'Fiiiuuuuu....thhoonnnkkk'.
The sound of an arrow piercing a tree.
The shooter mercilessly smacked the bow to the ground in frustration of missing the target trunk for the umpteenth time.
Level 13 Divino, Emelda, was at her training spot, the field which was not too far from the house.
She walked towards a tree, and leaned on it with her left hand, looking downwards with a curious face.
Lately, she was having a loose focus and everything she had been doing for some while had been turning into a complete disaster.
She had been getting the meals burnt, neglecting chores and lying down staring all day, probably because her foster mum wasn't yet discharged from the hospital and Mr. Edga himself was mostly away.
Even her brother, James regularly went to the training ground, so she was always alone in the house.
She had the option of going with James, but nothing Mr. Edga ever said was enough to convince her.
She wasn't yet over the emotional effect the last invasion left.
It was just so sticky and she was unable to rub it off.
The quiet afternoon, only disturbed by the beautiful sounds of birds and creeping things chanting in their melody brought the slight sound of footsteps across the field.
The sound of the footsteps became more pronounced as the walking figure made way through the field towards the point where Emelda sat.
She recognized the footsteps as she heard it approach, so she didn't bother turning to see the person approaching.
"What is it?", she asked.
"Mum's back".
Her brother James replied from behind.
Her eyes widened at the information and she hurried up to her feet.
"When?"
She asked surprisedly.
"Just now".
James replied.
"Why are you acting all surprised like you care?
Nothing happening in the house really bothers you and you never fail to communicate it through your attitude.
You never listen to what mom and dad ever say.
Even within this little time mom was ill, you never visited her asides when we went together as a family, instead all you did was lie down all day and make a disaster out of the house in neglecting to do anything well.
If you..."
"James, it's not like that"
Emelda cut in with a disturbed voice.
James continued as if he didn't hear her.
"If you really cared, you would have made more effort to be with her in the hospital or at least take care of the house decently, but you prefer to comfy your lazy butt all day doing things on your own terms..."
"James..." Emelda tried to cut in but he continued.
"I just felt it was responsible to let you know, not that I would really take the pain to come tell you if I didn't have to..."
"James please...
You don't understand.
You're getting it wrong.
I do care.
Please stop saying such things.
James looked at her, turned and began to walk away.
"Well, if you do care, then try making it more convincing for us to believe you" he retorted.
As he was still walking, he felt a swift wave of a gentle wind current and suddenly felt himself embraced In a tight hug from behind.
His face remained expressionless.
Emelda spoke.
"I do care".
Maybe I'm not the best at showing it but please don't say such words James.
I'll try to be better, I promise."
She said as she squeezed him in a hug from behind.
"Yeah right. You can let go of me now", he said.
"Sorry...
I'm coming with you".
************
Maryann walked through the market.
She had decided to go shopping for some stuff she could use for the next few days.
She had been quite invisible since the death of her best friend Mabel.
Similar to Emelda, she mostly stayed at home alone except that from the onset, she had been living alone because the rest of her family lived at the Eastern part of the temple.
She had decided to move to the North with her aunt who she stayed with for a year before the woman decided to go explore the outer world outside the temple.
Her aunt was a big time fashion designer who was well acknowledged within her circle of influence.
Once, a visitor from the outside world, a governor's daughter saw a dress she made on someone and instantly fell in love with whoever made it.
She inquired and eventually met with her aunt and engaged her in a long discussion about fashion as she was also into it.
She finally made Maryann's aunt an offer to come with her to the outside world where she could expand her career and meet lots of people that were just as good and get heavily paid for it.
The offer was so sumptuous, her aunt accepted instantly.
She finally went, leaving Maryann at her house with promises to all her loved ones that she would visit once in a while.
Since then, Maryann had been staying alone and taking care of her self.
Since she had been trained under her aunt and pretty much replaced her in the offering of clothing services to her customers in town.
She was at the last shop to get a new bunch of cutleries as the ones at home were getting old.
"Umm... Check!"
She checked off the cutleries as the last item on her list and put it into her shopping bag.
As she raised her head, at the corner of one end of the market, she observed a swift shadowy movement.
Her tired-looking face suddenly turned into an angry stare and she started walking swiftly towards the corner, her bag handle held tight within her fist.
She reached the corner to find out what was hiding, and saw... Nothing.
She looked around suspiciously for a while.
Everyone in the market was going about their business.
"I was sure I saw something"
"Excuse me miss, you said something to me?" A random guy walking by asked.
"No, no I was just... Never mind" she replied.
"To think that a petite beauty like you would be daydreaming in the middle of the market", the huge guy said with a smirk on his face as he walked away.
She was a little distracted by his naughty but sweet, twisted compliment before she suddenly got herself and impulsively looked towards the roof of one of the shops upstairs a mini plaza.
Two shadows moved again in opposite directions...