The sound of chirping and singing birds were heard over the meadow as they danced around each other and sung their high pitched songs. Flowers had started to bloom on this early spring day and the occasional sleebee could be seen buzzing around, haphazardly flying from flower to flower to collect nectar for their queens.
Even though it was an early morning and the sun had just started peeking over the horizon, many people were already up and about, the cobbled road buzzing with activity. Among all of these people walked a young woman with a very peculiar appearance. It weren't her big, beautiful, green eyes that drew people's attention, nor was it her small nose. It was not the tight leather bodice around her shapely figure which accentuated her bosom and accentuated her cleavage. An open, loosely hanging red coat hung from her shoulders.
She was astonishing, yes, but that was still not the reason people eyed her in the streets. The reason she was subject of stares was because of her hair, her dazzling hair that seemed to shine and shimmer like a rainbow. Not a single person could tell what color it was for it would change like light shining into a diamond, ruby-red one moment, onyx-black the other.
She seemed to be strolling on this cobbled path, next to a meadow in the direction of Dark of dawn, a town not far away from here. A town, she heard, was not visited very often anymore because of a certain problem they had. A problem she hoped she could help with for a bit of coin for she was a healer of some sorts. Poultices and herbs were her specialization.
Ever since she was a little girl she had a peculiar interest in the different kind of plant-life in the vicinity of her house. She would run around in the field of daft-o-dills and talk to the cloafers hanging about here and there. She fondly remembered the time where she had taken in some slave'ender flowers, making them do all of her chores around the house. Of course, daddy found out and he would scold her, "Viria, even though the flowers want to serve people, actually making them do so is cruel and unworthy of a healer!" .
She had to let her dear flowers go, still with tears in her eyes and the welts of her father's belt on her bottom. Needless to say, the flowers were sad that they would not be used by her anymore. As she snapped back to reality, she smiled and stepped forward onto the cobbled road, used to the stares of all the people around her. If asked, she would even admit to liking it. Attention was hard to come by on the Hollow hills where she grew up, so she was really catching up on everything that she had missed.
She noticed that she mostly enjoyed the attention of good looking men and they were bountiful around these parts. When dusk fell, she would often go to the local inn to drink some of the fine spirits they brewed and then bedded one of the men, wearing them out entirely throughout the night.
The last man she has had was in the last village she had been in and that was over a week ago. She licked her lips knowing there would be more virile men in Dark of dawn and she was planning to make them work her over from exactly those times!
She blushed as she felt a tingle in her belly. Yes, it had been so long since she got to straddle a strapping lad, grasp his hardness in her hand and take him into her mouth. She blushed as she remembered how the last man, Karn was his name if she remembered right, plowed her like he plowed the field at daytime.
Whatever problem was plaguing the town, she couldn't wait until she could fix it. Her aching loins told her the coin was just an extra and the embrace of a man was her real reward.
She smiled as she was entirely lost in daydreams of sex and didn't notice the horse-pulled carriage coming right at her. It wasn't until the last second the driver shouted at her and she snapped awake from her happy place and saw the two horses coming right for her.
She managed to do something of a spin as the horses would walk right into her, the flank hit her still though. She fell to the floor and landed on her butt. "Ouch!" She exclaimed. "Can't you look where you're going?" She gave the man an angry look. "You should just watch out. Spend less time on your hair and more time watching for more important people." He didn't even reign his horses in to see if she was alright.
"You're just a big jerk!" She got no reply, so she stood up and dusted off her now stinging butt. An older man came over towards her. "Are you alright, young miss?" She looked at him and wiped the angry scowl off her face. "I'm okay," she said. "I'm just not used to paths being traveled on this much. There are so many nice things to look at other than just the road!"
