Shaun, after leaving the home and wandering past Fordwich, he had set on his way to home...the home he had lived in for 17 years, it was weighing heavily on his mind about how he hadn't been there in awhile, how his grandfather after tracking them down hadn't been in it either.
The place had probably grown dusty, and the animals could've died or escaped but he didnt care, he spent enough time cleaning up after them he had no love. He walked down the long road heading towards town, the cold was nippy and it bit at his lips and cheeks as he persistently pushed through it, the sun had finally gotten to the edge of the horizon and it was just turning red.
As he continued, he breathed heavily into his hands, rubbing them and clasping them tightly together, he was nervous, and frankly, scared he was even doing this, but his family needed him, and more so his brother than anyone else.
And then he sees' it in the distance, the small two floored hut, it didnt look much different from the outside, but as he got closer he could smell the rotting of flesh and bone, covering his nose and approaching to the buzzing of flies that flew in swarms around the pens. He was expecting to find the animals, but instead, it was much worse.
A slew of slashed and half eaten bodies were strung inside it, old women, police officers and...
"Oh god"
He turns his head away from the massacre and spews up immediately, the puke rubbed into the mud by his shoes, quickly coughing and moving away, heading inside, but the smell was only worse here. He holds his shirt as a mask and wanders inside with no idea what could possibly be in here.
Then he sees' her.
Grandma Pat, her face was horribly decayed and her body was tied up into her rocking chair, a moldy cup of tea on the table in front of her, as if he'd been having conversations with her, even in her death.
"Just...just dont l-look..."
He hurried upstairs where he thought anything there they didnt grab could still be used, stuffing the pink backpack with essentials from both rooms, like underwear, socks, the plushie black cat Shaun had as a baby...he guessed it was his mother that gave him it, though he thought she abandoned him, he still held an unimaginable standard about who or what she was like, and how bad it must've been to give up her only sons.
After he had finished, a small memory crosses his mind, the main mission banging in his head while he remembers where his grandpa got the gun from the night they escaped, zipping up the bag that was only half full and dragging it along his back again.
Squuuueak.
His snaps in the direction of the stairs, where he had heard a noise downstairs, slowly going to investigate with a cautious grip on his elbow, slowly tapping on the tip of it with a gritty expression.
He had reached the ground floor and saw his grandma's corpse rocking in the chair stiffly, she wasn't alive, but the dead stare in her eyes made Shaun feel like she was still judging him, it wasn't till the incident that he knew the real reason why.
All that resentment over a dead bloodline.
"You are pathetic!" he said under her glare.
The body just stared back, unyielding in its stiff expression of blankness.
"Rest in pieces you dead bitch" he mutters, heading towards the cellar and opening it with a long and eerie creak.
He carefully stepped down the wooden steps, the cellar was damp and moulding over, and old and new cobwebs strung in the lowly ceiling, surprisingly the cellar was bigger than the hut itself, how he managed to keep this from them was baffling to Shaun, though the pain of getting hit was enough to not make them go looking.
"And once again, the old man was a fucking hypocrite" he walked around the rubble in the slightly muddled space, he noticed all the Reign paraphernalia hung up on the walls, organised recently and all the dust that would've been there, was polished off, the crossbow on the shelf was clean and sleek, it looked like it had been varnished and tightly wound with a large and piercing bolt in the hilt of it.
Shaun was instantly intrigued by it, picking it up and feeling it in his arms, feeling the make and shape off it, he had never held a crossbow before, it was heavier than he expected and when experimenting with it, he accidently fires it and a bolt shoots straight through the floor, hearing smashes from above as he snickered to himself.
"Coooool~"
Then he places it near the door, spotting some bolts in a small bag next to it, full to the brim with them, and spotting a book that actually looked interesting to him, picks it up and decided to read it based on its interesting title and cover.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍.
𝙰 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝙼𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚜.
𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚜. 𝙱. 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎.
He turns the enticing cover over and begins reading, this must be what Kyle feels like with that stupid book of his he though.
