“ ah!” Lara yells out after the hit maya gives her over the head. “ غبية” maya says in a displeased manner. L: “بس كنت عايزه اسوق”. Away from the hustle of the bickering duo and the chaos of a scared mind. lyan stands far ,looking into the distance. The line of sharp rocks leading the way, their way Seems to end not far out. “ is that really the end?” She thinks before running off to see it for her self. “ huh, it really ends here unless…” she turns her gaze back onto the carriage, this time focusing on the small hanging lamp where the shard is placed but it’s frosty glow was no longer there. The shard is once again dim and lifeless. “ Lara, maya!, The shard doesn’t glow anymore!” She calls out as she runs back towards the lamp, her sisters following behind.
Lyan standing on the tips of her toes she opens the lamp trying to get a closer look . “See!” She says to her sisters. A concerned look for their sister falls upon their faces before any confusion could even cross their minds. Lara raises the palm of her hand up creating a barrier between Lyan and the lamp while Maya places her hand on Lyan’s shoulder, gently pulling her back away from the shard. “ did it lose its magic?!” Lyan asks with worry in her voice. a moment of silence ensues. many thoughts going through Lara’s head as she looks down to the ground before looking back up and turning to the lamp and saying “ guess one way to find out…” her finger but an inch away from the shard. “Stop, no!-” Maya yells out but she was only ever so late. Fear and panic wears their faces immediately afraid of what could come onto Lara this time and to their shock and horror there was no reaction . Lara stands right ,all well just as she is.
“What?!. What happened to it?” Lara asks as she takes completely out the lamp, inspecting it from every possible angle.
M: “ maybe it got tired of your stupidity!”.
Lyan: “ hmmmm. Vernon!!!” She calls ,running back inside the carriage
“ yeah go call him!” Lara says ,sarcasm clear as daylight in her voice. “what is he gonna do?” She turns to maya. Annoyance in her voice . “Turn it on” maya responds a slight smirk on her face. Lara giggles at her response.
Running with panic and worry on his face towards them Vernon. “ what did you do-” he says. Standing right in front of Lara. “ take, charm it” she says, handing the shard over to him. “ wha-”. “ we need it to turn on” she rises both eyebrows with cheeky grin on her face. Squinting his eyes in confusion for moment. “…oh!,oh. You’re not funny” he responds. Erasing the grin off her face, turning it to an annoyed pout. “ maybe you just don’t have a sense of humor”. “ no, I do. I Just don’t have such an…” looking her up n’ down he continues “ an interesting mind”. “ you damn right you don’t. No wonder that thing was turned off”. “ this happened when you drove!”. “ it got a bit of excitement and couldn’t handle it. I wouldn’t blame it, it was with you after all” she says, paying him back the same up n’ down look. he says “ what are you saying?”. “ you’re dull!” . “ you’re dumb!” He responds back. “ you’re boring!”. “ you’re-”. “ maybe it lost charge” maya says, turning the butting heads away from each other.
“ I remember it looking exactly like this after the Broadway-king used it. It started glowing again on its own after a while” she continues. “ so all we have to do is wait and it’ll self-charge” Lyan adds.
“ well, it’s such a small shard guess it’s power can only last so long. Not a bad hypothesis you two”. With a proud look on both their faces they share a high-five.
“ good, at least not all of you are stupid” Vernon says slowly turning back his head to face Lara. “ yeah, you keep holding on to that thread ‘cause it’s the only one you got. Also you assumed we’re stupid thats sexist”. A furious Look falls upon him “ you!- you know what Lara?. Luckily for you the road is full of villages you could go to” he reach’s through the window, rummages a bit before pulling out a map. “ so you don’t have to stay with little-old boring, sexist me!”. “ good on you for admitting it” the unbothered tone in her response only seems to drive him even more furious “ here ,go here” he points to a certain dot on the map.
The girls come closer to take look.
“ what do we even do in the Village?” Lyan genuinely asks.
“ talk to the villagers. If the sunstone is truly back, it probably fused with something. So ask them if they saw something gold and shiny. And take your time. I’m going to need some peace and quiet if I want to clean this mess up” Vernon responds.
“Hm, why are they called stones if they could fuse with stuff?”
