Kel Sieker turned about his mat, sweat beads across his body, and his thick nightwear drenched in his sweat. The horror he had gotten a glimpse of before going to sleep had trapped him in his dreams. He saw monsters, carnage, bloodbath, and raw unfettered horror. It was like he watched with the eyes of another. Dreams had a way of making the greatly unfamiliar and alien familiar, yet, Kel could tell even within the dreamsscape that these were not from his mind, and that these were not his eyes.
As soon as he realized it, a dry guttural voice called out in a tongue that he did not understand, and he stood, turning his head here and there in fear and confusion. He took a look at himself, he had on his hunter's outfit and gear, his hands tightly gripping his bow. He looked to the sky, watching the flying monsters fight each other. He was tempted to interfere, but once the thought came to his mind, and as he raised his bow to nock an arrow, the scenery changed.
His vision was hazy, and he staggered like an inebriated man that had no sense of gravity or wherever he was going. A thin mist hung below, just slightly below his knees, whether it was the mind playing tricks on him or the environment' effect, he could not tell nor did he care, all he had he mind, and all that drove him was to kill.
'Kill, kill, kill' the voice rang his mind, his voice and another that echoed against his, and he was reduced to nothing but a mindless bloodthirsty creature.
He looked around, and though his mind was not the same, he could tell, this was his home, his warmth hut that housed those he loved the most.
His hunting dagger was in his right hand and he crept forward with an unsteady gait, opening the door to his parents room.
His parents were still fast asleep, defenseless and unaware of the monster that was about to be unleashed. He lurched awkwardly like a puppet pulled forward by taut string, stumbling over the two, and yet they did not wake, they did not react. They were like drugged sheep led to slaughter.
A wide smile was on his face as he dove the dagger into his parents, stabbing and stabbing repeatedly and frantically until he grew exhausted. His night outfit stained with large splotches of blood. He stood and gazed at their lifeless bodies, his smile gone and only a stoic countenance in place. He was on to the next person, his dearest.
She laid peacefully, heaving like a little child, she was cute and pristine, and the last thing he would ever hurt, but here, in the dreamscape, something else compelled him. He threw aside the dagger unintending on making her death as ugly as his parents, bringing his bloodied hands close to her neck. His brows were furrowed, evil worn boldly on his face, and in that moment he looked like something that was not human.
He opened his eyes, coming awake. Just as it was in his dream, his wife laid fast asleep, however his hands nor his nightwear were bloodied, but he was atop her, hands close to her neck, intending on snuffing the life out of her. Immediately he realized this, he fell on his buttocks in fear, and crawled backwards.
He was drenched in his sweat despite the cold and he was running a fever. He knew he was not sick and that something was at play, something he could not yet perceive.
All this commotion had not stirred a reaction from his wife, she had merely turned when he hit the wall.
'Still sound asleep huh.' He thought with a smile.
He understood that he had been dreaming all along but he had to be certain, he hadn't murdered his parents, had he?
He opened the door to his parents room and could see that their chests still rose as they slept, they were still alive. He closed the door feeling relieved and sprawled on the wooden ground.
"What had that been about?" He said with a haggard breath, terribly afraid and confused.
It was a full moon night and though the land was fairly illuminated by the moon's glow, it should not have been enough to see almost perfectly in the dark of His house, not to mention seeing details such as his parents' expanding nostrils and raising chests.
He burried his head between his legs and sobbed.
"What is this?" he whispered with tears.
Now, Kel was a superstitious man just as the rest of the village, though he was aware of the existence of evil spirits, the only phenomenon that he could attribute to himself currently was that he was cursed.
"I must be cursed, that's the only explanation!" Immediately he uttered the words, images of his misty hut and bloodied dead parents flashed in his mind.
He jolted up, and immediately he ran to the door outside, stepping out. He continued running, it did not matter that it snowed or that his feet burned over the intense cold, he continued, running through the village until a voice called out to him, a friendly aged one,
"Kel, is that you?" The geezer uttered, gazing at the distant figure beyond his hut, he stood by his balcony staring cautiously.
"That is you right." He continued and stepped on the snow.
"What are you doing out underdressed, you don't even have shoes boy! Do you want to freeze to death? You barely stayed at the feast too. Is it marriage problems? I am open to talking about them, I can't sleep, and rolling about makes my body sore…" He continued on and on, yammering about needless bogus, and Kel simply stood stupefied. It was like he had been pulled out of a trance although he had been quite aware of what he was doing.
"Old man Ban." He whispered.
"Old man Ban!" He cried out this time. It had all happened in an instant, too fast and too sudden. A monstrous maw closed in on Ban's head with a loud snap, so loud that Kel glanced about, shocked that nobody had opened to their doors.
The old man's head was gone, and his body fell limp to the ground, his warm blood staining the pristine white of snow. Kel, for the first time had a look at what had tormented him so, but it had been so fast, a microsecond, and it had disappeared with Kel frozen by what had just occurred.
"Old man Ban." He mumbled, his lips trembling at the sight. So much blood jetted from Ban's split neck, so much poured that he doubted that a human could produced so much blood, but he should know this, he was a hunter, and killing animals was his expertise.
Blood streamed continuously, forming a flat red lake over the snow. Kel's mind had just fully absorbed what had just happened and he recoiled in fear, screaming, and then storming into the dark forest.