There were many depictions of different creatures. A slimed like creature that moved around like a snake, a hybrid between a vampire and a werewolf, which wasn't a pretty sight at all, he even skimmed on the werewolf page that had popped up in his skimming. It had been heavily written on, circles on certain words and manic scrawl he couldn't read.
Eventually he passes on a page with the picture of a hooded woman, red hair pulsing from under it, He reaches up and grazes his own, feeling a similarity to her as he read the title.
𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜.𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗, "𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚗𝚎", 𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚍, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚊 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑'𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌, 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐.
"Haha, guess witches aren't all powerful, are they?"
He closes the book and shoved it deep into his bag, shoving another by the same author, titled:
𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗.𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚜. 𝙱. 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎.
After he had secured all the items that looked deadly enough to him, he turns around and begins off towards the stairs, happily strapping the pink rucksack, grabbing the impressive crossbow he had gotten and heads up the stairs, but before he could leave, he felt like someone was watching him and swiftly turned around, he saw two eyes in the dark, but they didnt look strange, in fact, he recognised them.
"Kyle?"
He walked loser, and there was no body there, just a pair of floating eyes. To his surprise, he could see a pair of lips slowly forming, they were slightly fuzzy in sight as he could see them speaking but there was no voice.
The best he could do, was read the lips.
"Dont turn back...Shaun...dont"
"What?"
"Please...for mum..."
Shaun begins to back away from it slowly, spooked by the encounter, until a pair of heavy and rapid footsteps stomp down the cellar stairs, turning Shaun's attention to the source, seeing Kyle and Zayne running down, a worried and frightened glare in his eyes.
"Shaun! what the hell are you doing here? I thought you had been taken, we've all been looking for you!" Kyle, to Shaun's surprise, eagerly checks him for any bruises, cuts or anything that could possibly be wrong with him, then his hand roams to the backpack making him cringe back from his brothers touch.
"Would you quit mothering me! What the hell was that?" Shaun asked Kyle pointing to the now empty space in the cellar, Kyle looks on, seeing nothing but the collection of items in Grandpas secret.
His eyes narrowed, seeing the sign of the Reign symbol on the hilt of a silver sword, starting to get less worried and more angered, Zayne sensing this, tries to calm him but received a gently pushed hand.
"What are you really doing here?"
"I'm not doing anything I just-"
"Do you have any idea about what the hell this all is?!"
"Of course I do I'm not stupid, the only way I can protect you is if I learn something that actually works for me..." Shaun admits as Kyle shakes his head.
"It's my job to protect you! not the other way around!"
"Really?!" Shaun yells, his voice also angered as the two brothers argue, Zayne standing awkwardly in the background, shuffling his feet.
"What gives you the right to protect family? Huh? You have any idea how fucking SCARED I was, when I plunged that knife into his chest!?"
"Shaun-"
"NO! because when you saved me, I may have been thankful then, but it only felt like catch-up with you...you thought trying to teach me magic was a way to protect me but it wasn't...it was to help you feel better about not being able to protect me yourself, you're just as FUCKING SCARED AS I AM!"
"That's not true!"
"No? then what is the truth Kyle? This?" He points to the cellar "Is so valuable, you're own hatred for grandpa has blinded you to how much we really need it"
There was a sight pause until he continues.
"We can learn how they fight and operate from this...we can learn what's happening in the forest, but only if you choose not to keep treating me like I'm a child, It sounds stupid but I let you have that book...you gotta let me have this" He holds his hand to the backpack.
"They drove the Pollins out of their home Shaun!"
"And they also infest the forest we live right next-door to! And then they're gonna do it again unless we act, now"
Kyle was breathless, he knew his brother was right but he could tell there was something off, like Deja vu almost.
"We should've come here the night he attacked, that's when we found out that our bloodline is half them now, and the rest is the magic I guess...maybe this is just fate"
"I dont disagree with you, we should be planning for a return, but for the love of god could you at least tell me if you're going on a run around?!" Kyle exasperatedly said, rubbing his temples.
"Not always...but maybe I can give you one or two warnings next time~"
Zayne was sensing they had calmed and chimed in with a cute shyness to him, slight tears in his eyes
"Zayne are you crying right now?" Shaun asked as he shakes his head and coughs.
