Star Iron - A Vampire Epic

Calum

As the rays of the morning sun entered his home, Calum peeked his head out. What he'd witnessed in the night caused him to sleep little. They talked to him, yelled out from the distance, and some of them claimed unimaginable horrors. All he wanted was to hear his parents' voice again, but now he heard several others. None that he wanted, but it didn't stop him.

He avoided the town and went to his private spot in the woods. It was a small clearing where he'd first felt the urge to call out to his parents. He remembered the stories that his mother told him about their family being able to commune with the dead on occasion.

"Mom?" Calum asked and the wind seemed to shift directions. "Dad? I need you two. Why is everyone else answering but you?"

Only the wind and the constant howling of monkeys responded. He fell to his knees and the exhaustion began to sweep over him. He'd been keeping track of the nights he couldn't sleep because of the whispers and shouts, but they'd blended. The darkness crept over his eyes like unfolding blinds.

It was the pattering of rain against his face that woke him. Beside him lay a rotting body. One of the eyes rolled from the back of the patchy skull to meet his stare. Pushing himself to his feet, he ran from the body. More of them appeared hanging from the trees or hiding, broken in the brush.

"Leave me alone," Calum said as he closed his hands over his ears. They were starting to groan in pain or pleasure, he couldn't tell.

He followed a path deeper into the forest as the dead started pulling themselves closer to him. "Help me, help me." Many of them cried as they held out hands like they could pull them from a burning fire.

"No, not you," Calum said as he began swatting away any of the decaying hands that got too close. He broke into a clearing where he returned to his knees and started crying. "Please, mom."

He watched as a small child walked up to him. It was a boy about half his age with ribs puncture through the tight skin and a missing his right arm. The boy turned and pointed into the forest. It was the only dead who didn't reach out for him or beg for his help. He rose and ran in the direction the little boy pointed.

He continued to see the little boy standing in different locations point and leading him through the forest. Wherever the boy was leading him, less of the dead followed. They followed no known path, so Calum took his time not to step on a slippery rock or a spider hole. No longer did the dead call for his help and they came to a stop where they only watched him from a distance.

A ruin stopped him, and he couldn't see the boy for any further guidance. It was an old limestone temple used by the ancient people of the island. Though it was forbidden by the Salar to enter such places, he noticed movement near the entrance of the temple. A familiar face peaked out of the darkness. His mother smiled, took in their surroundings, then gestured for him to enter the temple.

His heart pounded as he dashed into the shadows of the ruin. "Mom, I can't believe that it worked!"

"Come closer, my dear," his mother's voice, like that of an angel, called him deeper into the shadows.

A warm wind belched out of the ruins as he neared, it carried the foul stench of low tide and rot. The clicking of teeth was enough to reveal that it wasn't his mother. Its hulking body towered over him in the darkness as mandibles large enough to crush his skull moved down towards him.

"No!" Calum shouted as he fell backwards.

Calum's shout caused the figure to take several steps backwards giving him time to run out of the ruin. As he dashed back into the rain, he ran into a man in Salar armor holding a sizzling torch.

"Going into the old ruins to worship, eh?" the knight asked. "Couple of your neighbors claimed a boy was acting weird lately. This would explain why."

"No, you don't understand," Calum said as he turned back to the ruins to point at the creature he presumed followed. Nothing but shadows resided in the temple. "There was something in there."

"You can explain it to an inquisitor," the knight said as his gauntleted hand clasped around Calum's arm. "The last thing we need is more of you devil worshippers running around."

The knight yanked on his arm to start walking, but Calum didn't resist. He no longer wished to talk with the dead and under the Salar, they may not follow.

They left the forest and emerged near his town. Several people watched as the two made their way to a horse drawn cart with more knights and a few others tied by the hands in the cart. They bound Calum's wrists, then he climbed into the cart without fighting.

"A young one," one of the knights said.

"He was in one of the forbidden temples," the other responded.

"Oh, inquisitors don't like that."