It was early afternoon. Most members of the Gaus group were in the small villa that was their main quarters and home. Lyel wanted to spend some time in the main salon to read. He held his book in his left and climbed down the stairs to the main floor. On his way down, he heard some movements coming from the saloon, but he didn’t worry. If someone was dumb enough to intrude their home, he would have to deal with 14 experienced mercenaries. He opened the door and found the one doing all the noise. It was Sasha the leader of their group. He was deep inside his chair with a bottle of booze.

“Drinking again?”

“Shut up!”

Mumbled Sasha.

“You have to get over her! It’s been almost three weeks since. Come on, you are better than this.”

“I am over her. I am over her and her traitorous asses. It’s just that I ain’t feeling very well.”

“Hmm. If you say so.”

Ever since he got into that dumb tri-dice game he wasn’t the man he was and lately he only got worse. The other members were talking about denouncing his leadership and replacing him with someone else.

“No point in hiding it.”

Mumbled Lyel.

“What?”

“No point in hiding it.”

Repeated Lyel.

“Hiding what? You guys wanne betray me too? Is that It? Everyone is leaving me. Please don’t, don’t leave me! You are all that I have left.”

Sasha started to cry. Lyel felt bad about his friend, but he had to be honest to him.

“Listen Sasha! We aren’t going to betray you. It’s just that lately we’ve been thinking that maybe you should take a break from leading us. You know just until you get yourself back on your feet.”

Sasha started to cry harder.

“Please don’t leave me! I can change. I swear Lyel. Please I swear.”

By now Sasha was just whining unrecognizably. Although it really started to annoy Lyel he went to comfort his old friend. They have been together for years now, fought side by side and have become something of a family. In fact, most of the Gaus group has. That is why most people stayed even though Sasha started to become unbearable. People only started to leave the group when Sasha made that choice. Lyel still felt bad about it. Sasha got in deep with some bad people after losing a lot of money in the tri-dice game, and to pay it back he took the reward money of a quest to dangerous for them to fulfil without planning to help that village that requested the help. That lead to Alrick and five others leaving the group to calm their consciousness including Anna, Sasha’s girlfriend for three years. That is when Sasha got into drinking, becoming so unbearable that two of the newer members also left. Lyel wasn’t too close to those two yet but still, losing almost half your members in one month is usually reason enough for most mercenary groups to disband. And Sasha knew that, leading him too get even worse and more unbearable then before.

“I love you Lyel. You are like a brother to me. Have I told you why I made this group Lyel?”

“Only every second day for the last two weeks.”

Thought Lyel, but he knew that saying yes would be futile and anger the drunk. So, he instead answered.

“No, not yet.”

“I lost my family during a plague and was alone until that man came along. He was a powerful strong and unfeeling warrior. I wanted to be like him. So, I wanted to become strong like him. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t just feel nothing. Lyel help me feel nothing. Help me feeee.”

Sasha dozed of in the middle of his sentence. Lyel just sighed and sat down on a free chair to read his book only to fall asleep himself shortly after.

Lyel woke up later. The sun was about to go down. He was hungry. Luckily one of the groups magicians Gene came to tell him that they were having dinner soon. It was decided that they would go into the wood to have a barbeque. As it turns out two of the group went with some hunters earlier and caught quite the catch, some smaller critters and even a deer, that the two mercenaries claimed. It would take another hour until the meat was ready, but it would be nice if the ones who stayed at home could bring some things to them for dinner. Like eating knifes and an ax for cutting wood. Sasha woke up earlier and Gene saw him changing. He would join them later. Gene and Lyel were going to the meeting place. It is the same as per usual. An hour into the woods there was an abandoned cabin that the mercenaries found and like to party at. But something was of. Lyel felt like he was being followed. He was an experienced warrior and was usually able to feel the difference between being paranoid and being stalked. It was weird but since Gene didn’t fell anything he assumed it was nothing. When the duo arrived at the cabin almost everyone was there. With him and Gene there were 11 people at the cabin right now. The only people missing right now were the Steel brothers and Sasha. Sasha would come later, and the Steel brothers were out chopping some wood. As it turned out there was already an ax in the cabin from the last time they were here, so that the extra that Lyel brought was unnecessary. Since there wasn’t anything left to set up right now he joined a trio of his friends who were aweing the new bow with which the deer was allegedly killed. As it turned out Kevin secretly commissioned it last fall and was already happy with his new toy.

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Shortly after the Steel brothers returned with more fire wood but everyone was surprised when Sasha turned up. He was unusually well dressed. Now well dressed as in for a meeting with some nobility but well dressed as in a mix of leather armor and leaderlike clothing. He even brought his one-and-half-hander sword with him. It was that kind of equipment that he wears when he meets a customer and tries to sell himself as an experienced fighter.

“What are you so formal for?

Yelled Gene. At first, Sasha mumbled to himself and then he collected himself and declared to his comrades.

