It's been a long time since I actually posted here, I have my reasons but I won't bore you with them right now. Instead take some time and read this fantasy novella I wrote as an entry to the Sword and Laser anthology competition. I didn't get my story accepted, but I still think it is good and maybe some of you will too. So sit back, relax and enjoy my original story!
Heeding the call
- an origin story
Tears were rolling
down her cheeks. She was lost both physically and mentally and she
didn't know how to become unlost. Everything around her was dark. It
was cold and the wind was blowing. Her cloak was billowing around her
and she had to clutch at it to keep warm. She had been such a fool
running away like she had, but she didn't have any choice at all. Not
really. She couldn't risk hurting her family. What if she ended up
hurting her little brothers with her malady? No, she couldn't think
about it. It would be better if she simply disappeared and left them
with their parents. They would all be happier and safer without her.
The symptoms of her illness had been getting more and more severe as
of late and she knew she couldn't keep hiding them much longer. The
spasms would come during the night, crippling and painful. They made
her curl up in her bed while clutching her abdomen. She often had to
bite her lip to keep from screaming. It was like she had a burning
fire inside of her, coursing through her veins. She had nightmares of
pulsing green eyes that haunted her. Some mornings when she woke up
the sheets would be bathed in sweat and ripped as if some terrible
beast had clawed at them. She would hear a voice in her head that
whispered to her of secrets and fire. The voice never whispered
horrible things, but it was urging her to go somewhere, somewhere she
had never been. She kept seeing images of a house in her mind,
flashes and details. She always saw the same grand old house made
from stone, not notched lumber like she was used to. It was abandoned
long ago and overgrown with ivy. Broken shards of glass from the
windows and crumbling stone littered the grounds around it. Layers of
dust could be seen on the inside. The visions came and went, more and
more frequently over the past weeks. Slowly she had been feeling like
she was loosing her grip on reality. She couldn't tell if the
thoughts in her head were her own or belonging to the mysterious
voice. Constantly hearing things had also made her jumpy. She had
almost hit one of her brothers with a large wooden log once when he
had tried to sneak up on her to scare her as a prank while she was
chopping wood. She had screamed like a wild animal and had almost
bashed his head in. He had cried then and she had dropped the log
instantly to bend down and comfort him, but he had backed away from
her before running of. She had scared him and it had hurt so badly,
like someone had torn her heart out of her chest. That's why she had
to run away. She couldn't trust herself around others, not unless she
was able to cure this madness. She didn't think she would be able to
though, she had known a man who heard voices in his head once. She
had loved him and he had killed himself. She had seen his body
swinging from the great pine tree that stood not far away from their
hut. The entire village had seen it for that matter. He had been her
husband, and a very troubled man. The voices in his head had driven
him mad too, but his voices had been worse than hers. They had told
him to murder her. To eat her flesh. Sometimes in his sleep he would
speak with the voice of someone else. He would threaten her, lie to
her and tell her of all the evil things he wanted to do to her. It
had frightened her something fierce every time it happened. She had
tried talking to her husband while he was sleep talking, but it was
like talking to a stranger, someone she didn't know and who decidedly
did not like her. Whenever she told him of the things he said in his
sleep he would hug her and beg her forgiveness. She would always
forgive him, because she knew that he was not himself whenever it
happened. It didn't mean that she was not scared, but she tried very
hard to hide it from him. Once, and only once the stranger had taken
hold of him. He had drawn a knife and tried to kill her. He had
managed to cut her arm when she had tried to get away from him. The
sight of the blood streaming from the cut had brought her husband
back to her though and he had fallen to the floor, burying his face
in his hands. He had sobbed violently and she had knelt down beside
him to comfort him even though she had been the one with the knife
wound. In the end he hadn't been able to take it anymore. He had hung
himself because he didn't want to hurt her. He would rather kill
himself than harm his family. He hadn't left her any note, because he
couldn't write or read, and neither could she. She hadn't needed a
note to know, to understand why he had done it. She knew, and she had
admired him for it. She didn't blame him for the choice he made, but
she missed him terribly. Despite his illness he had been a good
husband and life had been very empty after his passing. Had it not
been for her parents and her siblings she might have hung herself as
well. Her brothers had been too young to remember what had happened
when her husband had killed himself so they did not understand her
sadness. She had never told them about it either. They didn't need to
be burdened with such a heavy and dark story. Now she almost wished
she had hung herself. It would have been better to be dead than to be
walking alone in the deep dark of night, freezing and wet and hungry
with a strange voice in her head as the only thing to keep her
company. Unfortunately she didn't have her husbands courage, so what
other choice did she have. She pulled her cloak tighter around her
shoulders and continued to walk, tears still streaming down her face.
