A Darkness at Kamicircle

 

Again, the old Homin, who called himself Ciosso and who, under such strange circumstances, had arrived at this little tavern in Avalae, picked up his mug. He took a large sip and let the warming fluid flow down his throat. This was followed by a guttural clearing of his throat. All normal chatter stopped as all eyes swivelled towards him. There was an eerie silence, which was only broken by the thunder of the heavy storm outside. The old man kept his listeners on the edge of their seats. He looked at his mug thoughtfully, as if he was crawling through the darkest parts of his memory. Another thunderclap roared outside as if in encouragement for him to continue the story. Only then did Ciosso raise his head, take a level look at the listeners and began to speak.

“It happened about a year ago. On a bad night a lot like this one. I was wandering through the area in the Fleeting Garden known as Kamicircle, when I got caught in a storm. In a second I was soaked through to my bones and the wind blew that strong, I could barely keep standing on my feet. But what was I supposed to do other than to try and keep going? It would have been impossible to put up my little tent in this weather. There was no prospect of any other kind of shelter to be had. So I forced myself through the heavy rain.

At some point in that interminable journey, I thought I'd glimpsed the silhouette of a Homin outlined by the lightening. I wasn't sure, because every time I raised my eyes from the ground I was instantly blinded by the wind and rain. But I was right. As I got closer I could indeed see the shape of a Homin dressed in dark armour lying on the ground. As fast as my feet would go through the storm I ran to him, to see if I could help somehow. Certainly, no one would lie down in such weather voluntarily. When I reached him I saw he was writhing with pain, which seemed to be a result of the deep wound on his upper body. Violently he shook his head from one side to the other, in his agony totally oblivious to my presence. I grabbed him and tried to hold him still so that I could take a look at the wound and hopefully patch it up, but I was unable to do so as he struggled in the wet grass.

 Finally, I managed to take hold of his head and forced him to look at me. "Calm down!" I shouted through the storm. "I will help you. But you have to calm down! Everything is going to be ok!"

I wasn't able to tell if he could understand me, but it seemed that he became slightly calmer. I will never forget the look in his eyes he had at that moment. An expression of pure insanity that clouded his vision and his judgement. I treated his wounds as well as I could, but I was not able to do very much in the turmoil of the storm. I had no option than to attempt to get him to a place of safety. I couldn't let him lie there, that was for sure. I carried, or rather dragged him as best as I could through the rain, always trying to protect his wound. It seemed like an eternity, when finally I had a stroke of luck in my misfortune.
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