The Blissfulness of Innocence

THO YOR ARRIVAL 10,646

The Kalimahr Moon of Rivia

The Town of Lyria

Three Days Earlier

A group of children ran through the narrow streets of their home, laughing and playing games like tag and hide-and-seek. Among them was a young girl with curly brown hair, rosey cheeks, and a twinkle in her eye.

The name her parents gave her was Eliza, and she was always eager to explore and discover new things. As they passed the town gates, Eliza noticed a lush green forest on the other side.

She suggested to her friends that they go explore it, and they eagerly agreed. Skipping and singing, they made their way through the trees, picking wildflowers and chasing butterflies.

They went deeper into the forest playing catch as they did so, until somthing caught Eliza' eye. It was a glint of light coming from behind a bush. She excused herself from her group of friends, promising to return soon.

As she approach the bush her heart started to race. What could it be? A hidden treasure? A mysterious creature? Suddenly her eyes widened and she let out a bloodkirdling scream, catching the attention of the other children, they ran to her direction and stood with shock as well once they found her. Eliza stumbled back, tears streaming down her face, and before she knew it everything went black.

Three Days Later

{PoV Reman Cyrondel}

Having landed the Peacemaker outside of the town after some switch switching they made their way out of the ship and onto the dirt road. Reman could feel the tension as they entered the town through its entrance as the people of the town acted all paranoid with constant shoulder looking and eyes trying to locate anything out of the normal.

While the townsfolk acted all strange it did not stop anyone from working, As he walked the cobbled streets he could see a mishmash of buildings, each with its own unique design and architecture. To his left he spotted a quaint thatched cottage with a vibrant garden overflowing with brightly coloured blooms.

To his right a grand stone tower stands tall, casting its shadow over the street below. The air was filled with the sound of merchants calling out to potential customers, inviting them to see their wares. He could hear the clanging of blacksmiths hammers, the sizzling of food being cooked over open fires, and musicians performing on street corners.

As he and Zurtar made their way futher into the town to meet with its leader, the smell of food waft from bakeries and taverns tickling his nose. Roasting meats, freshly baked bread and sweet sticky pastries all tried to tempt his taste buds. But he did not come here for food as he made his way further through the town finaly reaching the town hall were its mayor resides.

They talked to the guards outside the building and after sometime they were let in, up through the spiralling stone staircase and through a hall of wood and stone and before they knew it they stood in front of the Mayor's office door.

Reman looked at his grinning Master who stood their not moving to knock on the door, with a sigh and Zurtar a small chuckle Reman knocked on the door. With only a half knock the door was swung opened by a moustached portly gentleman who wore a soft green woollen tail coat with a flural pattern, a green and white silk waist coat that had elaborate embroidery, and white linen breeches and black leather buckle shoes.

The older mans blue eyes glowed with joy at seeing them " Oh good you're here, would you like some tea?, of couse you would be thirsty, AH! where are my manners i am Winfred Akermane Mayor of the beautiful town of Lyria. NOW! would you still like that tea."

Reman didn't know what to think of the enigmatic Mayor as Winfred searched for tea in his office room, Zurtar however sat down on one of the chairs infront of the Mayor's desk

"I wouldn't mind some tea during our talks of business my good Mayor." Zurtar thanked the Mayor as he made himself comfortable on his seat of choice. Not knowing what to do he just nodded in a daze as he sat down on to the other chair next to Zurtar.

He sat their in silence still not comprehending the strange man he had just met, he was knocked out of his dazed state as he heard the clanging of porcelain meeting wood. Winfred having placed the tea plates and cups sat in his own chair ready to talk business.

"Now i hope you are here becuase of the missing children and not some other reason." Winfreds voice changed from its once jovial tone to one of serious business. Zurtar having taken a sip of his tea stared into Winfreds own crystal blue eyes with his own which glowed like two twin red suns.

"We are here for those children Mayor Winfred and not here for any type of funny business." Zurtar spoke in a tone matching that of the Mayor of Lyria. Winfred held Zurtar's gaze before he broke it with a nod and sigh of relief.

"Good because this isn't the first time a group of children like this has gone missing from the town and im afraid it won't be the last without your help." Winfred solomly told them. Having taken a sip from his own tea, feeling as its warm leaf tasting liqued go down his throat, he placed the tea cup back on it's plate.

"When do you suppose that these kidnappings started to occur?" Reman asked the man, Winfred looked at him before giving Zurtar a side glance.

"We know for a fact that these kidnappings started around six months after the Ddrez family home was burnt down." Winfred sadly told the pair

"Could there be connection between the two?" Reman inquired to the fancy dressed Mayor, Winfred seemed to think about it for a moment before shaking his head

"I don't believe so, they say that the fire happened because Skath Ddrez went mad because his wife Arella gave birth to a stillborn girl, and later died of child birthing fever but we couldn't confirm his death as their was no remains to find in the burnt wreckege but this was all around four years ago." Winfred told Reman the legend of what had happened to the Ddrez family.

"But if you're so inclined to search the burnt husk of the home you can, just don't expect to find much there my young friend." Winfred added.

"How much have you searched for these children?" Zurtar inquisitivly asked. Winfred frowned at the question

" We've done lots of searches looking for the children in the Avondale forest but its too large and to thick if we go to far, well we ourselves would get lost and what's the point of that." Winfred sadly said to the Human and Sith Je'daii.

