Florian was having trouble processing the image in front of him. 

He’d just woken up in the middle of a vast field that once probably was both green and beautiful. Now it was instead drenched in blood and littered with corpses no matter where he looked. 

He’d been woken up by the smell of rotting corpses, and cries of birds of prey circling above his head. They’d probably been waiting for him to pass on and with him now moving about, their cries were likely those of disappointment. 

As he had tried getting up, his mind had suddenly been hit by excruciating pain. Thousands of images depicting raging fires and the suffering of people had flashed before his eyes. To Florian, his agony had felt like hours, and at one point he had thought his mind would shatter until it simply... stopped. Both pain and images disappeared as if they had never come in the first place. It had left him both frightened and confused.

However, when Florian finally looked around, he was surrounded by crows and ravens feasting on what he instinctively knew as both friend and foe. The smell of death and rot that permeated the air, along with the sight of corvids picking on innards and eyeballs, made Florian sick to his stomach. Feeling the waft of chill air against the skin of his torso, he looked down at his jerkin and noticed a gaping hole in the middle of it. The edges of the leather jerkin were melted as if the protective clothing had been burned right through in an instant. He did wonder why he couldn’t see any damage on his skin but let his thoughts go as there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Where is this?” he thought to himself while looking around warily. “Am I dead?” 

The questions continued to mount up but no matter how hard he tried, he had no recollection of where he was, or even who he was. Instead, he began thinking about the images that had flooded his mind after he’d woken up. They mostly seemed to depict an advanced civilization of some sort, but the more he thought about it, the more he struggled with recalling anything about it. In the end, the only thing he could recall was his name. Florian Hart. When he tried remembering anything else about himself, it was shrouded by impenetrable darkness. 

As he was surveying his surroundings for clues, Florian couldn’t help but feel a sense of danger. “I can’t stay here,” Florian thought to himself. Subconsciously, he knew that no matter if it is the mortal- or afterworld, carrion is likely to attract a range of beings he would rather not deal with in his current situation. 

While looking for something to defend himself with, he found a large sword on the ground close to him. The sword looked sharp with an unusual blade spanning the whole length of the weapon. Interestingly enough, the cylinder-like grip wrapped in leather straps wasn’t on the bottom as usual but the back of it. However, Florian also realized the sword was almost the same length as himself. Thinking that the large sword would be unusable with his stature, he was astonished at how light it felt in his hand after picking it up. So light, in fact, he could easily swing it with only one hand.

“This shouldn’t be possible, right? How can something this heavy, be so light?” he pondered while swinging the sword a few more times before surveying his surroundings once again. This time he saw a gathering of black birds circling in the distance. 

“I wonder what’s got the crows all riled up?” he pondered to himself, weighing potential danger against potential rewards. “I feel like I should be getting out of here, but as I don’t know which way to go anyway, I might as well go investigate.”

After getting closer to the swarm of birds, he had immediately cursed himself for his curiosity. 

He had only seen the birds circulating in the sky, not what had laid beneath as it had been obscured by a small hill. As soon as Florian had crossed the hill, he had spotted three creatures hunched over a couple of corpses, feeding on the carcasses. The humanoid creatures now a couple of paces in front of him, were wrapped in bandages with pale, icy skin underneath, scraggly hair, and long, sharp claws. Their eyes albeit moving but looked utterly devoid of life. 

After inspecting the creatures Florian was determined not to fight, thus he slowly turned and tried to move away from the area. Sadly, while he was focused on the pale monsters, he forgot to pay attention to where he was going and clumsily stepped on a shield lying on the ground. The metallic sound of his metal-toed boot hitting the buckler on the ground rang out loudly in the clearing, and suddenly Florian was staring into the yellow eyes of the three creatures he’d tried his best to avoid.

The creature closest to Florian, which had been voraciously munching on what must have been an arm - dropped the half-eaten limb at the sight of new, warm prey, and immediately ran towards Florian. The horrifying humanoid creatures were now rapidly closing the distance between themselves and Florian, who knew that he had no choice anymore but to fight.

“Shit, I’m so fucking stupid,” Florian cursed to himself. 

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Just as Florian had readied his stance, the first creature lunged headfirst with its claws and made a swipe at his torso. In a slight panic, while trying to dodge the creature’s attack, Florian lashed out with his sword in a sideways slash. To his astonishment the creature swiftly fell to the ground, torso separated from the lower body, and black blood spewing everywhere. 

Florian was stupified. Not only had he dodged much more swiftly than he expected, but he had also swung the massive sword as if it was nothing more than a wooden stick. He had cut through the creature as if cutting through butter with a hot knife. Distracted by his thoughts, Florian barely had time to react to the other two creatures who were now almost on top of him. They didn’t rush him in the same way the first one had, however, and even looked slightly wary of the powerful man in front of them. Instead, they began circulating Floria as if hunting in a pack. 

