The birds chirped the day a greeting. It marked the second weekend of the week, Herris. It was the 29th of Ningdarr, the second last day of the year 317. The bright yellow ray shone over the eyes of the boy that was still lying on his bed, asleep. Bit by bit the ray penetrated into the boy’s dreams. In the end, disturbed by the bright light, the boy finally woke up from his deep slumber.

“Hello, world.” Said the boy while slowly getting up from his bed. The blanket was already on the floor while one of two pillows was already under the bed. No one knew how it got there. Whil especially was not even aware that he was missing one pillow. He just sat on his bed with his eyes half opened. He yawned and stretched on his bed.

Dew drops on leaves was falling bit by bit as the morning wind blew in. It was a very calm morning. The sound of birds chirping. The sound of leaves dancing. The sound of wind blowing. Everything was in a complete harmony. Not a single pebble out of place. Whil got up from his bed and started to drag his feet across the room. He exit his sanctuary and went downstairs to the kitchen. Messy hair, sleepy eyes and lazy feet. Such reminiscent to that fateful day in Ygmod. Except this time, what kept him awake was not the thought of listening to stories about Creatures and the Guardians, but, it is about what he was going to do with his very loyal and close friends for the whole day. ‘So much fun I'm going to have today’, he thought.

He reached the kitchen and his grandmother was washing the dishes in the sink. She was already awake since before the dawn’s light could reach Joycelm. She always wakes up early. There has not been any day that she would wake up any later than that. It is always a race between her and dawn to see who is faster. For a very long time, she has been the one holding the title of ‘winner’. Dawn was just too slow to catch up. Every day, she would wake up and tend the garden, cook breakfast and then had a little read of the newspaper that was sent to her house daily. The only thing that she was doing different that morning was not reading the news. She left it on the kitchen table for Whil and got herself ready to leave the house.

“Where are you going this morning?”

“I'm just going to Mrs Willow’s house. I should get my mind off of a few things. Are you going to be alright by yourself?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I'm going out after this too. I'm going to hang out with Alph, Wyo and Sheila.”

“OK then. Have fun and be safe. See you soon.” She left the kitchen.

“Bye.” Whil said aloud.

The front door was closed and Whil could hear it from the kitchen. Whil shook his shoulders, grabbed a chair and ate the breakfast that was readied for him while reading the newspaper. He had a slow and calming breakfast. After breakfast, he went to his room and bathed. He put on clean clothes and grabbed a couple of pillows from the closet. Then, he left his house and marched to Alph’s with pillows and all.

There he was again. Strutting his legs across Stiltson Street towards Alph’s house. There, from afar, he could see Sheila’s hover. Parked nicely at the side of the street; right in front of his friend’s house. He quickly rushed over as he knew that everyone was there already. With a loud knock by Whil, Polly responded rather quicker than usual. The door swung open fast and Polly stood still looking at Whil for quite a time.

“Oh! Alph and the girls are waiting at the backyard,” Polly said.

“Right.” A short reply and he quickly marched straight to the backyard. There, Sheila was sitting on the bench by a small water fountain that Polly and her sister put up a couple of years back. Her face was filled with quite an amount of confusion. Opposite of Sheila was Alph and Wyo; ready to start whatever they were about to do with pillows wrapped around their body; that is until Wyo took notice of Whil.

“C’mon, Wyo. Stop looking away.” Alph was eager to commence. Wyo gave a point towards Whil and Alph turned around.

“Well. About time. Always the one that is fashionably late.” Commented Alph.

“Can’t help myself. It’s a gift.” Whil replied. Always the one with the last laugh is what Alph should have said.

“Uhm, guys, what are we doing? I still don’t get what is with the pillows and all,” Sheila interrupted.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Alph gave an ambiguous reply. It made Sheila more nervous and confused.

There the four of them were. They stood at each corner of the backyard; all with pillows wrapped around them. Then, Alph yelled aloud, “THREE! TWO! ONE!” At ‘one’, all the four of them ran towards each other. They ran faster and faster. As they got closer, they jumped towards one another. They threw their bellies outward; the part with the most pillow layered atop of each other. And, in the end, they collided. Alph fell horribly, pushed by Sheila and Sheila pushed Wyo with a great force. Whil’s and Sheila’s head both bumped hard with each other.

“Dang it! That still hurts with the pillows.” Sheila ranted. “What’s the point of this game actually?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember actually. OK, let’s do something else then.” Answered Whil.

