"Nonsense!" August spouted absentmindedly, "The banished prince? the saviour?" he continued as he revised the whole piece of fiction mentally that was being sold as a legitimate part of history, "what a load of crap!"
"Language!" A familiar voice came from behind, scratching the back of his head knowing well whom that voice belonged to.
'Crap! I forgot to keep my voice down'
August turned his head and saw his mother standing behind him. Well, he wasn't surprised to see her but what got him really was, another roll of bandages she held in her hand. He closed his eyes accepting his fate. And then his gaze fell upon the food she had put down on the table in between.
"What are you so pissed about?" his mother asked while pouring water into the cup.
"This book right here mom" he replied rolling his eyes, "Have you heard about that banished prince who miraculously saved a city, alone." clicking his tongue he continued, "No, not alone he had a pet dragon with him. It says a part of history but, I bet this isn't even real."
"What? You don't believe it?" His mother replied, smiling with confidence, "Well it is a pity for all the people of Frostvale but I've definitely heard about the banished prince and all of his kind deeds." she let out a soft chuckle holding the book in her hands, "He was kind of a youth icon for all of us back in our days you know" She added matter of factly, "Yes, the dragons exist. And yes I've seen one, a lot of them actually."
"Really now" August stared at her in disbelief, lingered for some time to process this new information and made a decision mentally, "Sorry, I can't believe it until I see one myself mom. Thanks for the history lecture by the way." making his tone sound sarcastic, "People of your time sure were something else ha."
"That's enough you cheeky boy" his mother replied pulling his ear slightly, "I don't want you to remind me of my age you know," She added letting go of his ear, "Now, finish your meal already."
"Oww! Okay, Okay" He replied screaming dramatically, "I was just joking mom."
After that his mother left the room and August began to eat his meal in peace.
Far beyond the horizon, the clouds were gathering making the atmosphere look dark. The Sun was about to set, its crimson-yellow rays disappearing behind the dark clouds. August looked at the sight before sitting on his balcony, sighed and took a bite.
'Here comes the rain, again'
— — —
"What? –where am i?"
The world around him seemed consumed in utter darkness. Before his eyes all he could see was dark. He wasn't able to feel his limbs, not even the rest of his body. August became aware that it was a dream. It had to be. His brain started thinking, overthinking subconsciously.
He immediately recalled the harrowing depths of the nightmare he had last time. He forgot about the dream after waking up, but now he remembered every detail of that nightmare. The terrifying sight of flames consuming everything around him. The painful screaming of the people still resounded in his ears.
Thinking about that now surely made August tremble a bit. The brain happens to be most sensitive to emotions in our sleep after all. He felt everything again. August felt a tear running down his cheek.
'Why? Why is this happening to me?'
He thought aloud, unable to speak. He felt a strange type of suffocation that time. A type of not being able to do anything. A type of helplessness.
While he did feel this strange sense of unease, his mind however came back to peace after not so long. The feeling of helplessness was being replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling. He no longer felt alone, he was at peace, he felt at home.
Opening his eyes he saw a white ray of light calling him. August followed behind. It was like following a ray of hope, purity, life and …salvation. Then suddenly he came back to his senses with a loud roar of thunder raging outside. His heart was beating fast but his mind still was at peace.
August stood up from the bed rubbing his eyes in the middle of the night. Then he pulled the curtains open from the glass windows of his room which was situated at the second floor of their two floored wooden mansion. He sat at a chair beside the window taking in the fresh breeze, wind gently caressing his raven black hair.
Sitting there he felt a familiar feeling like being exposed to countless voices. August knew well what that feeling was. The next session of echoes assaulting them was nearing already after a week. On top of that his father was returning from the capital tomorrow.
'It won't be easy sneaking past mom's eyes tomorrow'
But he knew he had to do that. The last thing he ever wanted was his mother to see him in a state like that. Suddenly a flash of lightning moved past his eyes followed by a loud thunderclap. August's brows furrowed into a frown and suddenly his eyes shone in excitement, the corners of his lips curled upwards into a smile. Then he stretched back and leaned on his wooden chair and whispered soundly,
"I got it"
— — —
The next day, August woke up early in the morning. His mother had him run some errands so he didn't have to come up with an excuse to leave home today. He knew that his mental resilience to resist the effects of echoes was running low. That he was slowly moving towards the stage of insanity. But he just couldn't bring himself to tell his parents the truth. He didn't have the guts to do that.
