“N-no…I think you are making a mistake. Me? Definitely not. That’s not a plausible statement. H-how can..I mean…I don’t even know them, let alone kill them. That’s a false accusation you are making there. I-I don’t know how to make you convince…I’m panicking.”. His reaction was obvious. He, who witnessed his parents and Pyuu’s death, had made his mind messed up a little. A little cold. But now another BLOW!!! He really not in a mindset to take this all in. That’s the stage he was in, right now.
His whole body was shivering. He couldn’t sit idly at one place. Tension broke out on his face. Its the fear that had begun to engulf him.
He was trying his best not to believe in this and his mind was in constant war with all these thoughts. He held his head, pulled his hair. His eyes had bulged out. These kind of blows were really not his cup of tea. Psychology, it is.
He might look alright from the outside or act responsible or put up a psychological barrier around himself and make himself courageous, but his mind is fragile like a glass right now. The barrier is not unbreakable. Few words is all one need to do destroy it. Only experience can strengthen the mind and thought processes. He lacked them all. Because every brave thing he did, was just an impulse, reacting to that situation.
“Hey, kid”
“Kid! Are u alright”
“Kid!! Kid!!”
This voice was echoing in his brain. His senses had become quite numb. Hence not responding to the external stimulus. The old woman was calling out him, not the expected response, she didn’t get. She was repeatedly trying to make him come to his reality, but no gain. Ultimately, she just slapped him, on his cheek. It seemed he was regaining his control over himself.
“i-I didn’t do it. No, I didn’t. You are wrong, I-I DIDN’T DO IT!”. Or not.
“Hey kid! KIDD!! Its alright. Don’t worry. Let me explain you everything that had happened here long before you came here.”
For some reason, her face was showed a little uneasiness and disappointment. Why?
“hey kid! Are you listening? Did you understand what I just said. Oh, jeez! Now what should I do? He is so fragile and sensitive. And I am dumb myself. I, myself panicked. I am a medicinal magician.At least for now.”
She was trying to tell him the reason behind all of this but he wasn’t responding to her. And the situation had made her little panicked and forgot to use her medicinal knowledge to his help.
She rubbed both are palms against each other. Continued that rubbing, and closed her eyes and stopped the rubbing. Her palm was now glowing white with runes over them.
She took out, what looked like a dried herb, from her hip pouch. With those dried herbs on her both palms, mist had began to form. She closed both the palms, thus forming fists. The mysterious mist was flowing out of the gaps between the fingers. She let him inhale that. The mist was working on him.
He calmed down. And slowly closed his eyes.
“WAAAAHHHH!!”
Within a matter of few seconds, he woke up, with a bang.
“Take deep breaths……Fine that’s enough. I am really sorry for the pain you had to go through. I wasn’t aware that your guilty consciousness would be triggered to this extent. You seem to be a kid who is little older than Liu. That’s the reason your mental strength is weak. But also seems to be strong as well, occasionally. Its really mysterious.”
She was little curious, that is for sure.
He nodded his head and rubbed his face, gently.
“No, no. It’s alright, I am just grateful for helping me now.”
“Well, thank my special herb, Achlys. She is regarded as the God of Mist. It is usually not a good herb, but by right processes, one can harness its energy for medicinal purposes. This really saved you. Haha”
”And really glad you had that. And yeah, I am 13 years old. And your views on my mind are really passing over my head. I am not able understand anything.”
“No worries, kid. There is no need to understand them. You will get to know them, in future.”
Now everything was fine. She closed her hip pouch and began to tell the reason.
“Now, let me tell you the reason why I said that earlier, about you killing our men. Don’t worry about you getting all tensed up. The herb will not allow that.”
“Mhmmm!!! I’m listening.”
“Its the RAIDERS. Yes, you heard it, its them, the Raiders. They were our men”
“W-WHATTT!!!??”
“Yes. Its them. It’s hard to believe, but that is the truth”
Now this was massive. The Raiders? Agordos was confused. He didn’t know how to respond. Because they were clearly harassing the village women. What’s happening here!!
“B-but, they were abusing you people, blackmailing and were really filthy to the core. How can they be the missing men of this village? “
“There is reason behind their behaviour. They are not our ‘real’ men. Their outer shell is just what is left out. Their only identity, that is. But are no more the men, once they were. “
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“i-I rea-”. He was interrupted by the old woman.
“Wait! Let me finish. Its because of the…DEMONIC POSSESSION”
“EH!!!”
Meanwhile in the hut where the brunette girl was resting.
“Liu, Liu… don’t go over there. Elders said not to. Why do always go against their words? Liu, listen to me. Gosh!”. Lee was calling her sister in a low voice ,not to go somewhere. But obviously, she wasn’t listening to him. He was getting irritated by her usual actions.
“Sshh!! Quiet down a little bit. If u keep calling me out, the elders are going to find us and we will be busted. So shut your mouth. Let me do my job”. She just went ahead and screwed his brother instead.
“Your job? This is a job? Entering some one’s place without any permission is your job? What do yo-”
“Shh! Sh-shh”. She turned around and gestured to be quiet.
She slowly tip-toed her way into the hut. No one was around the hut or inside it. She was really careful, not to make any noise.
“This girl always makes trouble. *sigh*”. Lee was right, she was a troublesome kid.
Then she reached the bed where the brunette girl was sleeping. She waved her hand and called Lee inside. Initially he was hesitant to, but had to come in, because of her.
She was looking at her, observing the girl from head to toe.
“She is so beautiful!”. Exclaimed Lee. He too was appreciating her beauty, just like everyone who saw her.
