The quartet suspended their journey as the wind picked up speed and the air turned chilly. Zaria rubbed her hands together in attempts of producing some heat.

"Here," Zan handed out sleeping bags to the group.

"How did you get these?" Zaria asked looking at the well-crafted bags. "Does Aerona really have these."

"Not really," Zan chuckled "Miriam, bought something like this a few years back. She is someone who has traveled to different worlds."

"And then?" Zaria was waiting for Zan to continue.

"Can't you guess?" Zan scoffed but Zaria was still looking expectantly, "People of Suda learned how to make this with the materials available here and they still sell it."

"Oh... So you bought it?" Zaria said examining the warm material it was made of.

"Yeah, normally it would cost a fortune to buy one of these. But let's just say we have an arrangement, so we are not short on these." Zan climbed up a tree and secured his sleeping bag between two sturdy branches.

Zaria took her bag and followed suit. She got in and called out to Ateel.

"Why are you still down there," both Zan and Zaria asked at once.

Aran chuckled and he helped Ateel up, as he himself climbed onto a different tree. They had a long way to go so missing out on essential sleep was not an option.

They left the guarding job to Tame. Having a lion guard on your trip was quite reassuring as all of them slept soundly.

The only one who took some time to fall asleep was Ateel.

She lay still in her bedding as her thoughts ran wild. 'Should I ask him to continue?' She asked herself 'Will rekindling the old memories hurt him?'

She was in a dilemma, the wounds of the heart were the toughest to heal and her asking might reopen those buried bloody scars.

'But it's good to get everything out.' She slapped her face as she went to sleep.

The next morning they packed up and continued their journey.

"I want to hear it," Ateel said softly.

Aran had complicated look on his face for a few seconds.

'I shouldn't have asked.' Ateel regretted asking. She bit her lip as her stomach twisted into knots of guilt.

Aran looked at her and smiled.

"It's ok," He said, "I'll tell you so don't make such a face."

Ateel sighed with relief. The forest scenery didn't change. The damp weather still remained. The leaves seemed wetter and the path was becoming harder to navigate. Aran moved an occasional branch out of the way.

"The village we lived in was pretty small so the forest around it was similar to this. Shipmoth had low consumption for everything. Afterall, there were only 10 to 12 families." Aran explained

"They were all people of the mark. We just continued living without major changes. The kids knew nothing and ...." he paused looking at his feet.

Ateel looked doubtfully at him but didn't say anything.

"It was a day just like any other but that day our parents lead us to the biggest house in the village. That house was that of the village heads but no one had ever gone there before. It was the first time we got past those high built wooden doors." Aran continued.

"We were brought to a small room with a wooden floor. The leader pushed a plank of wood and all of us were lead to an underground chamber."

His story went on and Ateel felt like she was actually there witnessing everything happening to Aran.

"Kids, don't cause problems and wait for some time." A man with light brown hair said with a smile. This kind looking man was the leader.

"I'll be closing the door now," he said looking at the kids who were not even listening. He sighed as he moved aside making way for the children's parents.

They peeked in and handed over some sweets and toys to their children.

"Dad and Mom will be back once their work is over."

The grownups said.

"What work? Dad, I can also work so can you take me." A small boy with silver hair pushed his way through as he went to the stairs.

"Aran, you are a good boy who is very strong but Dad can't take you with him this time." Aran's father smiled at his son.

His father had silver hair just like Aran. The pair of vibrant green eyes made everything livelier.

Aran had always admired those green eyes. His own gray eyes with specks of green felt lifeless to him.

"I want to go along." Aran climbed the stairs but the door was shut before he could reach it.

"Open," he pushed it every way possible but it wouldn't budge.

The kids looked at Aran for some time but soon lost interest as the continued playing.

"Why did they bring us here?" Aran looked at the door and sighed.

The kids of Shipmoth were always trained to be strong they were left alone at home quite often as everyone here needed to work to get by. The forest was right next to them and no one knew when they would be attacked by wild animals. There were no well-made roads or even sand paths. The walls around the village could hardly hold anything off.

Aran had always wondered why they never considered building better walls even if the number of people was less they still could get enough wood to get the work done.

He had asked his father once and the reply he got had made no sense to him.

"We don't want people to know that a village exists here." His father had said "The best way to remain out of people's sight is to be unassuming. Afterall, we don't want others to come to the village and decide to stay."

"Why do we have to avoid people?" Aran asked confused, but his father just smiled and put it off.

Aran paused and looked at Ateel who was listening attentively.

"Now I know why we never made an effort to improve the village." He had a sad smile as he told the words. His voice gave off a melancholy feel and he looked dejected.

"Let's continue." He shook his head bringing himself back to reality. "I met Zan in the underground room. That was the first time I saw him."

Aran looked at Zan and chuckled. The first impression he gave off was as horrible as ever.

Ateel was dragged back into Aran's past.

"Hey, why are you sleeping?" A few kids went to the sleeping boy and kicked him.

"He isn't getting up." They continued kicking.

"Stop it." Aran couldn't see it anymore, he went ahead and blocked them.

"Aran, we don't even know that guy and he looks dangerous," one of the bigger kids said, "he must be an outsider and you know that we don't accept outsiders."

"He is smaller than you" Aran pointed out "and he is only one person."

"Do as you wish," The group left after glaring at Aran for some time.

Aran sat down beside the sleeping boy and continued to wait. Time passed but the boy did not get up.

The boy's light brown hair was a mess and they fell on his face covering it. His hair came up to his back and he would have been easily mistaken for a girl if it was not for his clothes. His skin was so pale that Aran felt like he was sitting beside a dead person. Although he hadn't seen a dead person before but that's what he felt.

"So was that Zan," Ateel asked.

"Yeah, it was," Aran smiled. "It's almost night, let's continue tomorrow."

They had their dinner and went to sleep, like earlier.

The forest was completely dark. Nothing could be seen.There were the howls of wolves and the hoots of owls. Crickets chirped and the frogs croaked but nothing could disturb the sleeping group for they were so tired that they didn't even twitch in their sleep.

A/N : Should I continue? There is a lot to be told but I don't know how much I should tell.

BTW please support me by commenting and voting. After all, I get inspired to work harder by your votes.