Chapter Text
My head is throbbing as I open my eyes, the light streaming through the trees seeming brighter than ever before. My clothes are slightly ripped and damp from the dew on the grass that is acting as a makeshift bed. I sit up slowly and take in my surroundings, a lush green forest filled with large trees, wildlife and a person cloaked in green and grey with a mask covering their mouth. The person's eyes lock onto mine and a low male voice fills my mind.
“Follow me.”
I shake my head, thinking there’s no way that this man is speaking to me.
“Follow me.”
The voice seems louder and bolder this time sending a shiver down my spine. I find my way to my feet and examine my limbs. No scratches and the tatters on my clothing are minimal. My legs seem to have a mind of their own as at the third call from the man I begin to walk slowly towards him. Once I’m about twenty feet from him, he turns and begins to run off.
“Wait, where are you going? Slow down!”
The man slows slightly at my call but does not respond. I follow him for what feels like a mile until we come across a village. I follow him into the village hoping that he would give me his name but in a blink he vanishes. I walk around the town looking for the man with no avail. I overhear two guards talking quickly to one another.
“This village is in shambles. No one will listen to us. That horrid Lord is now gone, why won’t they listen!”
A village without a Lord? What is this place? I take a closer look at the two guards, one dressed in silver armor with a black cross across his chest plate. His helmet hides his face entirely. The other guard has light chain mail armor with green metal lining the edges. His helmet acts more as a hood, leaving his young tanned face and brown eyes for all to see.
I venture further around the village and notice a group of younger women walking out of a house together, the girls laughing together. I smile at the sight, they see me and wave but walk the other direction. I quickly change my focus to finding out more information about where I am. I walk aimlessly around the village looking for a library. The villagers don’t pay me any mind and keep to themselves, but I can’t blame them since they just lost their leader even if he was horrid according to the mixed-matched guards.
I find the library and walk in, the librarian is dressed in a purple robe with glasses. She is young and has golden blonde hair with purple eyes. She looks up at me when I open the door.
“Excuse me, where am I?”
“Shh.”
The librarian shushes me so I duck my head and head toward the shelves to search for the answer to my question.
After what feels like hours, I finally figure out that I am in the Ru’an region. Based on the information from the book I found filled with history of the world as well as maps, I judge by the trees I had seen that morning that I am near the villages of Metali and Ph-. The second village's name had been smudged. I close the book and look outside the window, it’s dark out so I decide that the library is safe enough to stay the night. I find a chair and get comfy, letting the darkness of sleep and the world outside the window envelop me.
“WAKE UP? WHO ARE YOU?”
I jolt awake to the sound of the librarian yelling at me.
“I’m Aphmau! I’m so sorry, it was so late when I finally got done reading that I just fell asleep. I’m new to town. I’m so sorry!”
The librarian looks at me with pity but gestures towards the door. I take the hint, not wanting to upset anyone in this strange village. Once back outside, I decide that I need to find a job in this village. I can’t remember where I’m from or why I woke up in the forest, but the fates had directed me here for a reason and I’m not dumb enough to mess with fate. I walk around and find a small house that seems unoccupied. There's a small bed and a table with no chair. Not much but it will be home.
I go towards the farm land and see a couple of women tending to the fields, the same women that were walking together yesterday. I walk up to them.
“Hey, can I help?”
The oldest looking one with light blonde hair and deep green eyes looks up at me. Her skin tanned lightly from working in the field, her arms built from years of tending the farm gesture me to join her.
“Who are you? You must be new.”
“My name is Aphmau, I arrived yesterday.”
“Welcome. The village is in a rebuilding period; we just lost our Lord. My name is Molly. That’s Donna,” She points to a girl with light brown hair, pale skin and brown eyes. Donna waves softly to me. “And that’s Stephanie.” Stephanie is also blonde with light green eyes. She smiles at me but never stops working.
Molly shows me how to tend to the farm, and we work tirelessly until noon. The women tell me they’re going home for lunch, so I take this time to go meet others. I wander to a new area of the village where a dock is being built. A man with green eyes, tan skin and black hair is sitting with his back against a tree nearby. He appears to be taking a break from building.
“Hello, do you want any assistance?”
The man looks up at me and smiles but shakes his head no.
“No lass, this is a dangerous building, and I don’t want this village risking the loss of someone so new. What’s your story?”
