Into The Unknown World - Chapter 1 Into The Woods

“Life is such a mystery. One must not be complacent about anything that has not transpired yet. Everything has its purpose and meaning. Life is not set in stone. Life is unpredictable. Join me unravel my quest to an unfamiliar world of possibilities. Are you all ready?” Said the huge man with the crown of light lavishly showing its elegance to the white-winged girl, patting on her head while she nervously intertwined its hand. “I, I will come wherever you will go, Father!” she said.

Every night I feel that I could be somebody else. I always thought that this might be because I don’t feel myself. I am an unusual person. I’m always having a dream that I am somewhere, in the middle of the crowd. A place where bustling crackles of noises can be heard, dancing lights in the middle of the road can be seen, crowded and throbbing one another.

… and there’s this another dream of people talking to one another that I can’t remember.

On a clear night, where you can see twinkling specks of light above. I woke up thinking about the dream I had. How I wonder what could it be like to have the entire place lit with moving lanterns and torches that don’t burn. Unlike this region surrounded by trees and fields everywhere. Every night is as dark as a lump of burnt coal. Our home is located in the Southern part of the region where you can see the large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth – the Forest of Krane. Mostly, this is where they hunt creatures and acquire logs to build new houses and firewood.

I was born and raised in the countryside with a huge family member where we can only eat grains all day. Although we are doing our decent means to survive. I am not wailing, though. It’s just that everything is not adequate. I mean, yea, these are not the things that we should complain about as long as we have a roof to live and a portion of food to eat but this lamentable way of living is at its finest. Why do we have this kind of categorization of a group of people? Why can’t we live independently from the institution or people higher than us?

I am the fifth son of a serf. Serfs were the lowest of the peasant status and were a classification of a slave. Lords owned the serfs who resided on their territories. In exchange for a niche to live, serfs managed the land to cultivate yields for themselves and their lord. In addition, serfs have directed to labour the farms for the lord and of course pay rent.

Yes. We serve the Lord in this small town of serfs. We don’t have names here except the freemen of the Lords and handful of Knights, but they call me Twig. I am assigned to get branches or twigs to be used as firewood while my parents are working in the fields of white and golden grains but I do unusual things other than that. I clandestinely wander in the deep of the forest oftentimes. I have a small treehouse built to store the creatures I caught. Training my body to become what I want.

I yearned to be a squire but I guess I am not qualified to even purchase my freedom. My friend Morning Dew envied the same but we are just hopeless rugs. We are only bound to wither in this territory. I don’t dislike this place. I am only frustrated with the things I can’t get. As you see, I am rejecting the fact that I hate this crappy way of living. I can’t complain, so what can I do? We are slaves to the Lord. What I can do is appreciate that our good Lord Heinzall Badrick will stand longer for us.

He’s a very kind Lord. They say he was a bastard of the lowest noble in the Kingdom of Darathos. Son of a concubine and a baron. Although, he’s the second son. whatever the status and privileges of the concubine, they were always inferior to those of the wife, and inherently neither she nor her children had rights of lineage. So, they were only provided with this land. The Lord has been with us since his adolescence and is very intelligent in planning the supply of sustenances.

Sometimes, these leads to a grain trade to nearby lands. Where did I know these pieces of knowledge? I have a friend from the Lord’s enormous stone house. He’s a squire and is nominally the knight’s servant. He travels everywhere with the knight and does what is asked of him. Nonetheless, he is also the Knight’s son and represents, with the knight, the noble class, and the warrior class. This guy is an exemption, though. He told me that he’s a son of a merchant whose friend is a Knight.

I happened to know this guy one day when he was running an errand for the Knight he’s serving for. He’s a very tall man. I met him in the forest when I was selecting for firewoods. We’ve been friends since then and is encouraging me how to do my stance in case I encounter a savage creature in the forest using my blade. He also told me not to bother calling him in any form of honorifics. See, an approachable lad and a weird one too.

Every after lunchtime when he’s not around, I play with my friend Dew who’s also tasked to get firewoods. Anyway, we sons and daughters of serfs are not allowed to help to cultivate the farmlands. The reason is that the Lord said we should study essential knowledge in the morning before we turn 15 Luners and pick-up branches or twigs to be used as firewood in our houses. The firewoods that are used in the Lord’s stone house are acquired from woodcutter deep inside the forest where children are not allowed. This is to secure that everyone is functioning effectively under his rule.

Then I heard whispers one day that the people in this town was talking about. There has been a sighting of a new cave in the East Forest of Krane a week ago. It’s only near our village but deeper. So I have to plan in exploring this new place. No wild beasts that I ever met that are too dangerous in this area. Might as well check and look for new creatures.

Early in the morning, I went to see my friend Morning Dew to get firewood and see for ourselves this new cave the people spoke about. I believe my mother calls this the dungeon of monsters. I want to try sneaking inside this cave. Morning Dew still doesn’t want to come but I forcefully drag him. I bribed him with a lot of buttered bread next season. Well, I can cook. Simple and edible bread. I just knew. I don’t know. Just like the nostalgic feeling of the dream I had last night. Whatever the reason is, as long as we can eat delicious bread other than a stagnant and hard bread, we’ll be grateful.

On our way to this cave, we saw a lot of uncommon animals. Although I can see that these animals are docile we still need to be wary and constantly check the surroundings. That’s what Sir Lyol said to me when I came up to him to plead if I can be a squire like him. He’s the squire I always talk to and is a son of a merchant that was murdered on their way here from a city. I forgot what’s that called, though. Anyway, the animals are mostly wild ferrals and cannoyt. They are like wild beasts of the forest. Ferrals are small animals with soft fur, a short snout and retractable claws. While the Cannoyts has a long snout, has an acute sense of smell, non-retractable claws, produces a sound like howling and whining. They are similar to Canns that barks.

Mother always says not to go alone because of rabid Cannoyts. However, I am confident with my strength. Sir Lyol aided me to practice my combat skills. He’s like 24 Luners and should be a respectable squire in his age. Morning Dew and I just celebrated our 13th Luners. No problem with that! We can take care of ourselves. We’re big guys now! Hmm. In addition to that, we are not alone traversing the forest, so that should be fine as an excuse. Ferrals or Cannoyts, we can always hunt them and give to our parents for additional food and fur.

As we get closer to the cave inside the wilderness, we saw more and more variety of beasts we never know. I can see plenty of orange and white cannoyt-like animals, but the distinction is that it has pointed muzzle and bushy tail, and it’s very cunning. There’s also an animal with wings, it looked like a borruca but on fire. Can you imagine a flying animal on fire without burning? That’s that animal. They seem to be so familiar, though. I wonder where I saw them. In my dreams? I doubt that.

*********************************

#IntoTheUnknownWorld

MakulotNaBuhok x Einvee

2020