Earthborn

Nightmares

Oliver awoke in the middle of the night damp with sweat, he stood up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He has been trying to forget his nightmares for the past three months, ever since he received a package at his doorstep. Oliver lives deep in the forest of Goldhorn in the kingdom of Aksionov. How does a lad who lives deep in the forest receives a package? He has been wondering how did a package even reach his threshold, he has no living relatives known. Oliver set the glass on the table near by and went back to bed, looked up in the sky but saw no stars but the bright moon making shadows out from the trees. The sun rose high sent rays of light through the trees, Oliver peaked through the curtain and was shortly blinded by the sun's light. He got up, got dressed for hunting. the forest is filled with magical that even eating their flesh will give you temporary abilities, but most of are just wild game. Oliver got his crossbow and quiver near the door and went deeper into the forest.

The forest floor was properly lit by the sunlight, and it was thick with undergrowth. Oliver, gently maneuvering through bushes and careful not to snap twigs, saw a deer grazing at an open field not far from his location. Knocking an arrow and putting his fingers against his cheeks, trying to stay still while aiming 5 yards away. Oliver let the arrow fly to his prey, when the arrow was just a yard away from the deer, it burned into ashes and startled his prey and went off. Oliver stood bewildered to was he just saw and slowly went back to his hut, on the way back he bumped into a stranger who was old enough to be his grand father. He stood and help the old man to his feet and apologized, the old man just said. "Don't fuss about me lad, I may look old but I'm as strong as a horse!" and in an instant the old man just collapsed and Oliver immediately caught him and brought him to his hut.

Oliver fell asleep while waiting for the old man to wake up, the moment he closed his eyes his nightmare slowly came to him, instead of a nightmare it was a dream. In his dream he was in a barren place, saw ruins of houses, farms, shops and even a castle at the top of a hill. Wondering around the place he saw a woman sitting at the ruins of what looked like a fountain, weeping and sobbing, Oliver went near her and tried to ask where was he but no words came out, the woman turned to face him as if she heard him and said "You're in the ruins of the city of Abderus"

Oliver mouthed. "What caused this and why are you alone?"

"I made this happen!I did all this!," She yelled at him. "I killed them! I killed them all!"

His dream just turned into a nightmare, what else would it be?

The woman then burst into flames of red, her arms swelled and became muscular, finger nails turned into claws, she then grew bat wings and flew high into the sky and darted towards him. Astonished and shocked to what he just saw, he tried to run but his muscles felt like it were stone and as a result he fell backwards and beheld his attacker.

When she was just inches away, he heard a loud moan that caused him to wake up. He remembered that an old man was sleeping in his bedroom, he went to check and saw the old man trying to stand up.

"Lay down, you may still need rest" Oliver said.

"Who are you and where am I?" The old man asked, bewildered.

"You're in my house, you collapsed in the forest this morning" Oliver answered.

the old man sat back at the bed, finding something, patting his robes and checking his surrounding. "Sir what are you looking for?" Oliver asked.

"A book, have you seen it?" the old man answered. "I haven't seen any book for ages, no I haven't seen it" Oliver said.

"It was no ordinary book lad, it is very important to me and it would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands," The old man said. "I must look for it, I must get it back"