Where am I….
Zefir opened his eyes and looked around in a daze, only to see lush green trees around him. But, as he looked around, he felt that something was not quite right with the scene. Is this a dream? He checked himself, and concluded that he was indeed dreaming.
Then, his gaze landed ahead of him. This… the red mud patch! It was the mud patch where he found the medallion. In the next moment, a snake with thorny scales with a butterfly on its nose lunged out of the mud patch and landed on the ground.
Damn! Zefir jumped back in fright.
Hisss…. The snaked hissed and stared at Zefir with its pearl like pitch black eyes. Cold sweat dripping down his neck, Zefir couldn't even bring himself to move an inch. After scrutinizing Zefir for some time, the snake turned and moved, heading deeper into the forest.
Zefir could only watch the snake while he stood there. Noticing this, the snake stopped after moving some distance. It turned back and continued looking at Zefir.
"Y-You want me to follow you?" Zefir asked, his voice shaking. Then, he saw the snake nod slightly, and the butterfly flap its wings, as they waited for him. Calming himself down, Zefir decided to follow the snake.
After walking for quite a bit, the snake finally stopped in front of a space filled with lush green bushes.
Suddenly, the dream changed, and there were no bushes in front of the space anymore. Instead, it was an entrance to a cave.
"What…. the bushes disappeared? A.. tunnel?" Zefir examined the cave's entrance from afar before turning towards the snake.
Hisss Hisss The snake hissed and headed inside the tunnel. With a sigh, Zefir followed it in. It was dark inside the tunnel, but strangely, Zefir could see clearly. He could make out the uneven rocks in the tunnel, and the moss that covered them.
"There was a place like this in the forest?" Zefir exclaimed in surprise. The snake turned towards him and hissed, bringing its tail in front of its mouth. Is it telling me to keep quiet? Zefir was no longer surprised by the snake communicating with him.
With a slight nod, he continued following the snake deep inside the tunnel. After a while, the snake suddenly stopped. They had reached the end of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a large cave. There was a water puddle at the left of the cave, and at the end, at an elevated space, there was a large nest of a bird, with a bird resting on it. The bird was quite large, it was slightly shorter than Zefir. It had a sharp black beak, with contrasting white and foggy eyes. Its head ended with spiky white feathers, with some sky blue and mint green feathers in the mix. The feather on its body was the same, mostly white with some blue and green feathers.
Huge! Zefir had never seen, or heard of such a bird. A beast!? He exclaimed in his mind.
The existence of beasts, which were different from animals, was common knowledge among people. Although rare, unlucky people would sometimes encounter such beasts, which defied common sense. The stories of encounter with beasts were passed around in the town, and they were even printed in the papers sometimes.
After just a blink, the scene changed. The bird was already lying dead on its nest, and he was in front of the bird with the snake and butterfly at his side.
The dream changed again? Zefir first looked at the dead bird in front of him, and then he looked at the snake and the bird. Feeling something, he looked at his hand which was red with blood.
Blood… Did I kill it? He examined the bird carefully. It's blind? He focused on its white foggy eyes which didn't look natural. Then he looked at the snake to his side. Does it want to eat the bird? But its too big…
He moved to the side and made space for the snake, who moved its tail and tore open the bird from its chest to the stomach. The organs of the bird fell out and landed on the ground, making Zefir feel sick to his stomach. It was all to sudden for him. If it was not a dream, he would have vomited on the spot.
After tearing the bird open, the snake inserted its tail inside the chest of the dead bird and fished out a spherical object. The spherical object looked like it didn't belong in this world. It was constantly changing its color, sometimes it was mint green, sometimes sky blue, and sometimes white. The colors would even meld together, but they wouldn't form any new colors.
But, Zefir found something even stranger. The object looked like it was soft and light sometimes, but then it would look hard and heavy.
Giving Zefir a deep look, the snaked gobbled the object whole, and hissed at him.
It ate that thing?
