They decided to wait and observe how the village chief would handle the gates. Just after dawn, the scout returned, and soon after, a flurry of activity stirred in the further end of the village.
Not long after, a small caravan of men began making its way up the path. They moved in tight formation, carrying with them a cage - a small, modest contraption, just large enough to be transported on logs by two men.
They crouched lower into the bushes as the caravan reached the crest of the ridge. As they drew closer, they could catch a glimpse of the cage inside.
There, perched delicately, sat a bird – a creature that seemed to beautiful to exist in this world. It was pure white, its feathers shimmering like snowflakes caught in sunlight. Its body was slender, with wings that seemed too large for its frame. The wings were feathered with layers of soft down, their edges trailing like silken threads. Its eyes, were deep pools of liquid silver, constantly shifting. Its very being seemed to hum with a quiet energy that made it feel both impossibly distant and unbearably close.
"Isharael," whispered Seline.
So be it. It was a mythical beast!
The caravan wound its way up the mountain at a steady, unhurried pace, the rhythm of experienced climbers who had made this journey many times before. The four of them sat motionless in their hideout, concealed among the thick underbrush. Only the bird's keen eyes were fixed intently on the cluster of bushes where the group lay hidden, its gaze locked onto them.
It saw them!
They remained hidden, patiently waiting for the caravan to pass by.
As shocked as they could be by the new revelation, they had already made their decision - waiting for the mage was their best course of action. There was no telling how long that might take, but it was the only way forward for now.
The group settled into the stillness of their hideout.
Mokai broke the silence. "What is Isharael?"
"It's just the kind of mythical beast, a symbol of purity," answered Seline. "It can fly very long distances without rest."
"Is that it?" asked Mokai.
"And it's incredibly beautiful," added Kaelyn.
"What is so special about mythical beasts? Except that they are incredibly beautiful," asked Fengyu.
"Nothing really. They are beautiful and ancient people chose them as symbols of certain qualities, values, etc."
"Is that it?" asked Mokai again.
"It seems so," answered Seline calmly.
Fengyu locked his gaze on her but she withstand it.
Was there more? Or these mythical beasts did turn out to be so impractical in the end? But then why was it necessary to have one for the reopening of the gates? A sacrifice of a beauty?
It slipped past him, how easily he had accepted the very existence of a mythical beast.
After a long silence, they started to feel hunger. The handful of dried meat was not a substantial meal for the four of them.
"Mokai, Fengyu," Kaelyn said. "Head back to the village. Get some food and gather whatever news you can. We'll stay here and keep an eye on things. Hopefully, the mage will arrive soon."
With that, Mokai and Fengyu set off in the direction of a large hut that possibly was a food storage. Fengyu, however, broke off from Mokai as soon as they reached the bottom of the gorge.
"I'll go to the far end of the village," he said, turning to Mokai. "It's where the bird had been. Might be something worth looking into."
Mokai raised an eyebrow. "You want to go poking around where the caravan came from? Be careful. I will get the food."
Fengyu moved quietly, the path ahead of him narrowing as he reached the far end of the village. Nestled against the base of a steep hill, stood a bigger, longer hut. A faint, musty smell drifted here, carrying a mix of herbs, rotten meat and urine. There were rows of empty cages outside the hut. They were large, each one crafted from thick, intertwined branches.
He stepped inside the hut, taking care not to make a sound. There were more cages here, and there were not empty. The creatures they hold were unlike anything he had ever seen. Each one was striking in its own way. As he stepped further into the hut, the eyes of the beasts locked onto him with unsettling intensity.
There sat another Isharael. This one looked defeated. Its pristine white feathers, still shimmered in the dim light of the hut, but its wings hung limply at its sides, the tips brushing against the straw-covered floor. Its silver eyes were clouded and unfocused. It lifted its head slightly, its gaze flickering toward him for the briefest of moments before lowering again.
Fengyu swallowed. He could feel it, the raw, aching void left behind by its missing partner. It was mourning its mate. With effort, he tore his gaze away and faced the other cages.
