Ray looked at the ground and saw himself, writhing in pain as his younger brother, whom was seated on top of him, strangled him with his small hands and yet Ray could not move. He could only watch as he slowly choked, struggled and ultimately stopped moving and in the quietness of his death, his brother looked up and smiled. "Just...like...me."

Gasp! He awoke from his nightmare and found himself alone in an empty wooden house, he's back in the village....was it all a dream then? But as he looked down he noticed that the burn marks were still there, Ray could only let loose a few tears as he remembered what had happened at the statue. His brother was dead. "I wish it were all a dream..."

As he attempted to get out of bed, he noticed that under the blanket his legs had been chained with steel to the sides of the bed. The hell? But just as Ray was about to call out for someone, the door conveniently opened and revealed a man dressed like someone of the higher nobility along with a few heavily armored knights armored in what Ray recognized to be the High Guard, people sworn to protect the nobility and his Highness until death.

There only appeared to be four High Guards but they were swiftly dismissed from the room by the person who Ray assumed to be a nobleman, then he turned towards him and...smiled. "Hello there young man, how're you feeling?" Ray felt his head thump softly as he looked at the man and heard incomprehensible soft whispers that began to drown out his surroundings. 

"Ugh....I have this...horrible headache, what happened to me?" As he looked up, he could see shadowy figures behind the man. The figures were all in the shape of dead people, there was one who had a rope tied to his neck and another who held his head in his arm, chopped off. Ray yelled out and fell off the side of the bed, much to the shock of the man. "Hey! You alright?!"

Ray could only reply with a loud groan as he looked back up, now the shadows are gone, the hell were they? "I'm sorry, I saw something strange but now it's...gone." Ray quickly glanced around the room, they were just gone, no trace was left behind the wooden room then he heard the cough.

"Ahem...illusions aside, there are more important things to worry about. My name is Cael, son to the Count of West Rook and your lord. He's sent me here to investigate more about the um...phenomenon that has occurred." Ray knew what he was referring to, the shield statue which now shadowed the entire village with it's enormous size was not a subtle sight.

"I..remember the earth opening up and swallowing us up... then there was a demon and the only thought that came to me was my brother. But then...the demon killed him and... and..." Ray gritted his teeth and clenched the bed sheets within his fists as he recalled. 

Cael raised his brow as he looked to Ray, scratching his head in bewilderment. "But your brother is alive isn't he? He's been waiting outside with your mother since yesterday." Cael couldn't decide whether Ray was telling the truth or if he was just another village nut, but either way he would have to report this to his father. 

Time froze for Ray as he made a dash for the window and looked down, Moray was outside running around in the dirt playfully ignorant as Ray sighed in great relief. "He's alive...I..can't believe..-" Cael interrupted his train of thought with another cough. "Ahem...listen um..peasant I need more details, describe me the demon you spoke of, how did it look like, what did it say."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

As Ray was bombarded by question after question, he could only reply in vague details that didn't fully satisfy Cael's curiousity. "Like I said...it was a demon made out of blood and another demon covered in a dark cloak, I had to get my brother to safety and so my mind sort of... went blank." Ray however, did not tell him about the deal he had made since attempting to say anything related to it would cause some incredibly painful headaches.

"I see...very well, take care of your headaches and I'll be off, my father wants a report by this sundown." As Cael and his men left, Ray slowly clambered down the stairs some subtle pain in his back and legs but nothing too serious as he exited the house and into the arms of his family members. 

"Big bro! You're ok!" 

"Thank the gods you're alive."

"I'm fine, just a few bruises here and there. Moray do you remember anything?" 

"No, I just remember big bro being super cool!" Ray let out a little sigh, thank the gods. Last thing he wanted was traumatizing him, if these memories were his alone, that would be great. "Alright, enough waiting around. Let's head back to the house."

Their house was located on the outskirts, or well what was left of it as the event had now destroyed a significant part of the land and their house lay in ruins. It seemed the damage had spread quite a bit, where are we supposed to stay now? 

In the end, it seemed that the family of three had to sleep under the stars for now. Laying down on bales of straw and looking up into the night sky, Ray couldn't sleep. "Ever since this morning, I've been feeling strange. It's like everything isn't real anymore..." 

The silence was broken as another headache came to Ray and he heard whispers, louder than this morning. "Come to me...You belong to me now...Come to me...." In intense pain, Ray gripped his head and began tossing and turning. The markings on his wrists began glowing red and the pain grew stronger, while he was distracted with the pain he felt movement around him and found himself being pulled towards the statue.

The closer he got, the less painful it felt and soon he was walking by himself willingly. In the dark stillness of the night, Ray once again stood face to face with the statue and to Ray's surprise, Moray. "Moray? What're you doing here?! Weren't you sleeping?"

"Ah...boy, we meet again, I must admit that this boy's body is quite comfortable." A voice, rough and deep, that wasn't Moray's responded and Ray felt a cold chill run through his body. It's the same voice. The bloody monster. "Who're you! What have you done with my brother!"

In a light chuckle his possessed brother responded, "I am Galathor, an entity created from the god of this world, Atos and you have been chosen to be his human champion. You should be proud, not many get to call themselves a god's champion." What was he saying? Champion? Champion of what?

"You must have many questions and they will be answered in due time, today I just wanted to tell you this. In three days time, there will be a rebellion in the south. You must go there and meet a man named Cael, I'm sure you two have met already. After that...it's all up to you." With that last order Moray fell forwards into Ray's outstretched arms, leaving him both confused and...worried.

...

And in three days, the order came.