Witchblood hunt 1 pt2- A Fateful Wednesday

(There are those sounds again, the screams from my last nightmare. Why are they coming back? I don’t want to hear them anymore!) But the screams never went away, they only grew louder and louder every second just like last time. But unlike last time, the screams grew to the point where I can clearly recognize their voices. (They sound like…my fellow kinsmen? W-what’s going on?) I hear the grouped screams of everyone trying to fight back an unknown threat, but was silenced one by one. I can hear a familiar women’s voice crying out in fear.
“Nate, get out of here!” she cries out. (W-was that mom?)
“No, mom! I don’t want to leave you!” I hear myself in the dream reply back. (What’s going on? What’s happening?)
“Take Taylor and get out of here!” The sounds of clashing steel against steel, and steel against flesh muffled my response to her; I couldn’t catch what I had said to her, or what she said back. Silence befell the dream, but why do I feel like I’m still inside it? (I don’t want to hear any more of this! I want to wake up! Please, let me wake up!)

My eyes opened without hesitation and the morning light blinded me for a few seconds. As I grew used to the light, and the background dimmed, the first thing I saw was Taylor, mom, and dad peering down at me. I could see in their eyes that something is bothering them.
“Mommy, what do you think is wrong with him?” She asked her.
“I don’t know honey.” Mom replied back with concern.
“Son, are you all right?” Dad asks me. “You’re sweating and breathing an awful lot.”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” I answered him tiredly. “I just had another bad dream.” I attempted to get out of my bed, but I struggled with even moving. My muscles felt locked in place, and it hurts when I lifted myself up. After a short while my body gave into itself, and I fell right back into bed. “I…I can’t move.” I’m stuck in bed unable to feel my body, not even able to make a fist.
“Something’s wrong with you son. I’ll go get the Elder, he might help you.” Dad rushed out of the room to fetch the Pride Elder.
“Mom…I’m sorry about last night…” I apologized to her. Even speaking became difficult for me.
“It’s all right, dear,” she accepted my apology with full remorse, “I should be the one apologizing, some of that was my fault too. Save your words if it hurts to talk, your father is on his way to get The Elder.”
“Mom, I need to tell you something…about the nightmare I had…” I tried to find the strength to speak.
“What is it, dear?” She asked me in curiosity. Before I could utter another word, dad came rushing in with The Elder; I turned my head barely to glimpse at his wrinkly, battle-scarred skin. His silver half-mane glimmered as brightly as a star in my barely-lit bedroom. His right eye is deeply scarred and, frankly, it scared me; it looked like a pale meatball jammed into his eye socket. When he speaks, you could hear his words being heavily weighed down by his age and superiority.
“Oh yes, there is something wrong with your cub, Anthony.” He spoke to dad while he examined me at eye level.. Every time he blinked his meatball eye, I just wanted to turn away from minor disgust, but I still couldn’t move.
“Can you heal him, Elder?” Dad asks him with worry.
“There may be something; I’ll go back down to my house to fetch it. Both of you, If Nathaniel regains mobility again, keep him in bed until I come back.” He told my parents. Both of my parents replied back with “Yes, sir.” The Elder slowly raised himself up from his knees, and walked out of my room.
“Hey, honey, I’m going out to hunt; why don’t you look after Nate?” Dad told mom as soon as The Elder left the house.
“All right, hon.” They both lightly kissed each other, and dad also left my room.
“Mommy, will Nate feel better soon?” Taylor asked mom about my state. “I hope he feels better soon.”
“I just hope he does too, dear; your brother will be all right.” She replied sadly.
“Of course…I’ll be…all right…” I broke the mood as I entered the conversation. I tried a second attempt at getting out of bed; I regained enough feeling in my muscles to lift myself with little pain, but still not enough to move out of bed. “See? I’m feeling better now.”
“N-Nate, what are you doing? You need to stay in bed until The Elder comes back!” Mom insisted me to stay put.
“I didn’t plan on spending my morning in bed. I want to do things!” My muscles softened up to the point where I could now get my leg out; I can finally get out of bed. However, mom thought otherwise and she blocked me from standing up.
