Lorland was a beautiful place. Even if it was quite early in the morning, still, the market was vibrant with many potential customers lurking around. Delilah now understood why her father chose to reside in this kingdom for business.

"Deli! Look at those puppies!" she heard Timothy exclaim in excitement making her chuckle at him.

It had been a journey of ten days and nine nights, first nine days in the Runi, a passenger ship to cross the great Loriam sea which separated Lorland from Brimlyn and basically the majority of the world. Then one day to reach Orshore, a small village where her father had arranged for a small cottage. Ansal, a small market town, where her father had set up his stall of dry fruits and vegetables, was only some one mile away.

"Don't run, Tim!" her father, Gabriel shouted at the boy who had started chasing a stray dog.

Gabriel huffed in annoyance before pacing behind Timothy in attempts of catching him but the little boy was too agile for the middle-aged man to get hold of.

Delilah shook her head in amusement. She looked at her father, Gabriel Black, strands of grey hair making an appearance among his black ones.

She sighed as her eyes fell upon Timothy, who had finally stopped running and was getting scolded by her father. They looked just the same. Black hair, grey eyes, plump lips and long eyelashes. The only trait she inherited from her father was his raven hair; besides that, from her brown eyes, thin and pointed lips, small nose, heart-shaped face to her slightly tanned skin; all of this she inherited from her mother.

A sigh left her lips remembering her mother. It had been months still her heart ached for her. She still cried herself to sleep every single night and she did not think that it will stop anytime soon.

"Papa-" she finally spoke as she realized that Timothy could start crying any time now, "-its okay, he won't repeat his mistake."

She saw him back away a little and ruffle Timothy's hair.

"Come, Deli. We have reached the stall."

It had been a week since they arrived Lorland and this was her first time coming to the market.

It was a relatively small stall compared to the other stalls in sight. She sighed, knowing that there was a lot to be done to meet the ends.

"Tomorrow is a big fest." she heard her father say, "Number of customers will be much more than usual." he further mused.

"Which fest, papa?" she asked curiously.

"It's a tradition in Lorland." he told her, " The two months after the new year, a fest of Solmen is celebrated. There is a sacred cave, I guess somewhere near the Min forests, where it is believed that Jakin, one of the sons of Goddess came to entrap a demon who had been terrorising the nearby villagers. Tomorrow is the day when he must have decapitated him. Since then, every year, a feast at a grand level is held on this day, before sacrificing a hundred buffaloes to the God."

Delilah winced at the mention of a sacrifice but said nothing. However, her father was quick to catch the subtle shift in her demeanour and laughed a little.

Ruffling her hair, he said in a soothing voice, "Do not bother, dear. Your pretty little mind would not be happy being burdened by all this nuisance. Now, back to work."

As predicted by her father, the number of customers was high. By the evening, Delilah was more than exhausted. It took all of her self-control to not to lie down on the floor simply and fall asleep. Soon, as the Sun started setting down; they trailed their way back to home.

The next day, Delilah woke up to the sound of chanting and hymns. She was confused at first, but then remembered about Solemn. Getting out of the bed with a sigh, she quickly dressed up and started making breakfast.

After the three of them had their breakfast, they headed out of their house to go to the market. On their way, however, they were stopped by a rich looking grey-haired man.

"Gabriel, good morning. It's been a while." the man said with a gentle smile, taking off his black hat.

"Norman, it's certainly been a while. How are you?" Gabriel reciprocated his gesture, before continuing, "This is my daughter, Delilah and son, Timothy." then he turned towards Delilah, "And this is Mr Norman Morkel, a good friend of mine."

"Hello!" Timothy waved at Mr Morkel while Delilah bowed, only to receive a little nod with a small smile in return. Then his face contorted into a serious expression. "Any news about your wife?"

This made the smile on the face of Gabriel drop. Delilah quickly searched for Timothy and sighed in relief when found him busy staring at a bird's nest.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Gabriel sighed in deep melancholy. His eyes moistened in the memory of his wife.

Delilah put a hand on his shoulder, a tear slipping out of her eyes. She quickly wiped the tears away as she saw Timothy approaching them.

