Heart Carved of Stone

Chapter 1: Abraham and Isaac

The freezing winter air cut through the cracked wooden walls of the cabin as voices roared outside. Their sounds were almost drowned out by the wailing of the wind, as though it didn't want him to hear the angry people. He knew what was going to happen without having to hear the voices. It was another year of death and failed crops, and every person in this damned village saw it as a sign that the gods were displeased. They believed that it had something to do with the beast in the marshes.

Caidence didn't have to see to know that the preacher was grasping at straws. Hell, he couldn't see and he knew. It was only time before they did something drastic. The wailing winds finally breaking off for a moment, let the muffled voices filter through the near rotting wood of the cabin walls.

"Perhaps... we know what we've offered hasn't been enough. We need to offer something more."

"The Blasphemer! Send him to the beast, perhaps a living being will finally sate the creature. He's useless to the village anyway!"

A long silence had weighed over the people outside. He could tell that they were thinking it over, they wouldn't back down until the beast had finally given them rest. A large lump had formed in his throat as the words processed in his mind. He couldn't even leave the home to object if he wanted to.

His only friend, Aster had let him stay in his home but would lock the doors when he left for town to keep the blind man safe from the villagers. It wouldn't have been the first time the neighbors had crossed into their home to beat the blind man. There was no possible way he would be able to find the spare key to open the door either.

He sat there on the cot waiting for some form of confirmation from the group, that he would really be the sacrifice they wished for. From the shift of silence to soft whispering, it seemed the groups had decided. The final nail in his coffin.

Fast and heavy footsteps barreled towards the cabin doors and it shook under the influence of the persons hands. The faint sound of keys jingling on the other side made some of the tension leave his shoulders. It was only Aster, thank the gods.

"Mother of the gods! Caidense, we... were fucked!" His heavy breathed filled the room as the door slammed behind him. Even though Caidense couldn't see him, he could feel the panic in the man he grew so fond of over the years. His only friend. If.... If the sacrifice worked, it would keep his friend and the other villagers safe. Right?

"They- They are gonna take you to that beast! Dammit Caidense, do you know what the bastard does to it's victim!?" Aster pased through the room all the while mumbling to himself. How could he not know what the beast did? It's all the village talked about when someone would go missing. The few who were able to get away from the decrypted temple the beast resided in, had told tales of people frozen in stone. Almost as if the people themselves had been a sculpture carved from the granite.

He shivered at the thought of that happening to him. But if the beast truly was the root of their problem, the reason the gods have abandoned them, then wouldn't appeasing it help? He knew that no matter what his friend said or how he begged, the villagers wouldn't relent. He was going to be a pretty little present whether he liked it or not.

He wouldn't look at it that way though. Through his life he had learned to look at the better thing in life, otherwise you'll fall into your own sorrows. So he was gonna think of it as a way of giving back to his friend. Aster had done so much for him, he had protected him and given him a home. Aster was his only family.

So he put on a smile, even if he was scared he wouldn't let Aster see it. Right now he had to be strong for him. Even while he felt Aster's stare bore into him, he tried to put up a comforting smile.

"Aster, please try and breath. It's gonna be alright."

"Alright!? Cai, they are sending you out there to die! How is that supposed to turn out ok?" Two strong arms wrapped around his body and the warm wetness of tears bore into his shoulder. He knew this was going to be hard for Aster, of course it would be.

Caidence pulled Aster into his small body and ran his hands through his hair. He wasn't sure how to comfort him. So he just held him until the frightening loud bangs on the door forced them to part from each other. And who other to greet them than the priest himself.

Caidense was led from the cabin and prepared for the beast, the sisters pampering him and dressing him all the while praising him on being their savior. They would coo over him and tell him that they would try and make him look his best for the event, placing a soft flower wreath over his auburn locks and wrapped his body in soft silks as though he were a maiden being presented to the possible courters.

He might have felt awed by such an action if the reality of it all hadn't been towering over his mind the entire time. He was being pampered because he was a gift to the creature in the marshes. He was being presented to death in silks and flowers, how ironic that he couldn't even see the things they said made him look cherubic.

A soft cloth was wrapped around his hazy cauliflower blue eyes and a basket of fruits and wines was pushed into his hands as they made their way out of the village. His bare arms stung in the winter cold and a bright pink crested his cheeks from the breeze that wafted through the dry air.

At this time of year the water was freezing and the grass frosted over, but that didn't stop the villagers. They approached an old temple, the very temple that the people had once prayed at over a decade ago, now overrun by foliage and the creature that lived within. A naga if he remembered correctly. No one knew for sure, but many had come to this conclusion based off the statues that once breathed.

The preacher pressed into his shoulder, forcing him to sit on his knees on the freezing ground, and pushed the basket closer into his person. His arms wrapped around in to hold it close to his chest, trying to seek some sort of warmth in the freezing wind. This breeze was different though. It wasn't the same dry wind that came with winter, this cold breeze felt as if it was humid and once been warm. Almost like the air that you would feel coming from a cellar door.

He must be directly in front of the temple entrance. He wanted to reach out, to feel the granite under his fingers to be sure, but he didn't dare move. He was a lamb sitting in front of a wolf's cave.

He could hear the others behind him shuffle and then leave him there in a hurry. Cowards, they can't even face their own fate. They couldn't even fathom being at fault for their own miserable lives, that is why he was there and not them. He had to be Isaac while they were Abraham.

He sat there on the freezing ground waiting for.... Something. He just knew that he was supposed to wait. He held the basket closer to himself if that was possible and his breathing hitched. He was terrified, sure. Now that he was alone he could show it. Here there was no one to see. He didn't have to stay strong for his friend and he didn't have to hide his emotions from the priests.

As he sat there in the cold, breathing becoming rapid, two glowing amber orbs shown in the darkness of the entrance. Those orbs bore into the young man as he sat there shaking in the cold. They took in his every move before a shifting sound resounded in the hall before the young man.