(Leif Blackstone)
Fear begins to creep in as I continue on the trail. Is it possible for me to return home? Are these woods home to wolves or bears? How long does it take to walk through them, I wonder? Doubts are never a good thing. All right, let's take a breath. First, let's see what I can deduce. Worrying about things I can't solve is pointless.
Number one, I need to get a hold of a phone or a communication device and call my brother. He will be able to help me.
Number two: I have no money. So I will probably have to get him to transfer me some money, or I can take a temporary job that pays crap to help me out.
Number three, we will stop being afraid. Fear has no place in our heart, so we will not let it take over. In our younger days, when we played knights and dragons, my brother had a saying. Ah man, what was it?
“Fear rides with death. We ride with courage.” I mutter.
“Fear rides with death. We ride with courage.” I say stronger.
“Fear rides with death. We ride with courage.” I yell really loud.
Saying it three times has made me feel much better. There's a slight lift in the weight. Although the fear still exists, I refuse to let it win.
My thoughts go to how my brother Jeremy is faring. Helping run a corporation cannot be easy. I’m also hoping this forest ends soon. It's been two hours since I first set foot in this place. I'm really starting to get hungry. Water is also going to be an issue soon.
Haaaaahooooooo.
“Crap, I think that's a wolf.”
While unfurling the clothes from the sword, I glance around the woods. Only a small amount of sunlight can be seen through these very dark trees. All right, let's get going. Hopefully, the wolf is not as close as I think it is.
Taking off, I launch myself into a good speed. All the running I did in track and field is coming back to me, but I haven't run any marathons in years.
Haaaaahooooooo.
That one was closer. Gotta keep pushing it.
Pump the arms.
Pump the legs.
That pumps the heart.
Fear rides with death. We ride with courage.
My new mantra keeps me going for an hour or two, but time is hard to tell when you're running for your life.
That's when I see a dark blur to the side of the woods.
Stopping, I draw the sword and lift it up to a batter’s position, like someone is about to throw a fastball at me. I really should've taken that fencing lesson. The wolf slowly approaches, growling.
Now that I can see the large ball of fur, it's enormous. Are we sure wolves don't mate with bears? I saw a wolf at the zoo once. It was a little bigger than a dog. This monster is huge, easily going up to my waist, and I have long legs.
“Nice doggy.” I say, still trying to catch my breath.
It creeps towards me while growling.
While pulling back my arm with the sword, I growl back at it.
That seemed to have the wrong effect I was hoping for. It charges me and takes a great leap. My feet step aside while I swing my blade for the first time. All that I get is a glancing hit. The wolf doesn't even yelp. It keeps approaching me low and fast. While attempting to make a quick shift, I stumble, and the blade and me fall. My heart beats so hard on the way down that it sounds like a drum. The wolf is already biting at my leg. It bites down hard right to the bone and starts to shake wildly. My fingers find my sword, and I take a wild swing. It cuts right where the left eye is. Then I hear a yelp and a scampering away.
“Shit.”
My eyes refuse to look at my leg. It's bad; I can already tell. So I glance around for the wolf. It's long gone. Nothing moves that I can see with my eyes. All I can hear is the sound of my heart attempting to escape my chest.
“Why me?” I say to the forest.
If I don't start checking my leg, there's going to be a pity party.
My eyes scan it. It's hard to tell with my pants, but it looks bad, and it's bleeding a lot. Can other wolves smell blood?
“Double shit.”
First, I take off my jumpsuit to examine the wound. It's not as horrible as I first thought. My hand grabs some mud and dirt from the area and applies it to the wound. My mind tells me that I've heard that it's helpful in some way. At least the bleeding is no longer flowing. Will there be an infection? Do wolves carry rabies?
Fear rides with death. I ride with courage.
Was losing myself for a second there. All of my worries are still real, but there is nothing I can do about it at the moment.
Let's get up. Wow, that hurts. While hobbling on one leg, it feels like there's a fire set up in my leg. Nothing I can do except get to a doctor in the next town. When the strange kid emerged from the wilderness, he must have come from somewhere. Please let me be almost through it. My jumpsuit is pretty much ruined. The only other thing I have is the smelly man's outfit I had the sword wrapped up in. Time is not my friend right now.