“ because when they’re not fused they look like stones”
“Hey man, the village you choose is really close to the woods” maya says .a slight concern in her voice. “ and?, most villages are close to the woods”. “ couldn’t something come out?” Maya asks, trying to further her point. “ I’m sure there is like a picket fence or something” maya doesn’t answer, only giving her sister a look, one that immediately signals for her to get in.
“ a picket fence?, huh, that still sounds like animals could get over it” she says. “ like what?” Vernon responds leaning back on the carriage. “ i don’t know rabbits, squirrels, wolves!” “ they’re no wolves In dawn. It does not have the natural habitat to sustain the lifestyle of wild wolves”, “ and if their is?” She asks. “ there is not” he responds leaning forward a bit. “ and if there is?” She asks once more. A confused look wears Maya’s face, as to why would Lara be asking again “ she surely doesn’t think she knows more than him here” she thought to her self and as she took a closer look ,it hit her. she wasn’t serious. It was just another silly ruse. Perhaps revenge. “ they’re not supposed to be here. so they’re not going to be here!” Vernon’s frustrated response to the fifth‘ what if’ .
“ I mean we’re not supposed to be here either yet here we are!” Lara continues. Committed to the silly fight. “ there is a zero percent chance that you would encounter wolves especially so close to civilians!. Don’t say ‘if’. There isn’t even a one percent chance!” Vernon answers. Full blown yelling. the laidback attitude gone. And it couldn’t be more amusing to her. “ oh, there’s is, and it’s right up your a-” before she could continue delivering what seemed to her such perfect finish to the argument. Maya places her hand on her mouth and pulls her back “ alright, we’re going” she calls out. Lyan running in front of them.
Vernon letting out a relieved sigh as he goes back in.
At the entrance of the village the two stop. Lyan continues up head, passing them. Maya moves her hand “ so, is this the end of Lara’s petty terror?”. “ not even close. ده انا هطلع مايتين عين الي خالفو!” . Even with the quick change in tone from calm to harsh and back, maya only gives a slight giggle. “ come on you guys!” Lyan calls out. Lara makes her way skipping ,a grin on her face and the proud feeling of success. “We’re going need him, you know. And it’s gonna hit you faster than you’d think” maya says, following behind. “Not fast enough, so until we find our golden, shiny ticket. I will enjoy every moment”. She responds as they enter the village ,with the same grin upon her face.
With so begins the door-to-door look out for the stone.
Lyan: “ hi, do you know anything abou-” . “ omg!, what are you wearing?” Asks the old lady, completely distracted from the original question. “Ahh, jeans” . “ what’s it made of?”. “..jeans?”.
L: “ I’m looking for something gold and shiny” . “ oh like this?” The man pulls out a golden coin. “ no, not a coin. It’s a stone just like the name says” . “ oh, oh like is?” He pulls out a necklace covered in shining stones. “ although that is very beautiful, it’s not it! .It’s- it’s magic!”. “ like.. your hair?, how you get your hair like that?” Once again getting distracted completely from the original question.
M: “ the sunstone have y-”. “ that stuff doesn’t exist”. “ old and gone myths”. “It’s a miracle what happened in the capital. Miracles don’t happen twice”. Was the only response she would receive. All full of doubt and disbelief, one that slowly begin to devour any sense of hope of getting any leads the girls had.
Standing away at the sidelines, filled with disappointment and uncertainty of what to do next. Lyan: “ *sigh* these people know nothing” . Lara: “ right, and Vernon couldn’t gives a more vague description if he tried”. In the midst of the glam and heavy air maya eyes cannot help but wonder away, hoping to fall on something, one that could pull them out of such a predicament.
Just then her eyes stop to notice a child peeking from behind a haystack with such an intense and curious gaze, so focused on her watch it could pierce through it. In response maya crouches down and slowly extends her arm forward. Still unsure and fear-full the child doesn’t move only slightly peeking, his head out. she gives a warm and reassuring smile. Breaking the ice. An excited smile beams on the child’s face as he rushes towards the watch checking every part of it. The warm smile unwillingly fades away from maya’s face to turn into somber sigh. “ you wouldn’t know anything about the sunstone either would you?” She asks in the somber tone.
