The curse of the broken soul

Uneasy feelings

Despite the scary story, Ian was able to get a decent nights rest. Mostly because he practically drowned himself with wholesome memes and relaxing music to calm down. By the time he got up, he went to have some breakfast, have a shower, all your typical needs to prepare for another day at school or just be prepared for any new day in general. He wanted to catch the bus for today, even though Barley usually likes to be able to drive him there. It seems like he was sleeping in for today and he didn't want to just barge in and wake him for that, that and he wanted a change of pace. Something a little less intense, he could do with a quiet trip instead of having to listen to Barley's loud heavy metal blaring out the speakers.

As he waited outside however, he suddenly felt a bit discouraged. He wasn't sure why it hit him like that. He decided to try and ignore it though, so he looks around and takes in his surroundings. He sees some nice little flowers, little birds flying about. All seemed ordinary yet beautiful altogether, that is until he caught a glimpse of something unusual in the bushes. Off in the distance he saw something or someone hiding in them, wide bright blue eyes stare directly back at him. As soon as Ian was able to register that it was in fact some sort of stranger, he felt chills down his spine and unintentionally took a few steps back. What he saw was someone with long messy lilac hair, bits of leaves and twigs were all stuck in it. The eyes kept staring at him, wide and bloodshot as if they have witnessed something absolutely traumatic. The last thing he was able to make out was a small pale pink face that had a rather unhealthy glow to it.

The bus then arrives, blocking off Ian's view. It took him a moment to recollect his thoughts, this irritating the bus driver. "Kid, you getting on or what?"

"O-oh right! Sorry!" Ian blurts out as he hopped onto the bus, he went to sit down with his friends who happily greeted him but they can tell he was all out of sorts.

"Ian are you feeling ok?" They asked.

Ian nodded his head as he sat down. "Yeah...sorry I just saw this weird...girl outside hiding in the bushes." He said, although he said he was ok it was clear he was feeling anxious. He pointed out the window, where he saw this girl.

His friends looked out but couldn't see anything aside from the now empty bushes filled with nothing but twigs and leaves. "Uh...I don't see anyone." One friend commented.

Ian looked back at the window to see the stranger did actually disappear. "Oh...she must've ran off." Ian said. Although she was no longer in eye view he still felt like he should be cautious, something was not right about this stranger.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it, Ian. It must've just been some curious kid or something."

Ian looked back at his friends, there was definitely something fishy about all this. "Yeah...I don't know. She looked really sickly..." he says under his breath, he can't deny he was creeped out. But as the bus started moving along things began to quiet down a little bit. His friends didn't think much of it and believed it was not that big of a deal but they weren't there to sense the disturbing vibe emitting from this stranger. Aside from that though the rest of Ian's day was pretty normal more or less.

As for Barley, he was home alone. Both his stepdad and mother were at work. He actually felt a little bit bored, he has been playing plenty of video games lately to pass the time but he's pretty much completed them all by now. As for his beloved quests of yore, it's not like he can really play it all by himself, he can try perhaps but it simply won't be anywhere near as good. Of course teaching his brother more about the ways of magic is out the window since he's at school. He can't go and pull pranks on his step father as he currently isn't around. There's been no news about any ancient articles or historical features being taken down that he would need to try and preserve. The elf just laid on his bed, listening to his music loudly as he stares at the ceiling. He enjoyed just chilling for a while but it was starting to get old, he had the need to go on some kind of adventure. "Ah...screw this." He says to himself as he got up from bed, turning off his music. He had a little bit of a think for a moment, there is always something new to discover in this world they live in. Dungeons, old broken down ruins, even treasures. Ever since he was a kid he loved to go exploring. "There's bound to be some adventure out there somewhere." He says to himself as he looks out the window.

He began to think a bit more, there had to be something if he went looking. Although he certainly did not expect to find what he was going to find...

Barley grabbed onto a backpack of his, like his vest it was covered with some very interesting and unique badges. As soon as he opened up the door though, Blazey went running out. "Whoa! You wanna come with me, girl?"

The little dragon ignores her owner completely, she was sniffing around before she suddenly took off, it seemed like she picked up a trail. Barley was quick to follow her, feeling excited as he had a gut feeling she was going to lead him to something interesting. "Hey, wait up!" He calls out as he follows her. She headed towards what appeared to be a hole in their fence hidden behind bushes. Barley didn't notice that before, he would imagine his mother would want it to be fixed so he might get to that later, but right now he was focused entirely on his hyper dragon. The hole however was far too small for him to simply just squeeze through, Blazey went through no problem but Barley had to jump over the fence.

Sadly, he stumbled a little and fell down. He groaned a little bit as he sat up, Blazey heard all the commotion behind her and came running back to him. The elf was suddenly under attack as the sweet little dragon pounced onto him and began to lick at his face. "Haha! Hey! Down, Blaze! I'm fine!" Barley chuckled as he gave her a good pet. But that is when he noticed something else interesting, looking down at the ground he can see footprints, leading right out through the hole in the fence. It was clear someone was trespassing through their lawn. Feeling curious, he decided to follow these footprints to see where they went, ignoring the grey clouds covering the sky. "Huh...what do we have here? Looks like some tracks..."

As Barley kept following them, past a few more houses he saw a large forest, it seems like the trail continues on in there. The odd thing was that Barley had studied every mythical creature and he never saw footprints like these belong to any of them. In fact it looked like there could've been shoes on them, meaning it was an intelligent life form no doubt. "Weird...why would some villager wonder through here...and through other people's yards no less. I mean...these are clearly shoe prints right? Unless if someone were to attach those shoes to a dragon for some kinda joke!" He chuckled a bit at the thought, looking down at Blazey who stares up at him with concern. "Relax, I'm not gonna ever do that to you. Unless if it were a life or death sort of situation that is." Blazey barks a bit and followed the trail into the woods, Barley keeping up with her. "Can you still smell them?"

The two wondered in deeper and deeper, the sky was getting darker and bits of rain began to fall from the sky. Barley didn't seem all that phased though, he kept on following his trusted companion. However as they explored deeper, Barley did suddenly start to feel a bit unnerved. He wasn't sure why, it was like some sort of vibe he was picking up on. "Hey...Blaze...maybe we should head back. I don't have a good feeling about all this." He said.

Blazey however kept sniffling along, she didn't seem to pick up on anything bad, in fact she seemed eager to find out what she was smelling. That is until a loud flash of thunder and lightning startled her. The poor dragon yelped and ran off ahead, swift as the wind. Barley started to panic as he ran after his beloved pet, he did not want to lose her, he would never forgive himself for that. "BLAZEY! WAIT! BLAZEY!!! SIT! SIT!" He shouted out.

But thanks to the rain everything was a little more slippery, the elf took a tumble and rolled down a hill, getting himself all muddy and wet. It didn't feel like he broke anything but he certainly did feel like he was going to get some sort of bruise. "Ughhh..." he looks back up the slippery slope he fell from, Blazey was there safe and sound but she was staring at him intensely...no...she was staring at something in front of him, hiding in the bushes.

Barley followed to where her eyes were looking, he was stunned to see a stranger cover in cuts and bruises. It was the same stranger that Ian saw earlier.