Chapter 56: Mordred (1)

Epilogue (1)

Afenos' Point of View

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The sounds of people running around and stomping their feet aroused my senses. Even before I opened my eyes, I knew that the world around me would become a hectic scenery. All my five senses kicked in as if it was dialled to eleven. And the delicate blanket touched my exhausted fingers, inviting me to slumber for more.

"W-Where am I?" I asked, but nobody heard my voice

As I peeled my eyes open, random villagers roamed around in front of me, mending the wounds of the injured people. That site juggled my mind, remembering the memories I had when I was still conscious.

"RAIN!" I shouted, while glancing in every direction, hoping to find my little sister.

The last thing I remembered from the battle was fighting against Uruk-hai… or the ogre that wreaked havoc on our village. And my father fought with us during the clash.

I would love to find my father in this shelter. However, I needed to look for my sister first, since she exhausted all of her arcane in that fight.

"Afenos, you're awake?!"

A familiar voice echoed behind me with a hand resting on my shoulder. As I turned around, the chief's face welcomed my eyes. Upon scrutinizing his looks, I deduced the guy had something important to say.

"Your sister, Rain, she's okay. She's right there in the other tent."

After hearing his words, I rushed outside of the camp without thanking the chief. My eyes scanned the entire place, looking for the tent parallel to the one I went in earlier. Within a few seconds, the setting that the chief mentioned greeted my orbs, inviting me over to the other side.

I did not doubt my guts and went straight inside, with my sister's imaginary face appearing in front of me.

"Where is she? Where's Rain?!" I asked the helper roaming around the place about my sister.

As soon as the villagers heard my calls, most of them pointed their fingers at the far end corner of the tent. My eyes followed the trail and met with Rain's body.

"No way…," I murmured, and fell to my knees.

I could not believe my eyes before me. There was no way in a million years that my sister died during that battle. She stayed at the back lines and even fired her magic spells from afar.

However, in the hands of that monster, Rain still met her dreadful fate….

"What are you crying about, brother? Why do I get the feeling you're mourning about something?"

A voice from above coursed through my ears. But my mind kept itself busy weeping every tear contained inside my body.

"Geez, Afenos… Don't be such a crybaby. I'm alive. See?"

The sound became crystal to me, as if disrupting the former lie. As I gazed above and opened my eyes, Rain welcomed me with extended arms, asking for a hug.

I gave what Rain asked for and wrapped my arms around her body. I squeezed her tight, like it was the last thing that I would do in this world. Rain did the same and enveloped me with her warmth. It felt like aeons ago when we last embraced each other's arms.

"Thank goodness you're alive… if you died, I would have never forgiven myself…," I whispered, and continued crying a river in front of Rain.

I knew I did terrible things to my sister. Since Rain had something special, she could manipulate magic earlier than me. Although that scene happened, I never succumbed to jealousy. No matter what would happen to the two of us, we always had each other's backs.

We were a family, after all.

"Are you okay? Do you feel hurt? Can you cast healing magic?" I asked, with panicking eyes.

Rain giggled upon hearing my words and replied, "You know I can't do that yet… but I'm willing to learn. If only Arthur could be here to teach me, I would love to learn more about magic skills from him…"

Rain opened up the broken path to Arthur and me. Before the village got attacked, my heart turned black as I shifted my hatred to Arthur. But as soon as he showed up to defend the town, all that anger escaped from my body.

"Where are Arthur and my father?" I asked, and looked around. "Has anybody seen Arthur? Has anyone seen my father?"

Despite my bombarding questions, none of the villagers gave out their answers… No. It was not because they did not know the answer. Those people knew something that they did not want to share about, specifically Rain and me.

"WHERE IS ARTHUR AND MY FATHER?!" I shouted.

All the villagers nursing the injured shrieked in horror as they discerned my violent scream. Even the people resting on their temporary beds woke up from my voice and scattered. Everyone present inside this room couldn't look me in the eye as they tried their best to calm me down.

Before I could burst into madness, the chief, whom I met before, entered the tent. That man stared at my figure for a few seconds before announcing the answer that I wanted.

"Your father… and Arthur killed the monster."

"We won?! That's great…. But where are they?" I asked.

Everyone filled the air with silence, despite our numbers almost reaching around a hundred. Nobody dared to utter a word, considering the weight of our current conversation.

However, I stood my guard and crossed my fingers while urging the chief to speak his full.

The chief had no choice but to tell me everything that had happened…

"The two of them sacrificed themselves to kill the ogre… Your father died from that monster... demon," the chief corrected. "... While Arthur died by pushing the ogre to the cliff…"

After hearing such a statement, I walked backwards and sat on the mattress beside Rain. My sister was also at a loss for words after listening to our talk.

"N-No! Maybe they're still alive from that cliff! M-Maybe my father is still alive!" Rain cried, while containing her tears.

The chief shook his head and replied, "The two of them got washed up from that raging lake… I doubt they are still alive… We found the corpse of your father near the cliff… Half of them must have fallen from the terrain, while the rest.... I'm sorry."

"Leave us alone... please," I asked the chief, while staring at the ground.

The leader and his assistant heeded my request as they exited the tent. The injured people remained inside the shelter, since they could not move their bodies. All they could do was wait until their legs work and their arms did their thing.

As I raised my head, the cries of the villagers remained fresh inside my mind. If my father was still alive, he would have nudged my shoulder and mocked me from feeling depressed. However, I couldn't help but feel hopeless, considering the situation that Rain and I had.

We lost our mother and our father in the hands of demons. The two of us were still powerless to stand on our own feet against those overwhelming forces. If Arthur did not defend this place, that monster would have wiped everyone into nothingness.

"I guess I owe Arthur our lives….," I murmured, while bursting into tears.

I could not suppress the dam in front of my eyes and let loose all the salty liquids stored in my orbs. Rain joined in my crying session and cascaded a waterfall of tears beside me. The rest of the world still moved on its own. But the two of us felt that the world had gone slow… slow enough to mock me.

The curtains from the entrance waved once more, revealing the chief entering inside the tent. I was about to tell him to leave us alone, but the leader insisted.

He claimed my shoulders, shook it, and exclaimed, "The knights just arrived right now. They are asking what happened in this village, and who took down the demonic monster. They are looking for you, Arthur."

"The knights? Why would they be here when the show's over? Tell them that most of our people died because of that damned monster… Those knights should not have come here," I answered.

But before the chief could even retort, a man with white and shining armour entered the tent. I went into a defensive stance and raised my hand to protect Rain behind me. Rain, who was in the middle of recovering, summoned a magic circle around her arms. She did not want to fight against these soldiers empty-handed.

"By the looks of it, the two of you helped defeat the demonic monster?" the knight claimed, as he placed down his sword on the ground. "Two teenagers have this power all along… frightening, isn't it?"

"Get the hell out of our village! You never protected us when we needed you the most!" I shouted.

"No. You're wrong, kid. We were non-stop helping other neighbouring villages…. All of my men got killed during the process. We three were the only ones alive in this raid. We haven't slept a wink or eaten a decent meal."