As soon as I stopped breathing heavily, I looked for the first thing I could use as a mirror. For a split second, I thought I saw those red eyes again, but soon after I saw my old eyes, my pitch-black eyes. I sighed in relief. People already made fun of me, and the one thing that I liked about myself was my eyes. They were pretty unique, but still human eyes.

Just a dream, just your mind playing with you, I thought.

I headed for the kitchen, still lost in my thoughts. My uncle’s voice wakes me up: “Happy birthday, kid”. I had to think about it for a couple of seconds before remembering that it was, indeed, my birthday -- it had completely slipped my mind!

I stopped ruminating and thanked uncle Benik. He was an energetic and upbeat middle-aged man, short and stocky, he had an untamed beard and sparse, graying hair. I’ve lived with him since I can remember, and he’s much like a dad to me, even though we don’t look anything alike -- I must’ve taken after my dad’s side. I’ve never met my parents, but pretty much everyone knows the story. My mom came here, left me at the doorstep, and left, never looking back. Benik always tells me that she had to leave me, for my own safety, and that she loved me very much, but I think rather she was too busy to take care of her own children, but it’s fine by me, I love the family I live with and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I finished my breakfast – if you can even call it that. An unusually long winter had just given in to a mild spring, and for a family of farmers, it had been devastating. We were barely getting by, guessing if we’d have something to eat the next day. That’s why Jake left. At first, he became a hunter, getting really good, really quickly, but then as the winter got colder and longer, even the wild game started to become scarce; that’s when he decided to leave for the city, to get a job there and sustain us. We hadn’t seen him since, for over 6 moons.

Ops, I may have gone a little too fast. Jake is my cousin, Benik’s son. He’s a couple of years older than me, and basically, everything I ain’t. He’s a couple of inches taller than me and probably double my weight –all from muscle, that is. I have always looked up to him, and probably am a bit envious, but come on, he’s pretty near perfect. He’s athletic, popular, funny, charismatic, and good at everything he gets into. Just a few weeks after starting to hunt, he was already the best in the village, and not by a narrow margin. He was hitting running deers hundreds of feet away without effort, while I could barely even nock an arrow and let it fly more than a few feet. He always told me that I just had to practice, that I was gonna get better than him, but that’s easy if you’re as talented as he is, but I’m no Jake! I sometimes even doubt we’re related at all. I’m as skinny and clumsy as they come, I’m shy and insecure. I’m the kind of kid that can spend hours pondering or watching nature. I know I’m a weirdo, and my peers never cease to remind me of that.

Anyway, I got ready and quickly got out of the house, telling my uncle I was gonna spend the whole day out, in the village. I walked our mule to the village. We hadn’t produced a lot that year, but there wasn’t much to do. The moving market, a group of nomad merchants that traveled across the country trading all kinds of goods. I’d always loved when they came, but that year, it was crucial to try and get some bargains, or else we probably weren’t gonna live to see them next time.

I spent the whole day going around, getting into different tents, and trading the little we had. The sun was about to set, and I was satisfied. Redeeming a few favors, and asking for some, he got more than expected: some meat, clothes, wood. All stuff that had become scarce in Naporia, after that long a winter. I was about to head back home when a tent caught my attention. It was clearly an armory, it wasn't the only one there, some other merchants were selling all kinds of weapons. But this just had a bad vibe to it. I had never seen that tent, but it’s not that unusual that new traders joined the company, so that wasn’t it. My heart started beating faster, I started sweating, but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. However, if there’s something about me I can hardly control, it is my curiosity. If you mix that with weapons? Yeah, you got me. I entered the shop, I looked around imagining myself as a strong warrior, fighting monster just with a big sword

“Ain’t that little Kenny?,” a familiar voice brought me back to my senses, and I was… standing with a sword in my hand?! Soon as I realized it, my wiry arm gave in to its weight, and the sword fell to the ground, bringing me down with it. I was still trying to make sense of what just happened, when Gabe, together with his group, started laughing: “Look, poor Kenny wants to be a warrior, and he can’t even keep a sword in his hand, haha,” he mocked me “Do you want me to call mommy for you? Oh, my bad”. Classic Gabe, never missing the chance to make fun of me and my missing parents. I stood up and brushed the dust off me as they left. That place started to creep me out, I had to get out, so I headed for the exit, but a chilling voice stopped me. “Come here, kid, let me sssee what you got there, let me sssee your ring.” said the voice. I know, I know, who and why would anybody turn back?

