[363 PD]:

  A month has passed since Shoku first stepped into the town of Bloux. He had gotten better at navigating the narrow, almost maze-like streets. All of this while also making sure to avoid encountering King in a one-on-one situation. Like Solane said, the big guy was ‘relatively’ passive until provoked.

  When the boys did encounter, Shoku was almost never alone; He was either with Solane who seemed to be the only one to have a certain amount of authority over the giant. Or he was with Daria who directed all his attention toward her from how hectic she was.

  His heart beat faster in his small chest. He was so happy to have people around his age to talk and hang out with. He did not hate the old people of Ezoul but the vibe was simply different here.

  ?I love having friends. ? thought of the boy as he rolled in his bed.

  Getting out of his comfy bed in the morning was still something he was working on thought.

  A knock was heard at his door just before the door creaked open to reveal the tired face of his father. For some reason the man looked even more curled up on himself than usual which was impressive. A little more and he would collapse on himself.

  “Shoku please. You’re going to be late.”

  “But It’s a full moon today!” whined the boy as he pushed his head into his pillow.

  “Sister Xenevia is kind enough to use some of her little spare time to help you learn. You should be grateful.” replied his dad.

  Shoku grumbled as he pushed himself off his bed. Normally kids go two times a week to the church to learn, but Shoku had 2 extra days since he was behind most others. It annoyed him a bit since those were private lessons with no one else. Being alone with Sister Xenevia was a type of uncomfortable he couldn’t put into words.

  He snatched his wooden sword and walked past his dad without a word or a glance since the man was avoiding his gaze as usual. Shoku never realized how much his father was doing this until he started living daily with him. The boy wasn’t sad about it, just irritated.

  What was so hard to look at?

  A cool breeze greeted the boy when he stepped into the streets. His breath was beginning to fog in the cold air. He looked up at the sky; a round glowing moon stared back at him from its sea of stars. It wasn’t as bright as a church of light, but the boy felt just as good under it, maybe a little better if we dared to say.

  He made his way through the dim-lit streets, alternating the hand holding his sword to warm the other in his pocket. He recently figured out that the people in this town handled the cold better than he could. Ezoul used fire for light which made it pretty warm in general. Here fire was only used to cook since the church of light was taking care of the rest.

  Indeed, it was Sister Xenevia’s fault that he was so cold.

  As the boy approached the church, he couldn’t help but notice the long gazes of the passers-by. He was used to be stared at; I mean a kid dragging a sword the same size as him was attention catching. The thing is that normally the gazes are quick and curious. These ones were long and felt heavy. These long gazes mostly came from middle aged women at the market.

  He decided not to pay them much mind and quickly reached the town center.

  There, an interesting scene was playing out in front of the church, to say the least.

  “I didn’t drag you out of your mud hole for nothing!” The voice of Sister Xenevia cut through the morning silence.

  The lightbringer was grappling with a smaller figure in front of the stairs leading to her church. Her once pristine white robe had dirt stains all over it, and her flowing hair was messy. Her eyes were glowing brighter than ever; they almost looked like two green spots.

  The figure she was trying to keep in place was the one of a girl covered in mud. A girl who was fighting back with the ferality of a cornered animal. A girl who was twisting and turning like a vicious snake. A girl who was screaming louder than a howling wolf. A girl...ok, I think we got it, it was Daria.

  Why was the esteemed priestess of the town holding a kid in a submission hold?

  Well, she doesn’t owe us an explanation, does she?

  Shoku hesitantly approached the entangled mess, trying to blink it away but no, it really was there. He knew Sister Xenevia was considered a special type of person here, but he didn’t know she was that special.

  The lightbringer locked eyes with him. “Took you long enough, kiddo” started the woman. “Go to the well behind the church and get me some water to wash this thing. I cannot have it ruin the inside of my church.”

  ?Why is she a it? ? thought of the boy

  Just as Shoku took a step toward the church, Daria shouted:

  “Why are you listening to her? You're my friend!”

  “It’s because I'm the one with the highest authority here!” Smugly reminded Sister Xenevia.

  Shoku stayed unmoving for a while, thinking.

  “Shoku friends are more important, aren’t they?” said Daria in a pleading tone.

  “Just go get the water already,” urged the priestess who was starting to lose her grip on the wild girl.

  Shoku steeled himself and took a hesitant step toward the church, then another more assured.

  “What...what are you doing, shoku?” said Daria in a betrayed tone. “What are you doing COWARD!?”

