CH 73

Arjen sat on the rubble far from the town and stared at the sea. Though debris littered the water, the land was submerged, and the city was destroyed, it was peaceful. Small waves lapped at the shore where rubble had piled up to form an unintended breakwater.

“Move it, not that one!”

“Maybe we should just push it away.”

The voices of those clearing the wreckage could be heard at intervals. Arjen squinted at them, then turned his head back to the sea. A few large waves crashed over the debris. The wind was not strong. The sea was moving as calmly as a cradle.

“Come on, gather it up and move it.”

Arjen looked at one of the men walking toward him. It was autumn, and the wind had begun to cool, but the man was still sweating profusely.

“I’m sorry, brother, but it’s unsafe around here. The rubble could collapse.”

Arjen hopped off the rubble. The worker looked at him in amazement as he dropped twice his height.

“That was a big one, brother. Are you hurt?”

“Not at all.”

The laborer looked at Arjen curiously. He shrugged, then started walking along the beach. Guilt. Arjen stared at the wreckage and thought of the word. Elroy had never taken responsibility for anything. He didn’t try to make others feel guilty. Arjen sighed.

Fuck.

…Shit.

He could hear the waves lapping at the wreckage. Dwelling on the past was not his favorite thing, but his conversation with Elroy reminded him of something he’d rather not think about.

“…Carla.”

A name he didn’t want to hear again. Arjen closed his eyes, staring out at the rushing water.

***

Arjen Elmion was born in the disputed borderlands of the Kairos Kingdom. It was not unusual to see corpses. Bodies of enemy soldiers and kingdom soldiers. A few of them were dead with their eyes closed. Soldiers usually died with their helmets off and their eyes open. Arjen knew well what they looked like. Hollow and gray, with hardened irises and pupils. A crow flew over and pecked at the rotting corpse.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t touch them.”

Sometimes Arjen would stare at the corpse, and a patrolman would walk by, berate him, and chase him away. He watched the crow’s beak peck at the lifeless eye. Not just one crow. Hundreds of ravens thrive in the fields and forests, and soldiers bring in and burn their kingdom’s corpses, leaving their enemies’ bodies for the ravens to peck at.

“A child is not meant to see this. How many times have you seen it? Is this the first?”

The soldier’s voice was irritated as he grabbed Arjen by the back of the head and led him back to the village. Arjen glanced at the sword rattling at the soldier’s waist, and his mouth dropped open.

“I’ll fight with a sword someday. I will face the bad guys.”

Arjen had been spotted so often that most of the soldiers in the neighborhood knew his face. They called him the Crow. They had similar eyes and hair. Also, they would always be found by corpses.

“I can’t work here properly because the world is so noisy.”

“Don’t say that in front of anyone, Crow, or you’ll get in trouble.”

With that, the soldier ruffled Arjen’s hair and returned to his patrol. Arjen’s father was a woodcutter. He was always drunk, but he wasn’t the kind of person to beat Arjen or his mother. He was a good man, with dark hair like Arjen’s and a roughly shaved beard.

“I see you’ve been away again today.”

Arjen’s father said to him. At first, he would receive a scolding whenever he returned, but his father gave up. His mother looked at him with concern.

“I think we’ll move out of this town soon.”

“Moving?”

Father nodded his head slowly.

“A woodcutter can live anywhere there is wood.”

Arjen nodded and looked at the old axe leaning against the fireplace. His father looked at him and spoke again.

“Learn to use an axe unless you want to do something else.”

“I’m going to be a soldier.”

At Arjen’s words, his father’s expression hardened frighteningly. His cup rattled in his hand. Arjen thought his father was about to speak again, but he took another drink and dribbled some of it on his shirt.

“Why?”

At his father’s question, Arjen frowned. He hadn’t given it much thought.

“Because I wanted to defeat our enemies.”

“…Is that so?”

His father’s voice was weak as he heard the answer. He didn’t know why, but Arjen was glad he hadn’t objected. His father tapped his fingers on the table, looking thoughtful.

“You should think about what you’re swinging your sword for.”

He said. Young Arjen didn’t understand his father’s words.

And it was only a week later that Arjen understood his father’s words.

“Kill him!”

The day after his father’s conversation, the kingdom launched a major raid. It was an offensive that mobilized every soldier Arjen knew. The enemy was pushed back, unable to put up any resistance. The kingdom took the territory with ease and raised its flag. Arjen looked enviously at the soldiers as they returned, celebrating their victory.

“Hey, this war is about to end. There are only a few more strongholds before we win.”

The soldiers Arjen met after the battle were all smiles of triumph. Arjen laid down his spear and looked at them as they removed their helmets. Their bodies were covered in dried blood.

“If we win, you won’t have to wander around this neighborhood so restlessly. And you won’t have to look at dead bodies.”

The soldiers said happily, poking the ground with the tips of their swords.

“I want to be a soldier, too.”

The soldiers laughed heartily at Arjen.

“Arjen, Arjen, being a soldier is not a good thing. It may look cool to you now, but holding a spear is a whole different thing.”

“But my other option is to become a woodcutter….”

