Kirkcour Woods
14 th Banem 1092
Darian pulled out his spear from the marilith’s forehead and watched the lifeless beast fall to the ground with anguish-filled eyes. Why? Why had he been the only one to survive? His friends were slaughtered by something like this just because they lacked power! Something like…
Tap.
Darian jerked as he felt a hand tap his left flank. He looked down, meeting Kashi’s mirth-filled gaze.
The daeben squeezed out a strained smile as he regarded the centaur warrior’s lifeless eyes. Kashi recognized those eyes all too well. Suzuki had the same look in his eyes for several weeks after the accident. “Survivor’s Guilt?”
“Guilt… yes,” Darian murmured. “I am responsible for the deaths of so many fine warriors. My selfishness has cost many mothers, their sons, and daughters.” Darian’s right hand tightly gripped the spear’s shaft. “This sin, I will never be able to redeem myself.” Melancholy and resignation darkened the centaur’s gaze as his grip loosened. “I suppose it’s a good thing then that I will not live much longer.”
Kashi’s brow shot up. “You’re not thinking of suicide, are you?”
“Haha, no Kashi-dono,” Darian denied with a bitter chuckle. He turned, so he faced the daeben and humbly bowed. “On behalf of the Lymar tribe, I humbly thank you for your assistance. It may be impertinent of me to ask you this after you’ve just risked your life to save mine, but my tribe is situated one-hundred kilometers south-east of this location.” Darian indicated the direction with his left hand. “Would you please find my father, the chief, and give him my spear. If you can find it in your heart, I also ask that you please lend your strength to save them from this dire plight.”
“What about you?” Kashi asked. “Why can’t you take me there yourself?”
Darian shook his head. “I fear my injuries are too severe. I’ve done all I could to stay alive long enough to see this beast slain. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I will get the chance to slay it with my own hands. This is more than enough. I can die now with no regrets.”
Kashi’s eyes narrowed as he regarded the bowing warrior. Eventually, he sighed and stated, “No. I will not help you.”
“K-Kashi-dono!” Darian shouted in panic, but he still did not raise his head. “Please, if nothing else, at least take this spear to my father. The village needs this spear if it is to survive the coming storm.”
“Why should I?” Kashi retorted with a snort. “I could just as easily wait for you to die and take the spear for myself. It does look pretty powerful. Don’t you think so, Shadow?”
“I agree,” Shadow stated as he walked up to the daeben’s side. He did not know what Kashi was playing at, but he would not be the one to get in the daeben’s way. “Larsial, what do you think?”
“That’s a rare Holy-Attributed spear,” Larsial analyzed as she walked to Kashi’s other side. “The fact he was using that to fight the marilith for so long without a single crack on the blade suggests it’s at least legendary tier. It might even be Divine-Tier. It would explain why he’s so eager to take it back to the village. It might be their protective talisman.”
Kashi and Shadow looked over to Larsial with shock and confusion written all over their faces. Oi! Oi! Oi! Are you trying to make him hate us!?
Larsial playfully stuck out her tongue in reply.
Darian’s head was still bowed, so he could not see the interaction between the trio. He gritted his teeth and tightly clasped the spear. Yeah, this was the truth of the world. Who would choose to risk their life when there was such a massive benefit for doing absolutely nothing?
Why had he even begun to rely on someone else? The dying embers in Darian’s eyes rekindled with renewed determination. That’s right! He would not shame his fallen brothers by giving up so easily! Darian gritted his teeth and raised his head to meet the smiling daeben’s intense gaze.
“I take it you’ve chosen to live a bit longer?” Kashi questioned.
“Haha, yes, Kashi-dono.” Darian was not stupid. He knew from the daeben’s expression that he never had the intention of stealing the spear. If Kashi wanted, he could easily slay the centaur with a casual punch. There was no need to talk so much. “I will squeeze out whatever life force I have left to carry this back to the village. I only ask that should I fail; you complete the journey in my place.”
Kashi shook his head with a smile. “That will not be necessary. You will definitely make it.” Darian did not have a chance to ask what he meant by that when Kashi suddenly placed a hand on his flank.
Darian’s eyes went wide with shock as a flood of green aura poured out of Kashi’s brightly illuminated hands. The proud centaur failed to hold back a blissful moan as a warm, pleasant aura seeped into his body through his injuries.
Yggdrasil’s healing potency finally had a chance to show its might. Shadow and Larsial gaped as they watched the centaur’s injuries rapidly close up. Within mere seconds, all of Darian’s injuries had completely healed without any scars whatsoever. His lifeforce was also rejuvenated by the pure healing energy, causing him to experience a vitality that rivaled his teenage years.
