The Forgotten Kingdom

Chapter 2: Unfamiliar Voice

The next day was pretty much the same as the previous. Owen woke up to the sunshine blinding him, he talked to JJ, he fished for a bit, talked to his friends, went for a walk then finally went to bed at an unreasonable hour of the morning.

The day after was similar, the week after that was a repeat of the days beforehand and the weeks after that week was a carbon copy.Nothing interesting ever happened. 

In those weeks, the only interesting or out of the ordinary thing to happen was Harley's cattle escaping from their pen. As nice as it was living in the small village, it was also incredibly boring.

One day, Emery, Ollie and Owen were sitting down by the dock like they usually were. Today they were talking about the zombie apocalypse and how they would survive it. There were very strange ideas being thrown about.

"The first thing I would do is raid a farm," Owen stated "I'd take a bull and a heifer then I'd have infinite food,"

"Baby animals don't grow very fast, you know?" Ollie pointed out "You'd starve before the calf grew up,"

"Shit, yea," Owen huffed "Well then I'd kill a lot of cows,"

"The poor cows," Emery chuckled.

The three Origins were sitting down by the docks, as per usual. Owen had his fishing rod balancing on a log beam supporting the dock. The sinker on the end of Owen's line bobbed up and down on the surface of the small lake. Ollie was sitting to the Phantom's left while Emery was sitting on his right. 

"Hello," said an unfamiliar voice behind the trio.

"Hi," Owen replied, turning around to face the voice.

It came from someone around Owen, Emery and Ollie's age. Owen couldn't tell what Origin they were. They didn't float. No particles floated in the air around them. They didn't have any wings or legs growing from their back. Maybe they were a Starborne, it wasn't very easy to tell when someone's origin was a Starborne.

They had dark skin and long curly brown hair with some parts coloured white. It made them look older than they probably were. Their eyes were deep brown, almost black. They were wearing a mustard yellow corset top with colourful flowers stitched into the fabric and long dark orange skirt.

"I'm Hefina," she said, holding out her hand.

"I'm Owen," Owen said, shaking her hand.

"What are you doing here?" Emery asked, getting straight to the point.

"I like to travel," Hefina answered

"Okay," Emery said, still confused due to the vagueness of Hefina's answer. 

"I accidentally stumbled across this place," Hefina explained "It is quite a nice place,"

"It is," Owen agreed.

"What origin are you?" Emery asked, not holding back on the relentless questions. Her gaze was scrutinising as they analysed every square inch of Hefina.

"Oh, I'm not an Origin," Hefina replied, shaking her head. 

"Then what are you?" Emery queried. He was acting like a police officer questioning a convicted criminal. 

"I'm a Mortal," she told the Elytrian. "What is your  Origin?"

"I am an elytrian," Emery said, proudly, flapping their wings to show off. 

"Wow," Hefina looked fascinated. "So you can fly?"

"Yep," Emery nodded "Pretty cool, right?"

"Absolutely," Hefina agreed.
Emery, Ollie and Owen had been warned about mortals by many of the older folk in the village but since when did they listen and take people's advice? 

Maybe things would've been different if they had just listened, for once.

That day was unlike the previous days spent fishing and lazing around in the sun. 

That day was spent telling stories to Hefina and showing her around. She looked so happy to talk to them. She must not have had many friends back at her home.

She didn't stay for the whole day. She eventually did have to go home. By the time the sun was about to set, Hefina was gathering her things to leave.

"I have had a wonderful time here," she told Emery, Ollie and Owen.

"We have had a wonderful time with you," Owen smiled. "Are you planning on coming back?"

"Maybe," Hefina answered "I will definitely try to return,"

"Well don't be a stranger," Owen said.

Emery, Ollie and Owen watched her leave. It was quite the journey back to her hometown, she more than likely got back exceptionally late and got a stern lecture from her parents about staying out late.

"What do you guys think about her?" Owen asked. He was picking at the bright green grass surrounding the he was sitting on.

The trio had decided to move from their usual spot at the docks to a small plateau at the top of a hill nearby the village. The view from up there was magnificent.

"I think she's dangerous," Emery responded.

"How?" Owen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's a mortal," Emery whispered, looking around them as they spoke in case someone was lurking nearby. "That makes her dangerous. Do you not listen to the tales?"

"Of course I do," Owen huffed. "But they're just tales, you don't know whether they're actually real or not. They could be stories made up by the older folk to scare us,"

"I still don't trust her," Emery said.

"Can you at least give her a chance?" Owen pleaded. "She seems genuinely nice, it feels rude to turn her away simply because she's not an Origin,"

"Fine," Emery frowned. 

The clock striking half one in the morning was Emery, Ollie and Owen's queue to return to their homes. The air felt cold on Owen's face, turning his cheeks and nose rosy pink. Each breath he emitted formed in front of his face in a bubble of smoke. Effulgent light was the only thing preventing Owen from walking in complete and utter murk.

The Phantom pulled his house keys out of his jeans pocket, placing it into the lock and twisting it to the right. Upon hearing the jingle of a key in the lock, Fish stopped whatever she was doing and dashed towards the front door, waiting with exhilarating excitement for Owen to walk through the door. 

"Hi, sweetie," the boy cooed, reaching down to pet the axolotl. "How was your day?" 

Owen closed the front door behind him before collapsing onto his couch. Fish climbed up onto the couch, curled up into a ball and fell asleep. 

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word count: 1054 

hope you enjoyed the second chapter (it took me ages to edit :')) 

end of chapter question: what is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you? 

stay safe and have a great day/night! 

- Owen