In a rural village of Oakenford.
True to its name, the village is surrounded by oak forests, near a shallow part of a river. The place is peaceful, quiet, and filled mostly with elderly folks, far removed from the noise of city life.
A boy named Eli staggered under the weight of a water bucket, perched carefully atop his small shoulders. He's determined to walk straight to the horse stables.
"Hup!"
He put down the bucket and wiped his sweat, heaving a sigh of relief. His morning job consists of cleaning the stables and feeding the horses of his grandpa who adopted him a few months ago.
"Alright, time to eat."
He reached out with a handful of hay, smiling as the horse munched contentedly.
"He he, good boy."
He patted the horse's head, then brushed the grass off his clothes.
After the morning tending to the horses, he has to go to their inn to be the errand boy, and serve the customers.
"Hey, kid. Do you know a place that sells good food here?"
Just as he was about to go, he heard a voice behind his back. He turned around and saw a young man smiling at him.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, wearing black clothes. Eli stared at the man's golden eyes that looked straight at him, as if piercing through his soul.
'Ah.'
He had almost forgotten.
This man had asked him for a good place to eat.
"Uhm, I know an inn near here. They make delicious rib soup."
The black-haired man in front of him smiled and nodded,
"Can you take me there?"
"Yes..."
For a second, it looked like the man was glowing.
Was it just his imagination?
Eli shook his head and guided the stranger to his grandfather's place.
Thrive and Hope Inn.
His grandpa changed the name of his inn in mind that Eli would thrive and continue to hope for his future.
"Eli, are you done with the horses?"
His grandpa approached him when they stepped inside the inn.
"You brought a friend?"
Eli blushed and looked at the young man behind him.
"N, no, grandpa… He's a customer."
The man behind him smirked and patted his head.
"What, so your family owns this inn?"
Eli quickly ran away from the hand patting him and said,
"I, it's true that grandpa makes delicious rib soup! I didn't lie…sir."
"No matter. I'm starving, so anything would taste good, at this point."
The man who looked like he just entered adulthood sat down on an empty chair, and turned to Eli's grandfather.
"Hey, old man. Let me taste that delicious rib soup of yours."
The owner smiled at them.
"I'll go get it."
Eli looked at his grandfather and the customer while blushing. He didn't lie but he somehow felt embarrassed.
It did not take long for Eli to go and get the soup for the customer.
The black-haired man thanked him while Eli smiled. He was about to go back to the kitchen when he heard the customer speak again.
"Tell your grandpa I will stay here for the night if there's an available room. I can pay up front."
He took a sip from his soup and smiled at the child,
"You're right. It really is delicious. Thank you, kid."
Eli's green pupils shimmered, and his plump cheeks blushed once more.
His embarrassment made the young man flinching go unnoticed.
He couldn't help himself,
"E, excuse me, may I ask for your name?"
The young man opened his mouth, but didn't speak. He looked around and overheard the table on his right.
"Chad, did you see it?"
"Yeah. I'm certain."
The two men wearing straw hats on the other table nodded at the same time.
The black-haired man finally answered to Eli,
"You can call me Chad."
Eli's eyes flashed. He nodded quietly at the customer and quickly ran inside the kitchen to his grandpa.
The man who called himself Chad looked at the place where Eli disappeared to and frowned. He put his hand on his forehead, looked down at his soup, and sighed.
"...How troublesome."
***
Night came, and Eli knocked on Chad's door, holding a warm blanket on his arms.
"Mr. Chad, grandpa wanted me to give you this."
Chad opened the door and he saw the boy's clear green eyes while holding a blanket almost bigger than his small body.
"Thank you."
He took the blanket from the kid's arms and sent him away.
Eli stared at the door closed outside Chad's room. His mouth opened. He wanted to say something, but decided not to speak.
He shook his head, slapped his face, and faced forward.
'Let's not think too much.'
"Hmpf?!"
A cloth was pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to turn around to see who assaulted him, but to no end.
The man behind him is covering his face with a black cloth.
"Don't make this hard for both of us, kid."
Eli tried to shake him off and struggle but he could feel his body losing strength.
"Mmhrm! Mmph!"
