Sky - Children of the Light: Isle of Dawn

II - Wary Introductions

- Chapter Two - 

My head drops so my eyes can see the bag sitting in the palm of my hand, my mouth clinging shut without a word to be released. I think I was stunned by the fact that this boy is in fact not entirely mute.

I nod slowly, moving my hand so the tokens clink against each other, the metal surfaces rubbing together to make a song of tin or silver--whatever material the coins are made of.

As if pretending he didn't just speak his first few words to me, the boy steps around me and motions with his hand for me to follow him. I do. He doesn't look back, as I'm realizing is a habit of his, to see if I am indeed following him. It's only when he turns to point at something or stops me to shove something into my grasp that he confirms I'm follow him step by step on the sandy paths and stone floors of the shops.

By the time we're walking out of the last shop carved out from a stone hill, I'm bored out of my mind and itching to explore from every corner and rabbit-hole in my being.

I sigh deeply as my feet step down the two moss-covered steps of the last shop. The boy veers a soft left turn, towards a short tunnel-looking arch (also carved out of a wall of stone). I stand at the base of the last stair, though, letting my mask face the right. I note the cover that is placed over the entry of whatever isolated alley leads to that direction, another door opening into yet another carved room in part of that stone wall. It shows like a cafe, seats and tables set in a strange order, seats lining a counter, which huddles a preparation counter and furnace for the keeper.

I almost walk off to explore the alley, see where perhaps it might lead, until I see a group of other masked people walking from the alleyway. My feet aren't delayed much as I scramble to catch up with the boy. I didn't realize I'd felt so comfortable around him compared to anyone else.

He makes to just to the end of the arched tunnel when I catch up. The grass immediately turns into the sand that makes up so many paths in the village, this one winding all the way down to meet with a semi-circle of portals. Each looks slightly different, but all are tall and thin, the posts that hold them up thick and looking planted deep into the ground. Each portal is welcomed with a path leading in and out. Six portals in total.

What catches my attention, however, is not the mere mushroom-looking portals that line the edge of the land before meeting rolling clouds. It's the giant single-peak mountain, like a watch tower of stone, that has my mind boggled. Giant, guarding doors span open, leaving the doorway open and daring anyone to step through.

The portal that's tucked deep into the dark of that carved watch-tower mountain has everything in me itching, screaming to be as far away as possible. So, I follow the boy's steps which step off the path and into the widespread field of grass.

As I push the thought of that seventh portal out of my head, instead redirecting my suddenly drawn attention to the carved indents in the far side wall. Lining most of the field, splitting the village and the field is that wall of stone. The right wall has a second lining, which has five carved sections. Once my feet are walking the border of the mini stone steps, my eyes scan each section.

The first is designed differently than the others, slightly shorter and deeper with a skinnier entrance. Stones adorn the threshold, making the section smaller--cozier. The back wall of the first section is mostly blank, save for a design looking like that of a star, if one were to ever be seen up close. A circle with a bright ball of light in the middle, with four long prongs sticking out from the outer circle, four smaller prongs between each main prong. The whole picture being carved into the wall carefully and set to glow with light like something of an eternal sun.

The boy continues, the second section being simple and rounded into the stone. I notice the rest are formed in the same way. As though each section was weathered in, rather than carved or chipped.