Darkening sky

    "That tree's gonna bend that way and it'll break in half."
    A man was sitting on that bench, talking to himself.  A boy behind him, swinging on a swing while looking up at the sky with his face full of wonders and crumpled to figure out something on his mind.  The boy push his arms forward to gain momentum and height while all the he concetrated on that piece of thinking, shown on his face.  The skies were darkened on one side of the park, starting from the north, it was coming here and rain was invetable.  There was no seasons here like the west and the weather was either hot, damp or raining.  The weather girl got it right for once.
    The man was looking at the field of trees at the other side of the park, statues that bend this way and that, impaled by the wind's feelings and commands.  It blew until the man closed into him, the cold temperature making everything numbed starting from his legs because he was only wearing sneakers without socks.  His face, a set of oval eyes and a quirked mouth, makes lemon look sweet.  His day was only beginning when the mood started to shape the events of his day ahead.  He has a growing beard on his chin.
    "Hey mister," a small voice came from behind.
    The man looked back without turning his body and saw the boy, out off his swing.  He was wearing shorts and a shirt, too big for his size.
    "I've never seen you before.  Who are you?" the boy asked.
    "Didn't your mother ever thought you not to speak with strangers, kid?"
    The boy swiped a hand across his nose.  He looked undisturbed by the comment.  They stared at each other for some while before the wind blew a hard one and leaves waved into being from the side.
    "Go back home, kid.  There's gonna be a storm," the man said.
    "What's your name, mister?"
    "Do I have to tell you?"
    "Well..."
    "Fine, fine.  Name's Howard.  Just Howard,"
    "My name's Randy.  Nice to meet you, Just Howard,"
    "No.  Not Just Howard.  Howard, that's it,"
    "Oh..."
    Howard spun his head back in position and looked upward.  His eyes, two holes of worried mirrors, trying to seek out answers within the swirling clouds up ahead.  The wind was blowing hard and the clouds were all but covered the area.  The park was abandoned but with both of them.  The place was reserved at a back field of a quite a city, a growing city at least.  It was seldom used by the residents except the ones that frequent the place.  Howard doesn't even know what's the name of place.  He was just passing through. A man with a goal that was just going through the city.
    "It's cold," Randy said.
    "Yes, it is."
    Randy jumped forward, in front of the man.  His face was still filled with puzzlement as he looked at the man's clothes, from top to bottom.  His own feet were covered by nothing but slippers.  He doesn't look clean at all.
    "Got a problem?" Howard asked.
    "No,"
    "Then stop staring,"
    "Where are you from, mister?"
    "A very far place,"
    "You come here to find jobs like my dad?"
    "No.  I just came here because I want to go to the next place,"
    "Why don't you use a car?"
    "Because I don't know how to use one, alright?  Now, stop asking things and go home."
    The boy just stood there, refusing to budge.
    Howard had had enough, though.
    "I'll shout if you touch me," the boy took a step back when Howard stood up.
    "I'm not going to do anything to you.  Just step back.  Someone's coming and he's not happy," Howard looked into the trees ahead of him.  The wind was blowing very hard by now.  As if it was blowing with fury and it was directed to Howard.  His clothes flapped from the winds violently.  There was a tinge in the air that felt like sparks.  Howard's face is a jungle of frown and in his guts, he knew this would happen someday or soon enough.  It was a matter of time and place, though.
    "Howard, you're not going home?" the boy said, looking up.
    "I ain't got no place to go home, kid.  It was destroyed long ago,"
    "Why?"
    "Because someone said to the sky and cursed it.  Lightning splashed and death came from above.  The man was the only one who survived but with a curse and a gift.  He would remain young forever and immortal but as long as he lives, he would be hunted down by storms, rains and typhoons,"
    "I don't understand,"
    "Simply said.  I cursed the sky and the sky is very mad at me.  So, if you could please stay behind me."
    The boy did that because by now, lightning was flashing up there, striking each other like spirits would fight like legends from a long time before.  Roaring like wild animals, the mists above made the the city below a battlefield and once or twice, the world was seen through negative lenses.  Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled from the mountain ranges in the west.  Wind scarred the trees, doubling themselves on their trunks and they themselves make screeching noises as they rubbed against each other, straining to hold on with their roots in the hard ground.  A man appeared beneath the scalps.
    "Rilzen.  I finally caught up with you," the man whispered and the wind did the same.
    "There's a boy here, and a city down there.  Can we do this some place else?"
    Howard's face was a mask.  His voice shook a little but he held the ground.  The boy was holding onto his legs, his feelings letched from the man.  He felt afraid.  Now all he wanted was to be somewhere else.  His hair stood on end and sparks were clearly seen now, between the hairs on his head and the brows of his eyes.
    "Hmm?  You never told me you have a son, Zen," the man walked forward, seemingly to glide.  His eyes went to the boy at the other man's legs and swiftly came back up.  His smile was murderous.
    "He's not mine.  We don't need a misunderstanding here,"
    "Of course we don't.  I'm here to kill you and that far is clear right?"
    "Yes, I know.  But can we do it somewhere else, please?"
    "For these mortals?  Well, fine by me.  I have a memory here too, don't want to spoil it with your image of defeat,"
    "Right."
    The wind blew hard once again and the man was gone.  But the sky was still furious, perhaps a missed battle made it more frustated.  More so to make things worse, it began to trickle, little pebbles of water formed out of nowhere and splashed towards dirt and leaves, making weird noises against the wind.  The city heaved once as thousands of people sighed and ran for cover.  The boy was still looking at the place where the other man had vanished with the winds.  His eyes were focused there, two bowls of wonder and a glint of fear.  But stood beside it was a glint of excitement.
    "Go home, kid.  It's raining," Howard reached down and patted the boy's head.
    "Who are you, really?" the boy looked up, shoving away the hand.
    "My real name is Rilzen but people call me Howard.  I lived here once, and it was my home.  That was thousands of years ago,"
    "Rilzen...,"  the boy squinted his eyes and tried to remember something.  A sense of familiarity came from the name.  He heard it before in a story told by his grandfather about gods that fought each other and spirits were living with men.  A legend about a snake and a river.
    The boy gasped loudly.
    "You're Rilzen, the Snake of the Yellow River!"
    Howard looked down and smiled.
    "Call me Howard."
    The rain hardened and the man was no longer there.
   

