The two walked down the main path of this strange place, demarkated by a line of black moss that cut through the purple.
"Do people, stay in those?" Luma asked, staring at one of the stone buildings as a boy around his age stepped out.
These buildings had architecture far removed from what was commonly seen in the tribe. For instance many of them seemed to have two individual buildings stacked on top of each other. And all of them had see through stones placed in cut out boxes along the building's walls. It was all so strange. Just who had built these? Clearly they had taken some sort of hallucinating herb to come up with them.
The boy stopped right at the front of the building, leaning against a wooden plank that covered the entrance.
"Haven't seen you around," the boy called out. "Not many new faces come arou—"
"Jirma, does your mother know you converse with strangers?" the watcher interrupted, moving so that she blocked Luma from the boy's sight.
"The sun's blessings to you as well Va Rela," the boy replied with a cocky smile. "My mother is as oblivious to this, as she is to your showing me said stranger," he added.
Rela, huh? And she's married. Luma thought to himself, noting the Va title used.
Rela sighed at that. "Just get back in your house," she said, before looking towards the blue sun. "Night will soon fall."
She nodded at the boy, and pulled Luma along.
"Be seeing you, red hair," the boy said, waving as the two left.
Luma subconsciouly touched his hair. I forgot that... he thought. Remembering how his mother had not originally been from this tribe.
They walked for several minutes, before stopping at a building with three individual houses stacked on top of each other. Despite its massive size, it had less of those see-through stone boxes than the other houses.
The wooden plank that covered the entrance had dozens of blue power stones etched into it, each positioned at the start or end of a rune.
Rela stood in front of it, and presented her stone eye to the massive blue power stone at its centre. A cold light beamed from it, feeding the entire plank with blue energy.
A moment later, a loud whirring echoed from within it, and it swung open. Rela turned back to inspect the eerily empty street, before walking in.
"Don't touch anything," she warned, as he followed in behind her.
The room they entered had walls of polished wood, and a large table off to one side. Several wooden statues were placed around the large room, each with a single blue stone set into one of their eyes.
"Follow me quietly," Rela whispered, pointing towards a set of stairs that led up.
They passed another set of stairs before being shown to his sleeping quarters. It was a rather sizeable room, bigger than his own at home atleast, and had a strange sort of bed he'd never seen before.
Instead of straw, its innards seemed to be filled with a soft fluffy material. He lay down on it happily, the fatigue from their long walk suddenly weighing down on him.
"You are not permitted to make noise or leave this room," Rela whispered, holding the wooden plank at the entrance of the room. "All the doors in this house have been fitted wi—" she stopped herself, staring at Luma with narrowed eyes. "Just remember that I'll know if you open this door."
Seriously, what does she think I am? he wondered, before raising his hand like his students had done during class.
Rela sighed at that. "Must you ask me me questions?" she whispered.
"What if I need to relieve myself? And I haven't eaten today," he whispered back.
"Wait here." With that Rela closed the 'door' behind her.
A few minutes later she returned with a plate of food, terra-boar meat and a few lumps of sarka —a staple made from pounding and baking certain herbs.
"What about—"
Rela tossed a large water flask on his bed before he could finish that sentence.
Luma looked at it hesitantly, then back at her. "What if I need to relieve myself the other way?"
"You'd dare not," she replied, before closing the door behind her. The door shimmered with blue energy for a moment before dimming back to normal
Luma quickly finished his food —forced to eat mouth to plate like an animal— before reluctantly relieving his bladder in the water flask. He remained awake on his bed, staring at the cieling for a little while, wishing that this room had one of those see-through stone boxes.
The last of his thoughts were of Guzla's final moments, about the different ways the members of his tribe could've stopped it if they used their power stones in unison.
The whisperers are strong, I'll give them that. But not against our entire tribe, he thought to himself.
Slumber found him not long after.
*
Luma dreamt.
Of a cold dark room, where the only slit of light came from an opening high above. A familiar yet unmet voice whispered to him.
"If man should be robbed of all his words barring one, it should be 'stop' that remains on his tongue. For those of the living races are prone to violence and evil against each other.
And so, to voice the word 'stop' is an unpeered privilege in such a world."
Once the words stopped, a large figure appeared in the shadows of the room. It's silhoutte ghastly in form.
"Where are they?" the voice asked, gruff and phlegmy.
Luma just stared up at it, confused to what was going on.
"You won't speak, heh?" the figure said, before stepping into the light. It was a fat thing, face covered by a steel helm. In it's hand was a whip with sharp metal shavings tied to each tiny strip of the whip's end.
"That's good. Otherwise my job wouldn't be fun."
Pain. Unimaginable pain tore through Luma's flesh. Each individual metal shaving could be discerned as they bit into his skin, and sloughed it off, only for it to repeat again.
Pain. Beyond anything that Luma had ever known. Yet his mouth thought only off a single word. It held no submission, no sign betryal of the pain experienced. If anything it was commanding in it's tone, rebellion in audio form.
"Stop."
And Luma understood, if only just a little, of what that whisper had meant.