Chapter 70 - Sixty-Eight (1/2)

I slept fine for some time, the chilly wind brushing comfortably against my hot skin, relaxing my body as a cold drink in the summer.

However something disturbed my sleep in the middle of night, making me feel bothered, turning and rolling, in a half-awake haft-asleep state that made me take my time to finally open my eyes, brushing the sleep from them and yawning, only to notice two things: that it was still dark outside, and that my brother was nowhere to be seen.

What the…

I half-sit in place supporting myself on my elbows, frowning as I turn my head around and don't find him anywhere, including his makeshift bed on the floor beside me.

He wouldn't have defied me, would he?

But he has never disobeyed me before… not this way, only fighting to get what he wants sometimes, but not hidden, not…in secrecy.

No, no, maybe I'm just overthinking, he could have just gone to the bathroom, that's all, right?

Yet I could not shake off the dreading feeling growing inside me…

I stop speculating, however, once I smell a strange yet familiar scent in the air. I look towards the dark hall, my eyes narrowing as I felt unease, watched.

I was not alone.

A scratching sound against the wood resonates in the silent night, very vague, difficult to pinpoint, like a single nail slowly brushing against the lumber.

That's when I realized I could not move.

With my eyes open wide I stare down the dark, my night vision oddly inexistent as the door from the outside opens to the hall, still out of sight but close enough so I could almost feel the presence behind the second door, waiting in the hall where the noises stop.

I gulp down, feeling my heart race as I shudder, almost incapable of controlling my body at this point as the door finally opens sideways… but nothing comes out of it, instead the hall was covered by a blackness that spread like a black hole, swallowing all the objects, walls and ceiling like a living thing, slowing growing as it moves closer, a massive black mass disseminating.

Still somewhat calm I manage to remember using appraisal on the thing, but the information that came seemed to be… corrupted?

%$F234o%$U¨$6n12$*d^}@Y%&(o-09¨%[email protected]

It expanded once it gets out of the hall and enters the room I'm in, making it impossible to see the walls anymore, taking away my bearings as the only thing that kept me grounded was the still visible floor that I laid on.

I start to hyperventilate once it reaches my feet, consuming them into its massive void of nothingness as it went up and up, my paralyzed body unable to resist as a black goopy hand came out of it, reaching out for my head, a pair of shining white eyes appearing amidst the darkness and sucking me in, his hand going to cover my vision as blackness overtook everything and I pass out.

And then…

I shot out of my makeshift bed on the floor, sweating and panting, eyes wide scanning the place up, moving to the walls, windows, and staying over the hall where the door stood open sideways, making the presence of the creature still vivid in my eyes.

The only thing that took me out of it was the fact that it was starting to get bright outside, with chirping birds singing about.

Was that… a dream? And yet the door remained open… I think, passing my hand over my hair, trying to calm down.

Wait, I look beside me and find out that my brother was not there, and not even in this room, which makes me shudder as the nightmare came back stronger, making that I could still feel the coldness of the creature's presence spreading.

I jump up when I feel some movement beside me, oddly scared until I see a white-green face pop up from the blankets, looking at me with sleepy eyes as if asking what was wrong.

”Oh, h-hey Shu, sorry, go back to sleep, sorry to have wakened you…” I say, stroking his fur as he puts his belly up for me to scratch, making me notice his plump tummy.

”You ate well last night uhm? Haha, I know the feeling, Leo will get us fat that way…”

The moment the words come out of my mouth my expression freezes when a chuckle sounds beside us from the hall, making me look up only to see Leo standing there.

”Well, glad to hear you like my food that much, though I can argue that it is hardly my fault if you eat too much. Up so early?”

”I could ask you the same.”

”Well, I need to make food for the starved ones here.” He says, moving his chin in our direction and going to the kitchen, starting a fire and separating the tools he needed.

I stay down on my bed, enjoying Shu's company by stroking behind his ear, finding oddly pleasing the texture of the green leafy fur.

”What's up for lunch today?”

”Uhm, I'm thinking of something sweet because we found a beehive in the back, just not sure which drink to put together with honey…”

If he doesn't know I'm even more clueless.

In the end he makes a mixture of cheese, honey and black and red berries, more like a dessert than a breakfast; but I definitely wasn't complaining, anything he makes is divine, even soup goddamnit.

It ended being a warm plate so I drank some water afterwards as I sat on the hall, looking outside towards the garden as finally the slowpokes start to arrive.

Did I really wake up that early? Hm… Worse even, does Leo wakes this early every day?

Uf, definitely not a morning person, actually most of my kind hunts at night, so…