3 Riveting Past (Unfinished)

*Gasp* 'im alive' he thought in disbelief. The terrible pain, and the intense resistance from his own body, he was sure he was fading away back there. So why, why was he here? He looked around, calm as can be. He was meant to die in back In the field. As far as he was concerned nothing could compare to the he urgency he felt the moment that thing buried itself into his chest.

Suddenly his sense of urgency returned to him with a renewed vigor. He recalled the face of the man that was trapped inside the monster. 'Some things are worse than death' he thought to himself. Suddenly he had a grim thought. He looked down at his torso and his fears where realized. There was a small indent in the center of his chest, if there was any doubts about it's origins they where quickly crushed. The mark looked exactly like the side of the gem.

Feeling fear and anxiety rise in his chest, he did his best to stay calm. 'Why does it look like the side of that thing when I flew into me tip first?' Nearing a state of panic he forced himself out of bed. *smash*, In his hurry to get up, he carelessly flung his arm into the wall next to him. He watched in surprise and confusion as he watched cracks run up his bedside wall.

'What happened to me?' Filled with fear and reservation , he could only wonder what other changes the unknown creature made to his body. With that thought in mind, he found himself flinching as his grandpa opened the door and stepped into his room. Quick as he could, he rushed to put his tunic back on. If his grandpa discovered what that thing did to him, there was no telling how he would react. He couldn't help but remember his grandpa's comment about the hero.

'Will he look at me like a monster too?' he found himself thinking. He never wanted to see someone he cared about look at him with such cold eyes. "You can quit trying to hide it Casious, who do you think dragged you back home" Blushing in embarrassment, he stopped his frantic scamble for his tunic. "Listen to me Casious, I don't know what those things did to you, but whatever happened, I might be able help you" Calming down, Casious could only listen further. He was scared and he had no idea what was going on. On top of it all his grandpa, whom he had doubted, was trying to help him.

"Listen boy, you went where you shouldn't have gone, and you paid a price. I don't know how they did it, but those damned monsters robbed you of your humanity". His grandpa said in a sullen tone. At first he didn't know what to say, all of a sudden his repressed emotions bubbled to the surface. "I'm not like them" he yelled. "Look at me , look at my arms, my face, Im not a monster all right, I'm Casious" He yelled, feeling wronged after putting his trust in him.

"Quiet down" His grandpa scolded, "Do you want to wake your mother?" "For her to come and see those cracks on your wall, that hole in your chest" He paused " The change in your eyes?" Casious stopped yelling, his grandpa was right. 'Wait, he look in my eyes?' "Grandpa, what happened to my eyes" He said, suddenly calm. Sensing danger in the boys sudden change his grandpa simply said "Follow me, Casious" In a sad yet serious tone.

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Suddenly he was scared. For a second he wondered if he really wanted to see what his grandpa had to show him. 'I have to know' he told himself as he made the decision to follow his grandpa. Careful not to wake anyone his grandpa walked though the house without making a sound. ' There's more to him than I thought' He realized. The second he had exited the house, his grandpa careful not to get seen, made his way over to the field where everything went wrong.

Suddenly paralyzed by fear, he hesitated before he followed his grandpa. To his immense relief, his grandpa avoided the area with the creatures all together, instead opting to go into the neighboring forest. Suddenly a new kind of fear glued him in place.

"Casious" someone yelled "Hey Casious" they yelled again. He recognized the voice of neighbor next door. He usually does his yard work in exchange for a loaf of bread. As someone who lived in a village bread was hard to come by, but his neighbor just happened to be the village baker. They where good friends, so he had no reason to be ignoring him. Then he remembered what his uncle said,'to see the change in my eyes' He thought sadly.

Realizing he had no choice, he made his decision. He took off sprinting twords his grandpa. "Wait, Casious, that's where those monsters went" he head his neighbor yell from behind him. 'My luck must be damned' he thought. His neighbor had seen where those creatures had headed" Focusing on using his legs he found himself faster than he had ever been before.

For that brief moment, he forgot about the pain and fear that came along with his transformation, 'It feels like I can fly' he couldn't help but think. Everytime one of his feet touched the ground it would three seconds before his other foot came down only to propel his body forward once more. Feeling the bittersweet tang of his new powers, and their price, he followed his grandpa. The voice of his neighbor all but fading behind him.

After only five minutes of running he caught sight of his uncle. Perplexed he couldn't help but ask how his uncle had gotten there so quickly. "Boy, i've been living in this village longer than you've been breathing, so shut that trap of your's and come over here" he beckoned. Perplexed but anxious to see the what his grandpa had in store he briskly walked over.

"Alright, I suppose y' wouldn't take my word for it, so I got to let the devil deliver the message herself. Look in here" he said, pointing to a pool of water on the ground. "Don't worry, y' aren't going to see anything just yet." Casious, feeling annoyed at being led by the nose by his grandpa, looked down at the pool with reservation. "There, everything normal so far?" his grandpa asked. "Yeah" He said with some confusion.

"All right, prepare yourself. Your about to see the truth an when you live as long as I do, you learn that the truth rarely comes without pain" His grandpa said as he touched the pool of water. Ripples of light shook the water in a way that seemed almost supernatural. With a grin yet satisfied look on his face his grandpa removed his hand from the etherial pool.

As the ripples faded, so did the illusion of normalcy within his reflection. On his forehead a black triangle had formed, it's long base running along the top of his forehead and two short sides came to a point just above the the bridge of his nose. Two pointed lines had appeared on either side of his face, starting in the space between his ears and his temple slanting down twords his cheeks.

He could only stare in shock at the greatest change of all. His pupils had become slitted like a cat's and his irises shone with a purple haze. This was not the face of a human, he realized. He had enough strength lift two of himself on each arm, yet at the moment he felt too weak to stand. Leaning himself against a nearby tree, he contemplated the life that lay ahead of him.

He could never see his family again, and even if he could, if they accepted him, what about the people of the village? After seeing the monsters that destroyed their homes and killed their neighbors how could they ever accept him? Would he have to live inside forever? Constantly in fear of discovery, wasting away indoors? That all he had know could be taken from him in an instant.

He had learned once again learned the hard way about the world they live in. Busy stewing in his own despair he almost didn't hear his grandpa say "Look, Casious, I've a friend in the capital, a good friend, you can trust him. I want you to go there and meet him. He might be able to help you undo that damn cursed fate of yours, or at least help you to change your appearance. Now, I'd keep no secrets from that man, he's bound to find out everything about you sooner or later"

Before he could protest his grandpa took off his necklace and placed it into Casious's his hand, closing it with his own. "This pendant will guide your way, normally it'd only work for myself, but since we're flesh and blood it'll work jus' the same." "But- "No time boy, your friend is catching up, just look deep in the pendant when you need to find your way, don't show it to no one but him, no telling what they might try to pull, now go" He gave him a push on back as he was sent stumbling on his way to a new land.