It’s out of character for me to be this expressive, but I do this so that I may properly tell what has led to my present condition. I will include personal details about me, if only so that you may not look at my cowardly acts with disdain, and understand that I would not have acted the way I did without proper reason. If you are low on time, the point is this. I beseech you, get this document to the king. He must be made aware of this horror.
At the time of me writing this, it is the year 856 of the Eighth Era, after yet another contemptuous war with the Beastmen of Griffin’s Sight has begun. Those men and women, humanoid people with the head and limbs of animals, had encroached on the peaceful territory of some young noble, born out of Nova, and our great king, displaying his justified anger, ordered his pawns, of which I was a part of, to strike a Griffin town. They retaliated, and now we participate in a new addition to a countless amount of wars these two countries have participated in since the founding of Griffin’s Sight.
Currently, I am thirty-two years of age. I fought in the earlier battles, before the previous peace times, and before those peace times ended. Ever since I was a thirteen-year-old human, living in the poorer districts of Nova, I had wanted to fight for my city. It had never given me anything, but I hoped that if I gave my life to it, it would remember me, cementing my name in some dusty book, to be read by an apathetic student in the city’s academy. So, I trained vigorously, day after day, to temper my body, and make myself a weapon my king could wield in battle. Along my journey to my current position, I extended my reach wherever I could, to grab anything that could help my cause. I fought as a combatant in the Fighting Pits, within the more detestable districts of Nova. I dedicated some of my time to the Adventurer’s Guild, whenever they needed an extra sword. I took mercenary jobs, I even made the voyage to the cold, metallic city of Farrah Valor, home to the demons up north, and participated in the Tournament of The Immortals, where I lost in the first round. I had never been talented, but I worked to surpass my limits.
Eventually, I joined the army and grew into a proper soldier, one my family could be proud of. When I was twenty-five-years-old, I married a wealthy elven woman, and settled down into a very early semi-retirement, as there was no war at the time for me to fight in. And now, several years after I did, I received a letter from the Royal Palace, that said the following:
Esteemed knight of Nova,
Your service is being heeded, as a conflict has begun, and all able-bodied men and women are beseeched by his holiness, the divine King of Nova. Report to the barracks tomorrow. You, in particular, are indispensable, as all knights are.
Signed, Officer Murdock, of the Silver Watch.
"Condescending bastard." I said when I finished reading it.
I gave my wife my regards and hurried over to the barracks the next morning. Thus, began a long sequence of battles I participated in just a few weeks ago. I was stabbed above my thigh, I was slashed beneath my left breast, I broke my right index finger, I had two teeth knocked out of me, among several other, countless injuries that were inflicted upon me in my time fighting this new war. At this point, I had become emotionless, apathetic in combat. I no longer feared death, and those thoughts of “what if I don’t make it out?” simply didn’t occur to me anymore. All I cared about, was writing down my experiences on the battlefield, in my journal. So, the new recruits often looked to me for guidance, as I appeared to have my emotions in check. I would give them as much advice as I could, and then I’d watch that advice turn vain when they received a sword to the gut shortly after. This was my life’s cycle for so long. Wake up, travel, fight, watch others die, live to tell the tale, and repeat.
One particular day, Novembras 18th, when the chill of winter was setting in, the king received word that one of the villages northeast of the great city, had been sacked in the dawn. It was a quaint little hamlet, riding on the eastern coast of Azeria, staring down at the ocean that slept beside it. Maybe a hundred-people populated that painfully-average place. It brought forth a curious question to the king’s mind. Why would the Beastmen go out of their way to destroy a simple village? Worse things had been done in war, but this village didn’t hold many people. It didn’t provide any sort of geographical advantage, it didn’t hide some mythical object like the storybooks would tell. It was an utterly pointless act. But yet, they insisted on destroying it? It had to be investigated. But, the king would not want to cause a ruckus for such a deed, so he handpicked several random names to form a night-squad of twenty-five soldiers, and five knights to travel there and see what they could have wanted. I happened to land on his list.
We departed the city one mellow evening later, five carriages, each carrying six people, rode out and began travelling to the northeast. It was two day’s ride till we reached it, and so on the road the other knights decided to play and laugh their way there. I joined them, as I knew how important it was to keep morale high.
“I proposed to Yagari yesterday.” One elven knight, named John, the youngest of us, told me under that first, dim orange day, when the sun was receding, and the carriage drove through the cobblestone road, surrounded by the almost ominous forest.
