Keeper of Arancti

chapter 2 - This Is Arancti

We reached our destination. It was an enormous tree with a tree house built among its branches. Only treehouse was an understatement. She leaded us into a small shed. Then we were suddenly lifted up. I quickled tried to hold on to the wooded walls. But then I heard her laugh and realised that it was a lift and she had been using a rope pulley to drag us upward. I scratched my head, embarrassed. When we reached the top, I stared in awe at the area. She had built a home for herself. Using different types of wood and forest materials she had constructed an amazing place. (Author's note: sorry idk how to describe so just imagine okay) She laughed again, and walked out of the "lift". I followed her into one of the rooms where there were many bottles with various leaves pasted on each of them. She ordered me to sit. So I did as she examined my cuts.

" They're just cuts, they'll heal by themselves." I said.

She shook her head and spoke with an accent, "Poison." She turned her back to look for something.

"Poison? You mean my cuts are poisoned?" I asked alarmingly.

She turned back to me with a bottle and cloth in her hand and nodded. "The plants can be dangerous if you're not careful."

She began dabbing the liquid onto the cuts on my right arm. They stung and I pulled my arm back. Reflexes. She looked at me apologetically and slowly pulled my arm back to continue dabbing. I winced as the stinging continued but then I got used to it.

"So are there others? Like you and I." I asked.

She looked up and nodded with a flash of sorrow in her eyes. I assumed I pulled at a nerve (either that or she was starting to find me annoying but I chose to go with the former.) so I didn't ask any more.

As she worked, I took a good look at her. She had dark hair with feathers and string weaving through her unruly locks. She was dressed in cotton and bits of leather; her mid-riff slightly showing. A small knife was strapped to her left leg. No shoes; her feet were bare and callused. Her eyes were a shocking violet. She was clearly human but there was something alien and exotic about her beauty. Her arms were decorated with tribal patterns and an old gold bangle pushed up her arm. But even those failed to cover up her strange feminine beauty.

She had given me clothes to wear. They were of similar style to hers just much bigger and of a man's cut. So there must have been others.

"So um where are we?" I asked after I dressed.

"This is the island of Arancti." She said softly.

"Do you by any chance know how I got here?" I queried.

"It must be fate. This island has a mind of its own and everyone who is here is here for a reason." She paused for a second.

"A lot of terrible things have been occurring of the late. Perhaps you are here to help us." She said.

"You mean my purpose here is to save your island? That can't be! I don't even know how i got here!" I panicked.

"Calm down. I never said you were destined to save us. I jist said it was a possibility."

"So now what?"

"Now we get some rest. Tomorrow, we shall visit the oracle." With that, she tied off my bandage and left me.