The Mystery of Love (Robul)

Part 4

Vlad disappeared into the woods, crunching over the undergrowth. The glow of the sun soon blotted out by thick leaves and branches, sending the entire forest into an off twilight. The scuttling of little creatures and chirping of crickets was the only noise. Vlad felt himself relax in the peaceful atmosphere. He walked a little farther into the woods until he came to a large oak tree, one that had been there ever since the Transylvania days, it was that old. Now though, instead of being a small, weak tree that barely provided any shade, it was reaching up through the other trees and tangling their branches together. He looked up at the tree, marveling how much it had grown over the years, and how little he had as he sat down against the trunk in between two large roots. It was strangely comfortable for a tree. He shuffled in his spot for a moment before reaching under one of the roots and pulling free a tattered old leatherback book, filled with scratchy handwriting. There were stories, drawings of various mythical creatures, and instructions for fortune telling-which he had hastily copied down to learn from a book in the library-and recipes. Cause hey, every country needs its own cuisine. Vlad pulled a feathered quill and a vile of ink out of a fold in his cloak and opened to a blank page. He sat still for a minute, willing his brain to come up with something to write. Just as he was about to flip back to the page on fortune telling to practice, something appeared from the forest to walk a few feet in front of him. It was a horse as white as snow with shining sliver hair and a spiraling golden horn protruding from its head. A unicorn. Vlad's breath caught in his throat as it trotted closer to him, sniffing at the air before stopping centimeters in front of him. He was so close Vlad could feel it's breath on his cheek and see the wise, dark eyes staring at him. Vlad stared for a moment before inclining his head as a sign of respect for such a old and wise creature. He kept his head bowed until he felt the unicorn nudge the crown of his head, then he looked back up and hesitantly reached out to pet its soft hide. His breath had been caught with wonder and awe until his chest had started hurting from lack of oxygen and he took a breath. The unicorn gave a neigh before backing up, inclining its own head to Vlad, and trotting away. Vlad stared after it for a long time. He had never seen a unicorn before, and never had he expected to see one so close. Quickly, before the image could leave his head, he dipped his quill in the ink and began drawing.

When he had finished and made sure he had every single detail drawn out, he stretched his arms and slid the book back under the roots. He then cleaned off the end of his quill on his cloak and closed the vile of ink, slipping them both into the fold of his cloak again. Vlad stood up and began to head home until he heard something from the opposite direction. It sounded like...laughter? No...he was the only one for miles. Or was he? Intrigued, he headed towards the voice, it steadily growing louder as he closed the distance. He reached a place where the forest came to an end and it opened out to clear green fields separated from the forest by a river. In the middle of the field were two boys playing. One had dark skin and hair, and wore an odd white mask over half of his face. The other was pale skinned with dark brown hair. Upon seeing them, Vlad slipped to hide behind a tree and stared at the two boys. They were running around and laughing, throwing a sewn ball at each other and laughing when it hit the other instead of being caught. Vlad felt a pang in his chest, he wished he had a friend like that. The pale skinned boy turned and looked into the trees for a second, catching Vlad's gaze and causing Vlad to stumble back and run into the forest. The sun getting lower with ever step he ran.