Rising mountain

Oh God, its been months since I have written anything here and I think NO ONE read this shit but still...

It's a place where I can write anything at all.

So, today we yet continue or journey into this head of mine.  See if the kicks are still there.

 And start.

    Rilzen wasn't the best man nor the best archer in the world, but he still wants to be as gentlemanly to others as much as he can and he can shoot about a whole lot of distance from the target.  His eyes weren't the prettiest but sometimes there was that glint inside his eyes that say, "I'm going to be the greatest!" even for a moment before the arrow hit the target and after he released the rock-pointed slick wood.  In this, he didn't really trust because he was just a village boy, aged 18, considered matured by most and childish but those to the ones that have raised him single-handedly from the times when he was still a babe.  It didn't came to him either that became one of those guys that looks at each other and could say rude things about each other and laugh out like it was nothing.  It didn't occur to him that he would've stayed in this village beneath a mountain's shadow, Huang's Grit it's name was and still, because he used to think about what's on the other side of the mountain and beyond

    A hunter, someone said he's going to be someday.  And yes, a hunter he had become for some while.  Hunting small snacks was usual for him and easy targets, his eyes could take up anything from the reflection of the sun on the sands that covered his village and surrounding to the eagle, seemingly a dotted speck in the sky.  A lot commended him on that but he still wasn't satisfied.  Part of him says that these are only small feats and the other just sits around and look at him expectingly.  He didn't really mind the other's praise but the other guy in his head that just gives him looks really bugged the hell out of him.

