10 Years, Village. Farewell

I wake up to the sight of an unfamiliar room. I am laying on a bed, and a very comfortable one as well. The room is very small, and almost exclusively filled up by the bed, which, on second inspection, is a good deal larger than what would fit my size. I get up, and a wet towel falls into my lap. It seems to have rested on my forehead. I touch my forehead, it feels warm. There is a heavy Blanket beneath me, which looks like it is meant to cover someone with in cold, freezing nights.

I get up. I still wear my familiar robe, but it is drenched in sweat. My whole body feels extremely hot, at that. Hot and heavy.

Oh, right. I lower my self-heating to a minimum, and reapply my self-lightening. The lightened form grew on me a lot in the past two days, I hardly feel like going back to what weight I was used to carry around. A mild dizziness lingers as I channel the spell, but it is nothing, compared to what struck me down when using this technique initially.

I feel well-rested, but terrible thirst and hunger are tormenting me. I inspect the room, hoping to find something edible, but there is nothing. A small window lets in an even smaller amount of sunlight, an unlit oil lamp hanging from the wall seems to be meant as a primary light source. A few books stand in a small wall-mounted book shelf. I pick one out at random. After having trouble reading the text, I think it is called: “The Anatomy of a Human's Body”. I open a page at random, intrigued by this promising title, and land on a intricate depiction of a human hand, including bones, each and every fit with with a name and description.

This book is basically the answer to all my anatomical research I did in the past. I opened all those animals, tried to draw conclusions from them to my own body, and the final answer is just written in this book? How wonderful. I close the book and inspect its back. It is decorated by a Human weirdly distorted. hands and head are over-proportionally large, while the rest of the body seems rather frail and short. A very small caption reads: “Always be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.” At the bottom, a small line reads: “Magic guild doctor issue. Do not distribute.”

I want to read more of it, but my stomach growling aggressively keeps me from doing so. To think of it, I have not eaten in almost two days now... I put the book back at its place. It is clear whose house this is now, taking the books standing here into account. I open the door, and step into a familiar hallway. To my left, there is the garden where I put down the corpse. To my right, there is a door. The light of a burning fire shines through the semi-transparent glass pane embedded in the top half.

I knock at the door. An audible “Come in.” sounds, and I open the door. A clearly overworked and dead-tired doctor kneels over one of the patients, which is moving slightly and seems to have his eyes opened, and feeds them with a spoon. She has a bowl with steaming soup next to her, and a pot of presumably the same thing standing on a small, separate cooking stove. “You could have told me you were on the verge of collapsing. It would have spared me the hassle to drag you into the bed.”

“I did not realise this myself, either.” Collapsed? I think I just slept on the ground. Collapsing would imply that it was involuntary. After seeming to have followed my gaze, which has been locked on the steaming pot ever since it touched it, she sighs. “No point thinking about it now. Are you hungry?”

This question perplexes me. Am I hungry? My stomach cramps painfully, and emits a loud roaring. Yes, I think I am hungry. I nod. “You can help yourself to a bowl then. Once you are finished eating, grab another and start feeding the boy in the bed over there. He can gulp down the food you give him just fine, but he cant eat on his own.” Silently, as if she says this more to herself than to me, she adds: “It will spell trouble if the others do not awake soon... They have not eaten in days either.”

I fill myself a bowl, and start eating it. It is hot, but the hunger prevents me from taking my time and blowing the steam off first. In the background I hear further rambling. “This is one of the moments were I wished the guild would issue adapters to doctors more easily...”

The soup is very liquid, probably as a measurement to make it more easily digestible. It tastes alright, but only for my low standards. The doctor seems more proficient in mixing medicine than in cooking. Since there are nearly no big chunks or things of the sort, I can just drink it – which I do promptly. Then, I fill the bowl again, and head over to Brian's bed.

“No, not him. He has yet to awaken. The other patient.”

