They approached a small cottage, shabby and abandoned.

"It doesn't look like anyone lives here.." Alec trails off.

"Don't let your eyes deceive you. No place is uninhabited. There's always something living around. Sometimes, if nothing living is there, it's most likely that the place you see is owned by something." Elophia slows her pace, breathing into the cold mist air.

"Something?"

"Yes."

He didn't push into it, seeing how Elophia was uninterested to answer any of his questions.

So he pursed his lips and looked around, kicking a small pebble. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just an unusual amount of mushrooms and moss growing around, scattered from the hut to dead logs of wood around it. Red, brown, and white mushroom caps grew through the small cracks around the hut.

Life seemed to find a way through death. He admired its stubbornness.

"You...can't see them, can you?" She suddenly asked, slowing her pace so he could keep up.

"See what?"

"Hm." As if she came to a conclusion.

They stepped closer to the cottage door, Alec's eyes were fixated on the growing moss on the floor, door, walls.

There's no way that someone could be living here right? I doubt even something would be interested in a mess like this.

Right?

Elophia knocked on the door twice, paused and knocked one final time.

The door creaked open slowly, revealing a dark room with rotting wood and dirty floors. It's as if the place has been left alone for years.

Elophia walks inside.

Then Alec's eyes focused on a one-seater chair at what seemed like a dining table.

There was a lump of rags sitting on one of them.

"Hello, Elophia."

‘Holy fuck it spoke.’ Alec clenched his jaw, and furrowed his brows. He was so startled with the situation that his whole body just stopped moving.

Bit by bit Alec could make out a figure with a hunched back sitting with their hands clasped together.

The figure’s wide, LITERALLY empty eyes- stared at the unlit fireplace in front of them.

"Greetings, Dru." The woman says casually.

A small smile was seen on Dru's lips, "What brings you to the outskirts of the city, Elo? it's unlike you to go outside your home."

"A child, seeking to change their fate, seems to have clung to me. I can't get rid of them."

"Oh...trouble," he says sympathetically.

Elophia hums in agreement, placing her coat on a small shelf near him. Dru motions her to sit.

"I see old blood following you. Very old. But, not the kind to defy their purpose...Is it possible that this child was raised differently?"

Alec stands awkwardly near the door, adjusting his shirt and scratching his neck.

'You said he was blind?' Alec mouthed, Elophia made a face as if she remembered something.

"Oh, sorry. Dru, do you mind? He can't see this place well."

Dru waves his hand in the air and Alec blinks his eyes.

The room changed.

The fucking room changed.

The stool Elophia sat on turned into a blue one-seater, and so did the chair of the old man who was sitting at the table. But instead of being on the other side of the room, they both were suddenly placed on either side of the now lit fireplace.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Alec's knees buckled as he fell to his feet, eyes looking wildly around the room.

"Old blood? But can't see it? Is the barrier too strong? Or too weak?" The figure, Dru cocked his head.

"Neither. He's just..weak?" Elophia answers sympathetically.

"You sound confused, Elo. Of what name is he given?"

"Cioban."

"Oh?" Dru sounded surprised, almost offended. His wide empty eyes now focused on the boy who sat on the ground next to Elophia's chair.

Elophia groaned, rubbing her hands on her face.

And so it begins.

"His blood is meant to protect! He is meant to see through my barrier! That's why their name was created and given! Shepherds are meant to guide and care for lost creatures, sheep, travelers, uh- everything!"

Dru flailed his arms in the air immediately looking at the panicking boy.

The room went from falling apart to completely organized, herbs in bottles on the shelves, tea leaves hanging in front of windows and drying, dried flowers in translucent glass cups. The walls were colorful but not to the point where it's bothering your vision. The floor was decorated with carpets that he could tell were handmade. There are strange but beautiful items on the shelves.

Slowly Alec focused his eyes on Elophia and Dru.

"Calm down you blind hellhound!"

Dru gasped dramatically, "A hellhound? How dare you! You come into my home asking for my help and you call me a hellhound!?"

"That's not what I meant-" She defended, face morphed into a look of frustration.

"Then what exactly did you mean, you bloody Baba Yaga?!"

"Baba Yaga? I know I'm old but don't you dare call me a children's book character!" Elophia shouts, her voice loud and deep. Alec swore he could feel that ground vibrate.

Elophia sighed slowly, sat back down on the chair, and closed her eyes.

"Dru, I came here as a friend. Not as a client."

"You'd only say that if there was bad trouble. And you call me a hellhound so that means you want to use me-"

"This involves our community."

Dru immediately sits down, eyes staring at the woman in front of him.

"What did the boy do?"

"Fate changing trouble."

"You said that before but what exactly did the boy do?"

"He challenged a god." Dru gasped, body tensed.

"Dragons, druids, ancient folklore tales, those I can calm down. I've lived long enough to know how to handle them, I've lived long enough to know how to kill them."

Elophia paused, looking at Dru, eyes flicking to the fireplace.

Dru made a 'come here' motion to Alec and offered him tea that came out of nowhere.

"This is lavender, it calms your nerves."

Alec was suspicious but accepted his offer, said his thanks, and sat next to Dru's chair. Alec hasn’t drank a drop of water since he left Elophia’s house. Shop?

"Continue, Elo."

"A god? There's no telling how to handle them. They do things for their interest, for their own fun!" Elophia stressed, eyes looking everywhere but the two boys in front of her.

"The worst part is, this boy didn't only mess with a god, he messed with two!"

Dru hummed in understanding.

"But Elo, what's the panic? This is something you can handle, is it not?"

Elophia's face morphed into annoyance, one that made both men flinch.

"Gods are good. There are always good ones.”

“There are religions, the ones that humanity believes in. They devote themselves to being pure, faithful, kind.

But the kind of God I'm referring to is not a religion-wise one.

It's more to ancient beings- no.

A being without a body that has lived long and is powerful enough to manipulate space, time, and reality itself.

They are sometimes one of the reasons why freak accidents happen. I mean, honestly speaking if we're talking about actual Gods, these things don't even come close, it's a compliment to even refer to them as gods."

Elophia paused her rambling, taking the cup of tea waiting for her on the small coffee table in front of her. She crosses her legs, takes a sip of the drink, and continues.

"However, To you, Ciobanu, They are YOUR God."

Alec's breathing hitched, goosebumps stroking his arms and neck.

"They gave you your last name. The name that has been passed down to generations. In other words, they created your fate, your destiny, your endgame. They created you. To your bloodline, they are equivalent to God."