8/20/2018 – Common English Basic Version

Preface

            As a fan of fiction, and fantasy stories, I always find it weird that in most of those stories humans living in a world with many different races that have vastly different languages. Yet, the human languages in those stories are very similar to modern-day English. I think it would make more sense for human language in those fantasy stories should be slightly different due to cultural exchange, either through natural assimilation or by force, like in our world. With that concept in mind, I tried to create an English language with a slight twist to it. That way it would be different but familiar enough to be easily followed. 

          I will also try to create a language for dwarfish, elvish, and orcish language, inspired by my experience learning other languages. For example, in Spanish, most words and letters are consistent in their pronunciation, unlike in English where the pronunciations of letters can be different from time to time. This gave me the inspiration to research the origin of English root words and other grammatic inconsistencies.

        I came up with the idea of creating a simplified version of the English language, with slightly more consistent grammar rules than Modern English. This simplified version of our current English will be called Common English, while the current (20^th century) version of English will be called Modern English.

        Common English will be used mostly by characters from the peasant/working class (or commoner class hence the name Common English) within their dialogue or internal monologue, while Modern English will still be used by the narrator. I will go over some basic rules, for now, then I will go over the difference between the two languages and explain more as the chapter progresses.

          Do not worry since this is the Basic Version, we will not use too many elements from Common English to avoid confusing the reader any further.

 

There Is Almost No Past Tense.

            In Common English, most words would be in present tense (except for what I called the “Past Tense Indicator”), even if the sentence implied that it would be in the past. For example:

 -Modern English:                                                -Common English:

  Yesterday, I ate an apple.                                    Yesterday I eat an apple.

 I already studied for the exam.                           I already study for the exam.

 Were you embarrassed?                                      Was you embarrass? (Go to the chart to see the example).

                                                                                 

In these three examples, you can see that in Common English, most verbs do not change into their past tense, and remain in the present tense. Since the sentence gave us the context that things happened in the past conjugating the verb is not necessary. The highlighted words are considered as Past Tense Indicators. Some Past Tense Indicators are yesterday, already, a long time ago, eon, and etc. As the story, progresses you will notice more words will remain in the present tense instead of conjugated into the past tense.

 

       1) There Is Almost No Plural Tense.

       In Common English, most words will remain in singular tense (except for what I call the “Plural Indicator”) even though the sentence gives the context that things are plural. For example:

-Modern English:                                                                 -Common English:

There are many weeds growing on this field.                         There are many weed growing on this field.

There are three men going on this trip                                    There are three man going on this trip.

I have three dogs.                                                                         I have three dog.

 

            In this case, the noun remains in the singular tense, even though the context of the sentence lets us know that it should have been plural. The highlighted words are the Plural Indicator since they let us know the context of the sentence refers to many things. Here is a list of words that are classified as Plural Indicator: many, plenty, are, and any number that indicates more than one subject/object.

 

      2) Consistency

             With Modern English, there are many exceptions from pronunciation exceptions, silent letters, plural exceptions, etc. Common English will try to remedy these inconsistencies.

 

      3a) Plural Inconsistency.

      Modern English:  Goose → Geese.         Ox → Oxen.        Tooth → Teeth.                

      With these examples, you would expect the plural form of Goose to be Gooses, Ox to Oxes, and Tooth to Tooths, but instead, it is something else. These irregulars make English unnecessarily tricky to use, this is another reason why Common English does not have a plural tense.

 

      3b) Silent Letters. – If the letters are silent, why do we even have them?

      In Modern English, certain words have silent letters in them. You will not know which words have silent letters just by looking, you have to memorize them. Here are some examples:

 

-Modern English

Honest---The “H” is silent and pronounces as (On•nest)

Knight---The “K” is silent and pronounces as (Night)

Debt---The “b” is silent and as (Det)

 

-Common English

Honest---Pronounces as (Hon•nest)

Knight---Pronounces as (Kuh•night)

Debt---Pronounces as ((Deb•tuh) Making the “t” sounds

 

            Common English tries to pronounce each letter in the words. Sometimes it sounded a bit weird such as Knight and Debt, you will have to make the “Kuh” sound for the letter “K”, and the “tuh” sound for the letter “t”. I understand it might seem awkward at first, in concept it makes more sense than having silent letters.

