VOLUME 1
- CHAPTER 23 -
WAKE UP
The shadows twisted like flames on the ground, the evermoving darkness being separated by a casted light in the form of an open door.
???: “Little sheep, little sheep. Stop hiding already.”
Heavy steps echoed from beyond the unseen walls. The black flames wavered more erratically when a silhouette came from one edge and contrasted at the center of the white light.
Polis: “Tasah!? Why are you still here?” – The silhouette flickered in fear. – “You need to go. Run away!”
Behind it, a bigger darkness swallowed the standing silhouette and halted on its spot, big horns coming from the tip of its head, tall enough to reach the top edge of the door.
???: “There you are.”
The shadow’s head ripped open like a goo monster, light projecting and molding what resembled to be a laughing devil with an unmeasurable hunger overflowing from its melting mouth.
Polis: “Tasah!” – A sword is unsheathed sharply. – “Get out of here! RUN!!”
- - - - - - - - - - -
I wake up swiftly.
My body sweats cold and my throat burns. Warm tears slide down my cheeks, it takes me a minute to realize what was going on. I was crying in my sleep, again.
It’s been more than three days… since my brother died.
I sit on my bed and look at the other sheepkins sleeping around me, there are about ten single beds spread near the walls. The only source of light dimly coming from the cracks of a nearby window, signaling that the night has passed already.
And yet… I’m still crying over it. How weak can I be?
I dry my eyes with my long sleeves as a pained smile grows on my face and the burning in my throat rises.
My brother would be stronger-- He would be doing something about all of this, he wouldn’t be waiting for everything to fix itself.
But before my emotions got the best of me, a shadow passes through the only source of light and my attention shifts to it. Not too late after, another shadow goes by running on the other side of the window.
???: “Let’s go, let’s go.” – A stranger man’s voice whispers in alarm.
Then two more shadows follow.
My skin crawls in panic and my hands shake as I grip the bed sheets. But the fluffy feeling of the cloth remembers me of where I am. For how long was I sleeping in the forest? For almost three days I rested in dirt and had only plants to cover my body from the cold. Now, I’m back to sleeping comfortably with sheets white as snow.
The quality is even better than my home’s.
I’m in the wolfkin village. That’s right.
I calm myself but my body still stiffens to stand. I put on my shoes and fix my clothes.
It should be safe, but it's better to check what’s going on.
Before I head out, I look at one of the laying sheepkin, a woman sleeping with her body twisted all around, one hand over her head and the other reaching out of the bed, the sheets all wrinkled and wrapping up her legs individually as her mouth is half open and drooling. I almost let a chuckle out at the sight. How could someone so serious and competent like her look so silly while sleeping? I give a last glance at the secretary-looking glasses on the nightstand on her side before leaving the room.
That eased my tense heart a bit. From the moment I got to the protective bunker at Nepaty to the gathering reunion yesterday, Nejeka was always helping everyone. How much stress was she going through I will never be able to imagine. She definitely deserves the rest.
I get out of the building, the bright sunlight blinds me for a few seconds. But gradually, my eyes get used to it and the busy streets fade to view, the wolfkins are jogging all around with baskets or crates in their hands. Anyone would think that they are preparing some kind of a party, if we weren’t in the state of emergency we find ourselves in, that is.
But besides all the commotion, there are no alarming signs in sight, perhaps that’s how their morning routine always is? They are just moving some things up and working.
I take a moment to glance around, I never had the opportunity to appreciate the village in detail, especially in daylight. The wolfkins said before that the place is still under construction, but from what they did so far they could already say it is a small town of some sort. There are about a hundred or so houses all close together, made out of stone and good-quality wood, all with the same light and modern design.
This feels way cozier and prettier than the squared buildings made of stone of Nepaty Citadel, even though it has fewer details, this feels more like a place for families to live in or travel to.
Just by walking around and observing, my fingers twitch to write an article about how good-looking it all is. Though I doubt it can be called a vacation spot when placed so close to a dangerous region.
