Sebastian was a strange child, he refused to cut his long raven black hair because he was scared the cut fibers would attack him at night.

He was obsessed with frogs

but most importantly he wasn’t afraid of monsters.

The children his age were always scared of monsters , wondering if they were under their bed or lurking inside the closet. More importantly the adults were scared of monsters too. 

 Sebastian didn’t fear the monsters like the other kids did because his father was a reaper, a type of military class that worked for the king to stop the monsters from destroying the world. That wasn't the only thing reapers did, they also traveled the world and helped trade for the kingdom of Eriel. 

 Sebastian was excited because today was a lovely June  day. The bugs buzzed in the air flying past two watchtowers, everyone  out on summer holiday with no worry of a nagging teacher. A perfect day to play a game of hide and seek between two brothers.

Their mother was nearby fixing an electrical fence that kept the monsters away. Perhaps it was odd to play hide and seek in a military base; however the two brothers didn't find it particular, it was the outside after all. 

Sebastian hopped behind a bush and peered over. He saw his father walking by and popped out of the bush. "Daddy is Rain nearby?” 

An older man walked over to Sebastian, his long raven black hair tied up in a half bun, a few strands loose across his face, he wore an entirely black uniform paired with a bulletproof vest“No, it doesn't look like it.”Sebastian’s father sat down next to him “What did you want to tell me?” 

Sebastian grinned “Last week me and Rain went to the zoo and saw a rino and then one lady got really scared of this lion and she was saying it was a monster. I told her not to fear because my daddy is a reaper and he removes the bad monsters!” 

“Oh I see. I’m sorry I wasn't there.Was this lion actually a monster?”  His father looked down.

Sebastian shook his head “No. It's okay daddy you can come to the festival tomorrow there are supposed to be lots of flowers and fireworks.” 

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry but I have to go again. Vast Water this time.” 

Sebastian felt something like a raindrop drop on his head. He looked confused as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. “Where's the rain coming from?”

 His father wiped his eyes“Huh. Oh no it was just sap from the bushes.” 

Sebastian heard someone walking nearby “Oh no it's Rain!” Sebastian gasped. However, it wasn't Rain. A different man wearing a different uniform walked by, he held a sword in his belt and he looked mean. “Seriously Bae-Won, bringing children here. Couldn't you have sent them somewhere?”

Sebastian’s father stood up, “I’m sorry if they annoy you Giancarlo. We couldn't take them to their grandmother as she’s on a yacht.” 

``If you say so.” annoyed Giancarlo rolled his eyes and scanned Sebastian ‘You need to cut your boy's hair.” He walked off into one of the watchtowers.

Sebastian’s father stood up “I’m going to find Rain. See you soon.”As he walked away Sebastian ran behind one of the tall watchtowers.  sitting down on the grass and he peered around the corners of the tower. A boy who looked around  twice  his age appeared sprinting towards Sebastian, ginger hair flying across the boy’s face. He lept at Sebastian; tackling him to the ground. Figuring out who he was, the two boys giggled in union, their laughter ringing around them.

"I found you! Daddy!! I found Sebastian!” 

A soft smile radiated across their fathers face."That's awesome, Rain!" Their father exclaimed. 

Sebastian ran up to his father and hugged him. "Did you see me? I was like vroom vroom and then I hid in the bush over there!" Sebastian pointed at a bush nearby to the tower. " I saw you and Rain! It took forever for you to find me!"

Rain protested against this. "I saw you running out of that bush! It was easy to find you!"

"No, it wasn't! "

"Yes, it was!” Rain retorted, as the two boys argued, their father interrupted them and they both fell silent.

"Boys, how about you go back to playing? I have to go back to my meeting," He said sternly. 

Their father kneeled down close to their level. “And remember to be close where your mother can see you, she is nearby working. Also don’t you ever go into the woods. Got that?”

"Yes Daddy! We'll be good!" Both children exclaimed. Their father walked off back into one of the two tall watchtowers leaving the two children alone. 

The forest their father spoke of was the cursed forest, it was cursed by monsters and evil old hags the day the war ended. The children were currently at a military base that guarded the forest, making sure no creepy and decapitated monsters tried to enter the lands of Eriel the forest was blocked off by a big electrical fence.

"Okay Sebastian. You can count, and I hide!" Rain spoke excitedly, 

"Okay!"  he replied, sitting on the same grass spot from before, putting his hands over his eyes as he shut them and he was in complete darkness, a big smile across his face as he counted to twenty. Or…. Well, he tried to. Because he went from one, to nine various times and skipped further down the number chart he had been learning during school. Somehow he ended up at sixty instead of twenty and when he finally opened his eyes, he decided that perhaps he had given Rain too much time to hide.

“HERE OR NOT… HERE I GO!” He shouted, running happily to go find Rain and wherever he may be hiding. And as he ran to look at the bushes, Rain was nowhere to be found. He looked behind the two towers, near all of the cars and even behind the back of the warehouse and the dumpsters. But no matter where he looked, his brother was nowhere to be found. Sebastian gave up, flopping to the grass as he tried to think of more possible hiding spots.

Perhaps his elder brother ran out on the bridge to hide, but there weren't any hiding spots in the bridge. Sebastian stood up in a huff, speaking loudly to himself. 

"Rain, this is mean. Where are you big poophead?!" He ignored his parents' previous scolding on how "poop head" was a mean term that should not be said in public. but what else could you say with a limited vocabulary?