“Congratulations, now you’ll learn the boredom of marriage.” I said to him.
“Jus’ cuz yer a borin’ ol’ rock don’ mean lil’ Johnny boy is gonna be tha’.” Ser Morris replied to the recruit. As he was a human like myself, he wore pale skin and black hair. “I seen da demon girl he speaks of. She’s a damn prize, Johnny, treat ‘er right!” He gave the boy a hearty slap on the back.
“How long have you two been together?” Ser Carpenter, the only knight here older than I, the only other Elf here as well, in this carriage, asked the recruit. His skin was yellowish, his eyes were slightly, naturally squinted and his blonde hair was tied into a ponytail.
“Two years.” He meekly replied.
“Two years? And you think you’re ready to be together for the rest of your lives? I’m sorry, that’s much too quick!” He said. “Isn’t that right Senior?”
“Aye.” For some reason, even the older knights at the barracks insisted on calling me "Senior". I’ve never asked why, and well, I'll never have the chance to now.
“Don’ lissen ta any of these ol’ bricks. Ya just fock her erry now an’ then, and ya’ll be happy as an elven sword wit' a Griffin to stab.” Morris said. They laughed at his remark and even I chuckled a little. “Hell, I hear those demon women up abov’ are wild in bed. You’re a lucky lil’ dick.”
The sun relinquished its strangle-hold over the sky to the moon that usurped it, and instead of that warm air, an overly-affectionate chill hugged our bodies. The trees and plants that circled us lost their green tint, merging with the blackness of the sky, and the shadows cast by the leaves deflecting the moonlight up above. So, our Captain ordered us to build a campfire. We made three separate fires. Ten people surrounded each one. I took a bit of pork leg that I kept inside of an enchanted bucket, designed to keep its contents fresh, and I roasted it over the fire.
“After that, I drove my spear through his stomach. That was that.” Ser John was telling us about his first kill. “The blood… It kind of got to me.” I could see his hand slightly shaking. Poor kid.
“That wears off.” Morris muttered.
“Senior,” Carpenter said. “What was your first kill like?” I swallowed a particularly large chunk of meat I had bitten off the pork leg, and I stared at the fire in front of me as the distant memory played out in my mind.
“It happened before I joined the army. I took this mission as an adventurer, where I had to oversee a man’s house while he travelled. He lived outside of the confines of Nova.” The knights nearby huddled around me a little closer. “I was just sitting at his living room one day, when I heard a knock coming from the front door. When I answered, a man lunged inside, an axe laid by his waist. He took it, held it up and went to throw it down at me. Off instinct, I grabbed my sword and I stabbed him before he could take my head off.”
“Did ya steal anythin’?” Morris asked. The question, admittedly caught me off guard.
“W-What? No. Of course not. I had a job to do, and I did it.” I replied, a little too quickly.
“Right, so ya always been dis’ borin’? Damn shame.” John and Carpenter laughed at my expense. As always, when a situation like this got out of control, I clicked my tongue and cast my eyes away.
We spoke for a few hours before eventually, we ended up succumbing to the mistress named Sleep. A dry hand smacked me lightly across my left cheek, forcing my eyes open.
“Senior, it’s time to get up.” John said. Dammit, not him too. I thought. I started my day by clicking my tongue at the younger, human man.
Then we continued our short journey to the village. The landscape began changing a little towards noon. Instead of the rainforest-like ambience, now we were being driven into open plains, from which, looking out the open side-doors on the carriage, I could see the sapphire beauty of the ocean to the coast, far away from our current position. Moments like this always reminded me of the first time I went to battle. It was exactly like this, the same tense calmness, the same fallacious peace that would soon be replaced by hectic combat. But, I kept my head up regardless.
“Thirsty?” Recruit Ayagami asked me, holding a tin cup filled with water in front of me. She was a young demon girl, with dark blue skin and purple hair, who had immigrated to Nova early on in her life and joined the army as a child to survive. She was also a very talented mage.
“No, thank you.” I replied, not even bothering to look at her as I rested my head on the wooden wall behind me. The tremble from the malformed road made it a little uncomfortable but it was all I had.
“You ever been to this village before?” She asked Ser Carpenter, who sat across from us. Being the oldest, he had the most life experience out of any of us.
“Once, I was working as an enforcer for a travelling merchant who rode through here.” He put a hand on his chin. “That’s what makes this so weird to me. I’ve been at this place before.” He pushed his loose hair behind his pointed ears. “There’s nothing worth anything over there.”
