“no….no…..”

“its your fault. Its your fault that I died. Agordos, why didn’t you help me? I was torn apart in front of you. You did that deliberately, right. You used me as a scapegoat and you escaped. Yes, that is the truth. You killed me Agordos. I was like your big sister, how could you do this to me?”

“pyuu…no…you are wrong. I-I didn’t do anything. I didn’t use you as a bait to escape. Y-you..I-I…you are WRONG. I am sorry…I am so-sorry.”

“Exactly. You bastard, you didn’t do anything. You just watched me die. Eaten alive. Look at me..look at me”

Pyuu slowly ended up in that pitiful stage. Her head loosely hanging down through her small neck muscles. Her intestines spilled out.

“see…I became this because of you. “

Now she reappeared in front of Agordos who was on the ground, crying. Her head fell on his lap. And it laughed. It echoed throughout the abyss.

“Hey Agordos. Why don’t you come with me, huh. No, I will take you with me”

The head opened its mouth, wide open. It became wider. And it came right at his face. The insides of the mouth was filled with despair and sorrow. Agordos couldn’t help but stare at it. He got really terrified.

“no..no….noooooooooooooo”

Agordos screamed, opened his eyes and got up. He witnessed a nightmare. Perhaps, that memory will haunt him throughout his life. Perhaps, he might lose himself.

“hah…hah…hah…*gulp*…hah..hah..”.

“At last you woke up.Took you long enough.Don’t worry, you only slept for few hours.”

It was an old woman. Her back crooked. Her face was covered completely in wrinkles with sagging cheeks. She was bald. Her teeth were decayed, was almost black. There were very a few of them left. Not a good thing to watch whenever she opens her mouth. Her stinking breath permeated throughout the room whenever she talked. Agordos wasn’t fazed by this.But he was breathing heavily.

She walked towards him. Meanwhile, he was trying to comprehend the situation he was in, right now. Looked around. It was a small room, tiny one, with thatched roof made of dried grass and twigs. It was like a small dome. But not exactly a dome. He was lying on a bed made out of dried grass. It seemed comfortable.

His lower half was covered by a blanket.His body covered in patches of, what looked like bandages. His hair was a mess and was sweating. Probably because of the nightmare he had.

“here..drink this..it will calm you down and helps your dried throat. Take it.” the old woman gave him a glass of fluid. But as soon as he touched it, his eyes widened.

“this…has good amount of magic”

“hehe…not bad kid. You recognized it right away. You are right. It is a medicinal portion obtained from herbs with the help of magic. Its more efficient, when magic is used. Unfortunately, I am the last magic user in this village. Nobody else seems to pick this art. “

The old woman explained. She was little worried as she was the last one to use this. Worried about her village. Its future. She was staring at a distant, not speaking anything. She was immersed in her thoughts.

Agordos looked at her with the glass in his hand. His face showed no changes in emotions. Looked at the fluid and gulped it at once. Now his face began to reveal some expressions, a weird one. As though he drank something disgusting, his face looked. The old woman came to her senses. And looked at him and his situation. Gently chuckled.

“kid…easy with that. No hurry whatsoever. Yes it is bitter. Haha..”

He kept the container aside. He remained quiet for sometime. Held his head low. But was not crying. Then he looked at the granny. Looked elsewhere. His mind was a mess.

“kid…take your time to recover. I don’t know what the hell you had been through but I suggest you not to walk around. Not that you will be able to. Just reminding you. Clear your mind. If you need anything just call. Someone will attend you. …right! Before I leave, let me have a look at your legs”

Agordos didn’t respond. He was just looking at her, quietly. She removed the blanket. His legs were covered with scars. External wounds had healed. She placed her palms on his legs with her thumbs pressing against his skin.

“O mighty Earth!

King of all medicines

This humble servant requests you

Grace this child with your miracle

Heal his wounds!

Imbibe him with your medicine!

Rumble!”

With this chanting, the old woman made a series of hand gestures and light appeared underneath Agordos. It was a rune. A magic rune.after a moment, she opened her eyes. Took her palms away from his legs. Then the rune disappeared. Back to normal, everything.

“It seems you have an affinity towards Earth. Normal person would receive 3 seconds of earth energy. But you received, amazingly, 30 seconds of earth energy. Interesting. Well, rest for now. You will be fine within two days. Don’t move around too much. Your legs had suffered too much of force and strain. Hence the bones and ligaments were shattered. Luckily, your legs were little healed when i examined you. It must a highly advanced medicine, that helped your legs. Otherwise, you could’ve lost them. Who was that amazing genius who helped you?”

