CHAPTER 2

It had been 3 years since the funeral, it was heartbreaking for everyone, the knight had been born and raised in this very town. To know that such a hero died so suddenly shattered everyone’s hearts. Zephyr barely took any interest in the matter, sure he looked up to the knight, but everyone will die at some point, it was just his turn.

The blazing sun blinded Zephyr’s vision as he stepped outside, the grass on the sides of the cobblestone path were a vibrant green, and the tall forest surrounding the town seemed as if it was dancing with the wind.

The town of Silverwood was active today, people were crowding around the shops in the center of the town, and were constantly bumping into each other. Zephyr preferred to stay in the quiet places, like alleyways, the edge of town, or sometimes in the forest. When he did have to go into the center of Silverwood, he always kept to the shadows and took what he needed.

Zephyr hated being in the open around a ton of people, he looked different from everyone else. He had violet eyes and black hair with a white strip in the front. Anyone who saw his appearance told him he was cursed, and threw stuff at him to shoo him away. He always wore his cloak so he could keep his identity a secret. The tavernkeep, Gareth, was different however. He saw potential in the boy and knew that he would someday become strong and prove the townsfolk wrong.

Zephyr took a whiff of the fresh air. Today was the same as any other, he held a book in his hand and dashed out into the quiet forest. He liked reading books, especially those about ancient legends. His favorite legend was this one about an ancient species, the Aetherians.

Zephyr found a boulder under the shadow of a tree, sat against it, and opened his book. The Aetherians or ‘Phantoms’ were an ancient species of humans, they possessed supernatural powers and were also known to have vibrant colors. They went by many nicknames, the main ones were ‘Phantoms’ and ‘Karma’.

He heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the direction of the town, Zephyr quickly closed the book and climbed up the tree. He hid in the leaves and saw two townspeople chatting while walking through the forest, one was tall with blonde short hair and a beard, the other was average height with short brown hair and a scar across his eye.

Zephyr laid back a bit, knowing they would quickly pass by, and realized the book wasn’t in his hand. He peeked out of the leaves and realized he left the book against the rock. Right as he realized, the two men saw the book and picked it up,

“Hey look at what I found!” The blonde-haired man exclaimed, holding up the book to show his friend.

“A book about ancient legends? Who left that garbage out here?” The brown-haired man asked, taking the book and opening it to the first few pages.

They quickly flipped through it and laughed every few pages. After a few minutes, they finally closed the book and walked off with it.

Zephyr waited until they were out of sight, and then jumped down from the tree. He started running in the direction they were heading, determined to get his book back.

He managed to catch up to them, but stayed far back to prevent himself from being seen. The two men were walking towards an abandoned castle. It had stood tall for many decades, being the last remaining piece of the town’s history. Zephyr walked off of the path and slowly crept closer until he could just make out their conversation.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“This is the castle,” The brown-haired man said, “People say this place is cursed.”

The blonde-haired man looked at the castle and back, “Yeah sure, this old building? I doubt there is anything in there.”

“I bet you twelve silver coins you won’t go in there for five minutes”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

The blonde-haired man started walking inside the castle, just then Zephyr noticed he was still holding his book. Zephyr panicked for a second but calmed himself down, I have to get that book back... But that would involve going into the castle, he thought. It's fine, he’ll come back out at some point, I'll just wait until then.

It hasn’t even been a minute until a scream came from the castle. Zephyr jumped up to look at what was going on. The brown-haired man rushed into the castle, and Zephyr decided to follow.

The inside of the castle was dark and humid, vines creeped around the walls, and it looked like some creatures had made their homes there. Just then he heard another scream, coming from upstairs. Zephyr quickly ran up the damp stone stairs to see where the scream came from. To his horror, he saw the blonde-haired man on the floor, surrounded in blood. He seemed to have been hit in the head with a metal pot.

Zephyr jumped back, his mind was in shock, he quickly looked away from the horrid sight. What could have possibly happened? He thought. Zephyr had many questions. What happened? What threw the pot at him so hard that it caused death? How did it happen? He started panicking, and then he heard a voice calling down from below,

“Zach? Zachary, where are you?” The brown-haired man yelled out worryingly.

But nobody responded, and Zephyr knew why. He quickly jumped from the second story and dashed towards another room so he wouldn’t be seen. Zephyr sat against a wall and his mind started to calm down. He was more alert and aware of his surroundings. He knew he had to be careful around this place. He couldn’t help but feel like something was lurking around in this abandoned castle, disposing of those who step a foot inside.

“ZACHARY?? NO!!”

Zephyr heard the depressing wail of the brown-haired man, he knew the brown-haired man was gonna find his friend’s body at some point. Even then, it was still sad to hear. Zephyr never wanted to imagine how he would feel if Gareth or Fenrys died right in front of him. He decided to stand up, but that was a bad idea.

FWOOSH

Zephyr quickly yanked his head to the left.

FPUH

He turned to his right and saw the handle of a dagger sticking out of the wall, where his head was just placed. He stepped back and glanced around the room, where did that come from??

Zephyr didn’t have much time to think, as another dagger came flying at him from another direction, scratching his cheek, and flying into the far right wall. The scratch stung, he put pressure on it so it wouldn’t bleed, and began running around the room trying to avoid flying daggers. It was as if there was a ghost in this castle. Maybe it really was cursed?

He was panicking, never in his life had he even prepared for a situation such as this one. He continued dashing around flying daggers, wondering if it will ever end. Just then something tripped him, another dagger… he thought, I should have seen that one coming.

Zephyr tried to get up but quickly fell back down, he was now on his back, watching the rusted daggers fly across the room at high speeds. He could feel the air from the daggers from down there. He decided to look around to get an understanding of his surroundings during this little moment of peace, but then something fast was caught heading towards him in the corner of his eye.

And everything turns black.