I stand frozen because of what Ulir says. A genuine question to be asked but an answer I don’t have.

Actually that's a lie, I know why, but I don’t know if someone like Ulir would be too happy to hear I became a slave to some dark force. Well more of a maybe on that, but that's a question I’ll ask the voice later, if I can even speak to it again.

“I think we should focus on the task, killing the Werewolf?” I ask Ulir as he holds his gaze.

He straightened up, waved his hand as if presenting and said “You want to continue bashing the poor thing until it doesn’t die, be my guest”.

Ox comes over and puts his left hand on Ulir’s shoulder and asks “Come off the kid, now how about you tell the kid what you were doing this whole time?”.

Ulir scoffs, shrugging Ox’s hand off.

“I was figuring out how to kill the Werewolf, because I couldn’t have been the only one to notice something strange about it?” Ulir asks as we all look over at the Werewolf, which had started to gnaw at its arm.

“I felt a strange magic lingering from it and figured it was unnatural in origin. So I hid to see if I was right and sure enough I was” Ulir says to Ox and I.

Great, so Ulir figured this out but couldn’t seem to notice how I could use Dark Magic? Strange. A good strange, but still, strange.

“So enlighten us oh “Grand Cleric” on the discoveries you found while I almost died, multiple times” I snarkily say to Ulir.

Ulir sighed and said “Just watch and maybe learn something fool”. He then marched up to the Werewolf. He slowly lifted his palm towards the beast.

The Werewolf at this point ripped the arm off, blood gushed from the stump. Weird enough as the arm hit the ground, the Dark Flame slowly withered away. Even stranger, the arm looked completely fine, no burns anywhere. A “nonlethal” flame indeed.

Now the Werewolf looks at Ulir and immediately sprints towards him, the stump still bleeding. I would step in between them, but the Werewolf is much too fast.

But as the Werewolf reaches him, Ulir simply presses his pointer finger onto the center of its head, which somehow stops it completely in its tracks.

What the hell? No really what the fuck was that? This thing would bury my head in the ground but is stopped by a single finger from grandpa?

Ulir then says a single word “Cleanse”. Then the Werewolf shudders. It lets out a howl as it stumbles back, bright green smoke seeps from its skin. I could feel this stuff, magic? Again has that acrid feel to it, and taste, and smell, and every other sense possible.

Slowly we watch the beast transform into a man. First the face, the long ears losing their length and rounding. I was hoping for an elf werewolf, but we can’t be that lucky. Then the body became less built, his feet becoming smaller and his fingers lost the long nails.

Finally there stood a man, a regular man, nothing really too special. He’s bald? Not too strong looking. Nice mustache though. He did have a very shocked look on his face though.

“Are you okay?” asks Ox.

The man looked at Ox, then Ulir, then me, and finally his missing arm, which was actually still bleeding. He then grabbed his head with his left hand and started screaming, really loud. Ulir tried to calm him down but nothing got through to him.

Before we could ask anything the man ran towards a dead knight, grabbed his sword, and HOLY SHIT HE JUST STABBED HIMSELF IN THE FACE!

But he struggled with stabbing it too deep, only one hand and all. Ugh the moans he made as he slowly pulled out the blade and just shoved it right into his chest. The man fell to the ground soon after, completely motionless.

I saw his face before he fell, no amount of mind erases could make me forget it. A huge blood pool surrounded his body now.

“WHY! WHY DID HE DO THAT?” I yell before vomiting on the ground in front of me.

“Maybe he’ll be fine?” Ox asks, seemingly towards Ulir.

Ulir blankly looks at Ox then shakes his head.

“I think he would want to stay dead” says Ulir.

Ox’s big brows furrowed and asked Ulir “Really have no interest in helping huh?”.

“I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of reviving him only for another suicide” said Ulir as he started to walk away towards the hill.

Ox ran to catch up and I followed behind. Ox then says to Ulir “If you don’t revive him he’ll end up suffering in Gehenom, want that on your conscious?”.

“So you can kill him yourself? He wouldn’t go to Walla anyway, because he wouldn’t put up a fight” Ulir tells Ox as they walk next to each other, me slightly behind them.

I doubt the Valkyries really took that man to Gehenom, Fourth Child would understand what happened to him. I hope…

Then we heard a low boom, we looked up the hill and saw a dust cloud right outside the fort. Before any of us could speak something large crashed behind us.

Dust flew past us, I couldn’t see a thing. I even shifted a little, what the fuck was that? I steady myself and turn around to see a figure in the dust.

It stood tall, almost 7 feet tall and had limbs as thick as a bear’s. It rested a mighty mace on its shoulder, I almost thought it was a tree. Its sharp edges at the head of it spiraled around the head up to the tip, quite a beautiful mace I would say, not that I have seen that many to begin with.

Only one being wielded a weapon like that, Lord Alburno. Shit.

