~ Unknown Village
It's been 3 years since I arrived here, and winter is slowly coming to an end. I've managed to learn a lot of the language, and can roughly communicate with my parents and babysitters. From their conversations I figured out that I'm the only baby in this village, with all the villagers being roughly 15 years or older. Aurion pushed open the shutters on the window to look outside. There he saw the entire village, a group of makeshift houses that were constructed of a mix of hay, clay, wood, and stone.
Raising his small fist and pointing towards the houses, he turned to look at his mother as she cleaned.
"Mommy"
Iris turned to her child. "Aurion, what's so interesting out there?"
Waving his arm erratically, and pointing, Aurion climbed down, and made his way to the door trying to open it.
He's such a quick learner, most kids don't even know how to walk yet. "Do you want outside?"
Tilting her head, Iris walked over to Aurion picking him up. "It's still really cold outside, let's go bundle you up first, and then we can go around and see what they have at the small market?"
A bit later, Aurion was bundled up like a troublesome cat at the groomers. It's so stuffy, but warm. Waving his stubs and bouncing up and down. "Mommy, Mommy, outside."
Picking him up Iris said,"Let's go get your father first." Making her way out she called out to her husband, and as a trio they made their way into the village.
"They should have plenty of cool things for you to look at Aurion" Calen said, poking at Aurion's cheeks.
As they entered the Village, Aurion looked around, a thin blanket of snow covered all the houses melting as the season turned. In the wide open dirt road numerous stalls and blankets were laid out with numerous goods. Even in this chilly weather they still come out. Why is everyone so lightly dressed though? Aurion continued to look at the folks and noticed that their clothing didn't really fit what he had in mind for early winter conditions. Many were simple cloths, and coverings, yet none looked cold or chilly, except for the younger ones helping out. Turning his head to look at his parents, he came to an odd realization, they did the same thing, wearing what was arguably comfortable clothing for summer, yet the embrace of his mother still felt warm, and the cold never touched him.
"Ohh, he's grown rather curious hasn't he?" An old lady made her way over, with long white hair to her waist and a steadiness to her that didn't match her age. Recognizing who it was, Aurion lifted his arms up asking to be carried. My favorite Aunty, Aunty Julia.
Holding him out for Julia, Iris asked, "What brings you out here Julia?"
"I'm just searching for some medicine from Old Healer. How's the little one?" Julia, reached out and hugged the baby, taking out some candy to give to him. "Eat this and grow strong little one, you have a hard life ahead of you."
Man, I have no clue what these candies are but they're delicious. Patting on Aunty's arm for more, Aurion started looking back and forth from his father to Aunty Julia. His father was clearly avoiding Julia, Aurion continued to eat his candy.
Iris saw the candy and got extremely worried, "It's far too early to be giving him those, just cause you changed them into candy, doesn't make it any better."
"It's never too early, I made them much more gentle, and they taste sweeter, here try some."
Taking Iris's hand, Julia placed a single piece of the candy into her palm.
Gaining a bit of interest, Calen spoke up, "What about me?"
Popping the candy into her mouth, the tangy taste of oranges hit her tongue and a touch of sweetness followed it. A smile touched the corner of her lips, her eyes closing to savor the candy, a gentle energy flowed all throughout her body. Recovering, Iris spoke quickly, "Amazing, how'd you do it?"
Calen, gaining a bit more courage spoke up again, "Hey let me try?"
Continuing to talk to Iris, Julia replied, "That's a trade secret. Why don't I join you for your shopping trip."
The group made their way through the stalls, enjoying the colorful array of trinkets, plants, and vegetables, while picking up some spices, and ingredients for their own. Nothing really caught Aurion's eye, as he was carried from place to place.
"Baakaa!!!"
Is that a chicken? Turning his head quickly, Aurion spotted an old man in a long robe, a series of carriages behind him, with numerous cages containing various animals. Oh, the animals here seem the same as earth. Tapping on Julia's arm, he pointed towards the merchant.
"Oh you're interested in the animals."