  But shoku didn’t answer her. He kept walking with his back facing her. He had steeled his resolve, and nothing would make him sway now. His heart was aching at each of his friend’s screams, but he knew what he had to do. Both for himself, everyone else and for Daria herself.

  ?I’m sorry Daria, but you really are...dirty. ? Shamefully thought the boy as he ran behind the church.

  “SHOKU!!” Those were the last words that echoed in the town center this tragic morning.

  .

  .

  .

  “and...fro-from...be...wong...the sea..hum...they came?” said Shoku as he tried to read a sentence. He was now seated on a bench in the church with a thick book on his laps

  “Almost, it’s beyond not bewong,“ replied Sister Xenevia who was laid down on a bench with a new clean robe. She was caressing her owl which was nestled comfortably on her belly.

  Shoku had been trying to read the same excerpt of the lightbringer legend since he sat down, and it started to weigh him. He was no educational expert but making an illiterate kid read a thick book written in small characters, full of complicated words and packed into dense paragraphs was maybe not the best starting point.

  Shoku kept his head down both to focus on the book and to avoid the piercing gaze of Daria next to him. The girl’s eyes were peering at him through wet hair which stuck to her cheeks. She was in a new change of clothes; A simple brown fur coat and leather pants. A merchant was kind enough to sell them to Sister Xenevia for half the price.

  Shoku had never seen her so clean and fresh looking. He could even risk himself and say that she looked quite cute without all the grime usually covering her.

  Shoku frowned and looked outside through the huge windows. Activity started all around the church. More people were at the market, and the usual stalls were open. It didn’t matter what the merchants were selling; all were gathered around the light. It was probably the best spot to be in since your ware could actually be seen.

  “What’s with you?” asked the Sister.

  “Why are we forced to be here, can't we just follow the usual lessons?” said the boy

  “Are you genuinely asking me this?” replied the woman. “You come from literally nowhere and the creature practically never shows up to said lesson.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Yes, but the lessons are always spoken. I don’t need to read to understand them.” added the boy.

  The priestess softly chuckled, a smirk on her face.

  “Well, reading will definitely come in use later in your life.” said the woman. “And do you seriously pay attention during my lesson when all your focus is on your bench neighbor?”

  Shoku’s face flushed a deep red at the accusation. He thought he was sneakier than that.

  “Of course I do!” quickly blurted out the tomato.

  “Ho yeah?” Sister Xenevia sat back up, putting her owl on her laps which doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “Tell me where the Wrogs live then.”

  “...the Emerald swamp?” tried the boy.

  “a complete failure,” said the woman. “They were chased out of it by the goblins and now live in Anva. Also, we call this region the rotten swamp now. You only paid attention to the first part.”

  “There are too many races...” said Shoku while rubbing his head.

  Xenevia snorts “You only have the main one to remember.”

  “There’s more?” whined the boy.

  “Obviously, do you think the region outside of the lightbringers’ influence are empty?”

  “And we don’t learn about them?”

  “It’s just like why we only talk about 3 regions. They are heretics who refused to join the church of New Hope. Why should we care about them?”

  Shoku did not know how to process the new. He never thought much more about why they skipped over so many parts of the realm during lessons. He just guessed that those parts were empty; he never knew they were ignored on purpose.

  “I'm not a follower either, why are you teaching me then?” shakily said the boy

  ...

  The room got completely silent. Even Daria, who had been sulking the whole time, straightened up to look at the two. Shoku lowered his gaze on the book, resting on his thighs. He did not know where this sudden boldness came from, and he spoke before thinking.

  “I don’t care,” answered the Sister. “I have more important thing to do than to start sorting kids depending on whether or not they follow a grandma.” She said while pointing at the statue in the back.

  Shoku looked at her with wide eyes. just who was this woman, did she really insult the queen goddess of Kilgivar like that?

  “Can you really say that” asked the boy.

  “Did Solane detain on you or something?” answered the long-eared woman with a smirk.

  Both lightly chuckled while Daria was looking at them in confusion.

  “Wait does that mean I'm a heretic?” realized the boy in horror.

  The priestess kept laughing. “Nah, you’re just annoying.”

  “Annoying, how?” Said the boy.

  “I don’t know much about your whole moon thing, but I know employers hate your kind since you’re guaranteed to be absent at least 1 or 2 days a month.”

  “I mean no one really likes your dad because of that.”

  Shoku eyes opened wide. Suddenly all the odd stares, the quiet whispers and his dad’s behavior clicked together.

  “Of course...he can’t work in the mines during full moons nor on dark days.” whispered the boy.

  “Yeah, from what I've heard the miners, and their stingy wives don’t like that,” said the priestess. “Well, I never understood this whole moon thing to be honest.”

