8 A Brief Rest

Despite the distance between the hut on top of cliff to the Heavenly Village down below doesn't look very far, it took Helen a long time to arrive. She left when the dew is still on the flowers, and the air still fresh. When she came near the village, it was already high noon. The sun strike hard, making a clear difference on the ground between areas shaded by the tree and the open plain where it gets hot and bright. Only on occasion when sun's ray got shielded by the heavy rain cloud, that Helen felt a relive from her burning skin. The heat however gets more unbearable because of the rain cloud traps the hot humid air beneath.

"I sure wish Leaf had given me an umbrella" Helen thought to herself.

Helen had grown so accustomed to traveling with hover bike, she now realizes she doesn't have the strength to walk very far. Not to mention the pathway she has to take earlier on is a small rocky pathway besides the cliff, sometimes so narrow that she has to walk on her side, with her back sticking tightly to the cliff wall. Her footings slipped a few times on that treacherous pathway. Had she not exerted all her strength to hold on, she would have fallen down the ravine.

By the time she reaches the open field, she's already very exhausted, and can barely keep conscious. Her white long hair had become so dusty that it looked almost blonde. Yet her determination to go home had kept her walking despite depleting energy within her body.

From the distance, she can only vaguely see the wooden fence of the village as her vision starts to blur from exhaustion. She is so tired that she didn't notice two pair of eyes following her at some distance. When she realized that the bush nearby shook, it was already too late for her, as two shadow - one big and one small - dashed quickly towards her. She only felt a forceful bump as she got thrown to the ground from the impact. She rolled helplessly on the ground a few times, and lay flat not having any more power reserve to climb back up.

"Look what we got, Biggs.." The smaller guy grinned joyfully seeing his bounty is a good looking girl.

"Yumm.. Yumm.." The bigger guy, appropriately called Biggs simply drooled while clasping his hands.

Helen felt that she's about to witness history repeat itself in such a short time.

However before the two guys come close, she saw another shadow dashed and stopped between her and them. She only know that a fight ensued, but unable to witness as everything turned dark.

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This time, she is awoken by a soft lick of a wet tongue on her cheek. When she opened her eyes, she saw the fluffiest, cutest small breed pomerian she ever saw, busy licking her face while occasionally barking happily.

"Ah glad to see that you are awake, my dear.." A kind looking old lady walk close by while carrying a wash basin and a towel.

"Where am i?"

"You are at Heavenly Village. This is the chief's house. You are lucky that those kids saw you got attacked by that two rascal on time. If it hadn't been for that stranger to run so quickly and fight for you, heaven knows what would've happened to you."

"Two rascals ..." Helen rubbed her head, only to find that she is again patched like before.

"Yeah.. who would've thought that stranger could fight so well. When we found him that time on the creek, he is in no better shape than you are now. All wounded, and beaten up badly. Sad thing he cant speak, so we have no option to call him stranger all these years."

"I ... ..."

"You have hit your head quite hard, dear.. I hope you still remember who you are and where you are going."

"Yes, i remember.." Helen suddenly realized her bracelet that Leaf gave was missing.

"You seem to have been wounded before. Its not safe for a girl to travel alone, especially you don't look like you possess any martial art skill to defend yourself."

"My bracelet ..."

"Yes dear? did you miss anything valuable?"

"Yes.. I had a bracelet of dried twigs with me."

"It must've fallen off when we rescued you. I'm afraid you have to wait until the rain stopped though. You've only been out a few hours, I'm sure your bracelet is still out there. Is it very important to you?"

Helen nodded : "Yes.. without it I couldn't meet the three Gods to go home"

The old lady jolted in shock.

"You are going to meet the three Gods ?"

Helen looked curiously.

"Yes. I need to go meet them to help me go home."

"No one has ever gone to meet the three Gods of the Oasis and came back to tell the story. The journey to their palace is treacherous, full of monsters. There have been many more able men and women who went before you. No one yet succeeded."

Inside her heart, Helen guessed : "Because they don't have the magical bracelet that i lost" yet the word that came out of her mouth surprisingly sounds heroic : "I'm still going anyway. That is why i need my bracelet, it helps me point to the direction where the three Gods live."

The old lady smiled : "Of course.. for now though, you better rest up before dinner. Its raining heavily outside. Once the rain stopped, you can go out and find your bracelet. And perhaps you can visit the stranger and say a word of gratitude for helping you earlier."

She then put the wash basin on a wooden stool, and started walking downstairs : "You can use the clean water to bathe. If you need anything, I will be downstairs"

After the old lady left, Helen let out a long sigh. She barely started her journey, yet she already face a problem that might jeopardize her entire plan of going home.

Seeing there isnt much she can do, she took the towel and starts cleaning up herself. After she finishes, she laid down back to the comfortable bed and shut her eyes for a little rest.