A Hint of the Future

North Brim

Brim Village, Veradir

16th day, Month of the Red Moon

Year 434

It has been almost forty days since I arrived here in this small village and lived with this wonderful family. Sometimes I wonder why I can't remember anything from before I was taken. My memories felt like dreams, fuzzy and short lived.

Where did I come from? Who is my father? Who is my mother? Are they still alive? Are they looking for me? Why the only thing that is familiar with me is my name, and I am not even sure if it is mine, or if I just heard it from somewhere? Were the things. It frustrates me in thinking if the things I remembered were real or was it just part of a dream or my imagination.

"Why are you staring out at the snow again?"

I jumped off of my usual spot; at the bench outside the house. Reika suddenly whispered at my ear.

"Don't sneak up on me you munchkin!" I told her as I clutched my chest in surprise.

She glared at me and said, "Stop calling me munchkin. I'm not some type of cat, or whatever it is. Plus, I didn't sneak up on you. I waved my hand in front of you, nothing. Like you are daydreaming. I do that sometimes to."

I chuckled. She looks so adorable whenever she is embarrassed or gets in a situation where she can't think of anything to argue back. I patted her head and urged her to come closer.

"Come now munchkin. Sit beside me, I will warm you up." I told her with a smile.

My body is warmer than them. That, I realized when I almost never get cold in this freezing weather. When they wear thick clothing inside, and more whenever they go outside, I don't have a need for it since the cold doesn't bite me. Reika always make me do most of the chores just because I never get cold. I was nervous if her parents would find out. They might find me different and throw me out. But I think they are used to different.

When I told them what I think I can do, they merely smiled a genuine smile at me and said it is good, that I should make good use to it, and that they already had a clue.

I rarely get cold, they said. That didn't bother them. They love having me around, being warm and such. Reika, after hearing it, always sits beside me or comes close to me to get warm. Just after a few days I lived with them they treated me like I belonged there. Like family.

"Like a living fireplace, just without the fire and the burn." She happily said, more to herself than me. "and wood." She added cheerfully.

She sat beside me; her sock covered feet not even touching the floor, swing back and forth. "You should wear your shoes. Where are your shoes?" I scolded her.

"The dog is sleeping on it. I'm afraid he might bite me if I take it while he sleeps." She sighed. "That's why I came here to sit beside you." She said as she stared at the now slowly melting snow. "To. Get. Warm." She added.

"You know? As a child? You are so demanding." I told her as I turned to look at her.

"It's the Month of the Red Moon, am I correct?" she asked, as she looked back at me.

I turned and stared at the vast whiteness of the snow covered field before I spoke. "Yes. Yes it is."

"It is scary. For those who do not have magic, it is very scary." She turned her gaze to the never ending field of white and dead trees, her words sounded old... ancient.

"Reika?"

"My magic grows stronger by each passing night. The darkness rises within. I can feel it, here at the very tips of my fingers." She continued. Chill started to prick my skin, down to my spine. I felt goosebumps run down my entire body.

"What-"

"Reika! Stop that!" Reika's mother rushed outside towards us. Eyes round in horror. She took both of Reika's arms and shook her, then she wrapped her in a hug; a very tight one.

"Reika, dear, stop it okay? Listen to your mother." She scolded her but it sounded like she's more afraid than angry. She stared at Reika's eyes, unblinking, until Reika responds.

"By the end of the fifteenth Red Moon it will rise."

I hurriedly stood and looked from left to right. "Something, something. I need something." I mumbled. An idea suddenly hit me and ran inside the house to get her shoes. I hurriedly went back outside and saw that they are still in the same position as I had left.

"Munchkin, I have your shoes. I won't give it to you if you won't talk to your us." Moments passed and nothing. "Come on Reika. I won't help you in your chores anymore if you don't snap out of it." I said firmly but anxiously. Slowly, Reika turned to me with an annoyed look at her face.

"You wouldn't dare you bean stalk!" She said as she jumped off the bench and snatched her shoes from me. Her mother just stared in shock.

"Thank you child." She said, but the softness in her look told me more than what she wants me to know. "I can't even reach my own child." She chuckled, but her eyes looked... sad, almost teary.

I saw Reika put her other shoe in her left foot with my peripheral vision, then I looked straight at her mother's eyes and said, "It is alright. I didn't do much. I just annoyed her a little, that is all. It always works." I smiled a little at that, she smiled to, but sadness is still in her eyes. She stood up and came closer to me and locked me in a tight hug.

"You can always call me mother you know. During your time here, until my brother finds out where you are from and take you back there, you are always welcome here, to treat us as your real family as we treat you. You can call Fedner as father too if you like, Reika as your little sister." She said softly as her hand ran along my trimmed hair in a motherly way. We stayed that way for a moment until Reika came closer and hug us too.

"I don't know what is going on here, but I want a hug too." She said and joined us. Mother happily hugged us both and locked us in a cage of warm and loving arms. Even the dog Sparrow curiously trotted closer to us. Reika broke the hug and let the dog join. Mother merely chuckled and we stayed that way a little longer.

So this is what it felt like, being a part of something. Even for just a while, I can say I am part of this family.

"Now, who's hungry? I think the soup is already ready to eat. Let us go inside. We might catch a chill if we stay longer here."

Reika's mother led us inside and we were more than happy to oblige.

I had no idea it would be my last.