Forget healing. This energy, whatever it was, made Darius feel much better than he had in years. Darian’s happiness and shock were fully displayed on his face as Kashi removed his hands from the centaur’s body.
Kashi weakly smiled as he looked up at Darian. “There. You should be able to take us to your village now, right?”
Darian opened his mouth, but his voice failed him when he noticed Kashi’s pale complexion. Looking closer, Darian could see the pool of sweat on Kashi’s forehead, revealing the exhaustion the daeben had been trying to hide. Darian’s heart grew heavy. He clasped his right fist with his left palm and bowed once more. The hand on fist salute was the warrior’s salute of his village, given only to those who have gained the utmost respect from an individual. “I will never forget this favor. This life is yours from this moment.”
“It’s fine.” Kashi weakly waved away the promise with a smile. This time, he was not faking it as that healing almost drained his remaining mana. Although his fight with the marilith had looked easy to the outside world, he’d expended a ton of mana and ki while countering the mana blades.
Keep in mind those were the ultimate attack of a monster of at least level 160. The mana needed to counter such an attack was in no way small.
Luckily, Kashi’s ridiculous mana and ki regeneration had already kicked in, and he was recovering both quite quickly. It was just that the amount of mana needed to open up his dimension to pour out the healing aura was not small. Kashi was grateful for this experience. He was beginning to get the rules to his dimension with each test.
“Your people need you,” Kashi stated as he took a deep breath. “I dare not lay claim to your life. For now, it’s enough for us to be friends,” Kashi said and held out his right hand, causing Larsial and Shadow to look at him out the corner of their eyes.
Did this madman say the ‘friend’ word? This is still Kashi, right? The Kashi? Does this man even know what ‘friend’ means?
“Friends?” Darian balked as he stared at the daeben’s hand. “No, no, no. I wouldn’t dare.” He hurriedly shook his head.
The assassins turned their attention to the centaur. Now this one’s rejecting?
Oblivious to their thoughts, Darian grasped Kashi’s forearm with a smile. “Let’s just say I’m in your debt.”
“Fair enough,” Kashi conceded with a light chuckle. He opened his left palm, and a large portal appeared on the ground. Drixlia and the assassins’ mounts rose from the portal, whinnying in disappointment as they realized they had returned to their dimension.
Drixlia trotted over to Kashi and blew the daeben’s hair.
Kashi laughed as he patted the stallion’s muzzle. “You liked it there, didn’t you?”
Drixlia’s head comically bobbed up and down as it neighed to express his assent. But immediately after, it paused, a troubled look in its eyes as it dug the earth with its front, left hoof.
Drixlia loved the air in Kashi’s dimension. The pure mana and life energy were both beneficial for its growth. Its instincts told it that its chances of evolving would exponentially increase if it stayed there for a long time.
Unfortunately, Drixlia had always been a wild horse. Its hot blood would not allow it to sit in Kashi’s peaceful world and grow fat. It loved to roam. It loved finding new places and running through danger. None of this was available in Kashi’s one-dimensional world that only had grass and water as far as the eyes could see.
Kashi could sense Drixlia’s discomfort, but unfortunately, he had not spent enough time with the stallion to build the skills necessary to understand its intentions.
“Your horse,” Darian said. “It says strange things.”
Kashi looked at Darian in shock. “You can understand him? I thought that was a myth?”
Darian shook his head. “It is not entirely a myth. Some among our people are born with the innate gift to speak to and understand horses. Those not born with the gift are taught the skills necessary to glean the beasts’ intentions from their behavior.”
“Is there a need?” Kashi was confused. “It’s not like you guys need to ride horses.”
“Maybe not,” Darian agreed. “However, our ancestors were horse herders. They sold horses to different empires in return for food, clothing, and shelter. Tradition states we must pass on the skills whether we need it or not.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Kashi clasped his palms together. “Thank Aethir for traditions,” he joked as he hopped onto Drixlia’s back. “So, what was little Drix saying?” Kashi asked as he held Drixlia’s reins.
“He enjoys the ‘world’ he was in but feels like it cages him,” Darian murmured. He was not confident in what he was saying. What did the horse mean by a ‘world’? Was it crazy? He looked at the daeben. It seemed Kashi had summoned it from somewhere. Could it have been another world altogether?
A terrifying thought suddenly surfaced in Darian’s mind. Was this guy also a Summoner? If that was the case… A shiver ran down the centaur’s mind.