”..hmm..no answers huh. Haha…I’ll leave. Take care.”

Agordos didn’t answer her. But she wasn’t upset by that, not even a bit. She smiled and left the room. He then touched his legs. He tried to wiggle his toes, but in great difficulty. He then looked at all those bandages on him. Hadn’t noticed before. Then slowly laid his back on the bed.

“w-what is happening?”. He was confused. He then closed his eyes. And a deep sleep followed.

*********

Location:undisclosed.

“master! Master!”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“master, I have an important news to tell”

The one talking was kneeling on its leg with the head lowered. It was not human. Its body was huge. The body was covered in scales. The scales were black and hard as diamond. His arms were huge underneath which there were no scales. Basically it had scales only on its posterior. While the anterior part was covered in slimy skin. The head seemed little odd. It was covered in spikes, completely. Occasionally, the eye balls would pop out of this spiky ball.And they were “sharp”. The mouth was at the base of the head, completely hidden. It had no claw on its right hand.

It was addressing someone superior. Its master.

“hmmmm?..what is it? Make it quick”

The voice had a power in it. Really deep. It was seated behind the curtain which was opaque. Only its shadow could be seen. Seemed like it was in the middle of something.

“yes master! It has been spotted. The black feather.”

As soon as it said that, its master stood up. Was restless. It seemed as though it was looking for it or waiting for that black feather for a long time.

Strong gusts of wind blew past the spiky-headed creature. It was from its master.

“And did you bring it? Don’t tell me you didn’t” The voice had varying emotions. It was excited at the same time eerie.

“master! I couldn’t. “

“Insolent! How dare you come here without the feather. I ought to exterminate your clan. Useless”

It was really mad.

“no master! Our clan, the mulliklat clan is the most efficient and loyal.Please I beg you. There is a reason for my failure. I couldn’t get it because it was already in the hands of another person. And this person had strange powers. Really powerful. I alone wouldn’t be able to defeat.” the creature was trembling. It’s eyes popped out.

“ what? A person had this feather. And a really powerful one. Tell me, was the feather helping him?”

“y-yes master. It was indeed helping him. I was roaming around in the labyrinth of Doom and suddenly felt this enormous pressure. So I went to check the source and it was from a person. It looked like a kid. A human. A male kid. It looked as though he didn’t have the control over his powers and had gone berserk. I was looking at the scene from afar. Never dared to go near it. It was that terrifying and powerful.”

“hmmm!! it seems I had miscalculated. You! Get out of here and find the boy. This is troublesome. And DO NOT LET ANYBODY KNOW ABOUT THIS. UNDERSTOOD!!”

“Yes master. I will leave right now.”

The spiky monster left and its master was frustrated by the developments. The master then disappeared. Now only wind blew in this hall and the curtain rose. Behind this curtain were naked women. Dead. Their bodies were dried out, like a dried raisin. Their eyes had shrunk. Mouths wide open. They lied on the ground in crooked positions. Flies flew around them.

And suddenly, their head bulged, grew larger. Eyes popped out. And Bamm! The head blew into pieces like a burst balloon. Only flesh and bits of brain were left out. Right after this, the rest of the body encountered the same fate. Stench of blood and flesh spread across the hall.

*********

 Three days had passed since Agordos stayed in the village. He was sleeping in the small room.

“big brother..hey, big brother. Wake up”

Agordos was woken up from his deep sleep by someone’s call. He slowly opened his eyes. He saw a small kid standing beside him. It was Lee. Agordos got annoyed, since he was woken up .

“hey big brother. Do you remember me? I am that kid you saved me, back in that forest, from all those mun-beasts? You don’t remember?”

Agordos was clueless about this kid. He looked at Lee as though he was meeting him for the first time.

“Don’t call me big brother. My name is Agordos”

“Big brother’s name is Agordos huh. Thank you very much for saving us. Including my sister. She is shy. But she is very sweet, big brother. See you around.”

“Big brother’s name is Agordos”

Thus Lee ran out of the room, shouting Agordos’ name. Liu was standing beside the door. She looked at Agordos and nervously bowed her head and ran out. A gesture of gratitude.

