Eathel was laying on the platform, his hand dangling from the ledge, a bird had picked his head and hair as a convenient resting place. Not that he would notice, Eathel was currently trapped in his dreamscape.

“Come!” Commanded the deep and otherworldly voices, it was as if countless men called out to him . I just want to rest.

“Come!” Let me rest!

"Come, or you will be in pain!" Leave me!

After that Eathel stood in silence, he was worried for a moment holding his breath, but after nothing happened he deflates

Eathel was surrounded by images of his home, his family, his life, they were all distorted, warped and some unrecognizable.

He walked from scene to scene, seeing his memories not as they were but how he was emotionally connected to him, the stronger the connection the clearer the memory. He visited the most important moments of his life: Learning sword fighting from his father, horse riding from his mother, traveling with his parents as a family, visiting the mines visiting the mines on their way to- and visiting the sacred mountain

Then he suddenly saw her. “Mother, mother” he called out after seeing her. Ana looked as she did in life, dressed in her plate armor, her skin pale, blue eyes, blonde hair, kind features a face everyone would trust, able to put the most worried of souls to rest. The only difference were the two small knobs on her forehead.

“Eathel, how are you here, please come to me let me hold you again”

His heart was pumping, smiling from ear to ear he ran. “Mother, wait for me!” the anxious Eathel said, he could not come close to his mother he ran and ran but the distance did not grow shorter.

“Don't give up, follow me” She pleaded with a quivering voice, it was quiet as if it was near impossible for her to reach out to him.

He did not stop, he could not bear to hear his mothers voice like this. He left Mount Festein the sacred mountain behind, he was chasing his Mother through the green Mountains, as suddenly a rockfall impacted the ground before him, barring his way.

“You shall not pass” echoed the cacophony of voices through the mountain pass, loosening some of the stones. Eathel quickly ducked away.

You will not stand in my way”

Just after he thought that, a straggling rock hit his right shoulder.

The bird, which rested comfortably on the young boy's head, was startled by the sudden spasm in Eathels left shoulder.

He cried out in pain, as he was smashed into the ground. Eathel struggled to stand up “Don’t give up!” the voice of his mother came nothing more than a faint whisper. Filled with new energy he got to his feet.

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Seeing the barricade before him he refused to let it be an obstacle, or even to let it there. This is my dream, begone!

Eathel concentrated and a few loose rocks disappeared, he closed his eyes and pushed on, more and more stones of the blockage disappeared, the rest of the stones laying on top were filling the constantly empty space left. Eathel fell on his knees panting a sizable portion already immaterialized. Crying out to the heavens, Eathel managed to make most of the rocks disappear.

Now having overcome his first obstacle, he began the chase anew. He ran through the mountains surrounded by the gray giants with their white peaks, he had never seen them awake yet they still seemed as real as or even more so than the places he remembered.

An eternity later, running after his mother he left the mountains which separate his father and uncle's lands. Resting, Eathel looked at the skies, his mother was already deep in the night's forest. The sky was clouded by turbulent gray clouds they were twirling around and chasing each other, behind him eathel heard lighting impact the mountains, afterward the thunder's rumble swept over his until then undisturbed piece of tranquility.

Eathel looked back at the raging storm behind him. He started running again entering the forest, guided only by a vague sense of where his mother was.

It began as a light forest with good visibility, the leaves were a vibrant green despite the harsh winter plaguing the lowlands around the mountains. The trees himself were a dark shade of brown gnarly and crooked.

The deeper he got the less he could see, the thick foliage above Eathel blocked the light from the sun to illuminate the dark undergrove. It was just the same for the snow. The ground was dry like the air which was humid for the rest of the year. The earth was covered by moss, mushroom, some of them fluorescent, emitting only enough light for Eathel to recognize the objects surrounding them but not their details.

Shadows seem to dance at the edge of his vision, everytime he tried to look at them they would escape his sight. Hushing away to the next bush or hiding behind a close rock, some even stayed constantly at the edge, Eathel gaze darted around, trying to find the creatures he felt watching him.

He still chased his mother, sometimes catching glimpses of her, sometimes he saw antlers standingout behind a tree, Eathel redoubled his efforts, thinking that he was not the only one chasing her.

He ran evading the trees, bushes and rocks in his way, purely on instinct the surroundings so dark that he could not even see his own hand before his face.

He stopped, something has changed. He felt closer to his mother than before, now walking he came closer to her presence, he noticed the trees lightening, he broke forth from the woods into a clearing.

His mother was nowhere to be seen, in her stead stood a man adorning a cloak of leaves hooved feet and antler sprouting forth from his head.

“Where is my mother, what have you done to her!” Eathel screamed at the man he was running at to attack the demon.

“Stop, we have warned you.” dozens of voices simultaneously said. Eathel could not move a muscle straining against the invisible force holding him down proved to be futile.

Eathel tried to find his voice to ask the many questions flooding his mind.

“Do not, it is pointless. Meet me here when you travel to your uncle, I will open up your heart for our gift, maybe you will hear about the bearhounds attack” The altmen said “now go!”.

Eathel was back alone in the black, reflecting on what happened. Trust me if you can hear me, you will tell me about her, or I will have my vengeance.

Suddenly a tremor took hold on him, he tried everything to withstand the sensation.

"Please, Eathel” Eathelred shook his son. He did so for a few moments, it still felt to him like an eternity.

Finally it happened. It was one of the lord's happiest moments, Eathelstan opened his green eyes, blinked a few times.

“Father forgive me”

“No son please forgive me”