Just as the child hears the question he rises his head, throws maya’s arm and runs far behind the haystack all at the same instant but it’s long before he comes back pushing a wooden wheel chair with an elderly woman on it. Waving her fist back-and-forth “ slow down, slow down child!” She says, sounding as cranky as ever. Her type was clear to maya but what wasn’t is why she had her eyes closed, even as she turned to the child. But just as maya began to wonder the child goes and whispers into the woman’s ear, shocking her into opening her eyes revealing completely gyre irises and pupils with no color whatsoever.
The woman was- “blind and what of it!, I can still see your stupidly shocked face from a mile away!” The woman yells out, cutting maya’s train of thought and before she could even think of boarding a new one the woman calls out once more “ come here!”. Maya stands confused for a few seconds before pointing to her self. “ yes you!, do you see any other stupidly shocked children around here?!” . With no further questions, maya makes her way to the woman.
“ so, my great grandson here tells them that you were asking about the sunstone, Is that right?”. “ yeah, you know anything about it?” Maya asks in a stern tone. Expecting disappointment there was no point of having hope let alone expressing it. “ ‘do I know something about it?! I know the most valuable there is to know!”. “ really?!” Maya answers back, a complete shift in tone now back intrigued and hopeful. “ yeah, really!, do i look like I am playing with you?!” The woman responds irritated. It was obvious it didn’t take much to get this woman yelling.
A slight excited smile falls upon maya’s face as she turns to call her sisters over “girls!, this lady knows something about the stone!”. It’s but mere seconds before the girls all gather around her. “we’re all ears!” Lara says or tries to say before she gets a knuckle to the head. “ ah!, why granny?!”. “ I just got to check how many people are here now plus you sounded like a brat” she says as she rubs her hand on Lyan’s face and pinches her cheek. Lyan gives a cheery giggle in response. “ yeah, easy for you, you’re not the who got a-” before Lara could continue the women rises her fist scaring her off. “Hm, now what was I talking about ?” The woman says. M: “ the sunstone”. Lara:“ granny do you actually know any-”.
“ ah!, you want to know what I know, you want to know what I have seen, oh!, I have seen the fates of the foolish who dare to scout the stars. A dangling shine so tempting yet ever so blinding is the only thing guiding the journey. Across the heartache, the sacrifice the betrayal it’s shine will only get brighter, the temptation will only get worst. It will watch you crumble piece by piece, trying to get but a speck of its light and it will only shine brighter. So to those who dare to step on the road of anguish and loss beware there’s no more cold hearted and unforgiving path then the one you seek…”
“…” silence. The girls stood at a loss of words, unsure of what to do with they have just been told or how to even process it. “Well..” Lara says and she continues speaking somewhat slowly trying her hardest not to sound rude. “ ..that’s was a very nice story, granny, now can you tell us something that will actually help us- ah!”. Once again another knuckle to the head. No matter how nice she tried to sound it will always end the same with this woman. “ you think I’m playing with you child!, and what?!, you think I enjoy standing here, talking to you!. Many! Stood your exact stance here and asked me the same old question and I warned each and every single on of them and they all scoffed at me just like you, and you know what happened?!, I never saw them again…”. “maybe that’s ‘cause you’re blind” Lara responds before jumping behind maya at the sight of the woman raising her fist again.
Lyan:“ granny I know you’re trying to protect us, but we’ll be fine!, we’re really strong!, that’s what my dad always said!” . “ that’s what they all say” the woman responds skepticism all over her words. “ we’re really need to get the stone, we need to!” Maya says, desperation growing in her voice. “Do you have something that will help us or not, old lady!” Lara says peeking her head out from behind maya before hiding back again behind her. The old woman lets out a frustrated Sigh. “ well I warned you, but if you really must know, there has been some suspicious activities in the frost nearby”.
The women extends her arm, pointing to a forest that was just on the outskirts of the village. It seemed like it extended far and beyond the village. It looked so dense and vast. That if it was any bigger it would consume the village. But just before the entrance stood a sign. “ it may or may not be related to what you’re looking for” . “now take it away” the woman calls out for her great grandson. “ let’s go I can’t stand the sight of these fools” the woman says as her great grandson pushes her away. “ thanks!” Lyan yells out. as her and maya waste no time and run immediately to the sign. “ what sign?” Lara says under her breath. “ I can still hear you!”. Lara in instant made her way behind here sisters.
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