If my life were a story, this would be the climax. What if I can't save her? What if I can never go home?
Remorse Of An Adventurer
2021 Remaster
Chapter 7: The Nightmare Spirit
Light spilled into my eyes. The ground under my back is cold and wet. Through the branches of pine trees I can see clouds, dark ones. What even happened? Last I recalled I was watching David's face disappear as I fell into the Nisse void with-
"Hilda!" I shot up. I was in the forest, not one I knew. I got to my feet and sprinted forward, passing countless evergreens before stopping. I'm a Sparrow Scout. I have all sorts of badges for survival and tracking. I was no good to myself or Hilda panicking. Looking at my worn sparrow scouts uniform I rotate my sash to so I can see basic survival badge and slap it against my chest.
"Shelter and water" I whisper to myself, full of determination. There was no way for me to determine north with no sun. I grabbed a long straight stick and threw it in front of me. If I kept doing that, it would ensure my path is straight.
It's hard to tell how much time had passed. Maybe an hour, maybe two, when I came upon a cave nestled in the side of a hill, I couldn't tell how deep it was. There was a chance something else was already in there, but if I didn't find a better spot soon it would have to do, so I worked around the cave. After gathering some sticks I began to hear water and sprinted to the source of the sound. A river came into view; it was a huge relief until I noticed something by the water. Hilda.
"Hilda!" I ran down to her side. She was cold and wet, but breathing and with a heartbeat. Her beautiful hair full of blood and mud, shirt completely destroyed, stomach sliced with the teeth of the Black Hound. I needed to move her and stop her bleeding. I took her skirt and rinsed it, so I could clean her up. After cleaning Hilda's wounds I put my Sparrow Scout shirt on her. I had thrown it on top of my own pajama shirt when the Hound attacked, and Hilda needed something over her wounds.I gathered some of the more sturdy sticks I could find, and I began to stabilize her core, but I needed some kind of cordage. I looked to my Sparrow Sash, hesitated a bit, and finally ripped it, and tied it around the sticks.
"This might hurt, Hilda" I put my arms around her shoulders and hoisted her onto my back. By the time we returned to the cave, the light was fading. I grabbed what sticks I had and began prepping a friction fire starter.
After fiddling with the thing for an hour I managed to start a fire. I looked at Hilda slumped in the mouth of the cave..
"Think Raven Leader would be proud?" I asked her. I had built a small rack for Hilda's remaining clothes to dry. It seemed strange that her wounds were large but not deep for the most part. As if the hound wasn't trying to kill her, only protect itself. Come to think of it, the Hound only hit Raven Leader and Raven. If the Hound was out to kill, Hilda would be dead.
As dark settled it began to really sink in what was going on.
I could be anywhere in the world.
I was stuck in the woods with no food, no tools, no ways to find help.
Hilda would die in front of me soon, her wounds were too severe.
I was going to die here.
Right on the cold ground where I was laying.
I awoke to a whoosh. I snapped to being alert and looked around, the fire now burning low. Hilda was gone. I moved to where she had been nervously. There were scuff marks, like she'd been pulled into the cave. It was eerily quiet. Then, something grabbed my ankles, and everything went black.
I felt like I'd been hit over the head.
"Frida! Go!" David yelled out of his window, pointing into town. He slammed the window. I remember now… I'd just hit Hilda. Why did I do that? I pulled my hoodie over my head and turned into town.
As I came into town, I heard some music. I came upon the Woodman, playing music for loose change on some sort of string instrument.
"Frida, right?" He asked. I nodded.
"You look like you just committed a crime, you don't seem the type, but who am I to judge" He stated, obviously judging me.
"I just hit one of my best friends..." I whispered under my breath.
"That doesn't seem very friendly."
"I'm not sure what I was thinking, or if I can take it back." I sat next to the Woodman, and listened to his song, watching the people of Trolberg pass by. Did I even deserve friends? The Woodman pat me on the back, however I realized he was also shoving me forward a bit. I didn't want to go home, so I turned to the woods.
