It smelt of rot and mold. The ground beneath Huberion was moist. He felt a large tree root on his side. Huberion opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a dark grove with the moon high in the sky, it was blocked out slightly by a tree that had it's branches were bare and telling from the temperature it was Fall. The world spun around and everything appeared blurry. When his vision came into focus he could see a sickly green cloud around him. He heard a soft moan.
He saw the decaying bodies on his wife and children not five feet away. They all opened their eyes and there was an otherworldly yellow glow in them. "You failed the little ones Huberion! How could you?!" Margaret screamed at him in a raspy gurggling voice and pointed a finger with skin coming off it and a long finger nail.
Huberion roared in terror, but the roar he heard was not his, but one of wolf. Huberion opened his eyes and saw the roof of his bedroom above his head and felt his soft bed below him. Margaret had her hand on his and a more than worried look on her face. "Another one 'em wonderful dreams eh?" Margaret said sarcastically. "Yes I was in field with lovely flowers and a unicorn flying over head, what made me scream was when the cow began to fly and it began to rain manure" Huberion fired back. Margaret smiled, "Not even when you're sweatin' in terror do you lose yer wit". She got up from the bed and pulled back the shades from the window to reveal the sun coming up. "It looks like we slept in, better go check in on the little ones make sure they didn't escape and cause mayhem at the neighbors again" Margaret headed out of the room.
Huberion shook his head slowly and pinched the skin on his arm. Between the pain and the fact that the room was spinning brought him some comfort. Huberion jumped out of bed and got himself dressed. Climbing down the stairs he could hear the children running around and Margaret shouting for them to get to their chores. When Huberion reached the bottom the three saw him and stopped instantly. "You three 'elp yer mum set up at the market, Foster you're to head to blacksmith shop soon as done 'elping yer mum, he's got somethin' fer me and he's lookin' for an apprentice." The last word drew a big smile from Foster, "You mean it dad?" Huberion laughed, "Yes now stop gabbin' and git goin' he ain't a man to suffer lateness." The three children ran outside. Huberion gave his wife a kiss on the forehead and headed out.
Huberion arrived at the barracks just as the guard had dispersed. Guard Captian Wolfgang Uberto stood watching Huberion as he entered the courtyard. "Good to see you Huberion, you have an impeccable sense of time" Wolfgang said flatly.
