"Your family is safe." Jihern looked me in the eyes and my heart knew he was telling the truth. I needed to believe him. He took another look at the campsite as if admiring his work. I too, took a look around, but when I looked back to where he had stood, he was gone; soaring into the sunset.
"That bird!" I thought. I looked down at my hand and noticed it was completely healed. I sat by the fire and stared into the hot yellow and red flames. This was my second night here and still no sign of the Iblis. I had so many questions like "Where was the Iblis? Will they come to me or do I need to seek them? How do I defeat them?" Jihern said my passion will defeat their power, but...I don't know what that was supposed to mean.
The sun finally set and I grew very fatigued. I could hear voices off in the distance mumbling. It sounded like someone was singing a lullaby. I crawled into my fort and quickly fell asleep when I was awakened by a whisper in my ear. I sat up and looked around. I could have sworn someone was in there with me but there was no one to be seen. I laid my heavy body back down but found it hard to fall back asleep so I rested soundly with my eyes open. Just when I thought the noises were in my head, I heard footsteps walking slowly around my fort. And when the footsteps got closer to the entrance of the fort, they stopped, and then quickly ran by. I gasped for a breath and sat up once again.
"Who is out there?" I screamed. But I didn't hear a word. I could just feel the presence of someone or something all around me. I glanced out of my fort entrance and saw my campfire still burning strong when suddenly it blew out like a match. I jumped back, stumbling, and hustling clumsily to the back of my fort in search of safety. The fort began to shake and the footsteps rapidly ran laps around and around. They were whispering and laughing at their own obnoxious behavior. The whispers grew louder and I could faintly make out what was being said.
"Duck…duck....duck...goose!"
"Duck...duck…duck…goose! He he he he!"
"We found you! We found you! Won’t you let us in? What kind of manners do you have? We found you! We are coming in!"
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"I want to get her!" one said excitedly.
"No! You always get to have all the fun!"
"Calm down my friends! I will decide who will be the one to go in. Goose gets set loose. Duck...duck...duck..."
"Nooo!" I screamed. I ran from the fort into the darkness and through the thick wood. I could hear the laughter all around me. I could hear their song-like chants in the breeze. "Goose gets set loose!" But I did not stop running. "Jihern! Help me! Please, please help me!" I cried but the voices just mimicked my pled. "Jihern! Jihern! Help me! He he he he!" The voices came to a stop and I couldn't run any longer. I leaned over to rest my hands on my knees to take a long, deep, tired gasp of breath when I heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Lisa!" I turned around to see my little brother, Sean.
"Oh my God, Sean!" I ran to my little brother and dropped to my knees in disbelief.
"Sean! Are you okay?"
"Yes, Lisa, but tell me, why are you here?"
"Why am I here? What? What do you mean? I am here to...I don't really know. I guess I am here to fight some kind of demon, or Iblis, or something but I am really here for you; you, Drake, and Mom. Oh Sean! Did they hurt you? Sean? Where is Drake? Where is Mom?”
The small boy glared at Lisa and a sly half-grin formed on his face. I leaned back, confused of why he was staring at me in such a way, but in the back of my head, I knew why.
"Ha ha, you are the chosen medallion? The boy’s eyes began to change from a dark brown to a fire engine red. "Your family will never come back to you. You are worthless! You cannot defeat us. You are too pathetic! I'd kill you now if it weren’t so easy. Think I want to have a little fun first. Hmm...Yes! That is it! I’ll murder the entire race of Celtora. The last they will see is their precious medallion watch them die and do absolutely nothing about it." And at that, the demon disappeared.
I cried hysterically. I had no thoughts, just emotions flowing throughout my body. I put my hands over my face, closed my eyes and wished - wished for my life to go back to how it was. Realizing how much I should have appreciated things when I had them.