The hustle and bustle of the adventurer guild was simmering slowly behind Thomas’ back as he went through his possible requests on the board. His quiet musing on the day’s activity were taken elsewhere when his eyes landed on an interesting quest.
A young master named Coles Helios needed some sword training in advance when he goes adventuring three years from now. The request sparking a few derogatory thoughts on the nobles and their idiotic rite of passage.
Thomas could never understand how they thought that making an adventurer party at fifteen and then keeping it from disbanding before eighteen would be a better test of leadership than to actually have them run a business instead. Though, on further speculation, he supposed that they also wanted to flaunt their inherently unique [blessing], all in a bid to draw the line between commoner and nobles.
Looking closer at the age of the aforementioned noble, Thomas realised how overly-zealous Taryn had been with his training.
The boy had put in daily training for the last six years with the sword. A round shield was introduced three years before to add. His form, balance and force placement was better than most of his men back then...
Shaking his head to clear the gathering clouds, Thomas focused back on the task of finding an easy job that can be finished by the afternoon.
Taryn would have thought that the job picking process was easy. And it was. If only for those who do not have children to take care of.
Most job requests for a person of Thomas’ expertise are expeditions that would last from two days to upwards of a week. Not something that someone like him can afford with the child in his lap.
So finding the balance between pay and time was rather difficult. Eventually, however, his eyes came across an offer that would suffice.
It was a simple retrieve request, he just needed to pick up a bunch of Auroran roses. A plant named after the area as well as its soft and glowing green hue.
Knowing clearly where to find his quarry, Thomas removed the request from the board and headed over towards the reception desk to sign up.
Walking out of the city and its ambient noise, Thomas was welcomed by the calming sounds of nature.
An average person would take a moment to enjoy the harmony created by the eclectic mix of rustling leaves in the wind and animal calls. But Thomas was not an average person.
His time spent in the forest was not to enjoy the beauty and sounds of nature. His time in the forest was either looking for something while under constant vigilance to avoid monsters or remaining under constant vigil to spot the monsters he had to hunt. Time out in the wilderness bordering the Unknown was always grating for any solo adventurer’s nerves and Thomas was no exception.
But the tension was very welcoming for Thomas. Normal people would simply frown at the mental exertion of standing on one’s toe for an entire day. Thomas would just see the arduous task as a mean of keeping his mind from wandering to the hole what was filled with thoughts on how pointless everything is, how he had failed and how futile it was to cling to life. To others, venturing the wild alone was stressful. To Thomas, it was stress-relieving.
And so, Thomas continued his trek into the Unknown in search of today’s objective. Straining his eyes to find a dead monster’s body, it did not take long for him to see the first Auroran rose growing within an underbrush near the dead body of a giant wolf.
One would think their hues of green should have blended into the flora backdrop easily enough. And it would, if not for the subtle glowing they emitted for absorbing ambient mana generated by a magic crystal that has not been removed from a carcass.
Quickly checking the body for the magic crystal to see how depleted it is, Thomas only saw a gray crystal with faint traces of mana flashing within every few seconds. Sighing, he returned the half eaten corpse to its original spot and went over to meticulously dig out the flowers while mentally noting down the large cat like paw prints leaving the body.
Flowers picked and tied together, Thomas reached for is water skin on his right. Only to find it too light. Muttering choice words under his breath, he turned around and walked towards a stream he remembered crossing on his trek.
A few minutes of walking later, Thomas could see a small stream cutting across his path. Walking up to it, the man deposited today’s harvest of plants on the bank and bent down into the stream to refill his waterskin.
Occupied by his current task, Thomas failed to hear the pitter patter of footsteps that approached his floral possessions. It was only the slight cackle that was iconic of goblins that he realised he was not alone.
Zipping his head around, Thomas spotted the interloper. A small goblin was holding onto the bunch of Auroran roses and inspecting it, letting out a few cackle when the flowers pulsed with mana.