Zefir was about to open his mouth to say something when the dream shattered and he suddenly woke up on the floor of his room. He sat up with a heavy breath and checked the condition of his body first. His pale finger was already back to normal, and his body felt alright too.
The medallion… His gaze landed on the table, but he didn't see the medallion. Instead, he found a dark red ring on the table. I-It changed into a ring?? This is too frightening… He walked to the table and picked up the ring to examine it. The band of the ring was made up of the circular snake, and on top was the snake's head and the small butterfly with its wings open. Although the ring was dark red, Zefir felt like the colors of the butterfly's wings and the snakes scales were changing when he moved ring.
For now, I'll just store in the drawer. Zefir didn't even dare to think about wearing the strange item. But as cautious as he was, not everything goes according to one's will. The snake quickly moved and wrapped itself around Zefir's index finger.
It happened so fast that Zefir couldn't even blink his eyes. When he noticed the movement, the ring was already wrapped around his fingers, and it looked just like it was before.
N-No! Zefir's face fell. He quickly used his left hand to try and pull the ring, but to no avail. The ring was already snug on his finger, like it was a part of him.
After trying for ten minutes, he finally gave up.
"Haah…" He sighed.. "Its over.. my life is over. My luck was never good to begin with.. Why did I have to get cursed…" He mumbled in dejection. After looking at the ring for a while in though, his eyes became sharp as he realized something. "This may not be a curse.. In most stories, the moment someone is cursed, they begin showing some signs or suffer from some symptoms. I'm fine right now. Also, that dream… That snake and butterfly showed me that strange object inside that bird. Maybe that bird is really real, and this snake wants that spherical object?"
"Hmm.. also, my hands were filled with blood.. Does it want me to kill that bird for it?" As soon as he mumbled, the ring on his index finger squeezed slightly. Zefir moved his attention to the ring. This.. It can communicate with me? Squeeze means yes? He brushed his chin with his left hands index finger and thumb.
"Hmm… One squeeze means yes?" The ring squeezed once again. Zefir nodded slightly. That still could mean yes or no…
"…Are you a cursed object?" Zefir asked cautiously.
The ring squeezed his finger two times.
Two squeezes must mean no? What cursed object would say it's a cursed object? Zefir chuckled self-deprecatingly. It can't hear my thoughts?
"Two squeezes means no?"
The ring squeezed once. With an understanding nod, Zefir sighed. So it really wants me to kill that bird and give it that object.. Hmm… Alright let's do what it wants for now, I'm curious too…
Making up his mind, he exited the room and headed downstairs after freshening himself up.
"You're up?" Evelyn asked Zefir in concern. "Are you alright? Did you get sick in the night after eating too much chicken?"
"Huh?" Zefir replied in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Well.. You slept in late, and.. you didn't come out of your room yesterday night.."
"I didn't come out? Why would I come out?"
"….. Didn't you hear the rifle shots in the night?" Evelyn looked at him strangely.
"…No.. I guess I was too tired yesterday, and the meal made me too sleepy.." Zefir replied. "There were rifle shots?" He changed the topic.
With a sigh, Evelyn nodded. "It was Mr. Antonio. He killed two foxes.."
Zefir was agape for a second before he let out a chuckle. "He really wanted revenge for his friend huh.."
Hearing this, Evelyn gave Zefir a look, after which he didn't dare chuckle any longer. Noticing the new ring on Zefir's finger, Evelyn looked puzzled. "When did you get a ring?"
Zefir froze. After thinking for a moment, he smiled. "I went to Old Man Khom's some time ago and got this ring. He even gave me a sweet discount. Pretty good right?"
"Hmm.." Evelyn squinted. With a sigh, she reminded. "You better not become too familiar with Khom, he's shady.."
"Yeah yeah." Zefir waved his hand dismissively.
After conversing with his mother for a bit and having yesterdays leftover for breakfast, he grabbed his bag and headed out to collect ingredients. Before heading to the forest, Zefir made his way to Mr. Antonio's.
" Mr. Antonio" Zefir called out with a smile. "I heard you killed those foxes?"