“*sigh*….looks like I am completely healed. My legs look fine. Let me stand up”

Thus Agordos slowly stood up. He jumped, moved his legs. Everything was fine. Just when he was about to drink water, he heard a sudden scream. It was followed by a ruckus in the village. Unaware of the situation, Agordos put on his sark. He then left the room.

Outside, he couldn’t find anyone. He walked across many paths, but couldn’t a find single person.

“this village is huge. Its like a maze” Agordos felt.

Soon he reached the village gate. But what he saw was village people tied to poles. And beside them stood ugly men. They were barbarians. Huge beards stuck out of their chin. Large mustaches, their faces bore. They were carrying weapons. Weapons like hammer, swords, axes. They rode horses.

An astonishing thing was, there weren’t any men among the villagers. All of them, women. Agordos did not approach them. He maintained his distance from them.

“no…leave them alone. We will make up for this. We will,definitely. We will provide you twice of what we grow. Please untie them. Please I am begging you”

It was the old woman. She fell on her knees and begged the man. The man was smiling.

“hahahaha….you want me to untie them? Then bring MY supplies and then I will think about it. What do you think. Oh..right!! you don’t have anything to give me. I forgot. See, I am very nice man. Me and my men protect you from the outside threats and in return all you need to do was provide half of what you grow. That’s all. My men need nutrition to guard your pathetic village. Why not tell the men in your village to protect this village. I am sure that will work out.”. the man mocked at the old woman.

The old woman remained silent. Did not move from her position. She was still kneeling. But the other women were shedding tears.

“oh crap!! I am such an insensitive bastard. YOU DON’T HAVE ANY MEN. I am really sorry. I will keep that in my mind….now, now, back to our business. Look, you old pig. I don’t have too much of spare time to spend here. Either you give us our share or gift me your finest women. That would suffice, wouldn’t it. I can play to my heart content. Play with them, of course. Beautiful women, that is. Maybe I’ll let my men play with them. They are desperate beasts. Haven’t played for a loooonng time.”

Listening to his demands made the old woman angry. She raised her head. Stood up. Before she could speak anything further, a woman spat on the barbarian’s leader.

“i-I wont…. wont come with you. Its better to die than be defiled by your filthy hands”

“ohhh! Then why not die. You asked for this”

Immediately, he pierced her chest by a sword. She fell on the ground. Wiggling in pain and crying.

“old hag! Make up your mind or someone else will go through as her. Fast. HURRY!”. The man shouted at her. Then was wiping the blood stains on his cloth. Looking at the current situation, the old woman was helpless. She hoped for a miracle.

But then decided to go along with their demands. And right when she decide to accept and tell that to the man, something happened.

“Eh? Hey..who are you? I am asking you. Who the f**k are you?” a man asked.

*badump*

“exactly, you didn’t do anything. Now look at what has happened to me, to your big sister pyuu.”

*badump*

‘why. Why does people die, wherever I go?’

*badump*

‘no. I cant be like this anymore. I don’t want people to die. I will do something. I am sorry pyuu. I didn’t man up. But now I will.’

* badump*

It was Agordos. He was watching the whole thing happened. Right when the sword went through her chest, Agordos froze. It reminded him of pyuu. His limbs, now, started to move. It reminded him of his nightmare. Thus he decided to act, because he didn’t want to go through the same nightmares again and again. He wanted to move on. He wanted to man up. He wanted to help them.

He then ran towards them. With his fists in the air, he ran screaming.

“yaaaaaaaah”

“hey you. Take care of this boy. Finish him in one shot”

Immediately, a skinny man held his bow and took out an arrow. He then placed the arrow in the bow, stretched it and released it. The arrow, now headed towards Agordos. But he had not noticed the incoming arrow. He charged right at the group. The arrow was just a feet away from him. Too late.

Just when everyone thought that he would be killed, a gust of wind enveloped Agordos. And the arrow was shattered. It was like a twister, it had covered him.

The gang leader was surprised. He sensed danger. But didn’t falter, because he was just a little boy.

“ALRIGHTY! FINALLY, MY TURN. ITS BEEN AGES SINCE I BREATHED THIS FRESH AIR. HOW ARE YOU FOLKS? EH! YOU PEOPLE LOOK SURPRISED”

It was Agordos, again. But he was, a little different. No, completely different. He was completely different person. What’s happening.