The Arrival

Chapter One

It was a sunny day in New York City, the people out on the streets minding their own business, occasionally somebody would yell "Long live the King!" which usually was followed by a gunshot and cheering. On this particular day in September 1783, the streets were unusually crowed with people who celebrated the Treaty of Paris which made their independence from the British official and ended the war for good. Amongst these people was Liam Carrell, a young man who had fought in the war, got rejected by the only woman he ever loved and had eventually turned bitter. The woman who caused Liam's misery was none other than Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of Philip Schuyler the New York State Surveyor General. When Liam first laid eyes on Elizabeth he was blown away by her beauty. It was 1780 at a Winters ball in Morrison, where General Washington had invited the man under his command and friends of his wife, amongst them were Elizabeth and Angelica Schuyler, to take a break from the war and just celebrate. Always the outsider of the troop, Liam didn't have the courage to stop Alexander Hamilton from talking to Elizabeth, which once and forever ruined his chances because Elizabeth had fallen for Hamilton the moment she first saw him. Shortly after the ball Alexander told the men of his engagement to Eliza, as he called her. In that moment, Liam's heart shattered into a million pieces and never grew back together. Now on this portentous day in 1783, when he was bitterly walking down the streets of New York City he saw something which made his dead thought heart hurt once again. In front of him walked Alexander and Elizabeth with their baby son Philip. Even though Liam read the announcement of the birth in the newspaper he had hoped to never meet the kid for the sake of his heart. But now they were walking right in front of him and surely were to notice him soon. Alexander were for sure to engage in conversation with Liam since they hadn't seen each other since their victory over the British in Yorktown, 1781. To avoid the confrontation Liam turned into the next backstreet he came across and started running. Why he ran he didn't know himself, maybe he was running away from his problems, from his pain or he needed to feel the physical pain of exhaustion to overpower the emotional pain of heartbreak. He ran along the Hudson river for two hours maybe three hours, till he fell on the ground in exhaustion. He had left the city long behind him and had entered a wild looking forest. Around Liam, birds were singing and squirrels were hopping from tree to tree. As far as he could see there were no humans around, which gave Liam a strange comfort. The pain in his chest from the running was now so strong that he had troubles keeping his eyes open. In his blurry state of sight, he thought to see a strange figure walking towards him. The figure seemed to be calling Liam's name but it was hard for Liam to understand because the only sound he was able to hear clearly was the blood rushing through his ears. The strange figure seemed to come closer and as it did Liam could more clearly see that it was in fact an old man who balanced a keg on his back. "LIAM CARRELL! LIAM CARRELL!" Now Liam could hear the old man screaming louder. With the last bit of strength in his body, he sat up and could not help himself not to wonder who this strange old man might be and why he knew his name. The man was now standing in front of Liam holding out his hand and waiting for him to grab it. Not knowing what to expect he grabbed the old man's hand. As he did so, he felt a strange sensation shooting through his body giving him back strength in his legs and calming his breathing. The old man dragged Liam down a hill, further into the forest. The deeper they went, the thicker and darker the forest appeared. After, what seemed like an eternity to Liam, they stopped on a clearance which appeared to be an, old and partly rotten, amphitheater. In the middle of the amphitheater were standing four hooded creatures, who seemed to stand so still that they could pass of as statues. The old man offered Liam a drink from his keg which seemed to be some kind of liquor. Exhausted and confused Liam took the beverage without thinking of what could happen. After a few shots, Liam's vision had gone so blurry that he only could see the silhouettes of the creatures around him. As the night progressed, all of his troubles seemed to have vanished from his thoughts. Having lost all sense of time and starting to feel very tired, Liam had a feeling of being held by the old man while the four hooded creatures approached him. Seconds later he was on the ground, asleep.