“What have we done wrong?!”, the piercing cries of a fourteen-year-old child echoed into the endless night, his voice trembling with fear and disbelief. Hanging from a wooden pole which was buried halfway into the ground, he was bound by metal chains that dug painfully into his skin. Every inch of his body showed signs of torture, from deep knife wounds to dark marks indicating he had been poisoned. It was a miracle he was alive.
A big group of soldiers in shining metal armor surrounded him, their chests emblazoned with the emblem of a fierce, golden lion. Over two hundred of them stood there, waiting for a sign. “Light the fire, burn the last demon!” commanded their leader, wearing golden armor and wielding a luxurious sword. Tears streamed down the boy’s dirt-stained face like a waterfall, his eyes filled with confusion and pain. Why are they doing this? What have we done wrong? He remembered watching as they slaughtered his family and tribe. They even killed our animals. Why? And now, they saw him as the final monster, a trophy to be celebrated before returning home to their loved ones. They had been on a long quest to exterminate this single tribe and many of their comrades had died.
As dry wood was piled below him, the soldiers eagerly prepared for the impending event. Wooden cups of beer were ready at the tables to be consumed the moment the fire was lit. The man in golden armor ignited a piece of wood with a simple fire spell and threw it towards the boy’s feet. The flames quickly spread, engulfing his entire body in an agonizing blaze. A soldier walked over to the man in the golden armor and said: “Is that a hellfire? Sir, you’re amazing! You used a 6th circle spell on such a useless twat? I heard those flames slowly kill the enemy barely keeping them alive to suffer!” The boy heard it and started to shiver in fear.
This was not enough entertainment for the sadistic soldiers; they began playing a sick game, throwing sacs of flammable oil at him for sport. Each time they would hit him they would get an additional cup of beer. Tearing through his body like wildfire, the flames brought both physical and emotional torment to the child. The boy stayed persistent to his believes, he didn’t scream in pain even once. he knew that’s what they wanted, an enemy crying for mercy. The fear was gone inside the boy, he just looked at them with dead eyes. If only I could kill all of them in the same ways they did to us. If only I could make them even suffer half as much as we did. Would they still dare to do this? Would it make them realize? Hatred burned fiercely in his gaze as he wished he could inflict upon them even a fraction of the suffering they had caused him and his people.
Time passed slowly as he endured their cruel torture and taunts until finally, after what felt like an eternity, the enemies departed from his home grounds. They had feasted on food and drinks all night, reveling in their sadistic acts until he drew his last breath. When they got a bit drunk some started throwing knives at him and others just hit him with blunt weapons. And yet, even as death loomed near and his broken body begged for mercy, he remained trapped in the border between life and death. The boy had pretended to be dead hoping they would leave him and it worked to some degree. Death was near and he knew it. His body was in a crucial state and in need of treatment, yet he knew no one would come as his savior.
How long will I last? It won’t take long before the reapers will notice a dying soul; they might even be on their way already. I have to make it out alive. I have to take revenge. I have to kill them. Thoughts raced through his head, none of them with good intentions. The air was thick from the heat as Leo gazed up at the rising sun. His mind was numb from what had happened. His entire tribe, gone, not even a single living soul remaining in this land. Holding back tears, his vision became blurry as blood seeped into his eyes. The words of their oppressors echoed in his mind: “Permanent is a lie in a corrupted world, a light without shadows is an illusion. Your tribe posed no profit for us, so we eliminated you pests.”
Shadows slowly crept in around him, like a thick blanket of darkness. Within their depths, faint sparks of purple danced and flickered, signaling the arrival of the reapers. These creatures were peculiar to Jarrod, his home grounds, with their dark auras and soulless eyes. Scythes gleamed in the dim light, crafted from black onyx and emanating a sense of foreboding. Leo watched as more and more reapers gathered, far outnumbering any he had ever seen before. I must be the only living being left in this desolate land, attracting the attention of all fifty-four of them.
After some murmured conversation among themselves, the reapers knelt down and began a ritual. Although Leo couldn’t understand their words, he could feel their intentions. Their voices joined together in a haunting melody, like a riddle being made by unnatural sounds. Each sentence was told by a different group of reapers: “Down the river you were born. Dear son of the storm. We watched upon your short existence, you showed us persistence. As the heir of a clan, without having a ruling span. We hereby make a sacrifice, to pay an unattainable price. As we have broken our promise. You won’t be going to the abyss. We must convey our remorse. Now, we’ll grant you our force. Let us say farewell, mark a start with this spell. We all want revenge, hereby we grant you a chance.”
