It was unsettling for Achmed to hear the sound of the sacred bell at Minao just only at quarter past seven. The night was not fully born, yet the bell tolls. There was this cold and tingly wind that blew over that evening sky in Belvania that gave an eerie feeling that something wrong was about to happen.
The village had only been peaceful for a fortnight till people started disappearing again.
Achmed knew this warning sound very well. He had heard about it. He knew every tone of it spelled danger. He had grown up knowing this sound. He also knew that it was time for him to leave the river and rush home with his brother.
"We need to leave now" He whispered to his brother.
Sensio, only 12 years of age, couldn't make out the reason for the rush. They had only arrived a moment ago to catch some fireflies.
It was summer time, the flowers had just started to bloom and multitude of the lightbugs with their dull green-glow came around to pollinate the flowers as their custom is. They were always plenteous around the river banks and scattered around the fields leading to the Nebua Forest.
"Why leaving in such a hurry" Sensio thought, "we've just only arrived"
The young boy hesitated.
"But we need it for the night Achy, Papa wouldn't be happy if the hut is not bright enough" He said.
Achmed sensing the ignorance in the boy, pulled him by the hands and said "Papa would be happier if we returned home in one piece"
Achmed had always loved and cared for his little brother Sensio since they lost their mother to the forest nine years ago. And Sensio has always seen him as his big brother, his protector and his second Papa. Many times he did come to his aid when he was in trouble and he always felt safe around him and had nothing to fear.
But tonight was different.
Sensio sensed fear in his brother, fear of something wickedly unknown.
Even as they ran back towards the village, he could hear his brother, his protector, gasping for breathe to a point that it looks terrifying. He could see the fear in his eyes.
"Whatever this is, it must be really bad" He thought.
With beads of tears in his eye, arms grasping his brother tightly, Achmed tore the bushes trying as much as possible to get to the village on time. Sensio on the other hand, kept looking back, hoping to see what his big brother was running from.
As they approached the path leading to the village, the sound of the bell became louder and clearer.
Achmed tried his possible best to conceal his fear from his brother. He had to be tough, papa had always told him. And now, at least for Sensio's sake, he must not show any sign of panicking. But he knew also what would happen to them if they don't get to the village soon. He had seen some of the remains of the victims mauled by the creature, "the unspoken one", how their carcasses were torn to shreds and how they died miserably.
"But the creature was killed" he thought,
"So they said".
From a distance, Achmed could make out the huge metallic gates of the village which seemed to be closing gently as folks hurriedly made their way in. Very soon he and his brother would be safe and secured within the confines of the village. And Papa, Papa would be glad to see them.
"We're coming Papa, Just a little more"
Sensio who was always looking backwards most of the time as they paced down could sight something making an appearance, sort of racing towards them from behind. First he couldn't make out what it was.
"A horse?"
-No
"It looks certainly like a man on a horse??"
He squinted his eyes to get a clear view of the approaching embodiment.
"Don't look at it!" Yelled Achmed "just keep your eyes on the gates"
But curiosity got the better of the boy.
As a little child, Sensio had always been very inquisitive. He questions almost everything; from ants to antelopes to birds and all you can name- even the clouds could not escape the prying eye of the boy.
"Those big pillowy clouds Achy, where are they from?" He would ask, pointing to the sky.
Achmed had told Papa that Sensio's quest to know everything could spell a bad omen for the boy. And Papa would say that it was natural for him to be inquisitive at such an age.
"I was also inclined to asking lots of questions when I was about his age, I would pry everything under my nose. He can't just help it, it's his time"
He can't just help it.
However,
Tonight, he had to,
He needed to.
The boy arched his head backwards and looked steadily upon the approaching figure.
Achmed had always urged his father to educate the boy on the existence of the Meshir, the evil that lurks in the dark - the devourer of humanity.
"He needs to know father, we need to tell him"
"My dear boy, you and I know very well that the beast had been destroyed, hunted, killed and burnt down by the valiant soldiers of Belvania. There's no need for your brother to live with such fear"
"Yeah, but one day he'd be curious about how mother died, you know him, you how curious he can be. We can't keep this any longer from him"
"He's still young, when he's ready to know, we would tell him" Papa would always say when the subject was brought up.
