We follow the strange man that we met on the outskirts of the grand forest. He carries with him firewood and a fresh catch of fish. With his back turned to us he questions Samael and I.

"What brings you two to these parts? I assume that you know about the rumors surrounding the forest of wonders and a village near it."

Samael has a look that seems to ponder as out something but he replies after a small pause. "I've only ever heard about the forest of wonders, but nothing about the 'cursed village'. Will you enlighten me with the story behind it."

"Sure, I'll tell you about it, but this isn't really the safest place to be right now. Wait until we get to our place, it's a bit small but it can keep a family happy." The mysterious man walks into an overgrowth of grass, the skies begin to go dark indicating that it may rain at any moment. 

We quicken our pace as the clouds rumble and roar in the sky. We arrive to a wide clearing in the forest, and it seems like the space was meant for a house to be built in the middle of it, which there is of course. A small lodge cabin that reminded me of the one Andour and I lived in but this one is larger and well crafted.

"Come inside. You'll be drenched in the cold." The door squeaks open as he gestures for us to come inside, he allows us to put Sleipnir in a makeshift barn to keep him safe and we enter the cabin, the rain comes down in a raging torrent. 

"Forgive me for not tidying up the place. I'm home my dear!" He puts down the things he has been carrying and proceeds to a room. "Please wait here, I will bring you something to drink."

The room is dark because of the lack of lighting and the darkness of the clouds outside. He comes outside the room he enters in to light the lanterns making the place look even a bit colorful. He gives us 2 mugs of water and sits down in front of us. "Please sit. I apologize for not introducing myself before, my name is Sion. What are your names if I may ask?"

We sit down on the seats presented behind us and Samael does the introductions. "My name is Samael and this is my companion Fafnir and I thank you for your hospitality. It seemed like a bad idea to go into the forest of wonder under the rain."

"Samael and Fafnir... Fafnir, what an odd name. But I did not bring you here to merely judge your names. I'll tell you the rumors surrounding the cursed village as you already know about the forest of wonders. I think that it is important before you enter the forest.

"This village has been around long ago, but it was not called the cursed village in the past, they called it 'Alaise' a rather peaceful village, it was a village that provided people with supplies for crossing the forest of wonders. It continued like that for a while"

His expression turned grim, remembering the past truly disturbed him, but he did not let the past bind him as he continued the story after a long *sigh*

"I was around 22 at that time when it all began, I had a wife and two newborns one boy and the other a girl. People who wanted to travel through the forest of wonders have come and gone through our village. But there was one peculiar visitor that came to our village. He introduced himself as a doctor Weiss, and said that he wanted to help out the village permanently as a resident, he looked well enough with us altogether until 2 years passed. That was the time where it all became odd."

"His movements became peculiar, he started doing alchemy as a replacement for medicine, the first few patients were well off on how it went down, but as time passed once more, his previous patients that he used alchemy on started to lose life, they became weak, unable to eat and they ultimately die. 

Because of this the town elder called a secret meeting and was I involved with it. We questioned doctor Weiss about his methods, his sanity, and his guilt about the death of the villagers, and repented, sobbed and pleaded for mercy and that was that... Or so we thought..."

Bad things started to happen to the ones that attended the secret meeting. They were afflicted with strange curses, one died of starvation as he refused to eat, one killed himself, and the strangest one of all is one became afflicted with a curse of death. You'll get weaker and weaker as time passes until the day of your death."

"The other villagers blamed us for angering the doctor, so they purged the ones involved and their families as a sign of tribute to appease the doctor. They were in a trance for it felt that some of them were already dead but still moving. Although I know that they just wanted to sacrifice someone to survive as they too lost families and they did not want to be next.

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Sion starts to sweat profusely, struggling to say the words in his mind. But he works up the courage to continue on while Samael and I listen intently to his story.

"Remember when I said that one of the villagers involved in the act of punishing the doctor had died due to a curse that weakens his body. Well, my son and daughter became afflicted with the curse instead of me. The day of the purge came and families died for something that they didn't even commit. I was just returning from gathering firewood when I saw a pillar of smoke from the village, I feared for the worst and took a firewood that I could use as a makeshift weapon and ran towards the village."

"I came back to a gruesome sight. They were binding people's arms and legs with ropes preventing the. From escaping, and in a middle there stood a bonfire. One was being burned to death, desperately screaming for help. I quickly hid behind the bushes, afraid of being tied up as the others. But what I was looking for, most importantly was my wife, I found her and she was struggling, trying to push the men from entering our house. I saw that she was cradling in her arms our son Elliot, who was being pried from my wife's hands."

The clouds roar ferociously with a loud clap of thunder and lightning it is as if they sympathize with Sion's situation. Sion begins to lower his head as he starts to tear up, his tears falling on the floor. "Forgive me... I shall continue."

"She wouldn't let go of our son who was crying so loudly. She was crying, pleading for the crazed villagers to leave the children alone and to take her instead. She resisted to a point where... They started beating her with anything they saw fit to beat her with. Unable to control myself anymore, I charged the men beating up my wife and I swung my makeshift weapon against one of them breaking the weapon I hold in my hands."

"I pick up my wife who lays dying on the ground with a bloodied face. Crying, she showed me our son of 1 years old, lifeless, and not breathing in her arms, painted with the blood of my wife. 

She whispered softly in my ears, a sound so soft that everytime silence fills this empty space around me, I have the urge to yell into the heavens. I started to cry in anger as she spoke with her last ounce of strength. 'Please I beg of you... Sion.. Save our daughter from all of this...'

I told my wife that I'd bring her with me but she refused. She simply told me this as she pushed me away. 'I'm you wife, leave this to me, I'll hold them off... I love you... Take care of Sofia and don't forget to tell her about me alright?' She smiled weakly as she stood up shielding me from the villagers."

"I yell so loudly that I lost my voice for an entire month afterwards. I broke down the door to our house trying to find our daughter. She lay in her crib fast asleep despite everything happening outside. I hear my wife yell in pain outside, but I simply shield Sofia's ears and hug her whispering into her ears that it will be alright. It broke my heart that she smiled when I said that. I run through the backdoor and into the woods and we escape under the darkness of the night."

"And finally it brings us here, I find a place far away from the village and begin to build a home that my daughter can grow up in peace. 10 years pass and Sofia's 12 years of age now and I am 32. I still ask myself how she's been able to stay alive for this long under the influence of the curse, but she's been getting weak through these past 10 years and now she has become bedridden, pail in color and all that is left of her is her strength to speak and move her arms but that's it."

"It pains my heart everytime she asks if she ever had a mother. I don't know what to tell her... I don't know if I can tell her the truth, but I can only tell her that she was brave, and they protected her along with her big brother Elliot. She'll be gone someday and I won't be prepared for that. I don't know what will happen to me when that time comes."

He faces us wiping his tears away, but is unsuccessful as tears come flowing out and he clenches his fists in apparent frustration. He manages to speak a few words. "Thank you for listening to my story, and sorry for letting you see me like this. But it seems the pain has yet to leave my mind, body and soul.

We let him cry out as it will help him calm down afterwards. But I look to Samael about what we should do and he answers. "Nothing for now. Let us not be hasty with things."

And thus ends Sion's tragic tale.