While throwing my jumper away in the woods, I put his clothes on. They are way too short on me. The shirt doesn't go past my belly button. The pants reach just past my shins, but not to my ankles. If anyone saw me now, they would think I was homeless. The cloak looks good on me, though.
Need to start moving before something smells the blood. So I hobble through the forest. It's a very slow process. Nothing else attacks me. (So yeaaaa me…)
Getting to the end of the forest takes me a whole half a day. My nerves are shot as I move through the woods. Something strange was happening in the forest, but I'm not sure if it was spirits or the wind blowing. As I leave the trees, all I see are a few torchlights and the sun sinking on the horizon. Finally, I catch a glimpse of three guards in red cloaks and leather armor huddled around a fire.
"Hey, can any of you help me? A friggin wolf bit me.”
I try to hobble over towards them, but it's a really slow process. My leg is killing me at this point, so I yell at them the same question this time even louder.
The guards finally notice me approaching.
“Lemure!” one of the guards shouts as he turns and flees. One of his buddies follows him. The third pulls out his sword and dashes towards me
“Wait!”
"Wait!”
“I mean you no harm!”
This does not register with the guard. My movement is hampered, and I take a blow across the chest with his blade.
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(Leif Blackstone)
I'm playing poker with a one-armed man in a little log cabin living room. He’s dressed nicely in clothes from my time with a white shirt and blue jeans with a trucker hat. He's also kicking my ass. How long have I been playing? I glance out the window and see it snowing outside. No, it's not just snow. It is a blizzard.
“I'm running out of poker chips.”
The one-armed man simply nods. He reaches down to pet a dog. Oh, he has two arms now. Everything is kind of fuzzy. Looking in the corner, I notice my bird statue. It has regained its full color. It's almost like the giant blue bird with a long body is staring at me. Blinking several times, I ensure it's not alive.
“How long have I been here?”
“A few years.”
“How is this possible?”
“Well, you picked a fight with a soldier while not knowing how to hold a sword. Don’t worry; it's always confusing the first time.”
“Oh, okay.” We play a few more hands.
Must have died. Is this heaven or some form of purgatory I wonder?
“I seem to be taking this really well.”
“Yes, I thought so too.”
“My last chip is finally played, and I lose the game.”
He looks at me with a smile. “Well, that was fun.”
“Yeah, I had fun too.”
The guy gets a solemn face and looks me in the eyes for the first time.
“What I tell you next, Leif, will be hard to hear and even harder to believe.”
“What do you know about curses?” He asks with a solemn look.
“I guess what most people know. Bad things start happening to people and stuff.
“Yes, that is what most curses are like; however, there are other types of curses out there as well.”
“Let me tell you about the so-called Zodiac curses, which are considered the worst and have caused the most grief worldwide. They are among the earliest known curses and are often considered the original ones. We know they have been around just as long as man has, but no one understands how they were even created. It almost always comes with your very own statue as well." He gestures to the statue in the corner to clarify.
“Even though others can be affected by the curses, there can only be one primary target of the Zodiac curses at a time. At first, the curse may appear to be an enormous benefit, but like all other curses, it has a major downside.
To stop him, I raise my hand. "Why are you telling this to me?"
"The reason why I am revealing these things to you is because you are now among the cursed ones."
My first thought is he is lying to me. “So what exactly is my curse?” I decide to humor him.
"You have what's called the Immortal Curse
“Well, how do I do that?” I say with a laugh I do not mean.
"Don't worry about yours; there's a time restriction." What you do with your time is entirely up to you."
“Go live.”
“Have fun.”
“Make mistakes.”
“And when it's said and done, don't have any regrets.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Just a guy who's finally happy.” He says as he stares out the window.”
My patience is about to run out. Surely he doesn’t expect me to believe this load of malarkey. Who would buy this crap?
“So let me get this straight. A guy with a sword just killed me." He gives me a head shake yes.
“I died, and now I can die as many times as I want, and there are no repercussions.” He shakes his head no after the last question.
