"..ill the..m"

[...huh? What?]

Loic blinked as a faint voice from a far distance suddenly pulled him from his sleep. With his eyes still droopy and his body feeling strangely heavy, he stood up and walked around their camp, surveying the surroundings.

What met his eyes was a deserted camp with tents, that were supposed to house his comrades, completely tattered and disheveled, while broken weapons and armour decorated the ground, insinuating that a battle had just taken place.

[What the hell?!] He exclaimed,

Having had a gist of what might have transpired, Loic proceeded to frantically look around the area, hoping to find one of his comrades who might be able to explain to him their circumstance.

[Torval! Torval! Where are you?! Collin?!] He screamed as he ran around, desperately searching for them.

Just then, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a man walking towards an open space, clad in what seemed to be a black armour. He trudged past some destroyed tents, not bothering to look at them, and just continued on his path.

[Hey!] Loic shouted, trying to get the man's attention.

[Who are you?! Where are my comrades?! Where's Torval and the others?!]

Strangely feeling a strong sense of familiarity, Loic decided to postpone his search for his comrades and follow the man, even running past more destroyed tents.

Just as he was closing the distance between, the surroundings unexpectedly shifted. The once lush forest with tall trees and wide canopies, suddenly became a destitute, burning village. With houses destroyed and being eaten by flames, and the smell of blood and burnt corpses permeated into the surroundings, Loic became overwhelmed with the feeling of nauseousness.

[Wha?! What the hell is happening?!]

[?! Shit!]

Dazed and confused by the sudden change of the surroundings, Loic tripped on what seemed to be an embedded sword and stumbled on the ground.

[Ughh.. m-my head..]

"...Kill.."

Suddenly hearing the voice again, Loic hurriedly stood up and drew the sword that tripped him. He looked around to identify the source of the ominous voice, only to be met by a man that looked exactly like him.

This man however, was being covered by jet black mist, while his eyes glowed a sinister shade of red, radiating an intense feeling of hatred and contempt.

A demon incarnate in the shape of his face.

He readied his sword and drew his stance.

[Who are you?!]

Tilting his head, the man looked at Loic in confusion.

"...you don't know me?"

[?!]

Even their voice were eerily the same, greatly startling Loic.

[I don't! Who are you and why do you have my face?!] He asked.

[And where's Torval and the others?!]

"..haah.." The man sighed in disappointment. He bent down to pick up a rusty sword from the ground, while his body, that was oozing a jet black ominous aura, proceeded to take the same stance as Loic.

"I'm you.."

[?! Wha--- don't fuck with me!!] Loic, not being able to control his emotions, was now seething with anger. He decided to charge at the man with his weapon drawn, while his eyes focused on predicting what the opponent might do. Having found an opening, Loic fainted with an overhead swing, only to change the direction to a diagonal slash at the last second, a very difficult move to pull off, but also quite effective.

To his surprise though, the sword passed through the body of the man like it was a fog.

[Shit!] Loic exclaimed as he leaped back to avoid any counter attack.

The man however, just stood there like nothing happened.

"Well, to be more specific, I am what you can become" The man said with a big grin.

Not understanding what the meaning of those words were, Loic decided that fighting this man here was pointless. [.. I have no time for this, where are Torval and the others?! What happened here?!]

The man, while still copying Loic's motion, looked him straight in the eye, and smiled. The sinister shade of red that were his eyes, seemed as if it was searing it's mark into Loic's soul.

"Don't you remember? We did this, together." The man answered, while his eyes blazed furiously. "We killed everyone, we destroyed everything"

[You're lying!!] Screamed Loic.

[I will never do such a thing!]

"Ahh, but you're wrong. You would do such a thing." The man respond while crossing his arms and tilting his head.

"After all, why wouldn't we?" The man continued.

"Humans are vile, treacherous creatures that wouldn't hesitate to throw you off a cliff if it meant saving their own hide."

"They lie, and hate, and betray, and hurt.. so why shouldn't we do the same?"

He said as he walked towards Loic, the black mist at his back continuing to grow, devouring everything in it's path.

"Let's kill them all, let's destroy everything"

[No.. no no no.. you're not me! You're the black beast, aren't you?!] Loic declared.

[You want to use me to bring ruin upon this world, you're corrupting me! I won't let you!!] Backed into a corner, Loic decided to swing his sword wildly, hoping to dissipate the growing mist from the man.