“Being a woodcutter is a better job than ours. It’s better to chop down trees than to chop down people.”

The soldiers chuckled at that. Arjen shook his head, unsure.

“Well, you have plenty of time to think about it, Crow. Though I think you’d be better off just listening to the adults rather than thinking for yourself.”

And that was Arjen’s last encounter with the soldiers in his memory.

That night, the enemy launched a counterattack against the soldiers of the Kairos Kingdom, who had intruded deep into their territory. Ambushed near the border, their forces surrounded the region and quickly consumed the isolated kingdom’s forces. The enemy advanced into the kingdom’s territory with momentum.

“I see. A quick learner, Arjen.”

By the time they began their advance, Arjen was practicing chopping wood in the forest with his father.

“Relax before you swing.”

The axe slammed into the tree trunk. His father’s old axe fit his hand from the start. His father watched in silence as Arjen struck at the tree’s base. The gash was getting deeper and deeper. A few more blows and it would fall.

“I will not discourage you from becoming a soldier.”

At his father’s words, Arjen turned to wipe the sweat from his brow.

“Really?”

There was a noise like something crumbling. The noise didn’t stop, but turned into sporadic noises, spreading like paint dropped into water. My father’s expression became contemplative. Then he started running toward the village. Arjen grabbed his axe and ran after him. He was fast. Arjen gasped for breath and ran, barely able to keep up with his father.

“Find the Kairos, and kill them mercilessly if they resist!”

As Arjen emerged from the forest, a cacophony reached his ears. He came to a halt at the forest’s exit. The village was on fire. Amidst the chaos, a battle was unfolding. Soldiers from the kingdom and the enemy forces were in fierce conflict.

Cries of death were inundating the air. Arjen stared at the scene in disbelief, forgetting to follow his father. Better to cut down a tree than a man. Arjen watched as a soldier’s head was pierced by a spear.

“Arjen! Run to the forest!”

His father shouted. Arjen didn’t hear him but moved toward his voice. Home. Home. Arjen heard someone scream and fall beside him. The house’s front door collapsed, and his father and a soldier fell through it. His father’s eyes met Arjen’s on the ground.

“Arjen! What are you doing? Run aw–!”

His father’s chest was pierced by a sword. Blood trickled down his chest. Arjen watched as his father’s blood stained the ground. His father flipped over and struck the soldier’s face. The soldier struggled, twisting his sword, and his father spat blood from his mouth. Other soldiers closed in, thrusting their spears into his father’s back. Arjen didn’t want to think about what happened to his mother.

“Arjen!!!”

My father screamed, looking at Arjen in the midst of it all. He staggered, then took to his feet and began to run. His heart was beating at an odd pace. A strange odor lingered at the tip of his nose. It was the stench of burning flesh, perhaps.

He ran back the way he came. Arjen kept running. To the forest, to somewhere. The only place he could think of was where he and his father used to chop wood. As Arjen emerged from the bushes, a seated soldier, helmet off, rose from his seat. It was not the armor of the Kingdom of Kairos.

“What the hell. Some kid got out.”

The soldier seemed to be out of his mind. Half his face was covered in blood. The soldier staggered toward Arjen.

“You should have stayed there.”

The soldier raised his bloodshot eyes, wielding his sword, and stared down at Arjen. Arjen took slow steps backward. The blade was gripped lightly in his hands. Arjen lunged forward instead of retreating. The soldier swung his sword at Arjen. However, it didn’t reach him. The soldier tripped over wood and lost his balance. Arjen planted his foot on the ground.

“Relax.”

Arjen muttered, then grabbed the axe with both hands and swung. It moved without resistance, slicing through the helpless soldier’s head.

The soldier fell to the ground, dead. Blood splashed across Arjen’s face. He dropped his axe and crouched down, dazed. The blood soaking his leg was warm. Arjen heard the rustling of the grass. The sound was getting closer.

“Is this….”

A fellow soldier. Arjen turned to see another soldier in the same armor standing in shock, his eyes wide and his hands shaking. The soldier raised his sword. Arjen didn’t have the strength to lift his axe again.

He didn’t even have time to think about dying. Arjen’s eyes traveled along the falling blade, and then.

Someone’s sword pierced the soldier’s back. The soldier stiffened and turned to face the man who had stabbed him.

“You… you… why would you….”

The soldier spoke shakily, then fell to the side and died. Arjen blinked at the squinty-eyed woman and men who appeared behind the fallen soldier.

“This is what you get for trying to kill a child.”

The woman spoke harshly. Her knees bent as she looked at Arjen. She glanced between Arjen, the axe in his hand, and the fallen soldier. She frowned and then huffed.

“Come on, guys, I don’t suppose anyone saw us just now. Let’s get out of here.”

“…We’re not going to get away with it if we do, Captain.”

“Whatever. We’ll never be seen again anyways. Our job is done, and we’ve been paid in advance.”

The men shook their heads. The woman turned to Arjen with a smile.

“What do you say, crow-haired boy, you want to come with me?”

The woman extended her hand, and Arjen took it without thinking. The woman’s smile widened a little more.