Last time on Sunblighted:
After providing Lih with food and shelter, Tev tells the tale of Sul-Um-Im’s blessing, a decayed religion that she believes is connected to the mysterious appearance of Lih and Gerfol.
She says that Can and Thi were sacrifices saved by three warriors who go by the names: Sul Um and Im. Each was blessed by the God of the Winds of Change, and one day they would return in some form or another to rid the world of Shades.
Tev believes that the Sunblighted is connected to this myth. Somehow.
“What does the Sunblighted have to do with any of this?” I grit my teeth, avoiding Tev’s desperate eyes with the dying fire. “From what I know, the Sunblighted is a failed savior of humanity that only delusional fools like you cling onto for hope.” The room suddenly goes quiet. Tev grips my hands even tighter, but I have more to say. “Everyone claims that the last of some holy order will return after training from beyond the edge of the world and save us,” reminding myself of my conviction, I turn to Tev without hesitation. “But he is nothing but a tall tale left over from an age when elders suckled on the fresh fruit of hope.”
“How can you say such blasphemy!” Tev speaks in angry whispers, sadness adding to her rage. “The Troupe of Tomorrow comes round every season to spread the tales of the Sunblighted’s journey throughout the world! How can you say that he is not real?”
What is she talking about? I pull my hand from her grasp and rise over the table. Are there others looking for the Sunblighted? “Who are these travelers?” Tev opens her mouth to speak, but closes it and wipes her eyes with her sleeve, covering her face. Resting on her arm reveals her mouth, which has turned mischievous, sharp teeth shining through cracked lips. Is everyone I meet a pretender?! I chastise myself. Damn it all. And yet, she now has my attention.
“Oh, Tev!” A voice blanketed in dust calls down from the stairs as a middle-aged woman in a plain green dress and browned working smock takes slow, even steps down. Her eyes are a light brown that might have once matched her hair, but time has turned some lines of young brown to ageing gray. “We have not opened yet! You cannot bring in guests until …” She stops speaking and wearily eyes me up and down. Does she think I forced myself in? I hurriedly glance around the room for an escape route, but the light sound of something akin to a mouse squeak brings my attention back to the woman.
Her eyes are wide for just a moment before a similar grin to Tev’s escapes her lips. Her bony cheeks turn a slight red, and her eyes shine bright as she takes faster steps down the stairs, eyeing my weapons laid out against the mantlepiece. I tense up. Is she a threat? She turns back from the weapons and puts her eyes on me, eyeing me up and down again. Her age could be a ruse for her strength, as it shows her knowledge.
“Well, I did not realize the Troupe of Tomorrow had such affable guards this time around!” Her tone turns so fast that I blink in surprise, only for her to appear at my side almost instantly, her eyes blindingly close to my own. I jump back, but she grabs my hand tightly, exactly like Tev, and vigorously shakes it. “How do you do! My name is Bew, and this is my daughter Tev, but you already knew that! I hope the journey was not too rough,” she stops talking, taking heavy breaths.
“Bew!” The grin on Tev’s face went blank, like all emotion was drained from her face, leaving it pale as stone. “He is not part of the Troupe.” she says with a stone-cold tone, launching a blame-accusing glare like an arrow through my head. “He is just a lost adventurer looking for a place to wait out the rain.” Tev turns to the woman; her mother, and places that blank stare back on her face, but Bew wears a smile that could fill a room with the warmth of a thousand hearths. Tev tries to keep her composure, but her straight face falters into a small smile as she speaks: “He was just about to leave.”
“An adventurer, oh!” Bew turns back to me as Tev’s face falls into her hands again “You see that smile of hers? She hides it well.” Bew’s eyes stare at me for a few moments … Oh. I am supposed to say something now.
“Y-yes, I guess …” I look away and notice a procession of villagers walking about through the glass panes. “Where are they going?”
“Oh, he does not know? Hm! He really is an adventurer.” Bew lets go of my hand and lightly taps my shoulder before standing next to Tev, reaching for her hand. Tev bats it away with a light yet stiff backhand.
“Shops are opening for the festival! Oh!” She runs from Tev’s side and ducks under the bar counter, before returning as fast as she left with a new leather satchel, already filled with provisions. I take it from her, with my feelings of gratitude rendering me unable to bring up words before I realize: Where is my old bag, now that I think about it? The last thing I remembered was seeing Tev atop the hill … after … Suddenly, I feel a deep pit of anger in my gut. The cheese and bread might have satiated my hunger now, but that Gefrol trickster must have stolen my bag. My hands shift into restless fists. That sneaky conman!
“We had it lying around unused. No need to thank me. Strange that you were running around out there without any food, but adventurers are so wild now! Not like the old days.” She jumbles through her words wistfully, all while grabbing rags and new candles from under the counter. “Anyways, while I did tell you, Tev, that you would help me prepare this morning for the incoming travelers by washing and cooking and cleaning and being present and kind,” as she says all these things with loud emphasis, Tev seems to hide further and further into her habit and a pang of guilt pinches at my heart, though I cannot figure out why. “I will allow you to enjoy the festivities this time.” Bew flicks her hand towards the door, still smiling. “Now be off, you two!”