“Where “Cough Cough” shit that's a lot of dust. I can’t see anything fuck!” gurgled Lord Alburno.

I barely saw it, but he gripped the huge mace with both hands and stepped forwards. Then Lord Alburno swung his weapon with such force in a circle that it caused a huge whirlwind. The dust flew away as if it was never around. Then he stood there in that same position, his footing was a little off so he was wobbling a little.

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How the fuck did he do that! That was insane! I’ve never seen him do something like this before! Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him do anything at all. For two years I only watched him in the throne room stuffing his face.

“You there!” Lord Alburno boomed as he pointed his fat, fleshy finger at me. Ugh his steel plated armor is even shaped like him, guess this was the only way he’d fit. No gauntlets though, figures.

Shit is that meat juice on his chest piece? He couldn’t even put on armor with a snack. There were bits of something in that large beard hiding his neck rolls.

“ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!” Lord Alburno booms louder at me. Shit I zoned out, a little hungry I guess.

“Yes sir! What was the question again!” I yell as I stand at the position of attention. I’m probably about to die.

“Tell me, where is this monster you all seem to be taking forever on killing?” Lord Alburno asks as he looks around at the destruction.

I pointed over at the dead man’s corpse. Lord Alburno turned to look at the body, then back at me, then back at the body, then back to me.

“You shitting me boy?” Lord Alburno asks as he slowly waddles towards me.

Ulir quickly moves next to me and chimes “It was a werewolf my lord, it changed back to human form before it died, we barely survived the encounter”.

Lord Alburno raised an eyebrow at Ulir, then looked back at the body. Then he walked over to the bloody corpse. He paused for a moment, inhaled and exhaled deeply, then spat on the body.

I turned my head to look at Ox and saw him yawning. I have no intention to watch the lord spit on corpses…

BOOM!

Holy shit was that? I turn back around and I see Lord Alburno covered in blood. His posture looks as if he just brought down his mace overhead onto something.

“You dumb fuckers really thought you could just kill it and walk away? You don’t smell that witch bullshit in the air? Ulir it's your job to kill those bitches!” Lord Alburno booms at us.

Ulir says while shaking “M-my lord I did remove the curse that was placed on the man so there was no need to destroy the body. And I’ve been busy with that new girl who arrived a week ago, I’ve had no time to ensure our territory is pure!”.

I could see the fear in Ulir’s eyes as Lord Alburno walks over, then slowly lifts the mace and hovers it over Ulir’s head. The lord had no emotion in his eyes. Ulir was sweating a lot.

“You cause the death of my subjects and all you can say is that it's the fault of another? You truly wish to embarrass me?” Lord Alburno asks.

Then Lord Alburno’s eyes lit up, as if realizing something. He then rested the mace on his shoulder and looked around behind him.

“Speaking on the other, where is she now?” Lord Alburno asks Ulir.

Before Ulir could shakily respond, a sound from a dark house froze everyone. Everyone looks over as the knob on the front door fidgets.

I would ready my sword but at this point I may just stop carrying one because I don’t know where the fuck it is. I hope whatever walks out of that house isn’t a witch because I’m still processing the events from 5 minutes ago, and I need some kind of meat in my body.

Holy shit that's right there's a witch now, wait did a witch create the werewolf? Can they do that? I have no idea what a witch is so maybe one can.

Anyway after a second of silence the door on that dark house slightly opens. I could feel the intensity around me. The anticipation of what's gonna come out is too much to bear.

“Dammit, door just fucking open!” yelled someone behind the door. Wait, I recognise that voice…

Bam! The door is knocked open, with Emera having slammed her ass into it to open. She slowly backs up out of the doorway with her arms full of clothes, a couple shiny objects, and more than a dozen pouches. Pouches that may have coins, herbs, or something. I can’t believe she would just run and steal before even considering assisting us.

Actually I also tried to run, so I won’t say anything just in case someone brings it up. Not out of an honor's sake, more of I want to try and enjoy the rest of my life and not be obliterated by Lord Alburno. Also I can totally see her going off to steal instead of helping us, guess she didn’t need to carry Ox up the hill.

Gosh I need to lie down, my head is starting to throb and it's getting hard to focus. I start to wobble a bit but I pull it together just before I eat the dirt.

When my eyes finally regained focus I saw Emera looking at everyone, her eyes were wide and she hadn’t even turned her body yet. Her eyes darted back and forth as if to scan everyone that saw her.

I think she stole some boots because the ones she wore now went up her calf. Her dark blue tunic was still pristine, the skirt ending just above her knees. She even had a single earring on her left ear, it was a blue bird dangling from a string.

“So… did we win?” Emera asks as she stands there.

Not to say anyone seemed shocked, just a little pissed off to see her still alive, especially Lord Alburno. He let out a huff, and immediately Emera dropped everything that was in her hands and walked over to him.

