“No, he seems to be functioning fine, surprisingly. However, he doesn’t seem like Rafe at all” the guard thought back on the few interactions he’d had with the boy before, then thought to the most recent one. No, he didn’t seem like that boy at all.

All three of them showed surprise again, yet soon their expressions grew dark. Quickly, they ordered the guard to take them to where Rafe was, following quickly behind. Apparently, Rafe refused to move from where he was. They’d only found him after hearing loud screams beneath the creaky floor of one of the empty lodges. However, what they found inside is what truly shocked them, and the guard explained it all in detail.

“Mason grabbed a few of us guards and we went in. Obviously hearing about Rafe’s disappearance, we thought it could have been him, and technically it was…just not him screaming. When we finally found the hatch to drop in, it was too dark to really see what was going on. Luckily, Faust was with us and lit up the room, it was…not what we expected to see behind these walls. Definitely not”

“Let’s not be so obscure. What did you see?” Brax didn’t like to beat around the bush.

“Fine. Rafe was stood with his sword out, covered in blood. His left eye was bloody as well, the socket was, the eye had been gauged out. But it was psycho we were more concerned with. Leovard. He was barely alive when we showed up, both his eyes gone, his body all muddled from all the shattered bones Rafe had handed him. He’d long lost his mind, unable to answer anything we asked. He died just as I left to get you” Targ said, remembering the graphic scene. Not exactly what you’d expect someone to do to a fellow guard.

As for Brax and Scarlet following behind him, they were terribly confused with what Targ had said. It was Leovard? And Rafe had killed him? Not the other way around? Tortured him quite brutally it sounded. Just what had happened to Rafe?

Twilight seemed to have more of a mix of emotions. She was right; Rafe was much more deadly than he let on, and much less sane than he pretended he was. Well, he had been supposedly tortured all this time, so that could easily have set him off. However, she couldn’t help but think back to the pure terror the boy at the castle had displayed before killing himself, due to Rafe’s actions. Just what had he done? She was certain it was him, as she had been since she used the ring to confirm it, but now more than ever. Rafe was not her friend; Rafe was a threat.

At that moment, they caught a glimpse of the tortured soul, sitting comfortably on a chair in the empty lodge, the disfigured corpse of Leovard resting against the wall on the other side, clearly there had been attempts to heal the guard, but he was beyond saving. Plus, why waste the resources? They weren’t in any position to keep prisoners; no, criminals had to die, end of. Perhaps the healer hadn’t realised that was the psychopath that caused Merl to die? Or perhaps they were too kind for their own good.

“Rafe” Scarlet uttered, worried.

The youth looked up at her.

“Scarlet,” he smiled, “Twilight and Brax, too. Nice of you to come. Don’t you find it strange you happen to find me when the bad guy is in danger, yet when I’m losing my mind in that fucking hell hole, nowhere to be seen, are you?”

Rafe laughed dangerously. Clearly, he was not happy.

“Rafe, are you suggesting…?”

He shook his head, his blood-stained hair dashing to the side. It was no longer an innocent white, it was much darker and filthy.

“No, no. I’m not suggesting anything. Though, I am a little disappointed. Surely you know why”

Scarlet slowly looked down. Whilst she couldn’t see his expression, she could sense the emotions in his voice.

“Sorry we couldn’t find you, Rafe. Not in time. But I’m glad you are alive” she uttered.

“No thanks to any of you” he scoffed.

Scarlet seemed a little agitated, but she understood he was just venting. After all, he clearly suffered a lot in these past days, evident with his expression, and with the infected eye.

“Look, I understand you’r-”

Suddenly, Rafe’s expression grew threatening as he interjected.

“Understand?” he raised his voice, “You don’t understand a damned thing! Fucking sat in your safe fucking lodge whilst I’m being skinned alive, fucking smoldered, fucking burnt. Just for all that shit to go for another cycle. Every waking moment in fucking agony. Oh but yes, our lady Scarlet surely understands everything doesn’t she?” he lifted his sword.