The only building that contrasts with the overall pattern is the gathering place with the T-table where I was in yesterday. It looks like a pre-Nipanronjian church, with a darker grey rough stone, rounded edges, and thicker walls. It’s still possible to see a few machicolations on the second or third floor that could be mistaken as protected windows, which are those elongations that extend the wall a little towards the outside, so people can attack anything below to prevent threats from climbing to the roof or break the wall, all while not exposing themselves.
It’s basically like a little castle of its own, probably used to shelter a small number of people from beast hordes back in the day. The bell tower above is another sign of that, to alarm them of a coming invasion. Though I doubt it would do much with today’s magical beasts, especially when it seems to not be that well preserved. Now, it’s just a gathering building for decision-making and relay reports, it seems. There’s probably not even a protective enchantment.
For such a building to continue standing after a couple of centuries, I wonder if there’s a story behind it, or maybe a reason.
But suddenly, something breaks my line of thought. A silhouette rises from the horizon over the church’s roof, breaking the daylight coming from its back. It’s a person in a dark cloak. My eyes widen when I realize that the person does not stop walking even after there’s no roof left to step on, my entire body freezes with empathetic fear.
Is he going to kill himself?
But instead of falling, he suddenly disappears in an explosion of blue particles.
“Huh? Huh!?”
My eyes widen even more at the scene.
Am I going crazy?
???: “Good morning, Hero!” – a man speaks behind me.
I turn to the voice and at the corner of my eye, I see the silhouette that was on the roof now walking on the same street as me.
???: “Good morning~!” – a woman beside the male wolfkin exclaims as well.
Strider: “Mornin’.” – The dark-cloaked hero waves back with a smile.
Oh, that’s the hero from before.
The confusion on my face suddenly changes to a tint of anger.
The one who said that my brother had betrayed me…
(Strider: “Let him be,” – he shrugged. – “…Spreading information is also important[…]”)
But again… he did help me in the beginning… and he did agree with me later on, as well.
My feeling about him becomes a mix of admiration, jealousy, and embarrassing regret.
Jeez, I was so angry that even my memories of what I said are still hazy. Why did I get so worked up around a Hero? Especially now of all times, when they become so rare? I just threw the chance to interview him out of the window if he gets important later on.
I sigh with the utmost sadness.
I should make up with him, I need to apologize. I should always act professionally, especially when the one forcing his attendance at the earlier reunion was me.
I go a step forward, but I immediately stop.
But should I really? Isn’t it understandable to feel upset when someone points fingers at a member of their family for no good reason? It would be strange if I didn’t protect my older brother! Besides, what if he only sees me as a weakling if I lowered myself? From what I know of heroes, they are an adventurous bunch, that likes strength and challenges. A weak apology might only get on his nerves, and he does look to be very impatient with the little interaction we had.
What to do…? What to do…?
I glance around, my lost eyes quickly regaining focus with a building frown.
Wait… where is he?
Yep, he isn’t anywhere in sight anymore.
Damn!! I just missed him! Should I search for him right away? No, what if he sees me as an annoyance? The first thing I do right after waking up is to see him? That’s too clingy, I don’t even know him! What is his name again? Oh no, did I forget!? What I’m going to do with myself??? Wait, wait, it’s on the tip of my tongue! It’s… it’s S… S... S--something. Strider! That’s it! That’s right! *Strider*. What a weird name, it must be his working title or something.
A few of the wolfkins around stare at my silly face after I had unconsciously hopped with happiness, I instantly feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment and I quiet myself down, the wolfkins look at me with some confusion and start giggling to each other.
Okay… I should head out.
But before walking, I turn one last time to the church’s roof, where another silhouette is against the sun. This time I squint my eyes so I can see who it is, it’s the wolf-faced of the village, with beautiful black fur and in an unhooded cloak. He side-looks at me before walking back and disappearing on the horizontal edge.
Were the Hero and that wolfkin talking with each other? Well, anyway, I should get moving, he was here not long ago, there’s no way he has gone far.
I turn and confidently stroll in the same direction I saw him last.
