Taking the first step on his porch Atlai suddenly stopped. The thunder roared with unusual intensity sounding too close to be regarded as normal. But that is not what froze Atlai in one place, as a matter of fact he hardly noticed it. What caused his stillness was far more shocking, far more horrifying. Atlai felt himself standing on the edge of the fall, staring into abyss.
The faceless rider was looking at him and the very first desire Atlai felt was to run as far away from here as possible. The whispers of his instinct were drawing the horrible pictures of the future, pushing Atlai to leave and to take his bad luck with him. Yet, as strong as this desire was, something made him stay. Atlai was not afraid any more, he knew he should be, but he wasn’t. He felt he should be running, but he knew he wouldn’t.
A sudden flash of certainty that he lived this moment before, hit him. And in a weirdest way it was mixed with the vision of the army coming to destroy the village. It was as if someone put this knowledge inside his head and knowing who did it, left Atlai with no room for a doubt. But strangely he remained unaffected and seeing all his fears in a different light Atlai realized now that they are nothing but an illusion he created himself. He realized that fear in its essence was nothingness, existed only for the reason that a man allowed it to. And because of that its emptiness could never be filled.
Atlai’s fear ceased to exist in that instant. He could not see the faceless rider anymore. He raised his head up to the sky looking at the black formation that promised some nasty weather for tomorrow and taking a long breath Atlai turned to the front door of his house. Whatever bad news was coming he would deal with it. He couldn’t understand how the thought of running away ever entered his mind, he must have been crazy. No, he would stay and protect his loved ones. And whoever was insane enough to threaten his world, well… bad for them.
Atlai went inside to get his blades.
THE END