Emil returned home and put the box of makeup away. He looked at his face, which hadn’t looked so healthy in years. It was late in the afternoon and Emil ended up deciding to go for a walk in the park. He wandered for a while and thought about Estera and Veles’ festival. Without noticing he found himself inside the forest. He walked on until he reached the stream. The water was clear and a light breeze brought cool fresh air over it. The water was crystal clear and he looked around the bed, but couldn’t see anything save for a small fish hurrying along with the current. He spent an hour walking along the stream, wondering if he could find the mystical glade, but no luck came his way.

He went back towards his home. It was getting dark and the Moon was in a waning crescent high in the sky. In the park he walked past couples walking slowly and solitary people hurrying along. He wasn’t in much of a hurry and knew that he wouldn’t need to go to sleep anyway.

“Maybe I will be able to get some more studying and reading done if I no longer sleep,” he thought and sniggered. When he came to his apartment he looked up and in the window there was a small dark silhouette. Without a second thought he dashed into his apartment and ran into the room. A small black creature was sitting on the window sill. A single green circle pierced him with a gaze.

“It can’t be, how?” The cat stood up and walked in a small circle.

“Surprised to see me again are you.” Emil gave a short high pitched shriek and fell back with a loud crashing sound.

“Surely this isn’t the most surprising thing to have happened to you lately get a grip.” The cat jumped down from the sill, walked slowly towards Emil and jumped on his raised knees. Its single eye was trained on Emil’s lone good eye.

“Yes you are right, but I hoped it would stop by now,” Emil retorted.

“Oh no you don’t, you are just getting started. I gave my good eye to that bastard Veles to get my paws on you. I hope you didn’t forget about that whole drowning me in the river thing.”

Emil’s head sagged and the cat used this opportunity to launch itself off it and into the middle of the room. In flight the cat exposed its white belly, clashing with it’s otherwise inky fur.

“Why?” Emil murmured.

“What’s that?”

“Why have you brought me back?”

“Ah, straight to the point are we? Well of course you might be confused. I of course hate and despise you with all my being, make no mistake. In fact this will be your punishment. I have some things that need doing and now I have you to do them.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You will, no need to worry, watch this.” The cat sat down and Emil watched nervously. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak when he at once grasped his own chest and cried out in pain. It was the worst feeling he had ever felt. The pain was so severe that he collapsed to the ground and felt his consciousness start to fade as his vision blurred and his ears were filled with a roaring of a siren like sound. And as if it had never happened at all the sensation disappeared completely. Emil got on his knees and looked towards the sitting feline.

“Got it. So what was it that you wanted me to do?”

The cat purred and laid down curled up.

“I’m tired now, we will talk tomorrow.”

“Wait I want to ask more,” Emil extended his arm towards the cat but its eyes were already closed and it drew slow deep breaths. Its tail covered its mouth and gave the cat a somewhat humorous moustache. Emil crawled towards the cat and sat down with his legs crossed. For a while he just sat there silently, not stirring a single muscle. He simply observed the small dark creature.

“It said I killed it, but somehow it looks different,” He thought. The coat of the beast was black as it was on that night, yet this cat was simply black like ink while his victim felt like a rupture in space itself. He was also fairly sure that the deceased cat didn’t have a white belly, but it was possible that he overlooked some details in his drunken state. He looked over at the clock. It was barely past 11 pm. He sighed and looked at his useless bed. It was still messy with the blanket crumpled and thrown to the edge. He got up and made his bed. He looked back at the cat sleeping peacefully on the middle of the room and was overcome by a melancholy sadness and the memories of his deeds. He walked slowly towards the tranquil ball of fur and with the utmost grace placed his hands around it and gently slid them under the cat and slowly lifted. The fur was warm and soft and he could feel the breathing and beating of the heart with his hands. He cautiously walked towards his bed and placed the cat in the middle. The cat had not stirred at all. He stood there a while longer, staring at it. He extended his hand towards the cat’s head. He started feeling the pressure of tears build up within him and ceased his movement centimetres from its head. He held still for a moment and then ever so tenderly pulled the blanket over the cat’s body, leaving only the head outside. It started softly purring in its sleep but did not move at all.

Emil quietly crept away from the bed. He went towards his door, but on the way picked up the old violin and bow. He left the apartment and went straight towards the park. It was dark save for the Moon and the stars.

“I never had the time to go for a walk twice a day before.” But in the sleepless nights that were yet to come he was sure such an occasion would most likely arise regularly. On the dark path he met not a single soul and before he knew he was already at the edge of the forest. It was dark and foreboding, yet in his current state Emil felt highly serene. He entered the forest and walked along a narrow path. He knew he wouldn’t find the mysterious glade so he spared it no more thought. After a while, surrounded by trees and ferns he came to a halt.

He looked at his violin and suddenly remembered an old piece of music. Humoresque by Dvořák, specifically the transcription played by Kreisler. He had first heard the piece many years ago and it quickly became one of his favourites and even one of the reasons to play the violin at all.

