CHAPTER IV – THE RUINED VILLAGE

It was a rough walk through that forest, but I have made it, and it's been 2 whole days and I have finally made it to the town mentioned in dad's letter, at least I hope this is the same town. It looks ruined and abandoned, like no one has lived here for the past 100 years. Nevertheless, I can rest here I hope. It's already sunset. It took that long to get here from the shoreline, it must've been at least 10 miles of walking, which compared to some of my trips through the mountains, doesn't seem like a lot; but at the same time, I wasn't chased down constantly by something that wanted to eat me the whole time either.

As I walk closer to the town, it's starting to become more apparent that it is abandoned, but it seems more than abandoned. It seems like this place was destroyed a long time ago by something. A war possibly, or a riot, I'm not sure, but it doesn't give me the best of feelings. It makes me feel even more like there is something dangerous around here, and after that trip to the forest, I'm not up for more scares like that. But I need to rest somewhere. I just remembered my dad's note.

"Never travel at night." It wasn't even night time when that thing tried to attack me. That really worries me about how dark it is getting. I really want to get inside somewhere and wait the night out.

A lot of these building seem run down and very damaged. A lot of them seem like they won't offer too much protection from the outside, but they will have to do. Hopefully one of them is still standing enough for me to hide in for the night.

I see one building in the distance that is somewhat bigger than the others, that looks like it is in better standing. I start to walk to that building as it looks like it will protect me very well from the outside elements and dangers. As I get closer and closer, the remaining sunlight is fading away, and all of the distance trees, forests, and landscape are growing darker and darker by the minute. This is making me feel very uneasy on the inside. All I can think about is what my dad said in the note: "Never travel at night."

I finally make it to the building, which ended up becoming a lot bigger than what I thought at first, and upon first glance, it looks like a library. There is a door here, but it looks pretty old, worn down, and rusted; however, I was able to force the door open and make my way inside, shutting the door back behind me. It is very dark in here, but there are a couple of torches lined on the walls that look like they could still burn.

I get the firestarter out of my pack and go to striking each one of them, and they all light perfectly fine. I got a perfectly lit and protected shelter to stay in for the night. This makes me feel a lot better about the whole situation.

Upon first glance, this library doesn't seem like much; a bunch of tattered down books inside wore down old bookcases, with half the words in these books not even legible, or some other words that are in a language I don't know. Something about this library feels oddly familiar though, like I've been here before, but I just can't put my finger on this odd déjà vu. "It doesn't make sense." I said to myself, "Why does this place feel so familiar to me?" I didn't understand it too well, but as I am looking through the ruined books for something that might be readable, I come across a very interesting looking book.

"Cartea Morților." I said to myself, shuddering at the dark words. This is a Romanian ritual book, called the Book of the Dead. I've only ever seen one copy on an extremely well guarded display case back in Translyvania. I have never seen inside this book, as I was always told to stay away from any type of Necromancy rituals. Necromancy is forbidden in our realm of study. This makes me wonder why my dad sent me here, to a village that studies Necromancy.

Looking around the bookselves more, I find more books, and more rituals on Necromancy. All of this doesn't exactly make me feel welcome here. As I am looking through, I come across another book, the title written in that mysterious language that I can't explain being able to read.

Το χωριό της Βόρειας Αγίων. As I look at this, once again, the words became clear. "The Village of the Northern Saints." Now this seems strange to be here, there is no way that can be this village, with Translyvanian/Romanian Necromancy books scattered everywhere. It must be some other village. Maybe that is the village my dad wanted me to go to. Maybe I just got sidetracked.

It must have been around 2 hours now, while I am looking through these books, reading some of the books written in Romanian. Romanian is a language I can read and speak fluently, due to my several travels to the country. I'm reading a book that tells a story about a heroic man from central Greece going on an epic journey through the lands of Europe. I think I've read it before, but in English instead of Romanian.