“Like what?” Alph asked to Whil.

With a smile he answered, “Creature hunting.”

----- ----- ----- -----

There they were, outside the city, in a forest just beyond the city wall. The thin forest known as Rump Forest. They went in and started their game of ‘Creature hunting’.

“So, what are we doing actually? Obviously we’re not going to go around finding a real Creature egg in here, are we?” Sheila asked.

“Nope. The rule is simple. Any animal you see is a Creature. Find one and catch it. If I manage to catch one first, I win. Get it?” Whil explained.

“OK. Simple enough. I guess,” Sheila answered.

“Haha,” laughed Wyo, “you’ve never chased animals around have you? It’s harder than you think.”

“How hard can it be? Just sneak behind them.”

“If it is easy, we wouldn’t have made it into a game. No one likes an easy game.” Wyo ended.

“Ready!” Whil started.

“Set!” Alph continued.

“Go!” Wyo abruptly shouted causing a little chaos in everyone’s steps. They all ran in different directions searching for an easy catch to win. Wyo bumped into a deer. A thought of catching it did not even cross her mind. She is smarter than that. A deer could be too dangerous to approach and catch bare handed. She shook her shoulder and left the deer alone. Alph went deeper into the forest. He walked slowly up and down the branches and roots. Then, there he stood, looking right in front of him, a wild cat. ‘Might be an easy catch’, he thought. What else could he possibly catch easily in the forest if not a cat? Thus, he decided to follow the cat quietly, waiting for the cat to put its guards down; an opportunity.

Whil was busy chasing rabbits around. He was lucky as he stumbled upon a group of rabbits running around feeding on the grass. But, he was not all that lucky. Each one of them ran straight into their holes as he tried to chase one.

Wyo did not have any luck what so ever. She just wandered around the forest aimlessly; hoping that a good catch will just fall on her lap. Suddenly, just beyond a tree right behind her, there were sounds of footsteps. She sneaked behind the tree and spied on what was making those sounds.

As for Alph, he followed and followed that same little wild cat. Until at last, the cat lied down cosily in a pile of dead leaves. Before he even tried to go for the catch, he took notice of movements in the bushes in front of him. It was Whil. Behind Whil was Sheila. Then, Alph turned his head slowly to the left and saw Wyo behind a tree just a couple of feet away from him. Each one of them had been spying of on the same wild cat. Alph felt competitive and stood up in haste, shouting, “That cat is mine!”

Everyone was shocked; even the cat. It stood up and ran away. With a quick instinct, Alph chased after it. The rest decided to chase along the same cat just to see if any of them can catch it. They ran and ran. The wild cat led them back towards the city. But, it did not went in. Instead, it ran alongside the outer wall of the city. They ran quite a mile chasing a somewhat impossible catch. Sheila was already leading as Alph, Whil and Wyo was left right behind her; tailing her. In the end, Sheila got closer and nearly caught it, but the cat made a sharp turn and disappeared into a small hole in the wall that lead into the city.

“Darn it! I nearly got it! That was a horrible luck. Where did that hole come from?” Sheila was furious. She chased it hard and left without any result.

“So, no one wins, huh?” Wyo asked.

“Nah. It was not about winning anyway. Let’s go somewhere fun.” Replied Whil.

Sheila turned around and asked, “Where?”

“Back in the forest.” Whil answered.

“What? We’re not catching more animals are we?” Alph asked in surprise.

“No. You’ll love it. Trust me.”

Deep into the thin forest of Rump Whil led them. “My grandfather used to bring me here. He said that not many people came here because they thought it was cursed.” Whil told them while leading them deeper.

“Cursed? Where are we going exactly?” asked Alph.

“Don’t worry. It’s not cursed. It’s just what the elders would say to the youngsters so that they don’t come here by themselves. Listen. You should know what’s beyond those trees.”

“I hear waterfall.” Sheila said.

“Yeah! Me too!” added Wyo.

Then, they passed a couple layer of trees and the scenery was revealed. It was a beautiful stream of river that had a gentle slope downward. The water was crystal clear and the stream was calm and slow.

“Behold.” Whil dramatically presented the Dherr River to Alph, Sheila and Wyo. “This is the Dherr River. It’s a branch from the huge Serrumpt River. So, let’s get swimming,” he added.

They dived in. They splashed water around and swam like little kids. It was a very fun and reminiscent moment for Whil, Alph and especially Wyo. From noon they stayed at the river till three o’clock. By then, they were just lying on the rocks at the shallow part of the river. Their bodies still under water, washed by the flow of the river. Pruning themselves to perfection.

