Chapter 4: Chapter 3

Upon returning to consciousness, I did not know where or who I was. The feeling was similar to the crystal’s light that washed over me, but everything was pitch-black this time. After realising I was not breathing, I didn’t panic, but gently inhaled. I felt refreshed and relieved upon taking a breath, as if someone had poured a cool bucket of water over my head on a hot summer day. As my dry eyes opened, it seemed like my eyelids glided across sand.

Birds chirped outside the window as the early morning twilight illuminated my… room. This was my room.

My gaze moved from the wood ceiling to Yuridia… my sister, asleep on my arm in a chair beside the bed. In spite of my efforts, my body was heavy and barely responded when I tried to move. Staring at the ceiling, I struggled to recall what had happened; my mind was also weighty. Even the most minor thoughts were too much to process. A white cloth was so tightly bandaged around my arm that moving my fingers was impossible. I couldn’t even feel my arm.

The inside of my mouth was like I had been chewing on cotton. It had lost all moisture and became chapped. Even my tongue was stiff and difficult to move. Any attempts to swallow were torturous and caused a horrible spasm in the back of my throat.

Yuridia must have noticed my labours because her head came up slowly as her light blue eyes sleepily blinked at me; her face was red and swollen from crying. When our eyes locked, it was like Yuridia saw a ghost. She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it as her face became utterly confused.

I tried to speak, but my throat was a desert, and the words were inaudible. Yuridia quickly grabbed the half-full pitcher from the bedside table, tilting my head up before pressing the glass to my lips and streaming the water in.

The sensation of my mouth regaining moisture was such an alleviation that I would have cried if I had any fluid to form tears with. My desire for water had overcome my need for air as I took no breaks to breathe.

When I had finished the pitcher, I gasped for the breath I had been depriving myself of. Yuridia sat the container on the end table and returned to her wooden seat, still confused. My sister stared blankly at me as if she were in a dream about to awaken. I noticed her hands were stained with red, almost to her elbows.

Minutes passed before Yuridia spoke. “You… stopped breathing, Kade… Your heart wasn’t beating…. You… you were dead.” Yuridia stumbled her word, and I turned my head to her with a look of scepticism.

Returning from the other side was outside my luck range. At least, I thought it was. Perhaps Death liked me, and this was Her attempt to keep me alive rather than murder me. I didn’t want to provoke Her, but if Her swings of that scythe were indeed missing, it was starting to get embarrassing.

My head returned to its neutral position, gazing up at the slanted ceiling. “I’m barely alive, but I am surely not dead,” I replied, sighing.

This headache drumming against my skull made me want to die. I was extremely parched and couldn’t think about anything but consuming as much water as possible. The pitcher of hydration Yuridia gave me lasted for only seconds before my mouth dried out again. I hadn’t eaten for more than a day, yet thirst was the only urgency at the moment.

Yuridia put her hand over her mouth. “No, Kade… you were dead… how are you alive? You lost so much blood.”

She was being overly dramatic.

I tossed the fur blanket to the side and rose to a sitting position before mustering the strength to prove my sister wrong. My bare feet touched down on the cold wood floor, and even though I trembled, I gained my balance and stood straight… with minimal swaying.

A sigh of exhaustion escaped my lips, and I shrugged with undeserved confidence. “Seems like I’m fine,” I declared, but as the words left my mouth, a jolt of pain in my wrist sent me back to the edge of the bed, cradling my arm.

I remembered now that the monster had damaged my forearm and wrist. In normal circumstances, I would be a hero. A champion of the village, but the only reason I came in contact with that monster was because of my stupidity. I would receive looks of judgment rather than expressions of admiration.

Yuridia sheepishly stood up, as her face still didn’t believe I was alive. She took the empty water container and walked downstairs without saying a word as I heard loud voices from under the floorboards no more than a minute later. It was not long before my father’s old friend, Richard, and his son stepped into the bedroom along with my mother, gawking at me as Yuridia did. Everyone had dried blood on their clothes.

I nervously waved at them, but no one reacted to my greeting. The staring quickly became uncomfortable, causing me to shift around on the rope bed. Maybe there was truth to my sister’s belief of me being dead.

Yuridia made her way over to me, resting a pan of water and rags on the bedside table. She took the filled pitcher of water from my mother’s hand, who had not taken her bloodshot eyes off me since entering the room. Yuridia sat the glass container down with the other things, as disbelief gave way to a smile. It was flattering that my sister was so delighted with my recovery. Most of the time, I appeared like I was an annoyance to her.

Richard ran his fingers through his greyed blonde hair, exhaling in relief. “I see this as a win—I mean, he was dead. His body was getting stiff.”

Mother elbowed him in the side, frowning. “You’re going to scare him. Stop.”

After stepping over, Richard kneeled and glanced over my face with his tired brown eyes. His gaze was exhausted, but he wasn’t as shocked as everyone else—he looked at me with a sage expression before standing up to give me a gentle pat on the head. “I have seen men turn purple on the battlefield and recover.”