…
But no matter where I searched, or whom I did ask… I couldn’t find him. There were no clues at all to his whereabouts.
…
“Damn it! I completely lost him!”
Did he leave the village? Or enter one of the houses? There’s no way I can find him by knocking on everyone’s door, much less if I searched in the forest. How can I find him, though? Do I wait until another gathering? No, he said he preferred to do things alone yesterday. What if he just left and won’t ever come back? being a hero and all. Jesus, what do I do? What do I do?
I hit the palm of my hand with my fist.
Oh, wait. That’s right! There was that wolf-head person, I need to find him. But how? I don’t even know his name to begin with. Wait, I did see him at the gathering yesterday, he was just behind the leader, right? He’s like his personal guard or something, but wasn’t the leader in some kind of a strange situation? He was handcuffed, right? Or am I remembering it wrong? No, he was definitely handcuffed.
I facepalm, my thumb and my middle finger massaging my temples to calm myself.
But it isn’t any good if I don’t know how to find any of them.
Someone yells an order in the background, and my attention quickly swifts to it.
Oh! Isn’t that the one who was leading the discussion yesterday? He’s like the chief of security or something, Vute if I’m not mistaken. He probably knows something, right?
I stride to the big brown wolfkin. Vute point somewhere to his men, he says something about crates and where each should go as he constantly double checked with a piece of paper in his hands. I slow my pace a bit to give him time to stop talking so he can see me.
“Ah, I’m sorry, can I ask you something?”
The tall and built wolfkin looks down at me, his serious expression suddenly changing into a warm smile.
Vute: “You’re one of the sheepkin of the reunion yesterday. Is there something wrong? I hope you guys could rest peacefully.”
“There’s nothing wrong, thank you for worrying. I’m just searching for a wolfkin, hmmm… let’s see…” – I make two triangles by folding my fingers from my palm and raising them over my head. – “He has black fur and ears about this tall, his face is very fluffy too,” – I change the position of my hands to the sides of my face like “<” and “>”, – “he’s about this fluffy. I didn’t see anyone like him, so I’m not sure how to describe him.”
Vute looks lost for a few seconds.
Vute: “Fluffy…? I don’t follow.”
“Earlier this morning, he was standing over the church-like building so he’s probably very athletic. Ah, and he was also wearing a black cloak if that helps.”
Vute: “Oh, are you talking about Guni?” – he responds with amusement. – “Why do you want to meet him?”
“I want to talk with Strider about something, but first I need to know where he is. It looks like Guni was talking with him before he left, maybe he knows something since nobody noticed where the hero was going.”
Vute: “Hmm, I see. If you saw Guni with him, it was probably just a dismissal from the night watch duty.”
“Ah, so Strider keeps watch at this village?”
Vute: “Not really, this was his first time, I recommended him to rest but he pressed to volunteer, so we gave him the basic instructions and left him to it. Guni stayed awake as well, by the way, so it’s not like we had a reason to refuse.”
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“I see, that’s amazing.”
So he stayed the whole night awake? That’s impressive, or maybe his sleeping routine was like that already? Huh, at least now I know why they had their encounter earlier, both of them stayed guard at night.
Vute: “I don’t know Strider's whereabouts though, he is more independent than most since he’s not a resident and all, so I don’t keep track. All I know is that nothing happened at night. If you really want to talk to Guni about it, I guess you could go to the village’s prison, he stays there when it’s day.”
“Prison!? Is he a condemned criminal or something?”
Vute: “No, no.” – he chuckles. – “He guards the place. It seems like he prefers the solitary ambient. Ah! And I ask of you to not be too pushy, if you see that he’s getting nervous or something, try to ease things up or leave it at that. He’s the type that doesn’t like talking with people that much.”
“Got it! Thank you so much.”
…
With Guni’s location at hand, I quickly marched to meet him. I was surprised to see the place was just behind the church, it’s like my search went right back to where it started.
