-Oh benevolent mother of the earth, let my prayers be heard, for I thank you for this wonderful day and all that is to come, let rivers stream with clear water and plants grow ripe with fruit, as I thank you for taking care of us your children, oh benevolent mother of the earth, watch over us and protect us from the difficulties yet to come as your blessing will strengthen our spirits, standing firm and unyielding like the foot of a mountain in a winter storm.
I prayed, kneeling with one foot down and cupping my hands together, I prayed within a abandoned church belonging to the earth mother which was also my former home, or at least what was left of it as it was in rubbles with the wind freely blowing in from all sides making it feel even more desolate and abandoned then it already was.
The only thing that was still miraculously intact was the statue of the earth mother that symbolized the churches faith.
The head priest who had taught me had on few occasions described to me how the earth mother looked, she had dark hair reaching all the way down to her waist, standing upright with a beautiful body, plump curves and generous bosom, wearing a brown robe, her arms were crossed onto her chest while looking down, but most importantly a snow white strip of cloth hid her eyes, just like my own the eyes of the earth mother were blind.
In the scriptures it was said that the reason the earth mother is blind is because she gave up her sight for the sake of the happiness of her children, her children being all life on earth itself not just humans but also birds and trees, it is a nice tale describing how parents would go to any lengths to ensure the happiness of their children, unfortunately not all parents thought that way at least my own experience told me as much.
In the past praying used to be a activity I did every morning and every night, for as long as an hour I prayed to the earth mother, but nowadays I found myself only doing it every morning and only for 10 minutes, without the head priest around I found it difficult to do it more then I needed to but I still forced myself to do it even if I found it useless, if just for the sake of the head priest who took me in all those years ago when I was abandoned on the footsteps of this very church that was in ruins.
I was not particularly religious either, not now not then, the only reason I ever prayed was because the head priest who took me in since birth taught me to and because I always felt like I owed the old man for taking a blind infant like me under his wing, I did what he told me to and started praying, studying the scriptures of the church and doing most of the menial work like cleaning and cooking.
Even though I was blind it is amazing what a person can do even without sight, at least thats what the old man told me and praised me for, the head priest who taught me everything I knew, he taught me how to clean and how to cook, my first few attempts were disastrous, I broke a few things and made a horrendous meal that tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before, It was miserable and I was only 6 years old back then when I first started out.
But no matter how many mistakes I made or how much I messed up, the old man or rather the head priest never got angry at me or scolded me, he only told me to keep trying and do my best, he kept me motivated and soon I found myself doing better and better, step by step.
Soon enough I had become a decent chef, I learned more and more about food which became my passion and my goal in life, and because I cleaned so much I also became more familiar with movement and judging where I and something else was through sound and vibration.
I couldn’t run without hitting my head or ramming into something obviously, but I became good enough to not stumble on something while walking, studying the scriptures was also very interesting with stories, legends and myths that kept me entertained, I read the books in braille, surprisingly the church had two separate scriptures meant for people with sight and people who were blind like me.
Back then I didn’t think much of it, it was only after I went through over 326 books as thick as a 3 fingers did I come to realize how much it must have cost to print these books since the church wasn’t exactly wealthy nor popular like christianity or bhuddhism.
Half of the books told simple stories and fables about the world and sometimes recounted the adventures of exceptional people who had done deeds somewhat related to the church, while the other half had disciplines and practical knowledge such as medicine and healing in them that had to do with the occupation of a priest back in the day, while not so much nowadays in the modern age of smartphones and planes.
A notable aspect of these books and scriptures were the occasional and bizarre pages entirely dedicated to mysterious symbols, these symbols ranged from circles, squares, triangles, pentagons, hexagons and octagons to a combination of all six and sometimes even small inscription within the symbols or a part of them, no symbol that I had felt was ever the same making all of them unique and whats even weirder is the fact that these pages were completely random as to where they were going to be placed within the book.
Sometimes when I read a story I would randomly find one of these pages when turning to the next page of the story, the symbols for all I knew had nothing to do with the story or books itself or had any descriptions on them as to their purpose, again turning to the next page the story would continue as normal making the random pages even more bizarre.
One time I even asked the old man what these random pages with symbols were all about, and while I couldn’t see it I knew that the old man was smiling at me since he always makes this unique snort when making a smile, only that time the smile felt like it had a greater meaning to it then I initially thought.
