The black-haired boy readied his bow, hands trembling as he aimed at the two unarmed figures. Adam barely held Karrin back with both arms, trying to keep him from lunging.
The gray-haired old man with the beard sheathed his sword with a quiet rasp.
"So… I see it now," he murmured. The blade at his hip glowed faintly, a white aura tracing along its edges like trapped starlight.
Adam frowned. The old man's words didn't make sense. Some epiphany? Some madness?
"What did you see, old man?" he muttered.
The old man vanished in a flash step—one heartbeat he was far, the next he was in front of Adam like a charging horse. Adam barely dodged, feeling the air split open beside his cheek as the sword passed.
The long-haired man struck next, rapier thrusting in a flurry. The boy released an arrow. Adam reacted—he kicked the long-haired man so hard he flew into a tree, tumbling over the cliff's edge.
The old man charged with his glowing sword. Adam dodged again—but then pain struck him, sharp and sudden. His tough, stone-like skin had been sliced. The aura along the blade's edge had cut deep, half of his arm torn open.
He realized, with a chill, that strength meant nothing. Muscles could still be pierced. Skin could still be split.
Instinct took over. Adam lashed out, kicking the old man hard enough to nearly rip his neck off. Karrin lunged for him, jaws open.
"Stop!" Adam grabbed him with one arm, holding him back. Karrin trembled violently.
"I—I can't! It hurts if I stop!" he cried, swiping at Adam's already-bleeding arm.
As he was confuse of why he was slow to dodge or predict it... Dammit, Rehan why arent you directing me!.
Rehan's voice echoed in Adam's mind:
[Your brain is getting haywire Adam, from processing speeds that normally should fry or burn your brains, if we keep doing this there really be a permanent damage]
Adam gritted his teeth as nanobots stitched his wounds closed. The healing was faster this time—seconds, not minutes. But the hunger returned with it, hollow and endless.
Karrin was shaking, fighting himself.
"I haven't… killed anyone before…" Adam whispered.
Karrin didn't want to cross that line either. He was still a student. Not a monster.
He grabbed an empty bottle with trembling hands and filled it with blood from the old man—just enough to keep him alive. Three vials. He drank the first, shoulders jerking as euphoria washed over him, only to be swallowed by the gnawing pain of addiction. His muscles thickened. Bones hardened. His skin grew paler.
Adam grabbed him, stronger than before, and hurled him upward through the branches. The ground trembled from the earlier battle. Karrin lay there, breathing heavily.
"I don't know… why I'm like this…" he whispered.
Adam looked down at him, exhausted.
"I don't know why I'm the one who has to stop you."
A threat flared. Adam's eyes turned red. He pulled an arrow out of his head, annoyed.
"Rehan… I know you're doing something," he muttered.
A hologram popped beside him: [:3]
He ignored it.
"Let go of that person! You monster!" the black-haired boy shouted.
The long-haired man coughed blood.
"Run, boy… notify the others…"
Adam stared blankly. "I'm not going to harm you."
The boy aimed again. "Then why did you hurt us!?"
"I didn't!" Adam snapped, baffled enough to laugh. He stomped the ground; it cracked beneath him.
The two stared, confused.
"Look." Adam's eyes deepened to dark red. "I'm hungry. If I truly wanted to kill you—"
In a blink he vanished, reappeared before the long-haired man, seized the rapier, kicked it far away, and lifted the boy by the throat—just enough not to crush it.
"—you'd already be dead."
Karrin staggered up, horrified.
"Please… don't kill them."
Adam sighed. "It's just a threat. I'm not killing anyone." He dropped the boy, who gasped for air.
"Kid. We only want something from you."
The boy tried to grab his bow; Adam kicked it aside.
"You're trying to trick me," the boy spat. "To destroy my family… I already lost everyone!"
Adam knelt, breathing out softly.
"I won't kill you," he said, placing a hand on the boy's head. "This world is cruel, but if you run, I won't chase you. That's a promise."
The boy's eyes widened—and he ran.
The long-haired man watched him disappear into the road. After a few seconds of seeing neither Adam nor Karrin pursue, he laughed quietly.
"I see… You two… forgive me."
Adam hauled him up by the arm.
"That grumpy old man… he's alive, right? I dont want him to die."
The man looked down. "We attacked you first. If you killed us… that would be our fault. But… is he alive?"
Adam scratched his head. He had instinctively punched the old man after being sliced.
"I think so. Yeah. He's alive."
Later, they sat together, cooking wolf meat in a pot over the soldiers' crates—seasoned with salt and whatever they found. Karrin sat apart, quiet, thinking about his family.
The long-haired man draped a blanket over the old soldier.
"We are the forces of Ashfall."
Adam tilted his head. Strange name.
The man smiled. "Everyone calls it that because… well, if you're living under a rock, we're on a mountain that rains fire-ash. Right from the center of hell. I like the ash, though. Makes the town feel like something special."
A volcano, Adam realized.
"And we're at the crossroads," the man continued. "Almost at the center of Pinestone. Pines lead deeper into the hell at the center of the mountain. Our job was to confirm if the Witchmaster really…" He looked away. "Destroyed the pines."
Adam stayed quiet.
"So what's down the mountain?" he asked.
"Ashfall Town," the man said with a tired laugh. He handed Adam a bottle of wine.
"Relax. It's not poison. You could kill me easily before it even mattered."
And he wasn't joking.
Adam stared at the bottle, expression blank.
"Nah," he muttered. "I don't drink that stuff."
The man shrugged, kept it for himself, and downed half of it in one pull. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You know…" he said, voice already loosening with the alcohol, "I had my kids in Pine Town."
He smirked, but his eyes drifted away toward the distant treeline.
"But I'm sure they'll be fine. I spent everything I saved buying a corpse-reanimator... But i dont regret it"
He stomped his foot, wobbling slightly.
"Cost me a thousand gold! A whole decade of soldier work—gone." He laughed, but it was a hollow, bitter sound.
Adam frowned as he chewed, letting the words sink in.
"How do you even turn a corpse into… alive again?"
"I don't know the details." The man waved a sloppy hand. "I just bought a homunculus."
Adam tilted his head. "And that is…?"
Karrin answered before the man could.
"Well… basically a zombie. Made from corpses. Of people."
He hesitated, embarrassed. "I mean—it was like that in a game I played."
Adam stared at him, dumbfounded.
The soldier tapped his long fingers against the pot, legs stretched toward the fire as Adam quietly tore off another piece of meat. The flames crackled, throwing orange light across their faces while the night around them stayed cold and deep.