Capture

Having my fear reach an all-time high, I saw Mr. Huna's face perched right in the middle of a thick patch of reeds. What was so eerie was that he was smiling so wide, both sides of his mouth had ripped through his cheeks up to the height of his eyes. As we both stared at each other his mouth opened and he spoke in a voice that sounded the same but had a disturbing grating sound that hurt my ears.

" WeLL, wElL, weLL, I WaS woNdERiNG hOW LoNg iT WoUlD tAKe YoU tO NOtiCe!"

Before everything could fully register in my mind, I saw a disfigured hand launch out from in the reeds and before I could even scream everything went dark.

***

Hearing the clomping of hooves, my hazy mind started to focus. Remembering what had happened before I got knocked out, my eyes snapped open and took in my surroundings. Glancing around, I first noticed my arms and legs bound with rope and that I was sitting in Fuster's wagon.

" Hey, you're finally awake."

Hearing the voice that caused me so much misery, I remembered what I last saw before passing out. Looking beside me I saw Mr. Huna driving the wagon with the same smile he usually wore. Ignoring the feeling of every fiber of my being wanting to jump off the wagon, I knew if I wanted to survive it required a calm mind.

Putting more thought into everything that had happened. I realized that from the beginning Mr. Huna wasn't trying to kill me, if that was the case I'm almost certain he could have killed the whole Mystil family with the beast he brought along. But if I followed that train of thought and Fuster told him of my past life even before he had reached the house, then why bring such a menacing beast just for one person?

Even with my story, I didn't speak of anything that put me above the average man. When I told both my parents and the priest my story I left some small things out. While growing up I learned some common things, such as man's average life expectancy, and what was deemed humanly possible.

A while before the Mystils and my relationship had completely crashed, I heard Sertha call Fuster middle-aged, knowing he was only in his forties I curiously asked him how old we would get. At the time he had smiled and told me if I was a good boy then I could live to be a hundred years old. Not having firmly grasped the language to have long conversations, I left that as my only question and just pieced together all the little things I heard growing up.

Different from the people's ages now, I had lived to be nine hundred and thirty. I also remembered not having to use any weapon to deter most predators. I had seen Fuster use his spear to scare off wolves before, when I asked why he laughed. I guess he saw my question as childish curiosity because he explained that the wolves would hurt us if he didn't scare them and that the spear was the only to fight them.

It was then I realized the men of now were weak. If it was me before, not only could I stop a pack that small with my bare hands, but in my later years my bloodlust was enough to deter most animals from trying me, even now without my previous strength my bloodlust was enough to scare any animal smaller than a leopard. Pulling myself away from reminiscing I narrowed down the reason for that creature being here to three thing

My first guess was that Mr. Huna was just overly cautious and brought the creature with him every time he left wherever he came from, which I find unlike counting on the fact that he probably wasn't human himself and I got the feeling he could have caught me any time he wanted with or without the help of the creature. My second guess was that Fuster had lied or exaggerated me to the priest and made me seem more fearsome than I am, this was most likely due to people's fear of what they don't understand. My last guess was the one I both hoped for and dreaded at the same time.

During our talk, Mr. Huna said that there were others like me that the church had found, at the time I thought what he said was a lie just to get me to come along but my guess was that there were others but they either escaped or put up enough resistance to even fight Mr. Huna. Breaking myself out of my thoughts I felt movement behind me, tuning my head I saw the wagon was full again but knowing it was just a rouse I scanned the surface of the wagon. As I looked closely I saw a pair of eyes softly glowing blue beneath the bags.

Deciding it would be better just to ignore the fact that there was a living nightmare right behind me, I turned back around and started to take in my surroundings. Surrounded by forest, I noticed that the wagon was on a narrow path that was just barely big enough. Gazing ahead I saw what looked like a large village, with many buildings lined in rows.

Turning my head to Mr. Huna, who had been smiling the entire time I was lost in thought, I decided to try and get information out of him.

" Are you taking me to the church you were talking so much about?"

Smiling, Mr. Huna answered, " Yes, I need to show you to the head priest."

" Why, what do you and your church want with me?"

Glancing at me, Mr. Huna's smile widened and his eyes flashed black before he said, " You will have all your answers when we reach the church."

From then on he refused to speak, no matter how many questions I asked him.

*****

It took around an hour before the wagon got to the large village, in this time I had thought of multiple ways to escape but eventually decided that patience would be my greatest weapon right now. As we got closer to the gate of the village I saw many people wander out of their homes to see the wagon. While everyone was gazing at the wagon or to be more accurate, the priest, I kept feeling my hairs stand on end.

Something about all the people was severely wrong, I just couldn't grasp what it was. Even with all the people coming out the wagon didn't slow down, it was then that I saw our destination. A building that could easily fit at least thirty of the barns inside, was towering in the middle of the village.

Gazing in awe I instinctively knew that the building was the church Mr. Huna praised so much. As we pulled in front of the church I realized we were going to a large gate big enough to fit three of the wagons rolling side by side. Moving my gaze away from the church I examined all the people around me, it was right then I realized what was wrong with all the people.

Quickly scanning the crowd to confirm my thoughts, I felt a cold shiver go up my spine. Glancing around with fear-ridden eyes, I saw that every person around me was smiling.