14 - Dawn

After what seemed to be the longest night of Fíle’s life, the sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating the dull, stone road that he and Pierre had found their way back to an hour ago as well as the morning dew on the few potted plants kept by the nearby inhabitants.

“We’re almost there,” Fíle huffed, his legs melting to the floor more and more by the second. “I know. Sure took a while though,” Pierre commented. “Couldn’t you have carried me or something? Why’d we have to walk the whole way back,” Fíle complained. “Because physical strength can be a valuable asset.” Fíle didn’t have the strength to argue further.

“Won’t aunt Gyn be angry that we were gone all night,” Fíle asked as sweat poured from his brow. “Nah. I told her that I needed to borrow you for a night. So, as far as she knows, you never disappeared,” Pierre admitted.” “And,” he added, “I’d like to keep it that way.”

Fíle groaned. “You don’t have to tell me.” After rounding another corner, Fíle sighed in relief. “Finally,” he moaned before trying to sprint into his house. However, his legs trembled in despair, absolutely refusing to move any faster than they had been.

“I’d imagine that your legs are pretty worn out. Patience, you’re almost there. Just keep walking,” Pierre commented, very obviously trying to hold back a laugh. Fíle scowled as he tried to put power into his calves, though he couldn’t stop himself from trembling like a fawn as he inched his way to the finish line.

After another minute of forcing his legs forward, Fíle finally entered the shadow of his house. Putting his hands on his knees, he forced his head upward and reached his hand out towards the door. However, before he could knock, his hand was grabbed by Pierre’s.

“Wait a minute,” Pierre said. “We should make a plan before going in.” Fíle pursed his lips before pulling his hand back and wiping his forehead with it. “What kind of plan,” he asked.

“Well, I just want to make sure we’re on the same page,” Pierre clarified while leaning on the door. “I’ll do all the talking, so all I really want to know is what you’ll do.” Fíle slightly tilted his head. “Um, won’t I just sit next to you?”

Pierre’s eyes drifted towards the ground. “Well, I’m just saying that it might not be the most pleasant thing to see. Anyway, if you’re sure, then I’m not gonna stop you.” Pierre took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”

Sensing the change in tone, Fíle pushed himself off of his knees and desperately tried to push down his own tears. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s just go.” After giving a small nod, Pierre stood up straight in front of the door and pounded it lightly with the back of his fist twice, taking a step back a second later.

Muffled footsteps shuffled from inside the house, gradually getting closer to the door. Steeling his nerves, Fíle swallowed hard and stood on Pierre’s left, the shaking in his legs temporarily slowing down.

After a tense moment, the door creaked open, revealing a familiar, hunched over dark-skinned woman that had noticeable bags under her eyes. “Fíle! You’re home,” Aunt Gyn sighed as she nearly pounced on him. Despite barely being able to bear the weight, Fíle slowly reciprocated the hug, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “Aunt Gyn,” Fíle said, the words unconditionally leaking from his mouth, “Àndras and Nazarius…”

Aunt Gyn’s entire body tensed at his words. “Have you seen them,” she raspily shrieked. “Hold on, let's go inside first,” Pierre interjected, desperately trying to get a grasp on the situation. Hesitant, Aunt Gyn looked over at him and nodded, causing the entire group to slowly and grimly shuffle inside the dark house.

…

Even before waking up, Kakó could tell something was wrong.

His head… no, his entire body felt like it didn’t exist. He was like a spirit that simply floated around, yet something was telling him that wasn’t the case. Despite having closed eyes, his vision spun, and his brain screamed at him that something was wrong.

Suddenly, sunlight peeked through his eyelids, causing him to snap awake. Kakó swiveled his head around, noticing an old man lightly tapping his leg with a cane.

“Are you alright there, kiddo,” he grumbled innocently. However, Kakó didn’t respond, his brain more preoccupied trying to comprehend why it couldn’t feel the ground.

“Whah,” Kakó uttered, his line of sight falling towards the stone floor. He just face planted, and yet he still didn’t feel a thing. His head spinning, Kakó did his best to firmly plant his feet on the ground, yet, somehow, he kept stumbling. After falling towards the ground once again, Kakó’s body froze, his mind going into overdrive trying to find out what was happening.

