Fire, blood, burning houses, and red eyes watching me from among them. I can’t understand what is happening here.

“What happened?” I said. I stood frozen in place, watching what was unfolding. “Who is he or what is it?” Thoughts of the figure lying on the ground spun around in my head; after all, it was Hans. What happened to him? Finally, I realized. This creature with red eyes is a demon.

“In ancient times, before people even understood who they were, one night a huge star began to fall from the sky, illuminating it. It seemed as if it were showing off its beauty, splitting into five colors: red, green, white, yellow, and blue. Each of them was unique. Stones fell to various parts of the world. They lay on the ground for a long time. Over time, everything around them began to change. People too were affected differently by these stones. They altered their appearances. But this was not the only change. Many acquired something that could be called magic. For some, it led to the loss of their humanity, meaning that what has scared people until now gave birth to demons, vampires, and other creatures. This caused people to unite. Not long after, they built a vast empire that included five kingdoms. And the 'First Emperor’ drove away the creatures, thus ensuring peace in the world. 'Attu, when you grow up, you will be just as powerful, my son.'”

Attu tossed and turned in his bed, thinking about how he had seen this dream repeatedly. After a moment of thinking, he tied a blindfold around his eyes and got up. Since childhood, he had been wearing a blindfold, not because he wanted to, but because his mother said so, yet he could still see the things around him, even with his eyes closed. He left his room and walked towards the kitchen. A sweet aroma wafted from the kitchen. His mother was preparing breakfast.

Attu came in.

“Good morning, Mother,” he said.

His mother replied, “May it be a good morning for you too! Come and sit down.” She placed the food she had prepared on the table. She sensed something was wrong as she looked at her son's face and asked,

“What’s wrong? Why does your face look sad?”

Attu replied, “Everything’s fine; I just had a bad dream again. It was the same dream.”

His mother responded, “Did your father appear in your dream again? How many times have I told you, your father hasn’t left us. He just went away on business.”

Attu: “If that's the case, it's been six years since then, and they still haven't returned. You don’t even know if they are alive!” he shouted.

His mother burst into tears in her seat and said, “It's true, I don’t know what he is busy with now or where he is. But I trust your father; he will definitely come back.”

Seeing his mother in this state, Attu apologized to her: “Forgive me. I shouted at you. I ruined your mood,” and he wiped away her tears.

His mother said, “I wanted to give you a gift for your birthday.”

Attu: “Really? What is it?”

His mother took a necklace from around her neck, unclasped it, and put it around Attu’s neck.

Attu: “Mom, this is a women’s necklace.”

His mother: “No, just take a look first,” she said.

Attu looked at the necklace around his neck. It had two interlocking rings and two diamonds crossed within them. It was definitely a ring that a man would wear. Curiously, Attu asked:

Attu: “Where did you get this?”

His mother replied, “Your father gave it to me as a gift for my birthday. Now I’m giving it to you as a gift.”

Attu: “Why exactly a man’s necklace?”

His mother: “That day your father forgot it was my birthday. Since he didn’t give me anything, he gifted me this,” she said, smiling. “The next day, he brought me a bracelet.”

Attu: “Mom, how did you meet my father?”

His mother: “Um, let’s talk about that later; the food might get cold.”

Attu thought that his mother always avoided this question. Until now, she had never answered it. With this thought in mind, he pondered for a while and then ate.

Attu: “Mom, your food is as delicious as always,” he complimented.

His mother: “Thank you! Since today is your birthday, I’ll prepare amazing food for you. But we’ve run out of firewood; could you go and bring some?”

Attu, happy, replied: “Sure,” and finished his meal. After eating, he took a stick and set off. Their house was on the outskirts of the village but opposite the forest. On his way, he saw the village elder, Hans.

Hans was around 30 years old, yet he managed the village. He had previously studied at a fencing school but had to return to the village due to his father’s early death to take over his father's place, so he couldn’t finish the fencing school. He always carried two swords with him. Attu respected him. When Hans saw Attu, he greeted him.

Hans: “Hello, little one. Where are you going with a stick bigger than you?”

Attu: “It’s not that big; it fits me. Besides, I’m not small anymore; I’ve grown up. Today I turned 12.”

Hans: “So you’re saying you’re a man? You still have a long way to go to become a man. When you can take responsibility for yourself and protect others, then you’ll be a man. Oh, you young man.”

