Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Journey for the Lost One ❯ The Five Star Villages ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This story, characters , places and all that nice stuff in the story is my work. Thank you so much for reading! ^-^ *bows* Enjoy!



A Journey for the Lost One: Chapter One - The Star Villages



Zin looked down at the village from his spot on the cliff towering near it. It looked normal enough but there didn’t seem to be any real activity. Sure people were walking around and doing the usual, whatever usual might be for these people, but still something didn’t seem right. Zin swept his violet eyes over the town once more. He shrugged it off then started his way down the side of the cliff to the town gates. Whatever was wrong here, it did not concern him. He was only here to pick up something then he would be on his way. But that feeling of wrongness would not leave him alone.

In this part of the continent there were five small villages just like this one, each one like a cult. Each village had a certain physical characteristic that everyone in that village had. Everyone had the same color hair, maybe a different shade but still the same color. The five villages were known as the Star Villages because of their placements and how the main roads between them made a star shape on the map. The northern most village was for redheads, the eastern was the brunettes, southern was for the black haired and the west was for the blondes. The last one was the albinos, also one of the more relaxed and peaceful villages. Usually it went the same for the eyes as did the hair. That seemed to be in order here, and he assumed this was the brunette village. The shades ranged from light, almost dark blonde, to so dark brown that it almost looked black.

There were two guards posted at each of the three entrances to the gates that led into the village. They were dressed in leather black breeches and metal armor with chain mail under it. Each had a tall scythe in their left hands, maybe these oddly religious people had a thing for left over right hands as well. Zin walked through, expecting at least a greeting, but instead got nothing, not even a nod.

The town was an odd one, that was for sure. His violet eyes swept over the main road from his place inside the main gates. The two guards did not even stop him on his way in, they just stood there staring ahead. Almost like they were sleeping with their eyes open while standing, but if that really was the case then Zin had to give them credit for practicing so hard. Just a little more work and they probably would have it completely mastered.

Zin looked over the village from the main road, things seemed normal enough from there. He walked in casually, even though the feeling of wrongness still plagued him. Not to mention he looked like a traveling sorcerer or something, that might have something to do with it. It didn’t take long for him to feel completely out of place in this village.

His shoulder length, uneven hair was jet black, not brown. His eyes were violet, not green or blue. He wore a pair of dust colored breeches and a metal belt that was designed to look like it was made of silver dragon scales strung together with a leather band. The he wore a chain mail long sleeve shirt that was covered by a shirt that was black leather with silver studs along the seams. At his waist, attached to his belt, was a long dagger with a ruby eyed black dragon hilt. Other daggers or stilettos were hidden in various places of his clothing. All of his clothing, except for his black boots and metal shoulder guards, was hidden by his black leather cloak.

Zin was definitely an odd site here, where everyone else wore casual clothing like aprons, dresses, pants and such. Then it hit him. He saw no dresses. The women were gone from this village, unless they were hidden. From were he walked through the market, he saw no women older than seventeen or younger than forty. Zin thought it weird but figured it was better not to ask anything, maybe it was a belief here.

Another point slapped him a few moments later, really hard. No women meant no cute brothel girls or waitresses at the taverns. He almost tripped over his own feet. He righted himself and regained his composure, a couple of weeks without women wouldn’t be too bad, right?

With a mournful sigh he went into a nearby tavern. He’d get the package tomorrow, for now he was hungry. The tavern seemed pretty standard. A sign hanging near the door with a picture of food on it and a normal dark wood door with a vineyard design. He opened the door and walked in.

The room was fairly large with dark wood stained circular tables with matching chairs and medium tone stained wooden floors. A stone fireplace was set in the eastern most wall while the dark stained wooden bar was placed at the opposite wall. A brown wolfhound lay near the fire, curled up and peacefully asleep with its chin resting on the fluff of its tail.

Zin sighed again as he walked into the room and sat at a vacant table. No cute waitresses, it was all males. A trio of males worked behind the bar while a couple more worked the tables. They all seemed between his age, twenty two, and at least fifty. Most everyone in the room was drunk, no surprise. If it weren’t for his delivery service assignment he would be drunk as all hell too, especially with the serious lack of women here which made it all that much more depressing.

It didn’t take long before a waiter came to his table. The waiter was about his age with brown hair and light blue eyes. He was about average height with a polite smile. Zin sighed and didn’t make eye contact, he was still depressed. Zin folded his arms on the tabletop and rested his forehead on his arms as he ordered his food. He stayed like that until his food came.

When his food came, he sat up and picked at it. After testing it a little and deciding he liked it, he started wolfing it down. So maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, at least Zin had good food.

Half way through his meal a couple of males walked in, big surprise there. A short old man with a long white beard and bald head, wearing a long brown robe stood in front of a taller, younger man with a medium build and a brown mustache with a much shorter beard. The younger man was wearing smithy clothing, Zin assumed the taller man was the blacksmith of the village. He silently prayed they weren’t looking for him, he willed himself to be invisible if they were.

They looked around then room then paused when they spotted him. The older man led the way as they walked over to his table, the old man’s walking stick gently tapping the floor like a third leg as he walked. Zin hoped they weren’t overly religious, like one of the other villages, and thought black haired people were evil. If that were the case there was no telling what they’d do.

