"Wake up, we're here." A cold hand tapped his cheek. Jin rolled onto his side and groggily lifted his head, he had awoke to a chorus of swamp frogs and katydids. His hands were shaking, the remnants of the nightmare faded like morning mists. At least he hadn't pissed himself this time.
The rough wood that now served as his bed didn't offer much invitation in the ways of comfort. Momentarily confused, he sat up, his vision still a blur. "Where are we?" He asked the crouching silhouette illuminated in the lantern light. "Home. Or close enough." The voice replied.
Jin then remembered, he rubbed his eyes, then took in his newfound surroundings. This old dilapidated dock didn't exactly look much like home. The thought must have shown on his face. "NoD. The home you never had the chance to know." It was Seta's voice, his uncle and sensei.
In truth there was no blood between them, but as his late fathers closest friend and the man who raised him, in Jin's eyes he was family. Jin's nameday would be within a fortnight, he would be four and ten, a man grown. Yet he could scarcely recall a time when Seta wasn't in his life. Whenever he tried to recall his father's face, he could only picture Seta instead.
"Nodasia the natives call it, meaning 'the land of dreamers' roughly translated." Said Seta, seizing Jin's arm in a strong grip and lifted him to his feet. "I've heard after settling here, the old world orphans dubbed it 'the land of dreaming demons.' I wonder, what do demons dream of?"
"Vengeance." His eyes seemed to shine in the lamp light, as they lingered on Jin's face. "Well that's not creepy at all." Said Jin. "Is there any truth to the old legends? Are there really monsters here?"
"Monsters and worse than monsters boy." He took a few steps forward. "You won't have to look far, some of them are already here." Jin took a step back. "You can't evenโ" Seta was nolonger looking at him, but at something over his shoulder, out in the water. "Be quite and don't move."
A chill ran down his spine, his chest and biceps burned. Jin tried to make his face a mask, even as he imagined that a webbed and slimy claw, reached out of the dark water to drag him under. A faint autumn wind blew through the trees, stirring his cloak.
Dispite himself, he shivered.
His eyes were now firmly locked onto Seta's face, they searched for any hint of humor or danger. He stood there, and listened for a splash, for movement of any kind. But could only hear the gentle sound of water lapping against the dock. ๐๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ. "Slowly walk towards me." Reluctantly Jin did as he was told, with each step the boards creaked under his feet.