“Did she contribute to the victory at all?” Lord Alburno asked Ulir. He nodded his head, which Emera let out a sigh to.

Lord Alburno let out a big “UGH” and began to walk back towards the fort.

“I say it's time for a feast to celebrate this victory!” Lord Alburno yelled. “By the way, who dealt the final blow to the beast?” he then asked Ulir, stopping but still facing away from us.

Ulir took a moment to think, he even put his hand to his chin. I think the lord will be disappointed with the answer Ulir’s gonna give.

“Even though the man killed himself after reverting from a werewolf, the last one to harm it was Tekumah” said Ulir.

Not what I expected Ulir to say, but I will gladly take the toast tonight. Maybe it could make me feel a little better, things could be looking up.

Lord Alburno though doesn’t say anything, or move. He reacted when he heard my name, only a little lift of his head. Then he slowly turned around and looked at Ulir, who then pointed at me.

I tried to stand as straight as I could, but when he put the mace down to my left I couldn’t stand still, I started to shake a little.

Lord Alburno then crouched down, still looking at me. Then he asked “What was your name again boy?”.

After a big ass gulp I responded with “Tekumah”.

Lord Alburno just stared at me with that emotionless stare. Then he inhaled deeply, and blew on me. Ugh that hot air was rank.

Then he scratched his beard and spoke slow, but firm “A special name shared with a strange smell. Your very existence here in front of me is a mystery”.

“Why is my name special, my lord?” I ask him.

Lord Alburno grunts then says “Your name has letters from the Old Tongue, but only offspring of the First God’s Children have names of that sort”.

“You mean to say my name is of Old Tongue? Do you know what my name means?” I ask Lord Alburno. Now I’m getting a little excited.

Lord Alburno chuckled, a deep gurgled sound.

“Sorry boy, but I was never taught the Old Tongue. I only recognise the sound of it” Lord Alburno says.

Of course he couldn’t tell me. That little excitement I had, just starts to melt away.

“Could there be anyone else in the territory who knows the Old Tongue?” I ask Lord Alburno.

He just starts laughing. A deep, full chested, cackle. I try to say something but he just gets louder, he even falls to his knees. I look around and everyone is silent. Ox just started to walk back towards the fort, lucky him.

Lord Alburno then steadies himself and says “Boy you think there's any chance these rats could even know what Old Tongue is? The fact you even have knowledge of it is absolutely astonishing!”.

And there goes the last of my excitement.

“I suppose we should return to the fort to let the servant chef know about the feast you want to have” I tell Lord Alburno with my head now hanging low, a feeling of nothingness filling my head.

Lord Alburno doesn’t say a word but snaps his sausage fingers twice. Then everyone starts making their way up to the fort. I stay behind, lying about looking for survivors.

No one tried to stop me, but did say how pointless it would be. To just wait for the villagers who ran up the hill to come down and figure it all out on their own who died.

I walk down the dark street, and look up into the night sky. It's been less than an hour, and I feel my life has never been worse. But as I walk down the road, I meet the Werewolf again.

To see what has happened to him, after being that monster for however long, just to kill himself as soon as freedom is given. Just gives me a sick feeling, but I don’t think I have anything left to puke up.

Then I hear something. I turned to my right to an empty house, the front door was wide open with the interior pitch black.

Then from inside, came a deep familiar voice “The death of innocents, causes pain only to the naive”.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask the faceless voice, of course the voice is talking to me. Or not, I could just be insane.

A deep chuckle resonated around me, then the voice concentrated back in the house and said “You will understand in time child, but now it is time for celebration. For you have survived, and now we can discuss what comes next”.

I stare at the darkness for a minute, then look back at the body of the former werewolf. My body starts to feel weak, the fatigue is setting in now. My legs give and I fall on my ass, then I sit up with my legs crossed and look up into the sky.

“Who am I?” I say aloud.

For a minute there was silence, then I spoke again “Voice, who am I?”.

“You are Tekumah, a young orphan who just killed his first monster at the age of 18. A boy who yearned for more, and got just what he asked for” the voice echoes deeply to me.

I shook my head and put my left hand next to my right, my body now twisting towards the house with my hands placed in front.

“Lord Alburno said my name was special, that it was of Old Tongue. Tell me Voice, what does that mean?” I ask the Voice.

“What do you want it to mean? I could translate your name, but what feeling would that give? What relief?” the voice echoes to me.

I quickly stand with the little strength I have and walk towards the darkened house.

“I want to feel anything Voice! I fucking died today! Do I not deserve to know what my own fucking name means?” I yell into the house.

Then a bellow of air rushes from the home, and that deep voice speaks again…

“If you want to explore the depths of your own hell, I shall guide thee down the path. Only for you to return hands raised, begging for my dark, loving embrace”