"Home sweet home," Zion wispered under his breath.
We've lived here all our lives, but it's always so beautiful in the spring. The winter was long and cold, but it just makes spring all the more welcome. Zion reaches up and brushes his shoulder-length brown hair out of his face, his lime green eyes shining like emeralds in the light.
Zion slipped his dagger back into its sheath and started heading off down the path that led to the village, Lyra following closely behind.
Vallen village is considered to be quite a bit larger than the other villages in this kingdom,but not large enough to be considered a city. Still, it's always full of people during this time of year. Traveling trades men selling all sorts of weird goods, adventures looking for quests, and even the ordinary townsfolk seem busier than usual.
While she was busy looking around, taking in the big cobblestone and wooden buildings decorated with wines, spring flowers blooming all around in all sorts of breath taking colors. The cobblestone road was full of carriages and horses headed towards their destinations. There were all sorts of demi-humans, too, wolves, birds, deers, and goats for the most part.
"LYRA," Zion screamed, standing on the other side of the street. He was standing in a crowd of many people, all standing in a circle, gawking at something. "COME SEE THIS," he screamed.
Lyra crossed the street, heading straight towards Zion. She thought she was being pretty careful, but apparently not quite careful enough as she found herself bumping into a hooded figure.
"Sorry," they mubled before walking away, not even looking her in the eyes.
Strange. She thought, before she could think about it, she found herself being dragged away by Zion.
"God Lyra, I tell you to hurry, and you're even slower than usual," he said, dragging her off into the crowd. Before she could argue, she found herself in the front of the crowd. "Look," said Zion.
It was a man. But not just any man, his hair was white, and his skin as pale as that of a ghost. His eyes eyes were the total opposite, shining a vibrant magenta with black heart-shaped irises. His lips were black with lines going through them continuing all the way to his ears like string. He was in a black suit and cape with purple lining and gold ornaments. He had big circle glasses with gold and purple accents sat atop his pointy elf ears.
Even more surprising than him were the things on his shoulders. White teddy bears stitched together with purple string. There were three of them in total, each with differently shaped buttons for eyes. They each spotted matching ribbons on their necks with gold accessories. It wasn't just the fact that they were pretty, either. Oh no. They were moving.
It was incredible. It was like they had a mind of their own. They were climbing around his arms, shoulders, and sitting atop his head. They were making weird noises as if talking to each other.
"What are those?" Lyra asked, both intrigued and concerned. What were those things, and what were they doing here?
"I don't know," Zion replied, "maybe it's a kind of magic?"
"Well, whatever it is, we should go. That guy doesn't look too happy about all the attention he's getting, and neither am I," Lyra replied. Before Zion could refuse, she quickly started walking towards their neighborhood. She made a left turn and went round the blacksmith towards the backers.
"Hey," Zion said, running after her "wait up Lyra,"
She made a right turn through an alleyway and took a left turn towards the townsquare.
"Hey, wait up, Lyra," Zion said, finally catching up to her. "What was all that about? Why the sudden need to get home?"
"I have a bad feeling somethings wrong. Horribly wrong." Lyra replied, feeling uneasy.
"What do you mean 'bad feeling'? Don't tell me you're turning into a scardy cat, Lyra," Zion teased.
"Oh, would you please shut up? It's already past midday, I'm sure our parents are worried sick already. Also, the rabbits are starting to smell less than food and more like poison by the minute," Lyra replied.
"Alright, alright, I get it. But I wonder what a guy like that was doing in this village, don't you?" Zion said.
"Whatever it is, I don't want to be part of it," Lyra replied, turning around to look behind her. She didn't know what, but something was about to happen. Something bad.