Later the sunset over the horizon and the two moons rose high in the sky. The desert beyond the lights was like a black canvas. The play was about to begin and Robert was not in it. Robert was sitting on a crate behind the wall. Pulling out splinters from his hands by the light of a nearby campfire.

Why didn't they tell me there were splinters. Warn a guy or something. I should have been more careful when I noticed that none of them had gloves. Robert thought as he removed a larger piece of wood from his hand. A red drop spilled from the wound. Oh great, I'm bleeding now. With my luck today I'll get infected by some new kind of tetanus.

“Hey, Robert are you coming or not? ” One of the workers asked. His name was Rex. He's one of the more likable guys in the group of four. “The play's about to start. We have to get ready.”

“I'm bleeding, Rex,” Robert said as he showed Rex his hand. “Do you have any ointment for this? I don't want to get it infected.”

“Maybe I do? Let me see that?” Rex asked walking up. He grabbed Robert's hand and examined it. The motion sends a rush of pain up Robert's arm. The guy's hands were like sandpaper. “Whoa, this feels like baby skin? Where were you working before this? These hands have never done hard labor before?”

“Ah... I was a big city actor. Big-time roles. So about that ointment? ” Robert said, wary of the question and trying to change the topic.

“Right. Got to protect our moneymakers,” said Rex, letting go. He pulled from his pocket, a copper-tin. Rex gave Robert the tin and started to walk away. “Put that balm on the bleeding areas and get ready. The play's about to start in fifteen minutes. We'll need to be ready to change out the props.”

Robert applied the balm and was disappointed. The area felt numb and only numb. It didn't magically close the wound or deal with the pain.

It's just like normal ointment? Then what was that green stuff the Liba royal guards used on me? Robert thought as he rubbed the ointment deeper onto his hands. I guess I can ask Sofia later about it. If I'm going to live in this world, I am going to need more of that green stuff.

Wordlessly Robert pocketed the copper-tin and reminded himself to return it later. Robert got up and joined the other workers by the wall. All of them were couched over and looking through the wall. They were looking through with tiny square peepholes. Curious He found his own peephole and looked out. Beyond the wall was the fenced-off staging area for the play, and beyond that was a large sandy hill. Robert didn't notice it when he walked in. Did someone make a sand dune while he was working?

On the sand dune, a crowd of people gathered. Many of them wore colorful robes and hats. They appeared to be rich merchants in the company of their wives. Strangely Robert didn't see any children in the crowd.

Hey, wouldn't Gertrude be here? She said, she visits the plays nightly. Robert thought excitedly as he started looking around for her. He spotted two men in familiar uniforms. Wait, I know those guys? What are they doing here? Why are they watching a play?

Among the crowd, Robert spotted the Captain of the skyship and the inspector. They were looking for places to sit o the hill.

Crap. What will I do if they see me? Robert thought as he leaned away from the peeking hole in shock. Hell, what do I do if find they find me here? I'm not fast enough to escape those fireballs. Will they spot me then I go out there? Even from this far away?

“Robert! Robert." Rex Barked, as he passed behind Robert. He heading toward the edge of the wall. "Get right Robert. The storyteller is going on." He grabbed a flat wooden prop that had a painted green bush. "When she's done. Everything on the stage will go dark twice, when that happens grab one of these and follow me.”

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“Wait, do I have to really go out there. Can't I..” Robert said, pausing as a female voice rang through the air.

“Welcome everyone to the Heart string's play. Please stay where you are, and refrain from speaking. I hope you eat before you came."

“Is that the storyteller?”

Rex didn't listen to him, but to the speaker. He was looking through the wall at the staging area. Robert crept up nervously to his peephole and looked out himself. A woman was standing out there in a black robe. Her arms were up and gesturing to the crowd.