“See, he’s good,” Richard’s son, Dale, said, and Mother chose violence again, smacking him over the head, causing him to rub his crown, annoyed.

The people around Mother encouraged this lousy behaviour by letting her throw hands without even the slightest repercussions. Clearly, Yuridia was picking this horrible habit up from her, and I worried the men in the village would grow tired of her assaults. However, it wasn’t too much of a concern, since every young man in the town was looking for her approval.

My sister’s silver blonde hair she got from our mother, and the light blue eyes from Father were seen as gorgeous, matching that of a Valkyrie. This didn’t work for me. Women paid me no attention, even though my sliver hair and dark blue eyes were just as unique as my sisters. My stature was to be desired, and my social skills with anyone attractive deteriorated quickly, making me awkward. You would think in a village with a two-to-one ratio of women to men that it wouldn’t matter, but I caught no one’s attention. Father was so tall and rugged. I had hoped he passed that on, but the word average fit me too well.

Yuridia stepped in front of everyone, still wearing her brown dress from the night before that had dried blood on it. “This is a miracle. I don’t think it’s necessary to ask questions.”

My mother nodded, folding her hands against her beige dress with a small smile. “I agree. Everyone out so I can clean him up.”

Richard and Dale left with Yuridia, closing the creaky door behind them. Mother proceeded to strip me and wipe me down like a child. Her lack of concern for my modesty at sixteen was irritating. She didn’t treat Yuridia like a five-year-old. I could have told her to let me bathe myself, but that would have fallen on deaf ears.

Mother spoke little as she washed me. She did not even ask why I came back so late. There was an aura of worry radiating from her, which made me uneasy. She didn’t bother changing my bandage, which I felt was odd, but I did not question her decision. They all acted so strange when I thought they should be overjoyed at my survival.

After Mother assisted me in changing my clothes, she gave me a weak smile before leaving. I lay down for a bit, regaining my strength from getting dressed and bathed. Such simple tasks had exhausted me, even with help.

Following my respite, I needed to get my satchel. My knife was in there and a few rabbits. With the weather’s chill, they were likely still suitable to eat and could be salvaged if something hadn’t already torn into the bag. I hated letting animals be left to waste after killing them. The act of taking their life wasn’t the most pleasant feeling and letting their death mean nothing really bothered me.

Having rested for an hour while drinking the jug of water, I laced up my leather boots and slid on my grey fur coat over my white linen shirt. I grabbed the knife my father had given me from inside the bedside table. While it was too large to throw in my pocket and required a strap, I believed it would provide more protection than the little blade I used to kill rabbits when the traps failed. I fastened the knife’s holster around my waist.

My polished silver pocket watch, which I’d never been able to remove from the bedside table, was at the edge of my grasp as my hand hung over it with hesitation. Father would kill me if I lost it, but I needed to make it home well before dark. I wasn’t going to be embarrassed again and keeping track of time seemed like the responsible thing to do. This was a good reason to take it out.

I stuffed the watch into the pocket of my ivory trousers. letting out a long sigh. There was a minor embarrassment about how I let everything get out of control. The worry I gave everyone was unnecessary, and I was immature for not returning home with Yuridia. Sure, I killed a nightstalker, and after my father returned from the war, he was likely to be proud… for the first few minutes before finding out, I could have avoided this all. Maybe everyone treated me like a child because I… was one… how depressing.

Putting my humiliation aside, I embarked downstairs. I proceed down the creaking stairs, stopping with my hands on the old wood railing at the last step. Still in disbelief, everyone sat at the table in the middle of the room. Amid the tension in the air, my eyes drifted to the large bloodstain on the dining table that led to the back door.

I hoped that wasn’t my blood.

After nervously swallowing, I spoke. “That’s a lot of blood.”

Dale turned his head in my direction slowly. “That’s all of it. We couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

Richard stood up and motioned me to follow. Mother and Yuridia had looks that reflected their happiness and worry. Happy I was alive but disappointed in my actions is what they were conveying. I was a burden to them… I was useless to everyone.

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It was like they discussed things before I came down, and Richard’s walk had aggression to it. I was going to get my ass kicked. Father had never laid a hand on me, but that didn’t mean Richard wouldn’t. He might feel a duty to discipline me now that my father was gone.

We headed out the front door and down the porch stairs as the sun was just coming over the horizon. He and I walked to the old wooden barn, where the bloody corpse now laid with its head severed by the door. The skin was a faded grey, its ears pointed, and its ebony eyes remained open. I was correct about the limbs being disproportionate to their torso. The creature was indeed chilling. Its clothesless body appeared like a wolf or bear had mangled it.

“So, that’s a nightstalker?” I asked, and Richard nodded, sliding his hands into the pockets of his overalls.

“Your father and I thought we had killed them all. We told you there were still some around to keep you aware of your surroundings,” Richard answered as I kept my eyes on the head. “And that was the right choice. No one died because we were prepared.”

