Keldon sprinted down the cobblestone road, brushing by the groups of people who walked up and down along the path. He apologized quickly to anyone he bumped into, only to be countered with looks of annoyance, yelps of “Whoa! Watch it!”, and mild indifference.

After finally reaching the edge of the town, the sunny green pastures of land had melted away where the cobblestone road ended. Near the outskirts of town, what little grass grew in town shimmered no more. In the outskirts, fields of pale yellow grass stretched as far as the eye could see. Only dirt roads remained, imprinted with treads of timeworn tracks of the wheels of carts gone by.

"Finally." Keldon thought, breaking over the hillside. Light chatter and groans from disgruntled workers filled the air, as the familiar stench of manure molested his nose, taking in the usual sight of old splintered carts and their faremen.

A few faremen were just pulling up into the return area. Some detaching their horses from the carts, and leading them over to the feeding ground whilst others turned their carts around, prepping for the next shift rotation.

Keldon brisked by the men and women who had just returned. They wore a set of greasy overalls, faces covered in grime and weariness as they jumped out of the cart, into the mud with a squelch.

Keldon scoured the area, looking for a rider who looked like they were ready to leave. He ran up to a few carts asking for them to take him to the hissings quickly but they wouldn't be ready to leave for at least another half hour. Finally, he found a young woman with auburn hair tied up into a ponytail, waiting for a small group of people in overalls to board her cart. Careful not to spook the two horses, he approached the young woman.

“How fast can you be at the Hissings?” Keldon asked in a hurry. The young woman looked him up and down, raising her eyebrow as she eyed his well-dressed attire.

“As fast as I want, Lordling,” she said with a sour look.

“Lordling?” Keldon said. Confused, he looked down at his clothes remembering Mortimer's strict dress code at his shop. “Oh no no, you misunderstand, I’m just a sifter.”

“A sifter?” she said, looking at Keldon then looking back at the group of people in overalls behind her. “In those clothes? Must have sniffed a little too many fumes their fella.”

“I just had no time to change out of these. Please, I need to be there by 3 or Hilda will kill me!” said Keldon

She looked over Keldon again, her sour expression easing up a little.

“Three copper deniers.”

“Two.”

“Done. Get in Lordling.” She said as she picked up the reins.

Keldon ran around to the back of the cart, uttering sorries and excuse me to the others as he squeezed into a seat next to a gruff bearded man who looked at Keldon with a scowl. The young woman snapped the reins as the cart lurched forward, nearly sending Keldon tumbling as she turned the horses back onto the trodden dirt road.

20 minutes later, the hissings came into view as Keldon breathed a sigh of relief, he'd made it on time. Coming over the hilltop, Keldon finally saw the edge of where the hissings began. The fields of dead yellow grass had disappeared on the the way over, replaced with long patches of dirt until only barren wasteland of unfarmable soil remained. Lifeless, barren trees were scattered in the fields as in the distance, the field of dirt dipped into a deep crater, where the Hissings laid.

“Alright, end of the road for me.” She said looking back at the group in the back of the carriage. One by one, the people who in the cart started to hop out as Keldon fished out three bronze coins, handing them over to the young woman. She stared at the coins before shooting Keldon a strange look.

“For a job well done,” Keldon said with a smile.

The young woman pocketed the coins as she turned the cart around, waiting for Keldon to get off first. He hopped out the back onto the soft dirt.

“You’re a strange one you know.”

Keldon looked back to see the young woman leaning on the backrest of the rider’s seat. Keldon nodded his head, shooting her a wry smile, and laughed before jogging towards the Hissings. She watched him trot along the barren fields, lips slowly curving into a grin as she looked at the coins in her hand, shrugging her shoulders with a laugh.

Keldon breathed a sigh of relief, hearing the sound of crystal mills in the distance, grinding away at piles of ore when something brushed against his cheeks, fluttering out of his vision. He stopped, touching his face at the strange sensation. However, no one was anywhere near him. The group of people that he had left behind were a few hundred feet behind him, walking at a steady pace.

“What the-“ he said looking around. Finally, his eyes landed on something a few feet away, stopping on a small pitch-black butterfly. It gently flapped its wings on top of the carcass of a gopher, blackened with rot. The air stilled, as Keldon's eyes were locked onto the creature. He tried to leave, thinking about how he'd be late to his next shift at the Hissings. But for some reason, he couldn't ignore it. He tried to pull away, but he lost his grip on reason, as he stopped in his tracks, eyes locked on the pitch-black creature. Weird, the closer he looked at it, the more it didn't look like a living creature, but rather a shadow. No matter what angle, his mind seemed unable to comprehend what he was looking at.

Raising his eyebrow, he tiptoed over, afraid of scaring whatever this thing was off. He crouched down and slowly reached out.

“Hey, little guy. What’re you doing all the way out here?” he said as he reached out to the butterfly. As his finger came closer to touching it, he suddenly felt a sharp cold chill zap up his hand, pulling back by reflex and clutching the finger. He flipped his hand, no sign of a prick, so he probably wasn't stung by anything poisonous.

Cautiously, he reached over to his side and picking up a thin arms-length branch. His hands trembled a little, feeling pricks of anxiety poke the back of his neck. The stick inched closer and closer, and just as he was about to poke it, he heard a loud bell ring three times in the distance.

“...ah fuck.”

Keldon dropped the stick and ran, the bell shattering his trance with the creature. No longer able to afford to feed his curiosity he sprinted towards the edge of the crater. He turned back once, hoping to get one last good look, but it had vanished. Slightly disappointed, Keldon turned back around and broke into a full sprint as he was late to work, again.