"As expected, he's just useless"
"Why did the saint bring him along anyway?"
"She might have pitied the poor child"
In the bright sunlight five wooden carriages were moving along the forest. Their wooden tyres revolved, making crackling noises occasionally.
Surprisingly, none of the carriages were drawn by any beast or creature but there were various sails mounted on top of each one that steered them far more efficiently than any beast could have.
The small armada of carriages moved nonstop for it only relied on wind and not on a creature that would have needed to eat and time to rest. The idea was ingenious but could only work for these people.
'I think they aren't called wind maidens for no reason'
Two carriages in front and two were moving in the rear of the saint's own. This was no doubt an ideal formation to ensure the safety of the saint.
August was laying in the last carriage, trying to fall asleep; however, the maidens around were making it hard for him to do just that.
They were constantly nagging about why they had to be put in the same carriage as him. Some were questioning the saint's judgement of bringing him along.
August was not worried. He had expected some kind of resistance but surprisingly none of the maidens objected to the saint's decision.
Listening to what maidens thought of August, Miles whispered to him,
"They love you don't they?"
Apparently the young warrior was also travelling in the same carriage as August. This was another annoyance for him to deal with.
August chuckled silently,
"yeah, I think they do"
Miles could not help but laugh at his joke,
"I am sure they will become friends with you too one day, just as it happened to me."
August did not want to pay any attention to this conversation therefore he pulled the blanket over his face.
"Um… I heard how badly they treated you" the youth continued despite of August' continuous attempts to make himself look uninterested, "you can start with Elina. The same girl who threw you over? Make friends with her and I am sure rest will accept you too. Elina is only the grumpy one in this group you see."
August tried to act like he was sleeping, he even made snoring noises but Miles just won't give up. For some reason he was hell bent on making him familiar with the rest of maidens. August tried his best to not sound rude and said,
"Look Miles, I appreciate the gesture but believe me I don't want to be friends with anyone here. You know what, I am not even a part of this group. Think of me as a hired mercenary and not as your family towards whom you feel responsible, alright?"
August did not bother to look at Miles but he knew his words would hurt the youth. He wanted exactly that.
Therefore, all August did was to fall asleep for real.
After that, Miles did not speak. August sure felt guilty but sometimes hard decisions had to be made.
The journey was going smoothly. So much so that August was worried about why they did not encounter any beast or creatures by now.
Perhaps it was really true when the saint told him about having the blessing of the wind, so that no creature that breathes in this forest would harm them.
However, there were many creatures in existence which did not breathe air or did not needed to breathe at all.
— — —
White sails on the crafted wooden carriages swayed in the direction of wind. The direction in which the wind blew was also controlled by the maidens.
Three days had already passed since he had joined the maidens in this journey. August did nothing but rest during the time. While he enjoyed this peaceful time, he also found out that Miles was a very hard person to ignore.
He was also observing the forest for the past few days while growing curious about many things. Like how all the maidens had the same type of core element. Was that even possible?
When he asked the saint about it, he was surprised to know that she did not know what the core element even was. Despite obviously possessing one.
As fast as his curiosities died one by one confusion clouded his mind more and more.
Whatever, he just wanted to go back and that was all.
Today was the fourth day of their journey and the carriages were moving steadily like always but suddenly in the afternoon their small armada of the carriages came to a halt.
One of the maidens started ringing a bell to alert everyone.
"We are here"
"The boundary"
"We've reached the boundary"
The one with the bell screamed. August left the carriage and was now looking at the sudden unusual disturbance. He did not know what was the cause of this sudden uproar.
For a moment he thought maybe the silent valley had finally shown itself. But he knew that saint would've alerted him immediately if that were to happen.
Not to mention she told him about how she would try to give him the information about the possible appearance of the valley of silence in advance.
That was why this sudden halt could not be because of the fragment of domain of a mysterious god. Then what was it about?
August approached the saint in that time of sudden commotion,
"What is happening? Why did we stop?"
"You're here" the saint replied only after hearing his voice, "seems like the night is upon us. We cannot continue and have to make our camp here for a while."
"I am not following," August replied, "why exactly?"
Saint dismissed her attendant and gestured August to take a walk with her,
"Beyond this boundary lies the territory of the Night faction and if we wish to pass through their lands it is mandatory that we have to get their permission first. Just to avoid any friction between the factions, it's more of a gesture of respect."
August looked ahead, the path seemed the same to him. There was no sign or markings that separated the boundaries.
However, he thought if the saint said so, it had to be the truth.
