The Gods Liaison

Leto was woken up by the sound of rustling leaves and twigs breaking. He opened his eyes and what he saw made him feel instinctual, primal terror. In front of him, there were beautiful white feathers covering 3 pairs of wings slowly swaying in the wind and a blurry white silhouette of a man standing a few feet away.

The terrifying and beautiful figure was looking down at the two siblings, tilting its head as if it were confused. It stepped forward and Leto recoiled back, afraid of what would happen. The winged being noticed and didn't draw closer as to not frighten the boy more than he already was.

"Don't fear me, I'm here to protect you. But I must ask, why are you here?"

It's voice was clear and calm, with a hint of curiosity.

"I- I ran a- away with my sister… and we fell asleep here."

His voice was quiet amd shaky.

The being stepped closer to the two and knelt down, outstretching a hand.

"I am the protector of this forest. I hope you will abandon fear and allow me to help you two."

Halia woke up from feeling Leto's body shaking with fear in her arms and all the noise. She squeezed Leto a little tighter and opened her eyes, she too started shaking with fear and was frozen.

"Please, calm yourselves. I mean no harm and wish to help you."

Halia's mouth went dry and she tried to respond, but nothing left her dry mouth.

Leto looked at his sister and shifted a little.

"Can we r- really trust you?"

"Of course little one, I've kept you safe during the night and tried my best not to wake either of you. I can bring you to a comfortable cabin within these woods to accommodate you if you so wish."

The sibling locked eyes and glanced at the being. Very slowly, they rose to their feet and nodded. The winged creature stood and turned around, walking towards the previously mentioned cabin. Halia and Leto followed it, not failing to notice multiple dead beasts littering the forest floor.

'He really did keep us safe.'

"Um, sir… what's your name?" Leto asked as he followed the being, holding Halia's hand.

"You can call me Kamari. What about you, little one?"

"I'm Leto, and this is Halia." Leto's voice was still shaken and scared, but he'd gained a little trust in the creature after seeing the dead beasts.

They continued walking for an hour before coming upon a clearing, in the middle was a small cabin. There was smoke rising from its chimney and as they got closer, a pleasant aroma filled their noses. They entered the cabin and were simply amazed. It was practically sparkling with how clean and neat it was, the furniture was soft, the beds were neat, in the kitchen there was a pot boiling above a blue fire.

'Wait… blue flames?'

From the pot, there was a pleasant scent and a delicious stew brewing. The creature told the two of them to make themselves comfortable and that he would handle the food. They were informed that a lake was behind the cabin and if they wished to cleanse themselves, they could.

Behind the cabin, there was a gravestone implanted in the ground, upon it read, "Here lies a hero. Forever remembered, forever a traitor, and now forever resting."

Leto stopped and stared at it for a moment then when his sister called, he moved on and went to the lake. Once they washed themselves, they headed inside and ate a delicacy of which only existed in their dreams before now. The figure guided them to a room that had a closet with some old clothes for them to change into.

Beside the closet there was something covered with a cloth, the outline somewhat resembled a human figure, as if there was a statue underneath it. Leto was curious and decided to remove the cloth to see what was beneath. His eyes widened and he gasped in surprise at the sight.

There was a set of armor that was as dark as night, it was extravagant but a little dusty. It had seen its fare share of fighting as there were many small nicks and scratches on the surface. Leto reached out to touch it but once his hand reached it, the armor disappeared. Halia saw this and grabbed Leto's arm.

"What did you do?"

"I… don't know. I tried to touch it because and once I did, it was gone."

Behind them, the door swung open and the once tranquil and calm being was now fiercely walking towards them. It's head was tilted down a bit, as if glaring at Leto through it eyelids, but they couldn't tell as it was merely a blurry, white silhouette.

"What are you doing? Did I say you could touch that, it's a precious gift, so why did you touch it?"

Leto looked back and he was frozen with dread.

"I- I- … I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

The effigy then noticed that the armor was gone and halted. It tilted its head to the side and looked back and forth from the boy to the empty armor stand.

"Where… is the armor?"

"Well, when I touched it, it was gone."

"You… you're… ."

Leto was now confused, was it mad, was it confused as well, or was it happy?