Leo felt a surge of fear as he realized what was happening - the reapers were preparing to take his life. He had seen this ritual over a hundred times, it was when they were about to take a soul, but instead of ending his suffering, they began to chant in unison, casting a mysterious spell that echoed across the lifeless valley. He had witnessed the reapers multiple times, they always came to get the souls from those who had just died, or were about to. In one swift motion, a bolt of purple lightning struck the pole where he was bound to, making him lose consciousness. What happened next could only be described as a vision - a blur of memories and emotions flowed through his mind as if he were reliving a life that wasn’t his. It was overwhelming yet strangely comforting at the same time.
It was as if he was watching a movie from afar. There was an elderly warrior in a flexible armor, standing in a stone temple that looked familiar, with the fifty-four reapers around him. They looked smaller and their auras were more dim then normal. The man had two swords on his back and looked like a veteran soldier.
“I want to make a pact with you,” the old man said,“I am Grex, ruler of thunder. I want your kin to protect my family as we inhabit this valley. We will supply you with mana so that you can stop hiding in these temples. On top of that, when someone dies in this area you have the permission to take their souls and devour them. The only thing I request in return is that you protect my descendants when I die. No matter the cost.” Soft voices spoke amongst each other before talking in sync: “We accept this proposition, but there will be a condition. You must hand over your soul, that is to be the toll. If you accept this norm, your last descendant will become an incomparable storm. Our powers he shall acquire, may his lightning start a fire.” The man simply nodded as if he had expected this. It didn’t seem to bother him at all, a noble sacrifice for the safety of his family. Fifty-four reapers flew towards the man and consumed him in shadows and sparks. When they flew away there was no trace remaining of the man.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Leo woke up with a headache. Tears were present in his eyes. What happened? Didn’t I die? Relieve washed over him for a few seconds until he came back to reality. Despite the fleeting moments of happiness he had just experienced, the weight of death and loss weighed heavily on him. His heart was consumed with sorrow, grief, hatred, and anger. As he tried to process the situation, his face became devoid of emotion. Where am I? Isn’t this the temple behind the waterfall, the same one where the pact was made? He looked around for a bit and concluded he was right.
The boy walked over to a nearby pool inside of the monument and drank the water. He knew this was cleansed water that was safe to drink. That vision I got must be a memory of the reapers. Father always told me that they don’t age. Father… Leo sat down and started to think about what he was about to do. The child struggled to maintain a rational mindset amidst the overwhelming emotions that flooded his mind. I have to get to the capital city within a month because otherwise I’ll miss the awakening ceremony which will ruin all my chances on getting revenge. Topesh, is twenty days by horse. I have to go as fast as possible. How will I get the money for a ride and clothing? Maybe I can sell herbs to the herbalist. It should cost around five bronze crels.
Leo stood up and ran out of the temple. He had nothing on him except for some burned clothes which barely covered a tenth of his body. On bare food he ran for hours. Thistles pierced his feet making him bleed but he kept on going. There was no time to waste and the pain wasn’t even worth comparing to what he had felt before.It took him an entire day to escape Jarrod. Day and night he ran as if he was being hunted. The only thing pushing him forward were intends of ripping apart the killers. Torturing them in every possible way and destroying their families.
On his way Leo also thought about the memory he had witnessed. He pondered upon what the riddles meant and what power he was granted. There wasn’t even a single soul he encountered on his way to the neighboring city. While he was running Leo had gathered all kinds of herbs, amongst them were some rare ones. The next day he reached the destination before the sun reached its highest point. He was limping over to the gates and entered the city with a dark expression. Lucky for him there was no security control so getting in was easy.
