Chapter VI - Humble Beginnings

Fields away from Ingrette and Sir William; there was a cottage on an open meadow, it was obscure and abstract as this little home was normal. In a world of mystery and chaos, this land seemed untouched by the darkness that was surrounding it. In this simple cottage lived a small family. A husband, wife, and two children, a boy and a girl. They spent their lives living with the same routine of the children playing in the open fields surrounding them, the wife would peel vegetables and cook them for supper and the husband chopped wood to keep the family warm for the night. It was so peaceful, however something was coming…

It started with a tremble, water rippled as if there was a small earthquake happening at that moment, the husband was about to chop a log when he noticed it rattling on the stump. He slammed his axe onto the base and ran straight to the children. Quickly he swooped them up and brought them to the house, the tremble was slowly getting louder and louder, he slammed the door shut and barred it closed with a wooden pillar, he turned to the wife "get the children downstairs…. Now!" he shouted as he nervously and frantaccly was looking round the house. To find something to defend himself with. The trembling got louder and louder. He banded together the shaft of a broomstick and a kitchen knife together with some rope he found. BANG BANG BANG! There was loud smashing everywhere, whatever out there was plunging on the door to break it down… It carried on for hours until silence...it was still, like as if it was all over. Until there was a loud CRASH! The door shattered into splinters along with the door frame. A black silhouette entered into the hole it created, standing on what's left of the door with its massive feet. The floor cracked beneath him as step by step he entered. The wife covered her children's mouths to stop them from crying. The husband cried out "what do you want from us?!". Through the cracks of the ceiling you could see the figure reach out onto him and wrap his hand round the husband's throat. You could hear him choke and gasp for air as it raised him off the ground and threw him against the cottage wall, he smashed through the wooden wall with such force and landed outside. The house slowly started to collapse as he crawled to the wooden base where he left his axe. The figure was still in the cottage long enough for him to dust himself off, pick up the splitting axe and ready himself for the battle ahead, the monster burst out of the rubble, the remainder of the house collapsed into itself as he appeared into the sunlight, it was black in colour, fur covered its entire body. Its long arms made its hands hit the floor, it had a cold, monstrous face that would only be described as a Wolf. There it stood, eight feet tall, silver claws as big as talons. It let out a bone chilling roar. But the husband, as scared as he was, clasped onto his axe and ran towards the Wolf-like creature and looked into his cold black eyes as he saw his own reflection in them. Memories of his family came to his mind as the beast flashed its claws, opening them up, ready to strike him down. The husband jumped up, waving his axe in the air, ready to hack into this thing's flesh. He slammed the blade down into its shoulder as it clawed into his torso. It let out a howl and tossed him to the side like a doll. The axe was buried deep into the beast, it tried to claw it out but that just made it angrier.

The husband moaned with pain as he saw his hands coated from his own blood. His vision went blurry as he phased in and out of consciousness. The beast smelt his blood and turned to finish off the prey. The husband saw the blur get closer and closer until it lifted its arm to finish the job and….

BOOM! The monster was hit with an arrow which exploded with green flames burning half the creature, it hit the ground with a thud opposing the husband it's black eyes were consumed by the whiteness surrounding them. He looked up at the figure who approached them. He could not tell of any distinct features he had apart from his burning bright eyes…

A day went by….

The man slowly opened his eyes. His head banging against the base of the cart as it went over the rocky path, he ignored the first bump, but it began to get very uncomfortable. He slowly arose, getting adjusted to the brightness of the sun. He looked at the people driving the cart but they were nothing but blurry shapes to him. He heard a woman's voice "rest, you've lost quite a lot of blood". "where…. Are we? My family?" He asked. A man responded "We are heading into the Kingdom of Salus, and your family is dead."

The widowed husband took this dreaded news so hard it put him in a state of shock "but they can't be, they were in the basement alive!" he weeped, as the pain shot through his veins like a poison.

The person in front of the cart took a sigh and began to explain what he saw "The beast…. It's called a Lycan."

"Like… like a Werewolf?" the Husband asked with such confusion yet sadness. The man responded "werewolves are born from a curse from another werewolf, Lycans are a thing of magic, born from sorcerary and darkness, pure evil. They consume the hearts of the innocents to prologue their life. I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am. But you must keep moving, for them." The widowed husband took a pause to catch his breath, the man driving the cart picked up a item covered in cloth and placed it in front of the husband." we could use a man with courage like yours, what is your name?" the man asked him.