Sebastian looked around everywhere, but there wasn't anywhere his brother could be

Soon he got distracted by a frog jumping out of a bush, Sebastian was rather fond of frogs. His best friends gave him a toy frog for his 6th birthday. He followed the hopping frog all the way     to a sewer lid. The frog hopped away from Sebastian and when he looked down for the frog  he saw the sewer lid. Could this be the location of the hiding spot? “I hope Rain isn’t mad at me.” He said. Sebastian kicked open the lid  peered down into the depths of the sewer, the stench nearly making him throw up. 

"Rain? Are you in the poop hole?" he asked, pinching his nose. Hearing no answer, he started to climb down the ladder. As he made his way down, Sebastian had to keep covering his nose as the smell was overwhelming. 

"Ew it smells like after Rain used the toilet," he said to himself.

Looking around in the sewer there were two tunnels that went east and west; his brother could have gone to either one of them. Perhaps if Sebastian were to wait outside the lid, his brother would get bored and find him. But again, Rain could go on about how it was impossible for Sebastian to find him and no way was he going to lose. As the younger boy was about to go climbing the ladder to  the surface, Rain came running out of the east tunnel.

"Yo, Sebastian you have to check this out-"

"What's so interesting about a smelly sewer?" Rain laughed, "Come on, follow me!"

Sebastian frowned. He definitely didn't want to stay in the sewer any longer than he should, but he didn't want to miss out on some cool thing his older brother may have found. Miserably, he followed Rain down the long, narrowing tunnel. The further they went, stones with strange sketches kept on appearing and while Sebastian couldn't care less about what they were for, Rain was entranced with the stoned walls around them. After what seemed like forever, Sebastian broke the silence. 

"Is that what you dragged me here for? Useless stones?" He blurted out.         

Rain seemed to break away from his trance, turning to Sebastian. "Er- No, what I found is much cooler, it's that these look like some kind of goblin language." 

"Who cares about some dumb stones! I'm bored!" Sebastian yelled.He crossed his arms and stuck his lower lip out. "If you're not going to tell me I'm going to tell daddy!”

Rain rolled his eyes "What are you going to tell him?” The older boy taunted his younger brother who sat down on the  ground, his pants getting dirty but Sebastian didn’t care. This sewer scared him and he wanted to leave now.

"I-I’ll tell them that you forced me to go into this stupid smelly sewer!" Sebastian puffed up his cheeks, pouting as Rain only rolled his eyes, dragging his younger brother along and against his wishes. Sebastian kept thinking,What was so special about this tunnel anyway? The end of the tunnel was small with only a silver ladder going up. 

"Well, wanna go first?" Rain challenged his younger brother. Sebastian stared at the ladder. He never tried climbing that high before. He was never allowed to do so either. The only thing he was allowed to climb was a tree with his dad and that was only a small tree. 

"Are you sure I can?" Sebastian asked in a timid voice.

"Sure, you can! I'll be behind you, "Rain said, smiling. Sebastain looked at the ladder and at Rain doubtfully. In the same whispered tone, he asked another question. 

"Are you sure I won't fall? "

Rain walked closer to Sebastian and placed his hand on the boy's head. 

"Listen, every step you climb, I'll be clinging right up behind you, and if you do fall, I'll catch you." Rain looked back at the direction they came from back at his little brother. 

"I guess if you really don't want to go and see that really cool thing I mean I guess you could go back to dad and tell him I forced you up here. Just saying,” His brother said, a rueful smile across his face. Sebastian knew that Rain really wanted him to see this mysterious thing he found. But what if it was a prank? Sebastian took a deep breath. Standing up he walked up to the ladder, touching it he turned to Rain and smiled. 

"Come on, let's go!" he shouted. 

Somehow Rain convinced him to climb the ladder, it could be anything up  but yet, Sebastian thought it was a great idea because he trusted his big brother. As Rain promised him, every step he took, moving up the ladder, Rain was closely behind. Sebastian pushed the lid off the sewer, which was partly off to begin with, and they both went to the outside, taking in the fresh air, they were greeted by lots of trees covered in a purplish mist. The younger boy tried to look in, but all he saw was the fog and darkness surrounding it and this seemed even worse than the sewers below.

"The forbidden forest!" gasped Sebastian. Rain smiled at his discovery. 

"Yup Mr. old forbidden staring us in the face."

Sebastian gasped “Do you think there is a monster watching us? ” he asked, in barely a whisper 

Rain thought about this carefully. “Hm, no I don’t think so.”

Sebastian stared at the growing trees and the strange purple mist; he could feel as if his soul was being pulled into the forest. He attempted to take a step into the forest to only be pulled away by his brother. "Whoa. Sebastian, you don't know what dangerous stuff is in there. Come on, let's get out of here." Instead of fighting back to see more, the two boys walked away from the forbidden forest, entering the stinky sewers once again and as they made their way back outside, a new question appeared in Sebastian’s head.

"Does dad know about this? "

Rain simply shrugged "Who knows? let's tell him when we get back."

Unfortunately, the kids were not allowed to go tell their father the news.  As the two brothers escaped the sewers, their mother saw them. She grabbed them by both their arms “I was looking all over for you.” she scrolled.  

“But mom, we found something that dad may want to see.” Rain started to say

“You’re father is busy, come on you two no arguing.”

Their mother put them in the back of their car, the trip back home was very silent. Their mother made them take a bath as soon as they stepped inside the front door.

After dinner the two boys stared out the window watching the sunset waiting for their father. Quickly the night came, the moon was covered by the fog that night. From afar… it almost seemed like that purple fog from the forbidden forest. The boys ignored the fact that the moon couldn’t be seen that night because all they wanted was to tell their father about their discovery, risking the fact that they could also get in trouble for venturing too far without permission. But he never came home that night. Or the night after. Because their father had died.

And no one knew why and how.