Enigmas - Chapter 8

It’s been three days since Yoan and Hilia both left the neighbouring village. It turns out, they were perfectly fine and none of them wanted to leave the village; they couldn’t bear to. Yoan and Hilia couldn’t convince them, and Hilia wasn’t competent enough to set up a barrier with just her talisman, especially since the village was considerably large. Moreover, a talisman wouldn’t last forever, though a mighty priestess could train herself to make it last for centuries.

However, Hilia knew they would be safe, the attackers were annihilated and even though this village was her neighbouring village, it was in a secluded area. One, without experience in exploration, would find it hard to make their way here.

“Please, stay safe and be well.”

“We will, priestess. Thank you for your care for all this time, especially your grandmother.”

At the mention of her grandmother, Hilia tightened her smile.

“It was our pleasure.”

“Please, take care on your journey, priestess and Yoan.”

Throughout the journey to the main town, Yoan and Hilia slept in the forest, using the fire to ward off any predators. They fished or hunted down small animals for food. Yoan had more knowledge about the outside world compared to Hilia, who spent most of her time in the village cultivating herbs, learning chants and spells from her grandmother, also performing ceremonies or rituals for the neighboring villages.

Hilia never ventured further other than that, whereas Yoan, whom loved exploring, was more familiar with the mountains, roads and forests.

The gravel crunched noisily under Yoan and Hilia’s shoes, walking side by side, Yoan was focused on leading the way while Hilia yawned loudly, making Yoan frown in annoyance.

“At least try doing something to help me, I’m not really familiar with this area from this point on.”

Hilia smiled sheepishly, stopping in her steps and closing her eyes, frowning in concentration as she stuck both of her hands out. Within moments, something translucent started forming on her hands. In seconds, snow-like particles started to coalesce rapidly into a bright light and a familiar wooden staff appeared on her hands.

“Whoa, that’s new.” Yoan muttered out, blinking his eyes multiple times due to the sudden brightness.

“Yeah, grandmother taught me this trick, so it wouldn’t be so troublesome to carry my staff around all the time.” Hilia grinned at Yoan, swinging her staff around in her hands expertly before slamming it into the ground.

“Hey, wait, why did you not use it before?” Yoan complained, an unsatisfied expression on his face. “It would have saved me so much trouble, the staff was a hassle to carry around!”

“You were carrying it for me, so there’s no point in me doing that.” Hilia shrugged.

“Oi! What the hell!” Yoan barked at her and Hilia laughed heartily at his irritated response.

“okay, sorry, sorry! I’ll help you now.” Hilia said, after stopping her laughter, her eyes still twinkling with amusement.

“All this time, I wasted my energy carrying it for you…” Yoan grumbled out, taking a few steps away from her.

Hilia closed her eyes again, concentrating as she gathered her spiritual energy, directing them to her eyes. Opening them, her pupils transformed into a mystical flowery shape, just like when she did whenever she casted a spell. She lifted her head as she held tightly onto her staff, looking around.

This time, it was Yoan’s turn to yawn loudly and Hilia rolled her eyes, musing to herself.

We should head to nearby town to rest. The soil was uncomfortable to lay on, especially how uneven some parts of the soil were. The both of us haven’t had a good sleep in days.

Scouring around, Hilia finally spotted an irregularly shaped ball of light. There were dozens of them and farther in front, and she knew what it definitely was. Dispersing her spiritual energy, she blinked, her pupils appearing normal again.

“There’s a town straight down this path, I see dozens of life forces coming from there.” Hilia pointed straight ahead and Yoan stretched, feeling slightly sore due to not being used to sleeping on the hard soil, nodding his head as he followed behind Hilia.

“I miss sleeping on beds.” Yoan sighed and Hilia nodded in agreement, stretching herself too, grimacing when she felt her sore muscles tensing up.

“Me too.” Hilia sighed, the staff on her hands transmuting into a ball of light, before completely disappearing from her hands.