The Witch's Relay

Chapter 15: The Fog

After a few minutes of me crying into Heather's shoulder, and with Linda sitting awkwardly across from us, she gently pushes me away to stand up.

"I think it's time we retire to our room. Thank you for this chat and have a good night."

Wiping away the tears I follow Heather's lead.

I feel pathetic. And empty.

"Likewise. And.. I'm sorry about your father.."

"Thanks.. And thank you for the news.." I reply, my throat stinging.

We then quickly say another set of goodbyes before Heather and I head upstairs.

...

I wake up next to a familiar face in the morning and slowly swing my legs out of bed. Leaning down I reach for my discarded articles of clothing and get dressed in silence.

Upon getting dressed I get up and head for the door.

Today I plan to go back to the guild, I realized that I had forgotten to ask Linda about my sister, as well as the circumstances of my father's death.

But I also need to pick up another quest, might help get my mind off things. At least I hope so.

...

Walking through the streets this morning feels oddly different, and I realize that there is frost on some of the windows. I suppose this will be a long winter, since it is only early October.

The streets are pretty calm, some chatter can be heard from the store owners flipping signs to "open", and a farmer pulling a cart with root-fruits, but other than that there is an unfamiliar and eerie feeling in the air.

Arriving at the guild house I look up at the clock mounted above the giant spruce doors to realize it opens in little more than half an hour.

"Hehe." I dryly laugh to myself. Old habits die hard I guess. As a farmer I was always up before the rest of the population.

I decide to wander a bit before the opening hour, 6 o clock.

"Did you hear the latest news from the prince's party?" "How's work coming along?" "How's your injury coming along?" "Have you tried that new treatment option?" "Have you had enough of them yet? I don't understand how you can put up with it for so long." Were a few fragments of conversation I picked up while waiting for the doors to open. Just putting one step in front of the next, I walk in utter silence. My hood is raised to the point of drooping over and covering my face. Not that I'm actually trying to hide. I am walking quite literally in the middle of the street.

Everyone I walk past gives the new dark figure a glance, but no-one ever stares long. I suppose in this cold weather the hood makes sense.

Other people are frankly the last things on my mind. All I'm drawing from my thoughts are.. blank. It feels as if there is a fog covering the town, but there is no fog. Only on my own mind, as if an enchantment is laid upon it.

...

"Are you doing ok?" Heather asks me after putting the key to her room into the lock.

"Yes. I'll be fine."

She opens the door and guides me in, my vision is blurry from the tears.

I feel pathetic.

"It just hurts.." I look down.

"I know."

She walks into the room and lights a small candle on the bedside table using magic.

"You know.. I can make it feel better."

"Y-you can? How?" Another tear falls.

I feel so pathetic.

"Yes. Do you want me to?"

"Yes.."

"Despite not knowing what it might entail?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

She walks towards me and gives me a warm hug from behind. "Then I need you to take off your shirt and lie down on the bed. I need you to just obey."

"O-ok." I do what I'm told.

"Close your eyes."

Suddenly I hear a brief ruffling of fabric and soft weight being lowered onto my abdomen. Before I am able to reopen my eyes, a finger is laid on each of my eyelids, keeping them closed.

"Just relax. Take a deep breath and let the dream begin."

Immediately after, I can see a flash of light bleeding through my closed eyes, followed by darkness, and then as a feeling of fading starts taking over, Heather speaks.

"I'm sorry. But I know that you will forgive me."

At that, I enter a deep sleep. A sleep deeper than any I'd ever entered before, filled with dreams of monsters and death, dreams of famine and starvation, dreams of abandonment and loneliness, lacking any faintest trace of hope.

But in all the chaos of my mind, there is one single dream of love and warmth.

Calling most of those "dreams" for "dreams" would be incorrect as a technicality. They are nightmares. But.. still not really. Because a nightmare is only defined as an "unpleasant dream", but what is it called if you never thought of it in that way? A terrifying dream where you never once get afraid is hardly a nightmare, and a tragic nightmare where you never once shed a tear is just like any other dream right?

Just like how a dream of love and warmth devoid of emotion is really just like any other passing thought.

Because that is what happens now. Regardless of how cruel or terrible any of my dreams are, none of them even faze me.

Not anymore.

...

After wandering for the half-hour it took for the guild to open I throw open the door and enter. As usual, the hustle and bustle had already begun as I walk over to the quest board to pick up a suitable quest.

Class: RANK-D+

Task: Hunt snowboars.

(Recommended) Location: Up north bordering the mountains adjacent to large farms.

Reward: 5 silver per head.

Note: A proof of completion must be shown in order to claim the reward.

End of quest time: Not given.

The particular quest interesting me was under the "general" category, meaning that there's simply a bounty out for that specific monster, in this case snowboars. So there is no reason to register the job as taken.

Wanting to have another chat with Linda however, I walk towards the registering counter, and when she sees me, she whispers something to her coworker and gestures to me to come to her office.