It has been a month after the incident.
I had grappled with myself, reasoning that I only did it to survive.
I... Know I participated in a wrong doing but I take no blame for it...
*Sigh*2 weeks ago, while Mugob was searching for another victim, a goblin spearman appeared.
It seemed as if this one was part of the original 10 who fought us back then.
He was carrying a spear, and somehow survived through everything.
What happed you ask? He was sticks and bones. I could see that his ribcage is showing like someone malnourished.
He was easily dispatched by Mugob who by now had grown to a meter tall. It seems that the more he eats, the more he grows.
It was not an instant growth though. Every time he ate a body, I could feel him becoming more full than ever. Like an accelerated leveling sequence, it was fast.
Although, there's something that his body couldn't heal from that gave him some trouble. The final spell casted by the chief seemed to be something more powerful than expected. I mean, if you sacrifice someone and the enemy walks it off, find a new entity to sacrifice to. The wound or tear that includes his whole right hand and a chunk of his shoulder couldn't heal properly.
It seems that something is stopping him from healing that spot, he couldn't regenerate his lost arm. But he kept fighting. I admire his passion but I despise his morals, if he even has one. This past two months had been nothing but death and consumption. But I feel as if it's good to mention that ever since the goblin village massacre, it seems as if Mugob is taking rest and breaks more often. As if something else is tearing and degrading his body.
Was that final spell really that powerful? To act as a kill spell and if it does not, leave a powerful curse behind? I do not know how sacrificial spells work and don't want to ever find out. What would have happened if Mugob stumbled to the right instead and I was blown away just like the right arm? Would I survive? I shuddered how close to death I had been.
For the past month, I had been gaining and gaining experience. It feels as if I had gained a lot of levels. I had not experimented on anything yet. I was too busy with what was right and what my oaths are. One of them being that my life holds utmost importance to me. As long as I will die or a possibility will arrive, I would expend anything just to survive.
And that's when occurred. As we saw less and less dangerous fauna around, it seemed as if Mugob had managed to exit the forrest all together.
POV Change
"I aspire to be a hero, the hero Wheatfel will need and be proud of!"
I exclaimed infront of everyone, standing in the middle to the village. Wearing a cape and having a wooden sword, my play mates and I were in the middle of a scene we came up with. A hero in a mission to rescue the damsel.
"Oh no, my dear hero Theo. Please rescue me~"
*Pretend evil laughter*
"You can't rescue the princes, she is ours now."
"You better run now hero. What do you value more? Your life or hers?"
"If you hand yourself over, we will let her go."
*More pretend evil laughter*
Tsk "I won't back down! I will rescue her" I had stated. Ever since I was little, I had been fascinated with heroes. The martyrs of justice and peace. Keeping everyone safe and being the bastion of what are good. My mother used to read me those kinds of stories all the time, about previous heroes and how they managed the impossible and come out on top.
"Haaahh" With a battle cry, we started our mock fight. I had learned how to use the sword from a very young age from my father, who is a swordman, teaching me. It had been harsh but as I was about to give in, he kept telling me that heroes never surrender. Heroes will brave the impossible and come out on top.
It was a one versus three situation, they had wooden swords as well made by the local wood smith so we would stop trying to climb trees just to get a good piece of wood to play with. It had been a though battle and in the end, it was a tie. No matter how much experience and training I had in sword fighting, it was still a three versus one situation. While quality is over quantity, in an enough amount, polishing can be disregarded.
"You guys ended in another draw, how impressive."
That's my cousin. She likes to visit sometimes. Although she mostly spends time in-doors, once in a while she comes to watch us play. I already invited her multiple times but it seems that she is more interested in the fantasy of it. So she just decides to act as a sort of non-combatant in most of our scenarios, like now where she plays the role of a captured princess we read about.
*Panting*
"Don't... Don't you dream of becoming an adventurer, Elvi? Don't you want to join us?" I had wondered this question back then as well. What do I want to be when I grow up. My parents told me to be big and strong ang that's what i m aiming for. I told them I want to be an adventurer. I still remembered, they looked at one another and smiled. My mother told me that I go after my father a lot.
"Well, if I ever become one, I would rather be a mage than a sword fighter. The fact that they can topple entire villages and create things is just amazing." She had always told me that. To be a spellcaster was her dream. In the back portion of the group, dealing massive damage to their enemies.
"Is that even possible? Doesn't becoming a mage require a talent you are born with?" Mages are rare. Most nobles have magic and are all capable of casting. Unlike them, us common folk rarely get magically adept people. We only have a single spell caster in this village and he specializes in healing the wounded.
