When he was first born, Lharus didn’t cry or fight. No, he was simply born into this world, calm, just like he always remained to be. We thought he was sick, at first, but the doctors said there was nothing wrong. He was gifted, that boy, with intelligence and wit, and in the arts of magic, too.
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Kai’s heart raced as the footsteps drew closer and closer to his position. He waved his hand and covered the fire crystal, then ushered Onyx to move to the side, as far away from the hole as possible. Then he glued himself against the wall and got as small as possible before. A cold drop of sweat dripped down his forehead, and his breathing almost stalled as the guard’s rattling armor echoed in his ears.
Crap, crap, go away… He cried, almost pleading or willing them to do as he thought. However, things weren’t so easy, as he found out. The guard who spotted his hiding place walked first in line, followed in an arrow formation by the rest. Each of them with their swords drawn. With careful steps, they advanced toward the makeshift cave, and the frontmost guard stood a meter or so away from it.
They didn’t dare peek through the hole and remained cautious as they approached inch by inch. The entire forest quieted down as they listened for any sign of life from within. However, both Kai and Onyx did their best to remain quiet and only inhaled when extremely necessary. Luckily for them, and the guard’s sharp, yet not keen enough senses, they weren’t discovered from that alone.
The guard then walked up and knocked on the wall Kai raised, then frowned as they tapped it up and down. “It’s made of magic.” They proclaimed, making the others’s guard rise. “Someone is definitely inside, it smells of freshly put-out fire and food. Plus the hole is too tiny for anyone to leave through.”
“M-Maybe he closed it up after leaving?” One soldier, whose boots were shaking fiercely, said. “Let’s look elsewhere.”
“Shut it, Herman.” The front-most guard said with an angry bark. “I trust my nose and my brain more than I trust your cowardly tail.” The man instantly went quiet after being insulted and took a small step backward. Too focused on the cave, the other guards didn’t notice his slight gesture, and he watched them approach the wall with silent footsteps.
“He’s still a vampire, we could-” A woman said, her voice shaky.
“Cut the crap, Raymond said he’s weak as a twig.”
“But what if he’s not? I mean, that inquisitor…”
“She was only an Initiated, not a true Inquisitor, she probably lost track of him.”
“But still…”
“Will you just-”
However, just as they got close, a blinding light followed by the sound of collapsing earth threw them into confusion. By the time their vision returned to normal, the cave’s walls disappeared, and so did Kai and Onyx. “Fuck, imbeciles!” The guard cursed, taking a quick whiff of the air. They frowned, though, and began running in a general direction, following the muffled sound of cracked branches. The others followed suit, some more willing than others, and tracked the dense forest dressed in full armor.
…
Kai’s figure dashed through the forest, alongside Onyx, giving no heed to any sort of vegetation, large or small. They just ran as far as the eye could see, the light of the full moon kissing their skin through the scattered canopy. His face wore a pale pink color, and his ragged breathing dragged down his ability to recover. However, he couldn’t calm himself down properly as he reveled in the sensation of having escaped a very difficult situation. Fucking Raymond, fuck, I-
However, he had no time to think further about it as the forest ended, and he found himself running into an open field. He didn’t dare stop, though, and simply bore through the fear of being discovered. Onyx also became smaller, but his white fur stood out in the hill of dark grass. Luckily, their speed made them unrecognizable, even from close up, and there wasn’t any sort of road that travelers would pass through.
After running for enough time that the forest became a small green fog over the horizon, they finally stopped under the crown of a lone tree. Both panted heavily, and Kai quickly pulled out a container and poured water into it. He downed it all in one gulp, then passed it over to Onyx after refilling it.
There’s no way they followed us, no way. They’re just huma- Yet, as that thought came to mind, he recalled the Inquisitor, who was also just a human, yet he almost died by her hands, or worse. And they said that she was only an Initiate… perhaps this would have been her mission to join the ranks of true Inquisitors? Only an Initiate, yet so strong… I- A strong puking sensation climbed up his throat, and he didn’t contain it. He leaned on his knees as he threw up most of the contents in his stomach, including green and red pieces of meat, as well as blood.
