The Traveler-5: The Time Trap.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my dearest Friend Nikhil Negi for the Time travel, and My dear sis D, for the Witch :D

The village held a gloomy charm,
Not a one that would sooth the heart,
And I wanted to know, to understand,
What made the clouds look so sad.

My answer came,
From a man in the village bar,
He told me the sorrow filled tale,
As he drank from his jar.

He said, with every sip,

She rides on her wind charriot, with a fire whip in her hand,
She rides to steal the smiles, steal the joy from our hearts.

She has cursed this land, so the sun never shines,
The clouds would linger along, but not a drop wets the ground.

She has cursed this land, so no child is ever born,
The mothers lost their hopes to live.

"Why does she torment all", I asked,
"I don't know, why don't you ask", he said.
So I set out to find her,
For, the sight had filled me with sorrow.

So I set out to find my answers,
To the old witch who lived by the river,
And around me I saw pain,
The village was dead on itself.

She sat on a velvet thron,

"Why do you torment the villagers?", My question startled her,
"Its my village, I do as it pleases me", she replied with scorn.

"I will do anything to help this village out", I swore an oath,
"Can you?" She replied as flew down to me with a cackle.

"Why would you, you are just a traveler, why soil your hands?"
"I love adventure, and helping these people promises me adventure."

She waved her wand, poof!!!!
Darkness covered me for an instance,
And then light, as we emerged again.
Emerged into a dungeon.

"I would like to test your spirit", she said
As she led me through the narrow lane,
Tombs of men lined the wall,
And floor was wet with slime.

She opened a giant door,

"Can you kill a stranger, without looking at his face?",
"Can you stab a man, without knowing his name".

I saw whom she was talking about, for he sat there,
His face covered and his hands chained, he sat there by the wall.

"One man's life for an entire village", I weighed in my head,
Then taking the dagger from her, I drove it down his heart.

"You clear my test, Traveler,
But you must travel to the past,
Down the alley of fear,
To the Forest of Gloom".

"I will send you twenty years back,
Search for me the three stones of life,
And once you find them, come back
To this village, to this house".

She raised her wand, mumbling a spell,

"But I lay a curse upon you, as you travel down the time,
If you shall ever raise a hand against me, you shall fall by the same"

A ball of fire engulfed my body, but it didn't burn my skin,
And slowly the witch faded from my sight, only the fire remained.

A pull of gravity, a pull of soul, I couldn't tell,
But I felt the time fly by me, and soon the fire died around.

The world was different,
The sky and sun felt different,
And I traveled in search of the stone of life,
I traveled to the darkest time.

In ten years I found two,
But then one day I learned the truth,
The witch had the third of the stone,
And she had just pushed me out.

I was lost, and shattered, captured in the past.

"Where can I find the village of gloom?", I would ask everyone,
"Where can I find the witch who masters time?", I lost it to time

Ten more years I wander around, with the two stones of life,
And one day I track her down, I found my way back to her.

"You deceived me oh evil witch", And I raised my sword to kill,
"You are just a mere mortal", she laughed, and captured me in a spell.

She took from me the two stones of life,
And locked me away in a place unknown,
And for three days I was kept there,
With no food for hunger, and no water for thirst.

And on the third day, I heard movements,
And the door opened behind me, footsteps I heard,
Faces I couldn't see, but knew they were two.
And then after a long pause, I heard her speak.

"Can you kill a stranger, without looking at his face?"