ARCHSPHERE

Biv and Mart's Story

Chapter 1: Cursed by Green Heaven

Birds chirped their last songs of the day as the western horizon turned the rich, light blue sky into an orange red. The shining scarlet rays pierced the thin scattered clouds over the rolling tree-ridden pastures of Cesreel. Stretching through the scenery was a trail winding through the hills and leading to the nearest town at the outskirts of the Kingdom. Walking on the path were two individuals, a young man and a young woman.

“You know you didn’t really have to check up on me,” the young man firmly stated to the woman aside of him as he scratched his short curly dark hair. He held a large net of fish over his shoulder over his brown, laced vest with the other hand with no problem. He was well in shape on account of all the heavy lifting chores he would attain to. Under vest was a long sleeve shirt, white yet dingy. Mud covered his originally light tan breeches and black boots.

While fastening her brown wavy hair into a bun, the woman replied mechanically, “Just making sure you weren’t getting into any mischief.” Once she finished with her hair, she concealed her arms under her dark green hooded cloak which swathed around her. Only directly at her front she was her plain white shirt revealed The collar was closed, not exposing any cleavage. Her cloak also draped over her entire figure, down to the ankle of her clean black boots, which stood out on every paced step she took. She positioned her right hand to rest on the hilt of her sheathed sword which hung on the right side of her belt.

“Mischief?” He looked over at her with raised eyebrows, “I went fishing.”

“Yes and I can definitely see, erh, smell that,” the woman wrinkled her nose.

“So you pretty much wasted your time, considering you bumped into me on the way home.”

The woman gave him a squinted stare, “I would have got to you sooner if a certain someone would have put certain swords back into a certain hidden compartment that only Father, Mum, you and I know about.”

The man looked away with a “ooh” expression in his lips. “Oh yeah, that.” But before he could make an excuse she went on. “Mart, I know Mum tends to always stuff your bow quiver in the compartment and that Father tends to pile our weapons over your bow and quiver, but that’s no excuse not to put the weapons back where they belong. If a guest happened to be waltzing by the room, they’d find it particularly odd for a family of common peasants owning a complete assortment of various weapons. And you know how Mum is constantly inviting her friends over.”

The man replied blithely. “Ah sis, you worry too much.”

“Oh. Haha,” she gave out a phony laugh, “I’m not the one worrying. I’m the one informing. Father’s the one that’s losing sleep over this, so expect to have a nice father-son chat tonight.”

“Well just I’m going tell him the truth,” Mart resting his thumb on his belt, “I was going to put the stuff away but Mum asked me to go fishing.”

“Fishing. That’s your excuse? You know…according to Mum you’ve been fishing for quite a few hours into the day. That alone gave Mum some concern.”

“You’re telling me Mum was worried? I’m going to be nineteen in a month.”

“Oh don’t give me that rubbish. You know damn well as I do why we, especially Mum, worry for you. And I only reminded you of how you don’t act your age to begin with.” She let out a quick sigh looking up at her brother. “Besides…Father and I had arrived home early from work and are waiting on you for the fish. Father and I hardly eaten within the past three days during our mission, so we’re both famished.” She then smirked. Not being able to hold back, she reached out her gloved hand to pinch her brother’s cheek, saying in a childish tone, “And you know Mum can’t make supper without her little cook.”

He rashly pulled her sister’s hand off his face. “Biv, cut it out! Even you don’t help and still treat me as a child. I’m an able-bodied adult. ”

Biv gave him a sly expression, “Yes, yes. Ignore every point I had just made out referring to a certain hazard of being in this kingdom. Ah and you’re so responsible most likely spending your fishing time with that Olivia Balmer, and don’t deny that you weren’t with her. I coincidently passed by her on the road on my way to the stream. She seemed to be a vivacious mood. It was quite funny seeing her prance in her dress that way she did.”

Rolling his eyes away from her, he smiled and murmured under his breath. “Pfft…If you actually mingled with other gals you might be more familiar how most women do things in…”

“What was that?!” Biv retorted with gritted teeth.

Mart almost jumped as he felt the vibes that erupted from her after what he had just said he somehow managing to gulp and gasp at the same time. “Eh…I said,” quickly he let his subconscious speak out before his sister managed grab and twist his free arm to his back, “She, she just wanted to stop by the stream to say hi…and I said hi back…”

Biv’s spurt of ire quickly subsided from what he said and responded, “So she did go to the stream. And I’m dreadfully sure saying hi was the only thing you two did,” catching him in his meager lie, “You just better be careful. You’re already left a bad taste with her father. I swear Mart, if we have to deal with Mr. Balmer, banging at our door and hollering at us to keep you away from her one more time, I’ll be more than happy to grab you by your neck and toss you right into his grasp just to see if he really will do all those things he threatens to do you.”