The prison is outside the church’s boundaries though, its building has a similar design as the other houses, but there are no wooden parts on the walls and its windows are barred with metal. It’s almost unsettling that a prison would be so close to the center of the village.
Its door was already open, I knocked a few times either way but nobody responded, so I invited myself in. I stepped with wariness, trying to make them as silent as I could out of fear, for some reason I felt something would jump on me at any second.
The entrance hall is the size of a living room, with a few chairs and the main reception desk. I double-check the dreadly environment and stride forth as cold chills travel in my skin with each turn of my head until I arrive at a corridor. At its left, there is a room with a bunch of desks, while straight forward is a closed metal door, and at the right, there are the cells.
First, I looked at the desks area, but I find it empty, so I headed to the opposite door to it. The cells host only four different graded rooms, by peeking my head in, I can easily see the black wolf-head Guni seating on a wooden chair near the opposite corner, facing a cell in front of him with his eyes closed.
I knock on the door and my knuckles kind of hurt from hitting the thick metal. But instead of moving, the wolfkin stays still.
“Guni?”
With no response, I walk in towards him. Since I saw him, he hadn’t moved a finger at all.
“Guni?”
I poke his shoulder.
Guni: “Hm? What?” – He responds with a grunt but doesn’t open his only eye. – “What is it?”
“I wanted to talk with you for a sec.”
Guni’s long snout sniffles the air.
Guni: “You’re that boy from earlier. What is it?”
“Uh?” – I frown and wave my hand just in front of his closed eyes. – “Are you awake?”
Guni: “Since you trespassed the entrance.” – He sighs, still with his eye closed. – “I was hoping you to go back once you saw me sleeping, but since you want me to wake up this badly, then I will answer you. What is it?”
“Oh… okay… I want to know where Strider is.”
Guni opens his eye to stare at me with a tired alert look.
Guni: “He’s missing?” – His nose instantly begins to sniff the air.
“No, no, no.” – I shake my head and hands. – “I mean… I don’t know, but… that’s not what I’m here for, exactly.”
Guni relaxes his eye and, with a displeased expression, he closes it again.
Guni: “What is it then?”
“You talked to him before, right? when you dismissed him from duty. Vute told me. Did Strider say where he would go? I want to talk to him, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
Guni: “Oh… he’s probably in the forest by now.”
“Ah… Is he hunting for food?”
Or maybe looking for that girl that is missing?
Guni: “Huh? No, he did ask me about joining a hunting expedition, but I don’t think it has anything to do with it. You see, there are no beasts nearby that area. He asked me about a place to train and test his skills, so I sent him to an old shooting range deep in the forest in the south. Nobody uses it anymore, but it should still be somewhat useful for those kinds of things.”
“Oh, I see.”
I guess that even a hero needs to practice and polish their skills.
“Then can you point out where exactly is it?”
Guni: “You’re going after him?” – He opens his eye one more time and analyzes me. – “Is it that important? I’m sure that if you wait he’ll be back before night.”
“I-I just want to talk to him, I don’t want to forget about it later on.”
Guni: “… I see… It’s exiting this building, turn left and just follow the main road straight. There’s a board near the forest telling it’s south, then keep looking for an open field at your right, the arrow targets will give it away, its just a few minutes distant.”
After taking the mental notes, I bow slightly to him.
“Thank you so much for the information.”
Guni sighs tiredly.
Guni: “And since you are going, I want you to check if he’s alright for me. I would be doing that myself but I need to take all the time I can to rest now.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Guni flinches and his gaze turns lost at the wall near him.
Guni: “He didn’t appear to be fully… on his right mind. He did try to stay awake the whole night, so I think something went wrong with him. Well, how can I explain this… when I woke him up over the church, he started saying some weird stuff, like not needing to sleep, take baths, eat, or… well. He was being weird. I let him go since I was too tired to argue, but… Ehrrr, I don’t know. Just check if he’s not passed out on the way or hallucinating.”
“O-Okay…” – I blink rapidly with confusion. – “I’ll be going now, then. Have a nice day.”
He looks at me one last time before closing his eyes and tilting his head to rest.