Kai staggered backward at the sight, then fell as he leaned on the tree, staring at the pieces of meat he had just thrown up. Gobelin’s… Images of that night once again flashed in his mind, and he almost had the desire to throw up. And he would have if he didn’t already.
His mouth stood slightly agape but quickly closed as he brought his knees against his chest, hugging them. Onyx finished drinking the water, and his ears twitched as heard a couple of soft sobbing sounds. Looking at Kai, he noticed his shoulder shook slightly, and he hugged his feet, laying next to the boy.
Eventually, Kai, in his exhaustion, fell asleep once again, a peaceful yet complicated expression decorating his face.
…
A white void stretched before him once again, and he found himself as nothing more than a floating figure in the endless space all around. This is… He took a step back, and carefully looked around, almost unable to believe his eyes. There is no way…
Just like before, he walked and looked around. However, this time it wasn’t with the naivety of a child, but with the caution of a fighter and previous experience. Isn’t this where Rodney’s memories were… I can’t believe I’m here again.
A long time passed since Kai stepped foot in this place, and he had almost forgotten about it, were it not for Rodney’s memories and the weird influence they had over him at times. As he walked, bubbles and mini spaces protected from the outside world appeared around him. Similar to before, images of people and animals, each very different and distinct from each other, and in different environments, appeared within.
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He didn’t need to ask what they were, as he already knew. Their last moments before death… Sighing, he looked at every one of them, at least the ones he passed by, with great pity and pain. He watched even as their last moment truly came when they died. Crushed by a rock, cut by a sword, eaten by an animal, murdered by a friend. These moments repeated over and over again, then the images replayed, and the cycle restarted.
How cruel…
However, he couldn’t satisfy his curiosity, and his desire to enter one of the bubbles he thought would be useful to him peaked. After all, Rodney’s memories proved invaluable in aiding him to get stronger, and he had the selfish hope of finding someone else who could be just as useful. Ugh. That thought sent a shiver down his metaphorical spine, however at the moment he truly felt like he had no other choice but to get all the help he could. Too bad I can’t just enter this place whenever I want… that’s annoying.
Yet, he went on walking, passing by military men, medieval soldiers, children, mothers, religious fanatics, and countless other types of people one would find hard to list. He didn’t have the heart to watch their death, though, and quickly passed them. No figure popped up as interesting or worth assimilating into his brain, so far, at least.
He walked and walked, passing hundreds of people, some of which he didn’t even know the origin of, and he could only stare in awe at the amount of memories he had stored somewhere in his mind. If all of those invaded my brain I would have been… worse than a vegetable. Gulping, he keenly noticed that the number of people appearing lessened.
Finally, he stopped. A single man standing in front of him. His black hair was cut short, his tanned face was full of cuts, and his body with bruised and wounded. He breathed heavily, and with each exhale, blood spurted out of the cuts decorating his flesh. A large, long silver sword clutched his hands, and his brown eyes glared at an enemy Kai could barely make out.
His sword slashed upward, a strong pressure exuding out of it despite there being no magic or mana. The strength of the attack sent a large gust of wind blowing everywhere, and a faint grunt escaped someone’s body. A foggy, green figure with purple eyes materialized before the man, causing Kai’s pupils to widen.
There’s no way that’s a magical being… the memory is incomplete most likely. He quickly rationalized and watched the man’s next moves with anticipation.
After the upward slash, he groaned loudly and swung the heavy blade horizontally, swiping at the foggy figure’s midsection. However, it dodged out of the way and then used an attack Kai couldn’t discern, which made the man take a step backward. With a furious expression, he advanced and raised his sword, then sent it downward at the figure.
However, by the time the blade made contact with the ground, a swift cut pierced the man’s chest, and his eyes rolled backward as he fell with a fountain of blood spurting from his chest.
Then, the scene froze and an eerie quietness once again echoed in Kai’s ears. He stood there, waiting for it to start again. Watching it over and over again, his eyes sparkled upon watching the man’s swordsmanship closer and closer. Back then, as a human, he had never seen real swordsmanship before or even mocked one. To see a human with no magic use their body fighting against a threat… Exuding such an oppressive aura that it sent shivers down his spine through the bubble… Kai wanted to achieve something like that.