 

      3c) Pronunciation Exception. - Chapter, Character, & Charity, one of these things is not like the other.

         With Modern English, sometimes certain letter within the word is pronounced completely different than the way it is written. For example:

                 Common English                                                                    Modern English

In Common English, the letter “Ch” would                                    Words that look the same but

have the same pronunciations for all three words.                                pronounces differently

 

• Modern English- Charity, Chapter, and Character.

Both “Charity” and “Chapter” pronunciation is consistent while “Character” is pronounced as “Karacter”.

       Certain words can be pronounced in two completely different ways with two different meanings, even though the way it is written is the same. Examples of words that looks the same but have different pronunciation in Modern English includes:

 

+Minute (M •nit) (noun) - A unit of time equal to sixty seconds.

Minute (My•nute) (adjective) - Something that is extremely small to the point of almost insignificant.

 

+Does (Dus) (verb) - Present tense third-person singular of “do”.

Does (Doh•sss) (noun) - Plural form of the singular “doe” (female deer)

 

+Present (Pr s nt) (adjective) – Existing or occurring in a place or thing.

Present (Pre•zent) (verb) – Give someone a gift or award in a formal or ceremonial way.

 

• Common English:

These words would have written similar to the way it is pronounced to avoid confusion. You will see this way of writing in the advanced version.

Minute → Mainute.

Doe – Common English does not have a plural form for Doe.

Present → Pre-zent.

 

• Inconsistent Conjugation Form

With Modern English, certain words have a past and present tense conjugation; in this case, the past tense of the verb “to be” and the present tense of the verb “have” for example.

Past Tense of “To Be”

Modern English

(For some reason the conjugation of "To Be" for the 2nd person, singular changes to "were" while the 1st person and  3rd person, singular tense remains in the singular "was". Which makes it inconsistent.)

                                                                             

                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Present Tense of “Have”

 

Modern English - With Modern English, the singular 3rd Person suddenly changes to "Has" instead of remaining as "Have" even though both the plural and singular version of the tense remains the same.

 

Common English - With Common English all of the conjugations remains consistent, and if Common English has a plural tense, the conjugation would still remain the same.

    

             With Common English, it will try to make all conjugation of the verb the same, that way things would be more consistent and eliminate weird exceptions. I will give more examples as the chapter goes on. This might seem like a lot, but Common English as a whole might not show up that much in the book itself, except for the few chapters which will be used as an example to showcase how this language work. As the chapter progresses, I hope you will see the reason why Common English came to exist within the universe of this book.

 

Thank You.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Content Warning

 

This is a dark fantasy story, meaning it will contain a lot of inappropriate contents to most readers, this story is recommended to 18+ years old readers. By “inappropriate” I don’t just mean foul language like cursing, but other contents like gore, violence, death, murder, mass murder, slavery, etc… Granted, not all of those things will happen in this first chapter, but it’s something to keep in mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEFORE WE START: A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER

 

The characters' dialogues and thoughts will be in Common English, meaning it will be singular, present tense. Since this is the Basic Version of the book this is all you need to know from here till the end of the story.

 

 

Literature Symbols That You Will See In This Chapter

The use and meaning of these symbols are something I made up to make writing this story more fun, for me.

Brackets.

[“character’s though”] – If you see a dialogue within a bracket it is meant to indicate the character’s thoughts. I am introducing this idea now, so that later when multiple characters have an inner thought monologue it would be easier for the reader to differentiate between thoughts and actual dialogue. This way it is also easier for me to keep track and transition between characters’ thoughts and dialogues.

 

Dashed Lines.

-

--     These dashed lines help breaks up long lengthy dialogue lines and made it easier to keep track         ---    to follow a conversation. It helps keep track of the relevant dialogue that follows each other.

 

 

Dots.

…… – These dots are just to indicate the interruption of a character’s train of thought.

 

 

---

           

 

8/20/2018

Chapter 1

A Meeting In The Dark

 

A naked man wakes up in the middle of the forest, he rubs his head as he sitting up. His body shivers from the cold air of the night, he looks around but with the soft moonlight, he could not see far.