Right. I take a quick glance at Brian, there is not much change compared to a few hours ago. Then, I head over to the other bed, and take a first real look at the boy inside. A wet towel is lying on his forehead – probably as an caution against fever. His lower half is covered by a blanket. He is younger than me, maybe five – six at most. His eyes are open, and seem to follow my every movement. His mouth is open, a thin stream of saliva is continuously flowing from his mouth.

I fill the spoon, which looks closer to a miniature ladle, with soup and bring it to the boy's mouth. He squirms as the spoon touches his lips, and I retract my hand. “He does not want it.” I look over my shoulder, in the direction of the doctor who just now finished feeding her patient, and is changing the drip of the other one. The person with no leg, which the doctor just now fed, stares at me. A woozy look lies on her face, but she still musters the consciousness to focus on my face with her almost drunken gaze. It creeps me out.

“Of course not, it is much too hot. You got to blow it cold. Not everyone likes burning their mouth as much as you.” Now that she says it, my mouth does hurt. The hunger just helped masking that pain.

“Understood.” I break eye contact with the injured woman on the ground, and face the boy in front of me again. He looks at me, with much calmer, clearer eyes than the attacked victim on the ground. I blow of the steam of the spoon, but cooling it takes awfully long. Finally, I deem the temperature right, and I try feeding the boy again. This time, he eats without complaining.

Next spoon. Blowing the soup to a tolerable temperature takes me several times of taking and exhausting my breath, for each spoon. This is tiresome, and having to take breath every few seconds is annoying.

What started out as an interesting task quickly became repetitive and boring. There must be and easier way of doing this.. with magic. I create a miniature scale wind spell. This adds a third demanding spell to my two already running ones, but I manage. A slight gust emerges from right before the spoon, and cools it down without me having to do anything else.

The boys eyes widen upon seeing that. He was looking at the spoon in anticipation all the time, but now his grey eyes are solely looking at me.

This little trick shortens the time I need immensely. It is not terribly efficient though – if I had a way to reduce the warmth energy in an object, instead of increasing it, this would be a lot easier.

Finally, the bowl of stew is empty. I get up to put it back on the table where I took it from, but as soon as I make efforts to do so, the boy starts wriggling again. I remain frozen for a few seconds, but as he does not stop, I turn away totally. Just as I want to ask the doctor what to do now, a ghastly screeching sounds from behind my back. I swivel around. The boys gaze is still locked on my face, and as soon as I look at him, he stops with his tirade.

“He seems to have taken a liking in you, How unusual.” The doctor chuckles. This may very well be the first time I heard her chuckle. I look around to her. Her face is still ridden by deep shadows and wrinkles, but a slight smile plays around the edge of her mouth. As soon as I face away from the boy, he starts screeching again. A sour look appears on my face. I sigh, and turn around again.

The wailing stops. Cold steel eyes look into my own, hazel brown. The doctor seems to have noticed my predicament, and steps next to me. She seems to have completed whatever she had to do, at least for this short moment. “Now, listen, little one... I know you are excited you met someone new. It does not happen a lot, I know that. But, you must not behave like this, just because this person has not all the time in the world for you like I do.”

A different look appears in the boys eyes, almost reminiscing... guilt? It is baffling how the doctors demeanour changed so drastically just by speaking to another person. Also... “He understands?”

“Of course he does. He is fully sentient.” A slender, but strong hand pushes past me, and I take a step back to not obstruct its way. The doctor gently strokes the boys forehead. I watch, uncertain what I should do. Finally, the doctor resumes her work again, as if nothing happened. The boy still watches me and her, but I decide to give that no attention any more.

As I turn around my back on the bed the boy is occupying, I immediately see the woman who looks at me, with a very hazy, clouded gaze, a polar opposite to the clear, understanding eyes of the boy. The doctor is hunched over her, and changes the rags covering her leg stump. I catch a glimpse of the wound – something is sewn over it. It looks similar to human skin, but not quite like the real deal. However, the doctor works very fast and efficient, and therefore the leg is covered in rags again before I can draw further conclusions.