“This has been the happiest day of my life. Thanks guys,” Whil said.

“Not just for you. Me too. I’ve been dreaming of this day since I moved up north with my uncle. Coming back here was the best. Still is,” added Wyo.

“Yeah. Been so long since we did anything this much fun and adrenalin rushing. I felt alive,” continued Sheila. She turned her head to Alph. Alph was just looking up to the sky. Sheila smiled. “I felt so alive.”

Whil and Wyo was already intimately staring into each other’s eyes. They have not met for eight years but somehow a strong emotional bond was still there. They could feel their heart pumping for the world whenever they see each other. How they feel like moving on no matter how heavy the weight on their shoulders get. Whil held his hand towards Wyo. Wyo tried to grab it, but they were a tad bit far. They both giggled noticing the situation. Both blushed like little girls. “Thank you,” Whil said, “Thank you for coming back for me.”

“Thank you for waiting,” Wyo replied.

“I’d never leave,” he added.

Then, the boy that stared the sky interrupted the moment, “guys, what’s that?” he said pointing to a flying object in the sky.

“I don’t know. A bird probably,” answered Sheila.

The object was just flying in circles. The longer they looked, the more uneasy they felt. Soon, they got out of the water and dried themselves up. They put on their clothes and continued staring at the peculiar flying object. Then, a loud screech was heard and a lightning like shot was fired right in front of them. The ground exploded throwing the four across the rocks with quite a force. Suddenly, from the city, they could hear the ‘war horn’.

“Get up!” Whil shouted. “Get up, now!” He ran towards Wyo and pulled her up by force. He did not care if he was hurting her. The only thing that he cared about was keeping her alive. After that, he turned to Alph and yelled, “Let’s go! Now! Now! Now!” Alph and Sheila quickly picked up their pace. They ran and ran back through the forest towards the city. There, they saw Joycelm closing the gates. They ran as fast as they could. “Wait!” Whil cried out. “Wait for us!”

The man above the wall saw them. He yelled down below to stop closing the west gate, “Stop! Children ahead! Leave the gate open!” The gate was nearly closed. There was just a small gap that they could fit through. They quickly slip through back into the city.

“Are there anymore?” the Gate Keeper asked.

“No. No, I don’t think so.” Whil answered.

“Close it!” the Gate Keeper yelled.

“What’s happening?” Sheila asked the Gate Keeper.

“I don’t know. There was a couple of small airships were flying over the city and shooting at us. We managed to bring them down, luckily, with a couple of shots from the ballista,” explained him.

“Where is it?” asked Whil.

“Just straight ahead from here.”

Whil then ran for the direction. He wanted to see what it was for himself. As he reached the airship, he was shocked as it was not even as bit as he thought. It was as big as a regular man. What was more surprising to him was that it had no pilot. It was an automated airship.

Then, Sheila yelled from behind, “Whil, home. Now!”

“Grandma!” he thought. All the four of them ran straight for their homes. Everything went straight from happy to disastrous so quickly, thought Whil. He ran up the hill and passed the Drees water fountain. Then, he reached his house. He unlocked the door, went in and slammed it hard. “Grandma!” he yelled out.

From the kitchen, his grandmother appeared and went straight for him. She squeezed him hard. “I was so worried.”

“I was worried too. Are you OK, grandma?”

“I'm fine. I was already home when it happened. Are you…”

“I'm fine. I'm fine,” Whil answered before his grandmother even finished her question.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door. Whil went and open it without thinking twice. It was a crodor, an officer of the law, from Drees Security Department. He stood there with his uniform looking at Whil.

“Yes, sir. Any news?” his grandmother asked.

“Um…yes. The situation is under control at the moment. I'm here to tell you that you are all fine and safe. Both of the airships that attacked us was shot down. You needn’t worry, but we urge you to stay indoor for today,” the crodor said.

Whil looked to the floor and said, “There were three.”

“Three?” asked the crodor.

“Yes, three. You shot down two. But, there were three. The other one was flying over the Dherr River. It flew off though. I don’t know where it went.”

“Well, I will bring this information to the commanding officer. Thank you for telling. Have a nice day sir, ma’am.” He left the front door and there Whil could see crodors at every doorstep of every house. Calming down the people and telling the same thing to each and every one of the citizen. Whil closed the door and that was that. The day ended in silence. Everyone was left baffled by what happened.

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