Astith's Prophecy

Chapter 3

~TN's POV~

It was before noon when I finish gathering firewood and hunting some food. I made Dark and myself a light lunch before we head out to the village. I frown. I never really like going the village. For as long as I can remember, the village always shun me. They shun me because I was different. Because I was not human. I don't know how I wasn't human. I look like one. I sound like one. So, how am I different from them.

I sigh out loud. There is no point in asking those questions. They never answer them anyway.

Dark noses my hand, probably sensing my dark thoughts. I smile at him and pet his head.

"Thanks," I said. "Come on. We got work to do."

I pick up the plates and put them on the sink. Once I did that, I walk to the door, grab my coat, and go out the door. Dark follows right behind me. I already pile the firewood in a large cart, so I just have to push the cart to the village. The path from my house to the village is on a slope, but at least I only have to push the cart down the slope. At the base of the slope, there is a fork in the road. I take the path on the left and made my way to the entrance of the village.

The entrance of the village is just a pitched fence with a wooden arch. There are two guards standing on either side of the archway. I stop for a moment and look at Dark.

"You know the drill, Dark," I said to him. "Just stay out of sight."

I hear Dark whine in protest but walk off into the forest. I know he didn't like leaving me alone, but he also knows that he is unwelcome in the village. The last time we try going into the village together, the guard at the archway tried to kill him. I'm not risking that again.

I pass through the arch, feeling the guards' glares. I ignore them. I'm used to it anyway. Since it is close to noon, I can see almost everyone out and about. I huff in annoyance as I made my way to the first house. I hear the people whispering as I pass by. I, again, ignore them. I stop my cart in front of a small house that has a cute little flower bed in the front. I walk to the door and knock on it. I wait for a moment and saw an old man opening the door. One look at me and he is already giving me the glare.

"It's you," was all the old man says.

I didn't answer him and walk back to my cart. I grab a couple of the firewood from the cart. I hand it to the old man, and he hands me a small brown pouch. Once the pouch is in my hand, I hear something cling together. I open it and see a handful of bronze coins. I hum in satisfaction and tie the pouch to my waist. I nod to the old man and made a trip to the next house.

This goes on for another two hours or so with me going to a house, knocking on the door, and dropping off people's firewood. When I finish dropping off the last house, I sigh in relief. And since I still have some time before the sun sets, I decide to go to a cobbler's shop. My boots are close to falling apart, so I need a new pair soon. I go towards the entrance and take a left to the building with a boot for a sign. I walk in and I can feel the owner sending daggers at me.

"What do you want," the owner asks harshly.

"Is that a way to talk to a customer," I ask back. "I'm here for new boots."

The owner grunts but went in the back to grab something. I look around looking at the display boots. I can already tell that the boots are either too small or too big for me. The only pair I see that looks close to my sizes is an ugly green ankle-high boots. Not too long, the owner comes back with two different pairs and putting them on the counter. One pair is dark brown boots that were similar to mine's, but it has more buckles around the calves. The other pair is interesting. The right boot is knee-high. The color is a crimson red with black fur lining the top of it. The left boot is calf-high with the inverse colors, black for the boot and red for the fur.

"Someone steals some boots," I ask.

"No. This is just a design chose," the owner answers.

I hum. It was interesting. And I guess it does match my coat a little. I grab the mismatch pair. I sit in a stool nearby and take off my old boots. I put the boots on and walk around a bit to get a feel for them. They were comfortable, and they fit almost perfectly.

"I'll take these."

The owner nods.

"That'll be 100 coins," they say.

A little pricey that what I original thought, but I paid anyways. They probably made it expensive because of who I am. With my new boots, I walk out of the shop and made my way out of the village. Once outside, I can feel all my energy drain from the trip. I shake the feeling off and walk back home. Dark join me when I reach the fork of the path. In the distance, I see two people making their way towards the split. Not wanting to interact with even more people, I quicken my pace. Dark also quickly follows behind me. It seems like I wasn't quick enough as I hear a man's voice calling me.

"Hey! Wait!"

I huff in annoyance and stop in my tracks. I can feel a migraine coming.

Today is just not my day, is it?

Written by: TNckitty