Caution! Horror story!
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Tamíl woke to a beam of sunlight stabbing him in the face. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. Glancing at the foot of his bed, he saw that a new glowing orb had been brought to him in the night. The new orb glowed with the same constant intensity as the first one, but its contents glowed a dark blue. Tamíl tossed his shirt over both of them, not wanting to think about them at the moment.
After a light breakfast Tamíl reread his journal entry of his dream in the night. It still did not make any sense, but he was sure of the fact that he was shown that dream for a reason. He sat for a few minutes staring at the ceiling when a sharp knock sounded at the door. Standing on his doorstep was the white-haired man from the market and his dream. This time he was freshly bathed and wearing a clean tunic and deerskin trousers. He leaned heavily on his cane as he stared up at Tamíl.
“Are you ready to accept your duty?” The old man asked as he shoved past Tamíl without invitation.
Tamíl stood at the doorway, unsure of how to respond to this intrusion. The old man stopped in the middle of the room and looked around at his humble lodgings. The white hair on his head bobbed and bounced as he swung his head back and forth to survey the room. With a slight wave of his hand, the man turned to face Tamíl. By then Tamíl had found his voice.
“Who are you?”
“Stel, ten thousand, two hundred and twenty second Master of Spirits. And here to make sure the ten thousand, two hundred and twenty third Master understands his new duty.”
With that, Stel made a small bow at Tamíl.
“What does that mean?” Tamíl stared at him, not sure what to make of all this.
“You, my dear boy!” Stel jumped up and hopped across the room to stop directly in front of Tamíl. He jabbed a bony finger into Tamíl’s chest. “You have fulfilled the prophesy and are now the new Master.”
“Prophesy?”
Stel closed his eyes, and said in a wistful voice, “To cheat death at nine years—“
“That rhyme!” Tamíl interrupted. “I thought it was just a demented child’s verse. Does this have anything to do with that creature that has been following me around? And what are these things?” Tamíl gestured at the two orbs, pulling the shirt from them to show the old man.
Stel chuckled, “We will get to all that. There will be plenty of time for questions later. First,” he took what appeared to be a small stone from his pocket and placed it in Tamíl’s hand, “you must accept the Amulet of the Ancestors.” The stone was perfectly circular and flat with different symbols and figures carved in a ring on its surface. As soon as Stel released it and it made contact with Tamíl’s skin, the symbols glowed bright. The light shone bright, then quickly faded, and disappeared altogether. Tamíl stared at Stel, amazed.
“The Amulet has now been transferred and as far as the Ancestors are concerned, you are now the sole Master.” Stel patted Tamíl on the arm then scooped up the two orbs. “I will take care of these for now. Meet me at the broken river bridge at dusk tonight.” With that, he took his cane and hobbled out the door and down the road. Tamíl stood dumbfounded. Nothing should surprise him now, he mused, yet his brain was still troubled to make sense of everything that had happened recently.
Master of Spirits? What did that mean? What was this Amulet given to him? And how in the world was he going to pass time the rest of the day until dusk came without succumbing to the frustration of questions unanswered? A small wave of anger washed over Tamíl at the old man for not staying and explaining everything to him. He watched Stel shuffle off down the road and disappear around the bend. Tamíl briefly debated whether to chase after Stel and force him to tell everything, but Tamíl doubted that would do any good. With a sigh, he pulled the door closed and strode along to the road in the opposite direction Stel went. He hoped a walk would help him calm down and steady his thoughts so he would be ready to absorb everything Stel had planned for him tonight.
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