My ears clang obnoxiously while my mind buzz with static yet a single thought broke through my lips “where am I?”. The question reverberate against cracked stones and broken pillars until clarity return lifting the fog that has addled my mind as I whispered into the winds “I don't know”.
For a moment I simply stood their admiring the scenery with my mouth agape revealing a toothy grin. The sky above smiled brightly its face dotted with lenticular clouds the mountains below stood imposing its overbearing stature invoked awe. I wondered how long I remain undisturbed until a single crackle of lightning had woke me from my reverie. I couldn't help but be slightly perturb as my bliss faded with its end came a emptiness that swallowed my broken dreams, at that moment I decided to pursue the cause of my abrupt awakening.
With each step taken I inched closer toward my goal. My jaunt down uneven terrain revealed a cacophony of trees peppering the open fields below as I drew closer screams could be heard as steel clashed with steel, magic with magic. My haphazard arrival drew little attention from the dead and dying. Before me was a world of misery, countless corpses littered the killing field, countless moans from the dying could be heard as they all made their final stand until nothing but silence remain to taunt the living. I felt nothing but coldness at its conclusion my expression taut with heartache until a single teardrop fell down my cheeks invoking memories of a time long forgotten.
A #$%& in red stood defiant...slaaaashh!
My daydream abruptly ended as a woman in red appeared, her expression serene her intent clear, with eyes afire she fiercely swung her broken blade narrowly missing the very tip of my nose. Had the blade been longer I muse I would be dead! She paused for a moment to examine her weapon state of disrepair soon after her face flash red with anger as she attacked, flinging a bronze pommel with a shattered blade in my direction had caught me off guard as I clumsily dodged only to slip on a wayward pebble slick with blood. Her broken blade soared overhead were I had been mere moments ago, a bead of sweat slowly trickled down my brow as she rushed toward my prone figure only to be repelled by a halfhearted kick in my defense which had struck true, she stood there disoriented, grasping her abdomen in confusion only to fall exhausted. She squirmed for a few seconds only to stop as I approach, reaching down I examine her wounds.
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A few hours later a unearthly racket shattered the deathly silence the buzzard circling overhead squawked in annoyance. Looking around I couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt as I frantically looted corpse after corpse, storing anything of value within a make shift pocket dimension I hastily conjured from memories too faint to fully recollect but enough to work with, as the sky darken I couldn't help but sigh in exhaustion, it had been hours since I began my daunting task after bandaging the girl wounds with scraps I salvaged from the battlefield and nearby camps, I decided to take from the dead in exchange I would bury the dead but first I had to figure out how? I hesitantly trudged toward the source of the unearthly racket only to find her groaning in pain, “how did she get her?” I thought relieved. She gently raised her head propping her body against a broken tree burnt black by lightning.
“Did you know?” she murmured “this was where we first meet, this was where we fell and love and this is where it all fell apart”
smiling weakly she continued “our king was a fool-a madmen even, when he forcefully conscripted soldiers across the kingdom, me and Nahrmanhn attempted to flee along with several others but we were betrayed, he became a soldier and I a witch”
she cackled a laugh as tiny splotches of blood stain her sleeves. “Its been ten years since then and I being a fool returned, hoping for a miracle, instead I was caught in a terrible battle forced to use my greatest magic, sapping what little life I had left and in turn laying waste to everything around me”
she paused for a moment deep in thought “child I have a confession, the truth is I have sin greatly after being bought by my master I learned a great secret hidden in his library a secret even he did not know, with this secret I became a great witch, sadly this secret and I were highly incompatible but to me it was enough, with this power in hand I exacted my revenge, killing my master and massacring the king and his household, I spared no one not even a child” she cried as tears stain her blood soaked dress. “That's why child, I ask you now will you accept my secret?”