A Pleasant Village Called Selk

Chapter 5

A Brewing Storm

'War is such a glorious prospect! This life is dull, meaningless and full of incompetent imbeciles. Is it not fun to watch such imbeciles squabble over land and such, as though it actually means something?'

Samuel sat on his lonesome in a small, quaint coffee shop southeast of the River Swale that went by the name 'Philip's Place'. Although rather cosy, he couldn't help but wrinkle his nose every now and again when the smell of recently brewed tea wafted in his direction. The winter wind truly did not help matters, either. It was a coffee shop, not a tea shop. Those who came into a coffee shop expecting tea were fools who always grated on Samuel's nerves. Those people along with abominations (he refused to refer to them as 'people') who only ate or drank anything so long as it had the vegan and or organic label attached always seemed to make him grind his teeth. As he sat there clutching his steaming black coffee (with no sugar), he contemplated whether or not he should in fact reveal something. His mind made up, he looked up from the steam and sighed, pinching the bridge of his large, crooked nose. 

'Perhaps you are struggling to comprehend the situation to which you have chosen to nosy,' began Samuel in exhausted exasperation, 'tis not your fault, of course. Here you are, wishing to escape and enjoy something other than your presumably miserable life. For why else would you wish to know of these events?'

'Or perhaps, tis due to the wish of wanting terrible things to happen to others... Not people you know, but strangers. Greedy and desperate indeed you are, to wish to observe the toil and plunders of others whom you have never met, and perhaps will never meet.'. With a beaming grin, Samuel stared piercingly, as though staring into someone's soul. 'I shall inform you of what has happened, shall I?'

'The "distraction" to which you may have heard entailed rather gruesome results,' sighed Samuel contentedly, 'lets us just say that those on the motorway during rush-hour traffic, those who were driving to work to continue on with their dismal abysmal lives had a rather... Explosive surprise. This had given me ample time to once again meet Participant #9057- and indeed, I had previously met her before under the pretence of finding my beloved, for I had heard tale of a woman who could see into another's past. Although, I did not know that such a person would confuse the person's past to which they were looking at with their own, mixing it and distorting it.'

'Also, before all that had occurred, I had sought the help of the lethargic Mr. Milson (to whom revealed the existence of Participant #9057 and knew of their location). He gladly obliged with conditions that both suited our needs at that time- and no, I shan't be telling you what he and I gained from such a venture,' giggled Samuel, as he tapped his nose with his slender index finger twice. He appeared rather indecisive for a moment or too, then resumed on with his... 'Speech'.

 'Inexplicably, Mr. Milson's plan has not gone accordingly. I assume that one of his Artefacts may have intervened, although that is merely speculation on my part. The point to which I am making, is that I know that you are here. I do not know to which your location is. All that is possible for myself to speculate, is that you are either at your place of work avoiding your such work; within your home where you are in your lounge relaxing, taking a well needed rest in your bed; or simply in the bath, with but a candle lighting the room as to make it evermore... Atmospheric.' his facial expression grew more serious, and it felt as though the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. 

'I implore that you remember this: I always know when you are here. For when you are watching me, I, too, am watching you.'

With a humoured chuckled, the tension in the room grew thicker, and far more suffocating. 'However, tis neither here nor there. I wish to inform you that events are sure to become more perplexing, but I predict that events will become more clear as the time ticks by. Despite not being able to see the future, I still know its possibilities: many people will die in the near future. No thanks to you,' spat Samuel bitterly, 'but I digress. At the current moment, I am-'