In the world of the Harmatia you are either a sinner or a saint. It's a simple divide whose meaning has been lost as the centuries passed. The name, Harmatia, fabricated and branded for the few people, in the eyes of the normal people, defy the will of the gods and engage in erroneous ventures. Their stories have long captivated the history book from the Great Exile that forever changed the lives of men to a long-forgotten story that some know yet many will be forced to remember. This simple divide has now fully taken grasp and shaped the world into what it is now.
The simple divide between Harmatia.
***
The forest always seemed to have a soul of its own. Especially in the night where the human brain has little to no valid information of the world around it forcing it to make outrageous predictions. It could turn the simplest of tree branches and barks into the scariest entity it could fathom. Same could be said for the minds of the three who trekked the moonlit forest floor of the dark night.
Of the three two were girls one with dark long hair stretching down her back with something like a headband strapped across her forehead and the other had white silverish hair, not as long as the former but equally radiant, and a moon crescent necklace dangling over her pulpous chest as she lazily walked onwards. The last of the three was a boy, obviously, his hair a concentrated orange of orange that shaded well with his spiky hair.
The three walked clinging onto the first girl each weary of their surroundings. Even with the moon the forest was dimly lit. The trees and its branches were but silhouettes frozen in time and at every corner a new one popped up with an even scarier pose than the last. The veins that stringed across the trees were like slithering snakes, with every darting look the three could swear that they had moved. Adding to the tension the nocturnal creatures did want to miss the chance of torturing the three. A hoot there, a hiss here leading to a perfectly timed cricket noise always startled the three into a terrified jump.
"Quite huddling so close to me, I can hardly walk as it is." The dark-haired girl said twisting her body to free herself from their oppressive clinging.
The other two didn't relent. Cold chill across their spines had done their jobs, completely paralyzing the two in fear.
"I'm not clinging, Cilia is the one pushing." The orange haired boy said turning to the silver haired girl.
"Yeah, well duhh! The trees here are scary." Cilia answered with a shiver in her tone. Her arms were wrapped around her making her look as though she was hugging herself.
"How long till we get to that mansion, Karin?" the orange haired boy asked as Cilia drew closer to the dark-haired girl.
Karin stared at Cilia with distain in her eyes. Did she know the meaning of personal space? She stretched her hands pushing Cilia further from her and walked to a nearby tree.
"I don't know. We weren't given directions or anything to help us navigate. I'm just shotting in the dark here." She answered as she moved a tree branch out of the way to see what was on the other side.
"So – So we're lost?" Cilia said retreating into her arms like a tortoise into its shell.
"Looks like it." Karin answered. Cilia went quiet for a while. Even the little squirmy voices she let out from time to time had gone silent. Karin turned to her.
"Its all your fault." Cilia cried. A pool of tears had huddled in her doe eyes ready to flow.
"How is it my fault?" Karin asked offended.
"You're the one who picked this mission and… and led us out here. You said you knew the way and it was not a problem… We should have just picked the rice cake one…" Cilia complained.
The three had been walking across the forest for three hours straight. They had arrived before sunset and back then most of the forest was still visible. The first few minutes Karin led then confident in her every step. It was as if she had already mapped out the forest and had an internal map she was referencing to. The others followed her fooled by a confident upfront. But soon after the moon was high in the sky, the owls had taken to the sky and as for the three the dark forest had grown into a maze.
"Of course, you wanted to pick the rice cake one… if we want to become vassals someday, we need real world experience… not shut in some kitchen cooking rice cakes." Karin reprimanded Cilia complains.
"Hey girls…" the orange haired boy said, in voice muffled in the quarrel of the two.
"At least we would have passed the rice cake one." Cilia defended.
"No we wouldn't have, you'd have eaten them all." Karin answered.
"Hey you two…" the orange hair called again.
"What!" Karin asked, her anger still evident.
"Let's just make a camp for now and wait for sunrise."
The two girls were quiet. They gave each other distant glances as though gauging what the other would do. Cilia was first to talk.
"Fine I'm cold anyway. I'm making mine far from hers." She scoffed as walked away to gather what she would need.
"Hmph! Fine. I'll build mine far from yours too." Karin responded, also walking away in a fit.
Time passed and the three had assembled their tents. Or rather Kento, the orange haired boy, did. In as much as the two girls wanted to prove each other wrong, none of them exactly knew how to put up a tent. So, in the first few minutes Cilia and Karin wandered gathering wood and leaves and try to make their make shift tents. Then minutes later a gust of wind, muffled by the trees, blew past knocking them down and restarting their process. Kento noticed these and erected three tents, one for each, in hopes they would mend their friendship.
Soon after a small bounded flame was burning and the three snugged around it for warmth. Cilia for one nested closet to the flame. She was in loose clothing that was extremely ineffective against the cold. It was she was watched the white ash cumulate around the flames when she remembered something.
"Hey guys," she called for them. "Do any of you know what the mansion looked like." She asked.
"Yeah." Karin was first to answer. Kento smiled as he listened to her talk.
"It's supposed to be a run-down building with a dry fountain and a well in the compound."
Cilia made a low toned squeak.
"Oh also, the main gate has a name curved at the top of it… um" Karin added.
"RiverStone." Karin and Cilia said in unison.
Cilia's squeak grew. She slowly pulled back from the flame, crawling on all fours.
"Wait you remembered…" Karin said. In that moment Karin noticed something. It was odd and extremely out of character.
Cilia remembered something!
In he two and a half years they had known each other that's one thing she had never thought Cilia would do. Remember something she had being told or instructed.
Something didn't add up.
"Wait a minute…" she thought watching Cilia crawl much faster away from her. "Why you little b—" she said as she leapt forward in hopes of catching Cilia.
She was too late, Cilia had already started her dash into the woods, hands in the air and in fear for her actions.
"I'm sorry guys!!" she yelled as she tried widen the gap between her and Karin who was in hot pursuit.
Back at the campfire Kento hurriedly put out the flames in his frantic attempt to have them wait for him.
"Hey wait up guys." He called.
His plea only landed on rage deafened and cries sullen ears.
***
Moments latter Kento arrived at the old mansion, panting heavily. He had barely managed to reach there, his only luck were the loud screams from Cilia, that echoed through the forest.
"Hold up Karin, you're going to kill her." Kento called trying to catch his breath.
Karin stood at the gate vehemently strangling the bunny in her hand. The bunny's fur was silver, just like that of Cilia. It also had a moon crescent necklace around its neck, just like that of Cilia.
"Okay that's enough, Karin." Kento said as he yanked Karin's hands of Cilia's neck.
Karin finally let go of her and was currently studying the dark and rusted gate. Cilia was on the ground trying to catch her breath often through coughs and mean stares at Karin. She had reverted back to her human form, her clothes turning brown from the murky ground. Kento stood next to her, patting he on the back.
"You should really avoid making Karin mad, Cilia." He scolded her.
"How was I supposed to know this was the mansion we were looking for." She asked not daring to own up for her mistakes.
"It's a mansion in the woods… it's the only mansion in the woods!" Karin snapped.
"Yeah well, I didn't think the fief would send us to a crusty and old looking mansion like this."
"You should have at least told us; it would have saved us the two hours and a half we spend wandering the in the forest."
"Anyway, let's get this test over and done with. I'm already sick being around you two." Karin added.
The full moon shone brightly on the three as they stood at the gate of the RiverStone mansion. What was to happen next was as dark as the night itself. They just needed to open the gates and see for themselves.