Slowly returning his waterskin to his side, Thomas unsheathed his scimitar from its place on his back and crept towards the goblin. His creeping was interrupted as the monster turned his gaze towards the stream and, subsequently, Thomas.
Startled by the human, the goblin made a mad dash in the opposite direction with the roses still in its grasp. Thomas was already on its tail. A quick chase that would have ended after but a few seconds with the man and his larger strides winning took a different turn.
Just as he was about to seperate the goblin’s head from its shoulders, Thomas missed as both he and his target dropped through a construct of leaves and branches and into a cave system. As he righted himself, Thomas took a look around the darkness of the cave and noticed a few things.
First, the cave was not as dark as he thought it would be.
Second, the reason the cave was not as dark as it supposed to be was not so natural. Goblins, hobgoblins and orcs were making camp within the cave system and were using the roses as lighting.
The underground structure housed a gathering that was roughly a tenth the size of an average horde. A number that could increase quite dramatically had they been left to their devices.
Looking at what is arguably his most hated monsters, Thomas suddenly realised something that only further stoked his flames of anger.
He realised why neither his men and the adventurer scouts failed to notice a monster horde building up.
However, when one stares into the abyss, the abyss stares back.
From the moment Thomas landed, the eyes within the cave were already turning towards his person. The orbs were locking onto him from varying heights. The majority, around thirty pairs, came from the waist height goblins. A smaller number, around fifteen, were the human-sized hobgoblins. The remaining six pairs were looking down on Thomas.
With a human within their midst, the monsters did the rational thing. They all charged.
Though the numbers were nowhere near the same as a typical horde, the mass of bodies charging was a rather horrifying sight that would have warranted a flight response for the rational.
Yet, while the beasts were with their wits, the man was not.
While others might see a threat towards their well-being, Thomas saw redemption and a purpose in his pointless existence. He saw a way to avenge the lost comrades, a way to prevent a repeat of the tragedy and, pessimistically, a way for him to end his days with a purpose.
And so, Thomas stood his ground as the wave grew ever closer. Shield and sword at the ready to cull the beasts.
The first goblin to reach the man rush forth with its crude stone dagger. In response, Thomas brought his blade across in a horizontal slash. Before the bisected body flying with its forward momentum could hit him, Thomas shoved forward with his shield, slamming both goblin cadaver and shield into another goblin.
The stunned monster was given no chance to re-orientate as a quick vertical slash ended its life. Using the downward force of his slash, Thomas lowered his body into a crouch and lunged forward into another three of the charging monsters.
Knocking down the obstacles in his way, he delivered a wide arcing slash that took the heads of five more goblins. Turning his body, Thomas produced a follow up swing of his shield. The goblin caught by the round disc was instantly put down with a broken neck.
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Shield in front of him again, he lined up another charge and knocked down three more goblins before more could close in.
Instead of throwing out another wide slash to cull more goblins, Thomas had to raise his shield and block a heavy blow from an orc, skidding back a few paces from the force.
Capitalizing on his pause, the goblins pounced and charged Thomas. Yet their claws and stone weapons could barely draw blood and break skin.
Noticing the goblins that were on him, Thomas pushed the large stone axe in the orc’s hand away, stabbed forward into the orc’s belly and pulled up. A shower of blood and intestine spew forth and covered both man and monsters.
Quickly shaking free of the goblins, he jumped away as the large orc crashed face down and crushed an unlucky goblin. Landing on a goblin and removing its head, Thomas got ready for another charge to regain his momentum.
Only to be interrupted as two hobgoblins jumped him. One came from the back of his head and the other his lower body. Lowering his stance for stability, Thomas swung his scimitar behind him and his shield edge-out in front of him.
The jumping hobgoblin was cut from its armpit into the middle of its chest before being slammed down into the dirt by the force of the blade. The frontal assault did not fare any better. Thomas had timed the shield swing to hit exactly on the monster’s open maw.