Losing himself in reminiscence a small smile stole its way on his face.

He held up the violin and without a second thought started playing. He played in an imitation of Kreisler’s style and manner, albeit his version was somewhat simplified as he wasn’t confident in his double stops. Despite his imitation he could not for the life of him replicate the heart-wrenching glissandi that Kreisler himself performed with such elegance and ease. Despite of that playing the piece brought back feelings of bittersweet nostalgia of his youth and innocence. It filled the emptiness inside him if only for a while. He spent the night walking about the forest and remembering.

He was returning home as the dawn broke. He entered his room and at once peered at the bed. It was empty and the blanket was hanging off the side. Emil surveyed all of the rooms and found nothing. It was gone. Not knowing how to feel about the disappearance he checked the time and found he still had a while before he needed to head to the faculty.

He came to understand unexpectedly that since he no longer had a need to eat he needed to get rid of at least the perishable food. He went to his fridge and looked inside. It was fairly barren as was not unusual for students on a tight budget. There were still a couple of things however. First he took out a carton, filled halfway with milk. He opened it and smelled. To his surprise it seemed it had not gone bad just yet. In the kitchen he went and took a small ceramic bowl and filled it with milk. He set the bowl on the ground and returned to the fridge. The next thing that caught his attention was a bag containing a raw chicken breast. He took it out and returned to the kitchen. There he found an old frying pan and poured a bit of oil on it and turned on the stove. After the oil got hot enough he placed the entire breast into the pan. The meat started sizzling and oil splattered and stung Emil’s hands. He left the food alone for a while and scrutinized his face in the mirror. The scar over his eye was not visible at all and he was shocked at how healthy and alive his complexion seemed. He understood it was all a trick caused by the makeup, but the trick was believable to his eye. The only part that was still unnatural looking was the pale blind eye. As he went back he flipped the chicken over and went to gather his books.

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When the chicken was finally done he cut it up into pieces and placed some of them on a small plate that he then placed next to the milk. After some consideration he took the rest of the meat and put it on a larger plate and took it outside and put it underneath his window.

Satisfied with the work he took his things and went to the faculty.

For a change it was darker and damper than the past weeks. The distant mountaintops were already enveloped in thick dark clouds as if wearing some extravagant hats. There was tension in the air. God rays shone from the edges of the clouds onto the faraway fields and forests.

On the way to the faculty he stopped at the optician and bought himself a pair of blue grey contact lenses that perfectly matched his own natural eye colour and a bottle of contact lens solution. He went and stopped in front of a shop window of a closed clothing store. Watching his own reflection in the glass he attempted to insert one of the lenses onto his right eye. It was the most horrible experience and for the first and very possibly only time he was glad that the eye was at least blind. Though he wouldn’t have had to this if the eye wasn’t blind in the first place. It took him many attempts and it was unbelievably hard to keep himself from blinking, but at last the lens was in its proper place.

Content with his appearance he continued towards the faculty. Once he arrived the hallways were already crawling with students and professors some hurrying and others lost in their thoughts and some chatting away. On his way he passed Estera. He raised his hand and attempted to greet her, but she passed right along without the smallest hint of a reaction.

“I suppose it’s better to just pretend all that didn’t happen,” he thought and went on. He entered the classroom and his two friends already sitting there and chatting. As soon as they saw him they all waved at each other. Emil kept reminding himself to keep breathing.

“Hey you look all better.”

“Yes, I fell great.”

“Even your face looks like it has finally seen some sunlight.”

“I guess the marauding buccaneer has finally retired.”

“Oh please Kasia, no more. I never want to see another pirate film again.”

“Come on it was only a day or so. Oh right I found a new band, check this out.”

She pulled out her phone and earphones and passed them to Tobias and Emil. The two exchanged a quick glance since they were well aware that her music taste was somewhat more extreme than their own. Sure enough as soon as she played the song it opened with a lighting fast blast beat and heavily distorted guitars. This was followed by dissonant chords over odd time signatures, but then surprisingly the music calmed down and what followed was a violin accompanied by acoustic guitars. This transitioned into singing with both clean and distorted vocal styles. Emil couldn’t help but stare in awe of the musical journey while Tobias sat there and his eyes glazed over. Suddenly Emil’s eyes went wide with realisation. A melody played by the guitar bore close resemblance to part of the music that had been played in the mystical glade of Veles. He listened on, enchanted by the development of the theme that had spellbound him on that night. It soon ended and Kasia regarded both of their faces.

“Pretty awesome right?”

“Sure great I guess.” Tobias wasn’t thrilled about this type of music.

“Well fine but Emil sure looked like he enjoyed it. Didn’t you?”

“I suppose I was quite absorbed by the whole thing. It somehow felt familiar to me.”

“It’s been out for a couple of years now, but I think that it’s fairly obscure. So I can’t imagine you heard it randomly.”

The lecture started and once again Emil was able to follow without feeling sleepy.