“Go, take out these bloody rags. I can not afford to leave this place for any longer than absolutely necessary.” She stretches her arm out in my direction, the – indeed encrusted in dried blood – rags dangling from her hand. Her behaviour seemed much less tired when she cared for the bed-ridden boy, but all of that is back now, or even worse. Yet, she makes no signs of failing her work, and her dead-tired eyes contrast the stoic look that inhabits them. Normally, I would think she was on the verge of collapsing. But the doctor is a doctor after all, she knows her bodily limits.

Stolen novel; please report.

I nod, take the rags, and leave through the front door.

After being in what felt like scorching heat inside the house, it feels refreshing to step into the cold air again, with snow covering the streets and roofs. I reapply my heating, and take a look around.

The street is empty. This is weird, considering the time – almost noon. I dump the rags on the small garbage pile in front of the house. Everything on it seems very recent, not older than two or three days. On the opposite side of the street, a door opens. A villager stands in the doorway – staring at me in disbelief.

“You... YOU!” I flinch. What is his deal? Does he want to attract the whole village? “THE BOY! ITS THE BOY! THE BOY WHO RAN AWAY!” I start feeling uncomfortable. The shout echoes through the street for a moment – and just before it fades, a second voice tunes in. “Where?!” A second door opens, then a third. The street starts filling with people. “He is it!” “How is that possible...” “How comes that he is fine, while...”

A crowd assembles in the short time I stand there, confused about the situation, and it assembles quicker than I would have ever thought it possible before. Finally, a man steps out of the crowd, and approaches me. His eyes are reddened, and he looks angry. “Hey, boy! Where the hell where you? Do you even know what happened to...” A ashamed look distorts my face, involuntarily. This seems sign enough for the man. His face darkens even more than before. “So you know. Come with us to the mayor. Now.”

I refuse. What would happen if I go with this angry man? The crowd of freshly done weeping faces? I refuse to let chance decide and find out. I bolt to the door of the doctors house, rip it open, and slam it shut behind me. From outside, I hear mad cries. “Come back here, you little shit!”

I lean my back against the door, my something in my chest is pumping like mad. The doctor looks at me with a grim-bitter gaze, but averts her eyes before speaking. “I saw the injuries. I can imagine the dead. I hate to say it, but this is a normal reaction.”

I hear steps approaching the door. The boy in the bed looks at me, with a curious gaze. Does he know of the predicament I am in? I am weighing my options.

Wait it out here?

Before I can even think that thought through, the doctor answers my question. “I will try to keep them out. You are a patient of mine. Yet, I think their motivation to get you is justified. I will not endanger myself or my other patients for your sake. As soon as they threaten violence, I will yield.”

I nod. That is cruel of her, ditching me. But, I am not shameless enough to discuss with her about that, it would not end in my benefit.

Then, Submitting to them?

“Yes, yes, that is the way! Submit yourself. Repent. Repent! Let them get you in their just striving for revenge!” The cold voice sends chills down my spine. I swat it away. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time loathing myself. I have enough of it. Submitting, no, surrender, is not an option.

Fighting?

Ludicrous. This would never work out. I know a little magic, but while that could maybe take one or two by surprise, it would only enrage them afterwards. On top of that, it would disappoint people I care for. I strike this one as well, or at least postpone it as the last resort.

Heavy knocks shake the door. I quickly make place for the doctor, who opens the door and impolitely attacks the mob verbally. “Quiet! I have patients in urgent need of rest. I believe it is in your interest that Helene gets plenty of rest, is it not, Ulmar?” That must be the names of the woman lying here, and the man leading the mob. No wonder he is worked up.

In light of this predicament, there is only one option I have, really. It would be foolish to believe that the doctor can avert them for long. I take an extensive look through the room, until I find what I need on a small table in the corner of the room: My sheathed knife and my multi-purpose pouch. This option, is running. To the mayor. He certainly has the authority to keep me safe for a while – for long enough to think how to resolve this situation, at least.

“Be reasonable, Fabienne! This boy got an obligation to us. Do you know what pain we had to endure because of him? He must pay for what he did!”

