Chapter 1: World of Arcania

The world turned, and not just a normal turn, it's a turn against a forbidden love. A love that shouldn't be existed, and yet, they broke the rules. And now, they were struggling, she was struggling.

The moon above didn't show her a path, just like how they disowned her. She breathed air and stopped running away from what's behind.

They're the creatures of majesty and loyalty after all, so of course, they wouldn't want a dirty pesky creature such as the humans.

She always hated it.

But this isn't the thing that she mustn't worry about.

She's still holding her in her arms. With her eyes closed, she slept while the blankets kept her from the cold wind of the night. A shiny small golden medal with a sculpted crest of two angel wings was around her neck, tied into a circle of golden beads. After looking at the infant for a while, she released a smile.

She reminisced about her child, her child with a creature that wasn't a human, a creature that she mustn't love. Everyone might think that it was cursed, but for her, it is the greatest masterpiece she had ever made.

And yet, she didn't escape from the torture.

The time of resisting the pain had come to an end, and she dropped on the grass.

All she wanted to do was to put the child gently on the ground, while she laid down beside her, waiting for her time. She knew that she won't stay long. She knew that she couldn't be able to take her.

But… if there's a chance that someone will come and see her, she would pray in hoping that would come true.

And the Above heard her prayers, much to her surprise, as footsteps marched and a light shone not far away from where she is. She tried to raise her head up, trying to take a peek, but her body insisted not to and instead, pulled her down back on the ground.

Small footsteps walked towards her position, and a boy showed up, wearing clothes filled with mud stains and patches. The light she saw earlier was coming from the oil lamp he has in his hands.

The boy just stared. All he can do was to wait for a perfect moment to do something. With this, she took the chance and her remaining energy to speak.

"P-Please… t-take care …" She said, shoving the child to the kid. But because she felt tired, she couldn't be able to lift an infant, so she just pushes her slowly.

He just gazed at the baby. Then, he finally had the presence to widened his eyes and dropped his jaw. He ran far away from her.

"Pa! Pa! Someone's here!"

Hearing the acceptance from the little boy, she smiled once again and one last time. She then closed her eyes, reminiscing all that happened in her life.

Now, she could finally have peace. Her child is safe, and she can be with him.

***

MERIA ARCSON

I pulled my fingers away as the knife became closer to it, slicing through the cabbages. My sweats kept dropping, even though I have pale cold skin. A boiling pot was staying next to me, so that explained the heat.

Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

This had been my everyday routine all my life, but it's not really a big deal. In fact, this is what I had always wanted: to be normal, to not cause any problems, and to not take any responsibilities. It might be boring to have a life like this, but for me, it was a miracle, and miracles are always good things.

"Meria!"

A yell coming from outside caught my attention, causing me to stop, and turned around to see the doorway beside the dining table.

There, I saw a familiar man in the doorway in his mid-20s, wearing a leather tunic under his thin clothes the same as me, although he had more cloth patches than me. He put down the rake and sickle that he was holding with his hand. His sweats started to stick in his clothes, making them wet, but he didn't mind.

It was my brother, Farin, who I've been living with since our parents died of sickness. It was hard for us to keep up since we're still young at that time, but we managed through it.

"They're already here! Quick!" He shouted, dropping his tools gently in the corner of the room. He walked towards me. "I'll take care of this!"

I didn't have the time to waste and immediately accepted his offer, and moved out of the kitchen, wiping both of my hands on my apron. But that didn't let me escape the heat, even though I tied my hazel brown hair into a loose ponytail. I put on my patched cloak, although the cold will still win after me. After the short hygiene, I grabbed the shoulder bag that I was preparing to carry since dawn.

I walked out and took a glance at the small house I was in. The cobblestone brick walls started to tear apart yet it was still being supported by timber frames. The straw roof was still intact, but it won't stay for too long, reminding me that we should replace it with something new. There, at the wooden door, I saw him standing.

"Be careful not to burn it when I get back!" I yelled as I ran away before I could receive any response from him, which I didn't prefer to hear.

I looked around the surroundings. The narrow dusty path which leads on both the forest beside our town and the square greeted me as few people started walking. The sun is not yet rising, thus it still cold and dark, but no one seemed to care. Wide green fields of potatoes and other crops greeted me on the other side of the road, along with other houses and barns with the same status as ours.

Then, an open wagon, made with wood and lumber, approached me. The lamp that was hanging at the metal pole in one of the corners of the vehicle gave light to the dark surroundings. Its cargo was filled with huge packs of potatoes and other vegetables piling up in wooden boxes.

