Content Warning: Not really, just some spookiness

Rex carried the boy over to a cushioned bench in the front room beneath the front window of the house and gently laid him down there. He then walked around the corner to the kitchen and saw his wife stirring the gayo stew she had just made. He stood there silently for a second admiring how her light brown hair, which had a tinge of red, seemed to radiate as the sunlight shone on it through the fog from outside. After admiring the beauty of his wife he finally decided that he should let her know about the boy so he made his way over to her.

She heard his footsteps and her light blue blouse swirled as she turned to see him. Her round brown eyes looked at him with a gentle gaze as her lips formed a smile and then she asked him, “Why are you back at the house already, weren’t you going start weeding all of the fields today so you could go and look for help when we leave for the fair?”

“I was going to, but I found an unconscious boy in the field. He’s injured so I brought him back here and put him on the bench over there (as he pointed to the front room), I don’t know where he came from.”

“ You found an unconscious boy!? Is he okay? Let me have a look at him” she exclaimed as she quickly made her way to where Rex put the boy.

She looked over the boy and saw the bloody gash on the his head along with a few other wounds that had bled through the his clothes. She finished assessing the boy’s condition and told her husband to put him in their youngest son’s room. Rex obliged and took the boy to the room and set him on the bed after setting a few pieces of cloth over the bed. His wife came in with a rag and some water and cleaned the boy’s gash on his head.

“Love, did you really use the new cloths that I just got from Dal? ‘Sigh’ those were going to be gifts for Uther’s kids” she complained.

“Sorry dear I didn’t know, ill get some new ones tomorrow from the village” Rex apologized.

Irema nodded and refocused on the boy. “Where did you find him?” she asked.

“I saw some birds circling near the edge of the gayo field so I went and found what they were circling and found him.”

“Well he’s staying here until he’s ready to be on his way, I’m not having this boy leaving in any condition other than perfectly healthy,” she told him.

“Irema, we don’t know who he is or where he came from, look, he was wearing this”, Rex showed her the scabbard that the boy had been equipped with earlier. “I’m worried that he’ll cause problems.”

“I don’t care if he had an army with him when you found him, he’s injured and we’re helping him; he looks around the same age as Ruki and you wouldn’t want to send her off like this.”

She had always been stubborn like this when it came to helping people, it was just her nature and he loved her for it.

“Ok, but only until he’s able to be on his way” he relented. ‘Hopefully he wakes up tomorrow and he’ll be on his way’ Rex thought to himself. “Oh by the way, can you keep an eye on him; I’m going to feed the animals. Also could you let Ruki know that im going to need her to help feed the stable?” Rex asked as he made his way out of the room.

“Of course I will love, ooh I can’t wait to see what he’ll think of my gayo soup!” she replied as she excitedly began to think about the different side dishes that she could cook for the boy when he wakes up to go along with the gayo stew.

***

She was running through the fields of her father’s farm. She had no idea what she was doing here but she knew that she had to run from something, or someone. She couldn’t see what was chasing her but she could feel its presence. All she could see when she looked back behind her was a dark shadow. She could here mumbled words coming from behind her as she rushed across the field to her home. The sky swirled with a dark gray and purple haze above her as she felt the chill of the shadow’s presence at her back. She looked back again; it was gaining on her.

She had made it halfway across the field by now and increased her speed but it made no difference because the shadow increased its speed to match her. She didn’t even want to look back anymore as she approached her house. She ran up the wooden steps and across the porch to the front door. She opened it in a rush and slammed it closed behind her; locking it as she retreated towards the middle of the room. She turned and gazed at the door watching for any sign of the shadow.

As the light beneath the door disappeared she backed away slowly. Ice slowly covered the door’s lock until it had been frozen completely. Then with a large shattering noise the frozen pieces of the lock fell to the floor. The handle of the door turned and it slowly opened. She turned and ran to her room. As she locked her door she felt the handle of her door go cold. She ran to her bed across the room and huddled up in the corner under her sheets. She looked out her window as the sky outside slowly turned to a crimson red. It seemed to bleed into the room as the light shone through her window.

She gazed back at her room’s door, uncertain about what she should do. Suddenly her window shattered and the light from outside seemed to dim. The handle to her door froze over and it also shattered. The shadow poured through the hole as if it was a thick liquid where the handle had once been. It settled onto the floor and resembled a dark viscous liquid puddle. The liquid then slowly rose and formed into the shape of a cloaked figure. There was no face, just a shadow under the hood that had formed.

As the frightened girl looked at the darkness where a face should have been she felt as if she was gazing down into the bottomless depths of a dark cave and her body became cold. She watched as the cloaked shadow slowly glided closer and closer to her, its presence growing so strong that she could barely breathe. She tried to scream out but nothing came from her mouth, she was too scared to make a sound or move.

The shadow was now two feet away from her bed. As it crept closer a smell overwhelmed her, it reminded her of the same smell she had experienced when she found one of her fathers sheep torn apart in the field; it was the smell of death. The shadow raised its hands and reached for her. She finally heard what it had been mumbling; it whispered, “Give me your Power”, and grabbed her.