Yes, the air is getting hot here. I take a last look at Brian – still unconscious. “I am sorry.” I know he does not hear me. I know it. Yet, it feels like the right thing to say.

The conversation at the door is getting heated up – time for me to leave. I scurry through the backdoor, and run in the direction of the marketplace, to the mayors house. It is not very far away.

I run as fast as can, even with self-lightening. Someone of the crowd seems to have spotted me as I dash over the road, for I hear them getting loud. There is one bend in the street, and it serves well to make them loose sight of me soon. I run straight to the house front – and instead of knocking at the door, I take a giant leap, and jump straight onto the balcony. I almost lost balance when landing on the railing and fell back down, but I somehow managed to fall to the other side, onto the balcony and not down on the ground.

I knock at the window. After a half a minute of silence, I knock again. Nothing happens, yet again, so I push down the door handle and open the door. Inside, the mayor is sleeping on the desk. Now that I am inside, I can hear the snoring clearly. However, I will need him awake right now.

I shake the mayors shoulder. He is heavy, so it seems not much what I can actually do, but the man actually starts moving, so I take a step back. Slowly, the mayor raises his head, and winks crust out of his eyes. “Huh? You? How did you...?”

It is apparent that the mayor is still tired, but I can see that he has had a decent amount of rest since I saw him last this midnight. “I used magic to jump on the balcony, and opened the door from there.”

The mayor seems perplexed. “I see... I had not thought of that security flaw.” He shakes his head rapidly, as how I would do it to get it clear. “Pardon me.” He stands up from his chair, and swiftly strides to the door into the house, passes through it, and is gone.

Now it is my turn to be perplexed. For the lack of a better idea, I open a very specific drawer at the mayors desk – it contains exactly what I had hoped. I open my pouch, let a certain print of “What is Magic – The basics” glide in, and try to conceal it with my robe as good as possible. Then, move a chair clearly meant for guests in front of the desk, and take a seat. Even though my situation is bleak, this brings me a little spark of joy and satisfaction.

It does not take long for the mayor to return, but it was enough time for him to seemingly become a wholly new person. He is wearing a fresh garment, his eyes are clean of sleep, and his posture is not resembling that of someone who just woke up at all. “First of all, thanks for waking me up. I should not have fallen asleep at this time, and this place.” He takes a seat in his armchair behind the desk.

I wave in a dismissing gesture. “Do not mind it. I have an urgent problem, and I need your help.” I hear the crowd assembling on the marketplace. From what I saw on the street, there must be around twenty people.

“You break into my room, and then have the guts to make demands? Bold.” The mayor does not have the face to match the criticizing tone, though. He ultimately shrugs. “Let me hear it. That alone can not hurt.”

“Save me.” I point in the direction of the window. “Save me from those people.”

The mayor sighs. “Do you really think you have to ask me for that? As long as I am mayor of this Village, I will not tolerate lynchings – especially not on children. But, I understand their pain. In fact, I share it. I lost a lot of community members, and friends. Being reasonable as I am, I know that injustice will not make the problems disappear. Will not make everything go back to normal. Will not magically get rid of the fucking Owlbear in front of our village. Yet, there is a little part in me that is unreasonable.”

The mayor gets up from his chair, and closes in on me. I can smell foul odour from his mouth, his face is not a hands span afar from mine. He whispers: “It wants to grab you right here, and drag you outside to all the good, honest people out there. It wants to see an earned, although not morally justified form of Justice.” Directly after finishing the second sentence, he sits back down.

“When all of this is over, be sure that you behaved in a way that makes me not regret not listening to this little part of my conscious.”

I gulp. I completely forgot how frightening the mayor, the person of absolute power in our village, can be. I nod. “Whatever I can do...”

“Good we understand each other.” Saying these words, the mayor approaches the door to the balcony, but refrains from opening the door and stepping outside to say a few last words. “Oh, one thing – I believe Iuli is awake. You may want to talk to her.” Then, he steps outside.

“Villagers of Cottan!” With a voice that is loud, deep and used to authority, the mayor gets the public attention.

