The Village: Part 2

A bright light shone through Lavernius' room. He opened his eyes and saw that it was morning. His head pounded and his stomach churned. He crawled from under the covers and stumbled towards the kitchen.

"I'm so hungry." Lavernius said

"You have some rations left." Owen said

"I wish that I don't need to eat and that I don't get hungry." Lavernius said

"It is done." Owen said

"Thank you." Lavernius said.

His stomach stopped growling and he felt relaxed. He quickly packed up his things and headed outside. When he exited, there were two crows sitting on top of a lamp post. They cawed at him and hopped off.

Lavernius walked into town. He tried not to look at the corpses on the ground as he passed them. He found a shop that had broken windows. Inside it had food and other things that were important. He walked around and opened a drawer behind the counter. Inside were twenty gold coins and five silver coins.

"Leave them." Owen said

"Yeah, I was. It feels weird stealing from the dead." Lavernius said

He closed the drawer and left the shop. He pulled out his compass and began to walk westward towards the mountain. The village was small but compact. There were many houses outside of the village and in the woods. Lavernius checked each house that he encountered. Some of them were occupied by bodies. One of the houses had a corpse lying in the doorway with a sword stuck in its chest. Another one had a corpse holding a crossbow in the doorway.

"Why would he have a weapon?" Lavernius asked

"To fight the beast that killed this village." Owen said

The houses didn't have anything out of the ordinary in them. He sat outside one of the houses to take a break. The wind rustled and the deeper he got in the forest the colder the air became. He looked around and it was the same. No creatures, no leaves, no life.

"Does it snow here?" Lavernius asked

"Not anymore." Owen said

"What does that mean?" Lavernius asked

"Long ago, I was here. This was after the rise of Dusk but before Golden Gate. A man found me. He was a farmer and he wished for winter to never happen below the Shark Sea ever again." Owen said

"Wow, I bet his crops flourished." Lavernius said

"It confused the king of Light for a while. A scientist told him that the earth was too hot below the Shark Sea for snow to form. The king believed it." Owen said, laughing

"Wake me up in thirty minutes, please." Lavernius said

"Sure." Owen agreed

Lavernius closed his eyes and fell asleep and began to dream. In the dream, Lavernius stood atop a hill. A valley spread out below him. The hills were covered in white snow. Trees and plants were brown and withered. Everything was still frozen in time. He saw the sun setting over the horizon. It created an orange glow in the sky. As he watched the sunset, something emerged from the valley. A large creature stepped from the shadows. Its head was covered by a hood. It wore black robes and held a staff. It raised its staff and pointed it at the sun. The sun disappeared. Darkness overtook the land. The world froze and became cold. Then the creature turned to look at Lavernius. Lavernius unsheathed his sword, but the man vanished and the sun returned. He wandered around the valley and noticed something strange. On every tree, plant, and rock was the symbol of a skull engraved on them. Lavernius picked a flower from the ground. It instantly turned to dust in his hands. He placed his hands on the ground and the brown grass started to decay. He immediately pulled his hand back. In the distance he saw a small wooden cabin in the woods. He began to walk over. While walking, he saw a beautiful woman sitting on a tree stump a few yards in front of the cabin. She was wearing a dark coat. Her hair was blonde and extended past her shoulders. Her eyes were bluer than the bluest ocean.

"I wouldn't go in that house if I were you." She said

Lavernius took a closer look at the house. It was small and had a dead corn field next to it. There was a small shed next to the field on the other side.

"Why?" Lavernius asked

"It's where the Devil lives, well lived." she said

"Who are you?" Lavernius asked

"A martyr, or something like that." she said

"Why are you here? I've never seen you before." Lavernius said

"I've been here for a long time. You could say I'm lost, no actually I'm trapped." she said

"You don't have a place to go?" Lavernius asked

"This is my home. I lived here and died here." she said

"Oh, I see. What's your name?" Lavernius asked

"I don't remember. It has been a long time since I have heard my name. I may not have one." she said

"Why is that the Devil's house?" Lavernius asked

"The man who killed this village lived in that house. He did great things though." she said

"Tell me, was he the man who harnessed the power of the Illuminati?" Lavernius asked

"Yes, him." she said

Lavernius looked at the house and back at the lady. She was gone. He sat down on the stump she was on. He stared at the house and just wondered about this man. The second person to have the power of an artifact, the first being Prophet X. There is almost no information about either of them.

He was suddenly awoken by Owen yelling his name. Lavernius sprang up and looked around.

"Is something wrong?" Lavernius asked

"No, it has been thirty minutes." Owen said

"Oh, thank you." Lavernius said

"What did you dream about?" Owen asked

"There was this woman. She told me about this cabin and not to go in." Lavernius said

"What did the cabin look like?" Owen asked

Lavernius stood up and looked around. His eyes were full of surprise.

"That one, right there." Lavernius said.