Attu: “Today is my birthday!”

Hans: “Well, well, when you came here, you didn’t even know who you were. Now look at you; you’re a young man.”

Happy with his words, Attu picked up his stick and headed to the forest. Just then, something came to Hans's mind, and he shouted to Attu, “Be careful; don’t go near the river!” Attu nodded in agreement.

As Attu entered the forest, he began to gather dry branches, making it easier to carry the firewood he had collected. Thinking he could gather a bit more, he started chopping the wood again when suddenly a branch cut his hand.

A little way from where he stood, a river was flowing; he decided to go to the river’s edge to wash his hand. Around the river, there were various pieces of wood and debris. The day before, there had been a flood that had brought all those things along. He untied the bandage around his hand to wash away the blood.

After washing his face and lifting his head, he noticed something shiny in the water. He could see it shimmering beneath the surface. When he picked it up, he realized it was a red-colored crystal. Attu didn’t understand what it was at first, but then he thought about how valuable it might be. He jumped with joy. Afterward, he started searching around the spot where he found that stone to see if there were more like it.

After half an hour of searching the water, he found five colorful stones. Attu was delighted and imagined how happy his mother would be if he brought them to her. Just then, he heard a tinkling sound from the stones in his hands. Attu looked to see if anything happened to the stones when suddenly cracks appeared in them, and tiny dust-like particles got into his eyes.

He clutched his eyes and screamed in pain. Blood started to flow from his eyes, and he tried to open them to see where he was going, but everything appeared red. Struggling to endure the pain, he took a couple of steps and then lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Attu began to feel unwell. He opened his eyes; there was still pain in them, but everything around him started to look different. He looked around and saw that he was in his room, sitting on his bed. His mother entered the room.

His mother: “Are you alright? You scared me! What happened?”

Attu: “How did I end up here?”

His mother: “Hans brought you. You had been gone for quite a while, so I went to find Hans to see if he knew where you were. He told me you had gone toward the river. Together, we went looking for you. Seeing you unconscious, Hans lifted you up and brought you back. He said he would come back tomorrow to check on you. What happened?”

Attu recounted everything that had happened. After listening to him, his mother asked:

Mother: “Are you feeling okay now? Is your eye alright? Tomorrow we will go to see the healer.”

Attu knew very well who the healer was because the last time he went to the healer for a cold and cough, the tea she had given him felt much better than any medication he had received for his illness. She said the healing herbs she provided were effective, and he wouldn’t cough anymore. And so it was; thanks to the herbs the healer had given him, Attu was able to recover. Indeed, as the healer had said, he no longer coughed or even sneezed because he knew what would happen if he exerted himself too much, which is why he ended up spending nearly a whole day in the bathroom. When his mother mentioned the healer, a vision of a person holding a full pouch of poison came to his mind.

Attu: “I’m fine, I’m fine; everything is perfectly alright. If I just get a bit of sleep, it will pass. We don’t need to see the healer. Don’t worry, I’m fine!”

Mother: “I might call her just in case”

Attu: “I’m telling you everything is okay.”

Mother: “Then fine.”

Attu: “By the way, what time is it?”

Mother: “It’s already night”

Attu was amazed that he had been lying there unconscious for so long.

Mother: “Then get some good rest. If you need anything, just tell me” With that, she left the room.

Attu lay down on his bed and went to sleep. After a while, he started to hear various cries and sobbing. He even tried to cover his ears to ignore the sounds, but they wouldn’t let him sleep. The noises sounded like a scary nightmare to him. Eventually, he realized that the sounds were coming from the village.

When he got up to see what was happening, he went outside and saw that there was a fire in the village. As he reached the main street of the village, he saw that everywhere houses were on fire, and women, children, and men were lying dead, while some terrifying dogs were raiding the lifeless bodies. To his horror, he also saw a red-eyed demon staring at him. Fear and terror mixed on his face.

(Morning)

Three hours after Attu had met with Hans, a young man rushed over to him.

Young man: “Hans, Hans!”

Hans: “What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?”

Young man: “The demon has attacked the neighboring village! What are we going to do?”

Hans: “This is serious. We need to warn everyone in the village; no one should go outside tonight and gather as many young men as possible.”