-These pages huh…well I knew you were going to ask me someday about these little Todd, and to be honest even I don’t really know the purpose or meaning of these symbols, I also asked the head priest back in the day, but the only thing he told me was that someday the meaning and purpose of these symbols would become clear to me…which they haven’t, but know this little Todd don’t be too obsessed about these symbols, they may hold great meaning to our church, but as long as you follow the doctrines and disciplines of our faith, then it doesn’t matter what these symbols are or mean, devotion is all you need and with devotion comes enlightenment, who knows maybe one day you will understand on your own, but come to think of it, maybe there is something I could tell you…well its something the head priest of my time taught me hehe !
The old man carried on, teaching me the exact same thing the previous head priest taught him, he showed me a breathing technique that I could use to clear my head, I was 10 back then, the technique itself was surprisingly quite effective at making my head feel cool, it always felt as if I ate a fresh mint whenever I did the breathing technique, it was sort of addictive to the point I did it on a regular bases and since I was blind it was also a good way to kill time whenever I had nothing to do or wasn’t in the mood to do anything, I advanced so much within this breathing technique that I was even able to enter a deep meditative state in it.
After wards life went on as always, doing my routine of praying, cooking, cleaning, reading, and again praying days past.
Because the church was located near a farming village far away from the city, visitors rarely came to visit if at all, I also didn’t have any friends my age as most kids didn’t want to play with the blind kid when I was young which didn’t change even when I became a 16, the head priest once asked me if I wanted to go to school and even encouraged me to go out, I was excited at first but after seriously thinking about it and realizing how difficult it would be for the old man and how I most likely wasn’t going to make any friends with my blindness, I declined.
The head priest was troubled by my rejection but mostly likely understood from where I came from and could only begrudgingly accept my decision, but be it as it may he didn’t give up, always trying to find a new way for me to go out and make friends the head priest would always come up with a scheme every week, it got to the point that it almost seemed as if the head priest tried to get rid of me, but I knew it wasn’t like that, the head priest simply wanted me to be happy.
And he did succeed.
Together with him I was happy.
I smiled, the smile showing half gratitude and half regret.
-Its getting quite cold, since I finished praying I think its time for me to work, there is still a lot for me to do after all.
I stood up, finished with reminiscing the past I turned back towards the exit and made my way out, of course I was technically already “Outside” since there were no walls or roofs on this church anymore but I still liked to pretend as if the church wasn’t ruined or broken as it was today.
It made me feel as if that day had never come.
(GRYAAAHHH!)
A loud inhumane beastly cry came forth the moment I stepped outside the church, snapping my head instantly towards the direction of where the sound came from, my brows furrowed as I made a distressed face knowing what had made that sound.
-It’s a Windigo !? But the sun had just come out ! Doesn’t it normally hunt at night ?!
Those kinds of words came out of my mouth as I immediately acted quickly and composedly walked to the back of the church while taking care not to stumble on anything.
Luckily since I was already familiar with the layout and walked these paths numerous times I could afford a light jog as I reached the wooden doors of a cellar behind the church which was used to house dried foods and store scriptures of the church, the cellar had also become my new home ever since the apocalypse ravaged the world a year ago.
Yes, you heard me right the apocalypse.
(Creak)
Not taking any chances I immediately entered the cellar and locked it up, even though the wooden doors of this cellar would do nothing to stop the claws of a Windigo, my purpose wasn’t to stop it but rather to mislead it, the cry of the Windigo while far away gave me a enough information to know how far exactly it was and since the Windigo mainly relied on its incredible sense of smell to locate its prey, entering the cellar was the most optimal thing to do since it was used to store dried foods giving the cellar a intense smell that normally didn’t make the Windigo want to enter, up until now it was always because of the cellar that I was able to avoid the Windigo’s in the night from smelling my presence, but now that there was one that came out in the middle of the day, I was simply not sure anymore what to do…
The only thing I could do was wait for a few hours and hope the Windigo would leave, but after thinking about it some more I realized that now that a Windigo came out at day time so could many others be roaming around at day making me only feel even more nervous then I already was.