"No, the bodies upstairs are burning my nose really bad...can we leave?"
"Yeah, come on Shaun, we've got a walk ahead of us"
The couple leave and Shaun goes to follow until he feels the pull of something, hairs standing on the back of his neck and arms, he turns his head, the slight whisper in his mind from before when he saw Kyles mouth and eyes.
"Dont turn back..."
Shaun was racking it over in his mind, his resentment for his mother had slightly glazed over his mind, snuffing out the voice and turning around, feeling the pull take him to a nearby bookshelf.
His hand felt prickly, and the more he wanders his hand over the books there, it got stronger towards the black covered book, no writing and surprisingly thick, he was hesitant he could fit another book in his backpack, until his fingers lightly touch it.
A paralysing sense washes over him as images speed by in his head, so many of a red headed woman and a blonde man, standing by the sunset, sitting in the forest, he even saw the very moment he came into the world.
But things started to shift, blood had scattered as he was pulled from the womb, there was a slight moment of hesitation, he saw a red headed baby appear next to him.
There was a sudden pause, this wasn't his birth, it was his brother's. But the baby that was next to Kyle was slightly pale, and as the witch doctors around clambered around his screaming mother as she cries for her babies, but Shaun was confused, Kyle was his older brother, he's three years older than him so...who is that baby?
The more questions swirled around in Shaun's head the more seem to get answered. The visions had flashed forward and Kyle was only two and the blonde haired child was playing with him, his mother was pacing in the background with her large swollen belly, pregnant with Shaun. He was so overwhelmed he was speechless.
"Where are you?" the mothers voice speaks as the two children play in the background, she rubbed her ring finger protectively.
"What do you mean they're stopping you? Your children need you Alex!" she raises her voice, a worried sounding man on the other end.
"No, if those monsters want me to get rid of my baby then they can burn in hell!"
She slams the phone down as Kyle cried from the loud noise, mum slowly makes her way over picking him up and swaying him lightly, the child on the floor wasn't looking in good health, they looked I'll...with a stiff look to their body.
Mum picked them up too and sits down on the couch.
"It's ok babies...mommy won't leave you...I won't leave you..."
She kissed them both on the head as the vision moves on, but the further it got, the visions got blurrier, and he could barely understand them, there was rain clouds, the smell of fear and guilt, mud and pig shit. There were quiet sobs but he couldn't see where they were coming from, and the sound of a baby crying...
Shaun heard a very small whisper, as if it was in his right ear.
"I love you Shaun...please, try to remember me...remember my hair...remember my lips, my eyes, my nose...and remember that I will always be with you...my Shaun..."
And as the eyelids lift, he could see his tiny baby hands reaching up, no longer crying and feeling at ease, looking straight up into his mothers green eyes, freckles all over her face and cheeks that were rosy in the rain, her smell was like juniper berry, and she had the warmest smile in her eyes, which lightly dripped with tears down on his face.
He wipes his cheek just as she did. Leaning in and shakily kissing his forehead.
"Keep your brother safe...and keep yourself safe too...you'll need each other"
She then leans up, knocking the door and leaving in a hurry, her sobs draining out in the pouring rain, as the door opens to a bright light.
The vision cutting off, but the only question in his mind was the other child, he had another older sibling...but where the hell did they go if they weren't there that night...Shaun wiped hot tears from his face, the truth cutting into him that made him take a wobblily step back.
As he catches his breath and reaches to wipe his clammy forehead that was now drenched in sweat, he felt like unloading on everything to Kyle who was still waiting for him upstairs, but was distracted by Zayne to notice how long he was gone.
After slowly grabbing the book with hesitation, he squeezes it into the bag, a tight fit but just getting it it there, turning around to his brothers voice.
"Shaun what's going on?"
"Nothing...coming now"
He leaves the cellar, he could still feel the presence of the book near his back, he could also feel the after burn of the vision, how caring his mother actually was, that she didnt want to abandon them...but something definitely made her, and Shaun was desperate to know what, or who, was responsible.
(Sorry about the shorter chapter stay safe, make good choices, and dont forget to Vote or comment! Xxx)