“i said not to talk.Shhh”. Liu was not in a good mood because of Lee’s interruption. She ‘yelled’ at him in a very low voice. Lee’s face was covered in sweat. Partly because of her and partly because of the fear of getting caught. Lee was not sure her intentions of coming here. But sure knew that some trouble had headed their way. It was inevitable for him to be there, has no control over sister, whatsoever.
She pointed her finger towards that girl’s neck and waved at it continuously and looked at him. Lee didn’t know for sure what she was trying to convey to him but was sure that she was interested in that something.
It was something similar to an ornament but was not as polished as one. It was crude looking neck-wear, possibly made out of some kind of mineral ore and in the center studded with red gem.
‘I feel something bad is going to follow us now’, Lee felt chill flow through his spine.
Now Liu reached out to her and slowly her hand was approaching the sleeping girl’s neck. Lee tried to stop her by trying to hp;d her hand but in vain. He was just shrugged aside. Liu’s eyes were completely filled with curiosity. And her hand gradually closed in the gap and finally touched it. She couldn’t help but graze the surface of the gem with her fingers. Lee on the other hand was worried. His breathing was erratic and frequently, was biting his nails.While she was meddling withe that red gem, the brunette girl’s fingers were twitching, slightly. Both the kids didn’t notice that. The girl was about to regain her consciousness.
Now Lee was really mad and he pulled her aside, she was startled and lost her footing and fumbled a little and something fell on the ground. It was a black feather. This was similar to Agordos’ black feather. Quickly, Liu bowed down to pick it up, expecting Lee not to be watching. But he had seen that on the floor.
“L-Liu? You didn’t return that to brother Agordos? You said you would return. Why is it still here with you?”
“I was about to return this back, but all that incidents happened and had never got a chance to give to him. I will go and give it to him, now”
“Liu, I know you didn’t give him, deliberately. I know you well enough. You happen to collect every weird thing out there you find, no matter whose that is. Return It or I will tell old grandma about this.”
“Geez! I will, I will. Humph!! Ruined my chance.”. She snorted and decided to leave the hut to return that feather back to Agordos. She left the hut,while Lee was still near the bed. He too decided to leave.
But as he was leaving, a gust of wind swept behind him. He was startled.
‘ *gulp*. W-what was that?’. He thought. But he decided not to turn around and to leave as quickly as possible. But his eyes turned to his side, towards the bed. She wasn’t there. The brunette girl wasn’t there! He panicked. And began to move his feet quickly.
Before he could reach the door, the girl had appeared in his line of sight. She was standing in front of him, blocking his path.
“You ought to DIE!”. Immediately, a thin, long sword was created out of thin air. But it was a different one. It was smeared in a green goo. She made a strike on him.
“Ehh!!”. And even before he knew what was happening, a thin line appeared, vertically, from his forehead and continued downward, covered in that green goo.
The next second there were two parts of his body, cut symmetrically, on the ground. The floor was covered in blood and his insides were spilled out.
“One down”. She mumbled and left the hut.
“Eh! Demonic Possession? A real demonic possession?”
“Yes. A real one. Demons possessed them and their personality changed. They became violent and uncontrollable in their actions. And one day they just left. And the next day they returned to their current form. They had forgotten about us. And had become barbarians. Plundering villages after villages. Finally reaching ours. But ours was quite a prosperous village and we grow plenty of food crops and rear cattle. That caught their eyes. And hence began to blackmail us, threaten us. And thus we had comply to their desires and wishes.This is more or less the story of what happened. So now you know the reason”
“Hmm. Yes, I do understand that. But what I don’t understand is that how am I supposed to help you. You want me to find the demons and destroy them or something?”
“It isn’t like that. I want yo-”. Before she could finish the sentence, was interrupted.
“Agordos! Agordos! I came to return this to you. Hey Agordos!”. It was Liu. She had come to return the black feather to Agordos. She was running towards him holding the feather in hand and waving.
“What! How did you acquire that? That was in my pocket, safe and secure.”. Then he checked his pocket. It was open and the feather wasn’t there. He didn’t think she stole that, so only possible way he thought was that he might have dropped it somewhere. And she picked it up.
“You had dropped this feather while we were getting you back to the village. I happen to notice that and picked it up. I am a good girl.”. She was yelling at him from afar. She was still running.
“Two more left!”. A voice came from her behind. Liu turned around to see. And she saw a killing machine. It was that brunette girl. Her face was smeared in blood. Her beautiful dress was now dipped in blood. With a slender sword in her hand, she must have killed many women in the village. She was walking slowly towards them. Liu was terrified. She gained speed to escape from her.
“Hey little girl! Hurry, quick. “ Agordos shouted at her.
It was too late. “Green slash”. The brunette girl yelled and moved her sword quickly and a green huge sword like entity emerged out of her sword and went through the little girl.
She exploded like a balloon. Blood splattered around Liu’s death spot. Only the black feather was remaining in its midst.
“One more left”. The brunette girl muttered.
Agordos stood there, as he couldn’t do anything. Everything happened in a split second.
“Y-You, how could you kill a little kid like her? Who are you?”. She didn’t respond to him.
She slashed her sword in the air and all the blood on the blade was washed off. She continued to move towards them. Her eyes were not like those of a killer. On the contrary she looked like a elegant, beautiful lady, but the actions made that thinking ironical.
“Che! Such a bad timing. If I knew you were a hunter, I would’ve killed you in your sleep. You ruined my perfect plan”.
Agordos was surprised and confused, because it was said by the old woman standing behind him.
“Old grandma, what are talking about?”