[“Ugghhh….where am I?…..It’s already dark?…..My stomach is growling….. where are my clothe?”

……

“How long have I been asleep?”

-“I think… I was going to collect my reward for the bounty…. I take a short cut through the forest…. I feel hungry….. I remember seeing a white rabbit and I chase after it.”

--“The white rabbit lead me to a bunch of colorful mushroom….. I eat a handful of those mushroom….. and then I argue with the caterpillar.”

---“I argue with caterpillar? Is it before or after I eat those colorful mushroom?........ I don’t remember…… Either way, let put on my clothe and get out of this forest.”]

 After gathering his clothes and putting them on, he reaches into his pale green, leather rucksack, he pulls out a torch and after igniting it, he tries to retrace his own track to find a way out of these woods. As he stumbled from the woods onto the main road, his hair, cloak, and rucksack are cover in a multitude of twigs and foliage. His footsteps are sluggish and weak, the colors are drained from his face, as his stomach growls, he ponders whether he should ditch the armors and weapons he looted since he could barely walk. The sensation of light-headedness and nausea grows stronger with each moment, but against better judgments, he refuses to discard his loots. He rationalizes, if he throws them away now, then the labor he spent carrying it would be for naught. The rhythmic sound of his footsteps, crunching against the dry grass of the beaten path is the only sound he could hear.

 The stars and constellations from high above fly past him and with his back against the darkness, he trudges aimlessly down this solitude road with the hope of eventually reaching a village nearby. He plans to trade some of his valuables for a room to spend the night or for something to eat and drink.

His arm grows heavy as he tries to hold the torch in front of him, he strains his eyes and ears to search for any sign of a human settlement in the distance. The light from a window of a family having dinner, the smoke from a chimney, the smell of a warm cooked meal, or the sound of people talking merrily among each other under this star-filled night would bring him relief. His vision has become hazy from starvation, and after walking for what seems like hours, he arrives at a small hamlet. His eyes narrow as he grins from ear-to-ear, revealing the yellow teeth beneath his dried, cracked-lips. With his remaining strength, he sprints toward the closest house he sees, and for a short moment, he feels rejuvenated.

As he runs toward the nearest house, he hears a strange noise beneath his feet. When he looks down, a layer of crusty, dark red substance that looks like dried blood blanketed the ground. A chill goes down his spine and his arms are covered with goose-bumps. He crouches down in haste and frantically crawls into the shadow of the closest house. He peeks his head out from the shadows slowly and looks around, but he can’t see far due to the night. Then, the clouds slowly drift away and the crescent moon under the starless night sky looks like a sinister smile as it shines its hazy, pale light upon the hamlet. It as if Chernobog himself takes delight in showing the lost traveler the horrific sight hidden in the night. He sees the doors, fences, grass, and walls of the other houses are coated with the same dark red, dried blood. In the distance, the windmill loomed over the hamlet as its blades spin slowly in the cold First Month’s wind. He wonders to himself what happened to the inhabitants and how long ago this massacre took place. He questioned whether he should run away from this place and see if there is a nearby village where he could get help; he does not want to fight whoever had massacred this hamlet. His panic thoughts interrupt by a growling noise… from his stomach. He lets out a sigh of relief and reasons with himself:

“Oh great.”  He groans while rubbing his eyes.

[“I’m hungry and tire and now I stumble into this? I should get out of here.”

-“but how far away the next village?”

“I don’t even have any material to use as a sacrifice to ask a god for help.”

“Ugghh…From the dryness of the blood, this massacre must have happen either several hour or many day ago, the killer could be far away by now…I hope.”

“I don’t want to go near this place…but I need to look for food and water, I don’t think I could survive another day like this.”

-“I really hope that there’s nothing disturbing waiting for me in these house.”]

“I bet ten gold coin that this place is curse” He muttered to himself.

With his torch in hand, he steps out from the shadow. He stands still, staring at the torch with a horrid look of wide eyes and a frown. He thought to himself.

[“Wait!! Did I just try to hide in the dark before putting out my torch? I could have give away my position! The fatigue must be getting to me.”]

