Ed finds himself in a barren land. That place was hell itself, the paths tainted with blood, blood which stretched as far eyes could see. The withered black trees, the sky was blood red, cracks in random places; it was chaos itself.
"What the hell is this place?" These words escaped from Ed, whose mind went blank. His mind struggled to process the situation he found.
He took a step forward, and he felt his movement odd. The reason behind it was simple: his body was adapting to the environment. Never in his life had Ed ever witnessed such a twisted land. The land was drained of life itself; no mortal could live in a place like this.
But the scene Ed witnessed shattered his previous assumption of this place. He came across a place devoid of life, and wherever he looked, there was nothing but corpses.
"Is it human or beast?" Ed asked in confusion as he looked at the loitering corpses. Their body were mangled and mutilated. The more distance he travelled, the more twisted each one became than before.
"You've got to be kidding me, and supposed to be looking for a fortress in a place like this???" Ed's situation was beyond a normal mind could bear, but again, Ed was barely anything more than an ordinary person. If any norm were to be thrown in a place like this, they would have lost their mind by then.
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It's been 5 hours, and the land gave nothing whatsoever, so the opportunity, whether it was morning or not. The direction of time didn't appear as useless as this.
'System'
-Remaining time until Raelith turns to nightwear lord: 23 days
- - -
Ed wanted to explore this place and take his time finding a cure, but time wasn't in his favor. According to the book, he read it said somewhere in soth he would find the 'World tree'. But in a place where eyes could see chaos tainted the earth itself, the concept of that tree being here and finding it alive seemed ridiculous.
Above Ed's head, two hawk-like creatures flew by, whose names and identity wasn't known to Ed. They were Disaster dwellers. They had sharp wings, red eyes abomination beak. They didn't attack any living beings; in other words, they weren't hostile, but they were a disaster. Whenever they apeared disaster would follow. He lived and devoured life itself. They were the main reason behind the earth faced disasters from time to time. But Ed did not know of that.
"Just great, they were missing in this land," Ed said as shadowy figures started to emerge frothe earthth craters.
Bhaahhh!
A deafening roar tore through the air itself. The roar reverberated until subdued. What followed was that the tree started to decay. Cracks started to appear at random. The creature had eight milky eyes, its pupil dark red. It was a humanoid creature. It had two arms with a couple of joints. It was drooling saliva. Its maws were sharp and huge.
Ed grimaced at its appearance. It gave him nausea, and Ed barely stabilized himself, preventing the urge to vomit. It was disgusting, its skin was like slime. A rotten slime, a strange liquid of abomination, trickled all across its body. The creature had spotted Ed.
It leaped forward, its two arms turned to sharp, long blades. Black ones
Ed fought his disgust and nausea and unsheathed his long-sword. Before leaving, Evans had given him this very sword.
He paried the strike despite paring the strike. Ed was pushed back.
'Its strong!' Ed lunged and slashed.
SLASH!
Ed struck.
Instead of slicing rotten slime flesh, he felt he was striking hard metal. His strikes weren't affecting the beast, while Ed's body was constantly being torn apart. It was a pain beyond his endurance. No peace-loving man could bear such pain. Ed was no different. But he pushed forward.
Why was Ed pushing his body this much? Why was he willing to risk his body for Raelith? What did he mean to him? Its not as if he knew Raelith a long time its barely a week he had known him, then why? Only Ed knew the answer.
- - - Ed Orves Pov- - -
'It hurts! It hurt, it hurt, it fucking hurts. I fought desperately i was at my limit. I wasn't a monster like Raelith or Evans i'm a normal human. Why did I decide to help Raelith? What does he mean to me? I don't know, but I can't let him die, my instincts shouted at me. What are these emotions? Is Ed's personality affecting my real self?
The Creature Slashed
I barely parried. The force seemed to shatter my bones. I could barely stand. My eyes felt heavy, and every movement I made, my whole body screamed. It begged me to let go and fall, but it was strange despite the pain and agony; my mind wasn't broken. I am not a brave man i'm a coward, so how can I fight such a terrifying beast? It doesn't make sense.
Blood formed on my forehead as the beast's blade-like claw merely grazed me. I'm now without power i can't save people dear to me. Power is everything. Hey, system, didn't you say I'll get power if I choose this path, I'll get strongg and I don't have to see my people die before my eyes, I could save. Then where the fuck is my power!!!
The wounds started to pile up. Pain beyond reason, I wanted to close my eyes, I can't take it anymore.
"Its never easy, wherever I am, life always shows me the middle finger! fuck it! Fuck!" I shouted top of my lungs as if it would tear.
But as I wasn't struggling enough. Dozens of creatures similar to that one lunged. At that moment, more wounds piled up. I tried to fight them all at once. But wounds and wounds piled up. I was the receiver andd contrary to that creature was the same; it didn't take a single hit. It was in perfect shape. Its the same when the battle had begun.
- - -
Ed's consciousness slipped, and it dropped. Then it made a sudden movement as if something ancient was awakening.
"Nor this body or creatures like you, no one knows how Spirit Energy actually works." Ed's body rose and stood up, but this time the pressure he was giving appeared different, terrifying, as if it wasn't Ed something baleful.