The Curse Within Yugos Village

…

"Yu…gos…?"

Marco gets stunned upon hearing the name of the place. In his mind, he flashes back to one of his bedtime stories told by his father.

"Yugos… some say that the village does not exist. Some say that the village does exist. It is a humming debate between the top-tier adventurers and explorers. Even the dragons also debate about it. Its whereabouts is totally unknown. But we explorers believe that the place does exist, perhaps we missed it multiple times, or maybe we overlooked it because it looked just like any ordinary village you can find. Hear me, my boy, Marco. If you're going out there and explore, then add this place into your exploring list. Though, your big ol' dad still couldn't find it."

Back into the present, Marco feels surprised that the hidden village has been found.

"Hang on…" he thought, "Scias had visited this place before? Geez, he's one lucky guy to spot this place…"

"What's the matter, M-Marco? You look tensed," Scias asked in reply for his call. Not only that, the tall guy concerned a bit about his buddy's attitude.

"Eh? Ah! Don't worry, bro. I'm just trying to recall something." Marco stated while waving his hand forth and backwards.

"Is that so? Okay, then…" Scias closed his concern in an instance.

"So this village is Yugos, huh…?" Marco said while looking back into the village. "You're one lucky bastard to find yourself this village, eh, Scias?" Marco turned at his tall friend.

"I d-don't know whether to call it l-luck, though…" Scias stuttered all of sudden. "It's more like… accidentally. After my first visit, I never went to this place again, for some reason." He explained in a heavier tone.

"I see… how long was it, by the way?" Marco asked again in a much curious tone.

"Huh, let's see… If I'm 25 years old, that means the last time I've been here was when I'm 13 years old."

"W-Whoa, isn't that… a bit too long?" Aily commented. "That's right." Nina added.

"That's why I'm telling you. It's been too long since the last time I went here. My memories no longer serve any remembrance of this place. I don't even remember what or how did I end up here before."

"Hmm… is that so, huh. How unfortunate. I thought we can get some useful information. What a waste…" Aily said in a resigned voice while shrugging. Shortly, Nina nudges her slightly. "Aily, that's not very polite of you."

"Eh? AH! I'm sorry, Scias. I don't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Heh, n-no prob, I've accustomed to something more than that." Scias forgave easily.

"Eh? Seriously?" Aily retorted. "Just what kind of things you've been through anyway?" She wondered.

"Oh, you don't wanna know." Scias stated. "Oh, yeah… the chief of this village told me that we should meet him once Marco had woken up. L-Let's go." Scias added. He then walks back into the village.

"Geez, dude, you should've told us sooner…" Marco said to himself. "The chief might've waited us for hours already… heh, I don't even know how long did I fall unconscious."

"—It's four hours." Scias suddenly said from the distance while raising his hand, showing four fingers.

"Seriously?" Marco retorted.

"Aside from that, he sure is one sharp listener." Marco commented. "Come on, Marco!" Aily called as she and her sister walk into the village ahead.

"Coming~!"

The party picks up Pio first and then they head into the chief's house.

…

Inside the village chief's house, the party gets greeted by the housemaid. As they enter, they finally meet with the chief, standing hunched over near the couch, waiting for them.

The chief is an old man in his eighties. His head is bald and wrinkly. His long oriental mustaches stretch down to his neck, merging with his beard. He wears a traditional robe with dark brown accents. He uses a cane made out of a tree branch to prop himself.

"Ah, greetings, good people, please sit down."

The party follows and they sit down on the couch with wooden ornaments. After they sit, the chief sits down, too. He gives his wooden cane to a man about Scias' age. In return, another man enters the room and hands over a smaller cane for their chief.

"First of all, I apologize on behalf of my people and myself for showing the eeriness in our community." The old man said in a grieving and hoarsened voice. "You people have gone through a lot of trouble by using teleport magic to our village and we show you a poor sight within our land."

"Don't worry old man. It's okay," said Marco kindly. "We don't really use—*nudge*—ouch," Scias suddenly poked him with his elbow. Marco quickly realized that it's not a good idea to tell that they came here not by their own self will.

"We don't really mind." Marco changed his words.

"Can you tell us what happened here, landlord?" Nina asked politely. "My, my… I am just a mere human that was given the task to lead this village. I am not the landlord. The landlord is far beyond my grasp. He is but an honorable man." The village chief said wisely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir." Nina apologized. "Oh, don't mention it, young lady."

"Now, then… about what happened to us, to our home…" the old village chief fixes his seating and continues.

"…A month ago, a pack of demons suddenly came to our village. They are absolutely strong, anyone can tell simply by using mana sensing. They threatened that they will slay all of us if we don't follow their command. They want to enslave us. Of course, it is in human's nature to be free of enslavement, liberty to choose their paths in life as long as they don't cross the line. That's why, we fought against them and nearly defeated. The demons retreated under unknown reasons, but they had casted a spell on these grounds. At first, the effects were not seen, but days after days, it appeared and showed to us. The magic desecrated our land, eating its nutrition slowly, killing the green pastures. Finally, the peak was about three days ago, where our supposed week of harvest completely failed."

Marco's eyes look at the windows momentarily. He sees many villagers watching them from the outside, curious, but still with their depressed faces. He believes that they would neglect him and his friends should he and his fellow friends come here NOT through teleportation. Being watched by many people makes him slightly nervous. Not to mention their creepy faces freaked him from the inside.

"So, you mean… their magic is weakening the land?" Nina concluded. "'Killing' would be a suitable choice, young one. A failure of harvest is fatal to our daily lives."

"How cruel of them…" Nina sent her condolence.

"Those demons are very evil, aren't they?" said Aily seriously. "Forcing your people to submit to their will, and if you refuse, they will kill everyone. That's just… too cruel."

