Broken Glass - Taekook

6

At dawn, I'm woken from a dreamless sleep by Hyejin and Seunghyun. The house is still dark, but a faint blueish light is beginning to come through the gaps in the door. Next door, the pigs are snorting and snuffling as if they've already been fed, and the faint sound of birdsong echoes from somewhere far away. 

The air is refreshingly cool, and I wake up easily, swinging my legs over the perch and carefully standing up. My soon-to-be-companions are stood in a corner, and I greet them in a quiet voice. Seokjin holds out a small piece of bread, as a sort of breakfast, and I take it gratefully. He just smiles.

After a brief discussion about my current condition, Seunghyun and I determine that I've improved since yesterday. He warns me to be cautious, tells me not to overexert myself, informs us that we should rest often on the journey ahead. We have a long way to go, and if this whole adventure is to end in some sort of fight, I should be ready for it. Being exhausted all the time is too dangerous to allow.  

Once I've eaten, Hyejin passes me the pack she spent all of yesterday making. As I shoulder it, she explains the contents: a waterskin, some spare clothes and shoes, the knife handed to me by the village elder from yesterday. At the very bottom, wrapped in spare rags to avoid breakage, sits the mirror that started this whole mess. 

When she's finished talking, she gestures to the door, and I follow the entire family out of the house. For the first time, I see Hazelpoint, and Eithyr, and get to take in the world that I'm supposed to protect. 

Even though the sunrise is still in an early phase, I have to blink a few times in order to get my eyes to function properly. Eventually, however, my vision adjusts to the unfamiliar light, and I'm able to look around.

Hazelpoint is tiny: when I stop to count them, I only notice fifteen houses, arranged around a central path of bare earth. A singing river cuts through the centre, and a small wooden bridge joins the two halves of the settlement together. Each house has a small corral, with some form of animal kept inside. Some people keep pigs, others cattle or goats. 

Around the entire village, an ancient forest stands, the tops of the trees swaying in a breeze that I can't feel. In the branches of a nearby oak tree, a sparrow sits, singing to welcome in the new day. The more I look, the more wildlife I spot: a red squirrel climbing the trunk of an ash tree, the telltale drumming of a woodpecker, the orange flash of a fox's hide. 

And looming over everything, to my left, I notice the faint grey outlines of a mountain, reaching up into the clouds, topped by snow that blazes white in the early morning light. There's something awe-inspiring about it. The more I look, the more I can see that there are more than one of them, towering over Hazelpoint like personal guardians, unbothered and strong. After a while, I look away, somehow intimidated by them. 

Directly in front of me, the river curves to the right, the water glimmering with dappled reflections. Insects hover just above the surface, and a bright blue dragonfly flickers in and out of my vision, darting around the water as if searching for something. 

"The Unekadi River," Taehyung murmurs, from right beside me, and I jolt in surprise, glancing over at him. He steps forward, pointing to the inner curve of the river. "That's where I was when I found you: I was out collecting herbs, at dawn, and spotted you, unconscious. I won't lie, it did freak me out, but I managed to carry you back home without too much difficulty."

"I never thanked you for saving my life, did I?" I return, staring into the clear water, feeling as if I'm searching for something. I catch sight of a small red fish, darting upstream like an arrow shot from a bow, shimmering in the sunrise. It disappears under the bridge, and I step forward, gazing at this quiet world with an amazement I don't fully understand.