“Shame, even though I rarely remembered them I still liked to dream. I need to ask more about the band. They might be one of the nav. I’m sure Kasia has already done her research on them.” He focused on the lecture. For some reason statistics left a worse taste in his mouth than most of the other subjects on the curriculum, even though it was not as difficult as some of those.

As the lesson ended he immediately made his inquiry.

“Kasia, what is that band called?”

“Ha I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist their pull. They were called Drowned Dead.”

Emil blinked at the word which was both a sensitive topic for him and also a relevant one.

“Yeah I know a bit edgy, but I think it totally fits with their style.”

“Wait you said were.”

“They disbanded a while ago. Pretty mysterious, one day they just disappeared off the face of the Earth. Without any announcements or press they were simply gone. What’s more is that all the band members were always anonymous, so you can’t really look up what happened to any of them. They always wore elaborate costumes, masks and makeup.”

“Huh, strange.”

“Well these things happen, especially with small bands. They either quarrel over one thing or the other or realize that they still need to do their day jobs to support themselves since small bands don’t make enough money. It just makes me mad that it happens with bands that make truly original and interesting music, meanwhile the top charters are all the same derivative drivel.”

“Um, yes sure.”

“You may not get it now, but just listen some more to them and you will see what we all lost. I’ll send you a link to their music later.”

“Cool, I’ll have a listen then.”

The lectures resumed and Emil’s thoughts were again filled with this band and their music.

“Sudden disappearance, mysterious members. Perhaps they were in fact the nav. Were they able to move on or did they just disappear from the public eye?”

After the lectures were over Emil returned home. The plate bellow his window was empty so he took it back inside. On the way he realized that for the first time since waking up inside the forest he felt somewhat tired. He entered his apartment. He noticed a single green orb staring at him.

“Hi cat,” he greeted and waved at it.

“Greetings man-child.”

“I see, my name is Emil.”

The cat blew air from its snout.

“You can call me … Eon”

Emil nodded and looked around the room. He saw the empty bowl and the upturned plate. He couldn’t help himself but let out the slightest of smirks. Eon gave him a sharp look.

“I have decided on your first task,” it said to Emil and stared into his eye. Emil stood to attention, listened carefully and nodded.

“Believe it or not, but you weren’t the first one to kill me.” It waited and Emil just stared with surprise in his face.

“Yes, I have some old scores to settle, indeed. This one should be fairly easy for someone like you. By that I mean a psychotic cold blooded murderer.”

Emil looked down in shame. In a moment he was able to regain his focus.

“Wait, surely you don’t mean,”

“There is a skulk of foxes living somewhere deep in the forest. I want them gone,” interrupted Eon.

“And I am supposed to kill them?”

“Yes, as I said no problem for you. You’ve had practice.”

Emil felt the cat was being unfair, but faced by the reality of his own actions he was unable to say anything to the contrary. He also vividly remembered that he did not have much choice in the matter since he was at its mercy.

“I … understand, but what exactly should I do?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, all I want is that they are dead. Oh and watch out, they might be rabid.”

“Great.”

“They live past the stream to the south side.”

“I didn’t think foxes even hunted cats.”

“They don’t, but nobody will resist a prey when it’s small and weak.”

“How long do I have?”

“Oh you don’t need to do it today of course. I suggest you prepare well. I won’t set a limit, but make sure to work on this regularly, otherwise you know what I can do to you.” It made a threatening gesture with its paw and Emil gulped.

“I can see you are tired today. You should go see Veles. He will probably call on you soon.”

Emil nodded and got up.

“Don’t forget you mask and violin. Not much you can do without those.”

“Right, I should probably return these. I just kind of took them when I was in the glade.”

“No, they are yours now. You will keep them. They will be claimed in due time. They chose you as much if not more so than you chose them.”

“I see,” Emil said and collected the items. He began heading towards the door, when he heard a small rattle. He turned and saw Eon use its paw to shake the small empty bowl. He smiled and took the bowl. This time he filled it with water and went to the fridge. This time he took out veal stakes and chopped them into small pieces. He fired the meat in the pan. While he waited he decided to look up the music that Kasia sent him. He also remembered to remove the contact lens. It was a slow and painful process but it brought a lot of relief. He couldn’t understand how so many people preferred them over glasses. He played the music. It seemed almost unearthly and it was a strange mixture of sound, but now and then he could recognize a small piece of what was played in the glade. He looked around and even Eon seemed to be listening to the music attentively.

After a while the meat was cooked and was left to cool down. Emil put a small part of it on the small plate next to the cat and wrapped the rest into foil and returned it to the fridge. The cat sat in front of the plate but stood there, scrutinizing Emil and not eating.

“Well enjoy your meal, see you later.”

He left with his gear in hand, but came to a stop outside. At the very place where he had placed the plate earlier were now two small and scrawny cats. When they spotted him they dashed for the bushes. Emil sighed and returned inside. He saw Eon with a piece of meat hanging from its mouth. It gave Emil a nasty look. Emil loaded a plate with meat and took it outside without saying a word. He couldn’t see the two cats, but he left the plate in the same place as before and left.