“Y-Young... M-Master.”
After tearing the entrance to the tent apart by just his jaws, Gan crawled to the tent and somehow stood up. His body has become haggard, with damp soil covering all his body. All his power has left his body as he has been sucked dry by a 1st star spell, magic missile only. Such was his condition that even a lowly magician might laugh at him.
But those things didn’t bother him the least as he only had one goal in his mind now.
‘I...have to... save him.’
He pushed himself harder, harder beyond his bodily limits. His body ached horribly. His body wanted him to stop moving, but his sense of duty to protect his young master pushed him even harder.
“I...will... save you, young...master!!”
His breath contained the will of his to protect the young master who was inside the tent. Without even thinking about his own well being, he moved forward. Finally, he came near the hole he made in the tent. He felt as if all the efforts will now pay, but as he looked inside the tent, all the colours left his face.
“Y-Young...Master...?”
Indie the tent, there was a body, all covered in black soot, lying on the ground. Vapours came off the body as a horrendous smell of burnt flesh invaded Gan’s nostrils.
“Ughh!! I-It cannot be.”
He climbed inside the tent in a hurry. All the fatigue seems to disappear at the sight of his young master. His face paled in an instant, his hands trembled in fright yet he still ran towards his young master.
“Y-Y-Young M-Maste- Argh!!”
He fell down very hard. His senses got dulled and his vision blurred, making him not see what is in front of him.
“I...must...save him.”
With his hands, he started to crawl now. His legs lost the remaining strength within them which, at the end made him crawl.
Some seconds of struggle, he reached the body of the older brother. As he reached him, Gan smelled the horrendous smell of the burnt flesh even more than before which made him gag, but to even vomit, his body didn’t had enough energy to spare.
Just like that, even though he felt the urge to vomit on the spot, he wasn’t able to. Somehow enduring the urge, he looked at the body of the young master in front of him.
All covered in black soot, the left side of the body which was kinda near the tent was all burnt to crisp. The smell also came from there as puss and blood slowly came out of the flesh.
“H-How can this h-happen?”
The body was in a very bad state. The young master was breathing, but it was faint. Gan then put his palm on the young master’s chest to check the heart beat. The heart was beating, but at an abnormally slower rate.
Worried, he also checked the body’s pulse rate which too turned out to be slow and faint.
“His h-heart rate is slowing down. W-What should i d-do!!”
His desperation reached its peak as he saw the young master in front of him, breathing with pain. He wanted to do something to relieve him of the pain, but to do that, he had no energy left.
“DAMN!!”
He punched the floor and cursed his own body and self. Slowly, tears started to come out as he bawled out on his own helplessness.
“W-What have i d-done!! I d-destroyed e-everything. Ev-verything.”
The memories of him waking up and meeting the older brother to him catching Ashv in the forest to the moment he is in, all came together and flashed in front of his eyes.
“I-I am.... s-sorry, m-m-master. I-I wasn’t able to protect t-them.”
He spoke his words, last words and with that, his consciousness faded away as his body remained there beside the burnt older brother’s body. He died.
“Tsk Tsk Tsk!!”
Or so he thought.
***
“Look at you, crying and lying, being so hopeless. Tsk Tsk Tsk!”
Gan, who died minutes ago, opened his eyes in response to the sarcastic voice.
“Where...is this place?”
Before him was a black space. Void black space full of nothingness surrounded him as he float in it.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“This might be the underworld where the goddess would punish me.”
He thought of the void as the underworld, where his soul would now be punished for the crime of destroying the lives of both his young masters. But despite that, he felt glad, glad that he will properly get the punishment he deserves.
While his consciousness was in the midst in geting the wrong misunderstanding, a figure suddenly walked out of the black void and slowly walked towards Gan.
“Hmm? Who?”
Gan presumably opened his eyes and looked at the figure that walked towards him. Gan, still being in shock couldn’t recognize the figure as the figure then stood tall in front of him and looked straight into his eyes.
“Tsk Tsk Tsk, Gan. Look at you, giving up like a rat after you have killed your so-called young master. Must have felt nice making a rift between the two brothers, right?”
The figure stood there as he continued to speak in a mocking tone to Gan. A huge white grin was there on the figure’s face as he looked down on Gan. Gan who heard him lifted his head and looked at the figure.
“D-Don’t talk as if you know anything!! I just performed my duty.”
“Yet, this much happened.”
The figure swept his hand in the void swiftly and suddenly, the whole surrounding started to change.
“W-Wha...!!”
Gan, who was formlessly floating in the void, looked around himself as he suddenly found himself lying down next to his young master who he saw dying moments ago.
“Surprised? Well, think of this as a second chance.”
“Y-You!!”
The figure walked and crouched in front of Gan. Now, Gan could clearly see who the figure was.
“Remember me? Captain.”
