The Elders of Light

by ElderShadow

The three founding members of the Brotherhood of Light were noble knights sworn to God and destined to fight for the living and rid them from all deadly spawns of Satan. In a cruel twist of fate they became the Lords of Shadow. One of them was a skillful female healer. The young lady Carmilla finds herself in an unfortunate situation with an "admirer" at dusk. Her journey begins..

4. Ch 4 - Whiteout

Fog; thick like cotton~

Forest; grey like stone ~

stones once still like the lake~

move at will of the wind~

wind blows only for the dead~

the living are still and the dead are in motion~

leafs refrain to whistle~

the grey live eternity~

A thick mist has engulfed the forest, in its midst only the hands can be seen when raised to one's face. Neither the moon nor the sun can be seen through the mist, yet it is very bright. This mist covers every instance of the perimeter like snow does on a green tree. But these trees branches don't bend to mist like they bend to the weight of snow. They bow to the piercing presence of the mist.

The fireplace is cold now. She has fallen asleep, Balch is the first to wake up. He immediately notices the weather condition and mumbles to himself: "Huh, what... what is this?" He moves with his hands through the air in what appears to be like a soft white essence flowing through his hands and all around him. "...what, I can't feel it... it's not a... net. It's not cold here anymore either." He takes a few steps away from the fireplace, crossing through the mist only with his hands as guidance. He feels something on his feet and immediately jumps for a second in his confusion. "Ahh! What?" As he looks to the ground he notices what was touching him. Fist sized stones rolling and curling all over his feet, headed into all directions. Only a few at first. He tries to kick them away, seemingly with success but there is no way for him to see where they land or if they are still moving. The speed and amount of stones increase steadily. "Ouch!... Ahhhh" Balch tries to run but these stones seem to be everywhere. He takes a few stones to his feet with an increasing sensation of pain as they roll over his feet. "Arghhhhhhhhhhh". One particular stone hit his left leg as he was forced on his knees due to the pain. The loud scream reached her ears as she raises herself and touches her head. "...Balch...?" She looks around. She is not feeling well. She looks around again. "Balch! Chupa!... where is everyone..." Her calls are firm first but her voice diminishes slowly to weak uttering. A few confused moments later she arrives at a scene with dense mist even thicker than everywhere else. A few step into the mist, she hits something with her feet and in the next moment she immediately breaks into tears. "Balch... No!" Buried beneath many stone shaped glasses lies Balch motionless. "Balch... oh Balch..." She carries away the stones to look at his face one more time. His face is pale and his skin is cold. He lies there with his hair less cheerful and colorful than ever. "No... no,no,no..." She looks around desperately. She bows down to give Balch a last kiss. She looks around. She is weak , weak indeed in this mist. She walks through the mist, her face is pale. Her face turns milky first, then dry as she continues to walk. She is walking, she keeps walking in the midst of this complete whiteout. Her cheeks dissolve, fade away into white ashes. Then her lips and her eyes. She keeps walking. This faceless creature keeps walking with black hair straight from hell, ever vicious and cruel. It radiates pure hatred with every step it takes. It keeps walking. This god damn disfigured demon from hell. Look at this witch.

It keeps walking. It meets a young man with blonde hair on its way. "There you are." The man says in a distant, echoing voice. "It's me!" … " It's me, Balch!". echoes in the air. The creature answers with a soundless, sinister expression and in the next moment, Balch drops dead. She continues to walk. There is no way to tell the time of day as there is no beam of light strong enough to pierce through the mist. She walks and finds herself in the old Kranstein town. With fast steps she reaches a house near the center of the town. She knocks on the door. Richerd has been waiting for this moment, he opens the door. "You... you are back? C..." his face turns pale as he receives a smile from here. His eyes and nose begin to bleed. Richerd painfully crumbles to the floor with his arms and legs twitching. "Noo... help...me...it hurts... so much..." utters Richerd with a voice heavily strained by the pain. This will be the last time that we meet this Richerd person. Rest in inferno, old friend.