Chapter Two: The Village
After a while, Vincent and Kikyo ended up at the village which almost seemed like a ghost town; everything was left untouched and no one was outside working in the fields. Kikyo looked around and noticed a bouquet of flowers lying on the ground by a hut. "Someone has to live here with all of this around," she told Vincent.
The man bent down and picked up the bouquet. Vincent observed the delicate flowers for a moment and then smelled its sweet fragrance. He looked over to Kikyo and nodded in agreement. "They're fresh picked, too," he said as he handed the flowers to her. "Now, where is the person who picked these?"
A young girl stepped out of the hut that Vincent and Kikyo stood near. The child’s emotions were doused due to the foreign adults’ presence, and she began shaking a bit. "P-please go away," she stuttered nervously and she continued to tremble. "Take whatever you want. We don't want trouble."
Vincent simply looked at the girl and frowned. "I won't hurt you," he said trying not to scare the child. The man looked through the huts and the road, but his eyes failed to scan any source of life in sight. "Where has everyone gone to?"
The girl looked up at Vincent, then at Kikyo. The priestess gave the child a smile and a reassuring nod. The girl then gave a shy smile in reply. "They’re back in the forest hiding,” she said softly with a timid tone. “A few of the boys that live here saw you two come out of the sky like demons. They all fled back here to warn all of us. I was in the garden picking flowers, and when I came back everyone was gone."
The man let out a sigh and crossed his arms while turning to the girl. "Do you think you could get the people to come back here?" he asked the child as he looked at his companion. "Kikyo and I would like to talk to some of the adults."
On the opposite side of the village, a young blind traveler shuffled about the area of the village attempting to find a source of life. The young man was rather tall, and he was dressed in meager clothes while his eyes were covered by a black band of cloth. “Excuse me!” he shouted out to the heavens above, hoping someone would hear him. “Could someone please help out a blind traveler in need?! Anyone?!”
After hearing the unfamiliar voice yell out about food, the young girl became so frightened that she grabbed onto Vincent's red cloak. "You stay with the girl," Kikyo ordered, grabbing her bow and arrow. "She seems fond of you now."
Kikyo rushed over to where she heard the male's voice, and her eyes came across a boy around her age. She noticed the cloth covering his eyes, and he seemed to be moving toward some food that was cooked not too long ago. "What is your name?" she asked as she cautiously approached him. "Are you from this village?"
As the young man inhaled the scent of some of the food, his feet warily shambled across the ground and his hands wavered about in the air. “Well, my name is Oberon and I’m from Atharta,” the blind teenager said as he followed his nose to the food. “My village isn’t from around here, and I found this place quite by accident. I’ve been here a little more than an hour and now my stomach’s craving for something. Excuse me, but would you mind giving me a bit of whatever’s over there?”
Kikyo turned her head to the direction in which the boy raised a finger to, and she handed him a bowl of the stew that had been left out to cook upon a fire. The teenager bowed his head as he grasped the bowl and sat down in his place to eat his newly acquired meal. “Thank you,” he said as he indulged in the stew, not even minding his manners.
The priestess shrugged and nodded. “So, you say you’re a blind traveler, right?” the woman asked as she put away her bow and arrow. "My name is Kikyo, and I am a priestess. If you don't mind, I would like to ask you a few questions." The young man dipped his head in reply to nod and pursued eating his food.
"So, I'm assuming that you are from this world,” the priestess continued as she watched the young man eat. “What do you call this world? Do you know anything about it?"
Oberon wiped his lip and turned his head to Kikyo’s direction. “The world is called different things in different parts of the land. To be honest, I have no idea what they call it in this region,” the young man confessed as he put the bowl down. “I was with my uncle a short while ago, but somehow we got separated. Then I found this place and I stumbled upon you. So, Miss Kikyo, where do you come from?”
"That's really no concern to you," Kikyo snapped with an emotionless tone. "What I need to know is how we all ended up in this world and how to get back to our own world. If you can't tell us how to get back, then I have no need of you."
Oberon responded with a shrug and he let out a short laugh. “Apparently, there’s no need for me then,” he said as he scratched his head. “Now what do you plan to do with me now? Attack me with your bow perhaps?”
The priestess raised a brow in surprise as she became curious of the boy’s knowledge. "Of course not," Kikyo replied slowly walking away, shaking off her curiosity. "You won't be able to answer any of my questions, and I have other things to attend to. Follow if you wish to do so."
As Vincent and the girl stood by one of the village's hut, the Turk’s eyes scanned the scenery about him and he seemed to enjoy the spectacular site. It had been over thirty years since he had seen such a flourishing and vibrant world as such. In those days, he traveled as a young man from finishing school to his home in the countryside. The lush scenery had always inspired him to travel when he became older, an act that he was deprived of when Hojo had killed and experimented on him.
The man sighed and leaned against the hut. "What is taking Kikyo so long?" he told without emotion as he looked down at the girl still hiding beneath his red cloak. The priestess slowly approached him, and he cocked a brow and crossed his arms, hoping to hear of some favorable news. “So, what took you so long? Any luck?"
Kikyo let out a sigh as she nudged toward Oberon’s direction. "This guy,” she replied as she turned her attention toward the Turk once more, “was eating and he's just as clueless about how we can get back to our own worlds as we are." She looked around and her ears perked to the sound of a bell while she saw the village people coming forth from the woods.
Oberon flinched at the sound of the bell, as he nervously said, "Well, heh, I should probably be going, after all these people might not be pleased I was stealing their food. And I do need to find my uncle so...uh...bye!" The blind traveler then dashed towards the exit of town. "What a strange man," Kikyo said, turning her attention back to those from the village.
"Hey, that's my sister over there,” the little girl said as she pointed to a woman amongst the approaching crowd. “Someone must have ringed the bell and signaled that it was safe. By the way, my name is Kohana, and this is Riyona Village."
Chapter Three: House Guests > >