“Nathaniel, you need to stay in bed. You’re still not feeling well.”
“*Sigh*, fine.” I didn’t have the energy to fight with her, so I just moved back under my sheets. I feel a little frustrated; I know that she’s doing this because The Elder told her to, but she’s doing so like she can’t think for herself. All we can do now is sit around in my boring room. “So, mom, can you tell me about the time you went to Witchblood?” I thought I’d ask her about the guild to pass the time.
“Oh, yes; I was just about thirteen years old when I worked at Witchblood, along with your late aunt. The guild itself is just fantastic- it’s actually an old mansion owned by the Guildmaster.”
“Yeah, Taylor and I saw the outside of it when we went with dad yesterday.”
“The guards were mean.” Taylor pouted.
“What was it like being a witch hunter?” I asked her as my curiosity bloomed. “Was it fun? Was it challenging?”
“Oh, yes, it was very difficult being a witch hunter: not only can they cast spells that could vaporize you in an instant from your very soul outward, they can also conjure wicked spirits and creatures that can easily overpower you; so there would be the chance that a hunter would never come back from a mission. But Aunt Samantha and I didn’t start off as witch hunters from the start; in fact we were messengers, just like your father. But it wasn’t until I was sixteen or so when I met Anthony, and at the time I didn’t love him at all, rather I resented him bitterly.”
“Wow, really? I never knew you were so mean back then, mom.” I said to her in my in my surprise. She must’ve thought that I said that sarcastically, so she threw me an obvious glare. “Uh, so, you and dad were messengers?” I couldn’t think about what to say to mom with her glaring down at me like that.
“Yes, we were,” she loosened her glare on me and continued her story, “but I wasn’t a messenger at the same time he was; around the time, I was a witch hunter. He wasn’t a full-fledged member of the guild; he was just a lion-kin boy who needed a job.”
“So how did you guys really meet?” I asked her. Taylor also wanted to know, so she yelled-
“Yeah-yeah, I want to know to!”
“Well, I can’t honestly remember the exact first time I met him,” she pondered to herself for second, “because every time he had gotten near me, I scared him off. But the first time I actually opened up to him was at Samantha’s funeral. I was at my lowest and most vulnerable, and he helped me up from my depression. After that I started to develop different feelings towards him, and eventually we fell in love with each other.”
“Wow, mommy, I hope someday that I grow up like you!” Taylor told her with so much joy, she couldn’t keep her excitement controlled anymore. “I hope to go to a guild someday and find a boy that I like and fall in love with him.”
“Thank you, dear.” Mom felt overjoyed by Taylor’s comment, and the two hugged each other with open arms.
“Wow…” her story left me completely speechless, I could not utter another word out of sheer awe. With all she said about the guild, about how difficult being a witch hunter is, and how dangerous guild life can be, it only made me want to go to Witchblood even more. “Life at Witchblood-“ I spoke to myself under my voice- “does sound fun. Someday I hope to join Witchblood and hunt witches, and go on adventures, and become famous.”
“Well, Nate, that’s a nice dream to have.” I was completely shocked when mom spoke to me; I thought I talked quietly enough so she couldn’t hear me. “Someday, when you’re older, you can make that dream come-”
“Wait, “when I’m older?” What is that supposed to mean, I thought you wouldn’t let me join because you were scared to lose me.” The instant I caught on, I felt there was another reason she forbid me to join Witchblood, another reason she hasn’t told me yet.
“Y-yes, that’s true. When you said you wanted to join Witchblood last night, I was scared that I would lose you like my sister; I overreacted a little too harshly and I’m sorry for that. But another reason why is because the guild will only let you register for membership if you’re ten years old or older; you’re seven years old, you’re too young right now.” I am overwhelmed by disappointment when she told me this just now. I fell back into bed, and sighed heavily to myself in agitation.
“This would’ve been nice to know earlier. Literally, this would’ve been helpful to know before dad punched me.”
