A man emerges from a forest, riding swiftly with one hand holding a torch and another controlling the horse. He rides through the dark night, hissing out, "Cedric! Cedric!"
Cedric startled, bolted quickly towards the arriving horse, "What happened, Orlen! Are you alright?"
Orlen, the scout, was catching his breath, his eyes wide open, his hands trembling. "You have to come see this!! I don't have time to explain, just follow me," he shifts his horse.
Cedric's heart beats faster, furrowed eyes, "huh?? Wait, Orlen!" he climbs his horse swiftly with a sharp tone, he says, "Follow me, Torric and Selara."
As they ride through the trade route diverging towards the forested mountain, they find themselves on a narrow, rough path, surrounded by large, thick trees. Branches and rocks jutted out from the ground as their horses thud across the path.
Chilling cries for help echoed from somewhere ahead, sending shivers down their spine. Torric, a 6'7 battle-hardened Sergeant, rode faster ahead in front of Cedric. "Stay close, Captain." Cedric nodded
As they got closer to Orlen, he halted, his horse snorted and stamped, Orlen turning the horse sideways, looking up ahead at the village in the clearing. They caught up and looked. Jaws tightened, eyebrows raised, heavy breathing.
The screams were so loud they pierced through their ears; the entire village was gathered outside with torches, covering their mouths with scarves, just as dumbfounded and terrified. One old woman with a long stick murmured nonsense, her voice absorbed by the screams. What they were all witnessing here felt like hell on earth.
Ten villagers were writhing on the ground, clutching their stomachs as they convulsed. Their eyes rolling wildly, the raw, rasping sound tore through the air without an ending. Blood oozing from their nose, mouth. And large black sores all over their bodies, helpless against the sickness that consumed them.
One fragile old lady smashed her head on a rock multiple times to end the pain, her skull shattered, her body lifeless on the ground.
Selara swallowed. "Ohhh Lord, have mercy on them." Cedric takes a deep breath. "We must liberate them from their pain, Torric. Can you do that for me?" Torric clears his throat, swallows and tightens his jaw. "Will do, Captain. May God deliver them from their pain through me."
Orlen was cautious, his voice cracked, "W-ait, Wait! Don't get too close to them, grab the spear from its end, and don't let their blood contact your body." Torric nodes
He got down from his horse steadily, his grip tightened on the spear as he crept forward, the point steady, ready to pierce just as he got close enough to deliver the strike on the screaming man, a shout louder than the piercing scream tore through the air, "Stop!!! Stop !!! That's my father!! Don't kill him"
Torric hesitates and looks back at Cedric. Cedric gives a firm commanding nod. Selara looks away as the girl grieves. Torric's spear pierced right through his neck; he proceeded with his mission, disregarding the villagers' pleas.
The thumping of a single horse could be heard arriving. "Captain! Selara! Orlen! What's going on here???" His voice was swallowed by the screams. As he got closer and looked in the direction where everyone was looking, his mouth wide open, he and his horse were startled by the grotesque sight.
Cedric, with a steady voice, eyes furrowed, "Fenric, I am glad that you arrived, but I didn't order you to follow. Either way, those people there are in great pain. It is our duty to relieve them from their pain, shoot them."
Fenric rubs his face with his hand, his eyes twitching. "This is horrible, horrible." he grabs his bow, loads the arrow, pulls the strings, one eye closed, focused and patient, he releases the arrow, it pierces right through the skull of an old man with the disease.
With the combination of Torric and Fenric, the diseased individuals were all put to sleep except for a little girl. Her little body was filled with large black sores, blood profusely dripping down her nose, she didn't scream like the other. Muffled cries slipped through her lips. She looked around the people surrounding her, focused her gaze towards Torric and Ferin.
Then she turns away, moving her body with her hand, grabbing the soil towards her house, memories of the laughter and joy that erupt from that house flash before her. She knew things wouldn't be the same anymore as her mother and father lay on the ground with arrows pierced through their heads.
Fenric and Torric hesitated to make their move; the villagers stood grieving, and the murmuring of the old woman with the long stick got louder. Cedric, seeing his men unable to end it, gets down from his horse and moves towards Torric, who stood still, his spear covered in blood, his broad shoulder cowering.
Cedric grabs the spear at once, slowly moving towards the crawling little girl. The villagers cried in despair helplessly, knowing death awaited the little girl and delivering her from her pain was the only right choice, but it was all just too cruel.
Cedric's team stared in silence, breathing heavy, eyes softening. As Cedric crept towards her, she turned her body, her voice creating a thundering scream, uncontrollably sobbing. Cedric held his spear steady, moving his body and hands swiftly, impaling the little girl at once. The screams ended.
Orlen runs his hand across his hair and grabs his head, exhaling sharply, his horse swaying slightly. Selara glances towards the weeping villagers, then Cedric and the bloodied little girl, her eyes glistening.
Fenric kept his head down, and Torric, now on the ground, looking over the villagers he had just killed, composed but eyes furrowed. Cedric slowly pulls out his spear, stabs it into the ground, removing the blood. He made a religious gesture and looked up at the sky, releasing a deep exhale.
Just then, a little boy skinny like a bamboo, limping towards a woman from the other side, calling out "Mother Mother Mother", Selara shouted, "No, wait there! Don't move.", he didn't listen as his eyes were locked on his lifeless mother. Fenric released an arrow, landing right beside the boy. He didn't flinch, just as he was about to reach his mother, Torric rushed forward, grabbing the boy. The boy shouted his mother's name as Torric took him away.
The old woman with the large stick murmuring without an end, now raises her voice, sounding more steady and clearer, her eyes wide open as if it was about to fall out, her lip movements exaggerated, "It has finally begun!! Today sets the day for the beginning of the end!! If an empire doesn't form, trampling all and standing alone, everyone on this wide circular land will perish!!! Move swiftly, trample all the kingdoms to open the inner gate," looking towards Cedric and his team.
And then she walks away, murmuring to herself softly back to the house, as the night insects and birds chirp in the darkness, a chilling breeze hits the village, most were silent, and a few were weeping softly.
As unsightly as it may seem, the villagers and Cedric's team pulled the bodies with a stick, gathered them up, and lit them on fire with a prayer. The atmosphere was suffocating with the burning smell of flesh and the cries of the deceased's family. Their clothes and all their belongings had to be burned along with them.
That night, Cedric and the team stayed in the village, in the house of the people whom they had just burned. Selara stayed up tending to the malnourished kids and the elderly. Cedric walked up to her, and along with him came a tense atmosphere. "Selara, what do you think about the old woman's words? Do you think her words might hold substance?" Selara didn't acknowledge his presence and continued tending to the weak, but she spoke up, "Such events are prophesied in the Holy Book, but don't give much thought to it; conveniently, every horrible event is portrayed by them as evidence of the supposed impending doomsday."
Cedric leaned on the wall, looking at the ceiling, "hmmmm we don't know about that. It could be any other way. Who knows? Anyways goodnight"
Orlen polished his bows and arrows by the fireplace outside, focused, but he seemed like he was distracting himself from his thoughts.
Torric was on the bed with his eyes closed, his spear beside him. Cedric went to meet the seer in the house, but she was nowhere to be found. He asked around the village, and it seemed like no one knew her; she just appeared. Cedric went to his bed, sleeping on his side and looking down at the floor, his mind replaying the words of the old woman. He chuckled softly with a little smirk, "Trample all the kingdoms, huh