Brilliant Darkness

Chapter 5

        When Leonard first settled his eyes on the few clumps of houses in the middle of the green lush field with only a small plot of farm land beside them, his first incredulous thought was, that is a village? 

He had expected...more.

His eyes settled on the half-rotting signboard with some scrawny chipped-off words that read "Bio Villae" at the edge of the village just beside the path he was standing at. He sighed and slightly wondered if there was any space for him to spend the night at all. It was getting dark, so there'd better be one. 

Leonard wandered into the village, which seemed rather permeable as there was no guards guarding it. Nobody in the village questioned his presence, just merely gave him a curious look. Ignoring them, he trudged on, looking for a decent inn.

To his frustration, by the time he reached the other end of the village, there was no inn at all in the village. Apparently, there wasn't many foreigners in the village. He looked around and saw several farmers ploughing the land in the farm. Perhaps he should just ask them to allow him to stay in one of their houses for one night. He was about to walk to them when he felt a hot breath on his neck.

Startled, he turned around, to let out a cry of shock.

Villagers stared hostilely at him for a moment at which he had trouble swallowing his saliva. That wasn't very welcoming, he thought as he put out his hand to greet the person. It was then he saw the person properly for the first time. The person was a girl younger than him, wearing a faded green village-dress which matched her eyes, which were-

Leonard halted mid-thought. Her eyes were just so... mesmerizing. They were green in colour, emerald green and they seemed to go on and on beyond, further than he can reach. He sighed and felt a little dizzy just staring into her eyes. He shook his head, but couldn't really clear the daze. She smiled, a beautiful thin lipped smile and extended her hand.

"Hello. My name is Genevinia. Welcome to Brion Village." She curtsied elegantly, which seemed pretty weird because there usually were no formalities in a small village. Leonard bowed and introduced himself as Leonard Hutorn.

The girl smiled again, her emerald eyes sparkling. Leonard immediately felt a strange wave of  dizziness wash over him. What's wrong with me? Leonard thought, confused. 

Or to be more exact, what is wrong with her?

His alertness suddenly shot up, and immediately he felt more unstably, dizzy and nauseated. Leonard slowly backed away. The girl seemed to realize something, then went up to him quickly. Leonard, with a bit of strain, tore his eyes away from her gaze and stared at the brown ground with a few tufts of grass poking up from it.

Immediately, he felt much better.

Suddenly, he felt a cloth being pressed over his mouth and nose. Caution told him to hold his breath, but his lungs insisted that he did. As soon as he took a deep breath, he felt a sharp scent travel up his nose. He had heard of many situations like this from stories. Was he being kidnapped? He still had to save Prism!

Worry clutched his heart and drove him into the brink of consciousness. Though, he was powerless to resist as his muscles relaxed and his body slumped down. The world turned dark, but not before he heard someone shout out Genevinia's name from a distance.

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        "He noticed!" A whinny, girly voice said. It was Genevinia's, Leonard realized with a shock. He slowly opened his eyes to let a crack of light in.

There were two figures silhouetted against the bright light behind them. They were both seated across the table, facing him. He moved his hands a little and found that they were bounded tightly to the chair he was sitting in. Surprisingly, it was quite comfortable. The chair, not the ropes binding his hands. Since they hadn't seem to notice that he had awoken, he pretended that he was still unconscious and strained his ears for more information.