In the end my fear only increased the more I thought about my situation and the inevitable predicament that I would be if this continued on from now on, despair started envelope my heart, but I forced it away and made a deep breath, using the breathing technique the old man had taught me when I was young my mind cleared, letting me taste a refreshing mint like breath coming through my lungs.
-Hahhh…calm down Todd, calm down, panicking is not going to do you good, besides you already have enough food to last you for a year, it will be fine, you can wait this out after a year, everything will be okay…
I reassured myself, not the most confident of words I could tell myself but enough to keep me going and not get a mental breakdown.
Even though I could still hear the howls of the Windigo entering the gaps of the cellar door from far away, I forced myself to ignore them, throwing a small piece of dried meat into my mouth I quickly picked up a book that I already read before and tried to distract myself from the outside chewing on the dried meat.
Today I was originally going to go out and scavenge for supplies, mainly for fruits and vegetables that I could dry, since the church was near a farming village things such as fruit trees and vegetables grew abundant here.
The nearest city was 3 days away on foot and ever since the apocalypse happened a year ago I had never left the church or more precisely the cellar for a long amount of time or even remotely far away out of fear of my life.
-…(sigh) I can’t do it…
I mumbled, holding the book within my hands I tried my hardest to not think about the past but failed to do so, without the mood to read anymore I put the book back to where it was and slowly walked to my makeshift bed, searching for something, I fumbled near my pillow before finally finding what I was looking for pulling out a long knife that I formerly used to cut meat but now used as a self defense weapon.
-Heh..
Well, not like I ever be able to use it as such…at least not against those monsters.
I thought to myself, raising the blade I touched the wall next to me feeling the shallow cuts engraved onto the stone wall I counted those cuts, each cut representing a day as it was my own little calendar I used to tell how long it has been since the apocalypse and what date it was now.
It took me a few minutes to correctly count every cut before I finally was able to calculate everything.
-Its…the 3th of may…exactly 1 year and 3 days..coincidentally its also my birthday…I forgot…I am turning 20 today, well happy birthday me I guess.
I hummed, silently singing the birthday song to myself as I remembered the day everything came down and the apocalypse began, the screaming that day was nothing short of horrifying to me, the distinct smell of blood and smoke was something I couldn’t get out of my mind even now and most especially it was also the day I lost the most important person in my life.
The head priest or rather the old man.
-Head priest ! Where are you taking me ?! Whats going on ! Why is everyone shouting and where is that smoke coming from ?! Please answer me !
I remembered shouting hysterically in fear, never before having felt so helpless because of my blindness as the head priest dragged me off in the middle of the night when the screaming and havoc began, the entire time he hadn’t said anything other then to get up and get a move on.
I was dubious about what was going on and asked the priest what was happening, but he wouldn’t tell me and instead told me to shut it and come with him, I did what he said, finally reaching the cellar he shoved me in before telling me with his rough old voice.
-Listen Todd, no matter what, and I need you to promise me to not matter what, not open this cellar until your hear no sound, no matter who or what it is, do not open this door to anyone you understand !?
It was the first time the old man sounded so very harsh, bewildered the only thing I could do was nod my head telling him.
-Yes…
The old man smiled, doing his signature snort that came with his smile, he once again returned to the gentle old man that I knew, even with all this terrible screaming and crashing at the background his voice alone was soft and gentle making me feel safe.
-Good, Todd your’re a good boy, you have a lot of potential and I know you will do great things in the future, so remember my boy, don’t give up on yourself no matter what happens, you may be blind but that doesn’t mean your worth any less then the others, no, you’re even more valuable then you think my boy, promise me will you ?
-Yes…I..I promise fath..I mean head priest..
I sniffled, barely keeping my tears from rolling and almost calling him my father which I knew he didn’t like, not because he didn’t see me as his son or disliked me but because he insisted that a son should only call someone their father when they are connected by blood, when he adopted me this was the very first rule he had taught me when I was old enough to understand, it is why I only call him old man or head priest.
-Good, its good that you promised, remember my boy, a man doesn’t break his promises…so don’t worry I promise that we’ll see each other again, so my boy stay safe alright ?
I didn’t reply, merely nodding my head in sadness and confusion, I heard the old man closing the cellar door before telling me to lock the door which I did finally leaving me in the cold cellar by myself.