I was now at the entrance to the trails leading into the woods, the sun out of the sky. Maybe I shouldn't be too late. I already lost my friends, I didn't want to anger my mom. I turned back to Trolberg.
"Hey Frida." I jumped. Kelly floated in front of me.
"Coming to crash another Marra gathering?"
"No."
"What's wrong? Afraid?" The Marra smirked
"I just ruined all my friendships. Can you leave please?"
"No friends huh?" The Marra smiled a little."Come with me Frida." The girl picked me up and floated me into the woods. I was unable to shake loose, so I just crossed my arms and held still. The green glow of a Marra gathering came into view.
"Again Kelly!?" The girl with pigtails was floating over the others.
"Girls, I think this one might be perfect."
"What am I perfect for?" I asked, still dangling from Kelly's arms.
"To be a Marra of course!" A dozen pairs of eyes fell on me. A girl with long hair and glasses came up to me.
"I don't know Kelly. She looks… afraid. And weak." She adjusted her glasses.
"Just let her stay tonight" Kelly dropped me onto a log. I was too afraid to leave now. The pigtails Marra returned to her spot.
The other Marra rolled her eyes. "Anyway, so I trapped him in the hall of mirrors with no exit. Then he ran into a mirror and blinked, and when he opened his eyes, his head was a Raven's head! Then he started running, and every time he hit a dead end, he turned more into a bird!" The girl cackled. The green wisps emerged from the fire, heading to be swallowed by the girls. Then one came at me!
I opened my mouth to gasp, but the wisp slipped in. It slithered down my throat, warm but not burning, until it hit my stomach where it started burning. It felt like static went outward, dissipating throughout my body.
"Okay, not bad!" The pigtails girl said. The rest of the night followed the pattern of a girl telling a story and another wisp being forced down my throat, with each one it got easier, and strangely I felt happier by the end of the night. After, Kelly helped me sneak to my bedroom.
The first night I had a dream where Hilda looked up at me, her face bruised, and she just screamed that awful scream. This repeated for a few weeks. Kelly continued bringing me to the Marra gatherings. Two weeks after I'd hit Hilda, she asked me if I wanted to learn "the way of the Marra". I wanted to refuse her, but I said yes. She took me to David's house, slipping in and out of the shadows long after dark.
"Alright girl, here's what we'll do. I'm going to show you how to get into someone's dreams, then we'll have you do it alone." Kelly took my hand, and everything went green, then we were in front of David's bed.
"It'll be a bit before you can fly well." Kelly whispered.
"Now watch!" Kelly perched herself on top of David, slowly putting more weight on him. He began writhing.
"Okay!" Kelly grinned as she grabbed my arm and everything went green again. Suddenly the pair of us were floating above the streets of downtown Trolberg as David walked down an empty street below us.
"Alright Frida, the trick is that you need to envision the nightmare, of course it helps to know what the person fears." She chuckles "Luckily for you, David is pretty much afraid of everything. I once scared him with just a lamp!"
"I- I'm not sure I think I, want to scare David."
"You said it yourself. He's not your friend anymore." She said, the sun suddenly disappeared and the moon shown behind her, her teeth shining in through. Below us David began running.
"Watch this!" Kelly suddenly warped into a wolf like creature.
"I'm the Black Hound!" She giggled. I had a bizarre feeling that she didn't look like the actual Black Hound. Something almost like a memory flashed in my head, a large wolf with red eyes sprinting at me. I snapped back to reality and Kelly was chasing David. Her mouth was agape, then she bit down on him, and suddenly we were back in David's house, outside his room. I could hear David awake and hyperventilating. Kelly was watching through his keyhole, laughing quietly.
"Okay Frida now you get to try."
"But David's awake."
"Sure, but Hilda isn't." Kelly walked over to Hilda's door and opened it.
"I'm really not comfortable with this" I backed away towards the stairs.
"It's too late to turn back Frida. Give your ex-friend a nightmare, and become the Marra you were meant to be!" Kelly pulled me on top of Hilda. Hilda began to writhe, and then we were in.
