Plague of divinity

Chapter 24

Enrick opened his eyes at the feeling of something wet nudging his face. He blinked in surprise once he became aware of the black nose obstructing his vision, out of impulse he pushed whatever it was on away from his face quickly. As his hand moved onto it he could feel what was probably fur beneath his gloves. He pulled back and found what had been investigating him had been his furred friend he happened to keep running into.

The filthy dog looked excited at his sudden awakening and licked his face in greeting, causing him to scrunch up his face trying to keep the happy animal out of his facial orifices. He stood up clumsily with the help of the tree and wiped his face in an attempt to dry it before reaching his hand down to pet the dog. Realizing there was an unpleasant foreign taste in his mouth he spat on the ground as an attempt to get rid of it. Enrick slowly put his hand up to his face as the cold feet of dread tiptoed up his spine. He wasn't wearing his mask. His eyes darted around, head following slightly until they rested on the shape of it lying in the grass nearby. Bending over he quickly picked it up and pressed it to his face, attaching it hastily. He was a little surprised when he heard a buzzing noise coming from the beak but after lifting it off his face slightly he was confused to find the source to be a fly that had somehow made its way. Quite odd.

How had it come off his face in the first place? He knew he hadn't removed it, he would never have done so outside. His head turned to scan his surroundings, upon picking up no other humans in the nearby vicinity he let out a sigh as his eyes rested back on the furred beast pressed against his leg. Could a dog really have been able to remove his mask? It was unlikely something the animal would have been able to do so easily but... without anyone else around he couldn't think of anything else that would have done it.

Oh well... he had the cure to the plague now so it probably didn't even matter even if this beast had probably infected him. Well, that is if his dream actually contained any real information and wasn't just his brain making up stuff in an attempt to give him false hope to preserve his mental state. After making sure he left nothing behind he began to walk back to the town. He couldn't stay there forever and to be honest, he was pretty hungry.

Something caught the corner of his eye as he was about leave, something strange at the edge of the forest. He quickly turned his head and his eyes widened. Wait- wait, who was that? On the edge of the forest stood a woman wearing a white dress for what looked like what one would wear out on a nice day. Her hair short and black lay in gentle waves around her head, her eyes were obscured in shadow. There was something mysteriously charming about her but she was gone in an instant as soon as Enrick blinked. Was that... Cylssandre? She was just there... what the hell just happened?? He stared at the spot he thought he had seen her in. Had he... hallucinated?

He swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat as he was reminded of his cousin. Perhaps he just missed her so much he's starting to see things... She couldn't possibly be there right? I mean, if she had been standing right there... she would have come to greet him right? She wouldn't just... disappear like that...

"Oh Cylssandre..."

Once he had gotten rid of this horrid sickness he would find her and fix everything that had gone wrong since he'd been gone. Well... maybe he couldn't quite fix everything... Enrick felt a sorrowful ache in the pit of his stomach as he remembered his brother. There were things he... couldn't change... but he had to ignore that and focus on what he could for now... otherwise he'd get distracted, which he couldn't let happen... especially not now when he was so close.

So close...

He shook his head to try and rid himself of the thoughts intruding within his mind. He had to concentrate. Squeezing his hand into a fist he turned and began walking back to the town. He didn't have time for this.