Another mans memory

By the time we returned to the castle the sun had already began to set.

We spent a long time re-locating the survivors into a medical room located in the castle. There were only three survivors. The first of which was a logger who lived alone in one of the smaller houses. The second one was a woman who lived with her family near the centre of the village. Lastly there was a man who isolated himself and didn't talk much to the other villagers.

I spent most of the rest of the day watching over the villagers and reminiscing on what happened back in the village. Suddenly I noticed something odd on the body of the logger.

He had a large cash in his gut in the shape of claw marks. A thick black ooze trickled down from. the wound. I went to touch it and see what it is, but when my hand made contact with the ooze everything went black.

Suddenly I woke up with a prickling sensation all over my back. When I got up I was met with large wood walls and windows that were holes carved into the wood. I looked back to see A bed of straw with a thin blanked haphazardly layer over it. As I looked around the hut I grabbed a plate off a table in the middle of the room. The plate was messy and foggy but I could vaguely make out the reflection of the logger.

Confused I stepped out of the hut into a large clearing. I was meet with a large bustling village with people scrambling around to get their business done.

Out of nowhere a young woman approached me holding the hand of a small child.

"Hey Brad, how's the wood cutting going" she said with a pure smile on her face.

I stared at her for a moment, realising slowly that she was the woman who survived the Nergle attack.

"Oh, good morning. I couldn't get much of anything done yet because I overslept" I replied to her with a half-hearted smile.

"You said you'd take care of Will while I go and run some errands," she said handing her sun over to me.

"sure thing, i'll make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." I said reassuring her.

A couple minutes past with us walking around the village till we happened upon one specific hut. It emanated a dark and oppressive aura that made me stop dead in my tracks.

"hey kid, do you know who lives here?" I asked, slowly panicking.

"that guys a weirdo, my mommy says we shouldn't go near there," The kid said pulling me away from the hut.

I lead the boy to a stand with a bunch of wooden toys on it. While the boy was looking at the toys I asked the salesmen about the ominous looking hut.

"Oh, that place, the guy who lives there is a total shut in. None knows anything about him, but they do know to stay away from there,"

Will grabbed a toy axe and started swinging it around.

"what do you have there little guy?" I crouched over and asked him

"Its an axe just like yours so I can chop wood like you do," He said with a sweet smile painted across his face.

"can I buy it please,"

I caved and bought the little wooden axe for him. He swung it around the whole way back to his house.

When I finally returned the kid home I went back out into the village. Slowly I made my way to the hut that I had been warned to stay away from. If anything had the answers to what exactly happened to the village.

I slowly opened the door and peered in. Inside was a lanky man slouched over his table franticly scrawling gibberish on strewn about pieces of paper. On the walls symbols and quotes were etched in roughly. I recognised him instantly, he was the other man we rescued from the village.

"Hey!" I jelled as I barged in.

The man scrambled away from his chair, falling down to the floor.

"w-who are you?" he said as he stood up.

"Im the villages logger, I felt like something suspicious was going on here and evidently I was right."

He smirked devilishly as he said "If only you were here a little sooner, King of shadows may you give me your blessings" The earth shook as he spoke. Behind me I saw two Nergles rise out of the ground and start rampaging around the village.

"What the hell have you done!" I yelled, my voice shaking in fear.

"You, You are not the lumberer. The king of shadow has showed me the truth. You are an imposter who overtook his body."

"I realise now that I am not I and you are not you. This reality is fake and a mockery of true events. But I'm sure you have found the truth here John,'

Several images flashed before my eyes. A modern High school, Several cubicles of an office building and a city populated by colossal sky scrapers. My head throbbed in pain as the memories came surging back to me.

"You have a purpose here John and its your job to fulfil it. Release the king of shadows and all the power you could imagine will be yours" He cackled, grabbing himself by the stomach from how hard he was laughing.

I ran out of the hut trying to find the woman and child.

"Its useless John, the kid will die and the mother will survive just like what really happened." He said slowly exiting his hut

"our influence spreads far and wide. There is no way to stop us, your only hope of survival is joining us,"

I ran as fast as I could brushing past trees and snapping branches in front of me.

Suddenly I opened my eyes to find myself back in the village

"The logger can't escape his fate John, much like you can't yours"

In front of me stood a large Nergle. It slashed through my gut and knocked me to the ground. A searing pain shat through my gut as I writhed on the ground.

As my vision started to fade I saw The man from the hut standing over me watching me die.

"I am eager to see you in the real world John, well have so much fun"

I slowly slipped out of consciousness and dropped into the void.

I woke up still sitting in the medical room hunched over the body of the logger.

I looked around and saw the woman on her bed but the other bed was empty.

The man from the hut was gone.