She had no idea of where she was, but somehow that didn't seem to
matter anymore. Lost or not she was putting a greater distance
between herself and her family with every step she took.
The sun was shining,
after the darkness of the night it was almost blindingly bright as
she pried her eyes open. It was cold despite the sunlight, her breath
came out as little puffs of mist, and the ground felt hard and cold
beneath her. Her clothes felt like the moisture had seeped through
them, but she hoped that they would feel warmer and drier as soon as
she got up and started moving. Last night felt more like the memory
of a nightmare than reality. She remembered little of it. At some
point she had been too tired and sleepy to keep going so she had
huddled down at the foot of a large tree with her cloak wrapped
around herself. She had fallen asleep almost instantaneously sinking
into her nightmares once again. In the light of day the surrounding
forest looked very different to her. If asked she wouldn't have known
which way she came from or which way she should go. Her stomach was
growling and she hadn't brought any food along for the journey. Food
was scant enough at this time of year, and her family needed it more
than she did. She wondered what they were doing now. The thought
alone brought tears to her eyes. She blinked them away and tried to
suppress the memory of their smiling faces, and warm embraces. If she
thought about them too much her resolve might waver and she might
turn back. Instead she got to her feet and started walking. It was
better to occupy her mind, looking for food, berries or nuts or
anything else that would be edible. She spent some time foraging the
forest floor. She came across an area where big ripe blueberries were
growing. She sat down among the berries and ate as much as she could
stomach. Her fingers had turned a dark shade of pinkish purple before
she finished. She gathered a few handfuls in the pocket of her apron
before she got back up again, and tried to decide on a general
direction she could follow. She wasn't sure why, but she felt herself
moving towards the east. It was like some invisible hand was nudging
her to go that way. “Yes, that way Hana, east is the right way”
the now familiar voice in her head whispered. Up until now she had
ignored it at every turn, but now that she was on her own and could
not pose any harm to anyone but herself she didn't see much harm in
indulging it this once. So she went east, deeper into the forest. She
walked all that day and the next day, only stopping to rest or gather
food and water. At night she would hear the noises of large animals
in the distance. Wolves would howl and the sound of their cries would
echo between the distant mountains. One night she actually climbed a
tree to make sure she would be safe. She tried to sleep, but the
constant fear of falling made that impossible. The nightly spasms
were still there too of course, they hadn't changed and they made it
hard for her to restore her strength and her mental faculties. The
voice in her head was getting louder and louder. It was no longer a
whisper, it spoke now. She could hear that it was the voice of a
male, if it was an old or young voice she couldn't tell, but it was a
pleasant voice. It was no longer as scary as it had been when it was
only a whisper. She found that fact slightly strange, but her
fatigued mind and body was not capable of caring about it overly
much. Maybe it was less scary now because it seemed more real
somehow? The voice itself was growing annoyingly chirpy, almost
cheering her on. It beckoned her to keep going. She was so close now
it kept telling her. She had no idea what it was she was close to,
and if she was honest she didn't really care as long as she could
rest easily for one night. Her feet were aching, and her legs were
scraped from climbing through bushes and up and down hills. To sit
inside with a warm fire and plenty to eat would be heavenly. The
fifth day of her journey she came upon a small road or maybe it was a
large path, she couldn't tell if there was any difference. It wound
away in front of her like a brown ribbon amidst a sea of green There
were signs of recent passage but it was obviously not a road that was
much traveled. Since it seemed to continue more or less eastward and
it also offered her an easier route to travel than the forest did she
simply chose to follow it. Not having to struggle with difficult
underbrush or branches slapping her in the face was like a blessing
from above. She didn't even consider the possible threat of lurking
bandits. This road had been out of use for a long time and bandits
usually preyed where people traveled regularly, or so she had been
told by a merchant once. The road seemed endless to Hana as she
walked. There was no way of telling where it lead, but since she
didn't have any particular place she needed to get to and because the
voice in her head was quiet for the time being she simply soldiered
on. When the night started to fall upon her once again she decided
that she would stop and find a suitable tree to seek shelter under,
but before she could even begin to look for one she was startled by a
loud howl that ripped through the silent night. It was accompanied by
several other howls, and they were terrifyingly close. Hana felt her
heart start to beat furiously inside her chest, and sweat prickled up
on her neck and hands. This was bad. She had no chance of outrunning
a pack of wolves or fending one of for that matter. It wasn't full
dark yet and she could see dark shadows moving amongst the trees.