Guni: “Sure.” – he grunts.
I stare at him for an extra second and I turn to the exit, but the cell in front clings from two metals colliding with themselves.
Nate: “You shouldn’t trust Heroes, boy.”
I slowly turn to face the scarred wolfkin behind bars, anger dominating his gaze.
“Ah- haha…” – I go a step back but I hit a wall mid-way. – “You… you are the leader, right?”
Nate: “That’s sir Nate to you.”
“Right, Sir Nate. I-I’m sorry for disturbing the both of you.” – I bow twice and start fleeing to the exit with quick steps. – “I’ll be excusing myself!”
Nate: “The Heroes are not as good as you think! Before you know it, he will stab all of our backs, mark my words, Boy!” – His voice echoes throughout the prison as I leave him behind.
Guni: “Be silent, please. I need to sleep.”
With heavy breathing, I stop to recover once I’m back on the streets.
That was scary. Both of them are scary. Why does such a fluffy thing have such a deep voice and an eyepatch? And their leader, what in the hell happened for him to have that huge scar on his face and, let’s not forget, why is he in a prison cell? Did he kill someone? He totally looks like the type to kill someone.
O-kay… one more step completed, now all that’s left is to find Strider. And so, I follow Guni’s directions and I finally leave the village.
For a moment I feel like this is a bad idea. What if I find a monster? I don’t know how to fight, I don’t know how to run even. Guni did say that it was close by but… you never know. Anyway… one step after the other, and I will reach it.
After about five to ten minutes of walking, I finally reach what looks to be a training ground, a small dirt road trails towards its insides a little deeper into the forest, and at the distance, there’s a small field with wooden boards nailed into the surrounding brown trees.
There he is!
A smile comes to my face as I carefully watch him right in the middle of the circular open field, but instead of practicing like I was imagining he would be doing, he’s just standing without doing anything. His back is faced to me, so I can’t see where he’s looking at exactly, but his finger point close to him just in front of him.
He hums something and mumbles a few words that I can’t hear. I cut the distance by stealthily moving from one tree to the other. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly drops one of his daggers and starts spinning it.
Oh, is he going to train like those martial artists in those books!?
But instead of dancing or jumping around, he simply looses the ribbon to widen its spinning, flames come out from its blade and the grass below ignites on the slight touch. Then suddenly, he releases the dagger and it flies down diagonally in the direction of a wooden board a dozen steps in front of him.
Like a lightning strike in a whip, the dagger hits the target, cuts it in half, and an explosion bursts out. The ball of fire is so big that it instantly engulfs the tree whole and most of its leaves start burning.
Strider: “Oh, shit! That was too strong!”
The Hero pulls back his dagger and spins it above his head to throw it again, but now instead of bursting with flames, the entire tree freezes with an even bigger mist.
Strider: “Fuck! Did I put it all out?” – He steps to the sides to look for any fire spots. – “Ahh… good. I almost put the entire forest in flames. The villagers would be pissed if that happened, I shouldn’t be testing this with fire magic.”
Without realizing it, my mouth is wide open in astonishment.
What!?? How he did that? He’s strong enough to make an entire tree burst into flames with a simple attack?
I move even closer to the tree I’m hiding in, so I can peek my head further as I forcefully close my mouth shut.
I don’t know much about skills, but this was probably impressive. That’s a hero for you!
Strider: “But this really is a problem…” – His voice gradually becomes more and more stern and quieter, making me need to peek closer to pick on what he’s mumbling about. – “With only two attacks my energy--”
A twig breaks below my feet.
Oh, crap!
I hide as fast as I can.
Damn it! Stupid feet! Why did you--!?
I inhale and slowly exhale to calm myself.
It’s okay. This is a forest, twigs break all the time in a forest right? It’s not a surprise seeing that there is even one in the fudging ground it seems!
I slowly poke my head out again. First, comes the treeline near me, it gradually opens more as I begin to see the first wooden targets nailed over the trees with old arrows stuck in them, then the middle of the open field, and then… the other side of the treeline.
