Transylvania
(near Serbia)
August 4, 1844
He came to a standstill at a clearing, deciding to settle for the night. It had only been a day since he returned to that abandoned farmhouse to see if his brother returned.
As he traveled through the brush, he kept surveying the area in case the boy happened to cross his path. Distraught, Nicolae dropped his bag to the ground and sunk to a seated position. The scent of coniferous surrounded him, emitted by the pine, spruce, and coniferous of the forest. His mind kept going back to that night when he came face to face with the cloaked man, the one that led him to somewhere that was beyond this world. Now he wondered if it had all been a dream, but there were times when he would be in his night travels when he would almost swear to seeing the cloaked individual among the shadows of the brush. His mind was not right, he knew, and hadn't been since the night he and Sebastian escaped from their slavemaster's land only a month and a half ago. Now that the boy was missing (disappeared without any sort of trace) he could feel his being standing at the edge of a deep abyss.
Nicolae let out a sigh, resorting to making a fire. By the moonlight, he found come dried tinder and sticks, placing them in the center of the small clearing. Striking the flint against the steel and charcoal strip, he watched the small sparks fly until an ember caught onto the charcoal. He took some of the dried grass, wrapping it around the charcoal, blowing onto the tinder until flames started poking up through the tinder bundle. As the fire rose up from the ball of dry grass, Nicolae dropped it onto the rest of the stick and tinder pile, watching the orange, red, and yellow light dance and form shadow figures among the trees. For a moment, the shadows surrounding him started to resemble the cloaked man emerging from the brush once more. His surroundings were slowly spinning as the shapes continued to dance, seeming to taunt him as he tried maintaining his equilibrium. He wanted to look up to the night sky, to the stars for comfort. Up to the heavens where those he loved now were. But he also had to keep his focus in case he needed to defend himself. He could not let his guard down. Not while he was still on the run. Or ever...
Suddenly, a small figure emerged from the woods, cloaked in the shadow the flames produced. As the light danced over the other's features, Nicolae could see a familiar resemblance.
Sebastian!
He started to run over, only to have the small one disappear and for the woods to return to its serene state. A serenity that left a eeriness in its wake.
Nicolae tried keeping his trembling body still, walking over to the fire, the familiar scents of the woodland as his only source of comfort in that moment.
Fantasy. Mythology, History. Magic. Read from the very beginning and allow yourself to be taken into another world.
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