“The mayor...” “Its the mayor!” “Quiet, the mayor is going to talk!” Faint murmur reaches the room.

“I understand your unrest – better than anyone else. I lost as much in the past days as all of you. Still, this is a lawful place! No matter the circumstances, I can and will never... “

I do not hear the rest of the speech. Almost immediately after it started, I get on my way to the guest room, where my mother should be.

On the way, I come across the mayors wife in the hallway. I want to pass her quickly, but she looks at me with deep reproach, I would even say hatred. I am confused. She always seemed like such a nice woman – where does this come from? No matter the reason, she is none of my concern now. I try to pass her quickly, but she grabs me as I get too close. Why would she do that?

I quickly free myself, and take three swift steps back. Then, I look at her face, this time properly. There is hatred, most definitely. Is it against me?

Before I can make more thoughts, she spits on the ground, looks at me disdainful, and hastily scurries away, in the opposite direction of guest room. I can not afford to waste to much thoughts on it, therefore I quickly enter the guest room before another problem could emerge.

Mother sits upright in the guest room – she is the only one present in the room. The person that had laid in the middle bed is gone. As soon as the door opens, mother starts greeting me warmly. “Ah, Rei! You have finally come! Come here, let me hug you...”

I would rather not, but I also do not want to refuse her, so I get close to her, and she embraces me in a tight hug. “Oh, Rei... I am so glad you came. I had terrible dreams, terrible terrible dreams. I want to talk with you about it, once your father comes back as well.”

“He wont... come back.” I stutter those words. Without being able to actively control it, tears start overflowing from my eyes. A knot has tied up in my chest as of yesterday, and only in the gentle embrace of my mother it seems to have loosened a little bit.

“What are you even saying? Of course he well come back. He is just on his way, out to... search you? Rei, why are you crying? Shhhh, come here. Be a good kid, let me wipe those tears...”

I can not bear it any more. The guilt, the shame, the sorrow. In light of all this, an idea that had been lingering in my head for days finally solidifies and takes concrete shape.

I force myself to stop crying. It seems to work, I think. It is hard to tell, since internally, I am weeping no less than I just now did externally. “Its alright, mother, its alright...” I squirm myself out of her embrace. “I will go now... I have to do something. It is urgent.” I step back from mothers bed, almost fleeingly.

“Oh, I see... Take good care, then.” Mother seems down upon hearing that.

“Do not fret, I will return to you as soon as possible.” This is a hollow promise, and I feel bad to feed mother with it. But, it is also a necessity. I quickly leave the room, leaving mother behind.

The idea of mine is to exterminate the beast that set all these stones loose and rolling. The mayor talked with me about taking responsibility – did he mean this by that? When I do this, will at least the lives of the survivors gain some sort of normality? I walk through the floor, with the mayors office as my goal. The mayor offered me shelter here, but in the light of everything, I can not accept it. I have other, more important things to do.

The mayor seems just in an argue when I re-enter the room. “Try to think it through from the boys perspective, too. He is ridden with guilt! Nothing of what happened was ever his intention, not even in the slightest. I...”

A loud voice interrupts the mayor. “But that does not change the facts! After all, ...”

I dash past the mayor, who gives me a surprised, and then a terrified look when he seems to understand my goal. I jump off the balcony – and sail ten metres, far behind the crowd that has assembled.

“There he is! Catch him!” Loud shouts of that sorts fly through the air. But, I do not plan on letting that happen. I sprint as fast as I can, into the direction of the village exit that borders to the forest.

"『SCHNUR ZIEL BINDEN』!” As I recognize the chant language, conveyed by the mayors full voice, I dig deep into my power reserves, and dash forward. Not a second too late. I hear something like a thread flying through the air directly behind me. “Come back! You fool! You don't even know what expects you! Come back IMMEDI...” I get past the distance where I can understand the crowd and the mayor.

I enter the forest. Having spent a lot of time travelling through the forest, I move in it like second nature, and it synergizes well with my self-lightening.

I run through the forest, with a single goal in mind – extermination of the beast who murdered my father, and so many others.

The hunt is on.