Flames of Fate

A gloomy world

*Rumble

I rolled on the ground, but without hurting myself, the clothes the old woman had given me had cushioned the shocks.

'And now…' I stood looking at nothing, thinking about what to do. It was difficult to realize what had happened. My heartbeat quickened and my breath became heavy.

I instinctively touched the hilt of my sword and the feeling of discomfort I was experiencing subsided.

I got up from the ground, looked around, and noticed that the door to the witch's shop had disappeared.

I pulled out the magic compass.

'It seems that the compass still points to the inn closest to me ... maybe I could go there ...'

I tried to think of better alternatives, but nothing came to mind, so I walked towards the inn.

I walked through that grayish and dying forest, sometimes I looked up, the sky above me was always covered with clouds.

'Who knows what time it is in this world ... I hope to get to the inn before evening ...' Although due to the darkened sky of the clouds it already seemed almost evening.

Even though the forest seemed not to be teeming with monsters, I always kept my guard up, ready to draw my sword at the first noise. Well, not that I knew how to use the sword, though, it was still better than fighting monsters with your bare hands, right?

I noted with regret that there were not even animals in that forest.

As I walked I thought of a name to give to my new partner (the black-bladed sword), quite trivial names came to my mind that definitely didn't give it too much justice, all names that concerned its being black and powerful.

I then remembered how, during the explanation concerning the first catastrophe, the old witch, while speaking of the black dragon "Chaos", had looked at my sword for a moment.

'Mmh ... maybe this blade was made with the scales of that dragon ... after all, it's black just like that dragon ...' In my head, that theory didn't seem to sound bad, 'Mmh ... what if I just call it "Blade of Chaos "?' I asked myself, I didn't mind the name at all, so for now I decided to call it that. Sure, it wasn't anything too original, but it had a meaning behind it.

'Come to think of it… that old witch didn't even tell me her name-'

*AAAAAHHH !!!

While I was still absorbed in my thoughts perhaps trying to escape from the reality I was experiencing, a female scream of terror came from my right.

For a while, I was frozen in fear.

Another scream broke again the silence of the forest where I was, now the voice seemed to ask for help.

I touched the pommel of my sword, and as before, I calmed down.

'D-do I have to go ?!' I was still undecided on what to do, but the side of me that wanted to see what was happening won.

I ran through the sparse undergrowth, trying to make as little noise as possible. I noticed that the closer I got to the voice, and the more the forest seemed to develop less in height but denser, the pines became lower, and I began to see more bushes and wild grasses. Although the flora changed, the environment retained that dying and gloomy air.

I finally arrived a few meters from the source of the noise. Now the woman's screams were attenuated by her crying, I hid behind a bush near the scene and scrutinized what was happening. I was in a slightly raised position with respect to the scene. The whole scene seemed to take place on a dirt and gravel road left enough to its fate.

I saw to the right a wooden cart with a cloth that covered what appeared to be food, in front of the cart there was a dying donkey, hit in the neck by something sharp. There was a man lying on the ground, smeared with blood, with a rusty sword next to him. I also saw the woman responsible for the screams, she was on the ground with her left calf bleeding, on the ground crawling towards the wooden cart.

The woman was looking at the person responsible for this repulsive sight, it was a small bear, probably still young, or rather, that died young. I noticed, in fact, that this beast had at times moldy and decaying skin, with open wounds that never healed and that did not pour even a single drop of blood. It had grayish-brown fur, which turned reddish, almost purple, towards its head.

It had very sharp claws, sharper than a normal bear, yellow, at times black due to dry blood, and red due to the blood of his most recent victims. I noticed how the bear had completely white eyes with no iris or pupil. Finally, white mushrooms with bright purple dots grew over his head.

I remembered the old witch's words, what I was looking at was an undead errant.

What would you do in a situation like this?

I was in the presence of the scariest scene of my life, a monster was about to kill a defenseless and wounded woman.

I was there, watching, with my hands shaking with fear.

'What I do?' 'Even if I try to save her, I will still die ...' 'I can't do it ...but…' These thoughts flooded my mind.

And to think that when I read books and watched TV series I often said "if I had been in his place ..." or even "if I had been in his place I would have done this and that ...", now instead, I was terrified, in front of a scene like those in those books, now in first person, without the strength to do anything.

The bear came closer and closer to its prey, the woman had a terrified face, she looked in the direction of the cart, somehow it gave her strength, she got up albeit her injured leg, took a branch from the ground and handed it between her and the bear.

The beast in front of her launched itself towards her and with one paw threw her towards a tree to its left. The woman lost consciousness on impact, perhaps she was already dead.

The errant, now on two legs, slowly advanced towards the woman's body.

'No…' I understood it wanted to give her the fatal blow.

Even then, I stayed behind the bush as I was hiding in fear. In that moment I felt a mix of emotions: fear, disillusionment, sadness, and even guilt.

I felt responsible for that.

'I a hero ?! I don't even have the courage to call the monster's attention, not even the courage to move! I AM NOT A HERO, I AM AND WILL ALWAYS BE- '

* Waah waaah!

A cry caught my attention, and my self-destructive thought stopped.

"A child ..." A baby's cry spread through the forest, coming from the wooden cart. I finally understood what strengthened that woman.

That heartbreaking cry also caught the errant's attention, who changed its target.

At that moment, even a coward and a weakling like me, could not remain indifferent.

A thread of courage gave me the strength to grasp the hilt of my sword with my right hand, which gave me even more courage.

I took deep breaths and moved out of my hiding place.

I advanced towards the beast, taking short steps and trying to make as little noise as possible, while the constant crying of the child covered me. I drew my sword and thought about the old woman's advice.

'The best way to defeat such an undead errant is to cut off its head or take the mushrooms off its head ...'

I sneaked up to the monster as it crawled slowly on all fours to the wooden cart.

The bear, now that it was on all fours, was even shorter than me. A crazy idea came to mind.

I grabbed my sword with both hands and rushed at full speed to the bear, then jumped. The wanderer noticed me too late, in fact, while I was "flying" above it, with a blow I cut the neck of the beast.

Finally, I fell in a disorganized manner to the ground, next to the cart.

{TO BE CONTINUED ...}