They sat their talking about the timeline of the first kidnapping that had happened five months after the Ddrez family fire four years ago, and how on the day after the anniversary of the fire, children would go missing playing in the forest and how this was the fourth and most recent of the kidnappings.

With that information they thanked Mayor Winfred for his help and made their way towards the inn to stay the night.

{The Next Morning}

He could feel the rays of the sun peak through the curtain and down onto his face, he groaned as he shuffled to his side so the rays of sunshine would beam at the back of his silver-gold headed head instead of his light sensitive eyes. But with the morning chirps and songs of birds echoing through his inn room window denied him that little bit more of sweet sleep.

With a groan he sat up on his bed and lazily stretched his arms and back, while he gave a tired glance around the inn room thay had rented for the night. Zurtar like usual was up awake before him doing his Alchaka with bearly a sound so to not disturb the other sleeping patrons of the inn. He softly left his bed and went to the attached bathroom to relieve himself and take a sonic shower.

After he got proply dressed he did a small bit of meditation before going down to the ground floor of the inn to eat, he order from the kind owner of the inn some rye bread, cheese, bacon along with ale to wash it all down. After he and Zurtar had eaten their breakfast they left the inn and out into the towns bustling morning. They began their morning in the town by asking for directions to the Ddrez home, most of the townsfolk were suspicious of their intentions but after a bit of conversing they were given the location of the burnt down house.

They made their way to the street that the cottage had resided and found a family of three placing a bokay of carnations and roses in front of the burnt cottage husk. They walked up to the clearly still grieving family, they were noticed at first by the only man of the group who informed the other two ladies of their approaching presence.

Considering we were armed and unknown it was reasonable to be cautious of us. The brown haired and bearded man stepped forward placing himself infront of the ladies. "Can i help you with anything good Sers" the man politely asked them while giving us an alertive look.

"There is no need to be cautious of us my good man, we are from the Je'daii Order sent by our Council as well as your own Mayor Winfred, to investigate the recent child kidnappings that have been happing for the past four years and while it may seem like a coincidence have only began after the towns only big event for sometime." Zurtar informed the family of three of the why of their coming to the burnt cottage. The man stared at them before slowly nodding in acceptance to Zurtar's reasoning.

"Well i am Ebros Bluefall this here is my wife Iyana" the now identified Ebros said as he gestured to the older woman of the two ladies, Iyana had curly dirty blonde hair and amber eyes. "And this is my youngest daughter Arlene" Ebros added gesturing to the young lady who looked to be around sixteen. Arlene had wavey brown hair and light brown eyes.

"If i might ask is their any particulate reason to why you grieve the Ddrez family." Reman softly asked the man. Reman's question seemed to physically pain Ebros and his family, as Ebros and Iyana grimaced while Arlene seem to be forcing herself not to burst into tears.

"Arella was my oldest daughter and Skath Ddrez was her husband." Ebros mournfully said as he picked up the picture from the little memorial they had made and showed them. In the portrait was a smiling young woman with curly brown hair and amber eyes in a long white and yellow sun dress.

"Any pictures of Skath?" Zurtar asked the family, "Oh no young Skath was always camera shy, i believe the only picture of him burnt along with the house, but it could have survived the blaze we don't know, its already to painful to just look at the house let alone going inside it." This time it was Ebros's wife Iyana who had spoken up

"How was it that Arella meet Skath?" Reman inquired to Iyana as he looked at the portrait of Arella. "Well Arella rescued Skath from the wreckage of his ship which had been shot down by a rival smuggler group and she nursed him back to health." Iyana told the two Je'daii. Reman's brows arched "Skath was a smuggler?" He asked astounded, Iyana shrugged "Have to make a living somehow, but after being shot down he gave up that profession to do more honest work." Iyana said defending her dead daughters husband.

"I mean no offence." Reman said apologising to the older woman. Zurtar stepped in to ask "Is it alright if we search the house to look if their could be any connection to the child kidnappings?" Zurtar kindly asked the family of three. "Go ahead just don't expect much." Erobs said as he and his family left the two Je'daii.

With the two of them now alone they could now get a good look of the cottage they were going to search. The burnt down two story cottage stands alone in the town with no other houses near. The walls of the cottage, once lily-white are now blackened with soot and charred wood. The roof is completely collapsed and all that remains are the beams of the eerie abode. The shattered windows are boarded up with wood planks and the front door hanged ominously from its hinges.

Despite the devastation Reman and Zurtar could still feel that it exuded untold madness and loss. Its twisted and contorted shap made the cottage look like it had came out of some hellish plain. The silence that surround them and the cottage only added to the haunting atmosphere, making them feel as something was lurking in the shadows watching.

They approached the entrance with Zurtar being the one to open the door, the door creaked and its ravaged hinges wailed as it was pushed opened leading them to see its spoiled insides. Inside the atmosphere was more unnerving as the walls were bare and when they walked in, the floor boards creaked under the weight of their footsteps.

The furniture they saw was all burnt and unusable and any personal items they could find were molten messes. even four years later Reman could still smell the scent of ash and smoke in the air. But their was one thing he did find that wasn't totally ruined a picture of a pregnant Arella and who he assumed was Skath but the picture was still half burnt on the side Skath was on, denying him the ability to see the man.

With a sigh Reman left the twisted cottage with Zurtar to go look for the children in the Avondale forest.

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(Word Count 2,395)

TacoNinjaCat