“Those sav’ges ‘ll kill anythin’ they see. Maybe they jus’ passed through there once and said ‘why da fock not?’.” Morris pitched in.
“The Griffins are animals, but they’re not at that level of pure savagery. I don’t know, maybe they did do that. It’s strange though.”
“Regardless,” I spoke up. “We have a job to do, we’re going to do it. Leave the thought work to the higherups.”
“There he goes!” Morris said.
“That’s our Senior.” Carpenter added. “What would we ever do without him?”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I grunted and looked away as Recruit Ayagami held back a laugh beside me. Once again, the pleasant day turned into unforgiving night, but this time, we’d not set up a campfire just yet, as we had nearly arrived at our destination.
I poked my head out of the carriage, and although it was difficult to see through the shadowy cloak cast upon the world at large, I could just faintly make out the silhouette of some small construction in the distance. Specifically, the Golden Hall, which was the largest building there, where the duke of the village lived. Each village had its own Golden Hall. Something however, made me pause in thought. There wasn’t a single fire lit in the entire area. It was completely devoid of any sort of lighting. Well, I thought, It was sacked. Of course, it’d be like this.
It was strange for me to do this, as I had never travelled to a place that had seen a battle before I got there. Usually, I’d be in the midst of the ordeal, but this time was different.
Anyway, after a minute we arrived at the front entrance. One by one, we jumped off the carriage and touched ground for the second time in the span of two days. The Chronicler, the man tasked by the king to write about what we see here, left his carriage and stood between us all.
“As the king instructed,” he began, “we are only here to collect information. If we see any survivor, we take them along with us. If you see anything of use, you’re welcome to take it for yourself. Finally, keep your weapons ready. We may encounter Griffin stragglers.” He concluded.
I put my hand on my steel sword’s hilt as I walked beside Ayagami, Morris and John, on our way inside the dreary place. It was only at this moment that I noticed a mysterious, cadaverous mist surrounding the village. It wasn’t too strange, but it still unsettled me. I wondered what was happening to me, here I was, an experienced knight, unsettled by a dark village? I felt some sort of shame from that. One by one, all thirty of us entered the village. We took a sort of diamond formation, with Carpenter being one of the knights at the front, and I being placed at the rear. I carried a torch, providing some semblance of light to the soldiers surrounding me.
The moment we stepped in, I felt as though I had walked inside of a large coffin. A coffin without its corpse. I raised a curious eyebrow. This village was sacked, so where were the bodies? Shouldn’t we have been walking in a pool of blood? But, strangely, there was nothing. That isn’t to say there weren’t any signs of combat, various wooden structures were in shambles, houses had caved in, and the smell of decay was in the air, but there were no bodies. I heard John gulp beside me. Ayagami’s hands were shaking. Even Morris had a bit of a shaken expression. For several moments, the only sound in the air was my breathing, and the crackling of my torch. I looked up, and saw clouds invading the moon, hiding its benevolent light. Thus, the only source of lighting in the entire area, were our torches.
“Look around.” The Chronicler said. “See if you can find clues as to what happened.”
My mind raced, looking for answers. Did they evacuate? No. There’d be at least a few bodies. Did the Griffin’s burn the corpses? No, they aren’t religious, why would they? They’d have no reason to give these villagers a proper funeral.
As my mind paced in increased speed, so did my beating heart. I tightened my grip on the steel sword that comforted me at my side. A cold sweat, made even colder by the chilly wind kissing it, slid down my forehead. If there had been any moment in my life where I would have used the phrase "deafening silence" this would be it.
“I don’ like this.” Morris said to me, his usual energetic voice was grim and hostile.
“Keep your eyes peeled.” I replied, although I may have been talking to myself. I looked at Ayagami and John behind me, and found that they were faring far worse than I.
I walked inside of one of the houses, and found it to be completely empty as well. Not only that, but several family heirlooms and prized posessions were still there, so I could tell this hadn't been the work of any bandits. As I investigated further, I felt a presence creeping up behind me. It was John. He recoiled as I showed my sword, he had his hands up.
"It's just me, it's just me." He said. "See anything?"
"... No." We left the house then.