“How did I kill something that gave you and Father so much trouble?”

Richard shrugged. “The angle must have just been right with the axe because I remember them taking a couple of shots to the neck before dying”—he rubbed his white stubble—“If there is one, that means there is a daywalker near, and that indicates there is a nest,” Richard said, walking away.

I just stood staring at the body and the pool of dried. The corpse had started to let off an ever-so-slight smoke.

A few minutes passed before I ambled to the front of the house. Richard sat on the faded wooden porch stairs, smoking tobacco, with his forearms resting on his knees.

Our village used tobacco only for special occasions, so Richard must be stressed because it was a limited commodity. When Father and the other men travelled to the harbour town, they bought small amounts. The trade for it was steep, and other things like iron and fabrics were prioritised.

I glanced down at his boots, covered in dried blood—most likely mine—before I sat next to him as he handed the roll to me, and the herbaceous, woody smell filled my nose. “Killing a nightstalker on your own earns you a smoke,” Richard offered, and I took it, taking a drag before returning it to him as I coughed, patting my chest.

That was horrible. Why did people enjoy sucking in that heavy smoke? All that did was remind me of the crystal’s air burning me from the inside out.

After getting my cough under control, I spoke. “Mister Johnson, what do we do about it?”

“I told you months ago to call me Richard,” he said, flicking three-fourths of the roll onto the stone path leading to the town’s main road.

It was odd he didn’t finish it, but I didn’t question him.

We watched as the orange-tipped paper burned out. “Richard, who do we tell about this? Who can help us get rid of the daywalker? Maybe a paladin from the ministry could assist us?” I asked, and he laughed.

“Son, we’re about to burn the body and pretend this never happened. There is nothing we can do but hope the daywalker doesn’t come in for a mid-day snack,” Richard sighed, patting his tights before standing up. “The ministry will not waste time coming out here. There are much bigger things to worry about, like losing the war.”

I wasn’t sure I should bring it up because I might sound insane, but I needed to know. “Did you see that light in the sky yesterday morning? A deafening noise came from it that probably could have been heard from the village.”

Richard stared at me for a moment. “No, I am… not sure what you’re talking about,” he said confused. It was as if he knew what I was talking about, but the memory had eluded him at the same time.

I nodded, dropping the subject before I stood and turned towards the front door. Richard put his arm out, blocking me, and my eyes drifted over to him in confusion.

Richard slowly shook his head. “You shouldn’t touch anyone right now,” he said as he stared at me sternly.

I tried to comprehend what he was suggesting, but I didn’t understand.

“Why?”

Richard’s face becomes saddened. “Vampirism is a curse, son, and you were dead last night. There’s no questioning that. We encountered some ‘stalkers during the war. We had men who died and came back. This is a guess, but we think that if you get some of the blood inside your mouth or a wound”—Richard gestured at my arm—“that you will become one if you die.”

A rush of fear ran over me before I stumbled the words out. “What… what happened to them?”

Richard let his arm fall to his side. “They became mad, like a rabid animal, and we ended up having to kill them”—he looked towards the backyard—“But they never progressed that far. In most cases, nightstalkers look like normal, pale corpses. This was a monster.”

I looked down at my hand, wrapped tightly in white bandages. “Thanks for not killing me. I guess.”

“You have some time before you lose your mind”—Richard sighed—“I can make it a quick death, or you can leave and try to get as far away as possible.”

There were some emotions to process here, but I wasn’t sure I could right now. Feelings overwhelmed me to the point where everything had become numb. There had to be some sorting done, but that wasn’t happening right now.

“Understood,” I replied sadly before turning around and staring at the wooden front gate near the road.

There was no way I could stay. I had to leave for Yuridia and Mother’s safety. When the vampirism took hold, I could just walk into the sun and die. Such a death sounded excruciatingly painful, but hopefully, it would be over quickly… I didn’t want to die.

I embarked towards the gate with a lump in my throat, and my emotions painted on my face. This was for the best, I kept telling myself, but part of me wanted to stay, even knowing the danger… Yet again, me acting like a spoiled child.

“Son,” Richard said as my hand had just touched the top of the gate. “If you didn’t contract the curse, you make it back here, okay? Give it a few weeks, and if you appear fine, come back.”

“Okay,” I answered, glimpsing back. “Should I at least say goodbye to them? I am lost on what to do.”

Richard subtly shook his head. “I think it’s better if you leave without saying anything. I am unsure how the curse works, and those two insane women will try to chain you up. They wouldn’t believe it when I mentioned your chance of being cursed.”

“I’m sure they’d be reckless and keep me here,” I agreed, managing a small smile. “You’re right. I should leave. Even if I don’t want to.”

I would miss them terribly.

Richard gave a weak smile. “Hopefully, this all works out. Better safe than sorry—meet me at the shrine. I’ll bring you supplies for your camping trip away from home.”

I nodded, pushing the gate open and making my way down the dirt road with my head hanging in sorrow.

This sucked.

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