• • •

Aaron had successfully violated guideline number two.

He walked around the market, keeping his head down and trying to find his way back to Willard.

It was strange how Aaron had just accepted the situation. That this strange man, who he had never met before, takes him away from his home to someplace else and now he's actually trying to find him instead of getting away. But something told Aaron that there was no use running.

He went on, following the other two guidelines and only slightly breaking number three to scroll to the crowd in hopes of finding Willard.

An odd bunch they were, the crowd that is. Everyone was dressed oddly. The women were all dressed in thin clothing and most carried weird triangular shaped baskets.

The men differed a bit more. You could exactly place a name on the kind of outfits they wore, seeing as everyone was in something different. Some wore reflective clothes that Aaron couldn't bear to look at, some had on long garments that swept the grounds and some wore rags. Correction, most wore rags. The only thing that all the clothes had in common was that they were all dull colours. Actually, the only time Aaron had seen the colour red was on a man who was wearing a metal armor, the red part was his left shoulder plate.

And that was just the clothing. The people themselves were strange. Some looked like they were half animals with their sprouting tails and unnaturally cat-like ears. The other half that weren't like that, mostly looked sickly and had odd skin tones and body features. Aaron could have swore that he saw a green man pass by and also a woman without a nose. Either way this only strengthened his curiosity.

The booths in the market all sold odd things. At least, odd to Aaron. Weird looking body parts, vials with bubbling liquids, cages with creatures, vile smelling foods, vicious looking plants, strange objects and jars with tiny people in them. You could find any of these and more where Aaron was.

He definitely understood why Willard didn't want him to leave his side. It seemed like everyone and everything that wasn't him, was going to kill him. In fact he was sure of it, he could feel the stares that were piercing his neck as he did his little invisible routine. The worst part was that no matter how many turns and steps that Aaron took, the gaze was still there.

Someone was following him.

He started to pick up the pace, scurrying through people, hopeful to find Willard. His dreams were crushed when he felt a cold frail hand on his shoulder. His movement stopped and his heart dropped. He knew that this wasn't going to be good.

The hand slowly spun him backwards until he was face to face with a sickly old woman. Her eyes grazed his features and when they met with his eyes they widened in shock.

Aaron heard her mutter a feeble 'come with me' before her hand got a firm hold of his wrist and started dragging him away. Aaron wasn't sure whether he should speak to her or just run away.

But where would I go...

He decided to stick with the whole talking thing. More lying than anything really.

"You'd better let go of me. There is a very important-" he doubted that highly "-man looking for me a-and he has alot of power and he's willing to kill anyone for me. I'm not kidding. Letting go of me now is in your best inter-"

"Oh shut up and keep your head down, we both know Will is a lot less than important" the woman said in a very tiresome tone and Aaron immediately obliged. It seemed like he's just been going with the flow lately and he didn't understand that. At all. It was like these people had some sort of hold on him that kept him from just jutting out and acting like a rational person who had just been kidnapped should. It was very weird.

Aaron's eyes were glued to his feet which were soon enough, stepping on greener-than-grass grass. He looked up to see that they were headed for a hill, the same one that Willard showed him. That made him wonder. He dug his heels into the ground and forced the woman to stop and look back at him.

"Who are you? " he asked with all courage. It sort of bothered him how in this entire situation, not once had he felt scared. Confused and curious, yes, but fear? Nope.

The woman took off the cloak and yanked off an amulet from her neck, which promptly turned to dust as it made contact with her palm, Aaron looked at her in surprise as her features morphed.

Her frail old body changed into one of a young girl no older than he was. Long white hair cascaded down her back, a change from the short grey bob the old lady was sporting. She walked closer to him, staring straight into his eyes and Aaron felt a funny feeling surging through him.

His palms were suddenly sweaty.

She circled around him, hair whipping her bare legs as her gaze scrutinized him. Her dark eyes narrowed as she took in his appearance.

"So, you're the one uncle Will was talking about?"

"Um..." He was speechless. The words didn't seem to want to come out.

"He said you'd be different. But I didn't expect he'd bring one of your kind so close to the capital. That's really irresponsible and dangerous. And leaving you out here for anyone with a pair of eyes to notice yours, careless." Now she was talking more to herself than anyone else but Aaron was listening closely. Hoping to make sense of what was happening.

He didn't.

"He must have used the last link" Her eyes widened at the realization then promptly narrowed as frown was placed on her face.

"I can't believe he didn't take me" she muttered. She turned to Aaron, her arms crossed but the frown off her face.

"So what's your name? " Her gaze was extremely curious yet Aaron couldn't help but feel like she was seeing right through him. He had a feeling she knew everything she already needed to.

"A-Aaron." was his stuttered reply. He was extremely shocked that he'd actually managed to speak and he mentally gave himself a pat on the back.

"Mine's Kaie." she said with a smile and then turned around, marching away toward the hill. He stood for a few seconds, confused, before it finally dawned on him that she intended for him to follow. He rushed to her side, palms sweaty.

His mind was racing as to what he was doing. He was supposed to be trying to get back home yet here he was following the trail of anyone who asked. He shook his head, suddenly feeling awfully stupid for his choices but still not faltering in his pace.

The feeling of this place was overwhelming him. It was familiar but he didn't question it. He hadn't been questioning a lot of stuff lately. He made a note at the back of his mind to get all this clarified with Will later, he had a feeling that if he asked Kaie she wouldn't respond.

His eyes slightly trailed to his right side, where Kaie was marching on, a smug smile place secretly on her face, like she was in the know even though nobody wanted her to be. Her long white hair whipped around the back of her knees as she walked, her gait holding a hint of subtle elegance. The suns shined upon her face making the warm brown that was her complexion simply radiate. Aaron thought she looked simply royal.

"That's because I am." his head snapped to the side as soon as the whispered  words left her mouth but she seemed like the words were directed to none other than herself for she didn't show any signs to state otherwise. And so Aaron turned his head back towards the fast approaching hill and pretended it never happened.

Aaron expected that they where headed for the top of the hill, so when they reached the base and Kaie started around it, he was a little bit shocked. She trailed around the ends, seemingly searching for something which she found in less than no time. Her hand clasped around a shiny blue pebble and she tossed it as far as she could in what seemed like a random direction. She then tapped the spot where the pebble was twice and the ground gave way, revealing an oddly man sized hole.

It was pitch black, Aaron decided after moments of trying to see what lay at the other end. He directed his gaze at Kaie who nodded her head suggestively towards the opening. 'Down you go' she was saying. And so Aaron leaped, obviously without questioning, and fell. And fell and fell and fell, through what seemed to be absolute nothingness.

I'm not updating from where I usually do so I can't do the dot dot dot thingy I usually do at the end of a chapter. Not that, anyone actually cares.
Anywho...
Yay! New character! Tell me your thoughts on Kaie if you have any. And by the way, her name is pronounced KAY-uh. So yeah...

Share. Vote. Comment. The earth'll still spin...

Stay Royal,

                Feyi.