Slightly embarrassed, he begins to enter the nearest house to him, he slowly opens the door. The darkroom is illuminated by the light from his torch and the moon coming through the window, the fireplace and the kitchen stove are cold, devoid of any heat or warmth. The foods and drinks were left on the table untouched, neither by humans, rodents, or insects. He looks around the house and slowly makes his way to the kitchen table, he picks up the food, smell it and check for any sign of mold or rot. After making sure that the food and drink is safe to consume, he began to gorge himself. After finishing eating, he goes around the house and scavenges for anything valuable. Then he moves from house to house scavenging, gorging, and drinking on as much food and water as he could find. Within each house, he sees a familiar scenery of foods and drinks being placed on the table, untouched by humans, insects, or rodents. Another familiar sight is a bronze idol in the figure of a woman cloaked in a thin veil around her body, with long hair but no facial expression. To be more accurate, she has no face at all, and the bronze idol is painted porcelain white.

[“This strange idol look kinda familiar, I think I see it somewhere before…. maybe at the capital?”

“Could this be a religious item? Urgggh…I hope not, something like this could earn me some coin. I could finally rent a room at an inn again I don’t want to sleep in the wood again, I’m sick of those insect crawling on my face, and inside my clothe.”]

He shivers as he remembers the sensations of insects crawling, as each of their grotesque abundance legs latches onto his skin. This experience has left him paranoid and traumatized, the point of any slight sensation that touches the skin on his legs or back would make him almost jump. He would frantically run his hand against those areas to make sure that it was just his imagination. 

[“Then again, I might get bad karma if I take religious item from the dead. I have to settle with taking these wooden eating utensil, toy and whatever tool that I could find.”]

As he loots the items from the fourth house of the small hamlet, a chilling question comes into his mind that he is not emotionally prepared for.

[“I kinda wonder where are the body of the dead villager? And what happen to them? I see a massive amount of dry blood everywhere, but no corpse?”

“The people who slaughter these villager could have take their body, but….. why?”]

[“…And where are the farm animal?? I really hope those animal are safe.”]

A sensation of dread squeezing his stomach, making his hands feels cold and his legs feels weak.

[“I should leave for now, being here for too long doesn’t feel safe….. It’s too bad that I couldn’t explore that church or some of the other house.”

“THEN YOU SHOULD STAY, AND EXPLORE A BIT MORE.”]

A deep echoing voice speaks to him, inside his mind.

[“Is that you? My God! I have been meaning to contact you, this is great timing. I need your help.”]

He eagerly responds to the voice, his mind, and spirit-filled with hopes.

[“HELP YOURSELF, GO EXPLORE THIS PLACE.”]

The voice flatly retorted, crushing any hope he has of getting help. 

He clenches his fist tight and grits his teeth in frustration trying to hold back his words, he picks up his rucksack and walks outside while stuffing his face with a slice of cheese that he found. 

["HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"I'm getting out of here, I have enough food and water for a few day of travel. For now, I'd just camp out in the nearby wood until I return to the capital." 

"SERIOUSLY? DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? I SAID YOU SHOULD GO EXPLORE THIS PLACE."

-"Hahaha, right. Whatever happens here isn't beneficial to my plan."

--"WHAT PLAN?"

---"My plan to live a long life." 

"VERY FUNNY."

"Thank you, I have a dark sense of humor."

"I THINK YOU IS FORGETTING THAT I AM YOUR GOD."

-"One of many God."

--"SERIOUSLY? I SAVE YOUR LIFE."

---"And then you put my life at risk, many time. So, I guess we are kinda even." 

"I MEAN IT IS REALLY MY FAULT? YOU ARE DOING A DANGEROUS JOB, SO DANGER IS PART OF THE LIFESTYLE. "

-"ON THE OTHER HAND, THOSE JOB THAT I SET UP FOR YOU PAY REALLY WELL."

"Are you kidding me!? I barely have enough to survive, most of the job you send me are dangerous and barely pay well at all."

-"Even when I make enough money, I have to spend the majority of it on maintenance, and supply." 

--"WELL, THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO SEND ON OTHER HIGHER PAYING JOB, SINCE THOSE JOB ARE MORE DANGEROUS."] 

