The shovel sliced into the dirt and clinked as it snagged on a possible rock. A boy that was dirty and hungry, gripped it’s shaft in an awkward manner; he appeared comical, as he held the thing as it stood taller than him. But no one who saw the scene would laugh, his grim determination quieting all. He had found a rhythmic persistence as he pierced the ground and his eyes never left the ground.
The boy had made four such holes already, each one contained a body, lifeless and cold: One appeared to be the remains of a man, he had deep cuts that cut into every part of him, he had been tortured before he died. The second was a woman, she had been in a state of undress, bruises covered her body but it was the single red mark that denoted her death. The third was a dog, the bared fangs dripping with blood and his mouth had set upon a soundless snarl, but the deep gash spilled all the innards. The forth had been small, the grave hadn’t taken long, but it had been the hardest of all for the boy as he had placed his families little one. But the fifth was still being dug, the boy already pictured how it would fit him.
However, fate had other plans as the clinking didn’t stop. He couldn’t dig where he had wanted to. The irritation swept through him, but he pathed his shovel around the sound. His bloody hands sliding as he pressed on the shovel, but he didn’t give up as removed a little dirt at a time. He managed to dig out enough of the source of the sound, that he could finally see what it was; a dark purple crystal the size of his head, with flecks of white and clouds of azure-orange that made it look like a piece of the starry sky. But the boy didn’t register the strangeness of this crystal of which he could clearly see the imbued colours even in the dark.
He indifferently tried to lift it out so he could finally create his final resting place next to his baby brother. But the crystal was too heavy to move. Tears threatened to swarm him. He tried to suppress it. But those dead-end eyes still had embers of life that refused to be doused. Finally he couldn’t suppress it any longer as he cried out incoherently. His scream echoed throughout the forest, only a rustle of leaves and a ruffle of feathers in response. The forest was now silent in the aftermath of his families death. The world was indifferent to his anguish. Anastasia was right. Justice was only for the strong. The world is indifferent.
He wanted to pray for vengance but then realised that there was no more gods to pray to. They had all died in the severance by the “One”. Egor laughed. The sort of laugh that ignites from the belly and it had power that reverberate throughout your whole body, shaking you into an uncontrollable fit. Clinging to his shovel, he laughed like a maniac until he couldn’t breathe. The short bursts of air being sucked into his lungs not nearly filling his body with oxygen.
In that moment of madness, Egor’s mind heard something similar to the moment before the glass shatters, the echo of the future inevitable. The crack of something that should never have been broken but has always been fated to. His mind had fractured into two. Egor roared as his mind faded into darkness and his vision imprinted with a blinding white light. He eventually fainted.
-
Within seconds of the boy losing consciousness, A ripple crashed throughout the world. The ripple stirred ancient callings and beings from the shadows where they had been hiding for millienium. But the largest consequence in particular happened in a land far away to the eastern hemisphere, amongst the clouds in a hidden city. A thread had broken. It made a small sound, A simple twang, breaking a silence that had hung in the palace for a thousand years. The broken string flung at a speed that was unfathomable to a mortal being, into the direction of a celestial man where it had been tied to on his finger. He did not react as it split into his unspoiled pure white sleeve, drawing blood which seeped quickly into the cloth. The bleeding that had formed, spread circularly until it pooled and dripped towards his hand, running down each of the other string that had been tied to his other fingers.
The eyes that had been closed during all of this, lazily opened. They were a stark icy blue and didn’t show any large reaction to his recent wound. He sat upon his throne and stared quizically at his hand that was now stained slightly red. He only looked as if the red had offended by marring the white.
Below him there was a large array of people. They had quickly dropped to the floor as soon as the thread had snapped. They dared not move a muscle until he gave an order. Ninety-nine people in total had their faces bored to the ground in prostration. They came in all sizes; one man a giant who took the space of two lesser men. But they all wore a garmet of white and gold that matched each other. The Celestial paid no mind to their discomfort however as he thought how to proceed. He sighed after an hour. The men became relieved, the celestial had made a decision.
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He told them, “The path of destiny has finally opened. The thread that bound the heavenly rotation has been cut… the child of destiny has been born. You must bring this child to me so that we can avert disaster. Otherwise it is likely our reign is at an end.”
The men below dared not show their confusion and surprise. They shouted in unison, “We will bring the boy back to your Holiness!”
-
“Quit your snivelling moron! Do you want them to come back and finish the job?”
“Who is that? Who said that?” Egor cried out in alarm.