What followed was quite honestly the most horrible moment of my life.
The shouting and crying outside continued for hours, sometimes I would hear inhumane cries and howls, other times explosion would occur, gunshots would be fired, and sometimes someone would even bang on the cellar door crying for help or demanding me to open up.
Each time I heard the pleas of help I would hesitate and even feel tempted to open the doors to help those people, but as soon as I was about to do so the memory of the old man would pop up and the promise I had made with him, stopping me from opening the door and only making feel guiltier by my inability to act.
I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t move, shutting my ears I bitterly cried each time someone banged the cellar door and begged for help, the guilt in my chest only weighed heavier when the crying or shouting was no more and only the sound of grotesque chewing and tearing could be heard with the occasional inhuman grunting of a beast.
But miraculously I was still able to sleep, my fear and anxiety making me feel tired the entire night I fell asleep seamlessly before ultimately waking up the next day, the birds chirping like usually, I raised my body thinking that maybe I just had a terrible nightmare and that everything was alright.
Unfortunately I was wrong, waking up on top of the cold stone floor of the cellar and smelling the intense smell of the dried food I knew that what happened yesterday was not a dream, I cried coming to this realization but it didn’t last as I forced myself to calm down and get on my feet.
The first few hours were intense, I had no clue as to what the hell was going on, It all just happened so suddenly, no news and no warnings, electronics such as a television or a computer connected to the internet were present in the church and were used regularly to listen to news or music everyday, but even then no warning was present to prepare me or anyone to something like this.
To me it was as if the peaceful world I once knew had turned into hell over night, I sat next to the cellar for 2 hours making sure there was no sound before finally cautiously opening the doors, upon doing so the first thing I noticed being the pungent and horrible smells that enveloped me the moment I opened the doors, which I hadn’t noticed since the cellar was so smelly to begin with.
Blood.
I remember audibly swallowing because of the deep and horrid smell of blood when I came outside, it froze me in place and made me want to gag but I stopped and composed myself using my breathing technique I kept my head cool only to lose it again as soon as I took a step outside feeling a mushy, cold wet solid beneath my bare feet.
-Hiahhh !
I stumbled forward crying pathetically, getting on all fours I panted like I had ran a marathon with my heart beating like a drum, it took me 20 minutes to calm down and 10 minutes to keep myself from running back into the cellar, I had no idea as to what I had stepped on but trying to find my bearing I plucked up my courage and touched my foot feeling the nauseating slimy substance on my finger I put it close to nose and smelled.
-This…its blood more blood…
A cold shiver ran down my spine, thinking about what I must have stepped in just now I could only keep me stomach from churning and force myself not to throw up, for the first time in my life I had been glad that I was blind, because if I hadn’t been blind my mental fortitude wouldn’t have been nearly as strong as it been now, there existed a lot of things people shouldn’t see and the thing I had stepped on is one of those things better left unseen.
I gagged, hammering my chest I slowly crawled back to the cellar not wanting to stay outside anymore longer, I took extra precaution to not touch whatever it was that was near the cellar door, getting closer I was about to reach it until I heard.
(Grrrowhhh)
The sound made me freeze in place, my mind blank, I looked towards the direction of the sound unconsciously, only then I had realized that it was a mistake, opening my mouth was also a mistake which ultimately drove me to abandon everything and quickly crawl back to the cellar, on the way I once again made the mistake of touching the wet mush of blood but this time completely disregarding it before stumbling into the cellar and frantically closing the doors locking it.
At the same time I could hear the swift charging of something coming my way, I cupped my hands and closed my mouth trying to hide the sound of my breathing breathing in the thick blood that was stuck to my hand, I cooped up into a ball near the corner like a small child.
I listened and listened, the running becoming louder and louder ultimately reaching the cellar doors grazing it with its body as it made a startling sound like nails going down a chalk board.
At the time only one thought came to mind when I heard it.
I am going to die.
But as fate had it things didn’t go as I thought.
The sound left just as it came, I stayed for another 4 hours within the corner scared like nothing else until I was finally convinced that I wasn’t going to do die, but it took until the next morning or another day before I finally got the courage to open the cellar one more time.
And when I did.
I realized.
The mushy wet bloody pile of something was gone.
That thing, had took it away.
A Place Of Legends 
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