The red moon was above the clouds and the slow soft wind was slapping the face of the two boys who had sneaked away from the seakers who had destroyed their home, in hope of finding the treasure hidden deep within the forest. Ray and Nora were just ordinary young men but the look on their face indicated other things. Ray’s face showed sign of frustration and anger whereas Nora’s face was cold. It reflected what he had just witnessed, his only father was mercilessly stabbed several times in his chest, blood covering his body and his legs torn off like log chopped by an axe in two.
“Is...the….treasure...really…. here?” Nora asked shuttering. They had only reached the wasteland behind the village and more than a day had already past by. Hearing the ice-tone voice of his only friend who was 2 years younger than him, he felt culpable.
“Don’t worry bro, I once heard from my great grandfather that deep inside the forest protected by a legendary beast is a cave that contains treasure worth many solidus (*Ancient roman coins) He seemed confident but only to show not to reveal his nervousness to Nora. Nora too understood but didn’t say anything more. They had matured because of today's incident.
The two again started advancing but at a faster pace without making a single sound as to not awake the sleeping dead. They were nearing the end of the wasteland and stepping into the forest but suddenly a loud ‘cracking’ noise was heard behind them. Their face instantly darkened.Ray slowly turned his head back. With the eerily-quite surrounding it made his heart pump back and forth continuously which could be heard clearly in his head. And Nora firmly grabbed the black checked shirt of Ray with his sweating hand and he too slowly turned his head sideways instinctively. There were 4 skeletons like figure grinning sinisterly quite far away, but the dim lantern they were holding made them noticeable even in the dark night. Nora wanted to run but his legs froze due to fear. Ray grabbed Nora immediately and started running like his life depended upon it. Such monsters were only mentioned in books and sometimes "adult-talk" which they were somewhat interested but never had a chance of seeing them. He remembered they were called "Bones" who suck away the livings 'life force'.
He sprinted with all his remaining strength with the bones seeming to catch upto him bit by bit. He then started running zigzag off the path heading deeper into the forest hoping he might lose them which never happened. He noticed a deep gorge and headed toward it without a second thought. The bones were still running behind him with an old lantern each, which contained red flame like whisps. He soon came forth a gloomy cave whose interior seem darker than the night. ‘Only if the treasure were here’, his heart seemed to wish for it but his mind which still had fear neglected that worthless idea of his head. He was too exhausted and 'luckily' the skinny skeletons didn’t chase further. They seemed afraid of something which was not noticeable to the already worried and hungered Ray.They hadn't eaten anything since midday. His stomach too seemed to remember it and growled again and again. He placed Nora down who was still unconscious. He felt guilty for him. Only if he hadn’t allowed him to follow and hidden him somewhere safe or at least learnt some basic magic spells when the street teacher had come to the village to teach. He had neglected it then thinking of it only as a petty trick. He was too hungry and thirsty to think further so he rested Nora behind a big rock and started wandering deeper in search of food and water which was the only luxury to him now.
The water droplets were falling from the ceiling drop by drop in a similar pattern, which made his heart skip a beat from fear. However, gathering all his remaining courage he started heading further deeper.
“Oh…My…God….” That was the only sound which he could make seeing the huge fortress like structure made with only bones. It was definitely the largest collection of bones he had ever seen. “If this beast was alive, it could have ruled over a nation alone”, he thought of such thing considering his size only. His eyes then fell over a tomb within the bundle of bones. He neared it slowly hesitating a little but still taking small steps ahead. It was a beautiful lightly blackish unnamed tomb with a shiny jug floating above it’s head as if it was only placed here tonight pouring crystal clear water. It was quite unusual as the tomb kept absorbing all the water without missing a single drop. He immediately grabbed the jug and started drinking as he was too thirsty to think about anything else. Soon the cave started crumbling louder and louder. A beam of light started coming from underground engulfing the tomb. It’s impact was so powerful that Ray was immediately thrown against the walls on his back and the jug too flew away more than him landing with a loud "THUD". He slowly rose straight giving all his remaining strength to his legs.He gaze went towards the tomb and saw a shadow of sinister looking person laughing devilishly non-stop.That person laughter echoed throughout the cave. He then felt his heart pierced by a knife, the pain was enough to make someone go wild. He then cried louder than the unknown person's laughter. His vision started blurring and his legs gave up all the strength he had paced before. His hand seemed to grab someone in the dark space. “I have returned” was the final sound he heard.
Then, silently, he fell down with a bitter face accepting his untimely death. Seeing a certain individual approaching him, he let out his final words,"HELP NORA".
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