Caesar

CHAPTER ONE • ALONE

Verbena walks through a narrow street in Mountaingroin. The buildings were small with the tallest being a three story building. It was very different from Peachland which had buildings similar to ancient skyscrapers.

As she walks through the streets, she observes how deserted it was. She sighs in tiredly as she moves. To be honest, her life was miserable, she was always an outcast. Most of her life, she was feared, hated and alone especially after the death of her mother.

As she walks through the lonely street, she stops looking at the flag of her clan - a staff with a paddling stick behind it. The staff represented the authority and power the Riferos possessed as the only mage tribe in the whole Yunchi. The paddling stick symbolised their closeness to one of the largest oceans, its salinity was very high and its waters very blue.

She hears sounds coming from behind a wooden table which rests against a rough wall. The table was usually used as a sales table but because of it was a stay in day, the table was empty and so was the street.

She shifts her hair behind her ears then bends down to see what was under the table.

A puppy, a little wolf like pup. It is whimpering and injured laying in its pile of blood, its leg is broken and damaged because of a huge bite and the constant rain makes it worse. Its fur is wet and blood flowed out of its body along with the rain waters, towards the drainage.

"What are you doing out here
injured?...Aren't we both outcasts? Out and hurt on a forbidden day!" She says as she picks it up placing her hands on it.

The puppy had lost so much blood that if others had stumbled upon it, they would have left it believing it's dead.

A yellow light glows beneath her palms as she looks down at it sadly. Soon, the weak pup jumps up energetic as it tries to catch its tail

It runs round licking her feet showing its gratitude. She turns around walking away from it.

Instead of it to run after her, it sits back down whimpering even louder to get her interest.

She smiles then stops. It runs towards her and she picks it up.

"Aren't you quite the cry baby?"

As she walks out ignoring the fact she felt eyes on her, a beautiful man watches her.

His hair is whitish sliver, his skin pale white and his clothes are sliver. He looks at his palm which has a raging blizzard. Soon the snow storm on his palm calms down and a mini version of Verbena is in his hands.

She is smiling with the puppy in her arms walking through the narrow streets.

******

Her long blonde falls down her back as she bends picking up herbs and dropping them into her Weaved basket.

The sky is light blue with white clouds. The clouds move slightly as the yellow sun shines down at Danbury.

Her nose raises up smelling a unique smell. It was delightful and nice like an expensive perfume but something about the smell felt intriguing.

Against the grass, she hears footsteps; delicate, soft and elegant not noisy or irritating.

She drops the basket down then follows the commands of her ears and heads toward the sound.

"Wait!"

She calls out but he didn't stop and slowly walks behind a huge bush which hides him. He just kept walking slowly while she ran but still couldn't catch up with him. She kept running after him. He seemed not human for his unusual pace and he stopped close to the river. The orange sun setting in front of him making him a silhouette.

She runs to him finally standing a feet or two from him. Suddenly, she hears a sound so melodious and sadistic coming from a flute.

It's tune entices her that she runs closer towards her stranger. Her hands reach out to him.

As she runs, the whitish sand beneath her feet starts to crack but she keeps running towards him not away from him to safer grounds. He just stands there playing his tune, the sand beneath his feet is not cracked.

The tune increases and the ground cracks even more falling deep into a created hole. She blinks closing her eyes just for few seconds as she stands on a secluded broken piece of ground. When she opens them, she is still on cracking ground but this time at the front of her house. Her house is on fire, all in ruins and the ground beneath it breaks but strangely she didn't care about her house or family and still runs towards the tune and its player.

Finally she stands close to the stranger with the flute.

He was tall with huge broad shoulders and a very tiny waist, his huge hands wrap round the flute as he plays it calmly. She couldn't identify him because of the bright sun rays which made him appear like a silhouette.

She reaches out to him, trying to touch his shoulders to comfort him. His tune so sadistic, she knew his soul was tortured. She reaches out, closer and nearer.

She stretches her hand trying to touch him but hesitates.

Summing up courage, she touches him trying to turn him to face her.

The sun glows brighter, brighter and...

She jerks up, sweating. Her socked feet touches the ground as she climbs down her huge bed, her tiny feet walks forward.

"Danbury, what's wrong with you?"

She asks herself refusing to sit down as she stands right in front of her caryatid mirrors.

"This dream keeps repeating itself, recurring!"

Strangely enough, she did not care that her house was in ruins but wondered about the flute player and this disturbed her.

Is it possible that she was already in love with a phantom from her dream, a silhouette without form?

Facing her reflection, what she said next seemed unlike her but it was urgent.
"I would have to find a shaman!"

With that, she switched off her lamp but she didn't go to bed. She sits down embroidering in the darkness.