The Journey and a Dark Road - Acacius
724 Words
“Hey, Nicolas!” shouted Acacius from the road.
Nicolas’s head shot out of the second-floor window of his house, “What do you need, man?”
Acacius’s eyes gleamed with excitement, “Nicolas! Get your stuff! We’re going to Sumar!”
Nicolas looked at his friend for a few moments and went to get his gear. Acacius knew that Nicolas wouldn’t hesitate to go on an adventure with him, especially if it was an adventure far away. The two of them always went on adventures together and were friends since birth. They even shared a birthday.
Soon, Nicolas appeared at the doorway with a sword, pack, and cash in hand. Nicolas was well-built and stood two heads taller than Acacius. With black hair and an easy-going smile, he wasn’t bad with the ladies, but he was completely oblivious at times.
Nicolas had the same excitement in his eyes when he asked, “What are we doing, and why?”
“We are going on a bounty hunt in Sumar. It’ll help you get some experience and we can make a little money on the side.”
“How much are we talking here, Acacius?”
“Ten thousand royals!” Acacius merrily said.
Nicolas’s jaw dropped at the amount, “Ten thousand roy… ten thousand royals? Holy...! That’s more than most people make in a lifetime! Who exactly is this person we’re going after?”
Acacius responded, “I don’t know much about this character we’re after, except that he was very mysterious and burned a whole inn down!”
Nicolas smiled and said, “What are we waiting for, then? Let’s hit the road, dude!”
Acacius only had a dagger with him, the silver he borrowed from Tom, and his satchel filled with some food. Nicolas was far more prepared with a sword, extra clothing, food, and three royals.
Acacius thought to himself, I can’t believe we’re actually doing this, and we may actually be able to pull it off! So, the pair shouldered their packs and started on the path to Sumar.
They walked for a day and made it a good distance from the city of Fortuna before they decided to camp and rest on the edge of a forest.
“Hey, Nicolas, I’ll get a fire going and you set up a bed of leaves or something.”
Nicolas responded wearily, “Sure man, I got it.”
They set about their work and when night came, they already had a fire going and food cooking. Acacius wondered to himself if traveling long distances would always feel like this, or whether he would eventually get used to all the walking.
“Heh, no point thinking about it” he muttered to himself as he dreamily settled down on the leaves. He slowly fell into a deep sleep, and in his dream, he saw four horsemen.
One horseman was surrounded by a brilliant red flame. Another was of a darker aura and carried a raven on his arm. The third horseman had a silhouette of an army behind him and bits of earth floating around him.
The fourth horseman stood out from all the rest. He was a large figure and had a massive storm around him. This horseman slowly trotted towards Acacius. Vines snaked out of the earth, grabbed Acacius’ legs, and slowly dragged him into the ground as the fourth figure reached for him, and darkness then overcame them all…
“ACACIUS!” screamed Nicolas. Acacius woke with a start when he realized that he was being dragged away by a black tendril. In the darkness of the night, he had no idea what the tendril was, but it leaked an eerily black smoke..
Nicolas ran over and hacked away at the tendril with his sword, but it had almost no effect and seemed to just bounce off. Panicking, Acacius grabbed the tendril to try and loosen it. All of a sudden, a bright flash lit up the night, and the tendril vanished.
“What the…” Acacius mumbled.
Nicolas looked worried, “Hey man, are you alright? That thing held on to you as if you were the king of Fortuna!”
Acacius looked at his hand to see if it was damaged. “Hey Nicolas, did you see that bright flash?”
“Yeah man, that was so weird. That dark thing and light burst just came out of nowhere!”
Acacius knew that he hadn’t seen anything at the other end of the tendril. Where had it come from?
- Writer