“Are you a traveling mercenary, young Sir?” the old man asked as he came to a stop at Zin’s table. He old man had bleach white hair that hung from his beard to cover his mouth and the front of his robe to his waist. Zin suppressed a grin at the thought that the wrinkly old man reminded him of an old half dwarf half imp hybrid as well.

Zin nodded once, looking eye level at the old man. “In a sense, I suppose I am”, he replied with a grin. “Why are you asking?”

The old man paused at Zin’s odd demeanor then continued, “We have a very serious problem in our village, in all of the Star Villages actually. “

Zin cut him off in mid sentence, “So why come to me?”

“Well, you see, we need your assistance-” the old man started then sighed as Zin cut him off again.

“Obviously.” Zin said flatly then took another large bite of his food. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You probably very well known about the castle in the center of the star. Well, a short time ago the prince who resides there, requested the presence of all the females in the Star Villages. None of the women were brought back as promised, though. We fear something terrible may have happened to them and we may not save them all but we may still save some. We would be very grateful if you would get back our lovely women for us.” the old man explained, making sure not to pause so Zin wouldn’t cut him off again. After he was finished he breathed deeply for a couple of seconds then stopped and waited for Zin’s response.

Zin blinked, “Oh, so that’s why there aren’t any pretty girls here?”

The old man nodded once then added, “We would pay you handsomely.”

Zin grinned at this, “And how much are we talking about exactly?”

The old man seemed to suddenly regret his statement but continued anyway, “Twenty five gold pieces.”

Zin blinked. That wasn’t really a bad price at all, actually, but he wanted to milk this for all it was worth. “How does fifty gold pieces sound?”

The old man’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped out for a second then he narrowed his eyes slightly with a light cough. “Well then, how about forty gold pieces?”

“Hmm…”, Zin paused for a moment then grinned, “Thirty five gold and ten silver. Take it or leave it”. He said then closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair with his arms behind his head.

The old man’s mouth dropped again then he coughed lightly and righted himself. He sighed lightly, “Very well then. Now that business is finished, we will leave you to your meal.” he concluded then bowed politely before turning to leave.

“Hey, you didn’t introduce yourselves, that’s very rude.” Zin called in a stern voice, which was tinged slightly with amusement.

The old man grinned nervously then turned to look at him, “I am Batnof, the village elder, and my friend here is Degero, the village blacksmith.”

Zin grinned at them and nodded once, “I’m Zin of the Geoganthra tribe from the west.”

The old man nodded once then turned to leave again with the blacksmith close behind. Zin figured the blacksmith was acting as the elder’s bodyguard. He shrugged then continued eating his food. Suddenly he paused mid bite, then suppressed the urge to whine. His food had gotten cold. First, lack of women and now this! God was really out to get him.

Zin ate his food nonetheless then left the tavern to find a suitable inn. After awhile of walking, he made it to a nice inn. It seemed small with its typical door and little sign hanging out front but he didn’t really care, a soft bed was all that mattered. He went in and paid for his room then went up to check it out. The place only had about eight rooms, not including the keeper’s rooms.

He opened the door and walked in, closed the door behind him then looked around. The room wasn’t too big but it was big enough and it was nice. It had a dark wood double sleigh bed, near the window at the wall opposite the door, covered with a crimson comforter and white sheets; which had vine and songbird designs on the headboard and footboard. A large matching wardrobe was at the wall nearest the door and a small nightstand was right next to the bed with a short, fat candle sitting comfortably on top of it.

He decided to check out the bath to see if it was as nice as the bedroom. The bath was separate from the bedroom, and even had a door to match the furniture. The bath was a deep, white porcelain tub with small golden lion paw feet and a curled over lip. The faucets were silver and the vanity had a black top and dark wood drawers that matched the rest of the set up.

He grinned. So maybe this wouldn’t be such a boring and bad trip after all, at least he’d be in luxury for awhile. He closed the bathroom door then returned to the bedroom. A little relaxing would be nice before another mission. Zin took off his black cloak and armor along with his weaponry. After a short stretch, he decided a little exploring was in order. He left his cloak, weapons and armor in the room and left for the market.


Along the way he looked over some of the small booths. Some of these little places had some pretty neat stuff, not always though. This time proved to be somewhat interesting but not entirely. Zin grew bored and walked over to a bench to sit. The bench was typical, metal bars and wood seats and back, and sat in front of a large immaculate fountain.

A group of young boys played nearby with a ball. He sat back on the bench and looked up at the sky, figuring out how to approach the captured women subject. Suddenly, something hit his head from the side and he yelled in surprised and jumped then fell off the bench. Zin lay on the ground twitching slightly as the ball rolled away from him.

“Hey, sorry, Mister! Can we have our ball back?”, the leader of the small group asked as they ran up to him.

Zin grinned then got up with the ball in hand. He bounced the ball once then started to bounce it on his left knee, “Only if you can get it from me first!”

The kids grinned then started trying their best to get the ball from him. Sometimes attempting tackles or grabs at his legs. Finally, one of them slapped the ball from him and ran off with it, everyone in toe with Zin among the group.

The booth and shop keepers paused to watch Zin play with the children then slowly shook their heads before returning to their work.

It was well into the evening when Zin finally stopped playing with the children. Of course, they didn’t want him to leave so he promised to play with them again some other time. After saying farewell, he retreated to the inn and his room for a good night’s sleep.