The figure turned out to be none other than Mrit. Seeing his grinning face, Gan slowly started to recall his original memories, memories of him waiting for the ‘guild master’ which is lying dead in front of him. Memories of him fighting Mrit to eventually dying to eventually getting revived as a head.
“W-Who a-a-are y-you?”
Instead of questioning his grief and agony over seeing his young master dead in front of him, Gan as the identity of Mrit. He is stunned, shocked beyond anything he ever experienced as he recall those ‘fake’ memories of him and the two young masters.
He cannot believe that one has this type of power to manipulate time, one who can change the fate of so-
“You are wrong.”
“??”
Suddenly, Mrit spoke, interfering in the torrent of thoughts that Gan was going through.
“I know what you are thinking and let me tell you, you are absolutely wrong. I do not have the power to control time.”
Mrit confessed blatantly to Gan. He, who is now in control of Gan, could very well feel what Gan is thinking and out of obligation, Mrit interrupted Gan made himself clear.
“Then h-how did you do a-all this?”
After hearing Mrit’s confession, Gan became even more confused as he couldn’t believe Mrit and his existence. Never in his life had he ever heard anyone having a power like Mrit, be it showing his this unrealistically real world to Mrit reviving Gan as a head.
Mrit, who sensed Gan’s confusion just smiled mischievously and looked down at him before speaking up and clearing Gan’s doubt.
“You will get to know about who i am soon, very soon. But first-”
Mrit the stood up and walked near the young master’s body as he looked down at the burnt, crispy black body. He then lifted his left hand.
“Complete this little task of mine given to you. Then, i will reveal everything to you.”
Just as he finished his words, he snapped his fingers.
“W-What t-the...?!”
The whole surrounding started to crack like glass as darkness slowly started to cover both Mrit and Gan.
“W-Wait, what is happening?”
Gan, who was slowly getting engulfed by the darkness, looked up to Mrit in a hurry but at the place where Mrit stood, no one was there.
“Don’t try to find me, try to find the correct path, Gan. Only then you will realize your mistake.”
As the darkness was close to engulf his head, Gan heard Mrit for last time as his eyes were covered in veil of darkness.
***
“Ugh...”
Gan opened his eyes. His heavy eyelids, now lifted let him get the view of the vast blue sky.
“What the... Where am I?”
With a confused look, he looked around himself as he found a vast green land full of life in front of him.
“Where is he?”
Frantically, he got up from his sleeping position as he started to look around for Mrit, just when someone suddenly put a hand on his left shoulder.
“Gan?”
“!?”
The voice sent shiver down Gan’s spine. A voice so familiar, called him but more than that, he felt something else.
‘What is this? Why do i feel like i have gone through all this?’
A familiar feeling then overtook his body as he slowly turned around. Behind him, he found the ‘young master’ standing, looking at him with worried eyes.
“What happened Gan? Why do you look so tensed and who are you searching for?”
The young master consoled Gan while Gan stood there speechless, obviously confused by what he is feeling. The torrent of confusion is whirling inside his brain. But before the storm could continue, the young master held Gan’s shoulder and shook him hard.
“GAAN!!!”
“W-Whoaa!!”
Gan, stunned by the loud voice of the young master came to his senses.
“Come to sense, Gan. If you were to lose your senses here, how will we reach our destination safe and sound?”
“...Forgive me, young master.”
Gan bowed his head to the young master as he apologized. Seeing Gan bowing his head, the young master got startled a little, but then he coughed a little and let Gan lift his head.
“Did you had a nightmare or something? You look pretty startled, Gan when you woke up.”
“T-That...yes, a nightmare you can say.”
“Are you fine now, Gan. Do you want me to fetch some water for you?”
“...No, young master. Thank you for the consideration.”
Both then stood silently for sometime as both of them didn’t get correct words to speak. Looking at this, the young master spoke first, breaking the awkward silence between them.
“S-So, who were you finding where you woke up?”
“T-Thats...”
At his question, Gan didn’t have any words to answer back as he himself couldn’t remember who he was talking about. It was like all his memories were wiped out clean. He didn’t even remember what dream he had. It was like nothing happened, which shocked him more and more to the inside.
“Gan?”
Again, Gan went to a state of overthinking without minding the young master standing in front of him. Hearing his voice, Gan again came back to reality.
“Nothing, young master. It was just in dream.”
“Should be, Gan. By the way.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Gan, go to the forest. Ashv has gone to the forest to get something for us. Would you mind helping him?”
“Young... Master Ashv?”
Suddenly, fragments of memories came into his mind. The memories of him looking at Ashv, bloodied with the blood of the innocent sashs while he was enjoying butchering the innocent animals brutally.
Blood suddenly rushed from his heart to his brain as his breathing became heavier.
“G-Gan, what happened?”
The young master got worried as Gan’s face looked like he had watched something way horrifying. Suddenly, Gan held the young master’s hand and ran towards the forest where Ashv went without saying anything.
***