The Moment of Revelation

The dying rays of the Sun hit the castle that stood on Mt. Wolford. The young duke Schneider shielded his eyes and snuggled back to sleep on his hammock without a care in this world. The exquisite garden surrounding him was littered with bottles of Romanov and this wasn’t an uncommon sight to any passer-by. The once most respected aristocratic family stood on the brink of disaster and the great deeds of the clan were dipped in mud and became a part of the forgotten folklore.

The distant weeping sound of a lady woke the prince up. He strained his eyes in the darkness to make out the silhouette of the person near the high gates. In a fleeting moment, all his senses kicked in and he jumped out of the hammock and began to run towards the person. As he ran, he wondered who followed him regularly at night and was determined to crack the mystery of the lady forever. He accelerated his pace and launched himself up the garden wall and just managed to catch a glimpse of the lady running around the corner.

The full moon bathed the village ahead in a milky light. It had been ages since Schneider had used that path. The heavy rains had torn apart the houses, leaving no place for the villagers to house themselves and their young ones. The kids cuddled up on the streets and their parents remained awake to defend their family from the predators of the forest. The strain on their faces showed that they had barely eaten in months and their clothing spoke volumes about their living conditions. In short, the entire place looked like the remnants of a war zone. As he passed by the place, the people looked loathingly at his attire and his rich looks. Unconsciously, the duke compared his lavish lifestyle with that of the villagers and felt a pang of guilt.

The lady fastened her pace and he also did so accordingly. His focus was slowly being drawn to his past about his squandering activities. Little did he care about his late father’s reputation and made not even the tiniest of attempts to uphold it. The family that once was the synonym for justice and royalty now became the perfect example to be tagged to any prodigal heir. All the words of wisdom uttered by his advisors in the past hit him with an enormous amount of force, and he began to feel weak in the knees. He felt the moment of revelation dawn upon him and saw a new purpose in his life.

The lady took a precarious path along the hillside and made her way to the cemetery. The cold winter wind ruffled the trees and their moving shadows added to the eeriness of the night. The duke was more intrigued but followed her all the same, as the entire journey had been an eye-opener. For the first time, he noticed an aura around her and it illuminated her path. Hundreds of tombstones bordered on either side and she walked on and on, on the moss covered stone path. Finally, a few hundred feet away, she came to a stop near an ornately carved tombstone. The creepers had engulfed it completely and hid the epitaph from view. Suddenly, without warning, the lady circled the grave for a moment and vanished into the darkness. It took some time for the duke to digest what he had just witnessed. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward and tore the creepers that wrapped the headstone. The essence of truth finally sunk in him.

The epitaph read:





The single-most loss of the Wolford town

If only the Elixir existed…


“Mr. and Mrs. Schneider”

----------R.I.P------------