Zodiac Hunter: The Spirit Equine

THAT question kept popping up in my mind on loop as I remained seated on the wet sand for what I guessed might have been an eternity, overlooking a vast blue crystalline body of water that stretched far and wide under a clouded sky.

Okay, so let's back up a bit. How the hell had I ended up there? Why wasn't I—as they say—sleeping with the fishes?

The sound of birds, pelicans, then got my attention. Still seated, I turned to my side to spot several of them swooping down further down shore where I could see people pulling in boats from the water. They were strangely dressed, busy talking to each other as they started offloading what I guessed must have been fish.

I have to be dead. I said in my mind, getting more convinced that there was no way I could have survived sinking underwater like that. But then everything felt so real as I began to feel myself. My heart was still beating (check), I could clearly see (check), my cloth— "What the hell happened to my clothes?"

I had said this out loud, gasping in amazement and also confirming that I could still speak (check). I stared down at myself, from chest to toe, noticing for the first time that I was wearing some kind of greyish shirt that felt as if it was made of loose fabric and had laces running down from the collar and ending just over my chest. The sleeves were long, its endings looking torn and worn out. The pants also had the same loose material and then the shoes that looked more like boots, reaching just over the ankle and their texture felt rough like they had been woven from some kind of plant fiber like bamboo.

Still wondering what had happened to my normal attire, my thoughts got interrupted after someone nearly bumped into me from behind.

"Watch it, you little nitwit! What are you doing sitting around for?" a burly man with a balding head and a thick beard asked, regarding me with his pale sunken eyes. His accent was just as strange as his appearance.

"I—"

"You'd think people would be more cautious what with the Harvest comin' up!" another man said who was equally as burly and bearded.

"Foolish kids! They'll be the first to go, I tell ya!" The bald-headed man spat, ignoring me after which the other added, "Baah! Rotten times that we live in. May the gods help us all!"

I watched them then walk away, carrying nets over their shoulders as they laughed and cursed before joining the other men at the shore.

Still trying to piece together whatever the hell was going on, I found myself looking into the direction that the two men had come from. It was just a few yards away, set between an area filled with nothing but rocks that stretched to the waters while the other end had vegetation, farms, and trees.

I could see houses coming into view as I got closer and they were more like huts with either thatched roofs or big blocks of stone aligned together to serve as roofs.

The huts were clustered all over, looking like the biggest village I had ever seen, stretched all over a valley, with just one hilly area in the background where I could make out buildings that really stood out from the huts. Their design was different and had a golden appearance, towering in a castle-like fashion.

That was not even the most spectacular sight. No. That title went to the one other thing that entirely stood out from everything. From the large farms on the opposite end of the golden towers, past the bare grassy area and the wide forested landscape, stood a tall mountain whose single snow-capped peak kept drifting in and out of view from the clouds.

Seriously, where was I?

The village was filled with all kinds of people, going about their business: some were taking out herds of cows into the fields, some were fashioning equipment like furniture and other bizarre tools and others were selling and hawking stuff. They all had the same weird clothes just like mine.

I tried to approach one of them and ask if they could point me to Sacramento when a certain aroma find its way into my nostrils. I turned and found the source. A woman was frying fish on a skillet at a stall and despite being vegan, my stomach's rumbling revealed that my dietary principles were about to be betrayed. I hadn't realized how hungry I had gotten all of a sudden.

I then began walking over to the stall, my stomach rumbling louder with every step and I had hardly opened my mouth to politely ask for some fried fillet when someone suddenly yanked at my arm, pulling me away from the stall.

"What are you doing out here?" a voice asked, coming from a woman with dark hair tied up in a bun.

Her complexion was nearly as dark as mine and I nearly gasped upon seeing her face. The way she was looking at me with those brown eyes instantly reminded of my mom. But it wasn't her. She seemed older as evidenced by thin wrinkled lines visible around her eyes and was much taller than my mom. But the resemblance. . .what the hell was going on?

"I thought you were working," she started again, her tone unimpressed.

"I. . ." I paused, realizing something else, "do you know me?"

The woman's face turned into a frown, making the same look that my mom had made after she had found out about my tattoo. Oh, the tattoo. I had totally forgotten about—

"What do you mean 'do I know you'?" the woman cut through my thoughts. "We don't have time for this. Let's go before you get yourself into more trouble."

"Wait, what?" I asked. "Go where?"

She then grabbed me by the arm after which I pulled away harder than I had wanted to.

"What has gotten into you today, Despyon?" she asked, her face now masked with surprise.

"What did you call me?"

The moment I had asked that, the woman looked as if she was about to lose it when there suddenly erupted some kind of disturbance. Everyone began to rush to their huts or clear out of what must have been the main path. I could even catch mothers beckoning their kids to rush over to them.

"What is it?" I asked the strange woman.

"The Order," her response was short and I was sure I could detect some contempt in it.

"The what?"

I got my answer after the sound of steps began to quickly approach but not human steps. It was a sound I had heard before. The sound of hooves.

I then craned my neck to the direction that the sound was coming from and I was greeted by a magnificent sight of men and women riding on horses. They were all armed with helmets, shields, spears and swords. . .soldiers?

They then stopped right in the middle of the path and one of them, the one I had spotted leading the others, got off his horse—a gorgeous black stallion. That's right. I kinda had a thing for horses. Who am I kidding? I've always loved horses!

The soldier was dressed in full combat gear, with his silver-lined Spartanesque helmet partly covering his face, plated armor over his chest and feet and two long axes with curved blades strapped to his back. He kind of reminded me of Magneto, if he was mashed up with a Viking warrior.