Jaw split and neck broken, the hobgoblin was sprawled out as Thomas turned around, stepped on it and charged ahead with shield at the ready. Momentum regained, Thomas continued his hit and run, or hit and charge, tactic and slowly whittled down the horde’s number.
The tempo of battle slowly superimposed upon a similar scene six years ago.
He was in the mercenary camp and employing the same tactics. Only with more desperation as the charges back then were to get to allies, not to avoid a build up of monster corpses.
Back then, he had to watch as others slowly died around him while he was mostly impervious to the monster’s simple attack thanks to [unyielding]. The [blessing] that gave him resistance to any sort of non-magical damage he had received before. It had built up to an absurd level by then, making all the blows he received mere papercuts.
Yet all the defense in the world could not have saved his comrades. His charges only managed to save the three lieutenants. Not this time. Thomas thought resolutely. Anger overtaking him from the memory and realizing he did not need to be so defensive, he adopted a more aggressive stance.
The shield was turned and became a second blade. Blows were ignored for a quicker execution of the scum. The man became a whirlwind of blood and gore as the goblins in his path were reduced to cooling corpses in mere seconds.
Even the combination of agile hobgoblins and robust orc could no hinder him. Speed was matched with speed. The lumbering masses of orcs were out maneuvered and eviscerated like the first one.
Every fallen body of monster was a relieved comrade’s face for the man on a mission.
Eventually, Thomas was left panting alone in dead silence.
Corpses were strewning the cave environment, mostly consisting of goblins, a few hobgoblins and six orcs. A few hobgoblins were smart enough to start running after their adversary were easily dispatching their brethren.
Taking a few minutes to stabilized his breathing, Thomas walked out of the cave to welcome the sunlight. It was around noon when the man was under the sun again.
Not even bothering to come back for the bundle of roses, the reason he was there in the first place, Thomas started to make his way back while looking up into the clouds, silently running a thought through his mind.
I did it. I actually got something back for them. I finally did something that has meaning. The guild just needs to know this and there will not be another one like us. The guys can rest easy now. Looking up at the shining sun in contrast to the dank cave, Thomas though further. Maybe Agatha was right.
The trek back to civilization was abruptly halted by an anomaly. The vibrant sounds that Thomas never paid much attention to was gone. Void of its usual sounds of life, the forest exuded an air of death. The animals seemingly hushing themselves in avoidance of their impending doom.
Missing his usual background of life, the man quickly realized something was amiss. Scimitar and shield at the ready once again, Thomas eyed the surrounding forest while assessing his body’s state.
The liberating fight earlier only left him with a few minor wounds when he was blindsided by a few pesky hobgoblins. His stamina was a bit spent.
Fighting roughly fifty monsters in a swarm tends to that. He remarked internally before turning and swinging his shield out towards a sudden rush of air.
The shield slammed into a paw the size of his head and threw the man into a tree trunk. The impact scattered splinters and flushed out a flock of hiding birds.
Yet the man lived up to his [blessing] by simply stood back up and turned to face his assailant. Facing down the creature, Thomas was cursing his own luck.
Running into the earlier den was ironically both a stroke of fortune and misfortune. He had experienced both a closure and a shower of very enticing monster blood. And now the unburdened man freed from his guilt was staring down a rather hungry chimera.
All three heads had eyes strained on him. The central lion was growling, the goat drooling from behind the feline, and the tail-like snake was flicking its forked tongue. The whole body inching closer and closer to its quarry.
Once within leaping range, the hideous amalgamation of lion, goat and snake lunged for the man’s jugular, clearing an impressive distance of twice its body length.
Instantly dropping to the right in a roll, Thomas avoided the lunge and ducked behind a tree for temporary cover.
The beast continued to fly with its momentum and crashed into a tree, snapping the whole green structure in half and tangling itself in the foliage. Taking the monster’s brief moment of disorientation, Thomas made a decisive slash to one of its hoofed hind leg. Blade biting deep into its ankle, the goat howled in pain and the whole body turned towards the man.