“Aw, I feel so loved by my older sister.” He said with sarcasm, and a bit of relief that she didn‘t hurt him. “Listen, if it’ll help you sleep easy, then I’ll promise you. You’ll never have to see Balmer’s bad side again, because I’m that generous…and because we all know what an annoyance he can be in general. Just be happy I’m coming home with a plentiful catch for dinner.” He gestured at the net over his back.

Biv eyed at the net, filled with quite the quantity of bulky fish. “Perhaps, too plentiful.” She said to herself then directing to him, “Mart, you haven’t been using any of your…talents lately, have you?”

Mart just sighed with agitation, “Damn it Biv, don’t start this again!”

Biv hushed, hearing only their footsteps sounding off over the rocky path, the clicking sound of crickets in the passing bushes. She then broke the brief silence. “You know they exiled Tammy today.”

Mart gasped as his head turned to Biv, “What?! Tammy the barmaid? That serves at Relm’s Tavern?”

Biv nodded, “Supposedly she was being watched for sometime, ever since locals noticed that her vegetables and fruits had been growing much larger and more ripe than usual. Today the royal agents caught her communicating with birds and her pet cat. As dim-witted as it sounds, the events had been witnessed by the authorities and they diagnosed her on the spot. Seems she had the curse this whole time as well.”

Mart’s soft sorrow quickly changed into disgust after what Biv had just said, “The curse…huh?”

Biv quickly realized what she had just said. “Oh Mart, no. I meant, that’s just what they…said.” She didn’t bother to excuse, knowing she already hurt his feelings. “Well anyway, it was right after Mum got wind of the news, she told me to look for you.” Mart stayed quiet from then on and just Biv kept to herself. She didn’t mean to call it a curse. It’s just what everyone else called it.

The people who had “the curse” and few others, such as Biv and their parents, saw it more as a gift. But ever since that day and the consecutive unfortunate events that followed, civilizations worldwide grew to fear it. Over the years many of “the cursed” had sot out refuge in attempt to gather and live on in an outcast society. But in a world that coexists with hate and fear, that attempt was unbearably difficult. For starters, humans weren’t the only ones cursed. Animals of all sorts, including predators, had become cursed as well. The wilderness alone was naturally dangerous, but to stumble across a cursed pack of wolves or a cursed dragon would be frightfully unimaginable. But the real threat where other people. Entire armies and barbaric tribes pursued and hunted those cursed. Their ideal was to kill as many as they can before the curse can further spread and plague the lands. There were many cases where entire villages were burned to the ground just because a single person infected with the curse was in the premises. It was because of such blind rage of those violent nations that gave the rest of the public another reason to fear the presence of a cursed individual.

There were few places that insisted on taking a much pacified approach. Nations such as the Kingdom of Cesreel did not waste their military energy on shameless revulsion and pointless offensives when there still existed their real enemies. The Kingdom’s army had been kept in with the country for maximum defense. Yet to keep any negative confrontation with other nations to an extreme minimum, the Kingdom’s law stated that anyone with the curse is to be exiled. Ultimately the Kingdom of Cesreel was the safest place so long as they weren’t discovered.

Mart and Biv were only about a mile and a half away from town and several stars were already out. Around the bushes a group of men were pacing quickly on the path, coming from the town. There were four of them. Three of them tall and lightly armored with cloaks over their shoulders. They were following the fourth man who was short, quite old, and dressed as a commoner. The old man picked sight of Biv and Mart raised his arm robustly, pointing straight at Mart. “There he is!”

Biv and Mart came to a stop and looked at each other, then back at the old man leading the group. Biv gave a loud-winded sigh to see it was none other than Mr. Balmer. His bald head glowed so red, it was easily seen in the light of dusk. Annoyed, Biv looked straight at Mart, squinting her eyes. Mr. Balmer kept his finger pointed at Mart as he turned to one of the other men. “It’s him, he was the one with my daughter at the river! Arrest him!”

Mart stuttered in alarm, dropping the net of fish to the ground, “Uh…uh, I’m innocent?”

Biv herself was quite surprised, not the fact that Mr. Balmer somehow caught Mart…again, but the fact that he actually managed to bring the royal guards into this trivial bickering of his. She stepped forward and spoke up, “Now just hold on a moment. Mr. Balmer, you seriously have gotten carried away. Mart hasn’t broke the law in anyway, and it’s not at all illegal for him to see your daughter. You need to accept…”

But before Biv could continue Mr. Balmer spoke over her witlessly. “Not illegal to see my daughter! Ha! I will tell you right now not only is it illegal to see my daughter, it’s illegal for him to be in this very Kingdom!”

Biv was going to snap back, when a cold thought pierced her into utter shock, Oh no. What did he just say?