Then, the noises started. It sounded like distant grunting and animalistic growling. My eyes squinted. As we moved through the dirt streets, I could see the mist outside of the village’s walls, and for a moment, I thought I saw silhouettes, walking towards the village. The noises grew stronger, and closer, although still not close enough to inflict real panic. That was, until we heard a loud screeching noise behind us. I turned, and the other twenty-nine turned my way. I leaned my torch forward, hoping it would illuminate at least a little more of the area in front of me.
I was staring straight at the entrance to the village, where we had just entered. The noises, those nightmare-inducing noises! They grew closer, and closer, and closer still. My knees buckled. Wolves? Bears? I would find out immediately, as through the mist stepped a figure that shocked me.
It was a person. It seemed to be a human, maybe a villager, as he was dressed in casual clothing. Only, his body was putrid. Several stab wounds and slashes marked his decayed, green, leprous skin, and his eyes were white, rolled behind the back of his head. His hair was half gone, and his right arm was broken. But he didn’t mind any of this. No, instead, he was focused entirely on me. His eyes were fully white, so I could not see his pupils, but I could tell it was looking at me. As soon as we locked eyes, it began screeching. The sound, like a fork on a ceramic plate, almost made me drop both my torch and my unsheathed sword to block the sound. However, even more terrified was I, when I saw more figures appearing beside him. One by one, more villagers, reduced to corpses, appeared. Some of them were wielding weapons in their hands but held them like a child would. In all my years of being a soldier, I had never seen anything like this.
I looked to Ayagami, one of the few mages we had on this expedition.
“Thralls.” She said, her voice was trembling. “T-too many.” She squeezed out as the figures wouldn’t stop multiplying. Behind me, more of these “thralls” manifested, and so, we were surrounded.
“Knights!” The Chronicler called out. Carpenter, maybe having been snapped out of his particular fear-induced trance, yelled as well.
“Get ready!”
Behind the thralls, I saw several men in black hoods, simply standing there. The thralls paid them no mind, and neither did I, as the rotting corpses began moving our way. My grip on my sword was so tight, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see blood coming from my palm. It approached, and got closer, and drew ever nearer, until it was just six feet away from me, and then I attacked. I gave the one closest a horizontal slash across the head. Like cutting through butter, it fell immediately. Some bravery made its way into my heart, and I found myself encountering, and killing more. I lost myself, and soon my body was behaving on its own. However, others weren’t so lucky. I made the mistake of looking back and saw several men in horrifying condition. One knight had been stabbed through the mouth, another was having his neck eaten. The thralls managed to cut through our armor, and even when they didn’t, they were so strong, they broke it with their arms.
This was when my survival instinct kicked in, although, it was different to all the other battles I had been in. I was terrified this time. I was simply reacting to my own fear. I cared not about my comrades, or my orders, all I wanted was to live. And so, I fought, and I fought gravely. A horizontal slash across one’s torso, a vertical slash across another’s face, I stabbed through one’s gut, and I pounded my sword’s pommel into a thrall’s skull.
Then, I heard screams. Screams from a voice I recognized. I looked back, and saw John being eaten alive, his back to one of the ruined wooden houses. His hand was reaching for me, as if begging me for help. I tore my eyes away as quickly as I could, and I returned to my own fight. Although, for all my efforts, I simply didn’t understand, as their numbers wouldn’t decrease. For every thrall I killed, another two took its place, and while they were easy to kill, their numbers were inflicting quite a bit of strain on my body. I took a few steps back, and I tripped over something. When I landed, I quickly opened my eyes, and saw Morris, lying on the dirt floor, dead. Half of his face was gone. I suppressed the urge to vomit and stood. I kept at it. One strike, two, three, felling any who stepped before me, but no matter what I did, they wouldn’t stop attacking.
That’s when I said it. I looked around when I had the chance, saw a few of my surviving friends, Ayagami, who was casting fire magic at her enemies, and Carpenter, who’s skill with his axe allowed him to keep the thralls at bay, and I yelled.
“RETREAT!”
They did hear me, and they glanced in my direction. The Chronicler also heard me, and to the dozen soldiers still standing, he yelled back,
“NO! WE STAY, AND FIGHT!”
However, his words fell on deaf ears for me. For the first time, in my career, I turned into a coward. I sheathed my sword, and saw that for a split moment, I had an open path out of the village. I ran. I ran, as fast as I could, I pushed away thralls and soldiers alike, and made my way out of that deathly village. However, when I came outside, the sight turned my blood cold.
Covered in the black sheet of night, over a hundred thralls were descending the nearby hills, running, nay, sprinting towards the village. I would have laughed had I not been so scared. However, a hand was placed on my shoulder.
