Disclaimer: All events and characters in this story are purely fictional. If there are similarities in names and places, please understand. The author is still a beginner and criticism, and suggestions are expected. Reader discretion is advised.

WARNING!!

Strong language and violence

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

Wilson handed Aiden the glass containing the drink. Aiden took a whiff of the drink. It smells slightly sweet with the smell of alcohol.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Just a glass of Mead. Enough to keep you warm."

Mead? I haven't heard of that ancient drink in a long time. He drank it. It was quite sweet and warm. He thought about what kind of person would give a glass of alcohol to a sick person. But in fact, the drink did not taste that intoxicating. He put down the glass and saw Wilson lighting his cigarette.

Aiden said, "Thank you."

"No problem," Wilson replied. Wilson took a drag on his cigarette and asked Aiden again. "So, which faction are you from?"

Faction? Aiden was a little confused by Wilson's question. Then he assumed maybe he meant where he worked. Or maybe where he came from.

"Faction?"

"You have your uniform, yes? I assume that was your faction's gigs or something."

Aiden was having a difficult time trying to comprehend what was this Old Man asking. But he thought to himself: probably he was just asking about where do he works.

"I-I'm from the Marines. I am an Irish person, but I live in America."

"Marines? Like in seafarers or something? Irish? America? I've never heard of that name. You must be from a faraway place." Wilson shot Aiden a suspicious look. Then he went back to smoking his cigarette and drinking his mead.

"Wait, you never heard of Marines? They can be searched even on Wikipedia."

"Wikipedia? Hahaha, you speak a strange language. It seems that the Marines I know and the one you know is totally different, yeah?"

What? How come he's never heard of the Marines? Is he from a remote area or what? Aiden thought. Aiden's suspicions only grew. He could only think of one question.

"Where am I?" asked Aiden while drinking his mead.

"Where are you? We are about 60 miles outside of Viernna. I intend to continue my journey there tomorrow. Especially in the previous village there were those who asked me to take care of their problems. Someone killed it, though."

"Viernna? I've never heard of that town before."

"You've never heard of Viernna? Boy, then you must be from a very remote village."

Things are getting weirder and more confusing. Aiden was still wondering where he was, and why Wilson never heard of Marines, Irish or even America. On the other hand, Wilson was curious how someone like Aiden didn't know this city called Viernna. Aiden remembered Wilson's previous words about the problem he was dealing with, but there had been someone who had preceded it.

"You said earlier, you were dealing with a problem that turned out to have been resolved. What problem is that?" asked Aiden.

"Oh, that. There are monsters terrorizing small villages around here. Previously he only ate their livestock. But a few days ago, three children disappeared from their village. It turned out that they had become a prey for that monster. So, I was asked to take care of their problems because I happened to be on assignment in that village."

Instantly Aiden understood where this conversation was going.

"How does that monster look?" asked Aiden.

"Hmmm… it's a bit hard to explain. He had the body of a mountain tiger, pitch-black in color, and slender. then his head, his head mutated into a terrible shape. I think he could be described as having his head split open and his brain and other internal organs visible to the naked eye."

Aiden's nightmare memories come back. There was no mistake, it was the monster that attacked him earlier. It turns out that the monster should be taken care of by this old man himself.

"You mean the monster in the forest earlier?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's that bastard. Wait? You know that monster? Oooh… so you killed the monster, huh?" Wilson stared at Aiden closely. Aiden's expression mixed and cold sweat started pouring down his forehead. He couldn't forget that moment of life and death just now when he was in the creature's grasp.

Wilson suddenly chuckled and went back to smoking his cigarette. "It's good that I saved you quickly. Otherwise, you could die from the poison. But your body is strong too huh. Such a dose of poison could kill an ordinary person in a matter of minutes."

"Poison?!" Aiden's expression was a mix of disbelief and horror.

"Pretty dangerous poison. I gave you a neutralizing potion and medicine to speed up the healing. Everything just depends on my ability to heal you, so everything is safe."

Aiden could only pensive. "Thank you."

"No problem. After all, it's the locals' job to help an adventurer."

"I don't understand even half of what you're talking about."

"You really are from a remote town, huh? Relax. How about you rest there. It's getting late and I intend to continue my journey tomorrow. I'll take you to the nearest town."

