He set foot on the ground of the mountain, looking out into the distance. A beautiful scenery, so familiar, but so different. Like he hadn't seen it in a long time.
The forest was alive, the spirits calling out for it. Something was coming, everyone could feel it. Immense dark energy could be felt in the air, even prayers were disturbed with this power.
Drip.. The water came down as he felt his black hair.
"I'm back…"
The person whispered, with a malicious grin. Anyone who could've seen it, would have started shivering in fear. The intentions were unclear.
A huge mountain with a waterfall which he came out from or the hole? That was an unknown fact, but it was clear something was going to happen.
The ground shook, birds flying around feeling endangered and deers running headlessly.
The warmth was long gone, there wasn't time to think about mercy.
…
At the same time a girl started waking up in bed. The bed had colourless sheets, a reminder of how dull these times could be. Her head ached as if another reminded of what had happened yesterday.
Cole had made a compromisement with her, she agreed to work with an old woman at her farm. Since her crops were known in the village and always tasteful.
The house was at the edge of the village, a small little cottage with a huge field in front of it and a lake.
Life like this Misa could get used to if guards weren't still watching over her. The bed was left cold after she got up.
Still remembering the looks of the woman as she was brought up to the house last night. Her name was Ellen, a devoted farmer and a grandmother of a kid. Misa recognised the kid from walking in the village with Cole yesterday.
Well the walk hadn't been a usual one, it was the one where she was brought to the guards office.
She still thought it had been useless to bring her there. It's not like she was a danger right?
Misa looked at herself in the shabby mirror that belonged to the attic. It was made from silver that was clear. Things like these were very hard to obtain in a world like this.
She could see the light from the window reflect on her and the mirror. Taking a look at herself, another thought came to her mind.
"I can't recognise you"
The girl in the mirror wasn't familiar, but she knew she was looking at herself. It was like a ghost haunting her. Taunting for not being able to see who she really was. With lost memories she couldn't possible recognize herself anyways.
The long light hair that was reflected from the light clearly. It was soft, but also slightly tacky. Like she had been fighting in the mud for a long time. Misa sighed as she didn't know the color of her eyes.
She pulled on the white dress she wore from the cabinet. Grandmother Ellen had been ordered to clean it from before. Then Misa put a cardigan over it. The cardigan was black with a hood that she could cover her head with if needed.
She took a white silk and braided her hair into one with it. After being done and not having time to think about anything else about her looks. She started heading downstairs. Ellen was in the kitchen, humming some kind of song.
Misa could notice a few guards standing outside the house, then she sent her gaze back to the old woman.
The kitchen was small, it had a stove working by fire, a few cabinets and a place to throw things.
"Dear, could you go into the field and grab a few apples?"
It was a sound that quickly grabbed her out of her thoughts. Misa looked back at Ellen.
"Yeah, I will go"
She wasn't used to being given orders like this - not like she knew she had ever been given them, but it wasn't a time to complain. She would be stuck here for a long time. Under different circumstances, maybe she could accept living here with Ellen.
Though she didn't know this woman that well, if she was told otherwise Misa would have thought she was staying with a witch.
There was a cauldron in the attic she was staying at which had creeped her out at first, but apparently it was for making medicine. "Maybe I'll be made into tomato soup", the girl thought.
After opening the rusty doorknob she was met with the beautiful field she had walked through when coming here. Though something was definitely up - the awful smelling guards.
"Hey girl- Where are you going?!"
One of the guards said quite threateningly getting in front of her, blocking the way. Now she knew the problem, it was this guy. Did guards have any human decency besides protecting the villlage.. or did they just not have time to clean themselves?
Not wanting to think about the matter any longer, Misa was glad to see grandma Ellen come to them from the corner off her eye.
"Don't speak rudely to a lady, Misa is just going to go pick up some apples"
Ellen said to the guards sternly as if scolding them. A well deserved scold it was, at least she hadn't been the only one to notice the smell… Since grandma Ellen started becoming agitated because of it.
…
The path through the field wasn't wide, it was muddy with growing wheats covering both of the sides that could look to be going for miles.
The wind flew by and she made it to the apple trees - there were three of them. One looked like it was been recently planted, the other was quite big with strange looking apples and well… The last one was just a regular apple tree.
Now how could Misa just easily pick what kind of apple grandma Ellen had wanted. Surely not the blue one, but to be safe she could just take one of each.
"Well this is hard…"
She mumbled to herself starting to reach for an apple, as if the apples were mocking here they were getting more and more out of reach. How was she supposed to pick apples if they escaped from her?
Crack…
She had jumped, but didn't reach far. Should she just use more power?
Thump…
"Useless legs.. Who would willingly do this everyday?"
Starting to rethink everything that had happened since she had awakened in the forest yesterday. Reaching her hand out to the tree with a jump she finally caught a strange blue coloured apple. She put it into the basket grandma Ellen had given her after lecturing the guards about hygiene.
One apple…
She looked at the normal looking tree and then the small growing one. Misa furrowed her eyebrows and groaned.
"She could've at least said how many are needed!"
Is it safe to go with 6?..3?.. If she took one of each it would make 3.. if she took 2 of each it would make 6. Maybe it was safer to just take 1, surely Ellen would say if more were needed.
She took an apple from the small tree easily and then one from the basic one. Now she had three and there was still a lot of space in the basket. Looking around the field and different trees - a field caught her eye.
No, it wasn't just the wheat field. A beautiful flower field!
She had to cover her face and then looked again. A small excitement lit up in her heart that she couldn't ignore. Someday she would go there and explore the flowers. To lay in them… listening to the music of the wind.. Sun kissing her skin softly.
Such a calming experience would be something anyone would kill for and it was right there! Though Misa had more important things to do.
She should ask Ellen about that field after going back. Misa held onto the basket since it was time to return to the cottage like house. Slight chirping could be heard from the distance. The chicken family that lived on the farm seemed to be living its best life.
Grandma Ellen was spreading seeds around to the ground. Bigger and smaller ones quickly ran towards the seeds pecking their heads to the ground making sounds.
"I got the apples"
Misa said with a proud smile going up to Ellen still holding onto the basket.
"Put the basket into the kitchen child"
The old woman answered back with a soft voice. She had looked to Misa for a split second and then looked back to the chickens. It seemed Ellen would continue.
"If you need help tying your hair next time ask me"
Well that was unexpected… Misa looked at her hair and noticed how loose and messy the braid had become. She definitely did need help..
"Thanks grandma Ellen"
She then headed inside the house after opening the door. The smell was gone, she noticed fresh picked flowers in a vase. Had this much time passed?
She knew she didn't spend that much time picking apples… Or it was because the way was quite tricky and long. Well the field had it's own quirks. She remembered how she tripped into random objects scattered around and the wheat… Another problem had been the height of the strange special tree.
"It should be afternoon now", she thought, looking outside as she set the basket down onto the kitchen table. She then opened her braid and brushed her fingers through her long light hair.
A day had already passed, she felt as if her hair was too dirty. How does cleaning even work? She had seen some kind of wooden bath in one of the rooms earlier.
She should ask Ellen for help later.
Even if the farm seemed to be a lovely place to live. An urge to explore this world was deeply engraved in her head. If she wasn't being watched over guard - if grandma Ellen wasn't so nice. She would have already set foot onto other lands.