The Deenashee Volume One: The Dearg Due

Chapter One: New Arrival

The night was silent in a small unknown town, the evening fog hindering the vision of anyone or anything up that late. The moon hung high in the starry night sky while bats fluttered through the growing fog. Their leathery wings fluttered as it swooped and dived, catching any winged insect that dared to take flight. Waking up from the long winter hibernation left the bats of the town starving and each small mammal determined fill their bellies.

One bat fluttered by the town's small graveyard when it spotted a moth taking flight, it's gossamer wings reflecting the moonlight. In one fell swoop, the moth was gone in the bat's tiny jaws. With a surge of its wings, the bat flew deeper into the graveyard in search for more food. It then came to a sudden stop, something screaming in its mind, loud in clear. 'Danger!' The tiny voice yelled, there was nothing her for the bat, nothing but death. The bat, never once doubting its instincts, fluttered away.

Just as a sweet voice broke the silence of the night, singing a haunting melody.

"Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild. With a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand,"

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A young man jolted awake with a gasp, his brown and blue eyes widen in terror. It took a moment for him to realize he was still in the sleeper car on the train. Arthur sighed, running a hand through his black and brown hair. The whole purpose of this trip was to relax and those annoying nightmares are happening again. When the young man glanced at the window of the train, he saw trees zipping by, the occasional field for the local livestock, and the sun just poking out of the horizon.

'It'll be morning soon,' Arthur thought to himself while groggily stepping out of bed and getting dressed for the day.
'We should be coming close to the town now,'

The hours passed and it was spent listening to music and occasionally sneaking a snack from the dining car. It was when Arthur returned from his latest raid for a small bag of Cheetos did he noticed the small town of Illmourn in the distant. Arthur heard of the town from an old high school friend who said that "It's the sleepiest town in the world!" And that "He should go there to relax," Arthur had to admit, if it wasn't for them, he would be a reck.

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving at the Illmourn stop shortly,"

A voice rang from the intercom, cueing Arthur to start gathering his bags.

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"Where is he?!" Mumbled a young woman who was currently rushing around her sleeper car in a panic. "Gadget get out here!" She huffed the moment she heard scratching coming from under the bed. When she looked under the bed, she saw two dark brown eyes staring at her, she then reached out and pulled out the mischievous Chinese water dragon. "Really Gadget?" She questioned the green lizard who tilted its head to the side.

Casey giggled before walking back to her lizard's travel tank and placing him in the tropical themed tank. "Now stay in there Gadget, we got no shows today so we can relax today," She smiled while digging though her bag and pulled out a brush. As always, Gadget stayed silent while Casey worked to tame her wild bed hair.

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving at the Illmourn stop shortly,"

Casey gasped when she heard the announcement, "I slept in!" She shrieked in surprised and rushed to get dressed in her normal attire of a elegant looking short green dress, brown ribbons tied in neat bows and decorated with pure white flowers, all on top of a few light green petticoats. She then managed to put her curly red hair into a side bride with a few more flowers pinned in as well as a red ribbon.

Casey was just about to leave her room but stopped just before reaching the door. "Almost forgot!" She giggled before rummaging though her bag again and pulled out a holly wood wand with highly detailed carvings in the wood. Casey had this wand ever since she and Gadget hit the road as traveling magicians, he grandmother had given it to her the night she left and kept it close ever since.

"Now stay in your tank while I get some brunch Gadget," Casey smiled before rushing out of her room and to the dining car, passing by the doors that lead into other sleeper cars.

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A young scruffy man yawned while sitting, criss cross on the bed. The laptop resting in his lap had countless tabs open as well as a few documents. The only thing the tabs had in common were that they were all about the Scottish Folklore and old tales of fairies and heros. On every document were countless paragraphs on the old fairy tales, describing each tale in great detail.

Gabe unlike everyone else who were getting their stuff together for their stop, was still typing away in a concentrated daze. It was only when he heard some doors closing outside and someone running down the hall did he look up from his laptop. "It's already morning?" He questioned in a scratchy voice. He then glanced at the digital clock on the laptop screen and saw it was late afternoon.

He had pulled another all nighter. Groaning, Gabe rubbed the sleepy feeling from his eyes and got up out of the bed. This wasn't the first time this happened, all he'd need is a good cat nap and he'll be good for the rest of the day. He made sure to set time aside for said nap before getting dressed in a oversized sweater, coat, and scarf. He then started brushing his curly ginger hair that covered his eyes. Once done he packed up the few things he had pulled out and stepped out of his room with a warm smile. Ready to get a snack before the train arrived at Illmourn.