A spark of desire awoke within his heart, and, without hesitation, he touched the bubble. It shattered and broke into multiple fragments right before his very eyes, which then shot toward his illusory body with a bright flash of light.
…
“Hah!” Kai awoke with a gasp, instantly clutching his head and startling Onyx. A skull-splitting headache made him pant and grunt in pain, which then turned into a yell as memories flooded his mind. Just like before with Rodney’s, these memories weren’t his own, yet a lifetime worth of information flashed before him.
Ivan, a man down on his luck who lived as a lumberjack from the age of seven, when his parents died, up until the age of fifteen, when his master died. He tried to take over the business but he hadn’t enough experience or wit, so the competition quickly shoved him out of the market.
With no other skills other than wielding an axe, he sought work as a mercenary. His missions were mostly uneventful, as not much banditry happened in the region. That was, until two years later, when his axe finally met the flesh of man, and he claimed his first life.
The victim wanted to rob the caravan he protected, and the young Ivan was afraid of the large sword the man wielded. When he saw him approach, it was too late, as the axe had flown out of his hand almost involuntarily, and split the man’s skull open. It was a grotesque sight.
Afterward, though he was rewarded, he never took any mission again and decided to use his lumberjack skills, to earn a living. The little he had anyway. He couldn’t open or sustain a business in the area, so he left for the next city. On the way, he met a young man, whose presence both shocked and intrigued him. He wore weird clothes, only slightly ragged and dirty, and his accent was from somewhere so far away Ivan couldn’t even describe it. The man rode on a horse from a strange breed. Its mane was large, black, and furry, almost like it was always ready for winter. Its height was no joke either, as even Ivan, tall as he was, felt intimidated.
He led the man back to the city and helped him get accommodations and food. Ivan also saw that the horse got a good amount of grooming, then he left once again. However, before he could get far, the man called for him and offered him work. As thanks for his help, he gave Ivan a bag of zlots and a contract. It was for a hired warrior, and the man promised him great adventures and experiences.
Of course, Ivan felt that being a hired warrior for a man he just met was sort of stupid, but at 17, anyone could be stupid. He accepted the deal after much persuasion, and traveled with the man…
After years and years of working together, Ivan found out that the man was an abolished Lord from a country long lost by war, and the funds he had were from treasures he sold and old friends. In truth, the man had nothing to his name, and after a short period of extravagant living, he ended up poor.
But Ivan stuck by him, if not for his money then for his character as a man. Despite his pompous lifestyle, the young Lord had quite a keen skill in the art of the swords, and he detested Invans’s axe. As a consequence, he gave him the sword his father gave the man and taught him all he knew.
Ivan was a fast learner, and in less time than it takes a dog to mature and die, he learned the swordsmanship and even added his own flair to it. Ivan came to love the way of the sword, and with time agreed that his old axe ways of fighting were crude and barbarian. As time went on, Ivan felt like he found a purpose - To be the best swordsman he could be.
The Lord, impressed by Ivan’s talent and determination, told him of an old tale. A man, a swordsman with the rank of master, who lived deep in a set of mountains whose names were hard to pronounce. Without anything better to do, the two-headed that way and made a name for themselves after visiting so many cities and helping the locals.
By the time they reached the place they headed off to, some strands of white began decorating both of their heads. Just as the legend said, a swordsman lived deep in the woods, on a mountain, in a cabin made out of wood and clay.
A man slowly walked out of the cabin. Short, with a head full of white hair and a shriveling body. He turned the two away, but they didn’t give up, and even hunted and brought various foods for the man.
Inevitably, he decided to accept them into his humble home, and they slept on the floor for a good amount of the time they lived together. He taught Ivan the arts of swordsmanship, while the Lord scribbled away in a notebook.
Seven years later, after he had passed on all of his knowledge, the man died.
And after that… Kai sighed as he scrambled to locate the rest of the story, but nothing else appeared in his mind besides the last fight he saw within the bubble. But this is already a lot. He thought with a smile and stood up. The headache began to fade away, and in its place stood an unbrimmed sense of confidence.
He took out his silver sword and clutched it with both hands and then he…. slashed!