“Well, hi everyone. As you all know I was going through some things… I still am… But I realized what I have become and that you were talking about replacing me. I know that I must pull myself together. But If you allow me… then please let me keep on leading you all.”

After a moment of silence some started laughing.

“Seriously that get up for that?”

“Dude you looked like an idiot.”

But Lyel realized that for a change his friend remembered what they talked about and he calmed his comrades down.

“Listen if you just never do the things again that you have done, we can get past this. We will keep on following you. Got it? Am I right?”

He asked everyone, and they cheered in response. When an armed stranger approached them from the woods. The stranger shouted.

“Are you guys the Gaus group?”

No one seemed to recognize the brown-haired man so instead of answering directly Sasha asked a question in return.

“Why do you want to know?”

“It’s polite to answer the question you were asked first before asking one yourself. So, I repeat myself. Are you the Gaus group?”

The stranger got increasingly angrier.

“Yes, we are the Gaus group. All fourteen members are here. Now, who are you?”

Instead of answering the stranger just started clenched his right arm and started running at the nearest member of the group. She instinctively retreated towards to the rest of the group to escape the mans attack. While running at her he drew a long knife, clearly with the intent to attack. One of the Steel brothers drew the ax he was carrying with him, stepped between the female archer and the assailant and quickly swung his weapon towards the man. The man pulled his right arm up to defend against the lethal hit when something incredible happened. The weapon hit the arm and stopped moving. Even with a thick piece of armor that shouldn’t happen. The arm should at least be broken form the inpact. The mercenaries were astonished but the stranger just ripped the mercenaries arm towards him, tripping the taller man in the process and stabbed him in the neck. All in a single swift and calculated move. The next thing that happened was that chaos broke lose. The older Steel brother screamed at his brother’s killer, drew his knife and charged him. Sasha screamed orders at his comrades. Half of the mercenaries started to retreat and gain distance and those few that carried a weapon armed themselves while others drew them knifes or grabbed some sticks defend themselves. Lyel ran towards the extra ax that he brought with him only looking back to see how assailant was doing. That is when he witnessed the man punching the even bigger Steel brother in the throat with enough force that the way bigger man was nearly decapitated, he died immediately.

“Marder, Rider surround him! And Kevin shoot him shoot!”

Sasha ordered while Lyel grabbed his ax. Marder came at the attacker from the front and Rider tried to surround him, when the attacker spotted Kevin drawing up one of his few arrows only a few meters away. Marder quickly stood in between the stranger and Kevin and threatened the man with a glowing piece of wood that he snatched from the fire. But the man just jumped him, throwing the defender backwards then smashing his head with his devilish strong punch. Lyel has often seen people die, some of which were his friends, but this was absurd. He would stay back for a while and wait for orders from his leader. If they worked together maybe they could fend of the devil that has already claimed the lives of three of his friends. Kevin tried to shoot the devil while he was still sitting on Marder’s chest but missed giving the devil enough time to attack him and stabbing his with the knife in his left arm.

“Lyel, Rider attack with me at the same time!”

Lyel and Sasha with their weapons drawn ran at the devil but Rider dropped the rock he was using as a weapon and ran off scared for his life. Realizing the danger that they were really in Sasha ordered one last thing while the devil assaulted one of the few women in the group.

“Everyone except Lyel RUN!”

Lyel and Sasha reached the female magician after the devil and couldn’t save her. The devil already broke her neck. Instead, the duo circled the devil. Forcing him into a two versus one situation. Lyel on the right and Sasha on the left. They both attacked at the same time as they have done it countless times against countless foes before. Lyel with the heavier weapon attacked high aiming for the head and Lyel attacked low trying to cut of the devil’s left leg. But they were to slow this time. Their timing didn’t match and the devil blocked Lyels ax with his arm and then punched his gut. Lyel could feel his stomach leaving his body in one painful moment and collapsed. He was lying on the ground unable to move due to pain and blood loss, so he could only watch. But in a moment of hope Sasha was able to swing his sword and cut of the devils leg making it fall. But before the devil entirely collapst he jumped at Sasha and punched a strait hole threw his head. Killing him instantly. The devil fell over in pain over his lost limb when another impossible thing happened. Around the devil’s wound the earth started to move. It moved toward the hurt area and started to twist itself around it. It stretched and molded itself until a new leg out of mud formed. The devil stood up again, preparing to chase the rest of the group. That is when Lyel used all his remaining energy to ask.

“Why? Why are you killing us?”

The devil looked at him and answered in pity.

“Because you left my people to die.”

It hurt Lyel to even ask but he continued.

“When have we...?”

The devil became angry and yelled at the dying man.

“One month ago, you accepted a request to aid the village in the Rivervally but didn’t fulfill your part of the bargain. They all died including those of you who did come to help. YOU killed them all!”

The devil was almost crying. Lyel didn’t know what to answer but even if he did he couldn’t. The last of his life was leaving him and the last thing that he saw was the devil leave to chase after the rest of the mercenaries. It was the end of the Gaus-group.