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Aiden just nodded and went back to tucking himself in while Wilson finished his mead before turning off the bonfire and going to bed. Aiden thought back to what happened earlier and hoped he wouldn't have to deal with such a horrible creature.

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Aiden woke up with his body still covered in cloth. The sun had not yet risen, and it was still dark due to Wilson putting out the bonfire that was burning earlier. But he woke up and felt that something was wrong. He heard Wilson snoring in his stagecoach. Aiden tried to look around while keeping himself as low profile as possible. About 200 meters away, he saw something moving within a tall meadow. Not one, not two, maybe more than three or even more than that. Someone's approaching, He thought. He rushed to wake Wilson from his sleep. With surprise he saw Wilson who was pretending to snore. Damn Old Man, he already knew.

Both trying to check how many people approaching them. But then, Wilson clicked his tongue. "Bastard. Bandits of all things? And in these days too? You gotta be fucking kidding me," He cursed.

"Bandits?" Aiden was in disbelief. This started to feel like one of those fantasy books. Bandits raiding nearby camp or some random stagecoaches on the road. But then again, robberies are pretty much the same in any part of places.

"Kid, go inside. Let me handle this."

"Are you fucking serious?"

"I saved your ass, didn't I? Then help me by not get in my way."

Aiden didn't say much and quickly got into the carriage and closed the curtains. He could only peek through the window which was covered by a thin cloth. His right hand had touched his back pocket where his gun was lodged.

Slowly, the bandits came from the meadows. There are five of them. One has his hair only in the middle of the crown which he ties it like a ponytail. He was holding what looks like a crossbow. The two people behind him were ugly looking with geeky short hair. They were both armed with a short sword, and both look like twin brothers. The other one has a curly hair with a slender body, and he was holding a crossbow which is bigger in size. And the last man was bald and big. It seems that he wears some sort of gauntlet in his both hands.

"Nice carriage, old man. What's in it?" The man with the ponytail asked. It was clear from his tone that he was mocking while threatening Wilson.

"You don't need to know." Wilson replied while lighting his cigarette. "How about you guys just go home and take care of your mothers who just came back from the brothel."

They all laughed at Wilson's reply. The ponytailed man pointed the crossbow at Wilson with a look that was ready to kill.

"I am very interested in your carriage, Old Man. How about you give it to me? Of course, with the contents, please?" He drew closer to Wilson and now, he was right before his eyes, pointing his crossbow at his face.

"Oh really? I also like this carriage. I don't think that's going to happen," Wilson replied.

"That's not a question, Old Man." The ponytailed man pressed on the "Old Man", threatening Wilson into giving him his possessions.

"Doug! Check what inside!" The ponytailed man ordered his slender companion.

"Me again? I'm tired, boss," he complained.

"Hurry up and do it, you idiot. You don't remember what happened to Twinky, huh?" he replied.

"Tsk… yes yes." Half-heartedly, the slender man slowly approached the back of the carriage where Aiden was hiding. Aiden fingered the gun in disbelief. Should he kill this man the moment when he opened the curtain? Or just disable it? He looked at Wilson who was being held at gunpoint right in his face. Then Aiden thought that if these robbers weren't killed, they were going to kill them. The slender man touched the curtain of the carriage with a heavy crossbow which he prepared. The curtains opened and he screamed "BOOOOOSSSSS!!!!!"

The slender man bounced and fell, with a hole in his head. Aiden just killed the guy. He quickly got out of the carriage and found Wilson swinging his fist at the ponytailed man, sending him flying quite a distance. Shortly after that happened, the Twins, suddenly threw a fireball at Wilson which caused Wilson to crash with a half-burnt body.

Aiden looked at the sight with a horrified look. He immediately pointed his gun at the Twins, but he was greeted by a frontal punch to his right cheek from the large guy. Aiden fell with his head suddenly dizzy and made a loud sound that could only be heard in his brain. He tried desperately to stand up, but he was kicked back again by the big man. The man continued to attack him before finally Aiden parried the kick and threw an uppercut. The large man staggered trying to regain his balance. Aiden shot the man which unfortunately missed and instead, hit his left shoulder due to the twins threw more fireballs at him. They zoom in at such crazy speed that it took Aiden by surprise. The gun is useless in close combat. He drew his bayonet and parried the first twin's first attack. The twins smiled. "You're good too, foreigner. But let's see how good you are against us."

