"Dad?"
The young boy called out to his father, whose outstretched hand was about to flip a switch and turn off the lights. He paused momentarily and turned back around with an inquisitive expression on his face.
"Was that story….. true?"
The man followed his son's gaze to his left hand - there was a bright red engraving on it, etched onto his skin, the very same one the protagonist of the story had. After a slight moment of hesitation, he let out a slow, awkward smile and opened his mouth.
"Nothing exists beyond the walls, Kyou. An endlessly deep ravine opening up into the mouth of a hollow void. This….."
He retracted his arm and ran his right fingers over the marking.
"... I hope you won't have one either."
His gaze was fixed on the wooden floorboard, his expression a mix of gloom and solitude, with just a hint of sadness mixed in. The boy saw this and questioned no further, simply tucking into his blanket.
"Goodnight."
"Yeah…. Goodnight."
But as the lights flickered off and the door creaked shut, Kyou's eye remained wide opened. He lifted himself off the bed and gazed outside the beside window, over the towering walls and at the faraway sky.
Kyou had a feeling - one backed by nothing but his gut - that it was more than just a fantasy. That an expansive realm lay just outside of those walls, and as always, he drifted into the land of dreams while staring through the window, never able to shake off that inexplicable notion.
***
It was hard to believe this was the same boy who once dreamed of venturing outside the comforts of his hometown. He stood beside the massive gate, around 5 metres tall, without moving a single inch. One could've mistaken him for a statue, if he wasn't already known by all the townsfolk as the infamous 'watcher of the Respite', never letting a soul in, and more importantly, out.
Not that there was anything to come in in the first place. It was common knowledge that absolutely nothing ka'y past the confines of this town. It was the truth brought forth by the town's revered head, Alleria, who was incidentally the gatekeeper's father.
On Kyou's left side, a sheathed blade rested. He would supposedly unsheathe it in case of an emergency, but there had been no such incident in his decade long career. Hence, it had remained there, the blade forever collecting dust with only the hilt, black as the night sky, being able to enjoy any fresh air.
Despite his many years as the town's only guard and outrageously long hours he endured under the sun, he had never even seen a blade, let alone draw one. Standing there with only the hilt in view all day, basking under the sun….. his job was more akin to that of a scarecrow's than anything. He, just like the gate of the town, served no practical purpose.
That was until…..
Knock Knock Knock
A sound reverberated from the other side of the gate and for the first time since he was dubbed the living statue, Kyou flinched. A cold sweat ran down his spine as he was so shocked he didn't even think to reach for the hilt of the weapon.
He immediately glanced around the busy street market - no one seemed to have noticed. He didn't know what to do in this situation. He didnt have a manual and neither had there been a precedent. He thought of Yulleria, the protagonist of a story he used to love as a child and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
His shaky right hand finally groped its way towards the hilt and pulled on it, but the blade wouldn't budge. Was it rusted shut?
BANG BANG BANG
The knocking got even louder this time. How was he the only one who noticed? At this rate, the door would give way at any minute. What lay beyond the door was a complete mystery even to him but it could very well endanger the lives of everyone living here. Even if Kyou couldn't draw the decade old sword….. he clenched his fists and bent his knees, holding his arms up in front of him. He still had to take a stand.
However, as the door felt like it would be pushed open for the first time since he was a child, the knocking came to a sudden halt. Kyou's vision darkened for a moment - no, it was just the small area around him? A shadow. He instinctively looked up to see a completely hooded figure fly through the air. Kyou's eyes followed them as they landed on the ground and glanced up to the sky for a brief moment, before blending into the crowd of people.
This was it. The first time he'd be called to action since assigning himself this pose. He hurriedly dove into the crowd in pursuit of the cloaked figure, his eye just barely managing to follow a slight piece of tattered cloth hanging from his cloak.