Some of those shadows stopped to regard her for a while. She could
feel their eyes on her and she realized that she was holding her
breath, afraid to move or make even the slightest of sounds. They had
wolves in the woods near her home too, but they never came close to
humans unless they were starving and were looking for food. She had
never faced wolves in the middle of the wild and she only had a small
knife in her belt. It was not a weapon, it was just for cutting
pieces of meat or fruit and wouldn't help her much against a wild
animal with fangs and claws. The longer she stood there the more she
got the feeling that these were not ordinary wolves. They were
bigger, and their eyes were brighter. Some of the wolves had emerged
from the foliage, circling around her. She could hear low growling
from some of them. They were great shaggy beasts, easily twice the
size of the normal wolves back home. Their teeth were long and yellow
and their clawed paws were quite large. She swallowed hard, trying to
remember how to breathe. “Help” she muttered weakly to herself.
Hana expected to be torn to pieces as soon as one of the wolves
decided he had had enough of circling her body. When she heard the
sudden unexpected sound of a blaring horn and of galloping hooves
behind her the relief was so great she actually fainted on the spot.
Had she been awake she would have seen a man in a cloak sitting
astride a great horse charging into the pack of wolves. His horse
came dangerously close to trampling her prone body, but deftly jumped
over her and skidded to a halt in the middle of the path. The man
atop it was brandishing a great burning torch in one hand and a long
gleaming sword in the other. The wolves were furious, but shied away
from the fire, they were deathly afraid of it and would not come near
it. When they tried to snap at the horse's legs they quickly found
that it was a bad idea as one of the wolves tasted the steel of the
mans blade. It was not enough to kill it, not instantly at least. The
injured wolf yelped and fell over in pain. The other wolves tried to
get close to the horse a couple more times but to no avail, the horse
kicked wildly at them and the torch was a constant threat. At last
they gave up and retreated. The wolf that had been wounded was left
behind, it whimpered pathetically where it lay. The man jumped down
from the horse and approached the wolf. The torch he had put down on
the ground close to Hana. The wolf growled at him as he got close,
but the man did not react to it. Instead he looked at the wound in
the faint light of the torch. It was too great, the wolf was dying
slowly. He did not want to see it suffer so he raised his sword, then
drove it deeply into the animals neck giving it a quick and clean
death. After cleaning the blood of the great wolf from his blade the
man turned around towards the fainted woman he had just saved. She
was a small thing with dark blonde or pale brown wavy hair cropped to
her shoulders, she was not a very beautiful girl, but pretty enough
in a plain sort of way. She wore simple clothes so he thought she
might be a peasant or a low born villager. The question he could not
answer was why she was all alone in the middle of the Grey Forest at
night. He would have to ask her that when she awoke. He picked her up
and carried her to his horse where he slung her across it's back in
front of his saddle before he himself climbed into it. Then he rode
off in the same direction from whence he had come, further east along
the same path Hana had followed all day.