On instinct, she summoned her own, ready to retaliate if forced to by the distressed boy. All of a sudden, loud laughter resounded in the small lodging; it was Rafe. For a while, he simply laughed at her motion with an almost mocking tone. Then, the man grew silent, his face returning to the same twisted expression.

“Oh please. Don’t embarrass yourself. We both know you’re blind” he began to walk past her, as though she wasn’t even there; as though her existence didn’t matter.

She froze. So he knew? Well, he wasn’t the only one. Brax for one knew as well. Yet, now he shouted it out for all to hear, including Twilight, who didn’t seem to shocked by it.

Before Rafe could get away, she rose her voice.

“You think that will stop me? My eyes may be faulty, but I can see just fine” she spun around to face his back.

“Sure you can, Scarlet” he scoffed.

She wanted to cut him down where he stood, yet she restrained herself. No point in killing a strong guard over an insult.

‘What the hell happened to him?’ she thought for a moment. She missed the boy she had gotten to know over the past few months. Where had he gone? Or was this the true Rafe behind the mask?

As for Twilight, she’d come to terms with it, as she had been doing ever since they had argued a long while ago now. She knew he wasn’t who he pretended to be; that he was much more wicked than he let on. By now, she had sort of accepted that fact. So why…no, no matter. Feelings were always complicated.

A few hours later, as things began to settle down, Rafe and Alexander sat down on the cold grass, resting their backs on the behemoth walls of their settlement. They both seemed to be peering at the dark sky, in thought. It was early darkness these days. After a bit of silence, Alexander spoke:

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“How are things with Scarlet and the others? I heard you were being a bit of a dick”

Rafe glared at him, annoyed by the name.

“What, you pissed I cursed out your girlfriend?” he lightly chuckled.

However, Alexander wasn’t having it.

“I’m being serious, Rafe. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Rafe seemed a little shocked at Alexander’s concern; he was normally much more jokeful, never serious. In fact, this was probably the only time he’d seen him like this.

“Well of course I’m not alright. Every waking moment I was being put through pain I never thought I’d have to experience” he admitted, “Can’t exactly say my train of thought is too sharp right now. I think…I might losing myself. And I think I’ve been too careless, putting people I…people I ca-...know in danger”

Alexander looked over at him with an anxious and oddly caring expression.

“Look, you ain’t alone in this, man. But if you keep treating your friends like that, you will be”

Rafe sighed.

“Is that a threat?”

Alexander shook his head.

“No. But if you said the shit you said to me, I’d have knocked your damned teeth out” he joked.

Rafe chuckled, looking back the stars in the sky.

“I can’t help it. It’s like I have an itch I can’t quite scratch. I thought I’d get over it with what I did to Leovard, but that wasn’t enough”

Alexander seemed confused at what Rafe was getting at.

“What kind of itch?”

Rafe sighed.

“It’s hard to say. It’s like I want to tear people apart, so they can understand how I feel, you know? It’s fucked up but, well, I can’t help it. I just hate how everyone is reacting so entitled. I hate how they’re treating me like I’m not human anymore; like I’m some pet they’re taking pity on. I can deal with my shit, I just want them to lay off”

Without moving his gaze from the beautiful myriad of stars above them, Alexander let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah, people are like that; fancy themselves empaths”

Watching as a shooting star shot across the myriad of other bright stars, dashing across the night sky, Rafe smiled.

“Thanks. For the talk. I feel like I needed it”

Alexander pulled a friendly face.

“Hey, the night’s still young. Let’s see if the alchemists have anything for us”

The rest of the night went without much issue. Alexander and Rafe simply messed around, grabbing strength-enhancing potions off the alchemists and heading deep into the forest. Since he wasn’t exactly sane, Rafe went a little hard on the mammal dread that he encountered, brutalising it to an inhumane extent; luckily they weren’t human.

