Remnants of a Forgotten Realm: Andem, The Beginning {PREVIEW}

Chapter 3

The short trek to the village was quiet with none of them daring to break the peace of nature. Lisola had been rubbing the choker around her neck ever since they left the cottage and her nostalgic thoughts pulled her away from reality.

"Is it bothering you?" She broke out of her inner world by Andem's concerned voice. His amber eyes fixed on the choker around Lisola's neck and he frowned. “You’ve been rubbing it for a while now.”

 Lisola looked up at him and shook her head briskly. "N-no, not at all!" She waved her hands in emphasis. "It just gets a little uncomfortable sometimes..." Her voice began to lower as her eyes strayed to the gravel beneath her feet. 

 "Then why not take it off?" Rio sang as he twirled around the girl in a free-spirited manner.

 With his carefree attitude, both Andem and Lisola released a despondent sigh simultaneously. 

 The amber eyed man grabbed Rio by the collar of his shirt to stop him from frolicking about mindlessly. "She can't take it off, you foolish cat." He stated to the man who hissed at Andem's comment.

 "First off, Andem, I am not a cat. I am a magic-user who can transform into a cat!" Rio gave the other man a glare before turning his attention to Lisola's choker. His attitude quickly switched from annoyance to curiosity. "And second, why's that?" He asked anybody willing to answer.

 But nobody did. Instead, Andem dropped his hand off the magic-user's shirt and gave him one last glare before continuing on to the village visible in the distance, and Lisola just remained there silent.

 Rio watched the blonde-haired man make a steady distance and then looked back at Lisola, who stood there with her hand against her throat. He tilted his head to one side and made a small groan of intrigue through his closed mouth. "Sol." he spoke, grabbing the attention of the submissive girl. "Does that choker somehow involve Andem?" He asked her.

 Lisola's body suddenly reacted by sending her a sharp shiver through every muscle. Her eyes looked into Rio's for a moment before she withdrew herself from him. "Why would you say that?" She asked him evadingly.

 The magic-user swivelled his body to face the village and set his hands behind his head. "The first time you wore that thing was the day when you brought a wounded Andem home, two years ago. Ever since then, you've been wearing it." He explained to her before marching forward and to the village. "I get it if it has some significance, but you even wear it when you sleep... And when you bathe." He added, making wide strides with one leg and then dragging the other against the gravel, drawing it to the other, and repeating the process.

 Lisola's hand remained on the choker around her neck as her eyes narrowed. "Two years ago..." Her voice whispered to herself. She raised her head to view the clear blue sky above her and she closed her eyes, feeling the wind brush against her skin. "Two years ago, my illness appeared." Lisola whispered into the breeze and it carried her voice away. 

 As the wind calmed, she cast her gaze to the men in front of her making their way to the village. Her eyes set mainly on Andem, who seemed to be in deep thought. That day, Lisola thought to herself, I looked in the mirror to find my eyes had turned from brown to amber. And this choker... She clenched her hand into a fist and laid it against her collar bone. What happened that day? ...Andem.

 "Hey, Sol! Are you coming or not!?" Lisola's thoughts were halted by the voice of Rio from the distance. She glanced over to him to find there was a fair distance between them and, upon realising why they were heading to the village in the first place, Lisola ran to Rio's side.

 There was a slight distance between them and Andem for the rest of the trek to the village, but it was not a bothersome action for any of the group. Rio preferred his time alone with Lisola, whilst Lisola was too deep in thought to even care, and Andem always seemed to prefer his solitude.