Brandishing their weapons, the First Twin zooms in and jabs its sword towards Aiden's neck. Aiden manage to dodge it, but the Second Twin swung his sword at Aiden who had just recovering. Aiden with his bayonet parried the Second Twin attack, then he tried to tackle him to bring both twins down. They avoided his tackle by jump above it and threw more fireballs at Aiden. Aiden immediately jumped back even though his shoes were hit a bit by the fire. The twins moved forward, this time doing it zig zag to try disorienting Aiden's vision. However, Aiden nimbly caught the Second Twin's stab, then slammed it hard like that of an Aikido. The First Twin rushes towards his brother, but Aiden. deflected the First Twin's attack with his bayonet, then furiously jabs its bayonet three times towards the twin. Blood flowed from his stomach. Seeing that his brother was injured, the Second Twin, recovering from Aiden's attack, quickly rushed towards him, threw several fireballs and continued to attack at Aiden. Aiden again, tried his best to avoid it but the last fireball hits his body. He winced in pain but still managed to stand up. The Twins realized that they must finish this quickly, raised their fists up while screaming.

"Mana Burst!!"

A strong wind blew from their direction, even if it was only for a second. The two of them saw Aiden, who was trying to endure the pain from the fireball earlier, immediately dash towards Aiden with the speed of lightning. Aiden parried the first Twin's slash, but he felt that this attack was too strong and caused him to fall while still holding onto the Twin's sword. The second Twin, moved from the side and slashed at Aiden, but Aiden jumped back and was greeted by a large man who seemed to have recovered from the wound earlier, and kicked Aiden in the stomach until he was blown away and fell to the ground. Aiden spat out a bit of blood from his mouth and felt his stomach which he had just kicked. He did not know what to do.

Suddenly, behind them, Wilson stood up with an extremely cold murderous look. The second Twin noticed this, and swiftly slashed straight at Wilson, but Wilson caught hold of the Twin's arm, broke it, and hit him in the head, causing it to twist and snaped. He immediately fell limp to the ground. The First Twin, saw his brother died, immediately rushed towards Wilson in a fit of rage, but was greeted with a heavy fist to the stomach by Wilson. Wilson took the opportunity to disarm him and decapitate the Twin. The big man immediately charged towards Wilson and attacked him wildly, but Wilson nimbly dodged each of these attacks. He then slashed at the big Man's leg, then slit his throat as he fell. The man died from loss of blood and out of air.

Wilson looked at the three dead men and threw away the sword he had stripped from the Twins of earlier. He walked towards Aiden but was met with the screams of the man with the ponytails. "YOU'RE DEAD, YOU FUCKING OLD PRICK!!!"

Wilson looked around quickly before finally, a gun shot rang and a hole formed in the ponytail man's head before finally falls dead. Wilson looked at Aiden, who had just shot the man, was out of breath and covered in bruises and burnt injury. Wilson reached out his hand to help Aiden up. The fight ended leaving the two of them alone.

"I didn't expect two of them can wield magic," said Wilson

"Magic?"

"Yes. The source of power of Mages and Wizards alike.

"Mages? You mean like a sorcerer?"

"Well, sorcerer are a bit different but that's not really important right now."

Aiden was getting confused and scared. He still remembered how those two people threw fireballs at him. Is it possible that this is just a very unpleasant nightmare?

"They threw fireballs at me. And suddenly, they were getting faster and stronger. What the fuck is going on?" Aiden asked still confused and scared.

"Of course, you don't know. Now I know who you are. You are an Otherworlder, no?"

"Otherworlder?"

"I'll explain later. We better get out of here."

"Wait! What about these corpses?"

"Just leave it there. They're going to be eaten by Monsters in this wilderness, anyway."

Aiden felt he shouldn't press into this topic anymore. The two of them immediately packed up their belongings and put them in the horse carriage. Aiden saw the Twins' swords and took one, hoping that maybe it would be of use later.

They both left with the sun slowly starting to appear from the eastern horizon. Whatever happens next, Aiden just needs to make sure he finds out what's really going on.

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-To Be Continued-