The Charred Village

Not too long after the interruption, he could see the village area just beyond the trees. Not knowing what he might find he slowed down and crouched to better hide his presence. When he got closer he could see the village clearly, it was not completely burned down. Every building was burned, but some still stood, waving in the wood like a risky bridge. He was happy to see that not everything was gone and he could still make out how the village used to look. He kept low and scurried behind one of the houses in fear of being caught. Looking around the corner he could see...something, it had the shape of a man but something was still off. Curiosity taking over, he crept closer to get a better look. This is when he realized that it was not a man, but he did not know what it was. It had the same features but it was hairy and much bigger than the average man with huge muscles coming from every part of it. Frightened, he decided it would be better to back off and continue searching. He didn't see another one of them the rest of the time he was there. As he was looking around he didn't see any of his friends or family, no bodies, or even blood. He kept this in mind as he continued looking around; after searching almost the entire village he ended up at the front door of his house. Upon looking at his old home he felt something, it wasn't sadness or happiness he just stared at it for a while. He was amazed that it was still standing, almost as if nothing had happened. He walked into the home and looked at his old stuff then opened the door to his room. He opened the door as he normally would but then saw something move, so he drew his bow and shot in an instant. But there was no scream, or sound of the arrow hitting its target or any target for that matter. He drew again and kicked open the door when he was met with a figure, this was a different thing from before because it was human size and didn't have monstrous muscles. He had a glow about him, like a thin layer of light surrounding its body, He knew he had shot this figure but he didn't know where the arrow went before seeing it in the hand of the target. This man had caught the arrow from only a few meters away. Merlin was unfazed by this, however, and continued to train the bow on the man. This figure looked up at him, it was looking at the floor the whole time and smiled at him. Merlin knew nothing of this man and asked multiple times who he was. But the man kept silent except to say, "Soon, you will know everything." Before Merlin could ask anything else the man vanished with a flash, blinding Merlin for a short period. When he could confidently see without any spots in his vision, he looked around for the man searching to see if he could find any trace that he was there. He looked at the wall where he had shot the arrow and there it was, stuck deep into the thick wood. He ran outside to try to see if he could find the man but he was long gone. Accepting he would not be able to track the man he decided to go back into the house because he had not gotten to look around very much. When he turned around the strangest thing was there, or rather wasn't there. The house he had entered just moments before was gone. Nothing was there except a pile of burnt lumber and ashes. He thought he was going insane seeing things that weren't there; he had no idea what happened and started freaking out. When he was able to calm down he remembered something he had forgotten, a dream, and realized at that moment that it was the same man. He was lost in his mind when he heard a loud sound coming from far behind him. He looked back and saw the creature he decided not to attack running at him. In an instant, Merlin ran away from his house towards the woods to try to get away. If this was the same thing that attacked his village then he would be faster, but he did not want to lead it to his camp. So instead of going straight there, he ran in the other direction to lose it and keep his base hidden. They ran on for very long and Merlin was almost at his breaking point, he would collapse before long and his chaser continued to get farther and farther away but seemed to be perfectly fine. He began thinking that his journey was over and he would have the same fate his parents had. But at the very next moment, a strange thing happened, he saw a herd of deer running in his direction. This herd looked to consist of about twenty deer. Merlin collapsed before they got to him, but he passed them and was safe. The monster chasing him, however, was right in the middle of them and got trampled, then picked up and taken away. Merlin thought about how lucky he was but also thought it may not have been luck, maybe...it was the man he had met. Due to his exhaustion, he stayed there for a few minutes before getting up and tracing back his steps to get back to his camp. He did this successively because of his years of tracking animals. But by the time he was back, it was almost pitch black with only the moon showing a dim light. He headed straight for his bed and went to sleep.