15 The Golden-Eyed Stranger

Swishing the wooden sword to rest upon his right shoulder, Obrecht walked out of his home and into a pathway embedded unto the one side of the canyon wall. This path led to a hanging bridge that connected the two sides of the canyon together like the numerous bridges connected here and there for travelling convenience of its residences.

Obrecht walked into the middle of the bridge before placing his hand on the railing and then jumping down about three to four levels, his knees bending a little as his feet landed on the cobbled ground of the Circ with a soft thud.

He looked around and greeted a few people he knew as he looked around the many stores and shops found on the lowest level of the Circ, where most of the people of Lumea gather to trade, sell, tell stories, or simply have a good time. Humming an unknown tune softly to himself, Obrecht walked towards one of the many circular openings on the wall. Guided by gifted memory that all Hunters seem to have, especially when it comes to terrain, Obrecht walked out from a small hill beside the canyon. He glanced down briefly before smiling as he dashed towards the forest.

He ran through the trees and shrubs, jumping easily over any obstacles at the fastest speed. The plants swooshes as he passes them and half runs, half jumps towards a tree. He uses this step to launch himself at a branch overhead, before hoisting himself higher until he lands on a sturdy branch. Its purple leaves of the tree sway as he ran about its length before jumping to another branch, with his limbs spread wide and enjoying the thrill of semi-flying. He grabs another sturdy branch to swing himself to another before landing down on a few twigs that crunch on his weight. He keeps a steady monitor around him to make sure that no one had followed him to his own secret place.

He takes a lot of care not to leave his footsteps near the place he had spotted in one of his adventures by himself. He had no idea why he loved getting himself lost in various places like forests and caves until he finds and memorizes his way out. As long as he did not venture towards the deeper part of the forest, he feels like his parents would allow him not coming home for a couple of days. Such were the troublesome children of the Hunter-kind.

"Hmm~ hmm~"

Landing down on the mossy ground, Obrecht walked towards a giant tree that seemed to grow along a wall of Inferis, half embedded into it, half thriving in the forest ground. The tree had red-orange leaves with dark purple tips at the end of the leaf blade, and a trunk that needed at least ten people to completely hug it. Its roots where just as huge and created numerous bumps on the soil below, softened by the moss; the perfect habitat for the few rabbit-like creatures with small white horns.

Quickly, Obrecht climbed the tree through the vines that hung around the bigger branches. He walked towards the middle of the tree that was covered in vines. He pulled at a few vines, not surprised in the least to find a small part of it hollow, and slipped towards inside it as he carefully places back the vines to cover his path. He had slowly carved a few steps from the top of tree to smoothen walk. A few illumination crystals he had embedded into the tree lit up as he passed by, activating as they sensed the vibration in the air due to Obrecht's presence. The small stairs spiraled down until it opened to a small cave that the tree had apparently covered.

The cave was perfectly circular, looking particularly man-made. In its walls had grown various multiple colored crystals unlike those that adorned the ceiling dome high up above Inferis, but much like the illumination crystals yet far from its white color. A wide pool in the middle of the cave looked cold and transparent, the bottom seemingly unfounded but making it all the more strikingly beautiful. Around it were similarly sized circular crystals of differing shades of blue, creating five layers from outside the pond towards inside it, like some sort of step or small stairs.

The crystals, along with the shining luminescent stones found all around the cave walls and the pool illuminated the cave brightly. Other than all that, there was nothing else in the cave that hinted the presence of any human-kind.

Obrecht had brought his own chest of things in this cave, along with a few more items like bedding, clothes and some barrels of fruits he had found in the nearby trees. It was his own safe haven where he could do whatever he wished, and sleep whenever he wanted to. Of course, he also had his own stash of weapons and raw blades that he had traded for or created on his own, slowly filling up the cave with his possessions.

How could he design his own sword if he lacked enough experience? It was the sword he was to wield for the rest of his life, how could he not pour his everything in visualizing and realizing it? He had studied different weapons before he found himself most compatible with the bigger swords, not to mention that he really wanted to look cool while holding one.

Feeling delighted and excited, Obrecht hummed another out-of-tune song as he walked towards a small table and chair he had built, the crystals all lighting up as if humming into life the moment he stepped in. He was happily rummaging through a barrel of models of his weapons, ignorant of the motionless body lying on one side of the pool, until he could no longer ignore it.

A small grunt from the other person had made Obrecht frozen on the spot. Slowly, he stiffly turned his body around to look at the source of the sound. He had been feeling too overjoyed that he did not notice someone had snuck in his cave. He was about ready to fight for territory when he saw the still body of the person, half-submerged in the pond steps, half-placed on the blue outer crystal stones.

The wooden model of a sword fell from his grasp, the sound echoing slightly around the cave.

He scanned the other person in dazed manner, staring at the pale white skin that he had never seen before. His eyes squinted at the faint smell of blood coming from him, scolding himself about how he was unable to detect that the moment he entered the cave.

Obrecht had just about decided to train reflexes and instincts more, when he took a step forward. He had to see for himself whether the other person was still alive or not.

He weighed his options of whether to tell his father and the other Lumeans, but that would've mean that he had to show them his own cave, and he was very reluctant to do so.

In any case, I'll see for myself if he's a good person or not. If he's bad, I'll tell the elders or the Batrani, Obrecht thought.

Obrecht nodded his head to himself, and approached with more determination. As he lifted and turned the other person around, face up. He was surprised to see a beautiful girlish face with strange symmetrically black markings growing on each cheek, stemming from just under the eye to the jaw. The markings looked just about half-complete, yet strikingly beautiful.

He hooked his hands around the other person's underarms and was about to pull the other person off the pond when he suddenly found out that the other person's eyes had silently opened without him noticing. Unfathomably golden eyes stared back at him, startling him deeply, but never showing.

Quietly, after a few minutes of staring at each other, those amber eyes, that would eventually be the object of Obrecht's obsession for the rest of his days, gradually closed.