A Single Ray of Light in a Sea of Darkness

Black and White

Eric groggily opened his eyes to Venlithea shaking him. Light peeked out from around the shoddy leaf door onto the last remaining chars of the fire. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stretched his body out. While last night wasn't the worst sleep he had, the ground still felt uncomfortable to him.

As he woke up, Venlithea gave him some berries and a flask. The berries were a multitude of different colors, ranging from black to red to dark blue, while the flask was simply a dull metallic silver. Popping a blackberry into his mouth, the sweetness burst out when he bit it, causing him to eat the rest of the berries. When he drank from the flask, cool water flowed down his throat, quenching his thirst from the night before.

Giving the flask back to her, Eric said with a smile, "Thank you, Ven."

She took the flask from his hand without saying a word. Holding the leaf door to the side, she turned her head towards outside, beckoning him to go out. He grabbed his dagger and ventured into the damp forest. She followed soon after, glaive in hand and hood up.

The ground smushed beneath their feet with each step they took. He noticed how light seemed to make a complete difference in how the forest looked. Gloomy and sinister at night while bleak and dreary during the day. Amping up the creepy atmosphere was the fog that hung just below the tree line, making everything in their peripheral vision hard to see. Thankfully, Brinegarde came into view more and more the closer they got to the entrance.

"Thanks for everything, Ven," he said appreciatively. If it weren't for her, he knew he wouldn't have gotten out of the forest.

"...It's Venlithea. My name," she corrected, closing her cloak.

Letting out a nervous laugh, he replied, "I'm sorry! It's kinda a habit of mine to nickname people if I can... Is it okay if I call you Ven, though? If not, I'll just use Venlithea from now on."

In response, she gave a shrug, not really caring what he called her. As she walked towards the town border, she seemed to be trying to hide herself, ducking behind trees and whatnot. He went on ahead of her and entered Brinegarde.

Aside from some wet stone and small puddles, the storm didn't appear to have affected the town much. The townspeople were out and about, some of whom he recognized from yesterday. He noticed they were gathered in a crowd ways away from where he stood. They looked about ready to go into a frenzy for some unknown reason he couldn't fathom.

"I don't know what's going on but maybe we can--" he turned around to face her only to see she disappeared-- "Where'd she go?"

As he fully came into their view, the crowd noticed him and suddenly swarmed him. He couldn't be bothered to answer their questions, since so many of them were from different directions. Making an effort to keep his anxiety at a minimum, he asked them the question of why they ignored Ven going into the forest. The answer he got stunned him into silence.

The Vlixeox people had warned him about was her. Ven, the quiet elf who had helped him the night before, was the Vlixeox he assumed to be a monster. He didn't want to believe it, couldn't understand it. She was nothing like what he expected or what everyone thought her to be. Although he didn't know her all that well, he truly considered her to be a good person.

"Even so, what's wrong with her being a Vlixeox? She's nothing like what you all make her out to be," he angrily said, desperate to know why they were all against her.

"I'm afraid you're wrong. Oh so very wrong," a voice called out, effectively silencing everyone within the crowd.

The mob of people cleared a path for the newcomer, allowing Eric to see who it was as they whispered amongst themselves. A tall elf, dressed in varying shades of red, stood in front of him, giving off airs of arrogance. White hair rested atop their fair shoulders as light blue eyes stared down at him. He knew, without a doubt, this was the lord of Brinegarde.