Well, me, apparently. I turned to face the voice, and I saw the owner: he had a round, bald head, and a nose so flat it was basically just two little holes on an otherwise flat face. He looked slithery, mean, like a serpent, and his cadence didn’t help. We locked eyes for a second; his eyes were big and dark green. My feet started moving outside my control. How did he even know about the ring? And why would it matter? It was the only thing tying me to my mom, the only thing I ever got from her, and, because it was too big at that time, I kept it around my neck, under my shirt. I inched towards that strange man and I saw my hands reaching and bringing out the ring. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The ring, which had been black, opaque strip made of volcanic stone, was glowing with vivid red light. How could that be? Somehow I knew it meant danger – duh, as if I didn’t already know I needed to get out of there, but I just could make my body do what I wanted! I showed that snake-face the ring, and he leaned towards it, with his green eyes lighting up, his little tongue snapping against his teeth. “Come closer, let me see”, and I obeyed. My heartfelt like it was gonna blow my chest open, my mind was racing, but I couldn’t follow a thought. I’m not sure how long it took, it seemed like hours, though probably it was something more like a few seconds. A man irrupted in the tent. He was a big dude, long grey beard and a white mop, a chest as big as a tree trunk, and arms that looked like they were about to blow his shirtsleeves. I snapped out of that trance-like state, falling down to my knees. Snake-face hissed as he stood back. I quickly got out of there and was followed by the man. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him either, but he grabbed me from behind and lifted me like a little kitten. “Run, run as far as you can, don’t go to your house, they’ll find you, he will find you.” Somehow, I knew he wasn’t talking about the man in the tent, but about someone, or something way more dangerous, something I didn’t want anything to do with. “Look, man” I started to say, trying not to stutter and to look confident, even though it was hard being held 5 inches off the ground with a hand by that giant, “I don’t want anything to do with all of this, you two guys must have me confused with someone else, I’m a nobody, leave me alone”. “Just do as I said” he grunted, then put me down. My feet barely even touched the ground, I was already running away, as fast as my chicken legs allowed for.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Of course, I did run towards my house. But, come on, can you blame me? Would you have just believed him? He didn’t look all that trustworthy to me. He just looked like somebody I didn’t want anything to do with, just like Snake-face. I slowly calmed down and slowed my pace as I got closer to home. They were just weirdos, not a real threat. I wasn’t in any actual danger, it was my mind playing tricks on me after the long day… Shit. All my stuff. I had left it outside that tent. I couldn’t go home without it, my uncle would’ve killed me, and rightfully so. I started walking back, asking myself why was I always messing up something, always finding a way to ruin my life and my family’s. As I got closer to the tents, I started to walk more cautiously. I didn’t want either of those weird men to see me. I finally got my stuff back. I checked if everything was still there. Thankfully, it was. Apparently not that many people went near that tent, and I could sure tell why.

I was about to set off when I heard some voices from the tent. One of them was clearly Snake-face, but the other one, I had no clue, but it gave me chills.

“Did you find the kid? Are you sure it was him?” the voice said. “Y-yes, ssir, it was him” the answer came but… he was definitely scared, and anything that scared that creep was, sure enough, gonna scare me. Not wanting to hear another word, I go on my way back to my house. It was dark at this point, I just wanted to forget about the day, about all that weirdness. I was naive enough not to even consider they were talking about me. After all, how could they be looking for me? What could they ever want from someone like me? One way or another, I got back home. I was approaching the door when I felt something warm against my chest. I looked down and I saw my ring again glowing and pulsating under my shirt. Not again, come one. I could sense it meant danger, so I ducked and sneaked slowly around the house. I got to the backside, where there was a big opening connecting the house to the fields. I peeked inside, then froze. My heart started pumping once again, my hands got shaky and sweaty. Benik was inside, sitting on a chair, pale as I had never seen him before. Standing over him, there was a tall, slim figure, wrapped in a black cloak. he