Her mind was filled
with howling wolves, they were chasing her and snapping at her feet.
She was running out of breath and her chest burned, it would not be
long until she would fall and they would be upon her. As she ran the
howls of the wolves turned into roars, and the wolves had turned into
dragons with sparkling green eyes. Their mouths were open and fire
was brewing within. Right before the dragons were about to breathe
their deadly fires down upon her she woke up with a start. Sitting up
straight she found herself staring into a bright and cheerful camp
fire. It was still dark, but she thought that it might be close to
dawn. Next to the fire sat a man. His skin was fair, his hair was
dark and wild reaching to right below his ears. She could see that he
was slender, but strong. He wore sturdy clothes of good quality that
were only slightly frayed and worn, and his skin was only lightly
colored by the sun so he had probably never worked a field in his
life. No, he was definitely not a farmer, he looked more like a
fighting man. He was handsome, very handsome. That however did not
make her less anxious. Pretty faces could hide ugly secrets. She
gathered her cloak tightly around her and discovered that she had
been wrapped in blankets. She looked at the stranger that was sitting
across from her. She tried to say something, but she didn't know how
to start, and so she sat their staring at him with her mouth hanging
half open. It seemed like he understood that she was struggling with
uncertainty and initiated the conversation instead. “Bad dreams?”
he inquired one eyebrow raised. She nodded meekly. “Yes, very bad
dreams.” She held her hands up against the fire to warm them, and
also to have something else to focus on instead of the strangers
face.”I hope this is not very rude to ask, but who are you and how
did I get here .The last thing I remember is wolves and darkness and
the sound of a horn.” The stranger grinned at her. “It is not
rude at all, I am Aru. I am a traveling sell-sword and a minstrel and
the horn you heard was mine. I had just set up camp for the night
when I thought I heard something and decided to investigate. I saw
you standing there surrounded by the beasts and thought that it would
be a shame to let a pretty girl go to waste like that. I blew the
horn to distract them and then I charged. You probably fainted from
fright so I took you back to my camp and made sure you wouldn't get
cold while you were unconscious.” He told the story with a smug
look on his face, like rescuing damsels in distress was a simple task
for a man like him. Hana screwed up her face at that, she wasn't sure
she liked him at all. Aru didn't seem to have noticed her dislike, he
was too busy studying her face. Now that she was awake Aru could see
that her eyes were almost as blue as the sky above on a sunny day.
Maybe she wasn't as plain as he had originally thought, or maybe it
was just her personality that made her seem more attractive. He
wasn't sure. Hana at least had the manners to thank him for his
help.”Thank you Aru, I owe you my life.” Aru waved his hand at
her, pretending to not care about it. “Never mind it. I was happy
to help. I'm sure you would have done the same if you were in my
stead.” Hana smiled at him, not so sure she would have. She was
after all going insane, mad people weren't necessarily the most
reliable of saviors. She said nothing of it though. Aru continued to
talk however. “If you don't mind, I would very much like to know
your name miss, and your reasons for being all alone in the middle of
the Grey Forest at night.” She bit her lip, not knowing what to
say. Thinking about why she was here made her want to cry. Tears were
pressing their way out of her eyes, but she pushed them back. She
would not cry, not in front of this stranger. With a gargantuan
effort she steadied her voice and said “My name is Hana, and, and
I' ran away from home. I have been walking for days with no idea of
where I was. To me this forest is all just a world of green.” His
eyebrows creased, and he looked at her inquiringly. “Why did you
run away?” She tried to speak, to say anything but the words
wouldn't come. They had been blocked by a large hard lump that had
lodged itself in her throat. The tears came unbidden to her eyes
again, and she choked on them before she began to sob. She was so
tired, and she had kept her dark secret hidden for so long. She
couldn't take it any longer. “I had to run away, I had no choice. I
am loosing my mind! I hear a voice in my head, it bids me do things
and whispers secrets to me. I have nightmares, horrible nightmares
where green eyes and fire surrounds me and while I dream I thrash
like an animal and rip the sheets, and I have no idea how it happens.