After about another hour of reading, I start to hear noises outside, noises I have never heard before, and also rustling of the grass and leaves, like something is walking outside the building. I immediately shut the book, and as quietly as I can, move towards a window to see if I can see anyone outside. I can't see anything except for the extremely dark silouettes of the trees in the distance. "What the hell was that?" I said to myself, confused at the extremely weird noise I heard, which I could not describe how it sounded. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It almost seemed real, but at the same time, like an otherworldly sound. Maybe this village is somewhat paranormally active?

I start to walk back towards the book I was reading, then I hear it again, except this time, much much louder. Now it is starting to worry me. I've been in several places that have been extremely haunted, but nothing has ever sounded like this. I automatically flagged it as being dangerous and hostile, so I quickly duck down below the windows to peak out them again, but I don't see anything of nature. Then I hear the noise again, this time coming from the door, and it was so loud this time it burned my ears with its cry. It sounded like it was a voice of pure death and despair.

I immediately run over to the torches to blow them out, and after the last one the library grows dark. I then duck in the corner to wait out the creature just incase it was able to come through the door. It started rattling the door. It keep shaking it and shaking it, the rattling getting louder and louder until it finally busted through the door. The creature ducked under the doorway and walked in.

This creature was unlike anything I have ever seen. It makes me think it was paranormal, but at the same time it looked so real that it scared me. It was extremely tall and thin, its skin all layered in a textured black looking material. It had devilish looking violet eyes and had a violet aura around it. I remember that anything with a violet aura around it can be extremely dangerous, so I did not move out of my corner.

This creature started searching the library, and for some reason, reorganizing it. It was picking up bookselves and moving them elsewhere in the building. Obviously this was a very strong creature, so I did not want to do anything to piss it off. It kept looking through bookselves, moving them and throwing books everywhere, and then it grabbed one book from the far end shelf, and threw it over his shoulder. It landed right next to me, about scaring me pantless. I covered my mouth to try and not make a sound, which I don't think I did as the creature just kept looking through shelves until it finally, just vanished out of thin air.

The creature disappeared just like the monster that was following me in the forest, but yet these were two different creatures. This makes me feel like I was in a very hostile world. I look down at the book the creature thrown at me, and the cover was blank. It was solid black, with nothing on it at all. I open it up to see what it might be, and as I scroll through the pages I find that they are all blank. All the pages in this book were completely blank, and as I scroll through the pages, right around the middle of the book, a torn page falls out onto my lap with writing on it. It was all in Romanian.

Fiul meu, dacă sunteți de lectură acest lucru, înseamnă că l-au făcut în sat în condiții de siguranță, și-au găsit această carte, care va fi foarte important în călătoriile dumneavoastră. Îmi pare rău că a trebuit să scriu asta într-o altă limbă, dar a fost singura modalitate de a ascunde această carte de la oamenii găsind-o. Acesta nu este un loc sigur pentru a fi, dar era singurul loc nelocuit-aș putea trimite. Această lume este foarte periculos, dar a trebuit să te trimit aici, pentru a vă menține în siguranță. Veți afla mai multe în timp util, dar de acum, ține cartea pe care a găsit această scrisoare. Vei afla mai multe despre asta mai târziu, dar această carte va salva viața.

Dragoste tata.

This letter translated, which made me feel so afflicted, read:

My son, if you are reading this, that means you have made it to the village safely, and have found this book which will be very important in your travels. I'm sorry I had to write this in a different language, but it was the only way to disguise this book from the people finding it. This is not a safe place to be, but it was the only uninhabited place I could send you. This world is very dangerous, but I had to send you here, to keep you safe. You will learn more in due time, but for now, keep the book you found this letter in. You will learn more about it later, but this book will save your life.

Love Dad.

Why would he send me to a place like this? What does he mean by all of this? What does he mean that this book will save my life? So many questions started going through my head, so many questions that I don't have an answer for. I don't understand any of this. All I know is that I'm stuck here until day time, and the thing that broke inside the library left the door open. I get up to close it, and everything outside is now calm and silent.

I take a closer look at this blank book that my dad said would save my life, but I still don't understand why. What could this book possibly do? I guess I'll find out later, but until then, I need to wait out the night, and in the morning, gather supplies that I can use to survive on if I need to travel, and I need to go hunting for food, as I am just about out.