28| Evening Confusion I

After sunset, the dark sky adorned with the glimmering body of stars as the village core set at a bonfire glowed with the vibrant colors of the orange flame; casting the shadows of the indiscrete crowd surrounding it.

The lively chatter of the people of Diowo, along with the neighboring villagers they'd welcome wholeheartedly, gathered to their various seats on the provided mats, stools, and benches.

Their faces beamed with smiles and their laughter echoed in the serene air, filling the warm atmosphere with a sense of joy as the members shared meals amongst them.

Seated at the left side of the bonfire, the three warrior friends, Ajefe, Kamyla, and Danji, had their focus fixed on the meals served before them by some of the younger maidens that went on to serve the rest of the population.

Ajefe pinched a chunk of his meal before throwing it into his mouth to lick his fingers in delight. "Ha!!" He exhaled in satisfaction. "I never thought I'd say this, but Dan! You truly are an intelligent leader to have come up with this idea of a bonfire party". 

Danji chuckled, raising his cup of palm wine to take a sip, "Glad you finally agreed to my position."

Kamyla smiled, taking a few pieces of her delicacy with her fingers, "Honestly, I didn't expect it to turn out this well".

"Me neither", Danji countered as he raised his gaze to glance at the joyous people that celebrated amongst themselves. His smile widened, "I least expected the survivors to finally open up to our people. But it's pleasing to finally see their spirits return..."

Kamyla and Ajefe nodded.

They continued their meal till the last bit, resting back before cheering to a drink amongst themselves.

"It's been a while since we've had this sort of rest", Danji sighed.

"Not to mention peace!" Ajefe tutted, "We haven't even taken a breath since we returned! Most especially after Prince Levia—"

"Please do not mention his name!" Kamyla interrupted. "Or should I say its name... You'll ruin my appetite." she took a long sip of her drink.

Ajefe parted his lips to throw back a taunt, just before she spotted the subtly grin on Danji's lips as he cooed at Kamyla — Ajefe held his tongue, looking away with only a chuckle.

"But where is he though?" Danji ended up asking, glancing over their shoulders and back. "I haven't seen him ever since".

"Maybe he returned to where he belongs. In the depths of hell", Kamyla rolled her eyes, scrunching her lips in disgust as if her drink turned sour. "I hope that's good riddance".

They smiled.

Moments after, some of the people began to dance amongst themselves in rhythm to the beating drums from the corner of the party. The audience responded with chants of encouragement.

They began to clap in unison.

The moment couldn't be more livelier with the peak of enlightenment in every heart present.

"KAMYLA!!! DANJI!!!"

The abrupt cry seized the moment, causing all eyes to snap in its direction.

The warriors stood up in instinct at the sight of their late friend's mother, Cöfwu's mother, running in their direction.

"Aunty Negu? What happened!?" Danji was the first to ask the moment she halted before them, stepping closer to hold her by the shoulder.

Negu was short of breath, panting heavily as she struggled to speak at the same time.

"Aunty?" Kamyla stepped forth, "Calm down first, Aunty. What happened? What's wrong—"

"B- Bimo!..."

"Bimo!? What happened to her!?"

Negu still couldn't get herself to breathe as she shook her head in panic.

"Bimo is missing!!" The words finally echoed from behind, from none other than Bimbo's twin sister, Biwa.

The warriors froze in shock.

• • •

Meanwhile somewhere at the outskirt of Diowo village...

Rested at the bottom of a tree trunk, Bimo had her back rested against and her focus locked on the medium parchment leaflet set on her lap.

With the slim bamboo pencil held in her finger, Bimo only continued to stare at the blank page in silence, with the dim light of her lantern illuminating her immediate surroundings.

Hovering the charcoal tip of her pencil over the sheet, Bimbo's grimace deepened as she let out a ragged sigh.

"Are you considering your suicide note?"

The hair on Bimo's neck stood tall as she shrieked at the strange voice behind her.

She snapped her eyes over her shoulders, locking eyes with the pair of blue-green eyes glaring back — Leviathan's stoic expression remained unhinged.

Taking a moment to recompose herself, Bimo's gaze dropped as she shook her head.

"So what exactly are you doing out here?... Alone?" He crooked a brow.

Bimo's eyes still couldn't rise as she tightened her grip on her pencil. A lump lodged in her throat, causing her to only bite her lips in timidness.

Leviathan blinked boredly at her. "You are quieter than your parrot twin."