I'm turning into a monster just like my husband!” The last sentence
came out as a miserable wail. Once she had started to share her
troubles she seemed to be unable to stop. It felt so good to confess
her fears to another human being. If he left her she wouldn't blame
him at all, at least she had been able to tell someone about it. It
was a terribly selfish thing to do, but she didn't care. She didn't
know what she had expected, but she had not expected the gentle touch
of a sympathetic calloused hand on her shoulder. “There there, I am
sure it is not all that bad” Aru said somewhat awkwardly. His voice
betrayed how utterly uncomfortable he was. It was clear that he was
not used to wailing women worrying about their sanity, then again who
would be? He was comforting her the way one would do a crying child.
His awkward sympathy and clear discomfort was almost funny, and she
could not help but laugh a little. This seemed to confuse him even
further. “Please, forgive me! I didn't mean to burden you like
this. I wasn't going to say anything about it really. I just couldn't
help myself, and here you sit trying to comfort a mad stranger..I
just had to laugh.” He smiled at her then and then he too laughed,
albeit a little nervously. They sat in silence for a long time after
that, while the sky grew lighter as the dawn broke and the sun
started creeping over the horizon. “Where are you going to go now?”
he asked her. Hana thought about it for a little while. “I don't
know, I only know I have to go east. There is a place not far from
here that I need to find. At least that's what the voice keeps
telling me. It's quite persistent.” she said hesitantly and sighed.
“I suppose I have to get going. I don't want to be a bother to you
anymore.” As she got to her feet so too did Aru. He held his hands
out to stop her. “I can't possibly let you wander of on your own
like this. You don't have any food or a horse, and you are clearly
not well. Let me take you where you need to go at least, it is not an
inconvenience I promise it. I was going east myself.” He didn't
really know why he was so intent on helping her, but he felt
responsible for her somehow, having saved her life and all that. He
was also quite curious about what mysterious thing it was the alleged
voice was guiding her towards.
They had been
traveling together for several hours when they glimpsed a tall stone
tower in the distance. The voice in Hana's head became extremely
excited at the sight of it. “There, go there! You are near. Hurry
to the manse!” Hana drew in her breath sharply, which Aru noticed.
“What is it?” Hana pointed at the spire. “That is where I am
going.” Aru looked at the tower and then back at her.”Alright,
then that is where we are going.” She nodded tentatively. It wasn't
that she didn't appreciate Aru's offer to help her on her way, but
she didn't know if she could trust him. He had saved her life sure,
and he had not claimed any reward for it, but she kept thinking that
there must be something else than valor motivating him. She had seen
him casting appraising glances her way back at the camp. Most
sell-swords she had met were rough men with basic manners and basic
appetites. Why would he be an exception to the rule. So far he hadn't
done or said anything inappropriate, in fact he had said precious
little at all. She didn't think she would share a whole lot about
herself to a mentally ill person she had just met either, so she
didn't blame him. They were both sitting on top of Aru's horse. She
was sitting in front of him, desperately clinging to the saddle. When
Aru spurred his horse on towards the tower, Hana tightened her grip
on the saddle horn as the horse started moving at a greater pace. She
was definitely not used to riding yet and having a man this close to
her again was a strange sensation. She could feel his breath on her
neck now and then. It gave her goosebumps and she almost felt guilty
for liking the press of his body against hers. She was a widow after
all. It felt unseemly even for a young widow to feel like this, but
she still did.
They cleared a bend
in the road and in front of them a large mansion revealed itself
almost hidden amongst trees and ivy. It was surrounded by a tall
stone wall, and wrought iron gates were set into it. They were rusty
and one of them had fallen almost all the way of it's hinges. The
windows were all dark and most of them were missing panels of glass.
