Bodies lay all over the grass which was dyed red with blood. Matthew's body lay in a corner, with crows and other carrion eaters feasting on the fallen.

A figure appeared from the distance, walking towards the body that was relatively untouched by the corpse eaters.

"Poor soul, keeping yourself on the mortal plane for revenge you can never hope to carry out." The man's voice was hoarse and dry, however his words were clear.

As he spoke, a faint wisp of power rose from Matthew's corpse, and the man smiled slightly.

"You wish for another chance? Do you think you deserve one after cutting down so many of my people in cold blood?" The man asked, and the wisp started to dissipate into the surrounding air.

"Nevertheless, I am certain you can help my race so I will help you this once. However I will curse you as well, to be unable to use your strength without a price."

"You will become my child in the end, and lord over all the demons, on both sides of the Veil."

The man blew and the world around the small wisp started to change rapidly. The birds started d to cry out in discontent as someone was ruining their meal, however when the vortex reached them, they were reduced to dust.

The vortex spread until everything within a hundred feet had turned to dust. The man smiled as he looked down at Matthew's now intact body.

The wounds in his chest had vanished as if they'd never existed. Matthew started to breath once again and the man smiled before waving his hand.

A swirling mass of darkness appeared as if the world itself had been split, and then he walked into it and vanished.

...

Matthew blinked as he looked at the morning sky, his mind blank as he kept having a strange dream of a man who revived him, and then left him with a curse.

It was only when the sun rose completely that he finally reigned in his racing mind.

'I died. And some guy randomly revived me with a curse? I can't use my power without backlash?' At the Seventh Rank, his power was sufficient to slash a mountain in two, however humans weren't as efficient with using energy as demons.

It had only been ten years since the Veil tore, and humanity had mostly been searching in the dark forms needle in a haystack the size of the sun.

Matthew frowned as he recalled the 'conversation' with the man. Well, the man could speak and he could only listen as he hung on to his consciousness.

Matthew looked down and sighed as he was clothed in trousers and shoes, while his chest was bare.

'What the hell happened when I was dead? Why is everything not here?' Matthew got to his feet and wiped the dust from his hands.

'I should leave. The Alliance will send people to clean the battlefield, not that there was anything left to clean.'

Matthew set out at a steady jog, heading in the direction of a village if he recalled right. It was out of the way, which was perfect as he was currently 'dead' after failing to protect the Northern Battlefield.

'How will I clear my name? Do I show up in Avalon and call then liars? Then I'd be charged with fleeing the battlefield.'

Despite him racking his brains, he couldn't find a shred of hope for his situation at all.

'Damn, whoever did this thought of everything, except the fact that I revived.' Thinking of Garret's and Horace's betrayal, Matthew clenched his fists.

After an hour and a half, Matthew saw a forest and sighed as he couldn't see any sign of demons or humans.

'Hopefully they evacuated in time. Now that he North is lost, they'll face dangers a lot worse than the typical wolf or fox.' 

Matthew let out a breath, however he didn't feel any exhaustion. Instead, he was bursting with energy even without trying to use his own.

He stuck to the shade and walked towards the center of the forest, falling a winding dirt path.

When he saw the village through the trees, he sighed slightly as he still saw figures moving about.

'Those who live this far out on the fringes are usually poor people with no strength to fight or too poor to find somewhere better to live.'

As a Seventh Ranked human expert, he had free pass even in the private areas of Avalon. Of course, now he was probably being defamed and cursed by the masses.

"Huh? A person!" A young boy playing with a stick, swishing it through the air like a sword spotted Matthew first.

Other people came out with wary looks on their face, however when they saw it was a person, they sighed in relief.

"Traveller, we don't have anything but a spare bed. Would you like to stay the night?" An old woman walked out of the crowd.

"I'd welcome that, thank you." Matthew said with a slight smile. Some of the women were 'admiring' his body.

Half an hour later, Matthew sat by a table eating leafy greens with a slightly abnormal look on his face.

'I've had some of the finest meats and wine, and so I never thought I'd stoop so low as to eat some common leaves.' His eyes rolled when one of the men sitting around gave him a look.

"What? You don't like it?" The man said, with a fierce look on his face.

Matthew smiled faintly and shook his head. He didn't mind the man's provocation as he had basically died once.

Unless he was about to die again, he didn't mind some fool's disrespect. 

"What? To scared to say anything? I bet you'd run at the first sign of demons." Hearing the man say that, Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Coward." Another of the men muttered as he walked by, kicking Matthew's chair a bit.

After the meal, Matthew went to the small house, mostly built of wood and sat on the thin mattress.

He relaxed on the bed and closed his eyes. Since he hadn't really sleepy since the beginning of the battle on the northern front.

...

"Your finally here my child?" A voice sounded behind Matthew and he turned, his hand coated in energy that split the air apart!

"Who are you!?" Matthew looked at the empty space in front of him and then saw a man walk out of the dark nothingness.

"Who am I? I am Ar'sket, and you my child, are cursed." Matthew didn't wait for the man to finish as he channeled energy into his legs and leapt forward!

The man waved his hand and locked the space for several tens of feet around him. 

"Child, you do not want me to discipline you. I want to spwak to you, all you need to do is listen." Ar'sket said with a faint smile.

"The curse I put on you will react every time you use your power. I sealed it away, and if yountry to draw from it, you'll suffer backlash."

"I saved you so you can see with your own eyes, how twisted and deplorable humanity is."