“It is I,” an arrogant voice stated, as if that was all the information required.
Egor opened his eyes with the ground kissing his right cheek. Stalks of grass tickled his forehead. He attempted to press his left hand to sit himself up but he realised his whole body hurt so much that he could only brush the grass away from his face.
“You better get up. The fire ants are in your pants.”
An alarmed Egor noticed the tiny needle pricks on his legs. He somehow managed to jump up with all his might and started to rip of his trousers and started to do the “ants-in-your-pants dance” as he brushed his leg off the nasty little things. Thankfully the fire ant horde hadn’t full swarmed him, otherwise he would have died before he knew anything.
“Little boy, this is unbecoming… Have some decency… Quickly put your clothes back on!” The voice sounded quite flustered now. Even though he still hadn’t been able to tell where it was coming from. He darted his head about to find the source.
“I’m speaking into your mind, so stop twisting your head like some clueless chicken.”
Egor was becoming anxious, the voice did appear like it was just echoing into his brain. What was going on?
“Why are you toying with me?” said Egor in agitation, “Show yourself!”
“What kind of perverted boy are you to ask a lady to show herself in front of a naked boy? Hmf!”
Come to think of it, the voice did sound quite feminine. He picked up his trousers and gave it some weak shakes to get the rest of the ants out. He was hardly able to balance himself as he pushed his leg through afterwards.
“That’s better. I thought I had been binded to an uncouth dog. Glad to see you have some manners.”
Again the arrogant tone. This time it triggered something in him, a reminder… Men sneering and jeering as they hacked father to pieces. Egor took a look at the five holes he had dug. A white rage bubbled within him, he wanted to shout out a roar again. But a delicate white finger appeared out of thin air as it pressed against his lips. A bright tapestry of blue light surrounded the finger, though he couldn’t tell what it was. This magical interruption stopped him in his tracks.
“I’m sorry child, that was careless of me, I know you are not in the right state of mind. Let us get out of here before the Sycarian bandits come. I am not able to protect you at this time. Head north towards the mountain and we can lose them there.”
The finger pointed a random way towards the forest. Egor wondered how she could even see the mountain in the forest. But leaving was the last thing in his mind. He grabbed the shovel that was on the floor and started to bury his family.
“What are you doing? You don’t what has happened to you, but our meeting will attract those bandits back. We should get out of here,” the voice urged him to leave.
Egor ignored him as he scraped the ground to fill up the graves. He did not look inside all the while.
“It seems like you are a stubborn one… Fine let me lend you a hand.”
Egor saw this time as a circle of blue ripped into the air, it tore at the fabric of reality as it twisted until a tight circle of glowing blue chains formed. A singular hand, white as snow, pointed at the graves and the ground swallowed the dark pits. Five stones erected themselves at the top.
“How the mighty has fallen! Just this trivial act has taken a third of my strength… Anyway quickly child lets go before it’s too late,” Said the voice.
He look at the graves. He had been planning to throw himself into the pit but this damned lady had closed his one too and she probably wouldn’t let him be. Im sorry Roe, Dirk, mother and father. I couldn’t save you. He had no choice as he limped towards the direction she was pointing. Though he turned after half a step, a prickle of sensation told him to stop. He looked at the ground grabbed the shovel he had dropped on the floor before. Using it like a walking stick he headed into the darkness.
-
A moment after Egor had left, a rowdy group of mishappen ugly men burst out of the bushes. They brandished sabres and longswords into the air with greedy beady eyes peering into the dark. A particularly large man with a war-axe made out of bones from a great beast roughly pushed the men away to get closer to the grave site.
“Boss, this is where we had our little fun. But we didn’t see these graves here before. Someone must of found our work and buried them. Keke.”
A worm faced man named Sly was rubbing his palms together. Seemingly relieving that moment. The large man turned around and slapped him until his teeth was flying out.
“Think before you speak moron!” The bald leader of these bandits shouted at him, “the one who buried them must be a cultivation master. Do you see how big those boulders are? If he’s still hanging around waiting for the culprits and you just blurted out a confession we will all die fool!”
Slerin blubbered and spluttered some apologies as he grovelled at the feet. Though he hid his eyes from Crassus.
Crassus smacked Slerin away with flat part of axe, knocking him out as he did so.
“Alright men, let’s get out of here before the cultivator catches us.”
His men grunt agreement as they rush back into the shadow. Some of them had been rifling through Slerin’s unconscious body so they lagged behind. The forest was silent once again.