Nawx II: Hearts of Naught

Verse IV - The Shadow of the Past

          Upon Alcar's request, Kazuma jumped from the edge of the carriage and ran ahead to the gates to his ranch, opening it as the carriage arrived. The dirt trail they had been following continued into the ranch, and it was still a long stretch of a trail just to arrive at any building within the ranch's property. But it appeared to be secured, Viola could see that the lengthy trees served as a border wall for the ranch. The ranch covered a lot of land, but the trees successfully stretched throughout all of it. Viola rested her arms on the edge of the carriage, letting her head lay on the side on top of her arms, just witnessing the beauty of the range. The large field of healthy grass introducing them into the ranch. But a big sign overlooking the dirt trail held another sign indicating that this was indeed Alcar's Ranch, a sign of which came before a decent sized house, and a barn right in front of it. Surrounding the barn, there were fences of animals of all sorts, and vegetable gardens which gave the ranch some color and variety. 

          "Whoa..." Alcar muttered to his horses, ordering them to make a slow stop in front of the barn and his house. 

As the carriage slowly stopped, Viola and Kazuma both jumped out of the carriage. Viola's curious mind forced her to take a look around while Kazuma helped Alcar open the back gate of the carriage. She peered around the carriage and spotted a few more buildings, one of them had designs of dogs on it, and the other had designs of different kinds of small animals on it. Perhaps it could've been a petting zoo, but she didn't give it too much thought. She walked past the two as they struggled to get the heavy haystacks out of the carriage, walking toward the barn. The giant doors to the barn were slightly opened like it was unintentional. She grabbed onto one of the doors and peered inside. The barn was filled with darkness apart from the little light from the opening, so she pulled the giant wooden door open a little bit and stepped inside. The sounds of animals were heard, but as she turned to look at each of them, they began to panic. The feathers of the chickens and mysterious birds flew from their gated boundaries, the loud knocking of the other horses attempted to frighten her. But she wasn't concerned about the animals strange behavior. She stepped forward and noticed a mess in front of her, the midpoint of the barn. It appeared that hay was thrown all over the place, and some of the bundled hay had red liquid on it. She knelt down and picked up the bundle of hay with the red liquid on it, and after analyzing she guessed that it was blood. Dropping the hay, however, she quickly noticed a faded set of foot prints that were red, making a trail forward toward a fenced area for what she had thought was a canal for sheep. She stood up and slowly followed the footsteps, ignoring the sounds of Alcar and Kazuma struggling outside of the barn. The opening to the canal had a handprint on it, a red one, which made her feel more nervous. She took a deep breath before attempting to push open the canal. But as she pushed, she felt something blocking the door. She frowned and pressed her body forward, forcing the door to open. But as she quickly forced it open, she heard something fall over, as though that heavy object was blocking her entry. It was a dead sheep laying on the ground. The sheep was laying on its back and its stomach was cut open. The guts and body parts of the animal appeared to be placed neatly next to the animal, and the body was drained of its blood; just what Alcar was talking about with the Hannibal. Viola's eyes widened from the sight, but at the same time, she got this powerful migraine which made her grab onto her head and fall to her knees, screaming out in pure pain.  

          "V-Viola!?" Kazuma shouted as he dropped the haystack and rushed into the barn.

Kazuma, followed by Alcar and Chester, came running into the barn where they were caught off guard by the sign of blood on the hay just under their feet. Kazuma glanced back at Alcar to see if he had any recollection of what this blood was, and he nodded his head. Kazuma knew this was another incident of the Hannibal, from what Alcar called it. He continued onward toward the back of the barn where he saw one of the animal gates slightly open. Peering his eyes through the opening of the door before actually opening it, he saw Viola on the ground grabbing her head. He slowly crept inside the gated area and knelt down in front of her, but he was suddenly frightened. Viola's face had grown red, and the veins that lay under the skin of her forehead slightly popped out. He was disturbed, but he still knew he had to find a way to help her out of this odd trance, so he laid his hand on her shoulder gently, trying to see if she would recognize his physical touch. And she did, her eyes bolted open, and for a mere second Kazuma thought he saw a bizarre image within her eyes. Her eyes had changed color too, to a dark red like they were blood shot. But after that short second, they returned to normal as so with her face coloring.