Amentia

Chapter 15 - Like living in the country

The human village was busy, despite not being exactly crowded or loud. There couldn't have been more than thirty people walking about when the girls entered. They were all carrying something, it be a crate of weirdly-shaped fruits, piles of kindle, dirty clothes, water cans, or buckets of fish. Everyone walked with purpose, too focused on not dropping what they were holding to take notice in the newcomers.

The girls only walked a couple dozen steps inside before stopping to look around. At first glance, all there was to see was the large building they had seen from outside and some houses spread out around it. There was a lot of empty space.

The word village seemed very appropriate to describe the place. There were no streets, no sidewalk, no pavement, only dirt and clouds of dust that formed around the heavy steps of certain people. There were what seemed to be lampposts scattered about, but there were no wires anywhere above the village. The entire area was huge and could've easily been a city had it not been so scarcely developed. There were no more than a dozen houses in sight, though they were all enormous, no less than two stories each; they were all quite far away from each other because they all had farms either in the back or surrounding them. The farms occupied more space than anything else and gave the place a necessary colorful touch, thanks to the purple grass and the various colors of the vegetables and fruits that grew on it. But, overall, it seemed like there was too much space for so little people, which made the place look rather sad and lonely.

The biggest building around was about three hundred meters directly ahead of the entrance and seemed to be the center of the village. Of course it wasn't an actual building because it was made of wood and wasn't even very tall. It looked rather like a huge barn, though more nicely made and clearly more solid and sturdy; the wood was in perfect condition, as if it had been varnished recently, and the double front doors were decorated with carvings similar to those on the entrance jambs, which made it look very classy. It was the building that had the most movement, people walking in and out almost constantly. Every time someone opened the door, the end of a wooden table was visible from outside, so maybe it was some kind of shop or workplace, or a communal space of some sort. There were two chimneys protruding from the roof: one was by the left wall, apparently inactive, and the other was by the right back corner, this one with heavy smoke coming out of it. In an unspoken agreement, the girls were making their way towards this big building.

Anna was hit with an uneasy sensation... similar to the one she'd felt back at the Temple, but sort of dampened. As they walked, Anna saw a man passing by, empty-handed and walking listlessly. He was well into his fifties, thin, gray and with a withered expression on his face. No one but Anna seemed to notice anything strange on him, although she thought she saw Zoe frown slightly, but it might have been related to something else entirely. This man's melody was silent. Every single living thing Anna had ever seen had an air around them that emitted a unique and personal melody that revealed who they were or how they were feeling, much like an aura would. That man walking by did not have a single sound around him and was, instead, untouched by the wind. The air flowed around him, but never touched him, which was something Anna had never seen happen either. It was like the wind was avoiding him, like it refused to make contact with him. There was something wrong with him.

Before Anna could say anything about it to the girls, who hadn't even looked at the man twice, a lady stepped outside the big building and walked towards them, smiling and wiping her hands on a cloth that used to be white but was now of a dirty gray.

"New faces!" she said with genuine enthusiasm. She was about forty years old, tall and broad-shouldered, with wavy blonde hair tucked into a bun, charming blue eyes, chubby cheeks flushed. "First time we've had five people showing up at once," she added giving each girl a glance. "But the more, the merrier. I'm Margaret; I'm one of the village cooks and official tour guide."