NUMBERS (cont’d)

Elliot had taken up the task without knowing or even thinking about the risks, he just took the sword of the fallen soldier and he took some equipment with him that he might need which included potions, knives and a retractable shield that was in the form of a ring. Elliot had no fear in his heart and his bravery was very admirable to the rest soldiers that were too scared to go the accursed village, one of the soldiers walked up to Elliot to warn the prince about the dangers that lurked within the village that he is about to plunge into without any assistance.

“Your majesty, I truly admire your courage but I must try to dissuade you from such a suicide task, you are only going to get yourself killed or even worse… get corrupted by the reaper’s curse” the soldier warned the prince but Elliot had already made his mind up and he was not going back on his resolve.

“Thank you for your warning but I am already aware of the dangers and the capabilities of my enemy, I am not going there to spare anybody, all shall fall by the sword of the fallen soldier” Elliot said with so much compassion, he was raised as a warrior even though that he rarely goes to war with the regular soldiers.

“Okay my lord, but at least let some of our best men go with you-” the soldier tried to suggest to the prince but he refused.

“I shall not put any more lives in danger, I am going to accomplish this mission and I will do it by myself, tell my father that I have already set off on my way and remind him about the request that I made” after that Elliot set off on his horse into the wilderness to locate the village that the massacre happened. The soldier passed Elliot’s message to the king.

“My lord, the prince has already set off and he asked me to remind you about his request” the soldier said to Ivan who was already deep in thought before the soldier entered into his chamber, Ivan was already thinking that it had been a bad idea to have sent his son on the quest, Ivan had faith in Elliot abilities and sword fighting skills but there was something off about the whole thing.

“The prince is still too young to understand that there are levels to the art of war and also different tactics for defeating different enemies, he has taken it upon himself to avenge the fallen ones and even I; his father and the king of Mytigon could not stop him from taking on such a quest… send eight of your best men to follow his tracks and make sure that they stay undercover, I don’t want the prince to know that he has backup” Ivan said to the soldier who was already thinking the same thing.

“Yes my lord, I shall do that quickly and I shall be reporting the progress to you… my king” the soldier said before leaving the presence of the king, Ivan returned back to his thoughts but this time he spoke aloud to himself.

“My kingdom has grown over the years and I am now the ruler of the strongest kingdom in all the regions but this wouldn’t have happened if not for the truce that I had with the king of Briggs, I would have had a hard time conquering the kingdoms under their rule but because of the truce I have no opposition from their side… the time is drawing near for me to complete my end of the bargain, I need to make my son marry the daughter of the emperor otherwise… I shall be doomed” just the thought of it alone scared Ivan cold, he was not planning on losing his rulership but there was one problem.

“How am I going to get my son to marry the princess of Briggs when he has not met her before or even heard about her? I have to think of a way to get them married... that’s if Elliot returns from this quest alive” Ivan still had his doubts about the quest but when he remembers how high Elliot’s power level was… he would ease up and breathe calmly.

The first thing that Elliot noticed when he approached the village was a dark cloud that was situated over the village, the stench of decaying bodies reached his nostrils before he even came yards close to the village, the aura of evil was so strong that it made his horse to stand still and it refused to move any further so Elliot had to complete the rest of his journey on foot. Elliot entered the village to see no living person in the streets, only body parts and blood splattered everywhere on the walls and roads, he moved cautiously through the streets looking for anybody or anything that may give him a clue on the reaper’s whereabouts but he found nobody in the streets, he saw nothing interesting until he came to the village square where he saw only a handful of the corrupted chanting in front of a fallen statue, Elliot watched them for a while before he interrupted them by speaking.

“Hello? Can you spare me a second?” he said and they turned around to look at him with bloodshot eyes, the first thing he noticed was how tattered they looked, they had bite marks and injuries all over their bodies and some of them were missing a limb or two.

“Who dares to enter the domain of the reaper?” one of the corrupted spoke as if there was another person speaking through him, it was one of the soldiers of Mytigon that had previously stormed the village that was the spokesman of the grim reaper.

“I am Elliot Alexander, the heir to the kingdom of Mytigon and I am here to send you back to the deepest part of Tartarus where you belong!!” Elliot said with rage building inside of him, he was sickened by what the reaper had done to the town, the spokesman laughed in three voices.

“You think that you can stop the curse of the Holocaust? You shall die and become corrupted like the others!!” more corrupted busted out of the houses and alleys as if they had been hiding in the shadows, they multiplied in numbers and they ran at Elliot who was ready with his sword drawn, he grabbed on the hilt of the sword tightly and he readied himself for the battle before him.