Cure for a Nightmare by Joseph Van Landschoot

Author:Joseph Van Landschoot [Landschoot, Joseph Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-25T22:00:00+00:00

*

Candlelight flickered in the dense room above the bar. Finn was sweating profusely. The door opened, letting in shouts from the fight below as Callan and the bloodied Enian entered. They closed it behind them, muffling the shouts once more. Callan knelt by the bedside and wiped sweat from Finn’s brow using his shirt. “Water,” he instructed. A patriot among the group handed their water bag over and Finn drank greedily, like he hadn’t drunk in days.

The team found sleep as the tavern settled. Dark clouds swirled in menacing silence. Both Finn and Joseph bore faces of torment with their eyes closed in bed. In Finnian’s mind, a red sky flashed into being and with it so did creatures nay human nor humanoid. They walked on a desolate wasteland, charred black like the clouds above. Some creatures walked on all four, with distinctly human hands. Others rode them; creatures without faces, garbed in what looked like leather made from human skin. They pulled on spikes stabbed into the necks of the four-legged things. More creatures still walked between them, without heads, having eyes sprouting out their arms and baring a face on their chest.

The creatures noticed Finn before them, their eyes piercing his, each one’s gaze holding him paralyzed while they formed a circle to enclose him. Gibberish wobbled out of the bipedal creatures’ fang-infested mouths as they closed in, step by step. Their posture lowered in a manner akin to a predator preparing to pounce. Finn felt hopelessly trapped until he dropped through the ground. The surging sensation burst him awake where he found himself back in the Awasal tavern.

Beside him in bed bore a barren space with nothing more than the blanket tousled. His limbs felt numb, but he could still conjure movement from them in a slowly regaining fashion. He curled his upper torso to raise his head. At that vantage point he looked about the room for his son. Joseph stood among sleeping men, facing a corner of the room, hugging the blade of nihil. Finn’s eyes widened in alarm. What was his son doing? He grunted in hopes of getting a response. Joseph turned his head. In the dark Finn could hear weeps escape his son’s lips.

“…J-Joss…” he whispered. Joseph just turned back and continued weeping softly to himself. Finn’s eyelids lowered against his will, without the hope of him even trying to resist. All he wanted to do was hold his son, but his body needed rest. It took the choice to resist from himself, and he slipped back into nightmares.

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