The past few weeks in Rivertown were unsettling people disappeared almost daily, families would wake up with one less member in the household, some families left and others would stay. Despite this no curfew was issued, the missing people were left unaddressed, whispers of conspiracy softly flooded the local taverns, which only became quieter as time passed, while the hymns in the church grew louder as if to drown the rumors and silence the ramblings of pious and nonbeliever alike. before long the town grew empty and the crows circled overhead , the only thing breaking the silence were the screams of the last inhabitant Alexander.

Two months prior...

with the coming of winter silent death that would reap the weak and strong a pestilence that viewed both life and death indifferently , a healer of church had arrived, granting relief to the sick and baptizing the children. The town was happy for the coming of a healer the sick ceased to be , old farmers were cured of old wounds, it seemed their was a smile on every face, except for two the first was old man Ves a retired monster hunter with a strange luminescent glow in his eyes who would occasionally kill a magic beast that came too close to the town, he would tell us stories of the monsters he faced , some slithered , some crawled , some wailed in the night. He would always bring smiles to the kids at the orphanage and he sometimes taught us some swordsmanship when the nuns weren't looking. one time a girl asked if he new anything about unicorns he smiled wryly at that and said he didn't but he knows someone who has a lot of experience with them. Aside from old man ves the only other person who wouldn't wear a smile at that time was the healer from the church.

Whether it was by fortune or misfortune I was sent out of the orphanage a week after the healer arrived as per tradition the coming of age ceremony that we would all under go on our 15th year for those in the village were required to leave for six weeks before returning during this time I traveled the countryside doing the occasional odd job like shoveling stables or baling hay, It was all new and exiting for a village boy like me a nice fellow called sutri in the tavern even taught me some knife throwing, only to find out the next morning I had an empty money purse and a note saying to go and find him for a third lesson. I ended up spending the next six weeks looking for a man that apparently didn't exist despite this I came close to finding him several times but he always slipped through my fingers before I could catch him that slippery ass old rouge ,I eventually headed back dejected feeling like I should have never wasted my time I was probably only a source of amusement for the old coot, maybe things would have gone differently had I kept looking.

Returning to Rivertown was my biggest mistake, and it was also my last one, the town was empty when I returned not a soul in sight. so I went to the church and found my doom there, a devil in the garbs of a holy man, the healer he told me that the town had evacuated, that there was a beast tide approaching. He offered for me to join him for his evening meal before I gladly obliged. It wasn't an unusual thing, as the town had been evacuated more than once before the notices always came on short notice. we would leave and the beasts would pass through without destroying too many homes and eventually retreat quietly into the forest after a while. we all heard the stories of what happened when a town took too long to evacuate and nobody wanted to be the subject of one of those tales. my tale was for worse than any of the men of those stories because the invitation I took was not one for supper but rather one into the belly of the beast

I woke up with a start the last thing I remember was the smiling face and wild eyes of the healer as I feel from my chair. I awoke with a pounding headache attempted to lift my arm only to find it strapped down, only then had it dawned on me that something had gone very wrong. I looked up to find the healer standing over me "it's Time to begin your treatment boy" so began the longest and the last week of my life. Burning, flaying, drowning, and stabbing was only the beginning then came the real torture the breaking and mending of the soul I would be surrounded by black mist was like the a thousand needles of ice and the light was like the sun through a magnifying glass , alternating between cold and hot, I had long since forgotten how to scream. Slowly I was fading into nothingness embracing it even. in my final moments I heard the healer say the words that would obliterate any hope I might have had left " so that's the last one then, an entire town and no progress, I was sure it was going to work this time, goes to show what happens when you expect something from a bunch of peasants and farmers"

I was angry or I would have been If I had strength to be I was fading and fast. In my last moment I remembered my neighbors The baker who would give us the scraps from his kitchen every morning to have with our breakfast sure they looked weird but the taste of fresh bread is a fond memory, the old men by the lake who would fish by the lake giving us life lessons telling us dirty stories and lastly telling us not to say a word to the nuns about our talks, and finally the wisp of a smile that would creep onto the face of old ves when he recounted his tales of grandeur. I died cursing the healer wishing I could end them all. They say the reaper walks softly his scythe reaping before the crop knows it has been put to harvest. My coming of age ceremony was many things. It was the end of my youth , the end of my innocence, and the end of my life. With a rage that could rip a soul to shreds and the sound of shattering glass I drew my last breath and entered the void.