One Living Life: The Chronicles of CoC: Chapter II - The Settlement

Wednesday 17 June 2015

The Chronicles of CoC: Chapter II - The Settlement

Soon after the war, as the green creatures left, the ones in the settlement had started reconstructing the buildings. In fact they did little by themselves. It was some magic that helped create those buildings automatically. Tombstones lay here and there signifying the death of some green creatures in the battle.

Their settlement was pretty diverse. There was this big hut in the center and other buildings surrounding it. Some beautiful maidens used to come inside and outside from there. They roamed around bushes and in between buildings, probably inspecting the whole settlement and then go back into the big hut. Then there were a few medium huts which had some shiny metals dangling from their walls. Those buildings used to glow at times and sometimes creatures like myself used to come out with a similar sharp shiny metal in their hands. Sometimes, the beautiful blondes with wooden sticks also came out. Even once, I had seen the green creatures I hated come out from the same metal dangling medium sized hut. But, they never looted or destroyed anything around. Each one of these 3 types of creatures that came out had one thing in common. They always moved to one designated square with a fire in its center, located at the edge of the settlement. Once in a while, big humongous creatures came out from these medium huts. They were really huge, walked very slowly and took a lot of place in the designated squares. At the extreme edge of the settlement there were two extremely small huts and in each a grinning guy lived. He always carried a hammer wherever he went. But, from what I noticed, these two guys were the ones who fixed and built everything around the settlement. There were two more different type of buildings but far from the edge of the settlement I couldn't understand what they were. Though, one of them seemed to have a lot of pipes and filled with the pinkish liquid while the other had a small glowing tunnel.





My curiosity kept rising and I wanted to know more about the settlement. In fact, deep inside I had an urge to be a part of this place. So, one fine morning I dared to step into the settlement and hid behind a tree that stood just behind one of the grinning guys hut. When the grinning guy used to be in his hut, I could always hear him snoring. So, I assumed it was pretty safe to hide near his hut. While I was watching the maidens roaming around the settlement, the snoring sound from the nearby small hut suddenly stopped. The grinning guy came out and he started running towards me. While most of the creatures here walked or moved slowly, these grinners and the green creatures always used to pant and run. I was taken aback for a second. Never had I seen these guys come towards the edge of the settlement or anywhere apart from the buildings near the settlement. He was actually over-sized than me and was carrying a hammer as always. I froze for a second fearing that he was coming to kill me. But before I could run he had already reached the tree and pulled up his hammer in order to strike. I closed my eyes and put up my hands in a defensive position to protect myself from the blow.

Umm!!! Did he even see me? Grinning as usual he had put his first blow at the base of the tree. He was actually uprooting the tree. I took no time to understand his awkward reaction and fled into the jungle as fast as my legs could carry me. Even though, I knew that this incident could have turned into an accident, I could not drowse my curiosity and I knew sometime ahead that I had to explore these creatures and their ways.

I went back to the edge of the settlement after a short nap. The tree was there no more. Even a few rocks amidst the settlement seemed to be missing. Undoubtedly, it was the work of one of the hammer guys. I had nothing to do and so I continued watching the same routine day after day that these creatures followed. Until one day, there was some difference. I was taking my usual short nap hidden behind the bushes on the boundaries and I opened my eyes to a shock.

I freaked out on seeing two blue eyes right in front of my nose and long light brown hair dangling around the view around. Even she got startled and took a step back. I immediately knew that she was one of the village maidens living in the biggest hut in the settlement. Right up close, she was actually a pretty one. In fact, I had seen her before. She was the one prettiest maiden amidst the whole settlement. At other times, when she used to come out of the big hut, I loved to watch her. Definitely, she was different than the rest of the maidens. While other maidens had a few folds on their forehead and always looked annoyed, this one was sweet and bright.

"Who are you? And where is your sword?", she asked.

My face was hidden by the shadow and probably she was thinking, I was one of them belonging to their settlement. Had it been someone else, I would have run back into the deep forest. But, her attitude, in fact she herself had an aura, an energy that prompted me to stay bold and sharp in front of her. I revealed myself from behind the shadow and she took a step back. Her eyes wider and bigger than before, her hands covering her wide open mouth, she seemed to be in utter shock!

Before I could say anything or explain to her who I was or what I was doing, she exclaimed, "We knew it. The prophecy talks about you. The ancient Devs knew that the divine would come. The scripts could never go wrong."

She bowed before me and said, "Welcome Chief! We sure have been waiting for you."



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