The Shadow of Isran

Visions

The boy stared into the burning hot flames of his fathers furnace, feeling the heat reflect onto his face. Warming up his ears and glowing red nose, unaware of his surroundings...

"Aldis! Stop daydreaming boy and hand me that blade over there."

The young boy quickly woke up to the thundering voice of his tall bearded father. Frantically running over to the stacks of blades piled up on one another. With his cold shivering hands, his fingertips slid across the steel blade his father was so persistent about. Trying to grab it, Aldis became imprisoned by another of his visions...

Aldis began to feel the ground shake beneath his feet as the sight of his fathers forge faded into darkness. While trying his best to cover his ears from the massive rumbling noise which roared inside him, he noticed cuts and blisters on his fragile hands... The smell of smoke and death filled the air causing little Aldis to look off into the distance, squinting his dark amber eyes for a clearer view, he saw bodies of women and children, lined up on the streets with streams of blood running down the roads of what seemed to be the capital city. He felt a heaviness in his chest while his heart began to fill with sorrow and despair. He turned his head only to see a man like figure covered in a dark ripped cloak, Darker than the coals of his father's forge. His vision was quickly interrupted with a slight sting on the back of his head.

"What's wrong with you, child?" the thundering voice returned as Aldis stood there, still trying to rub the pain his father's heavy hand had left on his head.

"N-nothing, it's just something Ferris has been telling me about back at the inn"

"Has that old veteran been filling your head with tales again?" Ronin laughed, giving his son a vibrant smile, tousling his thick black hair.

"They are not tales father! Aren't they written in the old prophecies? Just like grandmother said, "The dead shall rise and the world of man shall be no more for the evil king shall devour us all"" Their conversation was quickly interrupted by a heavenly voice at the door.

"Boys! Supper is ready!" The angel like voice belonged to only the most caring women in all of Velora. Born and raised in the town of Lakewell, Aramei wife of Ronin and mother to Aldis was carrying a basket of grapes when she met her beloved husband, an apprentice at the time, Ronin was delivering an order of nails and horseshoes for her father. Soon enough they fell madly in love with one another and moved to the nearby town of Pinesgrove. "Right..." Ronin whispered while he gazed at the boy, then turning his head to the flames of his forge.

"Go on listen to your mother Aldis, wipe yourself clean and get ready for dinner."

Aldis grunted at the thought of his father ignoring his words. He placed the blade down he'd grabbed from earlier before. Walking over to his mother, he hugged her and then opened the door to their small cottage house.

"What's wrong love? You seem troubled." Aramei's soothing voice seemed to help extinguish Ronins fear, along with the kiss she lay upon his cheek.
"Its Aldis, something's wrong with the boy..."

"What exactly do you mean?" she questioned him, her delicate hands splayed across his chest. As they rested just above his blacksmith's apron, she gazed upon him with fear in her eyes.

"He's been having this strange look in his eyes, just as soon as he freezes up. Almost like he's having visions of some sort."

"Do you think it could b-....No it can't be." Aramei denied her thoughts, trying to comfort herself by biting her nails and stepping away from her husband, pacing back and forth.

"Aldis has been talking to Ferris again, we all know how that war affected the poor old drunken fool. Those 'visions' don't have to mean anything, for all we know Ferris could have just scared the boy." Ronin tried his best to comfort his wife, even though he knew it was something far worse than they thought.

"Get inside darling, the storm's about to hit. We can talk more about this later." pushing her gently inside the house with his hands on her shoulder, trying to cover his face from the gusts of wind and snow.

Immediately upon entering their small wooden cabin, they felt the heat of the fireplace embracing them, the smell of fresh roasted turkey on the table rising for their pleasure. Aldis was filled with joy holding a silver fork in one hand, and a silver plated knife in the other. He considered how it took the family a good amount of time to save up for a feast such as this.