“This way!” Ayagami yelled. I didn't question it then, only now have I realized she ran with me when I fled.
Before I followed her to wherever she had seen a clearing, I looked back at the soldiers behind me. The Chronicler had been killed, and only a few soldiers remained, among them was Ser Carpenter. For a moment, I considered running back, and dragging him with me, but my legs betrayed my heart, and I ran with Ayagami.
We ran west, where there weren’t many of those abominable things approaching. Ayagami cast several fire spells at the approaching heathens, and I cut my way through the ones in my path. However, Ayagami made a dreadful declaration.
“I’m running out of magic!” She said. I told myself to stay and protect her. I should have, if I'm being honest. If I had been quicker, maybe she could heal me in this shameful scene I currently find myself in.
Instead, when I finally steeled my nerves and made the choice, several thralls tackled her and began eating away at her skin. One thrall grabbed her by her bottom lip and ripped it out. Another, was violently clawing away at her neck. I turned away, and once again, I ran away.
She yelled at me for help, but I kept running. Even as I heard her pleading, her crying, I kept running.
Finally, I managed to arrive between some trees. Here, there weren’t any of those thralls, and I thought I might have the chance for reprieve. That’s when the guilt began eating away at me. I cursed myself for allowing my allies to die and sought any form of redemption.
So, I made a new objective. I had to relay these events to the king.
However, at that moment, the mist covered my surroundings. Behind the trees, all I could see was that greyish smoke from earlier, I was expecting those damn thralls, but no. Instead, I heard a sharp, guttural growling. One, far more beast-like than earlier. I located the sound quickly, it was coming from the front, in between two large Oak trees. I squinted my eyes and readied myself. With a new mission in place, my heart saw bravery once more. However, in my deepest of hallucinations, could I never conceive of what emerged.
Between the trees, appeared a towering monster the likes of which I’d never seen. Its head was that of lizard, with red scales on top of it, it’s eyes were cat-like and glowed red in the dark. It’s upper limbs where blade-like, like an insect, but it’s torso and legs were very much humanoid, save for the red fur covering them. I had seen plenty of Griffins in my time. I knew this was not one of them. It was no person, it was a something out of a nightmare.
As it drew closer, it hissed something. It spoke! The damned thing spoke to me! I didn’t know the language, but I felt that I was being taunted. Then, it lunged at me.
I ducked out of instinct and attacked with my sword. I did manage to slash it, but its skin was so thick my sword did not cut through. The beast spun instantly, and nearly decapitated me with its large, blade-like arms. It ran towards me, and I rolled back. When my eyes refocused, the damn thing was standing there! It reared it’s left arm back, and the moment I saw that, I knew what it would try to do. So, before it could, I lunged forward and tried to do it myself. I stabbed it. My earlier slash didn’t injure it, but with enough force, I was able to get my sword to enter its abdomen. It screamed. Only, this time, it sounded like a person rather than a beast. And just like that, it quickly scurried out of sight.
I fell back, exhausted. My eyes refused to close, even to blink. Every part of me was petrified. Mainly, because I knew, that thing was still alive. Rather than retreat, all it did was give itself time to heal. So, I stood, and tried my hardest to run away.
I ran back to the road. The familiar, grey, stone road. In the cold, my breath was visible as I squirmed away from that village. I ran until my legs could not run anymore. And that’s when I realized. It did stab me. It stabbed me through the shoulder. I was merely so scared, I felt no pain in the moment of the deed. I knew then, that my fate was sealed.
The blood was already coming out, and there was not a healer for miles. I thought about it. Death. And, then, I remembered my new mission. To tell the king of these events. So, I pulled my notebook out, the same one I wrote my first field review on, and now, I sit here, in the middle of this stone road, writing this, in the silence of the night.
To whomever reads this, you must warn him, the king must know that there’s worse danger in Azeria at the moment than the Griffins. I’d fight fifty Griffin soldiers all at once before I’d ever want to see that thing again.
Get this journal to him, and my mission will be complete.
If I hadn't been such a coward, maybe I'd have a mage to heal me right now. Did the others make it out? I doubt it, but if they did, tell them that... While I apologize for my cowardice, I don't believe I'd decide differently if I had the chance.
Oh Charlotte… I see them. Hundreds of humanoid figures, approaching in the distance, a few cloaked men behind them, and standing in front of them all… That monster!