“I know, and I am very sorry, dear.” She apologized to me. “But I did clear that up with your father last night, so he’s not going to-” my door opened and The Elder walked into my room. He brought with him a medicine bowl filled with a mysterious substance.
“Oh, h-hello Elder,” mom addressed him nervously, “is that-”
“Has he regained movement yet?” He asked.
“Y-yes, he has; and I kept him in bed like you-”
“Please leave the room; both you and the little girl.” The harshness in his voice demanded to mom. “I will tend to the child now. I won’t take very long.”
“A-as you wish.” Without a second thought mom stood up from her chair, grabbed Taylor, and hurried out of my room. Behind my walls as my door closes I could hear Taylor say-
“What is he going to do to Nate, mommy?”
“He’s going to help him, dear.” Mom replied back, though her worry still weighed heavily in her voice.

The Elder stared at me for a short while, and I can’t stop staring back at his dead, meatball eye; my disgust told me to look away, but my fascination told me to keep staring. As he stared into my eyes I shivered a little in fear; it felt like the gash in his dead eye possessed my body to do so. He finally spoke to me after about a few seconds-
“As I feared, you’re definitely possessed.” I could hear the discouragement in his voice, as if he was unsure what was wrong with me until now.
“Possessed? Possessed by what, exactly?”
“The Demon called the “Nightmare.” He answered in his grizzly voice.
“Yeah, I already knew-”
“The Nightmare is a great Demon who absolutely loves to horseback ride during the day. At night it would grow weak and fatigued by all of its riding and will ride into a nearby town or village; It finds a sleeping mortal and then would sit on their chest to rest. It is this contact with the rider that gives the victim bad hallucinations and dreams. Then by morning it sets back out and rides again.”
“What is that stuff in the bowl?” I point to the bowl in his hands.
“Nightmare repellent; oil extracted from the Mandrake root.” He explained. “Wherever The Nightmare rides, it will never cross an area where Mandrakes grow. The Mandrake oil will put you to sleep and clear your spirit, and also drive The Nightmare away from you. The Nightmare also can’t possess you while you sleep during the day, since it’ll be too busy horseback riding.” He hands me the bowl, the dark blood red liquid swished around the corners like a disturbed ocean. The horrid scent slowly crept up on me; when it finally hit, it felt like my sense of smell was being driven into the back of my skull. I coughed and coughed as I drowned in its stench.
“Gross, that smells terrible!” I showed my dissatisfaction towards the medicine. “Now I kind of understand why The Nightmare doesn’t like to ride wherever these things are!”
“If you want to sleep peacefully tonight, you must drink it.” The elder prompted me to drink the medicine. Mixed thoughts entered my head about actually drinking the medicine or not. I took the bowl from his hands with haste, but I hesitated when I stared at the swishing liquid.
“You know, I’m actually pretty curious to how it tastes-“ I took a small sip from the bowl, but whatever touched my tongue tasted just as bad as the oil smelled. My first instinct was too immediately spit it out, but I forced myself to swallow it. As the oil slithered down my throat the horrible taste felt like it was burning my throat from the inside out. I tried to cough the medicine back out, but it only made my throat burn more and more.
“That tasted awful-” my face showed my dissatisfaction better than any of my words. But The Elder merely ignored them.
“You need to drink more of it.”
“I can’t, it-” The elder wasn’t very good at taking my rejection; he doesn’t need to say anything while he glared at me. I had a sudden second thought that told me to do as he said, and I succumbed to the thought. I braced myself to the best of my ability as I chugged down the bowl of Mandrake oil. To my surprise, it didn’t taste anything like the first sip; in fact, I couldn’t taste it at all. I finished the bowl in no time.
“There, was that so bad?” The Elder asked me.
“No…It wasn’t…” The Elder did tell me that the oil would put me to sleep, but he didn’t say that it would do so immediately after drinking it. My room went completely blurry, and his harsh voice became muffled to the point I couldn’t hear him. My conscience slipped away more and more by the second and I finally couldn’t consciously support myself anymore. I fell right back in bed, and my blurry vision was invaded by black.