Zera Win, a young traveler looking for the missing legendary hero to save her village from the frequent attacks and abductions of elves.
One day, on her way, she was cornered by the mountain bandits. An unexpected stranger came and saved her from th...
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The forest remains quiet, consequently affecting the lone thief of somnolence. His back is leaning against a tree; yawning as he waited for her. Just lingering there makes his patience wearing thin as she hasn't come back yet, so he decided to go and check on her. Striding down the rough and uneven terrain and trampling little shrubs to get to the spring isn't that far. In addition to that, he can hear an odd and eerie music; its tune has a familiar ring to him.
Once he reached the boundary of the forest and stepped on the gravel, Namjoon scanned the area until he found her, almost in the middle of the spring water. There, he noticed the water reaching up to her waist and continuously rising. Zera's in hypnotic state—having only dull eyes and expressionless face, slowly moving towards the depths of the water without delay. If she keeps going, the water will swallow her and his ticket to get diamonds would truly be gone. Of course, he doesn't want that to happen.
He dashed into the spring water and quickly grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?!"
The music ceased. Zera snapped out of her trance when she heard his voice, and then darted her eyes left, right, and down. Due to confusion and still in a daze, she can't immediately process her mind what has happened or how she got into this situation. Namjoon sighed in exasperation and pulled her arm back onto the land. What he didn't notice was that they have an audience; gaping at them as he watched the two soaked travelers come up to the surface.
"I think I know you." He narrowed his eyes to the thief.
Namjoon halted along with her on their way back in the forest and both landed their eyes to the culprit behind her enchantment. The two males have their wide eyes fixed to each other. Fragments of memories suddenly emerged in his mind and somehow recognized the guy with the fiddle who happened to be his lousy companion a long time ago, and his name was Jimin. Namjoon was hypnotized by him too, though mysteriously it failed, and that was the start of their companionship in terms of causing mischief and a bit of stealing.
"He's the legendary hero!" Zera blurted out proudly, interfered their recollections.
The young man shifted his gaze to the assertive female, after that, he burst into laughter to her sheer claim.
"I didn't think you would fancy becoming a heroic figure. It doesn't suit you..."He breathed out heavily and wiped an escaped tear in his eye. Perplexity overtook her expression, and yet she hasn't figured his hinting statement which Namjoon thought was a good thing. The thief was on the verge of being revealed so he pulled her arm again to leave before Jimin spill the beans. "Or is it some kind of revenge?"
Namjoon stopped in his tracks and his mockery finally ticked him off. Jimin may know his past, but delving into his private life further only triggers him. He turned around and pointed his finger to him. "Jimin, that's none of your business!"
The two eventually left the place, leaving the fiddle guy with sullen pout. It was her first time to see him mad, and she couldn't shake the feeling of interest concerning their recent heated conversation. It added mystery to his entire being, moreover, fueling her curiosity.
"What was he talking about?" She asked.
"Don't believe his words, he's just a local water spirit who doesn't have anything to do but enchanting his victims and then drowns them," He glared at her and added, "You almost died there!"
"Oh..." Was her only reply.
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Are you some kind of a magnet because you keep attracting unwanted dangers?"
She responded with a half-suppressed laugh and muttered a sorry to him. Namjoon once again heaved a sigh before focusing their way out of the forest. All these unforeseen encounters made him more regrettable to fool her and have grown beyond belief at this point. The outcome is pretty ironic, it seems like he's becoming a true hero by saving her; twice.
As soon as cool breeze hit their skins, caught the sight of snowy field; indicated they have finally arrived at the extremity of eastlore forest—another journey begins via the path to Zera's village. Thereby the transition of cold days and nights of travel, in the end, they used a bridge over the frozen water that connects to the remote small community of humans. This winter has been the longest in her memory, including her home consists of hovels constructed from woods; black smokes slowly escaping from its roofs made out of straws. Their life is so simple, even to this day amid dreadful crisis with the elves.
"Everyone, I have the hero we are waiting for!" Zera yelled at the end of the bridge, catching the villagers' attention from their respective businesses.
She grasped his wrist and giddily slid down a snow-clad steep slope; sprinting towards them and not minding the staggering thief behind her.
"Zera, is that true?" A middle-aged man walked up to the duo; his face is timeworn and wrinkled.
Adults and children gathered around them, all of them anticipating her next words and also excited to know about the guy beside her.
"Look," She looked at Namjoon and gestured her hand to him. "This is Namjoon, the legendary hero; he said he will save us from the elves!"
Audible gasps and euphoric whispers erupted from the villagers. Zera was delighted to see her people happy and rejoicing, but not the same case for the thief. He was forced to smile for the sake of putting a good image of him—close enough to act like a nice hero. Since Namjoon doesn't care about saving them in the first place and only needed the diamonds, who knows how long will they stay in that fool's paradise.
"Welcome to our village!" The man and Namjoon firmly shook their hands. "I am the chief leader of this village. We're greatly honored to meet you in person. It's been eighty years since you disappeared and we thought you're already dead, what happened?"
"Wait, eighty years?!" A shocking expression crossed her face as she stepped in front of him, and then carefully eyed him from head to toe. She arched an eyebrow to him. "Are you really the legendary hero?"
He chuckled and replied, "Of course I am, being a hero can also retain my youth."
It's the truth; for once he said something honest. However, being a hero is not making him young; it's actually the weapons once the legendary hero had are the ones locking his current age that time doesn't affect him anymore. A benefit he didn't expect that can even beat the elves in achieving eternal youth. The day he stole the daggers was a glorious day for him. Now to deal with the present time, he must butter them up and ready to fabricate lies again to explain his 'disappearance'.
