The night sky is a widow's sky, bedarkened and weeping. The clouds are churlish and kraken-cruel. They cough out great gouts of water and thunking balloons of sopping moisture. It teems down in a biblical deluge, flooding the rivers, drowning the fields and overflowing the dams. It is a Noah's-Ark cataclysm of rain, an unending cataract of water sluicing from the sky. Trees are uprooted, t he remaining people outside ran for cover.

The entire Akaji village disappeared under a frothy lather of suds. The beautiful, small town in the south of Landnor is now a typical horror movie scenery. However, it is still quiet and peaceful as it is a place for peasants working for the nobles. Yet behind this eternal peace, there is a very dark secret. The nobles are the landowners who give yearly peasants to the duke as a sort of taxes. Their income relies on the quality of their harvests. As for the peasants, they must serve their lord and work in exchange for free shelter and food. It is all due to Landnor's corrupted hierarchy.

The town consists of one big road that separates it into two identical parts: multiple farmhouses and, behind them, there are great farming fields. At the edge of the road, there is one small fortress that belongs to the peelers.

The peelers are a police force. Their task is to enforce the laws of the pontifex*, to investigate crimes, and to grant protection to the lords' lands.

However, this rainy night had an unusual presence.

A little boy was running terrified as a platoon of peelers was chasing him across the sea of flowers. The sky was turning grey, as drops of rain drizzled on his shoulder. Holding on to a flask of elixir, of great importance, He struggled through the sea of flowers in the meadow, hoping for the soldiers behind him to lose their footing. His legs, tired from running on a rough landscape, he shut his eyes firmly and forced himself to run with all his willpower until he felt stepping on something soft. Then the world around him turned upside-down, and he felt the ground meeting his back, which was bruising from the heavy impact.

The boy punched the ground and shouted angrily with a taste of despair and anguish:

" Why?! A little more, and I could have succeeded! "

And when he regained his senses he found that it was too late, the peelers were already surrounding him.

" Well well well, look what do we have here. Nice catch boys! "

( Why today? They never did a night patrol. Why am I always cursed! ) the boy bited his nails while freezing and staring with wide eyes.

A very fat and short man appeared before him. He had lecherous eyes and was wearing a golden armor. He kept gazing at the kid's naked legs while pating his long moustache. His pants were begging for help because of his large belly.

" Chief, should we cut his hands? " a guard spoke.

The chief of Akaji is a very known cruel and selfish guy, using his position as the duke's cousin to do whatever he want. No one will dare to stand against his atrocious doings.

" Please, my sister will die of fever. I have to get her this medicine " begged the little boy.

Sadly, those monsters had no feelings.

" There are no excuses for stealing! Committing larceny's penance according to the Pontifex* is cutting hands. " claimed the chief.

" Mercy my lord, mercy! " the kid answered with gloom.

" However there is a way so you can pay up your crime. "

The boy's eyes glittered as he regained hope:

" I will do anything, my lord. Please just don't cut my hands. I can get you money. "

The chief patted on his belly and grabbed the boy's hands by force while having a perverted look:

" See kid, my men don't need money but you have to give us something else, something enjoyable. "

The boy replied:

" I do have some toys my mom left before she passed away. I can share them with you, my lord. "

" You dare mock me you fucking peasant! "

The chief angrily slapped the boy and tried to tear apart his clothes while the others were waiting impatiently for their prey to be served.

" No, please! Someone help me! Please! "

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

The people heard the screamings of the little boy and came to check on him. Yet they kept still and watched the tragic scene silently, none of them had the guts to defend him.

The peelers laughs echoed through the howls of the night as they decided to take turns on his little body. He found himself helpless, his eyes lost hope and all he saw was darkness.

This is the ugly secret behind this peaceful town, the untold truth of the corrupted land: Landnor aka the land of dreams.

☆Rush class: Rush attack!☆

Suddenly in a very brief moment and before the chief could take off his pants, the chief's arm was chopped.

" My arm, my arm! "

The chief screamed with agony while his blood flowed endlessly.

The guards stood terrified from the scene as they saw a young man emerging from the darkness and heading towards them! He had a very scary presence that struck fear in everyone.

The chief had a clear look at the culprit's face. He had a big smile on his face: a blood lust!

He was wearing a peasant uniform and had a very dark and shiny hair, standing calmly waiting for them to take action. However one of the peelers spoke:

" This man, this presence. There is no mistaking. He's a soldier of the circle! "

Just saying their name is capable of sending shivers through everyone's nerves from peasants to peelers.

