Edward looks at the horse and checks it to make sure its condition is fine. After doing that he burrows his hand into one of his pockets and starts vigorously searching for a coin. He took out a gold coin eventually and flicked it to the old man. The old man grabs the coin and inspects it. “Sir this is 90 silver coins too mu-”. Before letting the old man finish Edward had left the stables. The heavy downpour continued and lightning cracked in the air. But this thunder… Edward thought it was weird. It sounded like the thunder was breaking glass or something fragile. But Edward didn’t pay much heed to this. He had never been to this side of the kingdom before and thought that it might have been normal.
While he listened to the crackling of the thunder, he also felt as if he was being called out… by someone with a similar voice to Aeron. “SIRE! SIRE! WHERE ARE YOU?” it went. Edward couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong with this place. Something sinister was going on. Suddenly from around 50 metres behind him, he heard the ground erupt causing shrapnel and giant pieces of rock to fly in all directions. Aeron ran to try taking the blow for Edward but then all of the attacks phased through Aeron and Edward. Edward was confused. What the hell was going on? He then saw the little girl, Celaine appear behind him. Edward then asked Celaine, “Where is everyone else?”.
Celaine then replied, “Who knows? I’ve been here for the longest time and it’s been just me and my father”. “Wait… That man is your father?” Edward questioned back. “Yep. He indeed is,” she replied. Edward looked at the girl who didn’t look a day over 15. His vision flickered and in the girl’s place he saw a monster. It was undoubtedly Celaine…. but she had red glowing eyes. Her lamprey-like mouth was opened with her tongue drooping out of it. And instead of her usually straight posture her back was hunched. The monster started chasing Edward. Edward got on his horse and got it to move but before long the monster caught up with him. It pounced on Edward causing the horse to come crashing down with him. Edward picked up a stick from nearby and tried resisting the monster’s attempts at biting him. Although he was trying he was failing. “Tell me this is all just a dream” Edward said while fully accepting that he might die here. Then came the bite.
The pain. It was real… Edward started screaming as the monster eventually tore his body parts limb from limb. Then the monster made an incision from Edward’s chest all the way down to his hips. Then the monster slowly tore apart Edward’s flesh slowly but surely reaching his internals. Edward was crying the entire time. He had never felt pain this intense. Edward begged for mercy but the monster just continued. Slowly but surely the monster reached his internals and ripped it apart as his stomach and liver both came crashing out. Suddenly Edward opened his eyes. He noticed Aeron was above him. And he was in one piece. Aeron noticed that Aeron had a worried expression on his face. “Sir what’s going on with him?” Aeron asked.
Stolen story; please report.
Edward turned his neck slightly to see an old man with glasses and a long white beard standing with a tub and a piece of cloth. Just then Edward realised that he was in a makeshift bed with a piece of cloth on his head. He was confused once again. “What’s going on? Weren’t we in Baymore Aeron?! And who’s the old man?!” Edward asked. “The old man… That will have to wait for another time. But what do you mean Baymore? We just passed it and you were out. When I checked your temperature it was high and your pulse too was extremely hig-”. “ENOUGH!”. Aeron was cut short by Edward. “I refuse to believe that what I just witnessed was a dream. That pain. It was unbearable. And everything. It felt too real”. Aeron questioned Edward back “My Liege, what dream?”. Edward explained what happened in the dream. Aeron was at a loss for words. The old man didn’t appear to be too shocked however.
The old man then said “Your Majesty, it must be the smoke from one of the necromancer’s damned labs. The things he brews in there are unknown but it is said that they are highly hazardous. There have been many people who have complained of similar issues. Well in any case I can help”. Edward was carried by Aeron into a carriage made of what appeared to be plants. Aeron then laid Edward down on the seat and the carriage started moving. For Edward it felt like ages before he reached the old man’s abode when in reality it was about half an hour. Aeron took Edward in and placed him on a bed. Edward just sat there, staring at the ceiling. He had no idea what to do. He kept on staring at the ceiling for the next ten minutes.
Eventually Edward lost focus of the ceiling and started looking at the lights. He then moved his head to the left to see Aeron and the old man talking. The old man was pouring tea for himself and Aeron. “It appears that Aeron is acquainted with this old man,” Edward mumbled to himself. Edward then looked at the teapot the old man was pouring tea from. Edward looked closer at it and saw a sigil. It looked awfully familiar yet he couldn’t lay a finger on what it was. All he knew was that he should keep the sigil in mind for now. Edward eventually fell asleep due to boredom and also because he wasn’t feeling too well. When Edward woke up everything in that house was abandoned. Cobwebs in the corners. Overgrown creepers. The house had nothing at all. And he couldn’t move. It felt as if he was in shackles.