Village Of Shadows

Mother Miranda

Throughout her life, Miranda was surrounded by tragedy.

Born in the early 18th century, Miranda was always an enthusiastic and upright young woman. But above all, happy.

Married from an early age, and with two beautiful children, she had big plans for the future.

Jason and Eva were their names, adorable children, who, to her utter joy were a carbon copy of her; black hair and brown eyes.

Jason was about 12 years old, and was what every mother wanted in a son; kind, polite, and above all good-hearted.

Eva was the youngest, just turned 10, she was the joy of the home; hyperactive and extremely curious, she was always the one who got her brother in trouble.

Miranda adored and loved them with all her heart, Jason was her greatest pride, and Eva was her greatest joy.

If only her husband were still here, everything would be ideal. The young mother dared to think.

Her husband, a fine looking and pleasant young man, had been serving in the army for a few years now, as the Great War was at its height.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The young mother, not even in her worst nightmares would she have dreamed of everything that would happen in just a couple of weeks.

A strange flu hit the whole of Europe, the spanish flu they called it, since its greatest concentration was in Spain.

The flu did not take long to reach his town, completely devastating the population, taking with it a very high number of dead.

Miranda could only watch with absolute helplessness and suffering as the flu also took her little Eva, just 10 years old.

Days passed, and Miranda was no longer the cheerful and loving young mother; no, she was a mere shadow of her former self, a mere ghost haunting the house.

Jason despite his still young age understood this at once.

In an attempt to help his mother, he sent a letter to his aunt, an elderly woman who happened to be his grandmother's sister, and who, as far as he remembered lived a few miles away.

Her aunt, having been notified by Jason of the situation, answered his letter, in this case to Miranda, offering first her condolences, and second, a change.

She had offered to move out of there, and go live in what she called the Village. A town only a few miles away, quiet and completely unknown.

The young mother was already totally consumed by grief, and, with nothing else to do, she ended up listening to him.

Weeks passed and Miranda did not forget Eva, not even the presence of her other son could keep her on her feet. And one day she couldn't take it anymore.

Driven to complete despair, Miranda ventured into a nearby cave, with only one intention. To kill herself, to finally end all the pain.

However, as she was on her way to her end, she came across a huge, ancient, absolutely gigantic mushroom colony.

-"The Mold!". Exclaimed a voice behind her.

Turning around, she ran into her aunt. But this one looked very strange; she looked even older than she was, she was dressed all in black, and her staff bore a skull.