“I’m not gonna keep asking nicely, where is he?” said the voice. I didn’t need more than a second to recognize the voice I heard just minutes ago, in the tent. “Where is HE?” he asked again, his voice getting louder and angrier, “GIVE HIM BACK”. My uncle turned even whiter, but when he spoke, his voice wasn’t trembling. “You’re never gonna get to him, I pledged I would always protect him, to my last breath. Nobody can escape destiny. You won’t win, no matter how hard you try, you can torture me, or even kill me, it won’t change what has been written” What was he talking about? Now, even I couldn’t be so blind as to not see they were looking for me. But what did all that talk about destiny mean? And about torture and death? Who would be willing to kill a good man like him just to get to me? At this point, I was shaking head to toe. I knew I had to do something, or at least in hindsight, I do. To this day, I don’t know if I could’ve actually done something to change what was about to happen. I looked at my uncle. He looked at me, for a fraction of a second. I could see the fear in his eyes. He was terrorized, but he didn’t want to give in. Then, the creature turned around. The image of its repugnant face has inhabited my dreams ever since. It looked like a cadaver, and not a fresh one. patches of red hair, skin white as snow stretched over a pointed skull. His eyes were all black, and I’m not talking just about the iris. They were just tiny black holes deep in his skull. A malefic grin popped up on his face, and his thin lips gave way to a set of pearl white, razor-sharp teeth.

He asked me to join them, “that is, if you want your uncle to see the sunrise tomorrow” he added with a smirk. I wish I could say that I stood up to him, that I sacrificed myself to save my uncle, anything like that, but truth is, I didn’t. I just turned tail and ran like a coward. Yes, I left my uncle there, to die. I didn’t even turn back. But, in the following days, maybe just to make peace with what I had done, I convinced myself I saw him, out of the corner of my eye, smiling at me, before jumping on his assailant, to give me time to run. I had run for less than a minute when I heard it. A loud bang. I didn’t stop running while I looked back; the whole house was on fire, the roof blown off. Nobody could have survived that. No human could. I stumbled to my knees, with tears starting to fill my eyes. I lost him. He was dead. He was my dad, and I let him die. My ring began to light up again. Shit. He survived. I knew that. He wasn’t that easy to kill. I had to go. I had to run. I got to the village in record time, and then I stopped. What was I gonna do? Where could I hide? I got into the tavern. The owner was an old friend, and it was mostly empty. I hid under the counter. I couldn’t even begin to explain the situation. The door blew up, and the towering creature on the doorstep. He snapped his fingers, and the owner fell to the ground, dead. Instinctively, I just threw the first thing I found, a whiskey bottle, and turned around, heading for the back exit. My throw was sloppy, to say the least. the bottle didn’t even cover half the length of the tavern before crashing on the ground, but, apparently, it distracted him that split second needed. I blew past the back door, turning the corner and running towards… I didn’t even know. There was no way of escaping, nowhere to hide. I had already let 2 people die because of me. I turned a corner, and run right into something bulky. I looked up. It was that man. The one I met earlier, in that tent, the one who had warned me. Thinking about it now, this sounds dumb. He had tried to help me, giving me some sound advice, but at that moment I couldn’t help yelling at him that it was all his fault, that I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him and calling him some non-very-nice-nor-politically-correct names. But hey, in that kind of a situation, it is really hard to use your rational brain. He grunted, then lifted me up and put me on a horse nearby, then he told me to run, just run, and don’t turn back. He slapped the horse, who started galloping. Great, adding stealing a horse to the list of things I did today. Oh, and I didn’t even know how to ride a horse. Let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. I grabbed onto the horse with hands and feet, squashing my face against its back. I was probably frightened about being on that horse galloping through the village, but I was way more scared of what I was leaving behind, and I didn’t even consider dismounting. I remember leaving the village, and riding – if you can call that riding – for another hour or two. I was leaving my home, who knows for how long. I had lost my family, my house, and it was all my fault. I couldn’t save anyone. I was a failure. Eventually, between tears and sweat, I did fall into a deeply unrestful sleep, rocked by the rhythmic pace of the horse, which had become a fast trot.