["Seriously!? I think we are finish talking here, I mean I wish I could talk to you some more but I'm eating right now."

"........."

The voice asked with an annoyed tone, ".......SERIOUSLY.....???"] 

["WE ARE TALKING WITH EACHOTHER, IN YOUR MIND, YOU DON'T NEED TO USE YOUR MOUTH."

-"AND WHY ARE YOU EATING SO MUCH ANYWAY? YOU STILL EATING THAT SLICE OF CHEESE AFTER EATING FOOD FROM FOUR OTHER HOUSE?"

"How rude, I have to eat a lot because I am a growing boy."

"..........."

"YOU ARE A 21 YEARS OLD MAN. YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET ANY TALLER." 

He stated in a panic tone, "You're lying to me, there's no way I'm gonna be stuck at 5 feet tall for the rest of my life! No one is going to respect me."] 

["FACE YOUR REALITY! JUST LIKE HOW YOU HAVE TO FACE THIS MYSTERIOUS HAMLET."

"Why are you being so forceful about this? Beside you're a God, why can't you make me taller?" He asked in a frustrated tone.

"THAT'S NOT HOW I DO THING. ALSO, YOU SHOULD LEARN TO ACCEPT YOURSELF."  

-"BUT SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU CONFIDENCE ENOUGH TO CAMP OUT IN THAT DARK WOOD? WOULDN'T THAT JUST MAKE YOU AN EASIER TARGET?"

"Ummmm, Well, I could stay awake and keep watch."

"STAY AWAKE AND KEEP WATCH? YOU ARE TIRE, YOU NEED REST, ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN STAY UP ALL NIGHT?"

-"AND IT'S ALSO GETTING COLD TOO, DON'T YOU WANT TO SLEEP IN A NICE, WARM BED?"

--"Where would I find a warm bed?"

"YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ONE."

"Ugggh, you don't mean."

-"THAT'S RIGHT, GO BACK TO THAT HAMLET. I'M SURE THERE ARE PLENTY OF BED THAT YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM."

"Ummmm, I don't know...."

"ARE YOU ALSO GOING TO WATCH OUT FOR THOSE INSECT TOO? WE BOTH KNOW THE WOOD ARE FULL OF THEM. IF YOU'RE UNLUCKY THEY ARE GOING TO CRAWL INSIDE YOUR CLOTHE AGAIN." 

"Uggghh....fine, you win. I'm going back into that village."]

Begrudgingly, and with a bit of convincing, he "decided" to return to the hamlet to find a warm bed for the night. A breeze passes through the silent hamlet carrying an odor that assaults the olfactory of anyone who gets a whiff of it. He gags in disgust but thinks this odor must be a sign of some sort, and he decides to follow it. He takes a cloth, douses it with alcohol from his rucksack, wraps the cloth around his face, as a mask to stave off the odor, which makes him look like a bandit. The smell of strong alcohol makes him feel nauseous, and his nose hair feels like it is on fire.  The sensation was uncomfortable at first, but slowly the smells of alcohol warm his lungs from the First Month’s wind.

He cautiously advances toward the far side of the village, further away from the main road, further away from the houses and closer to the darkness. He can barely see the visage of a strange deformation on the ground, he walks over the fallen, and broken fence. He extends his arm forward so that his torch’s light can reveal the form of the strange shape. He covers one hand over his mouth to muffle his screams of terror, what the light reveals almost makes him drop his torch.

He sees the bodies of residents of this hamlet stacked on top of each other, inside a long and wide ditch. Shocked from this horror, he screams to the mysterious voice inside his mind.

[“Is this what you want to show me!!?? Is this why you want me to explore this place!? Just to see how I would react!?”

“YOU HUMAN ARE SO FRAGILE, BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.”

“IT’S NOT LIKE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE A DEAD BODY. WHY ARE YOU SO FRIGTEN BY THIS?”

“Well, this is the first time I see a mass grave of innocent people stack on top of each other in a ditch! I normally deal with dead bandit or dead animal, not innocent people being mass murder like this.”