"We all cannot go inside at the same time," the saint said facing the path ahead, "it could offend them if we just barged in like that. Therefore, I have to go first and ask for the permission" she turned to August with her lifeless eyes,
"Care to join me warrior?"
August stared at the path ahead of him and then smiled,
"sure"
— — —
Maidens of the wind were already preparing camp right where the saint had instructed them. And August was about to enter the territory of the night faction along with the saint herself.
"Something you want to ask?" the saint said as she stood on a spot for a very long time, after she told August that they were about to enter the territory. Which caused him to stare at her in confusion. Perhaps she had asked so after sensing his confusion?
August shook his head, "No ..nothing"
"That's good because we just got our appointment approved," speaking so, the saint took a step and as though the very reality around her rippled and she just vanished from sight. August knitted his brows together in a frown and when he was about to speak something, the saint suddenly spoke from the other side,
"Are you not coming?"
August gulped and followed behind.
As he took the step he wasn't able to observe what exactly happened, only that he found himself at the other side. There was indeed an invisible boundary that separated the forest from the territory of the night faction.
Before him there stood the same forest but in a completely different scenario. Trees populating the dense forest were indeed tall but also dark. As its name suggested, territory of the night faction embraced an eternally long night.
Flora here seemed like it had not seen the light of the day in centuries, or maybe not ever? The sky was dark, shining with countless stars and constellations. The place was eerily beautiful.
To some extent it reminded August of the conscious realm. Maybe the forest in the conscious realm also looked like that, not that he had any way of knowing that of course.
After all he never had once seen the forest there with his own eyes; instead, he had only perceived the place with the help of his other senses.
The forest was similar, the path was similar too but the atmosphere was completely different here.
Far ahead in the way he saw various silhouettes approaching them. As they drew near August was able to discern them. At least eight to ten people were heading towards him and the saint. They wore black cloaks which covered their faces almost completely like a veil.
All the people dressed in black were carrying lanterns with them which was giving out the light of a pale contrast. They were all the maidens of the night, August thought because there were four armed men walking beside them. From the look of it they seemed all competent warriors.
The group stopped a few steps away from saint Aireen, one individual in the centre took a step forward.
"We, servants of the night welcome the Saintess of the wind"
They all spoke in welcome.
"Welcome saint Aireen," the maiden in the front spoke, "can I ask what business the immolated seek with us?"
"I seek a path to our way back," the blind saint replied, "things happened on our way back from the temple and we were unable to reach the boundary in time. So I plead with you, the night, to provide us with a safe route to return."
Maidens of the night began whispering something between themselves and after a while despite not involved in the conversation maiden in the middle spoke like she had known the result already,
"We humbly apologize to the wind for now the hour is late. Therefore, we cannot provide you with a secure route and we can't take you as our guests either, because of the rules. At the time predicaments are wide awake and roaming the blessed lands. If the saint wants to continue despite the danger, the night has no issue."
"However, we advise you to wait a fortnight until the early hour has returned and enjoy our hospitality for sometime as well. That is all on our part."
As she said the words, they all vanished immediately into the darkness. It happened so quickly that August didn't even notice.
"So, what are we doing now?" August asked in confusion. Then he said as the realization struck him, "you are not thinking of waiting for fifteen days are you?"
"No, we don't have that much time," the saint replied, turning back, there was a tense expression on her face, "we are stranded in the middle of a complicated situation. Although we don't have the luxury of waiting for fifteen days, it is also dangerous to move during the late hour."
"So?" August asked while exiting the night faction territory and coming back to the place where light reigned supreme, "what do we do now?"
"For now I have to make an important decision," the saint said as they crossed the boundaries and the daylight fell upon them once again, "...a decision between endangering the life of my sisters or to prolong our journey by another fifteen days."
Indeed the decision was important because there were lives weighing against time here. However, there could not be a more competent individual for this decision than Saint Aireen, and August was sure of it.
"Okay so what exactly would happen if we move during this uh.. Late hour?" August asked.
Saint was silent for a while contemplating the best answer she could give August and then spoke,
"As you have seen by yourself, territory maintained by the night faction embraces eternal night. Which means the light of our sun has never, not even once crossed the boundaries of its horizon. Therefore that place is mostly populated by creatures of the night which are terrifying beyond imagination. We call them predicaments. No one has seen them directly because they dwell in the darkness. If someone has —they either died on the spot or did not return to tell the tale."
She let out a long sigh,
"Late hour is that time of the night when they roam the blessed lands freely. The time when those creatures hunt. You are smart enough to realize why I am hesitating aren't you. How could I make my sisters cross that death zone in the most dangerous time nevertheless."
— — — — —