Before Bimo could summon the courage to speak, she felt her booklet swipe off her thighs — her eyes darted up to the prince now in front of her, holding the pad in his palm as he flipped through.

She jolted off the ground, "Give me back!" She stepped forward with her hands stretched forth — an invisible force collided with her toros — pushing her body back to slam against the tree trunk.

"Do not try to touch me, measly human", he continued to slowly flip through each page.

Bimo slowly got up with a groan, clutching onto her aching side. Her expression fell deeper the longer she watched him with her booklet.

"Give it back..." She whimpered, her eyes already blurred with tears. "Please..." She took a step forward.

Leviathan's cold eyes slowly glanced at her and back. He tutted, slapping the leather-backed book shut, "The pages are all empty," he tossed the book to the ground in front of her.

Bimo instinctively went on her knees to grasp and press it against her chest like a precious item she had just regained.

Leviathan then turned to face her, "So what exactly were you doing here? And what's with the sensitivity towards an empty book?"

Bimo didn't speak as she continued to clinch unto the book like it was a living thing, not rising from the dirt.

A vein popped on Leviathan's forehead. Humans and their audacity to ignore him... His eyes narrowed, "Maybe if I burn the book, you'll learn to use your tongue".

Bimo's head snapped up with wide eyes, her lips agape.

"No!" She immediately arched her back to hug the book harder. 

Leviathan took a step forward as his eyes glinted in provocation.

"Please don't do it!"

He ignored her as he raised his palm, already illuminated with blue flames.

"My brother gave it to me!"

He paused.

With her face still hidden underneath the protective posture to guard her book, Leviathan immediately noticed her shoulders bouncing with the sounds of teary sobs that escaped her lips.

He slowly lowered his hand.

The little girl remained on the ground with her body shivering as she went before uttering, "It's... It's the last thing h- he left for me..." Her voice cracked with each word, sniffling, "Please... It's the last thing he gave me before she passed away..."

With his silence in response, only the wailing cry of the young girl filled the charged atmosphere surrounding them.

Bimo, for once, didn't loosen her grip as she wept without control, mumbling pleads under her breath as if he was going to snatch her life along with it.

Leviathan simply watched.

Giving the teenage girl the moments of peace to reach the satisfaction of her tears, he finally noticed the tension in her shoulders loosen before she paced back.

Carefully, he squatted in front of her, resting an elbow on his knees to support the side of his chin. He observed longer.

"Please don't destroy it... Please..." She continued to murmur.

"Raise your head".

Bimo didn't move.

"Now", his tone darkened.

She sniffled softly, wiping her face with the back of her hand before slowly raising her head to look straight into his eyes.

It didn't extend for a second longer before Bimo felt immediately uncomfortable to divert her eyes from his and back to the ground.

Leviathan didn't make note of it before asking, "When did he die?"

Bimo gently rubbed her eyes, "A day before you arrived..."

"And yet your fellow humans are out there celebrating with smiles, while you hide in the woods shrouded in damned misery..."

She didn't speak.

"Why is that?" He crooked his head.

Bimo took a moment to wipe her leaking eyes before mumbling, "His body has already been laid to rest. His soul already attained with the ancestors and—"

"Yet you are here still crying." his face was far devoid of sympathy but of only mere interest. At least to pass the time...

Bimo bit her lips, gulping bitterly. "Because..." Her eyes failed once more, "Because I'll never see him again... I- I don't know how everyone has forgotten but... Cöfwu will never come home again!" 

She clinched, "And I'll never get to show him the art I wanted to draw in the book he gifted me..." And again, the child failed to maintain her composure as she broke into tears with an even louder cry.

This was getting tiring to watch, Leviathan's eyes rolled to the side.

He then drew out a sigh before pushing himself up on his feet, "Your tears will never reach the afterlife, child".

Bimo's heart cry couldn't be soothed by such words of cruel truth.

"But even though your tears can never call the dead... " Leviathan then raised his gaze to the forest vegetation behind her. "... It did call something else".

Bimo paused at his words before slowly looking up at him with furrowed brows. She then noticed he was staring at something before following his line of sight — her eyes peeled wide.

Ruffling between the low shrubs of the forest were stout dark figures with bright red eyes pitted into what resembles their heads, crowned with piercing sharps of horn stumps.

With their numbers exceeding a swift count and the heart-wrenching sounds of their vicious growls growing alongside their crawling footsteps, Bimo felt her entire body numb in fear as her book slipped from her grasp.