Flinching at the hiss of a snake, his attention was caught by the countless spheres of lights hovering in the distance.
The ruined pavilion of the Black Dragon Company ignited a source of discomfort and worry in the hearts of people of the city. The Black Dragon Company had been hunting threats and monsters that terrorized the nearby lands.
But, now the group had been destroyed by an unknown force causing a power vacuum in the area.
Who was going to protect us? Who was going to lead us?
These thoughts would certainly pop in their heads.
As the boy contemplated in his mind, a voice jolted him from his thoughts. A woman that looked to be in her forties, put her hands in his shoulders and stared at him coldly.
"What are you doing here, go back immediately. This is not a place for you to wander."
The woman's hair swayed in the night air as the wooden torch danced around in her hand.
The young teen muttered a simple 'sure' before leaving in the direction from which he came.
The woman slightly frowned as she turned back around.
But in fact, he didn't leave.
He simply hid behind a large tree as his eyes followed the woman. He tightened the grip around his dagger before dashing away again.
#
The night was cold.
Several men shivered in a desperate attempt to warm themselves. They were looking around in the ravaged company quarters vigorously. They had been at it more more than a hour but didn't find anything noteworthy besides some documents about the servants and soldiers.
A man sneezed heavily as a he wiped away a lump of snot from his nose. Annoyed by the man, the woman from earlier reprimanded him before searching around.
They were the part of the local investigating committee and had been tasked with the ruins.
The woman silently cursed and thought,
'How the hell was the building destroyed?! We haven't found anything that could explain this.'
#
Imus was running around the destroyed court yard as if looking for something.
Luckily, the courtyard wasn't guarded by anyone as they had been called inside the building for something. But that didn't matter now.
He had been searching for the traces of Maya and Rav's one-sided slaughter. He knew that the corpse of the man was smashed against the wall.
'Sorry Rav...'
Imus thought in his mind. He had strangely forgotten about them as if the two didn't matter to him. The bond formed by their shared trauma valued to him greatly. He didn't feel the emotion of sadness and anger but felt extreme pity for some reason.
Rav and the young boy didn't talk much in the days spent together. That was the same back in the prison. The person which he was the most familiar was Maya, it was mostly because the memories he was forcefully subjected to. Sometimes he thought he knew Maya than she knew herself.
Even though the memories were diminished and disoriented, which was for his own sake. He knew her very much.
The other reason for his familiarity was that she talked to him and gave a share of her food when she saw he was starving. As he he was reminiscing about the past he spotted a carriage.
The carriage was wrapped around with a white cloth all around. There was a thick stench of rotting coming emanating from the transport.
He knew the smell very well.
It was the stench of a corpse. He knew it because he witnessed many dying in the prison.
He walked towards the carriage and monitored the front of the car. There was an old dude sleeping soundly and occasionally swatting a fly.
Imus walked to the back of the vehicle and lifted the cloth. The stench became unbearable as he was forced to cover his nose.
Inside, two bodies was covered by the same cloth.
It was them. Imus could tell from a glance.
'I've finally found you both...'
But how was he supposed to get them back and give them a proper grave. He knew that he couldn't carry the two bodies back. If he carried them one by one, it would take time and he couldn't waste it as he heard the faint bickering from a group of people.
He had to act fast.
#
The moon glistened over the sky towering above everything else. The white glow of the satellite could soothe anyone's mind as the murmur of the nocturnal owl seemed to agree.
The horses neighed silently as if communicating with each other.
Stars stood in an intricate form of points causing the constellation of Orion and Taurus to distinguish themselves.
A old man was snoring loudly, stroking his fat and utterly exposed belly as he swatted a fly hovering around him.
A hand was seen coming out of the shadows and grabbed the man's mouth. As the man slowly regained consciousness, a dagger was already by his throat as the blade pressed further.
"Drive me to the side of the forest and don't ask any questions and don't look back."
A cold and calm voice came from the back of the transport as streams of cheeks rolled down from his eyes.
Imus was sitting in the back of the car as his both hands were busy restraining the man.
The old man let out muffled breaths and cries as the whip of the lead line caused the horses to stand up abruptly.
The lead line whipped again as the horses trotted with astonishing speed leaving considerable distance between the courtyard.
The group led by the woman came outside from the ravaged office as she looked very frustrated. She clenched her fists in anger as she couldn't find anything at all.
"Argh!! Hey, find that old geezer and bury the bodies."
Her voice crackled like thunder as she ordered her subordinates to find the transport.
The man bowed deeply and said,
"Ma'am, we couldn't find the carriage... it seems that the man went somewhere."
She frowned while facing the man.
"What?! Follow the tracks, now!"
Her face reflected fury and worry as she ordered a part of her forces to follow the tracks left by the horses.
At the same time:
The vehicle went deeper and deeper into the woods as the eeriness of the forest increased even further.
The man frantically whipped the leash again and again, urging for the horses to move faster.
With a dagger to his throat, what was the soul supposed to do?
'Both of you will have a proper grave soon...'
The boy looked backwards into the forest as the distance grew more.
"Stop here."
The man pulled back the leash of the horses tightly causing the horses to groan and stop.
"Help me unload the bodies."
The fat man shuddered at the fact as he remembered the state of the bodies.
One of the corpse was so severely maimed and broken, it didn't even look like a human anymore. Another was more or so like that, it's head was bashed and caved in as everything till the shoulders was gone.
But he couldn't do anything as his life was at risk.
As he went to carry the corpse, a 15 year old boy with long and dark hair was leaping off the carriage. He was so taken aback that he just stood there for a while with his mouth gaped open.
But who could blame the guy?
His kidnapper was a 15 year old boy. He thought of knocking the boy and running as fast as he could but quickly discarded it. Even if his attacker was an boy, he still had a dagger and had power over his life.
Imus glared at the old man causing him to flinch greatly and he quickly unloaded the two corpses.
'What is the boy planning to do? Is it... robbing the corpses?'
But his thoughts was betrayed as he didn't expect the boy to dug up two holes. His eyes filled with contempt changed as his pearls widened.
"Hey, sing up a prayer for the dead."
The old man hesitatingly did so.
As he was doing so, he stole a glance at Imus. He was kneeling down with his hands joined in a prayer, standing before the two graves.
He realized that this was probably a friend or a relative to the two bodies that were once people. The dark-haired boy was simply trying to honor the fallen.
'I am sorry, young one.'
He thought as the prayer had finally ended.
Standing up from his stance, he walked towards the old man and said,
"Thanks for not sneaking up behind me. They were... important people to me."
His voice was full of hidden sadness.
"No worries-"
As he was saying Imus interrupted him.
"I ought to thank you, let me give you money."
The old man shook his head implying that he didn't want it but the boy rummaged through his pockets and took out some pieces of silver and copper coins.
Imus went to place the coins in the man's palm and
....drove a dagger through his neck.
The man didn't even have time to scream as the smile never faded from his face. His life extinguished in that moment.
There was no emotion in the boy's face. It was... as if killing was something he did daily.
"Wow! good kill!"
A voice resounded from behind him.
A draconic creature was standing atop a tree.