Fantasy and Horror

I might as well start by writing a bit about the fantasy horror.  The initial idea came in a dream that was no doubt inspired by me having recently read The Listener by Algernon Blackwood.  It's a good ghost story, I didn't particularly like the ending but there were certain aspects to the ghost that caught my attention.  Anyway, a description of the dream should do:

'It's raining and a man on horseback rides in to a village and enters the local tavern.  While in there, he overhears a conversation between a group of villagers concerning the fact that one of their children is being haunted by a ghost.  The man is a ranger who works for a group that travel the land to protect people from ghosts, monsters etc and so offers his services to the villager.

The ghost in question appears at night while the boy is in bed asleep, it is the sound of sobbing that wakes the boy up.  At first the boy sees nothing but then the sobbing occurs again and, in the corner of the room, the child sees a figure standing there, its face covered by its hands as if crying.  When the boy lets out a cry, the figure  begins to move towards him, moving its head as if it's trying to listen for any noise the boy might make but, at all times, its face is concealed by its hands.

The ranger explains that the figure is a lost soul and that eyes are windows to the soul.  The figure has no eyes and, in order to keep itself materialised, it must cover its eye sockets with its hands.  It wants the boys eyes so that it can possess his body and once again fully exist in the material world.  To combat it, the ranger gives the boy a magical fake eye, one that will ensnare the soul within it, but first the boy has to let the ghost get close enough in order to use it.'

Obviously, that is more of a short story and I consider it to be a kind of prelude to the main event.  There are elements within the story that can be more fully fleshed out: who is the ranger, what is the group he works for and the details on the nature of the magical eye.  Then of course, there is the world it is set in but I'll save all of that for a later post.