"You don't have a choice."

"You are, the harbinger of death"

"You are.. Calamity"

The man said as the black mist covered Loic's entirety, devouring him completely.

+++

"..eith.. Keith!"

*Ghh! haa.. haa haa..*

Loic gasped as Torval's frantic voice and shaking awoke him from his sleep. He grasped his chest after realizing that his breathing was rough and labored. Looking up, the first thing he saw was the concerned face of one of his closest friends, Torval.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake now, Keith!" Exclaimed Torval.

Confused, Loic hurriedly stood up and looked around his surroundings. Relief washed over him as he saw his comrades orderly fixing up their tents and gears under the cover of dawn.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"H-hey, Keith! Don't stand up too quickly" Torval exclaimed while hastily grabbing his shoulders.

"Haah.. haah.. what happened, Torval?"

"A-ah, you were having a nightmare, Keith." Said Torval.

"I was going to wake you up, but when I came close to you, I saw you breathing roughly, and sweating profusely. You were muttering something, but I couldn't really understand it."

[So it was just.. a dream?] Loic thought as he sunk back to the ground, having lost the strength in his knees. [It felt.. so real]

"Woah, Keith. Just sit down for now, tell me what happened."

Loic looked at the far distance as he crossed his fingers together and closed his eyes.

"I had a dream, Torval. I was being eaten by a black mist." He said as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. "I felt it enveloping me, eating away at my consciousness and reasoning."

Loic looked back at Torval with eyes filled with concern.

"Do you know what that means, Torval?"

"Mhmm.." Torval groaned as he crossed his arms and sat beside Loic, closing his eyes in thought.

"I don't know, Keith. It's probably nothing, just a bad dream."

[..That's to be expected, he doesn't know that the Black Beast of Calamity has me as it's master, after all.] Loic thought to himself as he looked down.

"A-anyways, Keith. Stop worrying about that for now, we're going to attack them soon."

Standing back up, Torval offered his hand to the agitated Loic. "The others are almost finished, you'd best start on yours."

"Ah yes, sorry, and thank you, Torval." Loic answered as he took Torval's offer and helped himself up.

+++

"So that's it, huh?"

"Yeah, Fort Sun Dew."

Loic and Torval muttered as they peeked through the thicket atop a cliff, overlooking the old fort. It was currently at the break of dawn, so the sky was still dark, people would normally still be asleep at this time, so it was the perfect opportunity to strike. Their group currently hid in the surrounding forest while he and Torval scouted the fort.

"You have any idea how we can approach that, Keith? It seems awfully fortified."

"... Something doesn't feel right, Torval. It's too quiet."

"What do you mean?" Asked the confused Torval.

Certainly, it would be expected that the place would be quiet. That was, after all, precisely the reason why they chose to attack at this time of the day, to catch the sleeping bandits unawares.

But something about the entirety of it just didn't sit right with Loic.

He stood straight up and decided to jump towards the fort, greatly surprising Torval.

"H-hey Keith! What do you think you're doing?? Shit!" He cursed as he followed Loic and gave out to signal to attack. "Everyone, attack!!"

"Oraaaah!!" The men cried as they charged towards the fort, weapons drawn ready for battle.

{I call upon thee, Koba, bear of the forest. Heed thy call and offer your strength!} Chanted Torval as he summoned his familiar from the spirit world.

A brown magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground just as Torval landed. Upon it emerged a huge brown bear with claws and fangs as sharp as swords, and hide as hard as steel.

The bear of the forest, Koba.

*GRUAAAH!* The spirit roared as he charged towards the huge gate that lied between the bandits and it's master.

"There it is! Torval-san's familiar!"

"Uhooooo!! Let's do this!!"

"That's the head hunter for ya!"

The men shouted in delight as they followed behind the huge bear.

*GROAAAAH* Bellowed Koba as he smashed through the wooden gate with ease, sending splinters of wood towards the tents.

""Haaaaaah!!""

The men screamed in unison as they poured inside the courtyard of the for and started attacking the pitched tents.

To their surprise however, instead of being met with the pained cries of their prey, a deafening silence welcomed them. Even Koba that was trampling over the tents and causing intense havoc was bewildered by the current predicament.

