Stay With Me

Chapter 2: The northern palace

Fluke's body shivered from the cold wind hitting his face. As soon as he stepped out of the train, the green landscape was replaced by a tapestry of snow. The rooftops were painted in white and even the road was icy.

He looked around with big eyes as he observed the new environment, he always heard in stories and never saw in real life. To be fair, the kingdom's citizens barely traveled to other nations. Let alone a high ranking southerner coming to the northern province.

Fluke looked with big eyes at the fashion everyone was wearing. There were less revealing body parts and more fur covered. Their hands were also wrapped in warm gloves and boots protecting them from the melting ice and coldness.

His body shivered again and realised how underdressed he actually was. Feeling the heavy pouch of coins in his inner pockets, he tightened the grip around his suitcase and searched for a coachman who could bring him to his destination.

After walking around, he finally found the man and the latter frowned for a few seconds after hearing the destination, before allowing Fluke to take him. It wasn't anything fancy, just a horse and an open carriage, which was more than enough.

Leaving the town behind, the carriage rode on a single path towards the snowy uphill forest. It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful. Compared to the road in the south where many wildlife creatures appeared, there were barely any here. Only the chirping of birds filled the sound of the lonely forest.

Suddenly the carriage stopped abruptly and the horse neighed in unrest. The coachmen looked around and Fluke realised that the chirping birds were nowhere to be heard. An irking silent creeped up to them and suddenly a black shadow spread between the trees and two red glowing eyes stared back at Fluke.

The couchman could barely utter a scream before his body was swallowed whole by the shadow. The horses started to run and Fluke misplaced his grip, which sent him flying out of the carriage.

Buried in snow, Fluke looked around as he winced from the pain he felt on his head. The shadow was now completely revealed and staring back at Fluke. A big gap appeared which formed a creepy smile, "Tasty..." the voice eerily said.

Fluke tried to crawl away, but his legs were paralysed from fear. He had never seen such dark creatures in his life and was unable to scream for help. The shadow moved closer and towered over Fluke, "Your soul is reborn," The shadow said.

"A soul not from this time," Fluke looked around trying to find something he could defend with. He crawled back and found a piece of sharp branch on the ground at the nearest tree. Before the shadow could engulf him, Fluke crawled in panic out and grabbed the branch in his trembling hands.

The shadow swift his head towards him and launched himself at him. The branch would probably not give him the protection he wanted, but at least he tried. Swinging the branch in front of him the shadow screamed and retracted back.

Fluke opened his eyes and found two men standing in front of him, with glowing spears in their hands. They both dodged the attacking shadow and blocked the attack with their spears. Fluke looked perplexed at the two and watched the men cut the shadow easily in small pieces.

Just when they thought the creature was fully gone, creepy giggles surrounded them. The two men stood in front of Fluke, trying to protect him, but they couldn't see where the creature had escaped.

Fluke listened and looked around. He found a transparent cloud moving on the right and flew straight towards them. The two man didn't notice on time, but Fluke had managed to push one of them away and was too slow to escape the attack.

He gasped as the creature hit his chest and eyes widened as a bright light appeared. The two men moved back and watched Fluke being lifted in the air and eyes turning gold, creating a bright shield around him.