  Xenevia got up and sat right between Shoku and Daria. She handed over her fluffy owl to the sulking girl who quickly cradled it against her. The docile bird doesn’t look bothered by it and makes itself comfortable.

  “Actually, I'm kinda curious about it now.” added the long-eared woman.

  “You want to know about the pale gazer?” said the boy as he looked at her with incredulous eyes.

  No one until now ever directly asked about it. Solane seemed to always try to avoid it, probably scared of saying something bad, and Daria was Daria.

  “Yeah, I mean this was around way before my race got here. Might even interest this thing.” The woman tried to pet Daria but quickly removed her hand when ‘it’ tried to bite her.

  Shoku twirled his thumbs, already red from the sudden interest directed at him. He cleared his throat and started:

  “The tale starts before the Darkening. At the time both the sun and his wife, the moon, shared their reign over the sky. The sun watched over the humans when they were active, making sure they were doing fine. The moon preferred the calm of the night when activity was less intense.”

  “Unfortunately, the queen goddess of the Golden age, Maeve suddenly raised a veil which locked our sky in this eternal darkness. The sun disappeared from our lives, leaving humans unprotected and in complete chaos.”

  “The moon who was once shy decided to take the role of her partner and became our new protector. She was now watching over us during our active hours with her white eye. That’s why we call her the Pale gazer. Even if we think there’s no one around to see and acknowledge our actions, we do our best because she is watching.”

  “today’s a full moon which means her eye is fully open. We celebrate under the moonlight to show her we are doing perfectly fine and that she can go back to sleep. It means my father cannot go into the mines because the Pale gazer won’t be able to see him. We cannot worry her.”

  Both girls were looking straight at him. Sister Xenevia seemed mildly interested, rubbing her chin in thought. Daria had stars in her eyes, leaning closer to hear absolutely everything. As soon as she realized that he was looking back at her, she started pouting again and turned her head away. Quick glances keep escaping her, though.

  “So, by that logic the reason you people don’t go out during the dark days at the end of each month is because these are the only moonless days. Right?” guessed the lightbringer.

  “Yes,” confirmed Shoku. “The Gazer is asleep these days which means no protection at all. Back in Ezoul no one would leave their homes. I was told that the people who went into the darkness were erased.” The boy shivered at the thought.

  “Is that so.” simply replied Xenevia. “Total erasure? that’s a new one.”

  “Most people here would think it’s stupid.” muttered Shoku.

  “Maybe, I mean you’re different. People love difference when they can hate on it together.” The priestess got up and stretched.

  “Of course they do,” said the boy with a defeated tone.

  “That’s when you get even more annoying about it.” continued the woman.

  “What?”

  “If you’re so different just show them firsthand. Then they won’t have anything to gossip about.” answered the woman. “You say today is a celebration day, then be loud and proud about it.”

  “proud about it?”

  “Yeah, look at me. I'm a lightbringer of the church of the New Hope. Do you ever see me gloomy and sad?” The long-eared woman got right into his face with a smug smirk. “Nah, I'm an annoying bitch.” The vulgar word slipped out of her mouth without any shame.

  ...

  “I don’t think I want to be like y-” Shoku got cut off as the Sister tugged on his ear.

  “I just gave a cool speech, don’t ruin it, brat.” threatened the holy woman. “What would you do to show the power of your goddess?”

  Shoku thought about it for a while. What could be proof of the Gazer’s protection?

  His hand tightened on his sword, and he looked at it for a while before staring back at Sister Xenevia.

  “what’s the most dangerous animal in the realm?”

  The elven women simply smirked. “There are many crazy beasts but if I had to say which one is the most feral without counting the one next to you it would be the white bear tiger that lives in the Yeti’s mountains.”

  “Then I'll take down a white bear tiger directly under the gaze of the moon and show everyone our strength!”

  The boy raised his sword high. His heart was beating and for a second he felt kinda cool before the shame caught up to him and he sat back down. Daria could help but giggle softly.

  “The Yeti’s mountains are no place for weaklings. If you did pay attention in my lessons, you would know this is the deadliest region of our realm.” The lightbringer slightly teased him.

  “No kids would survive there, well maybe except the bull kid since that’s his homeland.”

  Both Daria and Shoku looked at each other then at the Sister.

  “Bull kid, you mean King? And he’s a yeti?” Shoku was flabbergasted.

  “...” Sister Xenevia looked at him with a frown. “What else did you thought he was?”

  “Well, he’s kinda like the other big hairy guys here so I thought it was the same for him.” Said the boy.

