Just as he was about to hook the throw rope to the window. A voice came from behind the crates.
'I suggest you not to try that.'
He instantly pointed the blade towards the mysterious voice.
There stood the leader who listed him off. Looking at him in disappointment.
The man blamed him 'This is all because of you. You… YOU RUINED EVERYTHING I HAD. IF IT WASN`T FOR THAT KED!"
Leader still calmly asked him 'So now what? Are you going to kill him?' upon which redibo spoke out loud 'SHUT UP! YOU THINK I CAN TURN BACK NOW?"
'People are sleeping, quiet down. You can still walk free after disciplinary actions and live your life. Think about it before your next actions.'
…
"I guess– you are right' said Radibo as he sighed and dropped the rope. His eyes turned guilty while taking heavy breaths.
'Now If you are using your brain, let`s go back—'
A sudden attack came towards him aimed at his eyes trying to slash them as he barely dodged the blade. The leader's eyes widened for a moment as he looked towards the window in fear.
Redibo had an odd expression of someone who was going insane as he smiled like an excited killer 'All I need is no witness to my crimes, hahah. Sorry but blame it on the kid. After all, he will be joining you soon."
Leader dodged his attack and took a breath in shock. He said to Radibo who was trying to attack him in a confused tone 'You– reek of alcohol?'
Redibo relentlessly kept on trying to stab him with his dagger and as for Leader who had no armor on him, a small mistake could be enough to cause him his life.
redibo mocked the leader 'Was it not you who told us to be equipped at all times? You kept on talking big and training us. Look at you now. You came out here with nothing."
The leader remembered him drilling the soldiers to always be fully equipped and ready for battle at any time.
he taunted the leader 'I guess your own rules do not apply to you. This is why you will die now."
Leader replied 'Yea— you are right… How silly of me.'
'It is too late now for regrets."
'Do you remember what I taught you afterwards?'
Leader smirked and continued 'That you do not need fancy weapons or armor to defeat someone who is far weaker than you.'
He grabbed onto the wrist of his arm which was thrusting dagger towards him and pulled his arm towards him as he stepped out the way. He kicked the back of his knee with his foot and swiped him to the ground in a single swift motion while not letting go of his arm.
He twisted his arm and placed his foot onto his back and the leader easily snatched the dagger from his arm and threw it away.
'I will give you three last lessons' said the leader as he lifted three fingers, thumb, index and middle one.
'First. Stop running your mouth when you are not able to land a single hit on your opponent after multiple attempts.' as he closes middle finger.
'Second. Stop blaming other people for your own misery when you don`t know who you should be blaming in the first place.' as he closed his index finger and charged up his right leg, ready for a kick.
'And lastly, it`s your leader, you donkey.' He closed his thumb and knocked him out in a single hit.
He sat down collecting the rope and dagger and then turned his face towards the window where the kid was staying.
'I guess I had no need to wait out here all night in this cold.' said the leader.
No response came.
'Hey, how long are you planning to hide? I was able to feel your blood lust for a moment back there.'
A figure with red eyes appears walking towards the window from the room where the boy rested.
It was Ananke standing there looking down from the window as he smiled 'I was just overlooking but did you know he would come?'
'Who knows, I just came for reassurance. If something did happen, it wouldn`t be criminal but the event which led to it. I mean which kind of adult would I be if I let the kid who was wronged by me die by my own hands.'
'You are being too harsh on yourself. But I guess that is also why I can trust you to take care of matters till the end.'
This time the leader asked the question 'While we are at it. Why are you there? I mean what kind of adult would sneak into a boy`s room.' as he teased him.
'Spear me. She would actually kill me for that. I was here just by chance.'
'Just by chance huh… whatever you say'. He glanced towards the next window and thought 'I guess I was late'
He asked Ananke 'So how is he?'
'He is having an unusually high fever. I am cooling him down. If I am to guess, he is going through the 2nd stage already.'
The leader asked confused '2nd stage?'
'Oh yea I forgot people don't know that. It's like a stage you go through when you have awakened and go towards 2nd Awakening.'
As he looked at the kid inside the room where the tavern owner, Rhina was sitting on the floor sleeping while she rested her head on the bed while having a blanket awkwardly placed on her. Near her sat a wooden broom.
Leader looked down and closed his eyes with a smile 'Oh I see…'
…
He raised his eyebrows 'Wait, He is what again?'
The boy was still inside the endless suffocating water in agony, still scared as he kept his eyes tightly shut.
There were a total of three hands that helped him.
One was white hand, young and fragile that kept on lifting him upwards, not letting him go deeper into darkness.
Another was of women which appeared only for a small moment before being torn apart by darkness just to never appear again.
Last one was of a man which was also torn apart but kept on coming back after some time to provide some warmth almost in rhythmic signal, just for it to be torn apart once again as it could no longer maintain itself in that darkness.
The moment the hand of man appeared again, the darkness pierced the hand making it freeze before being disintegrated into nothingness.
The only hand that darkness dared not to even touch was that of the mysterious white fragile that lifted him up away from the darkness that crawled in the depthless reaches of the ocean.
And then there was this angelic voice that kept on echoing for the kid "Give up now and I will ease your suffering"
But no matter how soothing or calming the voice can be, no one wants to keep on hearing the same sound repeating the same word every few moments…
Yet the kid acted like he could not heard the voice and thought 'I guess this might be hell for sure this time'
He was able to feel the cold water rinse through his lungs.
Plop
Something fell into the body of water. A pure black orb slowly descending down towards him.
The boy was floating there, almost unconscious and completely unaware of the orb.
The orb slowly creeped towards him and the darkness that tried to attack the orb was instantly absorbed into the orb just like it was absorbing everything around it, even the water itself as it slowly descended towards the chest of the boy.
The moment the orb touched the body of the boy, a large flash clashed between the chest of the boy and the orb.
A pure white and pure black light crashed among themself. They were like two opposite forces clashing among themself, fighting as the black orb tried to forcefully enter the body of the boy.
The kid screamed in agonizing pain but his voice was unheard by all. He tried to free himself but no matter what he tried, it was useless.
The boy felt trapped like a bird in a cage having wings to roam the sky but no freedom to do so. His body felt perfect, almost too perfect to be true yet it refused to move.
And soon the orb finally entered into the body of the boy but the pain never stopped even when it settled down.
The voice echoed once more "Give up now and I will ease your suffering" but this time the voice he heard was not soothing, gentle and calming like an angel from before and came from some distance. It was distorted and almost like the screams of a monster.
The true voice had come out and now it repeated the same sentence like a broken record.