Joyfully she gestured at the meadow left and right of the cobbled path. The sudden motion swaying her hair left and right. "Such enthusiasm. You only see that in the young ones these days. Say, you're not a healer by chance, are you?" Her face lit up and she proudly turned around to show him her colors. Her hair reached all the way down to the small of her back and with the light of spring shining down upon it, it caused an astonishing myriad of colors. Patches that were blue at some point turned red with just the slightest movement to turn green the next.
The man chuckled. "I thought so. You lot always like to look special in the eyes of us regular folk. Luckily for us, you just dyed your hair." He looked at it a little better. "I think." She giggled. "I know what you mean. My mom used to wear an intoxicating lotion making anyone who got a whiff of it do her bidding." She saw him raise his eyebrows. "Not that she did anything harmful, to the contrary actually. She always gave them a good time." The man coughed. "Well then, I think it's time for me to move on. You sure you're alright?" She gave him a bright smile and nodded. "Good, good," he muttered as he resumed walking.
Seeing the man care for her put the little incident far in the back of her mind, assured of the good that people inherently possessed.
It took her the rest of the morning and a great amount of the afternoon to reach Dark of Dawn. She saw houses that were built in the same style as most of the other villages in the Plateau-region. Dull, gray and lifeless in her opinion. Few people were walking down the street which was not so strange since the sun had already set upon the world, turning the village into just the first part of its name.
She made her way over the uneven paths this village consisted of to find the town center. She knew she had to find a place to sleep before she would approach the mayor of this town about the problem. "A messenger in the dark is shady, no matter his intent," her daddy used to say. Viria remembered it well and decided to try and always be a good girl, although she did want to know the details about the ominous rumors sweeping the countryside.
Even though the streets were forlorn, there were still signs of people actually inhabiting this town. Here and there little candlelights shone behind the windows of the quaint houses. The town center quickly came into her sights and was greeted by an unfamiliar sight. Upon the center square stood a pillar, one that rose high into the darkness. She squinted to try and see the top when, suddenly, she jumped up because of a loud slam behind her.
"Woah! There's a broad out here!" Said one of the two men staggering out of the local drinking nest, judging by the smell suddenly pervading the air. "Yeah, man. You're right! And not someone from around here by the looks of it!" He pointed a finger at Viria, who put on a bright smile after having finally found her resting place for the night, drunkards aside. "Well, look at you two! All drunk and giddy on this hopelessly boring night!" She started for the men, hoping to get a better look at them.
"We need something to do, lass. The sleeping people sleep all day and well, all night too. Not many people still awake here anymore. This time of year people just sleep and sleep and sleep." She walked past them and stopped at the door to the inn. They turned around and she wasn't impressed by them. Why weren't they two young and handsome men, she thought bitterly. "Is that so? How is it that you guys are still awake then?"
They gave each other a look and in the light of the inn behind her she saw both of them frowning at each other. She could not help but giggle as they stood there dumbfounded. "I dunno Yulen. Why are we still awake?"
"I really rather it didn't but it beats me. I mean, I sleep better than I usually do. But! But my neighbor's still sleeping since last Tuesday." The other man laughed. "How do you know he's still sleeping? Did you walk in to find out?" Yulen answered by telling his friend how he had lent his shears to his neighbor and wanted to take it back. He couldn't find it after he discovered that the poor man was fast asleep and walked in every day after that. Afterwards, they got into a discussion about how well they slept at night, a topic Viria wasn't particularly interested in.
Quietly, she took her leave and entered the 'Golden Sun', as the inn was apparently called. Only a handful of people were drinking their daily sorrows away, no doubt because most of the town was asleep. Judging by the drunken rambling of Yulen and his companion, the rumor had proven right and some strange sleeping illness had struck the little town.
She ordered herself a drink by a surprisingly awake-looking bartender and paid off for a room for the night as well. He warned her that if she fell asleep for multiple days at once she'd have to pay extra for whatever number of days she would be in her bed snoring away. She assured him that she would not fall asleep for that long but the man remained unconvinced, telling her that even the toughest men around here eventually succumbed to the long sleep.