Tev gives a muted sound as I glance towards my weapons, and she takes my hand and walks us to the door. As the door shuts behind us and we walk into the now dry starlight, I catch a glimpse of Bew whispering fervently, deep in prayer.
“She seems nice.” I look at Tev and realize how tall I stand in comparison. I can see the crescent emblem’s slight imprint on her hood in whole before she pulls it off her head, letting her brown hair flow free, and lets go of my hand, briskly walking away.
“Hey!” I catch up with a quick jot, trying not to trip on the uneven stone street with lantern-lit corners and sudden drops in the steps. She walks fast for being so small, I think, ignoring how deep we go into this maze of a town. “Do you know someone by the name Gefrol?” She stops moving and turns back to me, that gray, bland look still plastered on her face. “I know the name sounds strange, but I promise it is just one man. He is a conman that stole my bag of supplies and provisions—”
A few children run past me from one house to another, holding a shiny, glazed rock-like substance on wooden sticks. I lower the arms I unconsciously put up in defense and grit my teeth again. They should be more careful. What could possibly make them so excited? And what was it that they were holding? I look to where they appeared from and see a wooden stand with an awning set up in front of two stores. A boney man and muscle-bound woman stand behind the stall, the woman circling sticks in a liquid of the same golden hue, and the man then places them into a pot of bubbling water placed above an earthen container full of fire. He takes the stick out with a flourish, revealing that the liquid has now crystallized into a jagged rocky formation. He hands it to a staring child; gazing in complete wonder. The man suddenly looks towards me, speaks to the woman next to him, then turns back to me.
“Hey, you! Performer! You look as if these honey crystals have enraptured your mind! Heha! Come over and try one!” he says.
I shift my eyes away from the stand, “Me?” I ask, looking around to see people between sets of stairs turn to face me. Why do I keep being seen for something which I am not?
“Who else?” the man continues. “You dress just like him!” The crowd around me takes note as well. Kids walk up to me and start pointing at my face, my clothes, all in enraptured excitement. “And the marking on your neck, you can barely see it under the scarf, but not even the most boisterous of entertainers are like—”
“Kib!” The woman next to him speaks up. “Will you stop bothering the performer? He is obviously agitated.” She gives him, Kib, a stern glare. “You might have just spoiled the reveal.”
“Come on, Mol, the performers never come up this far into town.” Kib says, pleading while clasping his hands around hers. “Might as well put in a good word for the Sunblighted when they see him about.”
As I walk closer to the stand, the woman, Mol, shakes his hands free and sighs. “Oh, now, you come on. We are not children anymore.” She takes a golden glazed stick and hands it to Kib. “If you want to do something nice, just ask him.”
“Excuse me,” I say as I approach the stand. “I couldn’t help but notice …” They stare at me, expectantly. They must be intimidated, I think, stifling a sudden awkward cough. Maybe I should leave them alone … But I feel like I need to know how they made these beautiful things in such a dark world. “How did you produce such a large amount of …” I gesture vaguely to the basin.
“Honey?” Kib suggests.
“Yeah.” I say, looking down at the wooden pegs displaying an arrangement of those jagged sweets.“I have never seen it on my travels.”
“I would not be surprised to hear that.” Mol says as she hands a few off to some adolescents. They look about as old as Tev. “They are found only in these woods.” She gestures to the surrounding trees that hide this town. “Hives of stinging creatures form this almost out of nothing, and cracking their habitat open leaks this sweet lifeblood.” Kib hands her a few more sticks, and she takes them to the fire, all while speaking, like there is a rhythm they effortlessly live in. “We only take a handful of these hives, as it is believed that this is what keeps the nature of our woods so peaceful—”
Suddenly, I hear laughter coming from behind me. I turn to see Tev, trying to cover her mouth, but the laughter seems to escape her mouth and spread across the streets. “You think that the bees protect us from the Shades?”
“Oh, do not give me that Tev.” Mol’s eyes become slits as she stares at Tev, her tone more tired than angry. Kib takes a step back, avoiding the crossfire of glares. “A living being makes more sense than a random campfire.”
“You know it is strange that it always stays lit, right?” Tev walks up to the stand, firm in her stance.
“Actually, it is more strange that the hives only come round if the weather stays predictable.” Mol straightens her back, revealing a towering stature over Tev. “You must also think those performers tell you about the real Sunblighted’s journey?” Mol says in a quieter tone, then looks back up at me. “No offense, of course, you do great work, which gives us a reason to celebrate the nature that protects us.”
As they continue to bicker, I take one of those honey sticks, and lick it. The rough crystal texture sends shivers across my back, but the sweetness is intoxicating as I hold it in my mouth, sucking on the glazed delicacy. Fascinating. I think, turning to Tev to get her to stop bothering the couple—
SNAP
The winds stopped rustling the trees, the people stopped walking across the stones. All the world stood still, as if time itself had stopped.
“Hey Lih!” a sly voice loudly exclaimed behind me. “Enjoying your sweet treat?” I tensed my jaw. I know whose voice that belongs to.
Gefrol waved to me from down the street, but I did not wave back. “So, what do you think of the world you created?”
End of Chapter 9
