"Apikaila…"
No species living in the continent of the North had the unique features like Chedne's. Though they had been in existence since the beginning of Probittera's reigning era, not many, in present generations, have seen an actual one. But it was known that their distinct combined features of hair and eye color were distinguishable among other humans. After the collapse of the Ancient Empire, their existence has become a taboo subject as many were convinced that they were the sole cause of the Empire's collapse.
People were afraid, convinced that Chedne's existence was a curse to the land. There were only a few who were brave enough to speak about these special creatures— The strong will.
Chedne's were known to be former slaves of the Probiterra Empire.
Emperor Bernard of Probiterra belonged to the class of strong will. It was said that though Chednes had the ability to use magic, strong will had a natural talent to resist them. This ability enabled the Emperor to use the Chednes species as slaves. But with the growing population of the weak, it had given the subhumans the opportunity to break free from the Emperor's grasp, leading the Emperor to fall to its glory and power.
Many, from the Ibreotha Kingdom, were former citizens of the ancient empire. Those who had survived after the collapse had started living a different life while others began a mission of spreading the news that the reason for the Empire's collapse was due to Chedne's schemeful attacks. Though wary of such warnings, the existence of Chedne slowly became of the past. After the collapse of Probiterra, it seemed that the entire race of the subhumans erased their existence and no traces of them were ever discovered in years that followed. By then, many can only speculate that they have completely died or have suddenly become elusive creatures who hated any type of human interactions.
Chednes were afraid of humans, they say. But how did that come to be? What appeared in front of them was a mythical creature, standing with confidence in the far distance, eyeing her without a streak of fear.
In Elena's 25 years of existence, it was the first time witnessing the infamous Chedne. Their features were surprisingly more human-like than of the beast that many have told her. She had initially thought they were similar to werewolves.
The image of the man with raven black hair and clear red eyes lingered in Elena's thoughts as the creature's beauty simply caught her attention. She couldn't believe her eyes… and now that she looks in the mirror, with a face that reflects her, it portrays a woman who was clearly a Chedne.
Is this a dream or hallucinations?
***
Bosden Ebony
Waking up in a more calm atmosphere, time had evidently passed as Elena found herself riding on a horse with Johan. The sun, reaching its highest peak, meant that another day had already started. The carriage she was in before was no longer with them. Johan, who noticed that she had finally regained consciousness, quickly asked, "are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
Elena grabbed onto Johan in shock. She didn't know what to expect once she would open her eyes back to her reality. The man blushed from her sudden movement, yet Elena didn't seem to notice. Her thoughts were that Johan might have been hurt. She placed her arms onto Johan's shoulder, making him flinched. Yet, she did not stop there. She touched his chest, his arms and finally grabbed onto his face to see if the man was hurt anywhere.
"What happened?"
Elena asked, relieved to find Johan unscratched. She looked around, turning her hips towards him to look behind him. The four knight's faces, she found that were closely following behind, looked dumbfounded at her reaction.
"You might fall, Princess. Please sit properly."
Elena looked up to Johan for a second and quickly turned around to look ahead. The man wrapped his arms around her quickly, which surprised her. Only then, she realized she too had just started touching the man without permission in inclination to see if he was hurt.
"Were you worried about me?"
"Yes, I was."
Johan was taken aback from such honesty. He was so sure that Elena would have denied it. So, he wasn't ready for it. The maiden blushed, which caught his eyes. Somehow, it felt so natural for her to be in his arms, he thought.
"I'm alright, Princess… as well as those guys." Johan's voice was so close that it tickled Elena's ears. But, the man seemed to not mind the close distance between them. He proceeded to speak, "you might find this uncomfortable, I apologize. We needed to move quicker to leave the densest part of the forest."
Johan explained that the carriage was removed from the journey while Elena was unconscious. It was the only way to maneuver through the dense forest without drawing any more attention to the group. After finding out that Chednes, a creature unfamiliar to all of them, were roaming around Bosden Ebody, it was safer to re-reroute.
"Don't you find it strange, Leader?" Nicollo Ivan, green eyes and blonde hair, the oldest of the knights, initiated the conversation.
Johan didn't even draw his sword during the confrontation. The man only stood there like a tree, eyeing him and Elena. Before Johan could make a move, the Chedne turned around and left as if nothing happened. It appeared that the part of the forest where they had camped out was where these creatures were living. But, how come the knighthood never noticed it before? They have used the forest many times before from their previous journeys to the South.
"They attacked us while we were sleeping. Thank goodness, I wasn't such a deep sleeper," Gael contributed, scratching the back of his head as if annoyed and confused at the same time.
Though, there was a light commotion. It was true that none of the knights were actually hurt. The small group of Chednes they encountered did cause a small commotion, but it appeared that they were not there to fight with them, but just coincidentally crossed their path and soon quickly left.
"Chednes are known to be nomadic, that's why humans don't see them. But, isn't it fascinating that now we see them here?" Johan said as he gripped the reign of the horse tighter.
"I think it's best to re-reroute, Leader" Biel Naris, the knight who appeared to be Johan's right hand man, finally interjected. He pointed his fingers forward and continued his suggestion, " Moving closer to the town will be safer. I can confirm there won't be any delay on our arrival to Credon as long as we follow what we've discussed earlier."