“Aphmau, I stumbled upon this place yesterday and decided to call it home.”
“Aphmau? Pleasure to meet you, I’m Brenden.”
He gets up to shake my hand but quickly returns to work. I take this as a sign to leave. I head back into the village but I notice that the paths are littered in debris. I crouch down and remove some of the sticks and dirt. One of the women from earlier came by and dropped off a broom which makes my self given task easier. I tell her thank you and sweep the paths clear.
I work well into the evening, trying to clear all the paths in the town. The condition being so poor in some areas that I had to patch the ground with dirt to make it flush. The sun began to set and I look up from the ground. The guard with a cross is looking at me from the guard tower top. We assumedly make eye contact but I couldn’t tell since he wears a helmet. I wave slightly and he turns away. I quickly retreat to my new home and settle into bed. This town feels familiar but I can’t tell why. I just know it feels right.
The next morning comes much too quickly and I find the women once again. We work for a few hours harvesting produce and cleaning it to share with the village. Molly shares that she is married to one of the guards by the name of Dale. Donna and Stephanie both act like they’re gagging over the sweet memories Molly shares about her relationship. It’s nice being able to talk so freely with the women, but before long it's time to go for lunch.
During this break I go back to the library. The librarian is placing books on the shelves, she stops once I open the door.
“How can I help you?”
“Do you need a hand?”
She looks at me and then down to her stack of books. She gestures to them so I walk over and pick up where she left off. She leaves and goes to work on something in the corner. The stack of books she left me with all shared similar ideas. Magic, how to use magic, portals, Lady Irene, elves and elven magic. I look over at the librarian who has a book open on a desk and a pen in her hand. I finish with the books at mid afternoon.
I decide to wander around the town looking for someone to help but the guard with green stops me.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Aphmau.”
“Aphmau, be careful of being so helpful with the village. The villagers may start to speculate that you are trying to become a woman of power. The last Lord suffered for it.”
The guard walked away leaving me to think about what he said. The last Lord suffered for it? What does he mean by that? I thought the last Lord was horrid according to the other guard.
I need to find out what he meant so I go to look for the other guard. I find him talking to Brenden in a hushed tone.
“Don’t take it down yet. There’s still answers there.”
Brenden nods and looks over in my direction and smiles at me. The guard looks towards me as well. Brenden speaks first.
“Aphmau, this is Garroth. He is the head guard here. Don’t be alarmed by his appearance!”
“Aphmau, thank you for all of your help here these past two days. The village is looking great thanks to you.”
I smile at both of them and Brendon goes to walk back towards the docks.
“Aphmau, you met the other guard didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“Good, then Zenix must’ve warned you that the last Lord had died. His home is east of here, please be careful if you travel in that direction.”
He turns to leave before I can even say anything in return. Part of me is confused, I have no intent to become Lord. I just feel compelled to help this village. Yet the other part of me is curious to see what Garroth is talking about in reference to the old Lord’s house.
Curiosity gets the best of me and there is enough daylight to justify my need to visit the house. The home is set in a clearing but half charred and broken down. I look around the outside trying to figure out how recent this fire had been but there wasn’t any evidence of time. I step over some of the burned down wall to get to the “inside" if you could call it that since three fourths of the house was missing. I look around the small room and see a desk that's relatively unscathed. On top lies a journal and pen open to the first page. I peer over to read.
Day 1:
This village is beautiful and filled with so much life. The women are beautiful and the men are hard workers. They are all so kind and treat me well without any bribery. This is a breath of fresh air.
Day 13:
The head guard says that they are in need of a Lord and none of the villagers wanted to step up. I told him that I would do it.
Day 25:
There’s a woman here by the name of Milifina, she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’m going to ask her on a date.
Day 65:
Milifina is perfect. I’m going to ask her to be my wife. I can’t imagine my life without her. Being a Lord is tough but coming home to her everyday day would make it worth it.
Day 86:
Milifina and I need to leave. He’s co-
The rest of the pages were torn out. I felt someone watching me from behind my back, I turned to check but something struck me and I fell to the ground unconscious.
“Why is Vlyad so interested in this dump?”
“He has history here.”
“Boring, this place is so run down. That pesky old Lord was so eager to leave!”
“Sasha, the king’s power is growing, any smart Lord would leave”