Chapter 15: The Wolf Revealed
Chapter 15: The Wolf Revealed
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“Fel,” I asked as I crawled low through the muddy tunnel. Anxious to put some distance between me and the smoking ruin of the Hagraven’s dark god, this Witch of the Wastes. “Who was she? That girl underneath the Hagraven’s mask. She was cursed wasn’t she?”
Wait a moment Christopher until we are free of this place. Not even conversations between you and I are without eavesdroppers. Fel replied cryptically as I cleared the tunnel and entered the cave beneath the Farmhouse. It was then I realized I’d managed to leave the ax behind, but I had no intentions of going back for it, and no desire to linger in these ruins to look for something to replace it.
I grabbed a splintered plank that had become embedded in the dirt of the cavern’s wall. The plank had likely been what I thought was a handrail when still affected by the illusion and climbed up through the broken flooring and passed through the doorway into the kitchen.
Christopher remarked Fel, this may seem like poor timing, but you still need to search this area for supplies. The night will be upon you soon and you’ll need something to eat, and need to find something else to defend yourself with. I promise we will talk more once we are out of here, but we cannot go silently into the dark.
Glancing back at the dark chasm I’d left behind me, and forward at the crawling maggots that still seethed in the Hagraven’s Pie on the table, I shook my head. “No Fel were getting out of here. This place is cursed. The sooner we leave, the better.
I tried to walk straight out the front door but found the way was shut to me, some sort of magical seal lay on the doorway. “Fel, what’s going on?” I asked concerned, backing away from the door as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something is here. Fel responded in a faraway voice before going silent.
Through the cracks and holes in the doorway, a long shadow was cast, teeming with dark energy, and I knew without further prompting I needed to get away. I needed to find a way to protect myself.
The only option I had was through the only open doorway as I ran towards the door to the next room and though I felt some resistance from the other side, I was able to push the door open and close it behind me.
As I looked around the kitchen for something to defend myself with, I heard the front door creak open and the thud, thud, thud, of something heavy moving, looking around. I almost didn’t notice the trail left in the ash and grime that covered the floor. I can use a rock until I find something else, I thought as I bent over to pick it up and grimaced when I realized it wasn’t a rock at all, but instead an ivory-colored human skull that had been obscured by the piled ashes around it.
I knew this place was cursed, I told myself as I sat the skull respectfully on the counter and looked frantically for a weapon and only found a dusty tome that looked as if it hadn’t been moved for years. As the back of my hand brushed against it, the book began to glow with a green hideous energy that pulsed out of the book into the rest of the ruins and beyond. I pulled my hand away immediately, but even then it wasn’t quick enough as the heavy thudding from the other room stopped, and refocused, before coming directly towards me.
Grabbing a wooden ladle, I prepared myself to try and fight off the nightmare creature attached to the shadow. Pale limbs more bone than anything pushed through the door with an outfit of dark and bloody patchwork that pushed the door fully open. I didn’t hesitate knowing I might not get another chance and launched myself at the monster before I could get a good look at it.
“Get off of me Christopher.” Yelled Atticus as he caught me with both of his hands as we fell head over foot. He looked nothing like I remembered from back at the Castle. Gone was his assured demeanor and grim confidence.
I got off of him, and moved back, cautious after having been tricked by illusions. Wondering why he looked so different now than he did before. “What happened to you, you need to explain.” I pressed, noticing that he looked sick, almost emaciated.
What I heard next floored me, and while I shouldn’t have been surprised, it still surprised me. Why here? Why now? “Ah, that. It should be obvious. I’m sick. I’m the Wolf, Falanor cursed me, just like I thought he would. There was no way he was going to give me a chance to go home. Not when I’d already survived his game.” Atticus replied as he grabbed on to my hand and looked me in the eye and I noticed how bloodshot and yellow they were. “You should kill me now while you have the chance and just go home.”