Chapter 10
As Nasrin neared the outskirts of Many Seasons village, a sharp crack of a twig jolted her from her reverie. She turned quickly, her heart racing, and spotted a boy standing there. His fingers were pinched together, and his gaze was fixed intently on the ground.
Blinking her eyes rapidly to calm her racing heart, she cleared her throat and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Hunter just kept his head down. Sighing, Nasrin reached into her pocket and took out a gold coin ingot. "Here you go," She walked closer and stuffed the coin in his hand. "You and your folks can live off this for a few months."
She reached for his hair but held herself back remembering this was not her little brother. Smiling at him once again, she turned around ready to go home. The journey back would be shorter since she now knew the way back. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her skirt. Looking down, she met Hunter's teary face.
Panicking she bent down and asked, "What's wrong? Did you get hurt back there?" Hunter shook his head as he wiped his eyes. He looked at Nasrin and asked hesitantly, "May I follow Miss?"
Nasrin's face froze, but she quickly reigned in her expression as she asked, "But don't you have a guardian or parent worrying about where you are?" Hunter shook his head, "I don't have a family anymore."
Pressing her lips together, Nasrin thought about all the trouble she would have to deal with, but the little boy resembled her little brother so much so that, she could not simply leave him alone. Rubbing her face, she nodded, "Very well."
She rubbed his head. Snapping her hands, her gold mask appeared in her hands. Hunter looked at the mask in shock, then looked at Nasrin with an incomparable look. Nasrin looked at him and asked what the matter was, and he said nothing was wrong. 'That mask, didn't the legend say it belonged to…'
Nasrin placed the mask on and turned her back to Hunter, "Hop on, the way to my home is quite long," Hearing Nasrin's voice woke Hunter from his thoughts. Looking at the kneeling Nasrin, Hunter's small face flushed a deep red.
Looking to the side Nasrin asked, "Won't you hop on? We don't have much time." The sky had now become a deep orange color. Shaking his head, Hunter hesitantly climbed onto Nasrin's back. Laughing at the shy kid, Nasrin got up and her figure flashed, rushing through the forest.
***
On Leon and His Team's Side.
"We've found the cottage!"
"Can't you stop yelling, huh?"
"It's who I am!" Jasper said as his yell got louder.
Elara flicked her finger at Jasper and a small flame was launched at him. Luckily, Jasper was able to dodge the fire, but one of the trees caught on fire.
Elara and Jasper froze in shock, and Leon and Finn looked at each other as they thought the same thing, 'We're in trouble.'
Both Elara and Jasper had fiery tempers. Powers added with their temper would spell bad news for anyone who pissed them off. Elara's icy blue eyes became dark blue as she watched the burning fire, while Jasper's light green eyes became light blue. Both then yelled, "Condense, water!" They stretched their hands towards the burning tree and water quickly wrapped around the burning tree.
Sighing in relief they turned towards each other, ready to blame each other but stopped after seeing each other's eye color. Both pointed at one other as the color slowly faded away and a look of realization settled in.
Looking at his destructive teammates, Leon could only look up at the increasingly darkening sky as he wondered where he had gone wrong in life. Finn pointed towards the cottage, "Let's… check the… cottage."
The rest nodded, after what they had gone through in the forest they were tired out. Walking towards the cottage, Elara could not help but comment, "The cottage is quite small and old-fashioned, huh?"
"What do you expect, a fu**ing modern mansion?" Jasper mockingly retorted. Feeling too lazy to respond, Elara only rolled her eyes which had returned to normal. Sick of hearing them bicker every two minutes for the past four hours, Leon looked at them threateningly as he warned them to quiet down.
Elara and Jasper: "Fine, sheesh!"
"Someone's got a large temper, huh?" Jasper nodded along to Elara's words. Simply ignoring them, Leon knocked on the door but the was no answer. Finn calmly looked around the ground and then looked at the door, "The… owner is… out."
The other three frowned. "Well let's just enter," Jasper tsked as he pushed the door. "That… is… disrespectful."
"Who fu**ing cares! I just want to find the 2nd remnant and leave this place. I- we have a lot of questions to ask that thing that brought us here." The rest kept quiet, as they also agreed with him. They followed after Jasper as they entered the cottage.
Their eyes widened in shock as soon as they entered. "The cottage is way bigger than I thought!"
"Yeah, and I don't feel any magic from the cottage!" Elara looked around in awe. "The style is so unique." Jasper and Finn nodded. Leon looked around the large living room with suspension. "Don't lose your guard!"
Jasper rolled his eyes at the uptight Leon and said, "Relax boss, there's nothing dangerous here- ah! "
Jasper's voice was cut off by his own scream as vines, that came out of nowhere, pulled him and everyone else onto the floor and dragged them upstairs. Now in the glass house, hanging upside down and covered completely in vines, Jasper laughed awkwardly as he avoided his teammate's stares.
***A Few Minutes Later***
Nasrin placed Hunter down as soon as she reached the area of the cottage. Pointing to the cottage, Nasrin said, "Welcome to your new home!" Hunter looked at the cottage with large eyes. Tears filled his eyes and he quickly bowed to hide his tears and thanked Nasrin in a nasal voice. Smiling, she told him to come in.
Entering, Nasrin placed the basket under the table, removed the large beanie on her head and placed it back in its place. She also removed the smaller one from her head and tucked it into her pocket. Behind her, Hunter looked around the cottage with shock. The more he looked the more convinced he was, but what really assured him was when Nasrin removed the beanies. Nasrin rubbed her aching and hot ears as she walked towards the stairs. "Sit down first, I'll go get some towels so you can bathe."
Hunter closed the door and walked towards the white cotton-like couch. He looked at himself then at the couch then decided to sit on the floor. The floor was covered in a light brown fuzzy carpet. Crossing his legs, he thought, 'It doesn't matter if she is it, she took me in so I'll try my best to help her.' Clenching his hands, Hunter looked at the cottage roof with resolve in his light grey-blue eyes.
Too bad. Poor, poor boy would never know the truth of his expendable fate.