Here and there pieces of the building and the wall had tumbled to the
ground and were littering the grounds around the house. The grass in
what had at some point probably been a pristine garden had grown tall
and wild. Finding this house was like walking into a dream. It looked
just like her visions had showed her, only it was bigger than she had
imagined it to be. To her it looked almost like a castle. The tower
they had seen was the tallest part of the building and was situated
on the left side of the house farthest away from them. It was so
strange. The house was real! It hadn't been a figment of her
imagination. Did that mean that she wasn't going insane after all? If
this was true then what of all her terrible nightmares? She shuddered
and Aru asked “Is something wrong?”
“I have seen this
place before in my dreams and in visions.”
“That can't be
true, I mean unless you are a seer or something of the sort.”
Hana shook her head.
“I can assure you that I am not a seer or a witch or a sorceress, I
just know that I have seen this place before. It's calling to me, or
something inside it is calling to me, I don't know which it is. I
just know I have to go there!” Her eyes had taken on a glazed
distant look and her words trailed away. The voice within her head
had grown so strong and urgent, it was as if a choir was chanting
inside her mind, blocking out everything but the house itself and the
strange beckoning from within it. She scrambled down from the horse
frantically and started running towards the house. Before Aru could
dismount and tie up his horse she had disappeared through the rusted
gates and was halfway to the main door of the sprawling mansion. Upon
reaching the door she grabbed the handle and yanked it hard. The door
flew open and then fell of it's frame slamming loudly as it hit the
ground next to her. She paid the door no notice. She felt delirious
as she sprinted past it and into the gloom of a long forgotten hall.
She had started to talk to herself, but the words were not hers. ?Up
the stairs, follow the hallway, you are near, do you feel it?? She
felt it, something unexplainable that was pulling her onward. Her
feet never wavered for they knew exactly where they were going. She
thought she could vaguely hear someone calling her name in the
distance but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the voice. She
turned a corner and at the end of the hallway she was following there
was an open doorway. She knew instantly that this was where she was
meant to go. A faint glowing light that looked almost green was
pulsing beyond it. She started running again and almost fell as she
skidded to a halt inside an old room. It was large, maybe it had been
a study of some sort or a dining hall. There was little evidence to
support either theory. The only things in the room was a stone chair
on which sat a decomposed and dusty skeleton wearing moldy robes that
had in their day been made from the finest velvets. Had she not been
completely distracted by the delirium of her mind the sight of it
would have shocked and repulsed her greatly. The only thing she cared
about right now however was the source of the green glow. It was
coming from an object, a tiny clear gemstone resting on a stone
pillar or stand of some kind that was covered with a moth eaten piece
of cloth. The stand was situated at the far side of the room. She
walked towards it with slow sure steps. The voice in her head spoke
to her once more. ?This is what you have come for, you must take the
stone and swallow it! It is the only way to release the spirit
within. There is no time to explain it any further, quickly now
before he wakes!? In her trance Hana could do nothing but obey the
voice. She reached out with a tanned hand, picked up the gem and
placed it in her mouth. A tiny part of her that was still herself
screamed that this was madness, but the other voice quickly drowned
it out. She swallowed and felt the stone glide down her throat,
scraping it raw. Once inside her the gem blazed to life. It felt like
her insides were on fire, just like in her nightly spasms. She
clutched her stomach and chest in agony. Was she going to die now?
The pain she had experienced earlier was as nothing compared to this.
She doubled over as the sensation spread to her arms and legs and her
head. It forced her to her knees and further down until she was
reduced to crawling on the floor. The world was on fire around her it
seemed. Her mind swam with the burning image of green eyes the color
of emeralds and the now familiar voice thundered in her head. “I am
the great dragon Velheran, and you are my mortal instrument, the only
soul to heed my calling in the lapse of thousands of years. Long has
my essence been imprisoned in this stone by the sorcerer to which
this place once belonged, but now you have broken my prison and for
that I am forever thankful towards you human. Now my spirit can find
rest at last. As a token for your service I give you what little
remains of my once vast powers. May they serve you better than they
have served me.” With that the voice faded and the world around her
slowly returned back to normal leaving her on the cold floor heaving
for her breath. The presence of the voice was gone making her head
feel almost empty. She could feel a tingling sensation that was
running through her entire body however. She could also hear
footsteps scuffling across the floor near to her and she lifted her
head thinking that it was Aru finally catching up to her. It was not.