The husband unwrapped the cloth and it uncovered the axe, still stained with the blood of the Lycan. He looked up at him and replied "Jack, and yours?" the man responded to him, "I'm William, and this is Ingrette. Tell me Jack, what was your profession?"

Jack replied short and sweet "I was a Woodsman". William turned round to him with a smile on his face and replied "I have a feeling you will feel right at home, Jack.". They looked at each other, Jack mourned over the loss of his family, however he believed in fate, no matter how cruel it may be.

Meanwhile Thesus was deciding his next move. He paused for a minute and slid the King diagonally to take Ferald's Knight. "good play" he confessed to his opponent, realising his recklessness to waste valuable pieces was beginning to become his greatest downfall. He picked up his pawn, and moved it one step forward. He turned to Thesus and mentioned "did you know, the most useless yet most important piece on the board is the pawn?" Thesus looked at him with his tired eyes and stone cold expression and replied. "Every good chess player knows that, it's common knowledge.".

Ferald smiled at him, and continued explaining the significance of the most common piece on the board, "the pawn is the fool card of all pieces, not because it's useless, but because of what it could potentially become with the right moves and patience. It is the clean slate of the chess world. Yet people throw them away to protect the Knights because they don't see the full potential in front of them. Hidden in plain sight.". Thesus looked at him and was impressed by his ability to pluck a metaphor straight from his ass and mould it into something possibly deemed relevant.``what drivel is this?" Thesus replied and laughed it off as rambles from a mad man. Ferald looked into his eyes almost as if he was looking into his soul itself and just smiled. He opened his mouth and simply said "pawns are also used as an insurance policy for your other pieces''. His opponent stopped laughing and began to feel concerned about Ferald mental capacity, and whether, in time, it could be of use to him. Without a second thought, Thesus simply picked up his leading pawn and placed it forward one space. He placed his finger upon the piece and stroked his chin, thinking of whether this was the best move for him. Ferald simply laid back onto his chair and tapped with impatience on the arm whilst admiring his fingers with the other hand. He relaxed and waited for his enemy to be comfortable with his move.

He lifted his finger, confirming the pawns position. He sat back as Ferald leaned forward, "why are you so impatient?" Thesus asked. "I should be the one worrying that time is against me, any moment some stupid stranger could go through that corridor and then that would bind me to this place. Why are you the one in such a hurry?". Ferald looked up at Thesus, concentration was not on his mind, his impatience was fed by boredom. Ferald spoke with such restlessness "Your not the only one battling time itself. We need to finish this game! We must! " he banged his fist on the table, yet none of the pieces moved, not even an inch. However there were cracks and a dent in where he hit the table. Realising what he'd done he started shaking. He lowered his breathing to calm him down. Thesus looked at him with such confusion yet he felt for him. Like he would a beggar in the street, lost and alone in a world where you need company to stay human.

Day rolled to night. Stars were scattered upon the sky like white diamonds on a black canvas. The trio stopped they're travels to rest up for the journey ahead. They diverted from the path into the forest of tall trees in search for a good spot to set up camp. Whilst trekking through the dense forest; jack hacked and slashed his path through the overgrown wilderness. He swiped left and right until he hit something hard with his axe. Something harder than wood. Helooked upon what was right in front of him and he leaped backwards, tripping over a cut branch and fell. Hitting his head on the compact soil. He winced in pain as William and Ingrette inspected what he was so afraid of. She raised her torch to reveal a statue of a man made of stone. It was heavily detailed all the way to the fingertips, almost life-like. It was posed as if it was running, its hand was carved as if it was grabbing onto the tree next to it. His fingers were human, or at least appeared to be, the fingertips were not rounded but sharp spikes which still remained unblunt. The tree it was grabbing looked like it had scratch marks into it almost as if it looked like he dug its fingers into the dark wood bark. When it came to its face it looked old, ancient even. As if it lived for a thousand years. Its mouth was open as if it was about to shout something. Revealing fang like teeth on either side of his upper jaw.

Jack looked up at the statue and asked "What is it?" William looked at him, then at the statue and ignored his question. "Come, I found a place we can set up for the night" He announced to the others and walked away from the figure. The others looked at the statue to capture its detail one more time before following him to the site.