Even with the rather crippling injury on one of its leg, the beast still managed another pounce onto the man.
Instead of rolling once more, Thomas lowered his center of gravity and swung the shield into the charging beast’s left flank. Successfully diverting the creature’s assault, the man delivered a swift stab within the exposed ribs, eliciting a pained roar.
Pulling out hastily and ducking down, Thomas avoided an over head paw that would have removed his head. Before he could regain any solid footing needed for a counter attack, Thomas was again forced to dodge as the snake tail came in for a pass after the beast finished its paw swing.
The flexible head proved rather difficult as, even with his timely dodge, Thomas still received a rather nasty bite to his shoulder. Gritting his teeth in pain as the venom started to take effect, the man saw a change in the beast’s behavior.
The muscles of the predator was slowly easing itself as it backed away, knowing full well that the venom was going to do in its pesky and puny prey soon enough. Observing the changes, Thomas smirked to himself as [unyielding] has had plenty of experience with poison of all type.
Playing possum, he got down on one knee and planted his sword into the ground. During the whole process, his breathing was made to become more and more drawn-out before stopping completely.
The image created was one of a defeated warrior who had just breathed his last, a dinner bell for the clever beast.
Taking steady steps towards its subdued prey from behind, the chimera slowly opened its front maw to take the first bite. Said bite was interrupted as a blade was suddenly lodged within its upper palate through its brain, courtesy of Thomas.
Pulling out the scimitar before the dying lion could clamp down, he quickly rushed towards the goat head atop the beast even as the front half of its body began to slump. But before his blade could bite into the other head, the goat’s eyes began to glow an ominous red.
Too late to withdraw, Thomas put up his shield even was the flames washed over him from the goat’s magic attack. Sword met flesh one second later and the head went flying. The monster’s body completely losing its life, with only the snake struggling to move futilely.
Yet Thomas did not come out unscathed. As he dropped down from his swing, his legs gave out from under him.
His legs were burnt nearly to the bone, and so was the rest of his body barring the places covered by the shield. As he laid there on the ground with his body burnt and the wounds flaring from the contact with dirt, he chuckled mirklessly at how cruel lady luck seemed to be.
He had finally found a respite from the constant self loathing, a release from his guilt and way to pay back to the lost. Yet fate decided to play this cruel joke on him.
Straining his neck to look over at the cooling corpse of the chimera, Thomas put his only good hand down ad began to push himself up right. Managing to finally push himself up against the body of the chimera, he looked down towards the shield still on his arm and the sword that has been cauterized to his other.
Pulling his good arm free from the shield he dabbed a bit of blood onto a finger and began to write a few words on the shield
Give this to Taryn. And tell him I’m sorry.
Putting his hand down, Thomas looked fondly at his shield and scimitar, both looking pristine and reflecting the sun’s last rays despite going through that day’s intense battles.
Chuckling mirthlessly to himself, the man spent his dying moments under the setting sun thinking of how the sword and shield would still see battle again.
How one day they might rise even beyond heights he has gained.
How all this time he wanted to just be done with life and yet still lived.
How right when he saw the light of the sun again, he was mercilessly burnt down.
Closing his eyes one last time, Thomas thought of the two he had made a promise to. The two soldiers who complimented each other so well. One had the ancestral force empowering all of her attacks. The other, a compassionate man who just wanted to protect others under his many ghostly shields.
Both, by a twist of fate, found each themselves under his supervision.
He remembered how he had to stop the two from arguing about which was superior, offense or defense.
How he was there when the child first saw the light of day.
How they asked him to take care of the boy on their deathbeds.
Thinking of how the boy managed to pull both into him with determination brought a bit of joy to the dead man’s heart.
Yet thinking again of his failure, Thomas could only breathe out an “I’m sorry” before breathing his last. His heart almost light, yet not quite there, Thomas left the living as light left the day.