Suddenly, his memory came back to him. Remembering the events of the night before, Kakó slowly rolled over, his eyes wandering across the azure blue sky.

‘That person,’ he thought, his eyes widening more by the second, ‘they took away… my sense of touch?’

Kakó’s eyes glazed over in disbelief. How did that person even do this? Was it part of their blessing? Well, yeah, obviously. But what kind of blessing would even allow someone to do something like this?

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

“Hey, kid, you’re bleeding,” the old man groaned, pulling Kakó away from his thoughts. “Oh yeah,” he blurted, “don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

The old man scowled as he hobbled over to Kakó. “Whadaya mean, you’ll be fine?! Sonny, your nose is sniffin in the wrong direction!” Slightly surprised by the man’s words, Kakó grabbed his nose with his right hand. Well, he at least thought he did. He couldn’t really tell. Realizing that there’d be no point in grabbing it, Kakó pulled his hand away, only stopping when his maroon red finger appeared in his vision.

Eyes widening, Kakó gasped through his nose, the growing scent of metal confirming the old man’s words further. “Whyre ya actin like it’s not yer problem?! Freaky ass kid… get over ere,” the old man bickered, his hand snatching Kakó’s face as he fell to one knee. Light began to emerge from the old man’s fingertips, causing Kakó’s eyes to widen once more.

“You’re an apostle of Apollo,” Kakó blurted. “Whut gave it away, my good face or the fuckin light shootin out my fingers,” the old man sarcastically uttered, causing Kakó to snap his mouth shut. After a dozen more seconds of bright particles dancing across Kakó’s face, the old man pulled away. “Welp, that’ll keep ya breathin. Don’t go sneezin to hard or it’ll break again, ya hear,” he nagged.

Kakó looked up at the peculiar old fellow, the sunlight bouncing off of his wrinkly, dark skin and his bright, green eyes. “Why do you talk like that,” Kakó blurted, completely ignoring the elders remark. “A mix of alcohol n’ free will. Gotta problum?”

Again, Kakó gaped like a fish, his mind racing in order to find any suitable reply to the old man’s jibberish. “Not really,” he eventually sighed. “Could you tell me where I am, though? I’m kinda lost.”

the elderly fellow looked down at Kakó in confusion. “Well yeah, but you first mind explaining why you decided taking a nap on the road was a swell idea?” Kakó’s eyes fell to the floor, his mind searching for any reasonable explanation. Eventually, it decided on telling the truth.

“Well, I went out to get some water, but I got lost. Then this weird person approached me, and…” Kakó paused. “Accused me of doing something bad.” The old man raised his eyebrow. “Like?”

“They didn’t say, though they didn’t really need to. I know well enough what I did,” he grumbled guiltily. Intruiged, the old man hunched over and sat next to Kakó. “Whut happened next,” he asked.

“They raised a blade, so I figured they were just going to kill me. I told them to get it over with, but then they… I don’t know, controlled me? I told them what I did, then they said I was guilty of second degree murder. They said they were gonna take my sense of touch away, and before I could ask what they meant, I passed out.”

The old man looked at the sky, seemingly deep in thought. “Purty sure that wuz one of Themis’s. S’ far’s I know, they’re the only ones that can do freaky shit like this.” Kakó looked at the man in confusion. “Themis?”

”Yeah. God uf judgement, or whutever. If her apsostles find ya guilty, they can punish ya however they like. Pricks, I tell ya.” Kakó looked at the ground, processing the information. “So whadya do to get one of thems after ya, anyway? Hardly think a kid could do something that bad.” The explanation seemed to gunk up the back of Kakó’s throat, making him want to puke. His gag reflex seemingly weakened, he soon failed to suppress the urge.

Soon after the gastric acid erupted from his insides, the words followed suit. Kakó confessed to what he did, to what he saw, and how it was all his fault. Tears began falling from his eyes once more despite the severe dehydration. “I killed him! It’s all my fault! I’m… I’m a monster,” he screamed. Throughout the entire breakdown, the man stayed silent. Not daring to look the poor elder in the eyes, Kakó kept his gaze towards the ground, his psyche not capable of bearing the look of disgust the man’s face would hold.