There was an animal that looked like a small fox, its fur was a shimmering white, almost translucent. Its presence felt ancient, as if it had seen the rise and fall of countless generations. The fox's long tail flicked nervously, its soft fur rippling in the light breeze that passed through the open doorway.
Next to it, another one resembled a miniature, sleek panther, but its coat was a soft pearl grey. The panther's body was long and slender, its movements fluid, its long tail swishing from side to side. Its eyes were a piercing violet, unnatural in their vibrancy. Unlike the fox, this one did not seem nervous. Instead, it exuded an aura of calm power, as if it was waiting for something - or someone.
Further along, another animal was much smaller. It resembled a bird in the size of a sparrow. Its wings were delicate, translucent, and covered with feathers that shimmered in multiple shades of blue, almost like stained glass. It had tiny, sharp claws that gripped the bars of its cage. The bird's eyes were large and black, giving it an innocent look.
He stood motionless for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. The sheer fact of the existence of these creatures would have been laughable only the day before. But here he was, in a storage room of some gang poaching mythical beasts.
At last Fengyu's gaze was drawn to the object that had been hidden at the back of the hut, near the small window in the side wall of it.
It was a large, smooth, perfect sphere, sitting nestled in a bed of straw, its surface shimmering. When the light from the window caught its surface at an angle, making it look almost translucent, Fengyu could swear he saw faint movement beneath the surface.
Was it alive? Was it an egg?
Fengyu stepped closer, the creatures around him watching him, their eyes unblinking. There was a quiet, unspoken tension in the air. As Fengyu reached out to touch the egg, he felt a sharp prickling sensation on the back of his neck.
He slowly withdrew his hand, casting a glance at the fox, the panther and so on. The tension in the room seemed to intensify. Unable to resist the pull of curiosity, he reached out again. The egg radiated a faint warmth. He touched its surface.
And the egg cracked, fracturing like glass. From within, a small, snake-like or lizard-like creature slithered out, its body shimmering in every colour of the rainbow. It twisted and coiled, its scales gleaming like liquid. It was amazing… beautiful… breathtaking…
Fengyu froze in sheer awe.
Their eyes locked and he felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation rush through him, a presence - ancient, powerful, and far beyond anything he had could comprehend. It was as if something was reaching into his mind, a whispering thought he couldn't understand. His breath hitched.
At this moment, a noise from outside the hut broke his focus. His attention snapped back to the entrance, and when he looked down again, the creature was gone.
A bizarre sensation spread through his body. He felt a shift, a pressure on his skin, like something crawling on it. He looked at his forearm and gasped.
The creature hadn't vanished.
A thin layer of something dark and shimmering now clung to his skin, wrapping itself around his forearm, the colour shifting subtly. He could feel it, crawling along.
Fengyu's heart skipped a beat. He felt sick. He tried to pull at it, at the strange layer now bonded to him, but it only clung tighter.
The sound from outside grew louder. Someone was coming, and Fengyu, his thoughts racing, knew he had little time to make sense of what had just happened.
With a final glance at the shells of the egg, he quickly moved toward the window. It was small but still big enough for him. There was no turning back. With a sigh, he jumped out.
Fengyu hurried back toward the centre of the village, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. His right hand trembled violently as he shook it, desperate to rid himself of the strange, shifting shimmer that clung to his skin. But it wouldn't budge.
Panic tightened around his chest. His vision narrowed.
Stumbling into the shadow of an abandoned hut, he dropped to his knees behind a cluster of bushes, his body heaving with each frantic breath. He gritted his teeth, shaking his hand more forcefully now, but the dark, iridescent layer only rippled and settled deeper against his skin. It clung to him like a second, shifting flesh, the colours undulating in a slow, hypnotic dance.
He felt sick. His fingers curled into the dirt. His mind screamed at him to stay calm, but his body refused to listen. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, drowning out the sounds of the village. He clenched his teeth, willing himself to calm down, but the sensation of something foreign slithering beneath his skin made his stomach churn. His fingers dug further into the dirt as another shudder passed through him.
There was a burst of movement in the village. The chief, followed by three others, emerged from his hut and started toward the other end of the settlement where the sheer wall of the gorge rose above them.