Now, he won't just know what killed his mother, he would see it. And perhaps, it might just be the last thing he would ever see.
"AaaaCcchyyy, what on eeearth is tha-tha-that?!!!" Sensio gasped, his voice as cold as the winter snow.
At this moment, they were already a few blocks away from the gates. Achmed could see the village guards with fire torches yelling, calling and urging them to move faster. He knew they had to make it, it had to be one way or the other.
With the full moon above the village, an old man in an old cloak and a spear in hand ran amidst the crowd towards the gate.
"Please, don't shut the doors, my sons are out there!" he screamed.
The guards were astonished to see someone running towards the gates.
"Are you insane? Get back now!!" Yelled one of the guards.
The old man yanked the guards neck collar bringing the guard's face towards his and said, pointing towards the gate,
"I lost my wife to that thing out there. This time, I'm not going to lose my sons"
Sensio's feet froze the moment his gaze lighted upon the beast.
Achmed knew.
-"Oh no, not now, it's happening to him!"
-"Sensio, please snap out of it"
By this time, rivulets of tears had flooded Achmed's eye. He no longer could hide it. He knew now for sure that his brother was already doomed.
Before the guards could get a hold on the old man, he had already wriggled his way past them and made out through the narrow space between the two gigantic, metallic doors which were almost embracing each other now.
"He's surely done for" said one of the guards,
"He must be mad" said another.
The totality of Arkbah's life were his two sons.
What would he do without them?
After he lost his wife in that terrible incidence at the Nebua forest, his two sons were the only ray of hope he had for living.
"What would a father do?" He thought to himself as he ran towards the incoming boys.
"Would he watch his wife and his two sons get slaughtered right before his eyes? What coward father would do that? Yes, I know, I had once been a coward too, and I couldn't live with it, that time when I let my Lillita, oh, my lovely Lillita get torn to pieces by that thing. I couldn't forgive myself, yet I couldn't do anything. But now, an opportunity presents itself for me to make amends, and I would rather die than let this beast destroy the remain joy I have left in this world"
Achmed thought all hope was lost until he saw a man coming from the gates towards them with a spear in one hand and a fire torch in the other. Even with the circumstances and the thick air of death hovering around them,the young boy felt relieved that someone at least was coming to save them. When he looked closely, he noticed it was -
"Papa!"
Arkbah was now close to the boys.
Achmed's thought was that he was going to help them get in, that he would lead them in and the gates would be shut behind the beast, and that everyone would be safe.
Instead, he ran past them.
Arkbah dropped the fire torch which was in his left hand, and held the spear with both hands, in this manner, he approached the terror that sought to devour his remaining life, and with a somewhat cold manner, he shouted for all to hear,
"take care of your brother my boy, I love you both"
In an instant Achmed knew what Papa was about to do, he was trading his life for theirs.
He wanted to turn back.
He wanted to tell Papa that they were already close to safety, that he can turn back.
That there was no need for him to die.
But then, he remembered.
Papa had asked him sometime ago that, "if I and your brother were to be in danger, who would you save first?"
"I would fight off the danger with every force within me till the both of you are safe" was the answer he gave with a child-like spark in his eye. Arkbah smiled and with a pat on the boy's shoulder he said,
"Never try to be the hero, my dear child. Your brother comes first, then you, even before me"
"Never be the hero right?" He thought "Yeah, he must have seen this coming"
With tears in his eyes, and dragging along his frozen brother, who appeared to be quite transfixed and oblivious of what was going on, a state in which the wise men of the village called the 'sonar plane', he made his way towards the gates.
As soon they got to the gates, the guards pulled them in and immediately, the gates were closed and fastened.
There was an inevitable silence, to the point that one could hear the heartbeat and the breathe of the other if one was close enough.
Then came the voice of the old man screaming in pain as sounds of his bones cracking and his flesh being ripped off were heard from afar.
It lasted for a while,
And then silence.
Dead silence.