However, before the man said a single word, he simply sighed. “Yep, that’s pretty fucked up.” Confused by the lack of reaction, Kakó looked back up at the old man. “Are you kidding?! ‘Pretty fucked up?!’ I killed him! I’m a murderer,” he sobbed.

“No ya didn’t. Ya might have been parta the reason he died, but you didn’t run him through with a spear, did ya,” the old man questioned. “Well… no, but still… if not for me–”

“Wud you shut the fuck up already? I’m gettin tired of your bullshit,” the old man yelled. “You know what else woulda saved the kid? The fuckin gard not runnin him through with a goddam spear!”

Speechless, Kakó looked up at the old geezer. “Look kid, I’m not sayin what ya did wasn’t stupid as hell or a top tier example of how to make everyone hate your ass, but I think you blame yourself too much. Hell, the fact that you feel guilt shows that you understand what ya did was wrong, so, to me at least, you don’t seem nearly as bad as you make yourself out to be.”

The old man’s words lingered throughout Kakó’s mind, shoving any and all retorts he was crafting into the shredder. The two sat in silence for a long while. “So, what’re ya gonna do now,” the old man eventually asked. “… I’m gonna go get some water,” Kakó eventually muttered, causing the old man to snicker. “Yeah, alright. If ya turn down that alley and take the third right, you’ll end up back on main. You know how to get home from there?”

“…yeah,” Kakó responded, the conversation weighing heavily on this thoughts. “Well then, don’t slam your nose on the ground again. I won’t be so willing to fix it next time,” the old man snickered.

Rolling his eyes, Kakó stood up and slowly trotted in the direction the old man pointed to while desparately doing his best to adjusting to the lack of feeling.

…

The ground was warm and wet to an unpleasant degree. Nazarius hardly had time to notice that before his eyes cracked open and the memories of recent events flooded into his brain. The creature. The liquid. The unbearable pain.

Immediately, Nazarius doubled over and emptied his stomach several times over, the tingling in his skin reminding him of the absolutely unbearable torment he was in just recently. It hurt so much, and Nazarius swore he could still feel it despite the hellish water having long drained from the area.

Nazarius breath steadily grew uneven, his mental state unraveling more and more by the second. He would never forget the pain. Not for the rest of his life.

In the darkness of the stomach, Nazarius trembled weakly while curled up in a ball, desperately pleading to all of the gods that he would wake up any moment now. However, no matter now long he waited, the darkness and despair failed to leave him. Even his tunic, which previously glowed dimly with the light of the river water, had seemingly disappeared.

A completely uncountable amount of time seemed to pass for Nazarius, though that might have just been because his conscious was too broken to count the seconds pass. Somewhere along the line, he noticed that his feet were still glued to the ground, keeping him shackled in the torture chamber in which he resided.

On the very meager bright side, somehow Nazarius’s hunger and thirst seemed to have vanished. Perhaps the peculiar river did more than just glow and heal? This hardly mattered to Nazarius, though.

Nazarius continued to whimper in the darkness, his mind gradually piecing itself back together. Eventually, some of his memory pre-anguish returned to him, causing his eyes to widen in remembrance. “Fíle,” Nazarius uttered: the first word he had said since time itself seemed to fade.

Nazarius’s life came rushing back to him. Aunt Gyn, the pharmacy, Fíle’s illness…

”Shit,” Nazarius stuttered, his hands digging through the pockets of his shorts. Almost immediately, his left hand wrapped itself around a cool, glass vial, causing relief to flood through Nazarius’s body. “Thank the gods,” he groaned, grateful that the only thing that could save his brother was still safe.

However, the small victory Nazarius had acquired was short lived as a familiar rumbling echoed throughout the cave followed by the sound of a pair of monstrous wings flapping.

‘Maybe its nothing,’ Nazarius prayed to himself, begging to anyone that would listen that whatever was making that noise wasn’t what he thought it was. These hopes quickly died as a familiar, bone chilling screech echoed throughout the bowels of the beast once more.