“WELL, YOU BETTER GET USE TO SEE MORE INNOCENT PEOPLE BEING KILL. YOU HAVE TO WALK ALONG THIS DITCH AND GO FURTHER DOWN.”

-“BESIDE, YOU DON’T KNOW FOR SURE IF THESE PEOPLE ARE INNOCENT.”

“Are you serious!? I’m not doing that! This place is curse, I already have some food and water I’m gonna get out of here. If you want to punish me then you can punish me later.”]

[“ALRIGHT, IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE TO PUSH YOU TO YOUR EDGE. I AM WILLING TO GIVE YOU AN EXTRA REWARD IF YOU FOLLOW MY ORDER.”

“ALSO, IF YOU WALK DOWN THAT PATH YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU NEED. YOU MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF IT, BUT YOU DESPERATELY NEED THIS.”

-"So, you finally agree to make me taller?"] He asked, with a sense of glee in his voice.   

["YOU'LL FIND OUT, ONCE YOU GO DOWN THIS PATH."]

He slumps his shoulders, take a deep breath, and let out a deep sigh.

 [“What I nneedd is to get out of here……. but whatever reward you have plan, I hope it’s good.”

“OF COURSE, IT WILL, HAVE I EVER BETRAY YOUR EXPECTATION?”

“To be honest, I don’t know what to expect from you. You keep sending me on weird adventure that I almost die, several time.”

“ALRIGHT! I UNDERSTAND. AFTER YOU FINISH THIS JOB, I WILL DOUBLE YOUR REWARD.”]

A wide smirk stretches across his face, then he begins to walks along the ditch at a slow steady pace. Observing the butchered corpses without breaking his sight, looking for any clues that might shed light on the mystery of this massacre.

 The faces of the corpses contorted in an expression of pain and hatred, their mouths are wide open, as if they are cursing the name of the one who cut them down. Their skins are pale-ish blue, some are white which resembles the color and texture of cheese, but all of the corpses he can sees have gashes on them. Some of the corpses have gashes on their forearms; some have deep slashes and cuts on their collarbone and shoulders. The ditch is filled with many bodies of men, women, children, young or old they were slain indiscriminately, the only equality they received was death.

However, the most peculiar thing about these cadavers is that most of the young, female corpses have multiple deep gaping cuts and gashes on their faces. From those injuries, he can see countless maggots squirming within, and fragments of bones piercing the muscle and skin that were covering it as if the victims received a savage strike fueled by hate, and peculiarly some of the corpses are filled with small holes that are an equal distance apart.

He was ensnared by a morbid curiosity and he ponders the situation in his head:

[“These attack are so sloppy, could be the work of a bunch of bandit that don’t have many experience.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“I mean, look at the injury on the victim. Most of them are on area that have bone like the forearm, the collarbone, shoulder and the face.”

 “SO, WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? THOSE ATTACK LOOK BRUTAL TO ME.”

“Yeah, those attack look brutal, but very not useful. It would have been better to aim at softer spot like the stomach, the throat, the wrist, or the finger.”

-“This way the attack can deal serious damage to the target.”

--“And, attacking body part that have a lot of bone can reduce the power of the attack and can also cause damage to the blade edge if this happen a lot.”]

[“WELL, LOOK AT YOU. I DIDN’T KNOW YOU’RE SUCH A SWORD EXPERT.”]

He quickly replies with a confident attitude and with a hint of pride in his thought, it almost sounded like he was bragging.

[“Well, I did spend around a year sword training with a strange sword master.”

-“And I already have some basic sword training when I was a child, so this stuff is basic to me.”

“SLOW DOWN THERE BUDDY, YOU MIGHT BREAK YOUR ARM WHILE PATTING YOURSELF ON THE BACK.”

“Uhhh, what do you mean?”

“UHHH, FORGET IT. I FORGET THAT YOU DON’T FULLY UNDERSTAND METAPHOR, IDIOM, AND FIGURE OF SPEECH FROM THIS REGION, YET.”

-“BUT, THE POINT IS DON’T SOUND SO PROUD. YOU’RE NOT EVEN THAT GOOD AT USING SWORD YET.”

“Umm…Thhaat…that’s not fair, you know using sword is not my main skill.”