    His hair isn't blonde like the merchant's that sometimes pass through his home, and his eyes are brown, deep brown almost black, keeps him distanced from the merchants and other guys in the village, who have green or blue eyes.  It made him a little uncomfortable whenever the merchants would point out to him and ask about his origins.  And the girls weren't any better there.  Sure, they looked at him, and they giggled like mad hyenas, then they just walk away whenever he looks at them back.  He doesn't like that sometimes because they put him off balanced like an egg sitting on the surface of the lake.

    There was a lake near Huang's Grit, and it was simply named Likui's Mouth because of its deep-looking surface but rather shallow depth.  Time didn't keep away the Likui's Mouth surface, though because when they're droughts, and those are often here, the lake would just empty out.  But it never flooded here, so it was safe for the village to make homes that root themselves right into the earth like spikes.

    So it was considered a blessed place for most and paradise for some.  Rilzen never believed that.

    It was two weeks ago.  When news of danger came from the merchants that were passing their village.  There wasn't much of them that passes through the forest, Depeng's Forest it was called by the locals but it was considered Depeng's Wall by a lot of strangers because of it's thickness and there was no track there.  This particular merchant, his name was Tulj, was either mad or a really good person with maps to cross that forest.

    "Fever.  They call 'em Yellow Fever, over at the cities and whatnot.  These yellow spots came out of your skin everywhere but they don't itch.  Rather, everytime you touch 'em, it's like your skin just burns up.  And worse, you can't even move when it gotcha.  Take my advice, and move away from here.  This disease is spreading like wild fire," 

    "But where would we go?  The Spines are over to the west, Huang's just up front and you know it's impossible to hike that, and it'll take days to circle it and hunts are scarce,"

    "Figure it out! I'm just giving good words here! I don't really care about you small people but I don't want to see another village full of dead people," the merchant, all blond and blue eyes and silk around his body with a rapier at his side, says.  His voice wasn't soothing but there was something in his eyes that what he's saying is probably true.

    There was a lot of commotion after that.  The ones that lead the village, Ju Zin, Jing, and Koros, with the healer at their back and the women's own leaders, Wang, Kiuti and Nam Ling, they all just looked at each other and went off into Ju Zin's house.  Rilzen saw them just before he set off to one of his hunts that take him close to the mountain but never too far.  His bow and arrows, a broad sword and leather water-case were at their usual spots.

    Likui's Mouth wasn't dry and the weather was good and sunny.  The sun was looking at him from the northwest, evening was descending upon the land.  He could hear horses neigh when he set off.  Tulj, the merchant was really true to his words of not being a bother to the village.  His voice was a little giddy when the carriage finally went out of his sight.  

   Rilzen didn't really understand.  Diseases were never an enemy to him, just merely annoyances and Krak, the village's healer, would make him as good as any in perhaps just hours after she gave him one of those bitter things.  He never liked being in bed and sick at the same time but he couldn't really control what he couldn't see.

     "Hey, Zen!  Where are you going?" a voice called out to him from behind.

     His name was Kirin but everyone just calls him Rin.  He wasn't particularly clever but he could handle a sword as well as anyone in the village.  Rin was also a hunter but he belongs with his father's batch of hunters, the ones that set off to find big animals or pelts off some dangerous predator to make clothes.  Rin was especially good with the Kilik, his own crafted broad sword that have an upward curing edge and very sharp.  He's wearing it on even now.

    "To the mountains.  I need to get some fresh air," Zen was already stepping away.  Rin was clingy.

    "Hey, didn't you hear?  This disease thingy could be anywhere.  I think you better stay for tonight, right?" Rin said, still coming up at him.

  

And Pause.

God, I'm becoming really bad at this.  I need to get myself fixed up.  READ, DUDE, READ.

Gotta get back into reading.

Terry Pratchett FTW!