Beside these boxes was a young lady the same as me, but somehow, different. Her whole body was made of tree wood, from head to toes, similar to an oak tree. Leaves are sticking out of her, especially from her blonde hair, and a little sapling was sitting on top of her head. Her eyes are mostly dark hollow, but in those holes were glowing blue dots that move everywhere she looks. She was sitting indeed, but she made me bend my head over just to see her face like I was seeing a mountain summit.

Her name is Dalary, and her kind is called tendrins, creatures of hope, and nature, also known as the tree people of this world. They are chosen to take care of the environment, hence, having the ability to talk to nature itself.

When you looked at it, we may have the same age, but she's years older. A year of age in the tendrin race is four human years.

In this world of Arcania, many varieties of creatures and kingdoms with different appearances and characteristics agreed to coexist to balance harmony and diversity. Four races started creating their own civilizations and homes. One of them is us, humans, and the tendrins, but others preferred to blend in with the other races just like what Dalary is doing, living together with us.

"Hey!"

She lent me her hand that one would think it was a bunch of branches at first. I immediately accepted and climbed on. "What are you two talking about earlier?"

Because of her question, I raised an eyebrow at her, growing some suspicions.

"What do you mean?"

"Y-You know… maybe it was about me… or…" She stuttered, then averted her eyes away. Even though I couldn't see her blushing cheeks because it's a trunk, I knew that she was embarrassed by her question. Anyone would raise an eyebrow to that thing as I did.

I just gave her a deep sigh. Dalary actually likes my brother, even though she's insisting that she only likes him as a person, her body language makes it more obvious so I don't need her words to tell me that.

"Just… make Dino go," I said. She had been acting like this since last year when my brother protected her from the boars of the forest beside our town.

I saw her pouted her lips, muttering any rants, as she approached the rider's seat of the wagon.

But she didn't sit on it at all and instead, she just talked to the coffee-colored horse tied with the wagon, named Dino. That's a tendrin for you. They can talk to nature, so just assume that they can talk to animals too.

After her whispers, the horse neighed as a response and started galloping on the roads of the town. After a while, we finally passed through the town square, where more houses with the same design can be seen. In the middle, surrounded by them, was nothing but a copper statue of an overweight man in reach clothing, lifting his chin up with pride.

This is the town of Coira. Unlike other towns and cities, Coira is an independent place with no kingdoms to rule over us. So because of this, the industry and workplaces aren't that great as the other kingdom capitals. That's why a landlord named Lord Brasquellon, decided to take over and live in this town. But everyone knows that one day, one with more power will decide to colonize it and he will be forced to give it out.

There are four directions we can go and if you walked forward, passing through the statue, you can see the lord's manor standing majestically above us. The lower floors of the house have cleaner and more stable bricks, and the wooden frames that had been supporting the white clay gives the pleasing feel. The red slate roofs made it more amazing to see. As expected of a skilled architect.

But Dino doesn't seem to care about the statue and the manor, and immediately took a turn to the right, to the direction we were heading.

"So… did they cut off your salary yet…?" Dalary asked as the houses in both sides started to decrease until there's none, saying that we're already left the town. Then, we were greeted by a clean meadow of grasses and flowers on either side. One may notice some bumps and slopes, since this is a very hilly area. The faraway lands is still visible, despite the darkness and fogs around. The right one can see couple of trees from afar, and on the other side was mountain ranges.

"No. Not yet." I answered.

Apparently, there are rumors about workers and peasants getting their salary being cut off from the original one despite having the same effort as the past days. It seemed like the ones managing them are taking advantage of them, since there's no way they can complain without money.

I grabbed a book I managed to insert in my bag. I opened it on the page where I marked the last chapter I've read. Ever since my childhood, I started to like books and always stay up all night at the local library. Fiction or non, it always gets my attention every time.

"Not yet, huh? That's lucky of you." She responded. Then, she lifted her head to see the clear sky of dark blue above us. There may be no breeze to keep us cold, but the fogs that pouring from above gave me freezing hands.

"Come on. You know that they wouldn't do that to me…" I immediately replied, looking at her with both of my eyebrows raised. "… right?"

She just shrugged, which made me anxious. I never met our boss ever since I started working, so I'm not sure whether his attitude is good or not. Long silence struck between us as I continued reading my book, while she just stared at the environment around us.

"Oh! Here we are!"

It took about five hours to travel but in between those times, the sun rose, removing the cold and bringing us warmth. At that time, we also reached our destination. I closed my book and took a little peek.

The high walls out of stone wrapped in lime, stuck around the giant metal gate to kept us from seeing what has been going on inside. But was stood up among them all was the metallic gates that arched all the way to the top. In the middle was a figure of a lion lifting his head to the sky as it opened its mouth, while a small bird was on top.

This is the place we were heading. The richest human kingdom in all of the world of Arcania, the Deravon Kingdom.