"Tonight's play is the tale of the terrible night bird and the legendary king who slew it. The Liba version." Some people in the crowd booed. " Yes, most of you will know this story and even some of you might tell it differently. But to many in the crowd who might be younger of age or who have never been told the Liba version. Then this must be a treat for you.

"Tonight we'll be going back in time, about a hundred and seventy years ago. When the world was peaceful. The monsters as we know them now were only mentioned in bedtime stories and myths. The night bird was one of those bedtime story monsters.” She stopped speaking and the staging area vanished into pure blackness.

Shocked Robert glanced over to Rex for answers, but the man wasn't moving. Was this not the time to change the props? The crowd outside gasped and some women started screaming. Robert looked back through his peephole and saw that the darkness was gone. A massive shadow was now floating above the storyteller. It was in the shape of a massive crow. Easily larger than a minivan. The shadow flapped out of view and the woman started speaking again.

“But the night bird wasn't a bedtime story. It was real and unlike modern monsters. It was smart and cunning. It wished death and sorrow onto all life. And so it went out into the world and butchered.”

The storyteller paused again and unlike the darkness before. Only the crowd vanished this time. Behind a pure wall of darkness. The staging area was completely visible.

“Now.” Rex barked, as Robert glanced away from his peephole. Rex grabbed a part of the wall and opened a hidden door. “Well come on!”

Panicked, Robert stepped over and grabbed the wooden prop. Rex was always gone. Hurrying Robert followed him through the hole.

A dozen other workers were carrying something out onto the sand. The staging area was surrounded by a magical black wall of darkness.

As Rex put down his wooden bush, his hands flicked at a nearby hay bale. Which burst into flames.

All across the stage, fires were being lit. The stage now looked like a burning hay field. Robert dropped his prop.

"Come on." Rex barked as he grabbed Robert's arm and pulled him toward the hidden door. Once though Rex grabbed another prop and looked again through the wall. Robert instead leaned against the wall, relieved. He wasn't going to be spotted b the inspector with that wall in the way.

Once all the hidden doors were closed. The crowd gasped and the storyteller started speaking again.

“The night bird was unstoppable. Anything that got in its way, was killed. One day a Liba king. His name was lost to time. Heard of the beast.” She paused again and another voice was heard.

“This is the second destroyed farm we passed by your highness. There were no survivors.” said a male voice. Rex was still looking out. Robert stood and glanced out a nearby peephole. Two brightly clothed men were standing out there with the storyteller now. “Wait. Someone's still alive.”

"My king my king. My daughter is trapped in the burning barn." Another male voice said.

As the hours passed. Robert got a basic understanding of the play. The acting was basic, and the scenes were simple by Robert's standards. Though the magic and the monster fights did help.

There was only so much they could do with a live audience. They really needed CGI effects. Robert couldn't watch all of the scenes, because he was too busy making them.

But the scenes went as follows. The king finds motivation to go kill the night bird. The night bird kills more people. The king finds the night bird and kills it. Which Robert felt was kinda lame.

There was no epic battle, with fire and explodes. The king simply shot the night bird out of the sky with a single arrow.

Robert did discover that the shadow crow and the black wall were both products made by one person. He would wave his hands around, whenever the shadow or black wall was out.

“I did it!” The king shouted. “The beast is dead!”

“All hail his highness, the killer of the night bird!” Yelled a crowd of actors playing as the king's army. The storyteller reappeared. An hour before she had to step out to rest.

“But as the story goes. When the king killed the night bird.” the storyteller said as she pointed at the fallen shadow. “Its soul did not die.”

The shadow had crashed landed when the king shot it. A smaller shadow was rising out of the larger shadow. Suddenly a creepy hollow voice from nowhere rang out.

“I curse humanity! I will be avenged! my children with haunt you forever.” The shadow vanished. The crowd was silent. The king turned to his soldiers.

“Did you all just hear that?” The king said confused. The black wall appeared and the storyteller started talking through it.

“The end.” She said. “Think you all for coming. Please clean up after yourselves.”