'I've failed everyone. How will brother Gray feel when he finds out I'm the course of their death?' Kai thought, watching how the bandits stood there laughing and toying with the soldiers.
He tried to move forward but backed down at his hiding place when some of the thugs turned whenever he tried moving.
He tried for the last time and got caught by one of the thugs who happened to be passing just right beside him.
"Hey kid, where is your parents?" the man asked, scanning the boy's outfit.
"Brat! You're one of the unlawful ones, erh?"
"Let me send you to my boss, he will train you and give you a proper life, rather than hunting for rats in this forest.
He stretched his hand, hoping to hand the boy and get a commission for that, but got shocked and stumbled back when he saw the boy's eyes.
"Who a-are you?!" he said, continuously moving backward as if being chased of his own group.
Kai clenched his jaw, drew out his daggers and started running toward the man until he struck him with the daggers and left him paralyzed.
He watched as blood oozed out of the man, tilted his gaze to his hands and the bloodied sword and back to the countless bandits surrounding his small group.
"Mo-nster!" the man said, coughing out blood and died at a spot.
Kai closed his eyes, letting the word rewind in his mind and cracked his eyes open to see if his group were still alive.
"KAI."
A voice sounding like his own echoed, mentioning his name loudly. He sneaked at the back of the tree the man's corpse was besides, but noticed not even a soul moved from the circled bandits.
"The real magic is when you don't know how it's going to happen…"
The voice came again but this time, the boy didn't move to dodge, he closed his eyes, letting the words soak itself in him.
"you don't know if you're ever going to make it… you don't know where this road will take you. Save them. Their family's blood is on your hands."
Kai cracked his eyes open when the last word got mentioned and began walking toward bandits.
…
"Don't let him deceive you Jane, don't give him the chance.!" Max said, shouting, when the lady took her first step.
"I can't watch them kill us."
"They wouldn't. All they seek for is forcing our minds to shattered, so they can have their way with us and do whatever they want with us."
The wounded soldiers began to loosen their stand, falling down one after another.
Max stood up, raising his axe, but when he tried to move the bandits began laughing.
"He still has the courage to walk toward us? Let's see how far he'll go when we give him the chance to display his strength." Kang said.
One after another, the bandits banged their swords together, making clanging sound echo in the air.
The clanging sound died suddenly, leaving only the sound of their breathing. The air thickened, pressing on their skin like an invisible hand.
One of the torches flickered, dimmed, and went out, leaving stunned expressing on the thug's face.
"Who's –?" a thug started, but his voice got cut short when something brushed past his neck. He rose his hand to his neck, but felt a warm liquid gushing out of him. He clutched his neck, eyes widening in shock before collapsing, dead.
They turned on each other, confused, before rushing toward the corpse with stunned expression.
"What – what killed him?" another cried, stepping back from the corpse. Before an answer came, a second thug screamed and dropped with a deep gash splitting across his chest though no blade had touched him.
Blood sprayed into the air for a brief moment before vanishing into the darkness. Fear surged through everyone, from the bandits to the soldier.
"Who is there?" shouts tore out, followed by the frantic shuffle of boots and the clanging of swords raised in panic.
The air grew heavier, pressing hard against their skin. Max saw a shadow moving toward the thugs, and felt the heaviness of the air, and stumbled back, joining and closing the gap he left in the unbreakable circle they formed.
"Someone is playing tricks on us!"
"No one is moving, their all standing still."
"Stop talking and fix your gaze on the soldiers!" Kang barked, though his voice cracked with fear.
Before he turned, something moved between the trees, and for a heartbeat, he saw two faint glows – one blue, one red - blink and vanish.
"There! Over there!" someone screamed, pointing with a trembling hand.
But before they could turn in that direction, another thug got lifted off his feet, his legs paddling helplessly in the air.
"Run! There's a night monster among us – run!" Kang shouted, stumbling back.
The bandits broke their formation – some tripping over roots, and others dropping their swords and fleeing blindly into the forest. Only a few tried to drag the wounded and fallen, but ended up being part of the fallen.
…
Screams echoed in every direction but ended shortly, letting the silence of the forest swallow the voices.
"What… what is that?" Jane said, covering her mouth, trembling.
Max stretched his palms on the axe, trying to steady his breath. "Stay still," he said, thought unsure who he was speaking to, Jane, the other soldiers, or himself.
The glowing red and blue light flickered, sliding through the darkness like eyes watching from another realm, chasing after the last of the bandits.
One by one, the bandits' screams ceased until only the rustle of leaves remained.
Every soldier standing beside Max stood on guard, tightening their grip on their weapons, as they all watched the direction the eyes were last seen.
And in a brief moment, a shadow of a figure loomed over the ground, followed by footsteps that were coming toward them.
Cold air gasp out of Max, his chest heaving, as he squeezed his eyes, wanting to see the face of the person coming.