Fengyu forced himself to remain still, pressing lower into the bushes. He curled himself into a tight ball, hoping to stop shaking.
The activity between the huts intensified. The men prepared for another departure. Had the mage arrived?
The thing on his arm shifted and his body recoiled from the sensation. He clawed at his forearm, nails scraping against the smooth, dark shimmer. He had to get it off. He had to get it off!
"Calm."
The word wasn't spoken. It wasn't even a thought of his own. It was simply there, pressing into his. A one-word-spell.
A warmth spread from the mark on his arm like a gentle pulse and the frantic beating of his heart slowed down, his limbs still trembling but no longer flailing. The panic lost its teeth. Fengyu still felt the terror, the lingering tremors running down his spine, but the overwhelming, crushing need to escape had eased just enough for him to catch his breath. His hands still were shaking, but now, at last, he could think.
He looked at his forearm in disbelief. He hold it up and turned, watching how the strange substance caught the light, flickering between all colours possible. He ran his fingers over it cautiously, expecting resistance, expecting something - but it felt like nothing at all.
He swallowed hard, the raw panic still clawing at the edges of his mind, covered the mark with his sleeve and looked around.
Through the gaps in the foliage, he saw Mokai moving low and swift. His form was barely more than a shifting shadow against the undergrowth. He was heading toward their hideout on the ridge. Fengyu followed.
Back on the ridge, they huddled together, quietly exchanging information. Mokai described the place the village chief had been heading toward - a crack in the wall of the gorge, a tear in the rock formation that provided a way out. The awaited mage had arrived, and the villagers were already making preparations for another journey up to the gates.
Fengyu kept his account brief, recounting the strange creatures he had seen caged in the hut. He spoke of their shimmering fur and glass like feathers, and unsettling beauty. Only at the very end did he mention, the presence of empty, broken shells.
"Empty egg-like shells?" asked Seline, keeping her gaze on him.
Fengyu shrugged, his expression neutral.
"Yeah. Looked like something had already hatched."
He flexed his fingers absently, feeling the faintest tingle along his arm.
He shook off the sensation and refocused.
"So what's the plan? We sneak up after them? Or do we check the path down?"
All what he had done in the hut seemed so stupid now. What had he been thinking touching some mythical egg? Stupid. Unbelievable stupid! He scratched his forearm again and upon noticing it he hide his hands in his lap.
"Better stick together," Kaelyn answered. "The gate is the only way back, so let's stay close. Let's see how they'll deal with the shutdown."
With no further words, chewing on the last of the dried meat Mokai had obtained, the group started their trek up the mountain. As they ascended, the humidity dropped sharply, the damp mist that clung to the lower slopes slowly vanishing, leaving a crisp clarity in the air. With it came an oppressive heat and an intense, scorching wind that carried unnatural warmth and the faint, acrid scent of burning earth.
"Is here always like that?" asked Seline whipping the sweat from her forehead, but nobody bothered to answer.
As they left the dense cover of the bushes behind, they become exposed under the open sky. Without the protection of the foliage, to avoid being spotted, they decided to leave the path altogether and climb directly upward.
The terrain was steep and unforgiving, but it offered an advantage: from higher up, they would have an unobstructed view of the path and the gates.
They knew the men who had set off early that morning would likely be focused on the path, their attention unlikely to drift upward toward the jagged rocks above. It would be their chance to remain undetected.
The air felt different up here - hot and dry. The scent of scorched earth lingered, carried by the strange wind that whipped the rocks.
Soon, they found a perfect vantage point, high among the jagged rocks and wiry purple vegetation, where they could clearly see the gates and the men who had arrived early that morning. With the rocky outcrop providing natural cover, they settled into position.
The men below, spread out at the base of the wall that held the gates. They had dismantled the logs from the cage that had carried the Isharael, using the sturdy wood to craft a wide, makeshift ladder. The top of it rested in the middle of now dead gates, where the shimmering surface should have been. The ladder, though crude, looked solid enough to support the weight of a man.
Another group of men appeared on the winding path, their figures gradually becoming clearer as they ascended the mountain.