The First Phase: Chapter 15

And then is heard no more.

          Veann’s read out the poem last year. He likes it very much. He used to recite it zealously. He was fascinated by the struggles and the incredible feats mankind can achieve in the limited time they had in the world. He claimed that men ambition lead them to live admirably within their brief time. It was odd that I can recall this piece of trivial memory at that moment. I was never one that paid any attention to Veann lectures, especially if it had anything to do with marveling over humans. Yet Veann could not stop himself from loving these short-lived creatures. As someone who should have live a longer life, he should consider himself better than the lowlife race.

And then he is heard no more.

          The irony to my servant’s life. Blessed with the blood of the millennium years old to live, and unending compassion for low-borne race, yet perished while he was still in his early forty, in the hands of his beloved insignificant companions.

          He fell with a thud. His system absorbed the natural poisonous Hunter’s spear fast due to nobles low resistant for the weapon, killing him without a chance for saving. He died fulfilling the task every servant raced to have, to lay life for his master. I should have been proud. Veann proved himself to be a loyal servant, choosing to defend my back, to defend me, at the end of his life. Yet his face was not that of gladness. His eyes were shadowed with regrets. He knew he fell by the hands of his human comrades. It gave him no joy nor honour.

And then he is heard no more.

          The silence Lady Lake offered was her anticipation for what I was about to do. Her menace knows no ally or enemies. She fills her void by enticing fools like I was, to commit atrocities so that she could still feed on the deathly stench of corpses. My loathe for her taken a full swing.

And then he is heard no more.

          The villagers were the first to break my vigil. In their sad mistake, they tried to walk away, ashamed of striking a friend. Then their cells grew restless. Each tried to justify their actions, and at the end of their guilt, they channel it on my dead tutor. He chose to side with the killer, they assure themselves.

          Without thinking, I scuffed next to the first man whose attack was supposedly justified. I quenched myself with his submissive red cells. His friend screamed, paralyzed by the knowledge of my quicken speed, and fell on his knees as he surmise his end, unable to avoid my glare.

          That night, I sealed their fate. All the hundreds bodies breathlessly scattered all over the border. I let none escape my wrath. Their corpses were bloodless, but my whole body was covered in the voluminous extra red. I spare not even a child.

          The eeriness of such scenery left me withering inside. Lady Lake sets herself to work as soon as the life of the last child drained. My wrath turned into woe.  I can see the wretchedness of my life almost instantly. Locked in Kuran’s mansion for committing crimes, while doing his dirty work undercover. I will be deserted by the Kuroli. I have been. With my knees on the ground and my head dug into it, I cried the death of my tutor, my one and only partner.

          After what seemed like a lifetime, I can feel myself thirsting for more. Possessed by an agonized drive, I cupped a handful of snow and gulped in down my throat. I looked over the border, remembering the fascination of my tutor when he spoke of the world that is unknown to me.

Ignoring the dark, haunting scrutiny of Lady Lake, I strode off, away from the cagey borders of my royal life.