"I agree," said Scias. "By 'poisoning' the land… they kill the plants. In return, they slowly kill everyone in here. That is no doubt malignant and evil."

"If we may know what kind of magic that they use?" Nina asked again politely. "Ah… based on our magicians' reports, the demons use the element of darkness. Most of them are."

"Dark… element?!" Marco retorted loudly. "…One of the world's deadliest elements that can devour almost anything…"

"…and turn them into nothingness?" Scias continued the sentence.

"Oh, you know much, young man. From the way you spoke, you must be from the world of Gaia, like us. Oohohoho…" The old man chuckled.

"Uhuh, that's right, old man. Hehe,"

"Ahh, how long has it been for us to have visitors? It is nice to see the people of our own world visit this place. You young ladies, too, right?" the old chief asked.

Nina and Aily look a bit isolated. "We're actually…" said Aily. "…From the world of Tellus." Nina continued. Pio looked at the two in a big curiosity. Her habitual finger pose beneath her chin is active as always. "Tell-us? Gai-iya?" she muttered cutely.

The chief gets surprised to hear them and apologies soon after, "Oh, dear me. My deepest apologies, young maidens, I do not mean to make you feel isolated."

"We're fine with that, sir. Apparently, it's hard to differ the people of Gaia and Tellus, don't you think, Aily?"

"Yeah, ehehehe…"

"Indeed… Ever since the calamity one year prior… this village is no longer 'hidden'. Everything in our previous world teleported randomly, mixing with the world of Tellus, making a new 'earth'. This village… oh, we're so close to the sea, now. No wonder the demons found us.

…O' Landlord Faitio… what is the becoming of this world? The land that you've chosen for us to live in has no longer the same. And now the demons came and harass us…

…If only you're here to save us…" The chief wailed deeply. His tears can be seen slightly dropping. Shortly, one of his men gives him a handkerchief.

"Oh, pardon me, good people. I'm a bit emotional sometimes. It's just hard to prolong this village's life."

After the old man wiped his eyes, Marco encourages himself to ask. "Hey, um… there's something I want to ask…"

"Go ahead, young one. Ask me anything," the chief allowed welcomingly.

"It's been bugging me shortly, but… did you say that there's no other visitors aside us?" Marco asked curiously, yet his face stiffens in seriousness.

"True. There's no other visitor aside from you good people in these last few months. Much of surprise for us to see you came here through teleportation magic. Oohohoho…"

"Are you sure? Like any Dragonians or anyone else? A man with a hat and a mask, perhaps?" Marco asked again to assure himself. And yet, the village chief answers the same again. There's not a single visitor, merchants, adventurers, explorers, soldiers, dragons, or even the royalty themselves. There's not a single soul.

In Marco's mind, screams out silently, "That's odd…"

…

..

.

The night has fallen. The village inn has given a comfy room for the party to spend the night. Not only that, they can stay as long as they want for free. Marco and Nina shares the same thought of "If it is discounted or free, why not?"

Marco sits down on the bed. Pio shortly follows and sits on the bed beside Marco while playing with a ball of thread, enjoying her time.

"Haaah…" he sighed long. The length of his sigh attracted Pio from playing her toy.

"T-There you go sighing again… heh, how long has it been since you sigh that long, anyway?" Scias asked jokingly. "Dunno… it's like automatically, tho." Marco replied.

"What's troubling you?" Scias asked short.

"Even if I am not a bright person in terms of understanding, I will get it and understand once I reestablish the explanation over and over." Marco explained incoherently.

"Huh? W-What are you insinuating about?" Scias scrunched his face. "It's what you said about teleportation magic, dude. You said that Queaz might've teleported us to a place that he didn't remember but he had visited."

"Indeed. But there's also another possibility that he sent us here on purpose."

"Even if that's the case, Scias… how come the village chief said that there's 'no one' aside from us that have been here? I've asked several people before going here, and they said the same."

Scias finally gets the round of Marco's thoughts, "…And you think that it would be impossible if Queaz was ever here, that it?"

"Yup." Marco agreed. "It's just odd… no, it's too odd. If he had visited this village, then someone gotta remember that guy. But there's no sign of them knowing the masked man. That dude is incredibly mysterious."

*creeeakk….

The door was opened by the twins. Aily wears a long-sleeved red shirt with black shorts while Nina still wears her normal attire of green dress.

"Hey Pio, what are you doing in the boy's room?" Aily asked. Pio looks at her. She drops the ball of thread in her hand and runs to Aily and hugs her immediately.

"Aiieee! W-What's wrong with you, Pio?" Aily said in surprise after being hugged all of sudden.

"Heehee… you and I… wear red shirt! We same!" Pio said cutely. "Oh, yeah… now that you mentioned it, I remember sister purposefully bought you the same color as I am. Now when I look at you closely… I guess, you do look cute, BUT! You're still nowhere as cute as I am, g-got it?"

"Tee-hee-hee… okay, Aily! Someday, I'll be like you!"

"Well you look at that, bro. They're getting along really well, don't they?" said Marco gladly.

"U-Uh." Scias nodded short. "It's a good thing, I guess…"

Nina sits down on an extra chair in the room and chats with everyone. Meanwhile, Aily and Pio are fooling around with the ball of thread. The room is meager, but serves them so well.

"Seeing this sight… makes me happy, mate." Marco conveyed his happiness to Scias. "I hope… we can be together and be at joy like this as long as possible."

Scias stares at Marco and doesn't realize his mouth opened up a bit.

"…Yeah. I hope so, too… …Marco."

Shortly, Nina conveys something to everyone. She insinuates that it is an important thing that everyone in the room should know. She stands in front of her friends and states out:

"Guys… let's help this village and lift the curse from this kind and loving community!"