A second guard added with a shaking tone:

" We were informed of mysterious incidents occuring at the night, but to think it was the circl-"

" What the fuck are you doing pussies? Get your ass up and kill that peasant. Stop believing this nonsense! I can only see a human with blood and flesh. "

Still, the peelers couldn't take that gamble.

The chief with a piece of his golden uniform stopped the bleeding of his right arm. He then took his sword and thrust it into the first peeler:

" Attack the prick unless you wanna join him -he pointed at the peeler he killed- "

The peelers charged at the unknown man. However, they were no match for him. He was quick as lightning, had sharp reflexes like an eagle, evading all the swords attacks and never missing a shot with his crimson stone dagger. His attacks were perfectly landed and sliced the throats of the peelers.

He managed to kill the whole platoon with only using his dagger.

The dagger was like some antic weapon and had a strange word inscribed in it.

The arrogant chief is now getting away afraid, pushing all the peasants who were watching the scene. Feeling helpless like the kid he decided to violate earlier. He hid inside the fortress and called the remaining peelers:

" RAISE THE ALARM! "

Reinforcements appeared from the fortress: swordsmen, archers...

The young man enchanted his weapon:

☆Rush class: Rush slash!☆

He slashed the wind and cut the ropes of the drawbridge.

The bridge fell on the swordsmen while the archers remained at the watchtowers.

" HOLD YOUR ARROWS! LOOSE! "

Dozens of arrows appeared in the air, this way, not only the stranger will get hurt but also the people.

*sigh*

" What a pain! "

The young man charged a second strike.

☆Rush class: Rush slash!☆

The arrows were destroyed as for the archers, they were taken down with a single blow. The coward chief remained hidden.

The young man threw his dagger that rotated in a spectacular way and spun around the crowd while avoiding all the people, reaching the half-destroyed fortress, and striking the chief's left leg. The chief lost his balance and fell to the ground. he couldn't stand or walk and his sword was far away from him.

The strange man walked calmly through the crowd while the chief was crawling in terror, trying to reach his sword and before that he can grab it, in a blink of an eye he found his hand crushed by the stranger who appeared before him.

" Please don't kill me! Just tell me what you wish for. I can grant you everything: money, fame, whores." he begged for his life while shrieking.

The stranger grinned maliciously.

The chief with a last grasp of hope asked the dark-haired man:

" Yes, that's what you want right? You want to be rich and have whores all by your side. is that why you're smiling? "

The young man replied:

" I'm smiling because of your incapability to give me the thing I want. "

The chief was relieved for a second:

" Is that so? Then try me. "

The young man with a cold and murderous gaze replied:

" The thing I want is your life. "

" Why? " begged the chief with his mouth open.

" People like you simply don't have the right to live. "

The young man unleashed his blood lust and the chief losing every argument to maintain his life began shouting and mumbling words angrily:

" You are doing a terrible mistake. You have no idea of who I truly am. My cousins will not rest until you're dead. Don't make a choice you'll regret-"

With a swing of his dagger, the chief died immediately.

" Not only you were terrible at bargaining, but also at choosing your last words. " said the young man with despise.

The kid so glad his life was saved gazed at his savior, admired all of his angles, he had very dazzling dark hair, shimmering emerald eyes he's never seen before. He was with no doubt a foreigner.

The foreigner indifferently walked away.

" Sir, please sir wait ! " the kid tried to stop the man by pulling his hand and suddenly his fake peeler's uniform was cut.

The crowd was astounded when they saw the mark on his left arm, it was the same word that was carved in his stone dagger:

<< μεράκι >>

" What do you want ? " said the young man while pushing the kid away.

" Please let me thank you at least, you saved my life. I'm begging you, take this necklace as a token of gratitude even though is not enough. It's everything I have. "

The young man took the necklace, looked at it, and gave it back to the kid:

" Don't thank me, kid. I wasn't doing it for you. "

" But you saved me and my sister. You took revenge for those people. "

" So what? I don't care. Go on kid, save your sister. You were destined to be saved. " the stranger left and walked towards the destroyed portcullis*.

" At least tell me your name, sir ! " shouted the kid while the stranger was leaving.

Everyone who witnessed the scene remained astounded. Many questions started to pop up: Who was that man? He just brought down the peelers with a dagger!

Index:

*The pontifex: the law code made by Phenis the great ( The first human's leader ) in the great era.

*Portcullis: a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down grooves inset within each jamb of the gateway. ( The Wikipedia's definition )