Wait… where is he? He disappeared!
I blink my eyes twice to see if I was seeing right, I look at the low grass, then and the tree canopy, it’s all empty!
Suddenly I feel two fingers push against my face.
Strider: “If I shot you now, you’d be dead.”
“Eh?? Shot me?”
I turn with cold sweat sliding down my forehead, my cheeks being pressed even further by Strider’s hand.
Strider: “What the hell are you doing? Are you a spy?” – His golden eyes shine as he stares at me.
“Spy?! I’m not a spy! Seriously, I swear! I was just seeing what you were doing. Please don’t hurt me!”
He draws back his hand with his index and middle finger straight with the thumb raised upwards, an expression of doubt still on his face.
Strider: “How did you find me?”
“Guni said you were here, he said you were training.”
I look fearfully at his hand still armed with whatever can “shoot” me dead, not being able to stare at it though, I close my eyes and raise my hands in surrender.
“You can ask him! Please don’t shoot me!”
Strider sighs in tiredness.
Strider: “Stop trembling, I know you’re telling the truth. You are too damn weak to kill me, besides, you don’t have any offensive skills to do the dirty work.” – He sheathes the dagger in his left hand, one that only now I realize he had, his invisible hand weapon had robbed all my attention. – “What the hell do you want?”
“Wait, skills?... How do you know?”
Strider: “I can see your level. And your skills if I touch you.” – He made the invisible shooting weapon back in his hand and moved his thumb to clank it, making me flinch in panic. – “…It’s not real, I can’t kill you with my fingers alone, just relax dumbass.”
But I can’t stop shaking, I go a step back and keep an eye on his hands in case he brings it up again.
Strider: “So… why are you here?”
“Ah!... you see…” – My face burns with embarrassment. – “I just wanted to see you training,” – I half lie.
Strider: “Huh? A creeper?” – his eyes deepen in disdain.
“No, I swear! It’s not like that, it’s… it’s just that I’m too weak… I- I wanted to get stronger to help the others.”
Strider analyzes me from head to toe.
Strider: “You said something like that at the reunion yesterday.” – He began to walk back to the training field. – “You shouldn’t listen to that old geezer, do whatever the hell you want. You are a journalist, right? Just go looking for your next scoop to write or whatever.”
“I-I don’t mean that, I want to be stronger to fight. I want to help protect everyone.”
Strider halts.
Strider: “You, a sheepkin, want to fight?”
“I… I do.”
He lifts his eyebrows and nods in amusement.
Strider: “Okay,” – He turns to me with a sly smirk. – “let’s do it.”
“Do it?” – I shake my head confused. – “Do what?”
Strider: “Let’s train. You and me.”
“Hah? Right now? Here? Just like that?”
Strider: “Why not? You can’t train just by observing. I mean, I guess you could, but it’s not very effective I must say.”
I look at the grass.
He suddenly wants to train me? Even though all I said was a train of lies? Well, part of it was true, but…
“Okay…” – I nod slowly, pumping up my excitement. – “Okay. Okay! What do I need to do?”
Strider breaks a leafless twig from one of the nearby trees, one that was thin but arm-long straight.
Strider: “Let’s start with the basics.” – He lashes the stick in the air to test it. – “Try to evade my attack, don’t block it, evade. And no magic allowed.”
He swings it a couple more times and when he sees that it was good enough, he grips it tightly with his right hand and points it at me.
“Okay!... Right!” – But my smile gradually becomes less cheered up. – “But… what about my weapon?”
Strider: “You don’t have one,” – he deadpans.
My bones instantly freeze in cold shock.
Strider: “This is the first lesson. Imagine that I’m holding a sword, if you get hit once, you are dead. Read into my movements to evade, if you know where you can be hit that’s half the way to it. On guard. When I move a step, it’ll start.”
“W-W-Wait, hold-hold on!... I-I don’t think that’s a good--….” – I gulp. – “idea…”
His cold stare analyzes me without flinching.
He isn’t going to change his mind now, is he?