The Breath - Spooktober 2024 Entry

The Outbreak

The almost full moon shone brightly on the landlocked town of Romsey. It was a perfect night to walk through the streets, blow off some steam, and tire myself enough to fall asleep as soon as I hit the hay.

"Well met William, what brings you out here so late in the night?" I turn my head to the right, responding to the voice from the tavern's porch.

"Well met Hugh, just going for a walk. Care to join me?" Hugh was a good friend of mine and owned the tavern. They must have just closed for the night and sent the last stragglers on their merry way home.

"Why not, not feeling too tired right now, so I'll join ya till I do." He walked down the steps, and we continued walking down the now-empty street. We were quiet for a bit, just enjoying the night's cold.

"Got a destination?" Hugh asked. "Nay, just calming the mind till I feel calm enough to sleep till dawn. Busy night? Sorry I couldn't come down; the foragers invited me to dinner."

"Worry not, the mecenaries made your difference and more, so I lost no business." The mercenaries were staying here for the night, moving on in the morning to continue their travel to the capital in response to the king's request for muscle.

"Righto. Rowdy bunch?" I questioned. "Too true, though didn't cause as much trouble as I thought they would've." He paused to ponder a bit. "Their coin certainly made up for it though. Could pay for the tavern's ingredients for a week if I spent it well enough."

"Sounds like a pretty good night for you then?"

"Most definitely"

We walked in silence for a while longer.

BANG!

Unstartled, I turn to the right toward the noise to see a cat running full speed away from us.

Hugh wasn't so lucky to be unsurprised. "Seven Terrors that scared me!" He exclaimed. "How are you so unbothered?"

"You get used to loud bangs and crashes if you walk at night long enough."

Hugh shook his head and sighed as we continued to walk in silence. After 10 seconds or so, I noticed Hugh was breathing quite hard.

"Why are you breathing so hard? That cat really spook ya that hard?" I asked quizically.

"Huh? Didn't even notice it," He said, confused. "Don't think I was that spooked."

We continued walking a bit longer, but Hugh breathed harder and harder.

Concerned, I asked, "You need to sit down for a bit scaredy-cat? Your breathing only gets harder and harder as we walk."

"I think I might need to." Concern crept into his voice, which seemed to increase the heaviness of his breath even more. I helped him sit down on the side of the road. "I wasn't even scared by it that much, just a bit startled. It's not like I'm that unfit either. Am I dying?" He truly looked scared as he said this.

"No, you're not dying, you can't be. As you said, you're healthy, nothing wrong with ya." I started to panic a bit and stood up. "Look, I'll go get some help ok. Just stay there for a bit and try to calm yourself as much as you can." I turned around to start running to the nearest house.

As soon as I made this move, I heard his breathing stop. Concerned, I quickly turned around in time to see Hugh laid out, face down on the ground, unmoving. "Hugh?! Hugh! Get back up, Hugh," I exclaimed as I ran towards him to see if he was alive.

"Come on, Hugh. Please wake up!" Scared, I lifted and turned him over so I could check his breathing. I almost dropped him out of fear as I saw his face strained beyond belief, with veins showing all around his face. I realised it looked like he was still straining as if to keep releasing air out of his lungs. I checked to see if he was breathing by placing my fingers under his nose.

I found nothing.

Confused and scared, I stared at his face for a bit longer. After about 20 seconds, I snapped out of it and went to stand up to find someone to help. Before I did so, I noticed my heavy breathing and tried to calm myself down a bit more so that I could speak with whoever I talk with.

My breathing only gets heavier...

And heavier...

And heavier...

The heavier my breathing gets, the more panicked and scared I get, which only adds to the heaviness of my breath. Tears start running down my face as I realise I might soon be joining Hugh, the same cause of death written on our reports.

After ten more seconds of desperately trying to calm myself down, all the air in my lungs suddenly exits my body, and after falling to the ground in pain, my body still tries to expel more and more air.

Despite the bright light the moon shines down on this town, darkness seems to cover my eyes as I lose consciousness. In the last moments of my far too short life, I see a figure running towards me. Whether it was the Grim Reaper himself or a townsperson who saw me collapse on the ground, I would never know the answer.

...

The Sealing

"Captain Richard! We just received news from the Pre-cog's." I wouldn't say I liked using the Pre-cogs, but their usefulness certainly couldn't be doubted. "Seems the outbreak started just before midnight with two men on the outskirts of the town." So, about 9 hours ago. Seems pretty fast for a large town like Romsey to be wiped out. Must be the work of a powerful curse, maybe an area type.

"They say what happened? Or just when it started?" Asking for details from the Pre-cogs was necessary as they never willingly gave up information, even for potentially world-ending events.

"Yes, after some rather exasperated questioning for sure, but yes." They don't know how not to be difficult. "They say that one of the two men was cursed to expel all the air from their lungs, which then seemed to spread to everyone else in town as they came close to those it happened to."

"That's not good at all. Has anyone from the outside gone in since then? If yes, make sure they stay there for the time being." Letting them back out won't do us any good if we're dealing with a contagion-type curse. "Also, get the barrier makers to set up some filter barriers around the whole town in case it's an air-born type."

"No one has been in, but one has come out. She has been cleared for any curses and seems safe, but we are keeping her isolated for now." I wonder why she wasn't cursed. Maybe she had a blessing that gave her some resistance. "I'll go get the barriers sorted now. Any response from the church? They'd be a great help with the barriers and curse removal."

"They're sending Archbishop Levi, which will be a great help." Archbishop Levi is known as one of the greatest curse killers in the church. When dealing with curses that can kill a whole town, no one else can provide better help. "Just before you go, they say anything about what caused it?" It almost slipped my mind, but knowing that might be helpful.

"They were pretty vague about it," He said exasperated, "but they did notice the two men and all of the people they saw visions of were all packing and breathing very heavily before they died. I'll be off now."

"I'll get you to explain the situation to the archbishop when he gets here. Good luck with the barriers." He saluted before he ran off the barrier makers.

I sighed loudly. Time to wait for the archbishop, I guess. There's not much else I can do in the meantime except make sure the curse doesn't spread. I could come up with a name for the curse. Large-scale curses like this were usually given a name. Sometimes, naming it gave curse killers an easier way to seal or eliminate a curse if a name was attached to it.

What about The Breath? Considering how they all died from expelling the air from their lungs, it seems like a fitting thing to name It.

"The Breath it is." I said out loud to no one in particular.