His small body stood no chance against the grip of the adult holding him behind.
The men dragged him away, into the night.
As his consciousness slowly drifted away, Eli looked at the door to Chad's room. His hand reached out, only to drift away in silence.
***
On the outskirts in the oak forest. Two men dressed in white clothes with black cloaks on, and wearing straw hats. One of them is tall and thin, while the other is smaller in height and wider in size.
Eli slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he noticed is how dark his surroundings are. His vision was hazy, barely seeing the two men sitting in front of him.
'The customers earlier!'
Even though their faces are covered, he recognized who they were.
He remembered there were two men wearing straw hats on the table besides the one where Mr. Chad was sitting at the inn.
"W, why did you take me here? I, I don't have anything of value! I'm just a poor errand boy, I don't have any money–ugh!"
He tried to stand up but fell back. His body was tightly tied up on a tree behind him.
The chubby kidnapper scoffed.
"You don't have to tell us that. We already know, kid."
The other one laughed,
"Don't worry. We're not interested in anything like that."
He came closer to Eli and grinned,
"You do have something of value, though. Extremely valuable."
"Wha–?!"
The tall man pried Eli's eye open. When his green pupils shone brightly, revealing a glowing sphere inside, the kidnapper grinned viciously and licked his lips.
"Oho, you're right!"
He looked at his buddy while laughing.
"This kid really does have a mark! Are you an Archeion or an heir? Well, either way, this is a jackpot for us!"
The chubby man in mask quickly ran to take a closer look.
"Hah! How does a kid like you even have this? And in a secluded place like this, too!"
"We went here to rest, but who would have thought? What luck! Hu hu hu!"
The two masked men started grinning.
Their laughs sound like demons laughing to Eli's ears.
His body started trembling in fear. His face was confused.
'Mark? Arche… What? What is that? I don't understand a thing about what they're saying…'
He really did not understand. This is the first time he's heard of anything like it. The young boy was confused.
His lips shivered.
"W, what is a mark? I don't have anything like that! Don't you think you got the wrong idea here?"
Maybe they really did get him wrong. Perhaps he can convince them to let him go. They look extremely dangerous. He wants to run away. He had a feeling that if he stayed any longer with these two, he might really be taken away without his grandpa even knowing what had happened to him!
The tall man smiled,
"Ha, you don't even know what a mark is? Did you inherit it without even knowing? What an unlucky kid you are! Well, honestly, I feel bad taking a kid like you to our boss anyway, so let me at least tell you something."
The same kidnapper patted Eli's shoulder, and the man pointed to his own eyes.
"What you have inside your eyes is called a Divine Mark. It contains a power passed down from the previous owners of the mark to their predecessors. The owner had to give you the mark personally on their own accord, and only descendants from the divine clans can get it."
"I really don't know how a human kid like you from a rural place like this got ahold of one, but that's how it usually is. Not everyone can get a divine mark, you know? It's also not something you can buy with money! Tsk, truly a waste to let it be in your tiny, puny hands! That's why we'll offer you to our boss! That way, you can also let go of the burden of having one! Isn't that nice of us? He he."
The kidnapper shook his head as if it's a pity to leave something so precious in his hands.
However, Eli retorted.
"That can't be! There's no way I have something like that!"
"Stop denying it! We saw what we saw. Don't you also have any strange abilities or powers? You should have felt it, too. That's all because of the divine mark you possess! Don't whine too much. Don't worry, if you're an Archeion, then we'll let you live after we extract your divine mark, so just cooperate with us for a bit, okay? You have no use for it, anyway."
'A, Archeion? what? Abilities? Powers?'
Eli's eyes widened.
Yes, he does have something. A strange ability. A strange power.
Something he never told anyone about, except his grandpa.
For example, he can tell when someone is lying to him or not.
'You'll let me live?'
His green pupils glowed. He grit his teeth.
'That's a blatant lie!'
"What a load of bullshit."
He was about to open his mouth when he heard someone speak before him.
Eli turned to the direction of the voice in shock. He saw a young man with black hair and golden eyes.
Chad was looking at the kidnappers, as if his day was ruined by something trivial.
"M, Mr. Chad?"
Eli blurted out.