However, the handful of people who recognized him as he slithered his way through the cracks in the crowds weren't of much help. They'd occasionally stop and call out to him, some even placing their hands on his shoulder and asking why the scarecrow had suddenly grown a pair of legs.
This pursuit went on for another 3 minutes or so, before the cloak suddenly turned and disappeared behind a dark alleyway. The alley situated right beside his house. It led to a dead end as it rounded the bend - he had the intruder cornered.
Kyou approached slowly, making extra sure not to make any noise. If he came off as threatening or imposing in any way, who knew what would happen to him. He had no idea how strong they were but one thing was for certain - if they had the power to leap over the 7 metre tall wall and escape all the way here, neither would they have any problems disposing of him.
As he turned the corner, he caught a clear glimpse of the cloaked man's face for the first time. He only had a single left eye and on its pupil, a red symbol just slightly different from the one on his father's hand was staring straight at him. He took it all in, the man's sharp features and rather short frame, before hearing an unpleasant noise and realizing that his neck was now pinned to the wall of his house.
Kyou felt a liquid trickling down his neck and looked down at what was holding it in place, only to see a massive, curved blade, with some blood - his blood - trickling down it. Now that he thought about it, the only way he could've seen the man's face so clearly was if he was being stared right back at. In other words, he already knew that he was being followed.
On closer inspection, the end of the blade was connected to a long pole, perhaps even longer than his own sword. It was a weapon he had never seen before - a scythe. In the intersection between the blade and handle, a small bouquet of 3 white flowers had their petals retracted. They weren't in bloom at the moment. The entire weapon, from blade to handle, was the exact same colour as the flower.
The owner of the weapon ducked under the handle, which took up the entire width of the small alley, and crossed over to Kyou's end. They stared at each other for a minute, the man's face giving off not a hint of emotion. His face looked uncannily like Kyou's and they even shared the same hair colour. The only real difference between them was eye colour, and even then they both only had on eye.
"You….."
After what felt like an eternity, the man finally spoke. His voice sounded surprisingly(or not at this point) similar to Kyou's own, not too deep or high pitched.
"….. which are you?"
Kyou felt like the surroundings were a lot hotter than before, but he could've been mistaken due to the extreme stress he was under right now. He glanced at the single eye which was staring right back at him and opened his mouth, but not a word came out.
The traveller let out a sigh and crossed his arms as he leaned onto the wall opposite Kyou. Kyou tried grabbing the handle of the odd-shaped weapon to pry it out of the wall, but it didn't budge at all. After yet another moment of elongated silence, the man spoke once more.
"Why were you following me?"
"I…. You're dangerous. I can't let you in."
His sense of justice didn't allow him to back off, even in such a precarious position.
"And what did you know about me?"
"Anything outside of the walls is dangerous. No matter what they are."
He felt a tinge of sadness as old memories flowed through his mind. Memories he hoped that he'd never have to relive. Thinking back, it was the reason why he had changed this much. It was the reason why he was now afraid of the once vibrant world beyond the walls.
"What do you know about the world beyond the walls?"
It was supposedly common sense, but Kyou was stunned by this question. He couldn't answer it properly, for he knew that what Alleria had told him and everyone else was naught but a hoax.
"An endless ravine, opening into the mouth of a hollow void."
But he repeated that hoax in spite of that knowledge. The exact words his father had been saying for so long.
"I see….."
The intruder simply nodded his head and closed his left eye. Suddenly, the sharp object was gone and Kyou was free to breathe once more.
"Why-"
"Help me find something. It's the only reason why I'm here."
The door to Kyou's house suddenly opened with a loud creak. It was evidently old and out of repair. At that moment, the both of them glanced up towards the sound of the opening door. Only two people lived in this house - Kyou and his father, Alleria, and it was obvious who it was causing that noise.
"Meet me at the other town gate within the next 2 days."
Kyou blinked and the next time he reopened his eye, the man was already gone. It felt like a dream. The only proof of that conversation ever existing was the gash in the wall left by the weapon's pointed end.