The skeleton in it's moldy robes had risen from the stone chair and
was slowly shambling towards her. It's eyes and mouth and nose were
missing, but she could swear that it looked sentient. A hissing voice
emanated from the empty husk and she could feel some dark power
building in the room. “You dare destroy what is mine, you
insignificant little worm! I don't know what brought you here, but I
am going to destroy you and then I am going to paint the walls with
your blood as a warning to others who might be foolish enough to
enter!” Hana was completely baffled for a split second and then she
screamed, completely struck with horror. The undead skeleton grabbed
her arm and yanked her to her feet. The touch of it's bony fingers
hurt and sent a dirty slimy sensation through her. At that moment Aru
came crashing into the room with his sword drawn. He had been looking
for her everywhere but had not been able to find her before he had
heard her scream. As he laid his eyes upon the skeletal abomination
he recoiled in fear, but quickly gathered his wits when he saw that
it had gotten a hold of Hana. He bellowed and charged, slashing his
sword down intending to crush the skull of his opponent. The skeletal
creature simply flicked it's hand in his direction and Aru was sent
flying through the room. He slammed into a wall and tumbled
unconsciously to the ground. His sword skittering across the floor.
The skeleton then returned his attention to Hana once more. Twisting
her wrist until she thought it would snap. She screamed in pain and
it looked to her like the skeleton was smiling. How was this
possible, magic like this didn't exist. It belonged in fairy tales
and legends they weren't supposed to be true! She was scared, but she
was getting angry too. The last few days had seen her beaten down,
scared, starving and alone. She had been a victim to her imagined
disease for so long, too long. She refused to remain a victim. If
this vile thing intended to kill her she would fight it until her
last breath. Her chances were minimal,in fact they were none
existent, but she would not lie down to die. Not now when she had
finally reclaimed her lost sanity. On pure impulse she stretched out
her free hand and grabbed the underside of the skeletons jaw and then
she yanked at it as hard as she could. With a dry tearing sound the
bone and remaining ligaments snapped and the jaw came flying off.
Absolutely shocked she looked at her own hand as it dropped the
remains of the jaw to the ground. Where had that strange power come
from?! She had no time to think about it though, as the skeleton
roared wildly in rage. It had let go of her arm and she could almost
feel the dark magic the undead sorcerer was about to unleash upon her
as he started chanting. There was nothing else to do but try to
interrupt the spell. She gathered her courage and then she ran
straight into the sorcerer, knocking both him and herself to the
ground in a tangle of arms and legs and dust. The skeleton roared
once more while it clawed after her face. She fended it off to the
best of her ability, but somehow it managed to wrap it's hands around
her neck. It was attempting to squeeze the life out of her. The
enormous pressure cut of her oxygen supply quite effectively and she
could feel a pressure building followed by a lightheaded sensation.
Her eyes were bulging from their sockets and her face was turning
red. Her eyes started rolling and she felt herself losing
consciousness. She struggled against it and struck her hands against
the skeletons chest. Sparks suddenly flew from her fingers followed
by long twisting tendrils of green energy. They crackled and spat and
danced around the skeletal figure forcing him to loosen his grip on
her throat. The air smelled of burning flesh and fabric. It was
enough to make her want to gag, but she didn't dare take her focus of
the magic flowing from her hands. The undead sorcerer was writhing
below her violently. Smoke was rising from him and she could see that
the animated corpse had started to disintegrate. Bits and pieces kept
falling of it and vanishing in small puffs of green sparks. The
skeleton finally let out an almost human wail of pain and bitter
disappointment before the rest of it's remains simultaneously
exploded into a million little green embers that danced through the
room. She was left sitting on her knees all alone surrounded by
fading green embers. She heaved for breath and a fatigue like she had
never felt before washed over her. Her eyes rolled into the back of
her head and she fell to the ground.