"There's no one here." Just as the men stood around in confusion, Loic emerged from within one of the towers, his face revealing an ominous aura.

"There were signs of people having lived here, but the place is totally empty now." He continued as he threw scrolls and empty bottles of liquor to Torval's feet.

"Wha?! Where could they have gone?" Torval asked in confusion as he picked up the piece of paper.

"T-this is.. !!!" His face twisted in horror when he saw what was the content of the scroll. It was a detailed map of the geography of the surroundings, as well as a route that showed an easier way from the fort to the village.

"What's the meaning of this, Torval."

"!!!"

Torval looked up to the cold, sinister voice that called his name. Loic stood in front of him, weapon drawn, emitting an intense killing intent.

The men, having realized that something was wrong, moved towards the two.

"W-what's going on, Keith-san, Torval-san?" Asked Collin as he looked at what Torval was holding.

"?!! T-that's-- Oh no!"

"We've been duped." Answered Loic as he drew his sword near Torval's neck, slightly wounding it in the process. "What's the meaning of this, Torval. Explain yourself, depending on your answer, I might spare your life."

"K-Keith-san, please don't do anythi---" a man tried to intervene between the two, however,

"Stay out of this."

Under the intense pressure of Loic, the men could do nothing but hold their breath.

Koba however, sensing Keith's hostility towards it's master, decided to attack.

*GRUAAAAAAAH!!* He roared as charged towards him at full speed.

Loic, having sensed this, suddeny pulled out black chains from his shadow and threw them at the spirit, binding and stopping it on it's tracks, greatly shocking everyone.

"W-what the?!"

"Is Keith-san a contract holder as well??"

"What was that??"

Having seen his familiar be easily subdued, Torval gave in to his primal instinct and cowered in fear. He desperately tried to explain himself to Loic while sweat dribbled from his whole body.

"I-I don't know what's going on! I was given this information by.. the... " He paused as he thought for a moment.

"Huh?" Seeing the brand of the liquor bottles on the ground, Torval suddenly came into a realization as he roared in anger, "The Caravan leader!!"

He stood straight up, with fury in his eyes.

"They set us up!! It's the caravan leader! He was the one who gave us the false information!"

"Wha?? What does mean??"

"Where are they??"

"What's going on?!"

"Someone please explain!"

"It's the village!! We've left it alone and unprotected! Oh god, my family!!"

"No, my mother and sister are still there!"

"Oh god!!"

The men were now in a frantic panic. Not understanding just what was happening, they pressed towards Torval and demanded him for answers.

Torval however, ignored them and proceeded to kneel in front of Loic.

"K-Keith! I had nothing to do with this! Please believe me---"

"Silence"

His plead was cut off by a deafening command from Loic that stumped everyone. Loic looked around and saw that everyone had obeyed his command and had gotten silent.

He faced the kneeling Torval and extended his hand.

"Get up" he said, "we have to get back to the village and fast."

"Yy-yes!" Answered Torval in a meekly manner.

"Call your familiar and have him transport the two of us. We might be able to catch up to them if their hiking." Loic commanded as he loosened the chains that were holding Koba down.

"W-what about us?"

One of the men asked as Torval tried to calm his familiar down.

"The rest of you will have to walk, the priority right now is to get Torval and I back to the village as fast as we could."

"But.."

"Listen to me, bringing anymore people would just slow us down, we need to catch up to them as soon as we can."

Loic's logic was a sound one. Surely the running speed of a familiar such as Koba is far faster than any horse could ever gallop, it's even more prevalent if the bandits were hiking. If Koba carried both Torval and Loic on his back and ran at full speed, without any rest, then they would surely catch up to the bandits.

"Keith, Koba's ready, let's go!"

"Okay" Confirmed Loic, he then faced the men just as he was mounting Koba.

"Continue marching towards the village, use the map that's right there" he said as he pointed towards the map Torval had seen.

With that, Koba started sprinting through the forest with great ease, not stopping for anything.

"Listen well, Torval." Loic whispered at Torval who was currently holding onto Koba. "If anything were to happen to my wife, I'll kill you."

"... I'm sorry, Keith.. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I don't care."

Torval tried to explain himself, but Loic just soundly shot it down. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to assure Loic of his wife's safety, Torval just gulped his saliva and faced forward.

Loic looked clenched his fists as he looked towards the sky.

[Be safe, Lise.]