Kashi ignored Darian’s discomfort. He was pondering on the centaur’s revelation. Indeed, he could not keep Drixlia locked up in his realm. Who knew how long it would take for it to evolve? That was a strategy he could only use with a beast that did not want to work at all. It seemed he would have to depend on the centaurs.
Kashi leaned over and patted Drixilia’s crest. “Don’t worry, partner. We’ll definitely find a way.” Drixlia neighed and shook its head vigorously, its spirit fully reinvigorated. Kashi chuckled as he turned to Darian. “What next? Do we go straight to your village?”
Darian looked into the forest with a troubled expression. “If it’s not too much trouble, I would like to bury my brothers. They gave their lives as true warriors of the tribe. I do not wish for their bodies to be desecrated by common wildlife.”
“That is an admirable purpose,” Kashi agreed with a nod. “We will accompany you in your search. How many are there?”
“Six warriors rode with me,” Darian squeezed out through gritted teeth. “Four stallions and two mares.”
Kashi spurred Drixlia, and the horse carried him till he was next to Darian. He patted Darian’s shoulder and promised, “We’ll find them.”
Darian sniffed and then looked at the spear in his hand. “Would you mind placing this in your inventory?”
Kashi was not surprised that Darian knew about the word ‘inventory.’ Many Summoned liked to boast about their inventories to disgruntled Residents. To many Summoned, it was worth it to admire the looks of envy, greed, and awe on the Residents’ faces every time they pulled something out of or put something into their inventory.
A random thought crossed Kashi’s mind as he accepted the staff and placed it in his inner world. “Hey, would you pay for a pouch that had effects similar to our inventories?”
“Do you mean a dimensional pouch?” Darian asked. “My ancestors found one in a relic decades ago. It’s now one of our village’s greatest treasures.” Darian was not afraid to share this information with Kashi. As far as he was concerned, the Summoned’s inventory space was much larger and more valuable than their little dimensional pouch. He turned to trot in the last known direction of his brothers-in-arms. “I highly doubt there is a living soul with enough Syros to pay for something that important.”
“You should not be so free with that information,” Larsial suddenly interjected. “As far as I know, the Summoned’s inventory space is not infinite. I have met quite a few Summoned who were troubled over their tiny inventory space. They would gladly raze your village to the ground for the sake of your dimensional pouch.”
“Is this true?” Darian asked, stunned by the information.
“Summoned are a heartless bunch,” Kashi agreed with a wry smile. He pointed at Shadow. “Just look at him.”
Shadow suddenly experienced what it felt like to be shot while lying down. He glared at Kashi, but the daeben had already turned back to Darian. Shadow gritted his teeth and took out his rink. “Hey, Sis. Have you ever considered beating up Kashi? He really enjoys it…”
Kashi, who did not know that a new type of hell was being prepared for him somewhere, continued to chat with Darian. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me what your mission was? Seven is a little small for a clearing party.”
“You are my benefactor. There is nothing to hide from you,” Darian said. “Members of my platoon long since figured out that this particular blight was man-made. We theorized that if we could end the blight source, it would severely weaken the monsters. At the very least, enough for us to clean them up.”
“You said ‘this particular blight,’” Kashi remarked. “Do you mean blights have occurred here before?”
Darian sighed. “In recent decades, as long as you live in this forest, blights have become a reality you cannot escape. Most times, they are small in scope, and we can easily clear them out by tracking the vine blights to their Root Tree and destroying it. Previously, our worst ever scenario was one time when three Root Trees spawned at the same time. This time, however, we could not understand what is going on.”
“What do you mean?” Larsial asked.
“We tracked and found at least ten Root Trees… Ten! ” Darian exclaimed. “That was just the ones we managed to track. Even worse, the blights this time were ten times stronger, and there were all sorts of never seen demons!” Darian clenched his fists. “We knew there was some secret force behind this. We just had to find and expose them.”
“If it’s so dangerous, why don’t your people pack up and relocate?” Shadow suddenly interjected.
Kashi glanced at Shadow out of the corner of his eyes. This punk. He doesn’t talk much, but he cuts straight to the heart of the matter when he does. It was enough to give someone a heart attack.
Darian’s brows furrowed, a troubled light in his gaze. He took a second to think on the question, then despondently sighed. “My apologies, I am not at liberty to reveal that. Only the village chief can choose to answer that.”
“I understand,” Shadow stated, but his cold gaze caused the atmosphere to turn awkward.
Kashi coughed, drawing attention to himself. “A-anyway, did your team end up finding anything?”