  “You thought he was a sasquatch?” chuckled the woman. “Ho no, no. The kid’s far worse. We haven’t talked about them yet, but yetis are a race so secluded in the cold mountains that the New Hope barely ever had any interactions with them. When it comes to physicality no race can surpass them.”

  “But the mountains are at the other end of the realm, how did he get here?” asked the confused boy.

  “No idea.” shrugged the priestess. “The noble of this town suddenly came back one day with a yeti woman. This freak married her and had a kid. He won’t even tell me where he found her.”

  ?He’s half-blood, and he’s already that strong. What about the real deal? ? Shoku preferred to keep this thought aside since he wanted to sleep tonight.

  “Both of your faces are so laughable.” snickered the woman.

  Shoku once again felt his heart swell with jealousy. King was the son of this town’s noble, lived in a big house and was one of the smartest kids around here. And now he’s also from a super rare and strong race. Just what did this guy not have?

  What could he do to compete against someone like that? He was born a simple human in a backwater village with barely any education.

  “Bleh” Daria stuck out her tongue. “I’m still better than him, anyway.”

  Shoku turned his head to look at the overly confident girl. She was completely unbothered as always. The boy still didn’t understand how she could say the most absurd things and yet believe in herself.

  Sister Xenevia rolled up one of her sleeves to check out a watch made of brown-orangish metal. Her face lit up and she smiled in pure joy.

  “Extra lesson time is over. Get out now.” announced the holy woman.

  She went to take her bird back from Daria. She fought over it for a while as the girl was unwilling to let it go. The poor bird looked like it was about to be ripped into two but didn’t seem concerned enough to try to fight back. Finally, the lightbringer opened her palm and flashed the black-haired kid with her magic. Daria fell off the bench while Sister Xenevia hugged her feathery friend.

  “I only let you borrow him, normally humans shouldn’t even be allowed to touch my star owl.” groaned the Sister.

  “Star likes me better too!” Daria got up and ran out of the church.

  ?The name of the star owl is Star? ? noticed Shoku.

  He was about to follow her when he felt the priestess put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Wait,” she simply said.

  Sister Xenevia walked to the door at the back of the church and entered the room. The boy heard some quiet shuffling before she walked out with something in hand. From afar it looked like some kind of big leather belt.

  “Take that.” the woman threw the leather belt at him without much care.

  Shoku caught it and got a better look. If it was a belt, then the person who could wear it had to do some serious self-reflection about their eating habits due to how wide it was. On it were two smaller leather straps with simple metallic clips to adjust their sizes.

  “What is it?”

  “Sword belt. Watching you drag that stick everywhere pisses me off.”

  Shoku’s eyes widened, he looked down at the belt then at the priestess who had a scowl on her face. Slowly, he strapped the belt over his right shoulder then at his waist to keep it from wobbling. Finally, he grabbed his sword and awkwardly slid it down in the straps. It was a bit hard to do due to its size but once it was settled, it stayed in place without any trouble.

  His heart was beating really hard against his chest. A warm feeling spread around him as he turned to look at how perfectly his sword fit. No more cold hands, no more cumbersome walks around town and hopefully less weird gazes from others.

  “Thank-”

  “Get out.” the woman pointed at the door.

  Shoku nodded. There was no reason to try to tell her how grateful he was if she simply didn’t want to hear it. With a quick smile he rushed out of the church, running with his hands free for the first time in a while.

  He stepped into the town square, feeling ready to fly. Daria was waiting in the middle, still pouting. She turned her head away but stayed in place. She wanted to make sure he knew she was mad at him.

  Shoku approached her with a small smile. He could see her glancing at the sword belt in excitement, just barely holding herself back from saying anything.

  “Daria...I'm still new to this friend thing and I don’t really know how to handle it. I'm so-” the boy stopped just before he could fully apologize.

  I’m sorry. That's what he was supposed to say. That's what everyone said to apologize. But the words were stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out. The pitiful face of his father flashed in his mind, a face full of guilt and regret which he came to subconsciously loath.

  ?Am I making the same face right now? ?

  The thought felt heavy on him. If he apologized to her, would she feel the same indifference he does when his father talks.

  He was pulled out of his concerns when Daria griped one of his sleeves.

  “I’m also new to this...” she muttered softly. “I can forgive you if you play with me today.”

  Shoku couldn’t say if it was because of her clean look or her wide eyes full of pure innocence. But right now, the girl was radiant. His own mind betrayed him when the thought that she was more beautiful than Solane crossed it. He didn’t feel his heart skip a beat, though.

  “...Ok, let’s play today.”