The young man ran back toward the village. Just as Hans was about to leave, Attu’s mother arrived.

Hans: “Hello, Aurora.”

Aurora: “Hello. Hans, have you seen Attu? He’s been gone for a long time” she said anxiously.

Hans: “He went to the river to gather firewood this morning. Has he not returned? Should I help you search for him?”

Aurora: “Yes, that would be helpful!”

Hans and Aurora set off toward the river together.

Hans: “If you can avoid it, don’t go outside tonight; a demon has crossed the border and attacked a village near us”

Aurora: “Demons can’t cross the border, can they? How could that happen?”

Hans: “I don’t know for sure. Sometimes demons do manage to cross the border. I don’t know if they’re coming our way or heading elsewhere. One thing I do know is that we need to prepare well for our safety,” he said, thinking that demons can’t roam during the day, which gives them time to prepare.

They walked for a while before reaching the river. As they approached, Aurora saw Attu lying there and panicked, shouting, “My son!” before running over in tears. Hans, upon seeing Attu, thought he had been attacked by a wild animal and looked around. There were no signs of any animals nearby, and there was no blood around Attu either.

They rushed over to him, and upon seeing the blood streaming from Attu’s eyes, Aurora became even more frightened. Hans checked for a pulse by feeling Attu’s neck. He sensed a faint pulse and felt a bit relieved. Then he opened Attu’s eyes. Seeing them made Hans fear for a moment, but he didn’t let Aurora notice. Hans thought, “What is this? What kind of eyes are these?” He had never seen Attu without his usual brightness before. While holding Attu, he noticed something else. There was a strange energy emanating from Attu’s body. This was something he had experienced when he had met a sorcerer back in the academy. But in Attu, it felt much stronger and more chaotic.

Inside, Hans thought, “This is not the time for this. Aurora needs to collect herself; she’s in a panic right now. We can talk about it later when she’s calmed down.” He picked Attu up and started walking with Aurora towards their home.

Gans:

“Aurora, he’s just unconscious; I don’t know what happened to his eyes, but his condition is good. We just need to wait for him to regain consciousness. Then we’ll find out what happened”

Aurora:

“What should we do now? We need to call the healer; he can do something”

Gans:

“The healer isn’t in the village right now; he went to the mountains to gather medicinal herbs this morning. He won’t be back anytime soon”

Aurora:

“Then what can we do?”

Gans:

“Everything will be fine. We just need to wait for him to come to, that’s all”

They arrived home and laid Attu down in his place. Aurora held her son’s hand and couldn’t stop crying. Gans placed his hand on Aurora’s shoulder and said, “Pull yourself together; everything’s fine. He just needs to rest. When the healer returns, I’ll tell him to come check on Attu. Stop crying”

Aurora, still sobbing:

“I can’t!”

Gans:

“Alright, I’m going now. I’ll come back tomorrow and check on Attu,” he said as he left.

Aurora sat in front of her son for a long time, not eating anything, waiting for him to open his eyes. During this time, she gradually calmed down. Seeing that night was falling, she thought that if her son woke up, he would need something to eat, so she went outside to prepare some food. Meanwhile, Gans was busy organizing preparations in the village. Night fell and it turned into dawn. Gans assigned the young men to take shifts, two at a time. Quite some time passed, and there was about an hour left until sunrise. The village’s young men almost didn’t sleep that night.

Two of the young men on watch:

“Eh, when will I get married?” .

The other replied:

“At this rate, definitely not this year. You better get a torch ready. Things don’t look good out there,” they continued chatting like this.

As they were passing through the main entrance of the village, they heard the howling of a dog from outside the village. The two stopped. One of the young men said:

“Hey, did you hear that sound?”

The other replied:

“Yeah, it sounded like a dog howling”

As soon as he said this, a spear flew and hit the young man. The spear struck the young man’s head, and in that moment, he died. The first young man, unable to understand what had happened, looked at his friend who had fallen to the ground, not turning to the direction the spear had come from. Out of the darkness, a huge dog charged at the young man. The dog looked massive and terrifying, its teeth were that of a monstrous creature. When it bit the young man, he screamed as loud as he could. The villagers heard this. In the main street of the village, the young men gathered and grasped whatever they could find. A pack of giant dogs began to enter the village; Gans remembered the name of these dogs — they were the hellish Baskerville hounds.