“Yes, we did,” Darian revealed. His gaze was filled with pride as he thought of the sacrifices required to get this information. “We located the headquarters of the group causing this. At the center, there’s a massive hole. We could not see what was within it, but we could tell that it held the blight source. In fact, it might have been the true source of all the blights so far.” Darian clenched his fist. He bit his lips in regret as he said, “Unfortunately, we were discovered by a vine blight on our way out. We managed to fight our way out of their encirclement. But the marilith ambushed us before we could get away.”
Darian’s voice dropped, and his gaze darkened. “We could not outrun it in the forest, so we tried to fight it, but none of us were strong enough. My brothers fell one after another to its claws. In the end, when there were only two of us left, I managed to lure it away. I don’t know how long we battled for, but then I heard the sounds of fighting. I thought it was reinforcements hence why I fled in your direction. I apologize for that.”
“No need to apologize,” Kashi refuted. “I thoroughly enjoyed that fight! I have not had the opportunity to go all-out like that in a very long time.”
Darian was about to reply, but at that moment, a familiar smell stung his nose. His gaze turned steely. “It’s just ahead,” he said, then broke into a hard sprint.
Kashi’s expression also turned solemn. To be frank, he had smelled the thick scent of blood much earlier. But he’d wanted Darian to take the lead on this one. They were his people. He should be the one to find them.
Kashi looked over at Shadow and Larsial. “We’ll follow.” The trio raced in the same direction as Darian. They eventually broke through the trees to a small patch of land.
Kashi’s nose scrunched up as the thick scent of blood assaulted his nose. His eyes turned cold as he took in the mutilated body parts strewn across the patch of land. The warriors’ terrified eyes, tinged with hatred and defiance, belied the marilith’s cruelty. These proud military stallions and mares did not fear death. They just hated the way they died. No one deserved to be torn apart or chewed to pieces by a brainless monster.
That was not a death befitting one who put their life on the line for their people!
Kashi dismounted, but he was shocked to see someone had already beat him to it. Kashi swallowed hard as the densest, most atomic mass of killing intent he had felt in this life hit him like a brick wall.
“Kashi…”
“I know.” Kashi acknowledged as he placed a hand on Shadow’s shoulder. He looked at the broken figure standing at the center of the land, empty eyes taking in the state of his best friends. “We’ll slaughter them all.”
Seemingly satisfied with the daeben’s reply, Shadow managed to rein in his killing intent. Bloody murder still reigned in the assassin’s cold eyes, but it was now sealed within, festering and growing until the day it would explode.
Kashi walked over to Darian’s side. “It doesn’t mean much at this point, but I can help you transport their bodies to your village. Their noble sacrifice deserves a proper burial fit for a hero.”
Darian’s heart rumbled like a heavy thunderstorm was unleashed upon it. He had not imagined he would ever be able to give these warriors the burial they deserved. Grateful tears poured freely down the centaur’s eyes as he turned to face Kashi. He once again clasped his fist and bowed. “I will never forget this debt!”
Kashi did not attempt to brush this debt off. Compared to saving Darian’s life, the daeben knew this favor, to a warrior, was much more important. To brush it off would only be an insult to the memory of Darian’s comrades.
Kashi, Shadow, Larsial, and Darian patiently scoured the land for every body part they could find. Any piece found was handed to the daeben, who then carefully placed them into his inner world. Luckily, the daeben had excellent spatial awareness. Just by picking each part, he could picture the full centaur. He did not rest until they had found every single piece of all the centaurs. Even with that, there were a few pieces of flesh missing. Most of these had been bitten and swallowed by the marilith. There was nothing Kashi could do about that.
Kashi, Shadow, and Larsial mounted their horses when the daeben was satisfied. They silently followed behind Darian as he led them towards the village, their emotions dampened by the horrid scene they just witnessed.
A few blights attacked during their journey, but Kashi was not in the mood to enjoy a fight, especially when they came across the body of the last centaur Darian had helped to escape. Much like Darian, the centaur succumbed to his injuries and perished. Unfortunately, there was no magic daeben to save him.
Kashi solemnly placed the corpse in his inner world before continuing their journey.
A few hours later, Kashi squinted as the rising sun bled into his eyes. Off in the distance, the tell-tale wooden walls of civilization marked the end of this journey.
???
Daggerfall
Somewhere within this continent, the sun's red rays washed over a sea of blood and corpses. The sun’s rays raised the curtain on a gruesome war that would engulf the land as the wailing and screams of those present at the scene scattered into the morning winds.
In one corner of Daggerfall, a young Orc champion looked up at the sky with furrowed brows. “What is this?”
Somewhere else, a dwarf walked out of his home and gazed at the red sky. “Something is wrong.”
In another location, a young halben licked her lips as she gazed at the blood-red sky. “Let it flow…”