Nodding his head quickly Aurion spoke, "Yup, yup."
Julia and Aurion headed over to the merchant, leaving his mother and father browsing the blacksmith's stall.
As they approached the merchant, he welcomed them with open arms, "Hello there friends, interest in some animal companions. All of them imported from beyond the desert."
"The little one here is interested." Julia replied
"Hoh, he seems quite young and yet so intelligent." Turning his gaze towards the little one, he bowed at the waist, "Why don't you take a look each animal is trained exquisitely?"
Setting Aurion down, Julia looked at him with interest. Giving him a small pat on the back she said, "Go ahead and choose, I'll pay for it."
Taking his time, Aurion walked from cage to cage.
The first cage contained a small puppy with sand colored fur and deep black eyes with a spark of intelligence in them. Cute, though this is most definitely a wolf. Moving onto the next cage it contained a black scorpion whose yellow stinger dripped with venom. No thanks
Quickly moving through the cages, he spotted a small monkey without any fur, what looks like an armadillo, a small lizard with deep green eyes, a tiny spotted cat that meowed at him with large eyes. Making his way to the last carriage he found that it was filled with eggs. I could have sworn I heard a chicken.
"Ah young one these are eggs of fantastic creatures." A quick glance at Julia the merchant continued his explanation, "We could never get them to hatch, yet we still sense life in them. Do any call to you?"
Many eggs of all shapes and sizes filled his vision. A green spotted egg as large as him, a black egg, even tiny ones that barely fit in his palm. Walking further Aurion came across an egg with hardly a mark on it and pure white. Chirp. Looking back and forth quickly, Aurion pointed at himself, chirp.
"It seems you've found it." Standing at the back of the Caravan the merchant spoke up, "Go ahead, pick it up."
Taking it gently, Aurion continued to hear the chirp in his head. He made his way down and the Merchant led him back to the other cages, "That's a rare sight, you won't have to pay for that. I must thank you for gracing my eyes with something that hasn't happened since I was a child." A smile played across his face. Taking Aurion to Julia, "It seems I won't be making any money with this one."
Holding Julia's hand, Aurion felt the surface of the egg's shell was remarkably smooth. Lifting him up by his armpits Calen spoke to him, "What you got there buddy?"
Taking view of the cages with his son in his arms, Calen spotted the wolf cub immediately, "A puppy!"
Iris by his side, also took a gander, "We should get the kitten too, mice have been an issue."
There haven't been any mice at home? Tilting his head to his parents, he saw their excitement. Looking back to Aunty Julia he raised his egg, "Can I pick one more?"
Julia turned to him, "Why not, you got that one for free?"
Merchant squinted his eyes, and made his pitch, "This desert wolf cub is 100 Silver Silk Pieces, and the spotted kitten is 1000."
"That expensive?" Iris's expression drooped.
Calen set Aurion down so he could make his way over to the cat cage, Aurion pointed to the kitten.
Slightly shaking her head Julia said, "Cheeky kid, I'll take the kitten? Give it to your mother."
"Ahh sweetie." A huge grin spread across Iris's face, as the merchant brought out the kitten and handed it to Aurion, who then handed it to her. Sweeping him and the kitten up in her arms, she snuggled him again.
While she was distracted Calen and Julia made their way over to the merchant and paid, Calen then walked over to the wolf pups' cage and opened it. With a big grin plastered on his face he turned to everyone holding his new companion, "Now everyone's got a pet."
Julia stared at him, and said with mirth in her voice, "You'll have to work hard to feed them all."
Hmm, won't the wolf and cat fight? Looking back to the merchant again, Aurion saw him digging through his pack and pulling out a golden needle, and 3 thin sheets of paper with strange patterns on them.
"Would you like me to do the binding ritual or would you like to do so yourselves?" The merchant offered.
Julia reached out for the tools, "I'll do it myself."
Binding ritual? Julia reached out to him and took his hand and the egg, she pasted the ritual paper to the egg and said, "This will sting but make sure to press your finger into the center of the paper okay?"
