Warm air mixing through the empty ways, turning from right to left and back, as vines continued dancing through the silky touch of the cloaked night, echoes of footsteps and silence of the wind's singing persisted.
A grip like I'm a lifeline fueled the suit where my other came to hold. Only when touching the vines did our breaths come to an end.
"For now, we've escaped their sights. We should stay here for half an hour before we resume the game," Sarah looked at us. Her eyebrows almost touching her eyelids while her mouth closed as soon as she spoke of the time.
"Wait, what is happening? I'm kind of lost, but who are they, and why did you mention about the masked man's words earlier? I'm pretty sure that what he said should be rules of the game since..." an open palm stopped me from uttering more words. The man who was knocked out earlier while sleeping in Sarah's arms was now leaning towards.
"Didn't anyone tell you not to trust?" His voice sounded hoarse.
Adviel implied that to me, but I'm too preoccupied earlier.
Sarah sighed and smacked the back of the man's head. Moses shouted and eyed Sarah, who seemed to glare at him.
Moses went back to a corner and hugged his knees, rocking back and forth. Sarah looked at me and shook her head.
"Of course someone had already told you, right? It must've been your partner that you're trying to find," she leaned in closer. Her eyes started narrowing. I could feel her warm breath touching the side of my ear, but her hold on my locks captured my sight.
"And since you seemed not to be an ordinary person either," she paused.
"Either?" I asked.
She sighed downward and stroke my hair for two times before letting it sway by the wind.
"Lots of the people here are mixed; there are nobles, commoners and most of all bandits, but we promised to abide by the rules. However, this game wasn't ruling abiding."
Shocked and confused written all over my face when I couldn't utter any words. Sarah must have noticed it since she kept a few feet away from me.
"Listen carefully; you must be surprised by what I just said. It must have been your first time participating in this kind of ordeal, but trust me, or maybe not whatever you think," she paused, closing the distance again, and this time she stopped sighing. Instead, she put her hands forcibly gripping my shoulders.
Her touches and tone make me wonder if I'm dreaming or this is reality. It's suggesting I wake up from where I should be right now.
"This is not just a fun game; remember when the host said that no one would die? That was just for the nobles to know since they thought the participants were all nobles. But it is like the commoners and bandits were being hunted."
"Why, how can a game like this..."
"Right, that is why this is a game where you can't trust anyone, including me. If sometime after now, we might have parted ways, one thing is for certain..." Sarah bent down to look me straight into my eyes.
Her eyes were shining like they were earlier until she blinks, and all that was left were ashes.
"Don't ever trust me and that man over there," she pointed at the man named Moses, then looked at me again.
"I don't know what is happening right now, and you mentioned earlier about me having to participate in this game for the first time; what is it that you two have purpose in this game, and why did you say those words? And what are you saying right now?"
Sarah closed her eyes, not removing her grip on my shoulders.
I flinched a little when I felt it would mark my skin.
"This is our second time, and what we saw in our first time identified that the host was a fraud."
"A fraud?"
"Listen carefully," she paused, calming her hands on mine before gazing back through me.
"The commoners were caged for experimentations, and the bandits were all killed. However, there's one bandit who disguised as a noble and won through his wits. That bandit wished to become a noble and so it just happened that he became one."
"So, you mean, only when the commoners and bandits could win if they disguised themselves as nobles? What a horrible game is it, but still, his wish came true."
She nodded, and I gulped.
The warmth from my shoulders suddenly turned cold, and the woman right in front of me, Sarah, closed her eyes, yet her grip tightened.
Her nails dug through my skin, and it's already bleeding. I tried pushing her, but she's stronger than I thought. I gazed at Moses where he was sitting earlier, but he was nowhere to be found until I looked at my back.
"And our suspicion was correct; you were a noble earlier. We're sorry to do this but you leave us no choice." A rough voice from behind me tingles my spines. I closed my eyes, shouting for Adviel to save me.
A few seconds had passed, and I thought Moses had knocked me off the ground only to see them in pain meters away from me.
Sarah's hand was in her neck while she bent down to the ground and spoke as if her own hands were choking her. Moses on the other hand was doing the same thing. I blinked and was about to come to them when I noticed that my hands were glowing with a purple hue.
I don't understand what happened, but the moment a silvery mist engulfed the place, feathers from a bird's wings appeared above, and the two disappeared.
I tried to look where these white feathers were coming from, but I couldn't see anyone until a few seconds when someone blew air from my ears and I turned to look at the person.
"Just as they said, you should have been more careful not to trust people, especially them." A voice like a child and yet so soft as if caressed by the gentle wind flew through my ears like a little song.
Shaking my head and trying to cover my ears weren't the solutions I needed, so I breathed out some air that got stuck in my body and faced the young boy.
He had this golden, wavy hair and mask that left an impression if I were to choose to run away or follow him.
This boy gave off an aura that's familiar and yet new. He seemed dangerous. He might have been younger or the same age as me, but he made the two disappear in an instant.
Is he also the one who made them choke?
No, it must have been the shield that Adviel game me earlier. It must be because of the candy.
"Who are you? And why?"
"Oh dear, didn't the host disclose earlier about asking our identities? Oh well, if you insist, just call me Les," the young boy bowed as if curtsying a noble.
"Are you also a noble?"
"Also? So, you were a noble?"
"I didn't mean it that way, and---"
His chuckles cut me off before I could even explain.
"Don't you think you're exposing yourself too much? Then look at what the two did earlier. It's such a pity they won't have to see the light."
"What are you talking about?"
"As you have heard from them earlier, there are classes that participated in this, and only nobles can win, don't you think?"
"So, you're eavesdropping on our conversation earlier?"
"Do you think I would say those words without knowing anything?"
"Is it right to answer a question with another one, Les?"
"Well, just to tell you, you have known my name, but what should I call you?"
"Is that more important now than the question I was asking?"
"It is, since I will give you a full answer when you give me your name."
"You just said earlier that identities must be kept secret."
"I didn't say it that way, but you could have interpreted it in such a way, very good for you," he clapped his hands after chuckling, before almost closing the gap between us.
"You do have someone protecting you, but let's see how long that will take." He leaned to blow some air from my ears again, and this time I captured his scent; it's like meeting someone familiar in a way.
Shaking some thoughts off my mind, I sighed.
"Fine, just call me Bell."
"Oh, Bell, is such a good alias; it's a wonderful name to think it through," he massaged his chin as if he's thinking through something.
"So, Bell," he paused.
"Do you even know what you were running away from earlier?"
"No," I answered, even though I have doubts. Still, I can't trust this boy.
"They just led you to a direction where they can kill you and take your form as a noble. Now that you've managed to be free from those bandits, let me ask you one thing..." I didn't answer him because right now, his words shocked me.
So those two people weren't nobles and that they were bandits?
"Would you be willing to partner with me for the rest of the two-day game?"
A recognizable touch engulfing my view, a circling wave of nostalgia swam through my chest, and an aura I couldn't forget makes me feel frozen in time.
But he couldn't be here; he couldn't be this boy; he couldn't know this event. He couldn't.
"Because even if you can't trust me, you'll believe me when I say I will never kill you." The tone, the action, the giggles, the warmth, the scent—they were all too nostalgic to forget. However, he can never be that person. I'm sure of it.
In the first place, that being, hated golden hair, like mine, and events that waste his time, like this.
So he couldn't be the person to whom I devoted my life and yet used me to my last breath.
"What benefits will I gain from this proposal?" I asked.
Even though I have no intention of fulfilling a bargain with a boy that reminded me of someone I abhor.
"It's simple; you just have to tell me your wish, and I'll fulfil it."
"What?"