I watched him take out something from a pouch hanging by his horse's saddle. It was some kind of parchment, which he spread open, hoisting his arms so that I could see red markings like paint smeared across his right breast plate.

He then spoke so deeply, he barely had to raise his voice. "People of Abinor, his Highness the Chieftain Ulmas Merkurion has issued a decree that beginning in the next hour before dusk, everyone is to secure their belongings, call in their livestock, gather their children and remain at the safety of their homes as the Harvest is nigh. All fishing and hunting activities are to be stopped with immediate effect and last but not least, no one is to go wandering into the Dark Forest."

The soldier then folded up the parchment and added with a twisted smile, "Have a good day!"

"Excuse me sir," a man from the villagers asked just as the soldier was mounting his horse, "when's it starting?"

"Soon," the soldier replied.

"They could even already be here," said another, a woman, her voice frail with terror.

"Our homes won't be enough to protect us!" cried another.

"It's happening again!"

More of these nervous rantings followed as I remained in the dark about why everyone was so afraid about some harvest.

"Enough!" the soldier yelled and I understood why they were called the Order. Everyone instantly fell silent and all that could be heard was the mooing of cows or the clucking of chicken.

"Follow the decree and nobody will die."

With that, the soldier got on his horse and rode off with the rest of the army. The villagers then resumed their nervous ranting, with everyone rushing off to salvage all they could before this "Harvest" began.

"Alright," the woman who somehow knew me called before starting to move, "let's go."

She did not even look back, expecting me to follow, which I did, having no idea where the hell I was.

I had to struggle to keep up and was more than grateful after we had arrived at our destination.

"Alright lady," I huffed, trying to catch my breath, "would you care to explain to me what the hell is going on and how do you know who I am?"

She walked into the hut that we had been standing next to and I had to follow her in. Dammit! She was not making this easy!

"You're lucky the Chieftain has called off work for today," the woman began, taking her time to turn on a lamp. "you know what would have happened if you had been found not at the stables. Seriously, what is wrong with you today?"

I scratched my head in frustration and gasped for a moment, feeling my hair. It felt tough and thicker than usual. "Lady, that's exactly what I also wanna know!"

At that, I guess I might have crossed a line because the woman shot up, staring daggers at me. "Since when did you start to refer to me as lady, young man?"

"Umm. . .since I have no idea who the hell you are?" I shot back, starting to get annoyed.

The woman looked like she was about to come at me and strangle me but then thought against it. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Despyon. I know what you're going through today. I shouldn't treat you like this. It's just that you seemed fine earlier. . ."

Her mood had changed so drastically that I almost felt bad about myself but then there was that name again. Maybe she was mispronouncing my own name? Unlikely. I had just drowned and then found myself on this mysterious land and I had already ruled out the fact that I had been dreaming, thanks to countless number of times I had pinched myself. The other thing, the one that I still held on to, was that I was dead and this was some kind of twisted joke for an afterlife the universe had thrown at me. P.S. I didn't believe in the afterlife.

With all that in mind, I knew that if I really hoped to get any logical explanation, I had to work my way in understanding where I was exactly and what better place to start than with acknowledging those who seemed to be noticing my existence.

"I'm sorry too," I said, taking a seat next to the woman. "It's just. . ." I faltered, looking for the right words.

"You miss her."

That caught me off guard and I did not need to bother wondering what she was talking about as I instantly detected it from her tone and her composure. She spoke just like my mom did every time she would bring up my dad's name into a conversation.

Whoever this person, Despyon, was, they must have lost their mother at some point in time, which managed to clear things up just a little, leaving me to wonder then who this woman was to me. To Despyon.

Strangely, I could tell she was going through this with more difficulty than I was and I attempted to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder which made her look up at me.

"You have her eyes, the same from the moment I took you from my sister's arms before she. . ." she couldn't bring herself to say it, just I never have been ever since I lost my dad.

Everything began to make a little bit more sense. The woman was my aunt, well Despyon's aunt and must have been taking care of him since he lost his mom. But then even more questions began to pop up out of nowhere inside of my head like how am I Despyon? or was the dad ever in the picture?

Without warning, the then-established aunt went on to wrap her arms around me, trying to relive herself of the anguish. I hugged her back, feeling her pain and we were both quiet for a while until she finally withdrew. "I'll make some dinner."

My train of thought had temporarily derailed as I stared at the dim-lit earthen floor, unsure of what to do next when the voices returned.

At first, I assumed it was the aunt talking but she was still busy working in the kitchen.

Desmond!

The voices called, this time coming from somewhere inside the hut. I looked at the aunt again. Nothing.

Desmond. Over here!

Where was that coming from? I traced the entire hut, which was surprisingly big enough to fit a living room, a kitchen and two other rooms.

Getting warmer. . .

The last two rooms were the ones I ended up drawing my attention to, particularly one of them that had its door ajar.

That's right.

Another peek at my aunt who was still oblivious of what was happening, I quietly got up and followed the voices into the room that I could make out, thanks to the lighting from the living room.

The voices then stopped. I started scanning the room, looking for anything that could help me. My eyes filtered through everything, quickly making out that this was Despyon's room, scanned the walls, the mirror, the windows, the—wait a minute. . .

I drifted my eyes back to the mirror, which was a broken piece of stainless metal, resembling a damaged shield.

Right there, in the reflection, sneering at me, was a person.

Well, well. The reflection spoke, regarding me with distaste, so, you're the reason that I'm stuck in this mess, huh.

At that point, I could not take it anymore and I let all the shock overwhelm me before everything went black.