Wanting to test his limits, Florian took the initiative and charged the closest creature. Suddenly, almost as if he had teleported, Florian was in front of the creature, and with a powerful downward slash, it met the same fate as its companion. Feeling increasingly confident in his power, Florian immediately regretted not paying attention as he could feel the warm sensation of flesh parting on his back. The remaining creature had not sat idly by as Florian attacked its companion, and took the opportunity to rend his back with its claws when it was vulnerable. 

With a stream of blood running down beneath his jerkin, Florian immediately turned around and lept towards the remaining creature. However, just as he was about to finish it, he suddenly fell to the ground...

“I can’t feel anything!” he exclaimed to himself in panic. “Come on, move!” Florian’s mind was fervently trying to send signals for his body to move - but it didn’t answer. He was completely paralyzed, and could only look in terror at the dreadful creature, which was now slowly moving towards its fresh meal. “Well, if I weren’t dead before I definitely will be now,” he sighed inwardly in resignation. 

When the creature arrived at Florian’s unmoving body, it put its abhorrent face in front of Florian’s as if to mock him. The creature then moved to begin its feast and Florian knew it was over when he could feel its cold, foul breath against his neck. 

Suddenly, the creature snarled followed by a sound of flesh being penetrated, bones cracking, a thud, and then... nothing?

“Wait, what happened? Why am I not dead?” Florian thought to himself. “Did it spare me?” Florian could somehow no longer feel the presence of the creature but could hear footsteps coming his way. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move his head to look. 

“Aren’t you a lucky sod!” a rough, unfamiliar voice exclaimed followed by a chortle.

In front of Florian, there was now a tall, scruffy man with dark hair and a weathered face. Without as much as a warning, the man shoved a vial with dark purple liquid in Florian’s mouth. “Drink. You’ll be able to move again in a bit” After emptying the vial, the man took a few steps back before taking a seat on the disembodied corpse of one of the creatures Florian had killed.

The vile, bitter flavor of the liquid made Florian retch several times, but he eventually managed to force it all down and finally felt his limbs slowly coming back to him. While waiting for the rest of his body to properly listen, Florian began to look around in search of the creature he’d been fighting with. Florian was so startled he almost soiled himself when he looked to his right and suddenly stared right into the unresponsive eyes of the creature he’d been fighting with. As if he’d never been paralyzed in the first place, Florian flew up from the ground and looked at the man in front of him in confusion, and then at the creature. Florian noticed the creature now had an arrow lodged in its skull.

“See, I told you you were going to be fine. The name’s Baudric, what’s yours?” The man asked with a friendly tone while reaching out with his hand out for a shake.

“Thank you for your help, Baudric. My name’s Florian,” Florian, now collected, responded firmly while shaking Baudric’s hand.

Baudric looked at Florian curiously before continuing. “So, Florian. What in the world’s name made you want to fight, not only one, but three ghouls at the same time? Having trouble finding enough excitement in the world, eh?” Baudric asked while letting out a hearty laugh but not waiting for an answer before continuing. “You’re lucky I came at the time I did,” Baudric said and tossed a waterskin to Florian. “Here, have some water. I bet you’re thirsty. It will also help you wash the taste of the antitoxin away”

Florian didn’t hesitate. He immediately picked up the waterskin to gulp down its contents before answering. “Ghouls, huh? Honestly, I didn’t plan to fight them. I came across them by chance and tried to leave but accidentally gave myself away instead. The fight initially went well, but I messed up and failed to watch my back.” Florian emptied the rest of the contents in the waterskin before continuing. “I don’t know how I ended up not being able to move, though? Anyway, I’d been a goner for sure if you hadn’t shown up. Again, thank you Baudric.” Florian met Baudrics’ eyes and bowed his head as proof of his sincerity.

Baudric responded with a nod of approval before responding. “Ghouls are proper evil shits. They have a paralyzing toxin in their claws that can completely immobilize you if struck and its effects are immediate,” Baudric spat on the ground before continuing. “If I didn’t give you the antidote, the poison would have spread to your lungs and you would have suffocated,” Baudric said before taking out a waterskin of his own to sip on before continuing. “Anyway, we should move before more of them gather. Where are you headed?”

Florian looked at Baudric, then down into the ground before letting out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know. I woke up here in the middle of the field over there,” Florian said while pointing to the direction he arrived from. “I honestly can’t remember a thing other than my name. I don’t know where I’m from, where I am or where I can go...” Florian’s words trailed off and he let out another sigh. “What about you? Where are you headed?” Florian once again looked at Baudric.

Baudric patiently listened and seemed to become slightly lost in thought before answering. “I see… There’s a town nearby. Come with me - we’ll talk on the road.”