Faced with the being in front of them, Marcus let out a sigh.
He turned to the others and gradually unwrapped their arms.
"This reaction is to be expected, I failed to explain to them properly" After organizing his thoughts, he wasn't as nervous as before for some reason.
He then stood up.
Leo upon seeing this grabbed him and pulled him back down.
Whether it was due to animal instinct or survival or the innate fear of the unknown, Leo couldn't let them be caught.
"(Can't you see that thing?!)" He whispered in an anxious tone to Marcus.
Moore had similar feelings as Leo, so he dragged Marcus down as well.
Try as he might, Marcus couldn't overpower them.
"Moore wouldn't be a problem, but Leo could hold me down single-handedly" So he thought as he finally gave in to them.
"Fine, fine I give up, but hear me out" Marcus urged them.
"(Be quiet you idiot?!)" Moore whispered with a frustrated look.
"I know what that is, can you guys at least let go of me?" Marcus seemed to know something about this situation.
Leo pieced that together, he could tell Marcus wasn't one to do rash things.
He took his hands off Marcus.
He looked over at Moore, placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded.
Moore understood the request, but he was hesitant to heed to it.
After a short while, he took his hands off Marcus, but begrudgingly.
Marcus looked toward Leo, and then to Moore.
"Thank you..." He said to Leo.
He gulped, then looked behind to the figure that sat behind them.
"Truth be told, I don't know what that creature is" said Marcus with a calm voice.
Upon hearing that, Moore flared up.
"(huh?!, then why di-)" Leo didn't let Moore complete his sentence.
He calmed him down and gestured to Marcus to complete his sentence.
"...I don't know what it is.
But I can assure you it isn't alive" Marcus stepped back with each word he uttered.
He was now out of the grass and in the clearing.
There he stood face to face with the being.
Not cowering, nor afraid he stretched his hand out towards the being.
He touched its large toes, and it was just as he said.
There was no reaction.
Leo and Moore could only watch in amazement and fear.
Though their fear had dwindled over time, they were still hesitant
Leo was the first to overcome the fear, he took steps towards the clearing.
Each step faster than the last, until he finally got there.
At that moment, his curiosity overtook his anxiety. He walked towards it and just stood there.
He was overcome by it's magnificent figure, he refused to place his hand on it.
Looking at it was enough for him.
Moore was right behind him.
Unlike Leo, Moore was quick to touch it.
[Knock! Knock!!] He knocked on it.
"it doesn't feel hollow, it might be a statue" Moore remarked.
"How do you know what a statue feels like though?" Marcus asked.
"With age comes wisdom" Moore replied quirkily.
"You're younger than me you idiot, heck you're the youngest here" Marcus said.
"Well it's 'youngest' and 'tallest'
Don't omit the second part. And the difference is months" Moore shaded.
Leo was now watching the two go back and forth at it.
"Just 'months'? It's 15 months you rascal, now answer the damn question" Marcus rambled.
Moore finally gave in to Marcus's request;
"Tch...well we moved to Mjiormire from Stallgate.
There was a statue in the centre of town.
That's it, happy now?" Moore didn't seem happy with sharing that information.
***
The three stayed there for a while, they seemed to be having fun.
But alas, the sun was about to set, they were tired and felt it was time to go.
"I'm not going to be able to escape this scolding from mom today" Leo thought.
Something flew past his face at an incredible speed, from the far right.
"Ouch!" One of the other two had exclaimed;
It was Marcus.
"What happened?" Moore queried him.
"Something grazed my arm, I think I might be injur-"
Marcus wasn't let the grace of speaking again.
He was dragged by Leo, who had also dragged Marco, they used the statue as cover.
He took a peak, there were two lights in the distance.
They seemed to be from torches.
-
Over at the distance, two men clad in iron moved through the grass, one was armed with a sword, the other with a bow.
"Are you truly sure it was a wild animal?" Man 1 asked, while desperately trying to get a look at the direction of the circle.
It was now too dark, he couldn't see a thing.
"Well we better hope it was.
If it was a hu..man..." Man 2 said, while reloading his bow, his voice noticeably shook.
The other man placed his hands on his shoulders.
With daggers in his eyes, he urged the other;
"Then we better make sure it wasn't" Man one clenched his sword as they walked towards the statue.
-
Back at the statue, the three were in a panic. They could hear footsteps in the distance.
The lights that seemed like embers had become brighter.
Their footsteps had had gone from light to increasingly noticeable.
After a bit it was silent.
Only light from the torches filled the environment.
The boys stared at each other, so did the men.
Footsteps were audible once again, one towards the right of the statue, the other towards the left.
Then once again, nothing could be heard.
[THUMP...THUMP...THUMP]
The boys' hearts felt like it was going to leave their chests.
It skipped multiple beats.
They felt pressed.
Sweat ran through their faces.
This time the sensation was shared between the three of them.
Suddenly, lights emerged from both sides behind the statue.
"Haaa..." Man 2 who stood behind the left hand where the boys were, let out a sigh.
"All clear at this side.
Over!" Man 2 declared.
"All clear at this side.
Proceed with routine 5" Man 1 said this as they proceeded to check the surroundings.
He had a feeling something was amiss, but he chose to ignore it.
The men searched the surroundings a bit more.
After a while they gave up, regrouped and made for the settlement.
The boys watched this happen from a distance, they were behind the statue.
About 30 feet, covered by the thick grass.
They stayed in that position for about 30 more minutes to make sure the men had gone.
In reality they stayed there for an hour or more, they had no indicator, so it was to be expected.
They finally made it to the statue again, they rested on it.
"It's completely dark now, they must be so worried about me back at home."
Tears ran down Moore's face as he said this.
The clouds that were covering the moon had passed by.
The moonlight shone upon the empire, it was especially bright that day;
It was a full moon.
Someone placed a hand on Moore's shoulder to comfort him.
It was Leo.
His hand was wet, it was too thick to be attributed to sweat.
Moore was familiar with this texture, since he often helped his uncle in his butcher house.
The metallic smell that could be attributed to blood.
"Leo is bleeding"