When Leo was ten he had once visited this village with his father for political reasons. Back then, they had stopped at the herbalist to look around a for a while. His father had always been fascinated by how plants could heal a person. It got to a point that Leo would receive plant lessons three times a week just so the man could talk about his passion. Although it was a bare minimum of knowledge it came in handy for the boy. He ran to the shamble hut and knocked twice on the oak door before entering. “How may I help?”, an old man said busy filling his shelves with new plants. The man turned around and looked at his client. He looked annoyed seeing a boy without any decent clothing, covered in blood and dirt without a guardian. “I don’t give free treatment. A beggar like you should just stay away from our village.” The old man turned his back again and continued like nothing happened.
“I-I came here to sell some herbs. Would you mind looking”, Leo’s voice was weak from the fatigue. He felt like he could fall on the ground any second. He grabbed a little sac he had crafted from long leaves and placed it on the counter. With a deep sigh the herbalist walked his way and opened it. His eyes widened by an extremely small difference but Leo saw it. “Hmm, these aren’t worth a lot but I’ll take them. How about one bronze crel? That’s me being generous, they’re worth less”, the man said. Is this guy fucking serious? He might be a businessman but scamming a child is going to far isn’t it? If it was anyone else they would’ve probably just accepted his words. These are at least worth seven bronze crels yet he offers a single one? Fucking bastard. Trying to control his emotions Leo raised his voice a bit: “These are worth seven, I’ll give them to you for six but if you try to do that again I’ll start spreading rumors. The herbalist who scams innocent, little children. I wonder how many clients you would remain with?” The man seemed shocked and looked Leo in his eyes. It took him a while before he grabbed the sac and placed six bronze coins on the counter. “Pleasure doing business with you. I hope we never meet again”, Leo said as he walked out of the hut. He left a trail of bloody footsteps behind.
The next stop was the seamstress. She lived in a fancy wooden house, decorated with pink flowers and a few small, stone statues. Through a round window Leo could see the middle-aged woman sewing pieces of cloth together. The seamstress looked up and saw Leo staring at her. A soft smile appeared on her face. She got up and opened the door sticking her head around the corner. “Can I help you?”, she asked with a sympathetic voice.
“I would like to buy three pairs of clothing? The cheapest ones you have please”, Leo said. Clothes were products where prices were very inconsistent, you could buy clothes for a few copper crels and others for a gold crel. Leo just couldn’t grasp why people would spend that much money on clothing. “Sure sweetheart, how much can you give me?”
To be sure I’d like to keep five bronze crels for transport so I can spend two of them here. “Two bronze crels. Is that enough?”
She laughed friendly showing he could enter. “Of course sweetheart, you can wash up while I go search what I have in stock. The bath is in the backroom.” It was extremely generous of her to give Leo this opportunity. He cleaned his feat a bit before entering making sure to keep this shop clean. Although the bath was cold he enjoyed it. When he climbed out of it he realized that the water had taken a dark shade of red-brown. His wounds were burning a bit, so he took a look. To his surprise they had already started to heal a bit and there weren’t any signs of infections.
“I’m done washing, what now?”, Leo asked from the bathroom. He could hear the light footsteps coming closer before a hand stuck around the corner with underwear. Leo gratefully accepted it and put them on before going back into the shop’s main area. In front of him were three clothing sets that looked pretty precious.
“Here you go, they used to belong to my son, but he’s to big for them now and has moved out to a big city”, the woman said while putting away the coins. All three of the sets were identical and looked as if they could be worn by an aristocrat. “Where do you plan to go?”, she asked.
“Topesh, for my awakening ceremony.” The woman nodded. “I thought so. There’s a traveling merchant that’s about to depart for Topesh. You should be able to lift for a low price. May the gods bless you on your journey.” Her last gift for Leo was an old bag where the seamstress placed the clothes in.
“May the gods bless you”, Leo answered. He put on one of the clothing sets and left. Luckily the sandals fit well which made running comfortable. Following the woman’s directions, Leo arrived at the village’s inn where a pair of young traveling merchants had set up shop. The man and woman, dressed in vibrant silks and adorned with jewelry from distant lands, eagerly agreed to his offer of four bronze crels. They seemed a bit weird. They loaded their cargo cart, pulled by two strong-looking horses, and prepared to depart.
As they headed towards their next destination, the sun began to set behind them as Leo sat perched in the back of the cart, his feet dangling over the edge as he took in the scenery around him. The sky was painted in beautiful hues of orange and purple, casting a warm glow over the hills and wood. It was a peaceful moment amidst the chaos that had passed.