Intuneric
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You can be told not to do something. Maybe you won’t, but there is an urge, an irresistible urge to proceed with it, despite anything said. You cannot learn from other’s mistakes. Even if that mistake was fatal.
Tyler had been sitting leisurely at the time, tediously stacking pins in the squalid hut he called his home. His father was away in the forest, and he had been told to not leave the house, and specifically to not chase after him. He’d been told it was dangerous in the forest, that a boy had disappeared there six years ago, but that was surely just a myth, a rumour.
A small ball smashed into the wall, spreading shattered glass, which flew into the room. A howl of pain emitted from Tyler as scarlet liquid began to paint the floor. He staggered to the counter, which held a cloth, with which he wiped his leg. His leg had been pierced by shards, but the cloth soaked up the blood.
His father had told him there was a herb shop nearby that could sooth any pain, so naturally, Tyler tried to ignore the pain and head toward it. He arrived, and inside, he saw many vividly coloured plants, and pots of foreign berries, new to him. He turned to the women behind the desk, and asked for a herb for his pain. “Of course, it is in the forest over yonder, go and collect some, it is in the west.” She spoke with confidence, and Tyler failed to acknowledge the fact that she hadn’t given a description of the herb, but never the less, he headed off to start his journey, forgetting to heed the warning he had been told.
It was more blissful in the forest than his father had claimed, so he delved deeper and westward until he spotted an alluring plant that he thought must’ve been the herb. As he reached, his hand was grabbed, and looking up in shock, he saw an old man, who snickered, “This here herb is mine, if you want it, buy it from there.” He gestured toward a town, which Tyler remembered from a sign to be called Intuneric. His father had mentioned it once, but he had been secretive.Courageous and slightly foolhardy, he started to begin his trek there, when the old man smirked, but Tyler, being a naive boy, did not understand.
When he entered Intuneric, he saw it as a normal town, people hurrying from all directions, and stalls littering the streets. He asked one of the men leaving the town where to go for the herbs, and was directed through the foggy, winding paths of the town. He sensed no danger, and without any anxiety, he walked into the shop.
Behind the counter was a young, cloaked man, who demanded him come to the back of the shop. Tyler, used to serving and helping his father, obeyed. The first person that came back was a man in a jet black coat, who led him into a hall, and as he stepped in, he heard the sound of a key slotting into place. He was locked in. He looked up, anxiously, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Children being sent for errands by a tall, broad man in a white mask. He watched in terror, as one of them was whipped maliciously, due to their slow performance.