“I saw him at the river performing…magic! Exposing it to my daughter! Guards seize him! He’s cursed! He has a curse of Green Heaven!”

Attempting to counter-argue the old man, she yelled out to the guards. “He has no proof! How can you believe him! Clearly the old buffoon has a grudge against my brother for simply seeing his daughter!”

A guard standing right beside Mr. Balmer stepped forward and sternly replied, “This buffoon here is my uncle, and I know him to be an honest man. But on your behalf, your right that we cannot make the claim official, since we weren’t witnesses ourselves. And there have been previous events in which people falsely accused others for various reasons. So in such a case as this, it is standard procedure that we quarantine your brother for ten days and find out for ourselves. We will run standard trials to see if he-hey! You! Halt!”

Biv turned around to see Mart had dropped the net of fish, sprinting away from the scene. That idiot! Why’d he choose to run now?!

“Get him!” The nephew ordered as he was about to lead off. Reacting to the situation in reflex, Biv stepped right in front of the nephew, clenched her fist and drove it straight into the his abdominal. Knocking the wind out of him, the nephew fell forward in pain, gasping dryly on the ground. But not too soon did a second guard approach Biv from behind, wrapping his arm around her neck, choking her forcefully. Trying to break free of his grasp she lifted her elbow forward and then speared it back into her opponent’s gut repeatedly until the chokehold loosened completely. She turned around to see the man staggering back, crouched forward with his arms pressing onto his stomach in pain. Taking the advantage of his position, Biv launched an uppercut from under the side of his chin, knocking him from the strike.

She rapidly scanned about. Mr. Balmer had already fled the scene in panic. That didn’t surprise her, but Biv expected something else. She then realized the third man was gone. He must’ve went after Mart, she thought as she took off the direction of Mart’s escape. Biv remembered Mart turning off the road into a dense grove from her last glance. With just enough light to see the trees in front of her Biv scurried through the trunks as straight as possible, assuming she would run into them eventually. Mart could sometimes act like a coward, but she knew Mart would be able to put up a decent fight if he was caught. Her brother’s typical tactic was flight before fight, and it was not a bad scheme for it would usually catch the pursing opponents off guard. It was something Father had explicated to them to do, under the right circumstances.

“Mart!” She cried out. While running she heard a prolonged rustling within a patch of tall shrubs in front of her. With no delay she jumped through the green thicket expecting to jump in the middle of a brawl. Looking around frantically she caught sight of her brother…on the ground.

“Mart!” She yelled out his name, dashing to him. He was on his stomach, and the way his body posed, it was as if he simply dropped to the ground. Just as she bent over to check his breathing, Biv felt a sudden sharp pain on the side of her jaw just under her right ear. It was an impulsive and pungent soreness, similar to a wasp sting. But as she felt the throbbing sting, she revealed a tiny dart imbedded onto her skin. The prick on her skin quickly went numb and started spreading down her neck. She picked the dart off looking down at it. She then quickly took notice at a colored barb on her brothers neck. She started to lose focus as her sight began to blur and her eyelids were becoming heavy. Sleeping darts…the guard must still be in proximity, Biv thought, turning her head in all directions as she tried to locate the guard. But her vision only worsened as each second past, losing strength of her muscles. There was nothing she could do. Her protective habits kicked in. She did the only thing she could think of. She quickly hugged over Mart’s body. She wanted to protect her younger brother…to take him away from all this, take him somewhere safe. That thought intensely lingered in her mind as she finally blacked out.

* * * *

So…hot…why is it so…

“Biv!” a familiar voice called out.

Feel...so groggy. Must still be the affects of that sleeping potion on the dart. But I feel so hot. Am I coming down with something? Biv realized she was on her back.

“Biv, wake up!”

That voice…“Mart?”

“Phew. Well at least you’re up.”

“Mart, it is you. Why is it so hot? Ah! I can’t open my eyes…hurts.”

“Heh. Well yeah your eyes are definitely going to hurt opening them directly in this sun. Here lemme help you up.”

Biv lifted her torso up, with her brother’s assistance. She pressed her left hand onto the ground for more leverage. “Huh?” She questioned out loud as she felt a loose, course ground on her palm. “Is this…?” Her sight had came to, barely squinting her brown eyes at the bright surface. “It’s sand.”

“Pleased to hear you can still point out the obvious there, sis.”

Mart was kneeling right beside her, getting up just as Biv started standing herself. She patted her clothes, then wiped a stream of sweat off the side of her forehead. Her eyes finally adjusted to the concentrated sunlight. She scanned the area around her.

Dazed by the surroundings, words crept out of her mouth under her breath. “Where…are we?”

Shading the light over his hazel eyes with hand he shrugged his shoulders, “I uh…don’t have the slightest idea.”