Anguish
Imare
I heard the door creak as it was gradually opened. I did not move to see who my unexpected visitor was. Only one being knew of this place…
A cackle filled the air as the unseen guest played with the door, closing and opening it. I could hear the sound of the wind being fanned by the movement.
I sighed and moved to prop myself into a sitting position. With a sense of foreboding, I watched the door in its waltz. I did not try to reprimand my caller for his behavior; as his behavior elucidates, he was in one of his darker and violent moments. It would seem that he was starting with the door. I just hope that he wouldn't pick on me later.
The door stopped moving and a deafening silence followed. Seconds later, I heard a sudden whooshing that said of a swift movement. I found myself staring into the glassy eyes of my visitor. It took a moment for the abrupt movement to register. Instinctively, I blinked as though unbelieving of what I was seeing.
My guest was bending over my body; his face was distanced a few inches from mine. A lopsided grin appeared on his face.
"You're not dead…"
He straightened and then hovered unmoving, in front of me. Then, slowly, he lifted his paw and then moved it towards me.
Watching the paw with apprehension as it neared my face, I thought of slapping it away but then, I remembered that I could not do such a thing. The being hovering in front of me was as deadly as the dark mist. Coming contact with his fur would be fatal.
"Do you think…," he said wickedly, "with your immunity against the dark mist…"
He made a sudden movement and I found his paw a mere centimeter from the tip of my nose.
"…you will die if…"
I moved my head back, trying to put as much distance as I could between our skins.
"… I touched you?"
I did not bother to answer his question. Reason wouldn't get through to him at this state. Besides, it was meant to be rhetoric.
"Would it?"
I saw his other paw position itself near my temple. My breathing quickened and I froze. One touch and I would be dead. I gritted my teeth as I looked into his eyes.
"But then... that is not why I came here…"
A moment later he was gone. The chandelier flickered to life and the room was illuminated in an eerie glow.
oooOOOooo
I stared at the night sky noting the unnatural feel of its features. There was an absence of clouds and the moon was unusually large. The stars were eerily bright. It hinted of disaster. I could feel a sense of doom weigh down on my shoulders. Something was about to happen…
Settling myself more comfortably on the headboard of my bed, I shifted my attention to my unexpected visitor. My caller was in a form of a white stuffed bunny. His spirit possessed this toy which, according to him, suits his personality. "It's the only thing cute around here", he would say whenever I would ask him why he chose the bunny. He was one of the dead --- or undead as the sages of Juno would call them --- of the village. You would not really expect to see any living at night, a time when the dark mist had finished its dark enchantment.
My guest was now floating quietly near the desk. He was hovering a few feet from the chair, bending over the edge of the desk to be able to reach the parchment, and was scribbling fervently while muttering inaudible words. He had been in that position after the frightening episode earlier and had not moved from the desk for two hours now. I left him to his business and did not bother him for fear he would revert into his earlier state if he sees me.
Imare… my guest calls himself Imare. He was the only creature I had met that could talk sensibly. Malevolence screamed in every pore of his stuffed body and could be really violent… like once when he caught me outside of my tower. It was my first attempt at escape.
Sitting before a dusty desk, I pored over the book entitled "The Pillars of Midgard". It was given by Imare on his stopover yesterday, a half and a year after his last visit. The book told of the different academies of a place called Rune-Midgard, the first one to have suggested that there was a place outside the Ghost Town. It was unlike any of the books given by Imare before. Written in what Imare called as "Pronteran script", it was the first book that was not authored by Imare. I knew because Imare only wrote in Payonese.
I had asked Imare how he came by the book. I had the courage to ask since he was in one of his serene moods. He was reluctant to tell me at first but he consented when I threatened to burn him in the oil lamp he had brought.
"A group of people came and they went and left the book behind," he had said quickly.
Of course, I had known that what he meant about "went" was that they died. It explained the screams I had heard when the dark mist had come that day.
"The Pronteran Church… Magical Academy…"
Organizations of people… of humans… of the living… I was excited at the idea that there were people like me --- Of course… There was no one like me… but still…
I shifted my attention to my window. The dusk was fast approaching. The dark mist would be here any minute now but I could outrun it. Also, there would be no risk of Imare coming. He had already visited me yesterday and he visits me only ONCE in every one to two years.
Excitement flooded my veins and my brain worked furiously for a plan of escape. It was the first time in my entire life that I had desired to leave my tower… to leave this cursed village. I had never known that there was something beyond this dead realm so I never thought of escaping. Besides, I did not understand then… Now I understood.
I was different from Imare not because I was cursed… it was Imare who was cursed… I did not belong here. I was a living person. Not entirely… but there was still life in my veins. Pain was something I could feel… I could still breathe.
Quickly, I looked about the room, scanning for possessions I would think of bringing. I picked up my backpack, began shoving clothes and books into it, and then slung it over my shoulder. I opened the door to my chamber, stopped, took a deep breath, and then walked down the stairs.
It would be the first time that I would go down the stone steps of the tower where Imare locked me in. Cautiously, I stepped on the first step of the stairs. I ignored the sharp stabs of pain brought about by the contact of my bare feet on the ice cold surface of the spiraling stairs. The feeble light of the torches guided my path though they were really of not much use.
As I turned the corner, the wooden door that would open to the town came into my sight. My heart was beating wildly. I was a few steps towards freedom… I sprinted downwards, my arm outstretched, reaching for the door handle. Barely two steps towards the door, I stopped.
I could feel a chill crawling up my bare ankle.
The dark mist!
Horrified, I tried to go back upstairs but the haze would not let go. It gripped me tightly and I fell. I watched, dumbstruck, as it curled up my leg. A moment later, I was covered by the dark mass.
It happened again. I was plunged into the chilling and dark abyss as the mist tried to cleanse me of my life. A while later… it was over. The dark mist ascended the stairs, slowly and carefully, as though making sure that no creature, not even a worm, could escape its deadly gift.
Dazed, I pulled myself up and then grabbed the tower walls to steady myself. The gloomy haze had caught me by surprise that I almost died of cardiac arrest.
I shook my head to clear my muddled thoughts. It was not the time to stand by and think. I had to move!
Hastily, I grabbed hold of the ring handle of the knob and twisted it. It was heavy, really heavy that I had to pull with all my weight just to make it budge. Then I heard the door unlatch. It came as a surprise but I did not waste any second on pondering the reason why the door was unlocked. I pulled the door open and then found myself face to face with a white puppet in a form of a bunny.
I felt as though an emperium anvil fell out of the sky and struck me directly on the head. Horror gripped my heart as I stared into the blazing red eyes of the floating bunny.
At first I thought that it was another bunny because Imare's eyes were black; but then he spoke in an awful voice mingled with fury and evil.
"Planning to leave, Arthel?"
The stuffed bunny lifted a chain he was carrying and struck me squarely on the temple. For the second time that night, I blacked out.
oooOOOooo
Please R&R…
