Ch.5 Blackness of Father

I stared up at them wondering what they were worried about. "Brothers'?"

They frowned to me with worried and fearful expressions. "Sell. Dad is not himself."

I let go of their hands and stepped up on the stone of the SMERF. I turned to them concerned. They stared back at me with their expressions. Toc fished something from his pocket and handed a piece of paper to me.

"This was in dad's study. It's blue prints of some sort."

I took the paper and immediately saw something that made my blood run cold. The paper held coordinates to the top left and a building in the middle. Turning the paper over its floor plans were laid out with every detail. "Why does dad have a massive PVP building blue print in his possession?"

"Sell, we're worried about dad." Des looked out towards the town that was dimly lit by the street lights. "He's been leaving the house and not returning until around dawn. He's been avoiding us and hardly speaking. Two days ago three men in black with skull masks came to the doorstep asking for him."

Skull masks? I looked at the paper under the moons light, the ink shining with a tinge of light blue from the moon. "What is father up too? Surely not building this?"

"We have a bad feeling about this, Sell." Toc said looking at his brother. "What do we do? Mom doesn't know about this."

I looked at the town and surveyed the land around the town past its protective walls. "Do some research. Don't dig your noses too deep. I don't want them coming for you two so soon."

They stared at me surprised at how I was taking this information. A light flicked on in the distant. Someone had awoken in the house. My brothers turned to the house as I stared past them. "Dad? Why would he be up at this time of night?"

I took a step and fleetingly sprinted across the grass and stood at the corner of the house, hidden by a growing oak. The front door opened allowing my dad to leave wearing a skull mask with string wrapped around his waist to his shoulder. A bag was hanging down from his other shoulder like a purse. I watched him walk off towards the town; his eyes that looked through the mask's eyes seemed different. I noticed them within the moon light.

They were different. They shone with a different light than they're usual light that was kind and loving. I followed after him without anyone noticing except for my brothers. We walked out to a small house that had three rooms and a large red wool rug in the middle of the living room. A piston pushed open a block that was hiding a stair case down.

We slid down until the passageway grew dim with the faint light of lava that was blocked by glass above. Where were we? Dad strode down a long cobblestone hall that had wooden walls on either side and ended up into a cobblestone wall with wooden floors. He stopped at an iron door. "Cracking skulls and snapping bones are all I can hear at night. May the God of Death and his skeleton children rule the land for all eternity."

I gasped out loud. My dad turned around to look behind him as if he heard me and looked straight at me. The door opened for me to see a person dressed as a skeleton from head to toe. A dim light coming from the room behind him. "I would've guessed it to be you, Rien. What's the matter?"

My dad stared at me as if he could see me standing there, looking at my expression. I stared into his eyes and suddenly didn't know who he was anymore, they had changed so much.

"Nothing's wrong. I must be hearing things. For a second there I thought…"

The skeleton man cocked its head. "Thought what?"

Dad turned back to the skeleton man and shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing. I hope I haven't missed anything?"

The skeleton man and dad went into the room, shutting the door. I felt my right arm cushion me as I fell against the wall in surprised shock. I blinked and had tears streaming down my face as the dark hallway enveloped me fully. I suddenly found myself in my bed laying down; the hallway, my dad, and the skeleton man were gone. Wolves howled outside not far from my house calling to each other as they roamed about hunting for whatever they were looking for.

The next morning I sat in bed listening to the drowning mobs as I stared out the window to the outside. I looked over to the ice that was floating in the water slightly connected to the other island across the water from me. I interlocked my fingers beneath my chin and thought about the important things that I wanted. My island, my home, and my family were all things that I held dear. If there was a secret in the family then this would most definitely make our family break apart from shock.

Did dad really want that? I spun around and leapt from the bed bring out cobblestone and sticks, making me a stone sword. I didn't want to waste my iron on such a thing even though it was stronger. I had too much cobblestone for my liking as most people always do. I collected the many bones I had in my possession from the mob grinder.

I needed protection from whatever I felt would be coming my way. I needed the wolves to guard me. I headed out my front door with my bag containing the nessicary items I needed and my weapons. The house would be fine while I was gone. I wouldn't be away long, hopefully the wolves would be easy to locate.

Heading across the island and coming up to the other side I stood at the edge on the beach looking out at the other island. Did the wolves swim here? There was suddenly a glint on the island like light reflecting off glass. "Huh? Reflecting light?"

I blinked and noticed a building not far from my island that was huge. Much bigger than I could anticipate. The wood was slightly darkened as if someone had built it out of pine blocks. Some windows had been knocked out, the house was slightly sagging in parts and there were holes in the roof. Why was a house out this far?

I brought out my boat and rowed across the water to the other island. I felt like I had seen this house before from some place as I neared. How could that be though? This was my first time to notice it. As I stepped from the boat I felt like I already knew what was awaiting me there.

The trees were disturbed by the cold winds that came from the winter biomes around the islands. I brought my hand up to stop my hair from going wild in my face. Looking up on the hillside that gradually rose up and wound around into a spire I saw a figure standing there that turned to me for a brief second. The trees swayed blocking my view. As they moved away the figure was gone.

Was I not alone? I could've sworn someone was standing there. I adjusted my bag, holding my sword across my right shoulder; I trudged up the hillside towards the mansion type house. Something stirred in me that was unsettling and dangerous. This mansion was very familiar to me as I neared its front yard courtyard.

But why?