The Dark Covenant

THE FESTIVAL

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     ༺SALS VILLAGE༻

"I just came by to give this to you as a gift." He said, handing over the bouquet of flowers, at some point tempted to take a sniff of the nectar and pollen radiating of off the anthers of the rainbow flowers.

"Thank you very much Reene. They are very nice." She reluctantly received them, knowing too well of her allergies. She had prior encounters with wild flowers that caused her to puff up. But she couldn't refuse his polite gesture so she took a leap of faith.

They both stood there, Reene was clueless, he hadn't planned to get this far. Alicia never knew how to respond being that she never had this sort of encounter in the first place.

"So uhm... I was wondering. The festival is coming up in a few days and I was curious as to what your plans were. I could take you sightseeing... I mean if you had no other plans, not that assume you don't have any but..."

Reene choked up on his own words. He cleared his throat once more and attempted to continue his speech. But Alicia knew sooner or later he was bound to entrap himself in his endless loop of thoughts that led him to no conclusion, so she jumped in to help him reach his topic end.

" ... I can't decide for now. I mean not that I'm turning down the offer but something might arise in the stretch of this two days that wasn't planned for, so right now I can't give you a definite answer..."

" Oh ok, I mean... That's very very reasonable. I'm sorry for barging in without an invitation. I hope I didn't ruin anything you had planned for today...."

" Oh no you didn't do anything like that. In fact I was just getting ready to have a rest. But it was nice of you to pass by. And thank you for the flowers."

"Oh you're welcome commander. The pleasure was mine."

"... And Reene, there's no need for formalities, you can just call me Alicia."

She smiled awkwardly, attempting to soften the tense situation.

" Right.... You're welcome, Alicia"

Just as he turned to walk away, a band of knight guards appeared from the horizon easteward, enroute towards Alicia's home. At the forefront, a familiar face steered the Calvary, daunting a silver hammer. He rode on a white stallion, attempting to take control of the free-spirited horse as it trotted across the valley. Their pace gradually shifted as they approached the house.

After a few moments they soon arrived at the doorstep. Robert Townsdy dismounted from his horse and proceeded to grace Alicia with a bow.

"Greetings commander,"

Alicia waved off the formalities.

"You're off duty there is no need for that. Do you have the report?"

Robert rose to his feet.

"Yes commander. After we deployed, we proceeded to head off East, towards the last known location of the last group of surveyors. But when we got to the edge of the miasma, there was no sign of any one camping there... or any sort of trail for that matter, so we proceeded South. But halfway across the forest we encountered The entity that tried to block our path. We engaged with it and we ended up losing most of our equipment but managed to escape the encounter with no casualties. As we speak that is the farthest progress we've made."

"What about the ones who crossed the walls. Have you found out anything about how they we found an entry into the the forest?"

"The other two are still still in coma. The child who came about two days ago has a faint recollection of the encounter, all she could remember was the journey towards the miasma belt at the other side of the wall and how she woke up here."

Alicia tried to hide her frustration. Knowing too well that however much she tried, her efforts were leading her nowhere was eating up her conscience.

"OK that is fine. Thank you for the commendable work Robert, you can tell your troop to take a rest, we will sort everything out in the coming week."

"Yes commander," he jumped back on his horse and waved to the other knights.

Reene knew of her obsession, why she desperately wanted to find a way out of the kingdom and over the walls. Over the stretch of the five years he was in support of her plan, her plan for vengeance. But soon the notion faded in his mind and he came to terms with what had occurred, and he wanted so much for the same to happen for her. But she let nothing go, she could not. All he could do was sit back and hope time could heal her wounds, but they were deeper than he thought. he looked back at her and saw the streak of frustration etched across her face, he saw her try to mask it, but there was no hiding it. He walked away, hoping it does not consume her and lead her to a point of no return.

   ༺SOUTH ANGUS༻

Carrs Armani stared at the enchanting artwork painted across the walls of the temple. He took a moment to breathe in the stimulating scent of the burning incense. For all he knew he had made it. He spotted two figurines at the corner of his left eye. Two monks, sitting across the altar directly facing each other. One of the monks offering his prayers noticed, and turned towards him.

" The only two monks to have transitioned into a higher state of being,"

"Where are they right now..."

"Nobody knows. As soon as they were shown the truth they disappeared."

" What is it... The transition?"

"They say when you transition, you are shown the truth. And once you know the truth everything else is irrelevant."

Carrs continued to marvel at the figurines, until the main Monk of the temple walked in, tapping him by the shoulder.

"Do not get too lost in your thoughts."

Carrs smiled back.

"I was just fascinated by the thought of transitioning to see the truth. I wonder what lies ahead, over the shore."

"... It is exactly as you said it... It is nothing but wonder. And just like a lake, you need a boat to traverse it's wonder, without it you will drown. The transition is the water, and the boat is your mind... But enough about that, that's a story for another day. You said something about visiting, Sals village?"

"Yes you are holiness. It's been three years since I've seen my friends. I will only be visiting for the stretch of the festival and I will be back in 4 days time."

"You have put a lot of effort in achieving your goals and reaching to where you are now and I think this break is exactly what you need. Go back and have time with your friends."

"Thank you so much."

Carrs couldn't wait to get back to his friends. After his departure he was to never be in contact with them until his pupillage was done with and only then would he get a chance to go back and give them a visit. He had his luggage ready, prepared to confront the road and compel it to direct him to Sals village, so that he could have one more glorious reunion with his friends before his total induction into the temple.

    ༺SALS VILLAGE༻

Alicia submerged the flowers into the verse, making sure not to break the stems. Her face covered up once more with rage. The similar unsatisfactory feeling unclouded her perception. Now everything she saw around her looked as if it was out to taunt her for the failure of her revenge plot.

The fact that the one person who destroyed her life could potentially be out there living his with no regret of what he did. And what was more frustrating is that she could in no way get to him. She felt like crying, she was about to cry but knowing herself she could never. All she could do was reset her mind and start all over again. The only answers she could hope to have was to come from 3 foreigners who magically crossed the walls 2 years ago and since then they have been drifting in and out of consciousness. At that moment all she had to do was to reset her mind and that was when she decided she was going to attend the festival.

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