Adhira | The Survival of the Fittest by SUAW

-Prompt 1-

PROMPT-

"Your character comes across a small medieval looking village with wooden houses and dirt roads. There's a horrible smell in the air like rotting flesh, but you can't see any people at all. Then, out of the corner of your character's eye, they see a strange sight. A tall man walks across your character's path in the distance. He is wearing an unusual mask like a bird's beak.
They think they've seen this mask before but can't quite remember where. This is a challenge of research.

Google Eyam and see what the mask is before your character approaches the person. This is life or death. Research properly or your character will die!"

|-|-|-|-|

The young Goddess had been checking the leaves of her ancient, worn-out russet diary, and recording within it the number of times the sun had dipped below the horizon, she'd understood a number of weeks had passed- travelling silently, meditatively and determinedly on land, sea and in the sky- before she'd reached this strange, almost otherworldly part of the world.

She knew that map would carry her far- yet perhaps not this far. She had seen a number of different countries and their empires and gone through the alleys and lanes of each as a mendicant, noble, and more by grabbing available outfits and necessities from the market places now and then. A number of different roles had been assumed, changing with the entry into each new territory to avoid being suspected of as a spy.

She knew she was now in a county called 'England'- in a district which was referred to as 'Derbyshire Dales'. She was glad she'd learnt English well by the invited British teachers of her empire as a young princess, or she knew she'd be all at sea in such an unfamiliar place with strange styles and rules of culture. 
Yet, it was scintillating. Having remained only in Dakshrajya- her home kingdom- then her island all her life- all of these new experiences seemed magical in a new way to a goddess who knew magic as well as anyone could know. She sent prayers of thanks to the godhead every time her eyes would fall upon the new sights, her tongue would taste a new delicacy, or her nose would sense a new species of plants she knew she'd steal the seeds of to grow on her island.

Having had her breakfast at a small hotel she'd found in Derbyshire Dales, she'd set off on a normal rented horse, as her horse made up of thunderclouds would be too much of a shock to any human.
After her thumb had explored the texture of the new currency for a moment, she'd pushed the coins and notes into her bag, and clicked her tongue to get the animal going, riding through more pretty and unfamiliar sights and sceneries until now.

Now- she'd reached the 'X' of her map. 

Climbing off of her horse, she straightened out her hundredth new outfit- all purchased from exchanged currency she'd been given as a parting gift during her exile by her mother, or by plain stealing- which was a classic English medieval outfit, masculine in style and mostly worn by men, yet since it fitted the young Goddess with comfort, she'd worn that, paying no heed to any judgements by the locals.

The 'X' on her map was what seemed like a small English village.
Having read her history books well during her school days, she remembered that she was in the Eyam- the village from where the bubonic plague was discovered a couple hundred years back. At the time of the plague's discovery, the village had isolated itself for the sake of the prevention if the plague's spread. It always amazed Adhira how the people of one entire village could isolate themselves completely and how much sacrifice and courage it'd take to do something like that.

What fell upon her sight were small English-styled cottages of wood and stone and dirt roads. 
As she walked around the aesthetic, simple village quietly, she noticed the small plaques that stood outside cottages- details of the names, ages, and date of death of the individuals who had died in that specific home at the time of the plague. 
Her usually cold, stoic and hard heart clenched with an eerie, faded melancholy as she read the plaques. 

Having seen photos of the village before, she knew that a major church, some museums and more were worth a visit along with the moor of Eyam.
So many cottages and parks stood, quiet and silent and in a perfect condition to be used, yet... that's when Adhira realized. 

There was nobody there.

And that's when her busy mind scanning the scenes and the plaques noticed the contemptible smell that permeated the air- the smell of rotten flesh.
Adhira never ate any flesh to begin with, and was more or less revolted to it's smell- and now the smell of that in a rotten form, that too emitting from nowhere in particular but the air, made her grab a part of her English-style jacket and cover her nose.

A strange image formed in her mind- were all the people here dead? And were their bodies thrown somewhere from where the smell could be sensed yet they couldn't be seen?

That's when a sharp urge to turn around penetrated all her thoughts as she whipped around- and immediately a few glowing wisps of black and navy started to emit her palm by reflex as she caught sight of the tall, lone man that had appeared behind her. 

Quietly, he walked towards her, his steps on her path and in her direction. She clenched her fist in a slight anger that was fueled by apprehension and the abruptness of the suddenness of his presence.

"Sir," She addressed him with the usual manner she'd known to address the men here. "Who are you?"

No answer was given- and in her mind, formed the image of the old tribe elder who had given her this map in the first place. She felt similar energies in both of them- both of them seemed to give out energies of doom and comfort, both, like gods- yet with the smell of rotting flesh and the eeriness of the place, along with the absence of human life only created more apprehension than comfort within her heart.

What added to it all was the strange mask over his face- a bird mask with a lengthy beak and bulging black eyes.

Again, the memories of the pages of her history books were triggered to come alive. That mask held some sort of importance, she knew.
She tried to remember- wasn't it a common mask related to death, disease or the prevention of disease-caused death? Or just the prevention of disease?
She knew she was more or less correct as she worked her brain harder, while simultaneously deciding if she should stand her ground or back away from the strange, tall man.

Deciding to giver her due respect, she moved out of his way slowly but couldn't decipher if he was approaching her or walking down the path she was on. She continued to rack her brain for the sake of her pulsating curiosity.

Wasn't this mask just used in England?
Or in all of Europe? And in the sixteenth to eighteenth century, isn't it?

Her intuition told her she was going down a correct path, so she continued to think, the wisps of her magic continuously floating around her hand as a sort of intimidation to the masked man despite her overall behavioral respect.

And another important part- not everyone wore these masks back in the day. Only doctors of a certain kind, who treated the plagues- physicians, surely?

As her mind recalled everything with most of the right answers, she breathed a sigh of strange relief- but then, that's when she completely remembered the man was still present.

And what's going to happen now?- Thought the young goddess as calmly as she could, even through she knew well her heartbeats struggled to not fluctuate at this moment.