Comforting Darkness

Chapter 62: The Tutor, New... Undertaking

A four year old boy lying on a narrow bed, shivering under the pile of furs and blankets covering him; his small face so pale and his trembling, crying voice begging for his father to make the pain stop. The desperate man lifts his eyes to the elder in white robes beside him, the village's druid and master healer, the boy's only hope. But unfortunately, the druid shakes his head and sadness is evident in his troubled features and down cast eyes. This illness is unknown to him, it seems it runs in the boy's blood but the gods refuse to let him see deeper and find the cure. Hearing that, the young woman beside the father gives in to heartbreaking cries as she throws herself over the sick child.

The rumour comes from afar but grows stronger by the day, a new druid has appeared, one in dirty brown robes. He was literally kicked out of the druids' society while still in training, accused of using his practices to fool people in need, but in reality his abilities are superior to anyone else's and the druids fear him because he is a miracle worker... that's how the rumour goes. The father has nothing to lose, he goes to find and beg the blessed by the gods healer to help his son.

The treatment is successful! The boy is running around chasing and playing with the dog so full of life and happiness, the parents hug and kiss each other, sharing their own happiness. The brown robed healer reassures them the illness is a thing of the past, receives his quite handsome payment and moves on to the next village where certainly someone needs his services. Everything seems heavenly.

The treatment was a fraud! Almost a month after the completion, the boy is worse than ever, the pain is back ten times stronger and cannot lift even his head from the pillow. The parents are about to loose their minds, when the white dressed druid informs them the herbs the other one gave the boy were just strong sedatives and painkillers that, in reality, covered the pain and gave some energy to the child, but never healed the actual ailment. The boy would soon die, either way. Everything seems hellish.

The child finally finds peace after a week of tormenting pains... His lively giggles and jokes that made his parents laugh happily will never be heard again. The father is inconsolable and has no shoulder to cry on since his wife, lost in her own grief, avoids his eyes and comforting arms; even if she does not realise it, she seems to hold him responsible for trusting a swindler. He goes to the next village to find and kill the deceiver, but he is long gone and the effects of his "healing" are evident here too.

A couple of months go by and life has a permanent dark colour and heavy mood, the husband and wife are strangers now, sharing only a roof, until the wife announces she cannot stay with him any more - he reminds her of the boy so much - and it is better if they part ways. Inside, he screams with desperation, wanting to beg her to stay, but no word passes his numbed lips and the woman leaves the next morning.

Life is totally empty and meaningless now, he has no one to care and provide for, no one to protect. His footsteps bring him to a crag, far away from the village, and the stormy sea is underneath; it does not take much effort for the man to fall over, he just allows the burden of his desperation to bring him to his knees. The frozen water rushes in his lungs as he is pulled deeper, but he does not care because the pain will finally stop... that is what he thinks as he closes his eyes.

But he is so wrong... He took his own life and has to be punished for that by living a new, immortal one, watching humans die daily, collecting their memories and souls, forbidden from interfering to warn them, save them or even feel compassion for them; he is invisible to mortal eyes. His eyes changed, his eyesight too, it's so blurry now that he cannot see his own nose, unless he holds a special glass in front of them, very useful for when he reaps the dying souls with his scythe... these objects, and many more the others use, are so unknown to him.