The fires were raging around us and only Martin was there facing me. We stood there, staring at each other for a good while. Martin had a look of surprise on his face and I was disgusted from looking at him. Martin walked out of the tavern and stood up with his massive frame.

"What's going on Demitri?" Martin said.

"I saw what you did Martin," I said. "I went to the storage house."

"You know only criminals go there Demitri."

"Don't fucking bullshit me, Martin," I yelled. "You're eating people Martin! People!"

I pointed my blade towards Martin with the swirl of flames around us.

"So? Don't fish eat other fish? Don't birds eat other birds too?"

The expression on his face was terrifying as he couldn't comprehend what he did wrong.

"Animals eat other animals Demitri!" Martin said.

"We are not animals Martin!"

"We are all animals Demitri!"

Martin started to become furious.

"The strong prey on the weak," he said.

"The strong are supposed to protect the weak!" I said.

I stood my ground and my gaze never left him.

"No!" Martin screamed. "We're predators!"

Martin's eyes were intense as he glared back at me.

"Do you know when I knew? Remember when I told you how I went back to my hometown after the war?"

There was a madness that seems to cover Martin's face.

"I found my brother and sister, they had actually survived the war Demitri," Martin said.

He moved closer to me and his hulking frame seemed bigger.

"What they died to was not the Hero, it wasn't the famine, it was other people Demitri."

Martin balled up his massive hands into fists.

"There were other survivors too!" Martin said.

I tightly gripped my sword and watched as Martin walked around me.

"It was only a month after the war but some of the people thought they should be the ones to live," he said. "They weren't farmers or hunters, they were those bastards who did nothing but take from other people."

Martin stopped walking and stomped on the floor.

"Don't tell me…"

"They ate my brother and sister, Demitri."

I held my breath at his words.

"Just because they were small, just because they were weak, they were eaten," Martin said.

The fires crackled around the town and more screams could be heard.

"When I found those survivors and the bodies of my half eaten siblings. That's when I knew! This is just how the world is."

The sounds of fighting echoed around the town.

"They didn't want to wait, they couldn't survive on their own but they would eat other people."

Martin looked up at the moon.

"That's how I knew people would do anything to survive, they thought they were strong but they weren't, they were weak," Martin said.

"What did you do Martin?" I said.

"I killed them and I ate them in return, I was stronger than them."

Martin had a hideous smile on his face.

"People need to eat to survive and the strong prey on the weak," Martin said. "Strong people can eat the weak to survive."

"You're insane Martin," I said.

Martin combed his long hair with his fingers.

"We're not protectors Demitri, we are all monsters."

"No! You're wrong Martin."

"I will continue the path I walk on Demitri."

"I'm going to stop you, Martin," I said.

Martin had a sad look on his face.

"Out of everyone, I thought you would understand me the most Demitri."

Martin revealed his weapons, large cleavers, which were still freshly tainted with blood.

"No one will ever starve under my watch," he said. "All those people that are evil will be eaten."

"What gives you the right to make the rules?" I said.

"Like I said Demitri, I will be better than the Hero," he said. "The Hero gets to make the rules because the Hero is strong."

"No, don't think like that! The Hero thought like that Martin!"

"Is that not the truth Demitri?"

"You will be punished!" I said.

"The strong are not punished, look at you Demitri! You are stronger than the Hero! You are still alive! This proves it!"

Martin's muscles seem to bulge out and his eyes became red with madness.

"I'm going to be better than the Hero and you...because I am stronger!"

Martin rushed me and cleaved wildly. The air was hot and his swings were deadly. My Mithril blade easily blocked some of his attacks but I could feel his strength behind every blow. Martin was deep set in his mentality and I couldn't change him. Martin wasn't the same young man as he once was.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

I tried moving around Martin but he was too quick and he faced me everywhere I tried to move.

Martin is a Berserker, someone who loses all inhibitions when he fights. He doesn't feel pain, he only gets stronger the angrier he gets. Martin was a visceral fighter, he worked on instinct and power instead of skill. His relentless and persistent attacks cracked the ground as he missed me. I would've been crushed before my body gets ripped in two by his attacks.

I couldn't even land a blow as I mostly evaded attacks. Martin was in a state of rage from remembering his dead family. I duck and roll under of one Martin's massive swings of his meat cleaver. I prop myself up with one hand and use my Mithril sword to slash at Martin. The sword contacted his flesh and scratched his massive frame. I was surprised that my sword could barely cut into his body.

Martin's thick and big body was an armor made out of muscles. I tried slashing away at him but only small cuts appeared on his body. My Mithril sword seemed useless at laying waste to his frame. I jumped backwards, away from Martin. What could I do against this monster of a man?

A thick black smoke was filling the air and the town was burning.

My eyes wandered around and I see other people fighting each other. The townsfolk had taken up arms against Martin's mercenaries. People were fighting around us, fires were raging, and it looked like the previous war. The noise of destruction and lives ending resounded in the town of Swillsden. In front of me was a hulking mass of a former companion.

Martin threw his cleavers at me, I dodge not trying to be stuck like a pig. What I didn't expect was Martin to rush me and grab me in a bear hold. I held my arms up so that I could bash his face in. My hands were pounding at his face but he wouldn't let me go. I was too close to put any power to my sword and it did nothing but scratch his body.

Martin lifted me off the ground and began to squeeze my life away. His face was pure madness as he laughed. I could feel his muscles crushing the very breath out of my lungs. My bones were cracking at the tremendous pressure he was giving me. Blood was rushing to my head and I felt it would explode at any moment. Martin revealed his teeth and took a mouthful of flesh from my shoulder.

I screamed in pain as my blood covered his mouth while he tasted my flesh.

I spread my arms wide and clapped the side of his ears. It worked in disorientating him and he released his hold on me. I grabbed my sword and drove it down into his foot. My sword was finally able to rend his flesh as I pressed down with my weight. Martin yelled not before kicking me away with his foot. I could feel the blood pour out of my nose from that blow. Martin pulled out the sword from his foot and threw it away to his side.

Both of us only had our own fists to contend with now. I dashed towards Martin and tried landing blows to his body. A hook to the side of the ribs and a kick to the sternum. Martin looked like he offered his body to me willingly as I landed my blows. It did nothing but make him angrier and he laughed in a sort of rage. Martin landed a straight to my face which flung me backwards away from him.

I landed on my back and looked at him with my good eye. My sword could barely do anything and I wasn't a physical match for Martin. A swirl of emotions still filled me as I thought about the lives lost to Martin. Yet I couldn't stop feeling responsible that I led him down this dark path. I knew that I had ended the lives of other townsfolk by pointing them out as well. Everything was still my fault and I bit my lip bloody.

A noise echoed in the town and I could see that some of Martin's mercenaries were dying. They all had arrows that pierced the sides of their heads and bodies. I looked around to find the source but it was too dark. Martin noticed the scene as well, as he looked away from me in search for the assailant. Suddenly arrows whisked by Martin and more caught him on the body. They did nothing in harming Martin but it pulled away his attention from me.

I got up and twisted the ring off my finger.

A pure black cloud that looked like a dagger, appeared in my hands.

I dashed and then jumped at Martin to pierce the dagger between his eyes.

Blood spurted at me from Martin's face and the life in his eyes were gone. His body crumbled to the floor as I pulled the black dagger from his head. A black miasma stuck at the wound in which the dagger penetrated. Tears fell from my face as I cried knowing that I ended another life that was once dear to me.

I fell down to my knees as I had killed Martin with the same weapon I used to kill the Hero.