We were floating inside Hilda's room as she was reading in her bed.
"Well this is less terrifying since the last time I was in here." Kelly wandered around the room, like something was missing from the room but she didn't know what.
"Oh yeah! Didn't Hilda's dream scare you away last time?"
"Umm... Anyway what's she afraid of?" I had another weird flash, this time of Hilda laying on the ground, wearing only a shirt and covered in blood. Kelly hit me across the face.
"Frida, come on!" She said, pushing me down to Hilda.
"Frida?" Hilda put her book in front of her like a shield. She was afraid of me.
"Do it Frida!" I knew how to scare her. I raised my hand, and balled it into a fist. Hilda raised the book to cover her face and started trembling. Then everything went green. Kelly and I tumbled to Hilda's floor. Something snapped around my legs and the lights turned on.
"Hey Marra!" David yelled, wielding several leather belts. "Frida!?" He said surprised.
"Frida?" Hilda's voice came from behind me, sounding weak. "Frida, were you in my dream?"
"Of course kid!" Kelly said triumphantly, bound on the floor next to me by one of David's belts
"You're a Marra?!" David was looking at me now, his grip loosened and visibly shocked.
"I um..." I stuttered as I tried to back away, but discovered I too had a belt around my legs. Hilda unbound herself from the belt David put on her.
"Do you know what these girls did to me Frida!?" David was livid and for a brief second his hair looked blue like Hilda's. Hilda was now crying, and had turned back into her pillow.
"This is what you do instead of apologizing! Now you hit me in my dreams too!" Hilda was crying profusely. Then I realized.
"No! This isn't what happened!" Suddenly Kelly, David, and Hilda were staring at me. Everyone's eyes glowing bright red. "I told Kelly no when she asked if I wanted to be a Marra!"
The world around me melted like wax running down a lit candle and I was left floating in a black void. With a deafening clap Hilda appeared in front of me. She was the way I had left her, injured and half dressed. Suddenly I was surrounded by Hildas as they formed a tight circle around me. They all spoke at once.
"How dare you!" They all pointed at me.
"I had that whole dream planned out, and you ruined it!"
"What are you? A Marra?" I screamed. The Hildas began laughing.
"That's just offensive! A Marra!"
"Then what are you!" I demanded.
"Humans refer to me as an Alp." The Hildas grinned a toothy smile and eyed me like a wolf looks at deer.
"What are you doing to me!"
"I'm trying to enjoy some of the awful things laying in your subconscious while I drink all of your blood! After all you delivered yourselves in front of my cave." The Hildas licked their lips as napkins appeared around their necks. "Now let's put you back in a dream where you have no control." They raise their right hands, preparing to snap their fingers. I jumped at the one in front of me and grabbed their waist as the other Hildas descended on me and pinned me down. The Hilda I jumped at towered over me, ready to snap their fingers.
"The only way out is by losing your sanity, or losing your life." Her eyes turned red. I closed my eyes, ready to accept spending the rest of my life in a bad dream.
A dream.
"Hey Alp!" I opened my eyes. "This is my dream!" I ripped my arm free and punched the closest Hilda. She dissipated into dust. The Hildas all combined into one Hilda with a disgusting sound of bones cracking.
"No!" She screamed.
"Yes" I said tauntingly. I snapped my fingers and Hilda disappeared. I was alone in the void now. I grasped my hands in front of me, tearing the black void asunder and revealing a white light.
"What will you do?" Fake Hilda's voice echoed.
"I'm waking up, and saving Hilda!"
"You have too much control now to be worth it. But Hilda is mine, until she's bled dry." Something pushed me through the light. I hit ground with a smack, and all I could see around me was light.
"Frida!" A male voice exclaimed.
"Holy shit, David we need to get her inside!" A familiar female voice responded. I heard the sound of books dropping to the ground and rapid footsteps as I lost consciousness.
To be continued in part VIII: The Sparrow Scouts
Hilda: Remorse of an Adventurer, written by D.D. Danger, inspired by ghost-buddie