4A/N : This was a little something that popped into my mind while listening to Blind Guardian's songs "War of the Thrones", "Mordred's Song", and "Ride into Obsession".
Please tell me what you think. I am currently writing the second part.
Everything is dark, save for the occasional streams of moonlight that pierces the canopy of leaves above me. Even in this kind of surroundings, I know - I feel - if something is amiss. I have sat in this very spot nightly for five years now. Or was it six? Ah, I don't recall anymore.
The sound of gentle breathing is the only other sound that can be heard, apart from the occasional rustling of leaves overhead. My eyes automatically shift to my right, where a little boy of seven - my younger brother, Christian - is sleeping soundly. He looks a lot like our uncle, except that he has black hair where Uncle Magwald had blonde.
The name itself only brings up not-so-good memories. Magwald Xargin, arguably he was the one behind the "invasion". Him and his assistant, Beatrice.
I understood his intentions though. Humans have been evolving faster than their counterparts in the animal kingdom, but none of those evolutionary changes made humans more naturally resistant to natural surroundings, and mankind often had to resort to external aids to recover from injuries. Thus, the nanomachines that he and his associate Sasha Jacobson developed.
At first I had no idea what he was planning. He came out of nowhere one day, arriving at our house unannounced. My late father - his brother - had left Germany over fifteen years ago and settled here in Southeast Asia with my mother, who was then working as a flight stewardess. From then on he had not even so much as wrote a letter to Uncle Magwald; however, Father always told me stories of him and his brother in their childhood. Uncle Magwald, always having the loftier, more noble ideas, while my father was always the more pragmatic and down-to-earth voice of reason, and so I had an idea of my other family members overseas.
Father had already passed away a few years ago, contracting the dreaded fever that plagued other villages yearly and killing hundreds, but he didn't leave us empty-handed. He had managed to build us a decent house in a middling-class Southeast Asian village, decent monetary savings, and a "vacation mansion" in the middle of a river, that was only accessible either via a bridge, or by foot - but only when the tides were really low.
Anyways, when Uncle arrived, I was out in front, chopping firewood. Mother was inside, taking care of my little baby brother. His first words were, "Why is my niece doing such hard, manual labor?"
I looked up, and I will be honest: I thought I was looking at an angel. Uncle Magwald was dressed in white, pants and overcoat, but barefoot like me; however that did little to diminish the seemingly holy aura he exuded.
I must have been staring at him open-mouthed, since he laughed softly and tussled my hair. "So you're my brother's first child. I take it you have a younger sibling, yes?"
Mother came out, recognizing Uncle, and she welcomed him into our home. He politely put a hand up. "I appreciate the gesture, but I can only stay a few hours. I have some important business to take care of here, and I remembered that you were living nearby so I decided to pay a small visit. I see I was not wrong in my decision."
I excused myself, got a bench for him to sit on, took out the bottle of palm wine we kept in Father's memory, and offered Uncle a drink. I don't really drink myself, but it was a customary gesture. He graciously took the half glass I offered him, downed it like it was nothing, then smiled and took the bottle from me.
He started telling me of a "grand plan" he was working on in Germany, filling another half-glass then promptly downing it, and asked if I will be willing to help him. He did warn me, that no matter if I accepted or refused, the world will still continue on its current path, but we - he consistently focused on using that word, as if I had already agreed - can stave it off long enough so we can find a way to cure humanity.
Back then I had honestly thought he was referring to a plague. In a sense, he was right... But I never imagined he would employ such underhanded means.
I was thinking it over when he gave me the glass of palm wine, and noticing that he had filled the glass only to an eighth, downed it immediately without thinking.
It was only when I handed him the glass back that I noticed the thin red line on his finger. Somehow he had cut himself without calling my attention to it.
My first reaction was to close the wound and bind it, but he merely smiled and said for me not to worry. I watched, spellbound and amazed, as the wound closed itself right before my eyes.
He tussled my hair again, smiling. "I can see your desire to learn. I will not force you to answer me immediately. However, I will advise that you three fortify yourselves. I feel that I may not be able to see you for a very long while. I will be returning to Germany immediately after my business here, and I will not be able to provide any assistance as of yet."
He left shortly afterwards, after paying his respects to Father's grave in our vacation mansion.
It was in these walls, the vacation mansion, that we later holed up when the first of the monstrosities appeared. The village folk fended them off, at a great price. Half of the popuation was slaughtered. And it was also then that the first hints showed.
At first I thought it was only due to the anger of seeing my playmates, my fellow villagers, being killed mercilessly, that I was able to move as fast, as strong as I did that one night. But everything only went from bad to worse; those damned things kept on coming back, as if they were intent on getting something.
I never thought that something was ME.
Reviews and comments are more than welcome.