It was a windy and cold night, dimly lit by a bonfire.
It was surrounded by little children, who sang and played games. Their laughs echoed into the dark night as they were being scrutinized by the gazes of their parents.
As some children played games, there were those who were in a circle and listened to the tales of the old.
A sparkling light in their eyes as they heard the creation story of the world, and learnt of its mysteries.
Just a little bit away from the crowd. In the embrace of the darkness, two people are seated closely together. One was old, and the other was quite young.
The little child stared at the other children as they played. A little smile grew on his face, but just as fast as it came, so did it vanish.
"Grandma, why don't I get to play with the other children?" the little child asked, as his expression turned darker.
His grandma turned her gaze towards him, her eyes filled with affection.
"Well, because you are different," she said with a smile.
"Different?" the little child repeated the words. His mind tried to understand her words, as his eyes darted between himself and the children to see what she meant.
The child's face began to turn puzzled. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand her words.
As he was really no different from them, maybe just a little smaller, but the height difference wasn't that much.
The little child began to move closer into her embrace, his little fingers wrapped around hers as he nagged her for answers.
"So, how am I different?" the child asked as he pulled at her wrinkled fingers.
She slipped her fingers away from his grip and reached out to him. Her hands went round and took him up. She then placed him on her lap.
"Well, because you are gifted and they aren't."
His expression just turned blank, and as she saw this, she began to smile.
His grandma now placed her hand on his head and patted him slowly.
"You are gifted, my little Klaus, and some people don't like that. Even the heavens fear those whose fate they can't control."
She brought his head close to her chest, as her head rested on his.
"You are a god amongst men, and they... they fear that," she spoke softly as the wind carried her voice into the cold night.
******
Drip!!!
Drip!!!
This sound echoed into the quiet night. A sulfuric smell filled the air, accompanied by ashes. Little crackling sounds could be heard here and there.
All these came from the village that had just been razed to the ground. The flames made sure to lick every building within sight. In the midst of all this chaos, a man stood.
His gaze was fixed on something, but it wasn't on the buildings that had just been razed to the ground, nor the pool of blood that had been formed on the ground. It was on something else entirely.
His eyes followed the trail of blood as it dripped down a stake. His hands shook as he stared at what was on the stake. No words could be spoken as the tears freely rolled down his cheeks.
Blood slowly drained from his face as he gradually turned pale. Before him was the whole village, which had just been impaled.
Both the young and the old had their bodies hung on spikes. And in the middle of all these was Klaus' own grandmother.
His heart began to pound hard against his chest. The scene before him had caused him to become breathless.
His face pale and dark. He willed for his feet to move, for his hand to stretch forth and hold her. But it was to no avail, they paid him no heed.
Tears began to roll down his eyes, the conversations they had at night, the times they shared together.
Her warm smile, her soothing voice. All that was gone now.
A large ache began to erupt within him, a scream escaped his throat as tears rolled down his eyes.
His eyes had turned red, his vision blurred as he couldn't see well anymore. His lips began to taste salty.
Klaus dropped unto his knees as he did his best to keep it all in..
And then, there was a large crackle within the sky. That boomed the whole place and caused the ground to shake.
Klaus could now hear hollow steps approach him, but he didn't care who it was. Probably they had come to finish what they started.
He didn't care even if it was death, he wouldn't fight it. Because there was nothing left to fight for.
And then it stopped beside Klaus.
"They never change do they?" an older sounding voice spoke.
Cough! Cough!
Klaus didn't care nor did he turn to look at who was beside him. His pale face still stared at the impaled woman before him.
He watched as her blood rolled down the spikes and dripped on to the floor and mixed with the sand. His heart clenched at the scene before him.
"I know it hurts. I know it burns, eating you from within" the person said as he placed his hand on Klaus.
The man's hand was heavy on Klaus' shoulder.
"I can't take the pain away. I can't soothe your pain, neither can I bring her back."
"But then there's something else I can do"
Klaus began to feel an unknown energy start flowing within him.
It wasn't calm but instead it felt like a raging sea that clashed into one another.
His body began to feel more powerful as though it would blow up. Not able to hold in anymore a roar from within him erupted...
Boom!!!
There was an explosion.