Moonlighter

Chapter 1: Enzo

Chapter 1: Enzo

     The great fabled village of Madah lay nestled between the Tsin Mountains to the south and the Great Forest to the north. Beyond the forest was the Agaru Desert, a wasteland of neverending sand dunes and vicious storms that nobody ever dared to venture into. One of the few plausible ways to get to the village was to navigate through a tricky mountain passage within the Tsin that led out into the sea.

     One young man was navigating this passage on his way to Madah Village. He had been traveling on this passage for almost two days ever since his boat capsized near the coast during a seastorm. Washed up on the shore and seeking a place to refuge, he discovered a map engraved in the rock which pointed the way to Madah Village.

    The young man's name was Enzo, a life-long loner who had decided to leave his hometown for a brief outing at sea. A long-troubled person longing for a kind of inner-peace, he possessed a rather adventurous, maverick outlook towards his life. Certainly, however, ending up on an unknown land was not part of any plan of his. While navigating the mountain passage, all he carried with him were the clothes on his back and a small knapsack of food: some cheese, bread, and milk. He was lucky to have even retrieved any food, for most of his belongings he brought with him could not be saved from the storm. 

    It was mid-day, and the seaside breeze began to pick up. Enzo stopped to take a rest, for he was tired and a bit hungry. He unwrapped the knapsack from around his shoulder and began to eat his last piece of bread as he gazed at the clear sky. He then took a long look at his boots. They were clearly unraveling. Same with his gloves. As he ate the last bite of bread, he sipped some milk and stood back up.

   The moment he stood up, as out of nowhere, a blinding white light zoomed past his sights.

   Startled, Enzo quickly collected himself as the white light vanished. A sudden feeling of panic overcame him. A bit stunned and frightened, he stood his ground and looked around. He gripped onto his belongings as he combed his surroundings. He climbed around the nearby rocks and panned the sky.  

    Nothing...

   He looked and waited a little longer. But it never came back again. What was it? Where did it go? It took a while for him to relax while he stood there alone in silence. He slowly closed his knapsack, took a few deep breaths and swiftly proceeded down the passage, the thought of the incident still fresh in his memory. 

    As he trekked along, the sun slowly began to set and was getting dark fast. The air started to get colder. With increasingly weary legs and an aching head, Enzo finally began seeing what looked like the entrance of the village of Madah in the distance. He picked up his pace as the big sign that read 'MADAH' (written in a colloquial alphabet) drew closer...

    As Enzo began to run closer towards the gate, he was tackled by someone from the side and was pinned to the ground face down. "Keep him down! Don't let him escape!" a voice yelled. Two more bodies showed up, flanking each side of Enzo, each of them pointing some kind of weapon at him. Enzo, flustered, began to squirm around in panic. "Hey! What are you doing?"

   "You shut up and stay down!" the voice yelled back. "Go check his hand, now!" One of the men grabbed Enzo's right arm at the wrist. He removed the glove to view the back of his hand.

   "No, nothing. He's good..." 

   The man who had Enzo pinned down released him and stood up. Enzo too stood up, distressed, as the four men gathered themselves to face him. "I'm sorry we had to do that to you. We always take precautions to make sure our village does not get, shall I say, "unwanted visitors" at this time."