The Blood War

Goodbye, Rivera.

"This feels... Familiar. Nostalgic. ... Scary." Arzon thinks to himself as he walks on dark green grass, large and twisted trees surround him like gods.

"Walk faster, Arzon! Collins going to complain if you get lost!" Rye chuckles.

"No, I won't." Collins furrows his eyebrows.

"Come on, guys. ... Cheer up! Let's talk positive. Hm... Look! We made it out alive, without any injuries!.." Rye sighs as he watches the still sad and cold boys.

"... I... You're right, Rye. ... They must've escaped already. ... We just have to go search for them... And meet up and stuff." Arzon tries to be optimistic.

"We have to get to a safe place first. The last thing we want is to die from starvation or dehydration." Collins looks around.

In each direction they turn to, it all looks like an unfinished puzzle.

"I think I might know a place! ... Don't really know if it still exists though. I uh- read a history book about it. Built around 15 years ago-" Arzon says.

"Lead the way then, leader!" Rye enthusiastically gestures for Arzon to start walking infront.

"Since when am I the leader?"

"... Collins and I decided on it!"

"No, I didn't." Collins says as he starts walking.

Hours and hours of walking, every step making their legs tremble more as the ground, uneven and unpredictable forces them to carefully take every step with thought and caution. "I wish we could just summon food with our magic... Why science... Why!?.."

"... Rye..." Arzon sighs, but his eyes soon widens as he sees a building in front of them, in a less dense area of the forest. "I think that's it!- Come on!" Arzon pulls the two by the arm.

The trio examines the place upon arrival. The whole village is surrounded by wooden fences, and a big gate. There's a sign above which reads "Welcome to Twin Mountain Villa".

"This place definitely looks old but..." Arzon looks around. "It's crowded and alive! Hah!" He excitedly run inside. It's an open village.

"Slow down, Arzon!" Rye laughs and follows Arzon. Collins jogs behind them.

The once silent sounds of nature, now drowned in voices of people. Houses line up on each side, from above, it would look like a plus symbol. Stalls on both sides, with people manning them. You could hear people yelling "For sale! Fresh potion ingredients for sale!", "Best bread in town! Come get some before there's no more!" and more.

"I can't believe this place still exists! I just want to- I want to scream!" Arzon's eyes are sparkling. Like, literally sparkling. How-

"AAAAA-" Arzon frantically points at something with eyes wider than it should be.

"Arzon!? What is it?!" Rye runs to Arzon and puts a hand on his shoulder, slightly shaking it as if asking for an immediate answer.

"It's the TWIN MOUNTAINS! Just... Look at it! The height of the two mountains are the same! It's like a reflection-"

"... Cool. Mother nature's a perfectionist. Now come on, you want to eat or what?" Rye drags the fascinated Arzon towards Collins who has a bunch of food on his hands. His eyes are furrowed in annoyance, death-staring Rye and Arzon.

"Here." Collins says as he shoves most of the food onto Rye and Arzon's arms. He then turns around and goes to sit on a stool which was occupied, but he had pushed the kid sitting on it onto the ground. But once he took the first bite of the thick sandwich, he had a very, VERY feint smile on his face.