| Typhon the Family Man |
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It was a quiet day, unusually quiet. But I went on with my activities as normal, plowing the fields, tending to the animals, all the tedious work any farm worker would do. But unlike many of the other farm tenders, I did not like what I did. 'Twas boring and brought very little profit to myself and my family and I was reprimanded for it by my wife. Yet I still went on with the futile life. And as I lived, day by day, hour by hour, my anger and spite for my family grew. My wife who's voice became more wretched every day that it buzzed in my ear. And my son's cry that became more and more hideous as it screamed in the night. No longer could I stand it, I was on the brink of insanity and had no reason to pursue living, yet I did.
So I sat in my worn wooden chair meditating, trying to push the anger from me. Then it had occured to me, that I shall not stay where I not please. This was an odd thought. Never had something so drastic ever cross my mind and I know not what compelled my psyche to conjur such a thing, but everything made sense. Yes, perfect sense. So it was on this night that I had left my home. Left my feeble family to die there as they had no means to live other than myself. They were so pathetic that it made me...happy. I would go where the wind blew and follow my instinct. But a fool I was to think what was driving was my instinct. I wandered, drifted with the wind, killing wild boar for food, drinking from the ponds I came upon. A savage I had become. My facial hair grew several inches, my short cut hair and grown out as well. I was a horrid sight, almost primitive. There was my life, savage and barbaric. I had no reason to live, no motivation but to see the next day but I did anyway. Day after day, hour after hour, nothing unusual ever came about the forest I had dwelled in. Just the animals, occasional ogres and ettins, but nothing abnormal. Until one night, oh how this night has been burned into my head. 'Twas frightening considering how much had not frightened me any more. I had seen almost all there was to see in the forests and wilderness. Nothing was new to me like nothing of the air was new to the hawk. But this...this was preternatural. It was the first full moon of the first month of the year. The sun had just set under the horizon and I had prepared for sleep for the night. I wore only hides from the animals to keep me warm as I had no clothes. There I lay in a pile of shattered leaves, using a dead cougar as a pillow. And I was restless, I lay there but my eyes would not shut. For something was calling my name, not a voice, I don't know what, but it was calling my name and I was too afraid to answer. Oh how I tried to ignore the calling! But it is something most everyone cannot understand. How it pulled at my very spirit to follow it, it beckoned me and I knew not what it was. Cried and cried it did for many hours until finally there was silence. Complete silence. There were no crickets chirping, no wind blowing, no leaves rustling. An eerie sense came over me that nature itself silenced to hear the cries. But I could stay awake no longer. My eyelids became heavier and heavier with each tick of my heart...then blackness came over me... To be continued... |