William lit a campfire and they all sat round it, trying to warm up in this cold, still weather. There was a moment of silence until Jack finally asked what he had been wondering since that encounter "So, are we not going to talk about our extremely detailed stone friend over there?". He turned to William, looking for an answer. He stared into the fire and took a breath before answering his question with another question "Has anyone ever told you the tale of the ancient Kingdom of Deasa?" He turned to him to listen to his response. Jack looked at him with such confusion "Enlighten me" he asked. William looked into the fire and began to tell the tale: "Before the formation of the four kingdoms, there was once a king who ruled the entire surface of what we are standing on today. It was the biggest kingdom of them all, protector of the realm. And this king's castle was at the centre of this mighty nation. He had everything you could possibly desire within his walls. And a great army to defend it not from man but unholy creatures that dared enter his land without his permission. But this strong king who would never bow to anything, had one weakness…". Ingrette interrupted William to answer his question "His son". He looked at her and nodded his head agreeing with her "his son". He turned back to the fire and continued with his story, "but beyond the border of his lands lived a man jealous of his power and might. But that was not what he was after, he wanted to make him suffer... He cursed a snake to prolong the effects of its venom and fortified its potency so it can never be cured. He snuck into the castle's gardens and threw it into the tall grass. Where the king's son was coincidentally playing in..."

"The child was bitten, and the venom did not take long to be effective. It made him weaker and weaker by the day, and the king's desperation grew stronger...he turned to everyone looking for answers. famous healers, physicians, sorcerers, but none of them could save him. He grew so desperate he even turned to the Highcourt to help cure him, but they decided it was not the king's son's destiny to survive by their hands. Days went by, and the king grew so desperate he turned to the darkest corners of the world to find some kind of cure. Until he found it, what he was looking for all this time. The answer to his prayers. Whilst riding through the forest, looking for aid. He fell into this great pit, it was dark, and damp, and felt a great evil there accompanying him in this natural built grave. The floor was made of bones which cracked against his feet. He looked up to see a throne dimly lit by fireflies and a man slouched upon it. It looked like he was there preserved for years, the king walked towards it, waving his torch, scattering the fireflies away. The figure on the throne cracked and twitched. Dust flew off him as he stretched out ever so slowly. He looked at the king with his cold lifeless eyes. But the king was too desperate to be afraid. He asked the old man to help. But all he did was reach for a goblet and handed it to the king. Unknowing of what he now possessed, he asked the man what to do with it. He just looked at the king, not even blinked once and just said in a foreign accent "drink blood from the cup". The king didn't want to trust the mysterious figure but he had no choice, he grabbed the cup and climbed out of the deep hole he was trapped in and rushed to his son. He was barely breathing when he got to him. But he did as the old man asked and cut his palm and poured his blood into the cup. It changed the colour from red to black as he poured it down the child's throat. He coughed as he drank the whole goblet. The king witnessed his own son take his last few breaths and then...nothing, the king froze hoping for him to wake up or at least do something, hours went by and his rosy cheeks turned pale and ghostly. The king fell asleep on his chair, overlooking his son's corpse. When the king woke up the next morning. The body was gone, he felt waves of emotions. Panic, joy, fear, anger. Wondering whether someone has taken the body or whether he was back again. He ran out into the streets of his kingdom, looking for his boy, but he noticed something strange...there was no one outside, he saw figures in the windows but that was it. He shouted and screamed his boy's name, until he replied. He kept looking for his son, following the boy's voice until it came from within the castle itself. He rushed inside to find him and ended up in the throne room. He saw his son standing, looking at the king's throne. His hand was cut and his black blood was making a puddle on the floor. What the king didn't know is that whilst he was sleeping, he poisoned the water supply with his tainted blood. Spreading a dark infection to everyone in the kingdom, Vampirism. Once he found out about the consequences of meddling with dark magic, he tried to rectify his actions by purging every single person that came into contact with the curse. Many fled from him, but if he didn't slay them… the sun finished them off. That statue wasn't running towards anything, it was fleeing away from it."

Jack was taken back by the whole story, but he had so many questions to ask "what about the boy? What about the king? How did he kill all of them?". William just looked at him and took a breath before explaining "he slayed them one by one, all of them...well, most…. The boy was found on the king's throne, apparently he was drained of blood. And the king…" Ingrette interrupted "the king died...or went missing...nobody knows, but people say he went after the one that cursed the snake." William looked at her and nodded then took a pause of thought. "Vampires?" Jack asked with uncertainty, "well this is going to be a long night." he sat back, plumped his bag to use as a pillow and tried to close his eyes. But it was as if he was back at his house again, reliving the moments image by image. Remembering the Lycan, the last moments of his children,his normal life. But one image kept repeating in his mind. When William slayed the beast, his eyes were not human, they glowed like the stars above him. So many questions but for now they can wait, he drifted off to sleep.