She awoke to the
sound of crackling flames like she had done once before and for a
moment she thought she might have been dreaming, but this time it was
different. It was the middle of the day, and she could hear birds
chirping in nearby trees. Aru was sitting next to the fire, roasting
some rabbit on a spit. When he saw that she was awake he scooted
closer to her. “Good, you are awake. I thought you might not make
it.” She looked questioningly at him. “What happened? Where are
we?”
”Not far from that
evil place. I came to my senses as darkness started to fall and I saw
you slumped over on the floor. I thought you were dead.” A look of
shame came upon his face. The fact that he had been knocked about
like a rag doll unable to help seemed to have been a very humbling
experience for him. “You should see yourself, you're covered in
scratches and bruises, especially around your neck.” He shook his
head and continued. “I have no idea what happened but it seems that
shambling horror has vanished. I searched the grounds after I carried
you outside, but saw no trace of it.?”
“You won't find
any trace of it either” she said. Her memory returning to her
rapidly. “I destroyed it.” Aru's eyes widened. “How?!” She
creased her eyebrows as she tried to gather all the loose ends in her
memory and then she described to him what had happened when she
swallowed the gemstone, and the following battle with the undead
skeleton sorcerer she had inadvertently raised from it's slumber. Aru
whistled, looking incredulous. Had he not witnessed the skeleton with
his own eyes he would probably not have believed her at all.
He was silent for a
while, looking like he was trying to find something appropriate to
say. When he finally spoke he said “There's something else you need
to know. You, erhm, well you look very different.”
“Different how?”
Aru didn't say
anything, he just handed her a small steel mirror. She gazed into it
and almost dropped it in pure shock. Her hair had gone a pale pale
green, it was almost white. Her eyes too had turned green, emerald
green like the eyes of the dragon. She held a shaking hand up to her
mouth and looked at him with disbelief clearly written on her face.
She didn't know how to react to the unexpected change at all. Aru
thought she might be unhappy and tried to comfort her. “It is not
so bad. I quite like it actually. It makes you look mysterious and
exotic.” She shook her head slowly. “It is going to take some
time to get used to I think.” She stared at herself in the mirror
once more, unable to speak for some time. Aru smiled and said “well,
at least we know one thing. You're not out of your mind.” She
beamed brightly at him then. That much was true, the voice was gone
now and there was no tugging in her to go anywhere in particular or
do anything at all. The dragon was gone, it's spirit had moved on to
some other existence she guessed and had left her with what it
considered to be grand gifts. She could still feel a faint tingling
sensation coursing through her body. The only pain she could feel was
the soreness of her muscles and the bruises on her body. The joy of
being freed however was quickly replaced by a depressing thought.
There was no way she could return to her family like this. They would
not understand, and she was not entirely certain that she wanted to
go back to all the memories of her past life that haunted her old
home. “So what happens now?” she asked Aru in a careful and
uncertain tone. She fully expected him to leave and go about his own
business now that she was well again and this strange business was
over. He shrugged and sighed. “I'm not sure, I simply go where
there is money to be made. I heard rumors of a struggle between some
lords further east. That is where I was going before I met you.”
Hana nodded understandingly. “So many things have changed. I can't
go back home and I have nowhere else to go. You are the only one I
know outside the village. Would it be possible to go with you, at
least to the next village you come upon?” He smiled mischievously.
?I wouldn't mind some company. It is a long way to where I am going.?
She smiled too, she was actually starting to like Aru's easygoing and
confident nature, nothing seemed to bother him for long. It would be
nice to have such a friend by her side as she began to discover a new
life, a new world and her new powers. “Alright, I will go with you,
and we'll see what the future might hold.” Aru smiled then and they
shook on it. They had some of the roasted rabbit that Aru had
prepared. Hana could not remember ever having a better meal and felt
her spirits slowly being restored. After filling their stomachs they
packed up their improvised camp and headed out into the surrounding
forest, striking east once more. Hana contemplated to herself that it
was quite exciting not knowing what might await over the next hill
top. She was done being the unhappy widow, she was free now to be
whoever she wanted to be.