Mr Morkel too sensing the child's arrival hastily changed the topic, "You are coming to the celebrations, are you not?"

"I am afraid we are not." Gabriel said, "You know, business is important."

"Let the children come, at least."

"Yes! Yes! Please, papa! I wanna go!" Timothy pleaded.

After much hesitation from Delilah as well as Gabriel's part, it was decided that Delilah and Timothy will go along with Mr Morkel and his family to attend the celebrations.

She felt uncomfortable at first, but then she soon warmed up to Jessie, Mr Morkel's daughter who was around her age and his wife, Renee. She found that Mr Morkel was a well-earning vendor who set up his stall not so far from her father's.

Both Tim and Delilah enjoyed the celebrations. The fest was a joyous place to be in. The pomp and grandeur was indeed an incredible sight to see. Soon the Sun settled down, disappearing behind the horizon and moon rose up to illuminate the night sky.

"The real celebrations have begun now," Jessie told Delilah enthusiastically.

Delilah tilted her head to the side but before she could ask anything, the sound of trumpets and drums attracted her attention.

In the middle of the ground where the fest was being held, men playing trumpets and drums entered. Delilah watched enthralled as behind twenty men playing music in an exciting rhythm, four men carried a beautifully decorated palanquin.

As they settled down the palanquin, a man dressed in virgin white robes stepped down. His head was covered with a white turban. The long robes sweeping the floor as he walked.

The crowd had quietened down now, Delilah observed. Just like her, everyone was keenly observing the man as he walked towards the House of Gods, a large monumental building made of pure marble where prayers are held.

"He is the Seer of the town," Jessie informed Delilah.

"Oh, I see," Delilah replied, not knowing what else to say.

"The Seer will pray and then come out to announce the words of God." Jessie continued, "You see that sword-" she pointed out one kept inside a transparent case, "That's a holy sword. The sacrifice will be committed by this sword only."

Delilah hummed in response, standing on her tip toes to see the House of Gods. An hour was spent like this. Timothy looked exhausted, to say the least, but the Seer was yet to come out. Delilah picked him up and settled his chubby body against her hip.

"Let's go home." she softly hummed in his ears making him rest his head on her shoulder and close his eyes. She smiled at the sight and then turned towards Mr Morkel. "Mr Morkel, we must leave now. Timothy is too tired to stay awake any more."

"Ah sure," Mr Morkel said eyeing Timothy, and then turned towards his wife, "-Darling, let's leave. It's too late in the night, I have to leave for Xeanghezha as well. I don't want to get late."

Renee agreed and the five of them were about to leave when trumpets and drums again started playing vigorously loud. They turned around to see the Seer coming out.

He slowly, steadily; with gracious steps, walked towards a dais, embellished with numerous gladiolus and daisies, along with numerous fragrant candlesticks.

Stepping up on the dais, his sharp beady brown eyes browsed the crowd in front of him. He closed his eyes, grasping a pendant on his neck and started chanting hymns Delilah had never heard before. He opened his eyes and said out loud, "Amen." and the crowd followed behind him, shouting in unison with their hands up in the air, "Amen."

"Today, we have gathered here, in this holy congregation, to pay our gratitude to our ultimate Saviour above, our God; for he rescued our ancestors from the blood matted claws of the Demon Lord, Karl. From getting our descent vanished from this land of mortals."

He stopped as the crowd erupted in cheers and claps. As they calmed down, the Seer continued, "Every year, we do this. Pay our gratitude, express how thankful we are; but this year will be different. This time, the Gods above asked for something more."

The people started whispering among each other. Delilah turned towards Jessie who was just as lost as everyone else.

"This time, the Gods want more than animals. More than animals and cattle."

What else, then?

The hushed whispers became more vigorous. The anxiety in the air was palpable. Everybody wondered what the Gods must be wanting, what they could be needing from mere humans like themselves.

"They want more than foods and clothing. They want more than these candlesticks. These daisies, these roses, these gladioluses. They want more than blood, more than animal blood. This time, they want human blood. Virgin human blood. And that is something which we shall give them."

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Thank you for reading xD