Lost (Trequel to "Sight")

The Strange Man

    All four of the teenagers turned to stare at the person behind them. It was a very tall man with salt and pepper hair and a goatee. His eyes were a startling amber, and aging lines marked under his eyes, though he looked as if he was only in his late 40’s. He wore a button-up brown shirt with one shoulder pad on one side, and a sheathed sword on the other, and plain black pants.

    “Y-you know the name Ulla?” Varian asked the strange man.

    “I know someone named Ulla,” the man replied. “I met her a few years ago.”

    “Di-did she have reddish-brown hair and blue eyes?” Varian asked, excitement building inside him.

    “Why yes, she did.”

    Varian held his breath. “Do you know where she is?”

    The man stroked his chin. “Possibly. But you’ll have to do something for me, first.”

    Varian’s excitement faded. “Wh-what do you mean?”

    “An heirloom of mine has been stolen, and I’ve yet to find it. It’s very dear to me. If you find this heirloom, I’ll tell you where she is,” the man explained.

    Varian turned to look at his friends, who were staring back at him. Then he faced the man once again. “Can I talk about it with my friends first?”

    The man’s amber gaze burned into Varian’s. “Why of course.”

    The four teens huddled together, talking in a hushed tone so that the man wouldn’t hear them.

    “Well, do you guys want to go find this heirloom?” Varian asked. 

    “If it means we’re closer to finding your mom, I’m all in,” Rose said.

    “But how do we know if we can trust this guy?” Kenny quizzed.

    “We don’t,” Rae replied simply. “We find the heirloom, then ask for Ulla’s location before we give it to him.”

    “Right,” Varian said. “Then we’ll know if he’s actually telling the truth.”

    “Yeah.”

    The four leaned away from their huddle, and Varian turned back to the man. “Alright, we’ll find your heirloom. What does it look like?”

    The man brought out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He carefully unfolded it, then handed it to Varian. There was a drawing on it. A necklace with a gold chain and a large black rock-- possibly an onyx-- hanging from it.

    “That heirloom is very important to me,” the man said as everyone looked over the picture. “It travels back in my family all the way to the 1300s.”

    “Do you have any ideas where it might be?” Rae asked. “Otherwise we’d be traveling all over the seven kingdoms looking for it.”

    “No,” the man answered. Everyone’s shoulders slumped. “But, I do know someone who does.”

    “Who are they?” Kenny asked.

    The man waved his hands at him, telling him to stay silent. “They’re called the Society.”

    “The Society?” Rose repeated. 

    The man gave them a look that said, Would you please stop interrupting me? Everyone held back their comments. “As I said, yes, they’re called the Society. A group of people who help others, no matter their intentions, but are hidden under an alias. They don’t show their real identity, for safety reasons. But they will help you, no matter what.”

    “At what cost?” Rae eyed the man.

    “No cost,” the man told them. “Just your trust.”

    “Where can we find this… Society?” Rose asked.

    “They’re everywhere,” he replied mysteriously. “You just have to know where to look.”

    “Can we have your name?” Varian inquired. “So that we can find you once we’ve retrieved the heirloom?”

    “Oskar,” he replied. “But don’t worry about finding me. I’m usually always sitting at this very shop.”

    “Well, we better get looking,” Varian told his friends. “The sooner we find this heirloom, the sooner we can find Ulla.”

    “Thank you for your help,” Oskar told them. “And I wish you well on your quest.”

    The four said goodbye to Oskar before heading off to find the Society. They split up, think it would be easier; Rose with Varian, and Kenny with Rae. They’d go up to a random person and ask, “Do you know where the Society is?” only for that person to walk away, weirded out. They all felt defeated-- were they ever going to find the Society?

    Varian and Rose had found their way into a dark alley. They didn’t know how they got there, but one thing was for sure: they were lost.

    They clung onto each other, shivering. This alley did not look very welcoming. Would they ever find their way back to Kenny and Rae?

    A sudden sound could be heard; the shuffling of feet. 

    “W-who’s there?” Varian called out.

    “What do you want?” a voice replied from the shadows.

    “W-we’re looking for a group of people, called the Society,” Rose answered.

    A silhouette could be seen stepping out of the shadows, taking the shape of a young woman-- maybe around 19 or 20. She had long, blonde hair that was dyed teal at the end. She had the prettiest shade of eyes; blue but also green at the same time. She wore a plain black t-shirt with a cloak wrapped around her neck. A sheathed knife hung from her brown pants, and she wore tall boots. 

    “What do you want with the Society?” she asked, her hand reaching for her knife.

    “We’re-we’re looking for this,” Varian took out the drawing that Oskar had given them. The woman grabbed it fiercely, and observed it.

    “I’ve seen this before,” she told them, glancing back up at them. She threw it back at Varian, who had to quickly grab it before it touched the ground, then started walking away.

    “Wh-where are you going?” Varian asked her.

    “To the Society, duh,” the woman didn’t even look back. Varian and Rose followed at a more cautious pace.

    Rose finally asked the question that had been lingering in her mind. “What’s your name?”

    The woman stopped. “At the Society, we don’t use our real names.” She turned her head to look at them, the sunlight glinting in her eyes. “But you can call me Myth.”

Guess what?! You, the readers, now have a chance to be in the story!! Woo!

All you have to do is leave a comment giving me a character, their appearance, and personality. And, of course, they'll need an alias to go by.

The more who want to join, the merrier!

Hope you are all well, and stay safe.

~Myth