Aurion nodded, and a stinging pain assaulted his mind as Julia gently poked his thumb. This hurts way worse than a shot"Waaaa!"
Gently rubbing his back, Iris spoke softly to him, "Work through the pain sweetie. No one can do this for you."
"Waaa!" Why does this hurt so much, my god it's like my soul was pierced. Looking down at his thumb, he focused as a small drop of blood welled up there, through sheer will he placed it onto the paper.
The paper absorbed the blood, and began to glow, sealing the wound on his thumb. Julia reached out during this time, and Aurion felt an odd power swirl through him, easing the pain. Wiping the tears from his eyes Aurion looked back to the egg and saw that the paper disappeared. Looking up at Julia, Aurion said, "Thank you Aunty." What was that power?
Aurion looked around and saw that the same thing happened with his parents, though they didn't seem as hurt.
Iris addressed the entire group, "Let's show our new friends our home. You come too Julia, I'll make you dinner as a thank you."
"Thank you for your patronage, please visit the Desert branch of the Jade Animal Emporium again." The merchant bowed as we left.
~ Unknown Oasis
"Uhggg, I feel like shit." Taking deep breaths, Ezikiel woke to find himself covered in black sludge. "What is this stuff?"
"Uuucck, I-I-I can't breathe." Quickly peeling the stuff, and doing his best to get it out of his nose. He stripped off his clothes, and looked around. The fire he started had long since gone out and everything was covered in a fine layer of sand.
Looking around he said, "Didn't expect to live through that, nothing really changed, but why does it look darker." Upon further investigation Ezikiel found that the Oasis had a few animals inside it now, many of which looked up at him.
Is that a scorpion? Do deserts have Wolves? There's something that looks like a Camel? How am I still alive? Growing increasingly more quiet, Ezikiel noticed that each creature that was in the Oasis had their own territory, with tracks through the sand leading towards the water.
Looking down at the Skull that he fell on top of, he started whispering to it, "Welp buddy, Water probably killed you, but I'm built of stronger stuff." With a silly grin and a bit of mirth, "Must be my lucky day, still gotta get rid of this smell."
Watching the creatures just slurping up the water, and remembering his own experience he hesitated. Taking stock of himself, his supplies, and the creatures around the Oasis, he came to a fortuitous conclusion.
"Has to be one of those cease fires that happen among animals." He downed a bottle of water. Whispering loudly to the skull he said, "We got this!" Taking care not to step into another creatures' territory, he created his own path towards the pond. Passing by a wolf with sand colored fur and clearly as tall as himself a 198cm (6'5") human being, while lying down, he made sure to be respectful. I'd rather die, than continue smelling like this.
He made it to the pond with his gym bottle and stripped to his birthday suit. Taking extreme care, he looked into the waters of the Oasis, and they were just as clear as before. Noticing his reflection, he seemed skinner, but much more toned than he was before. Did I lose weight? I mean I was probably passed out for a while, but I don't remember hitting the gym.
Rubbing his chin in thought, he refocused himself and reached out to touch the water. "I really must have lost my mind." Finally touching the water, a cool feeling rushed through his skin. "No pain at all, huh."
Scooping up the water again, he looked around at the other animals at the pond. Watching as something with fur coming out of the gaps of its scales, sent out a tongue that was easily 152cm (5') from its elongated snout into the water.
Continuing to make observations while cleaning himself, Ezikiel shifted his attention to the creature across the pond from him. What assaulted his eyes, was a sand grey skinned humanoid no taller than 61cm (2'), with shriveled skin covering the top of its semi bald head, from which 2 tufts of fur came out of the sides down to its shoulders. Barely covered in animal skin for clothing, it had arms that were longer than it was tall, and a hunched back. Its yellowed goat like eyes stared into Ezikiel's as it reached out with its overgrown claws to scoop up the water and drink.
Looking left and right, Ezikiel returned to staring back at it. I don't think I should be looking at it. Ezikiel broke eye contact and took his gains to his campsite.