As he looks down towards his abdomen, the cloaked figure in front of him vanishes into a black smoke, leaving behind the elegant silver dagger now protruding from his stomach. The pain hits him as he struggles to make his way to the entrance and safety of the village walls. His vision slowly fades as he gets 20 feet away from the gates of Banewood. Duldrum collapses to the ground as the village guards take notice.
“Sir are you ok?” one asks. “Move out of the way quickly!” the other exclaims moving his way forcefully towards Duldrum. The guard makes it to him noticing that he is clutching at his stomach, he takes off the waist length brown coat on Duldrum’s person and notices the silver dagger, the blood seeping from the wound as the dagger curiously fades away into nothingness. Blood is now pouring more viciously.
The guard, baffled by what he saw, quickly springs into action. “Get a doctor now!” He shouts back as he places pressure on the wound to try and stem the flow of blood. “Stay with me you son of a bitch” he shouts towards Duldrum as he helplessly tries to bandage up the puncture. From the town gates the guard arrives back hastily towing behind him a cart. Another man dressed in all white robes looks in a similar hasted motion. As Duldrums vision slowly begins to fade, in his last waking moments he watches as the white robed man hunches over him, his greying beard dropes low almost signalling the mans emotion of sadness to what he bares witness to before him. In this final moment, Duldrum passes out.
To what feels like a blink of an eye he awakens to an eerie smell of magics and sulfur. The sound of screams the likes he has never heard any mortal man or woman create. He gets up from the cold unwelcoming floor. Looking around he noticed that oddly there is emptiness, only the strange purple grassy plains. He continues to look until he notices in the distance a silhouette of a tall figure, dancing majestically in the distance.
Duldrum walks toward this figure which grows in size as he approaches, closer and closer to the point he recognises the figure. A tall proudly standing tree, its bark a beautiful enchanting blue, the leaf of the tree a vibrant glistening gold. A scream fills the air once more, the tree sways in a peculiar motion. Almost as if the wind had rushed violently past. But there was no wind to be felt.
Duldrum sat at the base of the tree and started to think to himself. Where was he, what is he doing here, what even is this place? He thought about the tree and its elegance. These leaves, what are they truly made of, it can’t be gold surely not. He thought about taking one to inspect and as he thought a voice filled his mind, a soft feminine voice calming and yet so foreign.
“My child, you do not belong here, it is not your time.” A million questions filled his mind once more. “What is this place” he called out, “who are you? Where are you?” He continued as he looked around. No one was to be seen as the same voice crept back into his mind. “A prison for those who are not worthy of eternal bliss” a panic set in “Am i doomed to this?” He replied back. Silence. No reply would return to his question.
Fear and dread washed over him as he collapsed to the floor, as he fell to his knees he noticed the purple grass give way to a bright red stoned floor. A wave of intense heat rushed past, almost scolding his face.
He looked up to where the tree stood, it was no longer there. In its place sat a large and empty throne adorned with all manner of peculiar skulls. Some skulls still bear the flesh of those they previously belong to. The smells of dark magic, sulphur and burning flesh filled the air. Becoming more and more intense with each passing second. Multiple screams could be heard, some of pain, others of anguish and horror. Some of a anger so pure it filled Duldrum with fear. A fear so intense that he did not notice the grasp on his shoulder. He felt himself being thrown forcefully backwards as his vision began to tunnel onto the throne until a darkness surrounded him.
He opened and closed his eyes but it was as if his eyes were bound shut. Alone in this new found darkness he was left to his own thoughts. As each thought came to him they seemed to echo all around. He tried to recall what had happened to him before coming to, to this nightmare? A dream perhaps? He remembered the sharp pain in his abdomen before he awoke to this place. As he continued to recount his memories, the pain in his abdomen returned. Looking down he saw that same silver dagger in all its elegance. This time however he was able to recall the intricacies of the design upon the weapon.
The hilt held a crest of a house that he could not recognise. A new house tends to not last long, and those that do last are usually up there with the greats. So the fact this unknown house was able to get such an elegantly crafted dagger was curious. Then the design of the crest sent an intense shiver down his spin. It was of a tree, the bark encrusted in a deep set of emeralds shimmering in a dazzling blue shine, the leaves a beautiful bright gold. This must be a trick of the mind. He tried to focus on the design but his vision started to blur into an intensely bright white light. When his vision returned he awoke to the feeling of a soft welcoming bed, propped upright by two comforting pillows.
Duldrum looks to his left, noticing his brown coat hanging loose on the backrest of the chair next to him. The room was small and empty. Only lit by the two lanterns that resided on the table towards the end of the bed. He noticed upon the table was a large metallic bowl, some surgical supplies, syringes and a clipboard with some documents on it. To his left he sees a desk side table with a simple mirror and a blade used for styling a beard. He looked into the mirror, his dark brown hair drooping freely just above his eyes which glistened a calming ocean blue from the flickering light coming from the lanterns in the room.
His beard trimmed to a small stubble around his rounded jaw, he slowly gets out of bed clutching the area of his stomach where he last recalled the incident occurring. The pain not as strong as when it first happened. The puncture area no longer visible on his plain white. Duldrum makes his way towards his coat and casually puts it on. He places his hands in his pockets and takes inventory of what he has, a pouch of coins in his left pocket and a pocket watch in the right, he opens the watch and admires the picture placed in the door. A beautiful woman with long raven black hair her eyes a sweet chocolate brown, with soft pillowy lips that looked welcoming and gentle. The very elegance and beauty of the picture made Duldrums heart heart race. He adjusted his brown coat to a comfortable position and made his way towards the clipboard at the end of the bed. Picking it up off of the table, he inspects the documents that resided upon the board he looks it over noticing the description of the surgery performed on the patient.
Patient suffered a singular puncture wound to the abdomen. Multiple stitches required to seal up the flow of blood. The document also contained a statement from the persons who found the patient. Patient was found just outside the gates, unresponsive with a singular visible wound, no other person or animal was seen in the nearby area.
He also noted that there was descriptions of the patient which ultimately he knew was him. There was a section for age and weight, the age had an error crossed out from being 33 scored out with 30 put back in its place. The weight read at 190lbs. Duldrum stroked his chin “I haven’t put on that much weight have I?” He said to himself. He placed the clipboard back where he found it, he made his way to the door, placing his hand on the round handle made of a sturdy brass.
He slowly opened the door. A bright sunlight lit the narrow corridor. He made his way down towards the reception area. A small room devoid of any natural light, some chairs left empty except for one. A similar woman to that akin to the portrait within Duldrums pocket watch. Her beauty radiates the room, warming his heart as she rushes towards him.