August took a long breath calming his chain of worrisome thoughts and looked at the sight before him. He found himself standing at the centre of the wooden storehouse in the backyard of the house. It was where his father kept all the momentarily necessary things.
Most of them contained weapons. Rusty at that. The left wooden wall of the store house was adorned with some shields, one or two daggers and some of the other melee weapons. He had those prepared for the time of need. Because of the possibility of large hordes of beasts attacking the town, it was natural for him to prepare spare weapons of all kinds.
There were some dusty portraits on the wall too but right now he couldn't care less about the art. August was experiencing some sudden trembling and pain from the morning. As for the voices, those were something that never stopped ringing in his ears. He found a way to trick his mind in ignoring them for most of the time. But when the session of him being completely exposed to the will of the elements comes near the voices would grow difficult to ignore.
That was something he was trying his best to endure till the morning. Everytime he encountered his mother, he tried his best to look and act normal.
"This looks good" he picked up a sword from a pile of them which definitely didn't seem in the best condition. But that was something he also has to endure for just today. Because he had asked his father for a new sword of his fitting already.
With a somewhat complicated expression, August gazed at the sword. It was a long, slender, single edged blade with a simple black handle. The damn thing didn't even have a guard either. He placed the blade back into the sheathe and walked out of the store room.
August, on his way passed from the market where vendors who were mostly farmers, were selling their produce. He crossed the street in a hurry as he was starting to experience the effects of echoes directly on his mind now. Enduring the strain from the previous night hadn't done any good for August it seemed.
He passed through many wagons and carriages drawn with lesser domestic beasts. Which obviously stated the fact that despite having to live near a forest populated with deadly monsters and beasts people were still somewhat dependent on their kind. Also it wasn't like only humans were using them as they wished all for their selfish purpose. Domestic beasts like Lumoras were nothing but mere dead meat for more powerful beasts to feed upon. Not only that, the more one beast consumes another one the more it would grow powerful. That was the unsaid rule of the wild.
So domesticating the lesser beasts was a win-win for both humans and the beasts.
Hurrying his steps August exited the boundary of the town and entered into the thick and dense veil of the green forest.
— — —
August sat on the green grass near the pond with crystal clear water. He cupped some of the water from it and splashed on his face. Then placing both of his hands on the ground for support he stared at his reflection in the water for sometime. The weather was cloudy but somewhat calm. Gentle winds were blowing from the north. The ground was humid from the fresh downpour.
Unlike the calm outside, his mind was completely at disarray. August was struggling continuously, fighting the voices in his head, trying to find himself in the twisted web of this strangely convincing noise. While the echoes were called to be as undecipherable, the feeling of their will was mostly understandable to August. He could feel himself in the middle of an auction being sold as a slave against his will.
He always felt that way. Like lying on the ground with many scavengers trying to feed upon his soft delicate flesh.
With his limbs trembling and blood vessels twitching inside, he fell on the ground desperately, gasping for more air. He grabbed the cloth tighter at the left side of his chest trying to calm down his abnormally fast beating heart.
The blood pressure was threatening to burst open his vessels. The strain on his mind was enough for his eyeballs to come out. His normally dark eyes with a hint of red were painted crimson as blood came out of them drop by drop. He lied there for a while holding tight to his under strain head.
Like always he tried to fight off the negative thoughts that came with echoes. The doubts on his mind, the doubts from deep within his soul. But he knew that he had to fight, if he wanted to keep living a peaceful life along with his loved ones that is.
'I can endure this'
After a deep mental struggle of about an hour or so, the strangely convincing voices inside his mind slowly came to a halt. He got up and quickly put himself together. Drank the clean, cold water from the pond and got ready to head back to home. He couldn't possibly make his mom worry now, would he?
The sun was peeking from behind the veil of clouds towering high, up in the sky. It was afternoon already and August had some errands to take care of.
August was thinking about the stuff he had to take back home when suddenly a loud growl escaped from his stomach. Only then did he come to realise that it was also about time for lunch. Also if his memory served right his father was also coming home today.
'Maybe he's already back'
August in that moment, forgot all about the torture he endured just a while ago as his thoughts were overwhelmed by the excitement and joy of meeting his father almost after a week. And also there was the sword too. He was especially excited to see his new sword. With that he stretched, washed the blood from his face and walked towards the town humming a gentle tune.
'Man! I am so tired'
— — — — —