“There are problems like with any curse. Yours is diff..." The cabin trembles as though it were going through an intense earthquake, interrupting him. Looking out the window, it seems like the sky is getting darker as the snow begins to melt. In the distance, I see a massive mountain with a waterfall tumbling down it. The snow has stopped falling from the sky.
"Listen, we're running out of time." With a hint of urgency, he says. "I have a present for you. He whispers something beyond my comprehension in my ear.
“That is the first language of all languages. All languages derive from it.”
“That little two-second mutter you did in my ear, was it?”
“Yes, that's all it takes. It takes several lifetimes to learn it. Even longer to be able to say it.”
I'm giving him my best bullshit expression.
“It was given to me as a gift as well. It will help you learn any language you come in contact with quickly.” He says while slapping me on the back.
“As soon as you hear a new word, you will know what it means, but you have to hear the word first.” He stresses
“You may not want to do what I'm about to say next, but please listen with an open mind.”
"Like a compass, you will be drawn in a specific direction once you leave here."
“Go towards that direction. Whenever you get to the person that is pulling you to them. There's only one thing you have to do.”
He takes a long pause, and I’m left wondering if he's going to continue.
“You will have to kill them.”
“Bullshit!” I get out immediately. “Why would I have to kill anyone?”
“It's part of your curse.” He says calmly.
The whole room starts shaking again; this time it continues without stopping.
The whole room starts to fade.
He gets out one more thing before we both disappear. “Stay away from Rome.”
Opening my eyes, I see only darkness. Oh man, not again. It's just like last time, when I came out of the statue, except this time my body feels like lead, and I'm unable to move. Panic starts to set in. While doing my best to move my arms and legs, I begin to crawl up as my body begins to finally move. It's my hand that breaks through first. The rest of me is then pulled up.
Holy crap! Somebody buried me.
I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing that someone buried me. It sure did give me a good freak out moment though. My stomach swirls. It aches a lot. I look at myself as I pull myself up the last distance. My brown tunic, which is barely hanging on to me, is torn and sliced all over. You can only see the skin where my left leg of pants is missing. I’m covered in mud and dirt. Whoa, how did things get so terrible. When I look at the area where I was cut on my chest, all I notice is a small, faded scar that runs diagonally from my right nipple to the other side of my stomach. It is scarcely visible when viewed from the right angle. It is faded like I have had the scar for years now.
The stomach cramps hit me again. I’m pretty sure it's hunger pangs. Looking around, I notice a river nearby. My hand scoops up water at first before I notice it is faster just to drink right from the source. After drinking a gallon of water, I still don't know what to do.
“Who was the one-armed man?”
“Was that just a dream I had?”
“Why am I talking to myself out loud?”
I don't feel cursed. Most of it feels like a dream at this point. My mind doesn’t want to believe the one-armed man. Then I look over to where I crawled up from a grave from. That's pretty damning evidence. Do I really have to kill someone?
The hunger pang returns.
My stomach is urging me to give it food.
Well, there's a path going down the river or going up the river.
My gaze is fixed on the east side of the river. Over that way, it's only brush and trees. That's the direction my mind is telling me to go. Then it returns to me. My body and mind are directing me in that direction, much like a compass.
That he wasn't lying about, I suppose. Right now, I need food, so I won't worry about that at the moment. Thus, I begin my journey down the river. Where am I, I wonder? Didn’t he say something about Rome at the end there?. Perhaps he was referring to the Vatican. My mind is getting a headache from information overload.
Well, I still need to get to the phone and call my brother. He isn't going to believe my story. He probably thinks I died at the institute. If what that person said is correct, it's been a few years. Margy must have grown a lot. Children grow up so quickly. While walking, I think about the curse he was talking about. I'm curious what the bad portion of my curse is. He should've given me more information.
He may still have been lying to me. My family would have known about curses, I think, but would they have told me is the question? If I can't trust what he said, then I can't trust the curse thing either, but I was buried in a grave. All my questions just keep spiraling back and forth.
Well, we have a real mystery here. Nobody ever said I was the smartest member of the family; instead, I'm usually the one that's impulsive and quick to do stupid things. Still, I need to find people with phones and food. I'm starving.
