on my forehead and a surprised look appeared on my face.

"Shush now, Close your eyes and keep your curiosity to yourself." Shutting my agape mouth I did as she instructed. From my blank view I heard her, "Kaius, you go outside. I will call you when I am done."

With the sound of the fire crackling, I felt my heart beat with calmness, its rhythm like the waves of a sea. And slowly her cold touch became colder and it started spreading from my forehead to all over my body, from my face, lips, chest, and then to my legs and by the end of it, I was shaking so violently that I hadn't noticed her touch leave me.

And then, I felt a heavy cloth placed upon my shoulder, and opening my eye and found her behind me, I grasped hold of it for dear life.

It was really out of the world, how despite the cold I wasn't able to come out of my daze, and now I realized there was something special about her too, something mystical.

Sitting down on the chair I studied her features, trying to find some answers there. After a while when I was warm again, her lost gaze finally returned and she shifted her head from the fire that was burning, toward me and I held it.

"What did you learn?" I asked, quite certain that she had learned something, maybe its something that I had no idea of.

She asked, "You are not a mystic, are you?"

***