"And? So does everything else. A man without arms can never be able to high five but it doesn't stop him from dreaming to one day create his prosthetics." She's good at poking holes through my thoughts. It's as if her level of thinking is was further compared to our.
" Prosthetics? Stop making up words, though you're right. I shouldn't the the one talking considering my dream is to become a hero. A figure that only appears rarely in a kingdom." The books I had read bout heroes were always called fairytales. Based on fairies which are legendary existences that were once seen around centuries ago. Heroes only appear in times of crisis. A birth of a hero is a signal of disaster to come. Some view them in good light as the savior, some view them in hatred as a target of blame but I still want to become one. Hold power and vanquish evil to protect people.
"Oh come on, cheer up. There's nothing saying you can't be one." She is always like this. Cheering me up when Im down. She may be in her own world sometimes but she is a sweet person. She is also trusted by the adults to look over us despite being the same age. It seems they had deemed her mature enough.
My aunt called us after another bout of fighting. The sun was setting and we needed to get back home. I bid farewell to all of them to return home safe.
After taking a bath and eating, I had gone to bed. I always wanted to practice at night but my father taught me to practice early in the morning, not at night to avoid being weak as you woke up. I had asked mother about that and she laughed, saying that during father's adventures to become a better swordsman, he was practicing day and night. Until one day, he woke up being robbed by bandits. He had a hard time fighting at because his body was sore all over.
It was as if putting the cart before the horse. He managed to make them flee but still lost around 300 Tayouq coins to the robbers. From then on, he decided that he would only practice on dawn to allow his body to recover faster at night and be ready incase something happened.
Taking this story in mind, I had sneaked out to practice. I love my father and mother but I believe that he was robbed not because of practicing at night but because of staying outside to sleep. I think my father had learned a great lesson but I also think that the lesson he learned was skewed.
Heading my father's advice still, I only did some light practice. After which I went to my room and slept.
That night was interesting to say the least. In my dreams, I had seen something horrid. A monster attacking the village. The villagers crying. A bracelet that seem to hold importance in it as well. Although I barely understood anything, I was still frightened. I woke up sweating with my body completely wet from it like I had woken from a nightmare..
I went to look outside to see anything but it was just the normal scenery I had seen countless of times.
I wonder what that dream was. A monster, our village, and everyone. I decided to not tell anyone about this. This is not the first time I had a nightmare. I know that they're just my imaginations as Elvi told me once. I am brave. I am strong.
I had kept this with myself for a week. Until one day Elvi pulled me aside of our friend group and asked me something I did not expect.
"Tell me, what has been bothering you?"
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"That. You aren't your usual self, Theo. Usually you're all shine and smile, a full on toothpaste commercial, but now it seems that something had been weighting you down. You can tell me what it is, even if it's embarrassing I won't tell anyone else."
She had always been so thoughtful and perceptive. I always envied her for it but as time passed by, I knew it was not okay to do so. Her talents are her own, she's more suited to be a hero than I am. She's so kind and caring. A saint almost.
"I...Will you really listen? It's... weird." I already knew her answer but I just wanted to confirm.
"Of course, we made a promise together remember? Back when you had a nightmare about the crops being hit with a storm and it later happened? I would not lie to you."
"T-thank you." With that, I began to tell her what I could remember. From the monster to the villagers. I told her the things I could remember.
After a while of not talking, she was pondering something that seems far too deep for me. She then spoke.
"So what you're saying is that in your nightmare, a monster attacked the village in the middle of the day. No one was strong enough to defeat it, even your own parents being killed in conflict with it? And a bracelet?"
"Yes. It's weird, I know. I'm a bad child for even thinking that"
Elvi didn't respond. She stared at me straight. It was as if she was looking at a fairytale itself.
"Elvi..."
"Oh, my apology. I was lost in thought" She snapped out of her trance and went back to reassuring me that everything will be fine.
After she had calmed me down, telling me that nightmares tend to exaggerate. She told me that while some of dreams come true, if it's too outlandish or impossible, they won't. She had told me to excuse her then, telling me that she forgot something her father, the healing mage of this village, had wanted.
I let her go with a renewed smile. She 's right, Elvi is rarely wrong when it comes to children scuffles. I can trust in her.
I went to bed that day knowing I didn't have to worry so much. That everything was fine.
The next day, the adults seemed to have started a preparation for something. I could see swords and bows being prepared here and there. I asked my parent what they were doing and they told me not to worry about and that it's for the upcoming village celebration where they need hunt for the meal that would be served for the whole village.
Last time, the village celebration only needed 10 people to hunt, it was suspicious that almost all the adults except for the elderly are preparing weapons now. It was odd but I trust in my parents. I just hope it really is that...