Watching this, Alexander let out a sigh but he could get behind it. Perhaps it was less of the insanity and more venting over what he had went through. So, Alexander didn’t comment. It seemed Rafe didn’t want any special treatment and he just wanted people to let him deal with things on his own, which Alexander didn’t mind doing to an extent, so he let it go.

After some quick slaughtering, they took a little bit of time starting a fire, which was much harder lacking a fire-wielder but luckily all the guard were taught how to start a simple ember, and get a fire going. Though, since they hadn’t had to practice it too much, it took Alexander and Rafe a really long time to get it done, but at least they did get it done.

Some luxurious eating later, they headed back inside the behemoth gates, separating to go to their respective lodges, and called it a night. Back inside the room, Twilight was already asleep, whilst Jed seemed to have been waiting for him.

‘Damn. We must of been out for hours’ Rafe thought, finding it quite funny how much time they wasted.

“Rafe” Jed said excitedly. Rafe placed his index finger over his lips, pointing to the sleeping Twilight over at her bed.

“Are you good? They didn’t tell me much” Jed lowered his voice.

Rafe shook his head honestly.

“At first I thought I was fine, but the better I actually get, the more I realise I’m not. But it’s fine. How’ve you been? Stuck to the training?”

Jed nodded, “Harder than ever”.

Hearing this, Rafe smiled; Jed was an incredibly fast learner, so as dedicated as he was now, he’d end up a real asset to the team.

“Good. Maybe we could duel tomorrow”

Jed seemed concerned hearing this.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“Don’t do that. Mentally I might be all over the place, but physically I’m feeling great. Of all the horrid things that bastard did to me, he didn’t starve me” Rafe chuckled to himself.

“Alright. Well, then, I’ll show you my progress tomorrow” Jed said, ready to head off to sleep.

Rafe nodded, “I will. Night, man”

“Night”

In the morning, they did just as they planned. After clashing swords for a few minutes, Rafe looked incredibly impressed. Over the days he was being brutally tortured, Jed hadn’t half improved. Not only was he much more skilled, he was much stronger. Who had he been training with? Oh well; it didn’t really matter, so long as he had gotten stronger, and he evidently had.

Whilst Rafe was wanting to express that, he couldn’t waste the breath mid-fight. Jed had tweaked his style a little, seeming more aggressive if anything. Whilst this would usually work to Rafe’s favour, Jed wouldn’t let it. Almost completely unpredictable with his strikes, looking as though he was doing one thing, whilst transitioning into doing another right at the last moment, Rafe had no time to prepare for the attacks.

Honestly, Rafe was gaining a lot of experience with this fight as well. As Jed went in for a well-executed strike, baiting with a horizontal slash, only to swerve up with his sword, Rafe dropped to his knees.

“Rafe?” Jed stopped his blade in it’s tracks, concerned for his dueling partner.

After a long pause, Rafe slowly rose up from the cold ground and faced Jed with a scarily serious expression.

“We need to double up this training. Also, train harder” Rafe said, keeping his stone expression.

Jed felt slightly disheartened.

“Are you disappointed in my improvement?”

Rafe raised an eyebrow before realising the misunderstanding.

“No. In honesty, you shocked me. But something is coming. You need to train much harder”

Jed seemed confused.

“What’s coming?”

Rafe gritted his teeth. Should he tel- ack, why not?

“The cultists are coming. They have a Lord with them” Rafe explained.

Jed seemed even more confused, so Rafe continued:

“The Lords are stranded who have been blessed by the Gods in a way. Well, a God. They are like avatars of the Gods, except they can’t be controlled. Instead, they simply inherit the Gods powers, well a fragment of it, and they tend to do their actual duty when Gods wage war, which is incredibly rare”

‘Why am I telling him all this? Damn, I really have lost it, haha’

“Why do you know this?” Jed asked.

Slowly, Rafe approached Jed, closing the distance, then whispered:

“Because I am one. Avatar of the Fallen God”