“I WAS JUST TEASING YOU. ANYWAY, ENOUGH BANTER LET’S HURRY FURTHER DOWN THIS DITCH TO MEET OUR GOAL.”]    

[“You mean, ‘YOUR GOAL’…..and…also…..It’s kinda weird how the injury look random, like the attacker just swing around his weapon like a drunk, hoping to hit any body part that he could reach.”]

His brows furrow, his face grimace and he takes a deep breath hissing through his teeth.

[“…..And….There is something weird about this. Some of the female victim have many slash to their face and head.”

-“Those attack look on purpose, it almost like the attacker have a grudge with the victim.”

“WHY DO YOU THINK THERE WAS A GRUDGE TOWARD THE FEMALE CORPSE?”

“Normally, bandit would capture young girl and keep them as sex slave, or sell them to the rich….not killing them like this. Their face are too damage for me to see how old they are but I guess they are around teen age.”

-“Ummm….What if the one that kill everyone in this village is not a man?”

“HAHAHA, THAT’S AN INTERESTING THEORY.”  

-“HOW ABOUT THE PUNCTURE WOUNDS THAT ARE EVENLY DISTANCE APART? GOT ANY INTERESTING IDEA FOR THOSE?”]

He tilts his head with a curious look and asks the booming voice in his head.

[“Wait, what’s a ‘theory’?”

“UH, IN THIS CONTEXT IT ROUGHLY MEAN ‘GUESS’ OR ‘IDEA’, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“Ah, okay. My ‘theory’ is those puncture wound was cause by spear and arrow.”

“REALLY? THAT WOULD REQUIRE MASTER LEVEL PRECISION.”

-“DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO CAN DO THAT?”

“I think someone with the spear skill like Le Viceroy Jekkin could do it.

“THAT’S TRUE, HOW ABOUT SOMEONE AT ROBIN HOOD’s SKILL? COULD THEY DO IT?”

“Uggh, Yeah, someone at Robin Hood’s skill could do it, but please don’t say his name again.”

“HAHAHAH. SURE, HOW ABOUT WE GET BACK TO THE POINT. WHO OR WHAT COULD HAVE KILL ALL OF THE VILLAGER?”

“Well, I’m not sure. But I don’t think bandit are the cause of this. But you know something you’re not telling me, right?”

“HEHEHEHEH, HOW ABOUT A HINT? THE VILLAGER ATTACK EACH OTHER.”]

He tilts his head and his face scowl.

[“Wait! What? Why would the villager attack each other?”

-“…..That would explain those strange injury, it was cause by farming tool!”

--“Wait….and if they kill each other, then who dig this ditch?”

“FOCUS! WE ARE HERE.”

“Huh? What do you mea…..”]

He stops his question halfway the moment his eyes notice a strange shadow at the edge of the ditch, he can hear the wet snapping of joints and ligament, it sounded like someone is twisting and ripping off the limb from a big chicken. Among the wet snapping sound, he could also hear the bones crunching as if they were being broken and chewed by a bear trap. He searches the darkness for the source of the sound, then he sees what looks like a humanoid figure within the ditch crouching down next to one of the corpses.

He slowly and carefully moves his torch toward the silhouette like a child shining a candle into the abyss. The torch’s light slowly peels back the darkness, revealing thick, grey fur on the creature’s back. Awestruck, he ponders what kind of creature he has encountered.

[“What kind of beast is this? It look kinda big.”

“It is a Highland Ape? No, those creature might have grey fur, but they live on the mountain.”

-“Could it be a zombie?”

--“Buuttt….zombie don’t have fur.”]

He looks at the creature in bewilderment and confusion, then he began to think to himself.

            [“Is this my goal? What should I do? Should I kill it?”

        -“Hello? Are you there?....... Why have you stop talking?”]

        [“Uhh, great! He is silent when I need to ask something important.”

“……..”

“Man, that creature is eating those corpse like it haven’t eat in many day.”

“Does it have to eat so loud? That’s nasty!”

-“Urrrgghh….I think it’s time for me to leave this place.”

--“I don’t know what ‘goal’ he want me to meet, but I guess it not important now.”]

            He begins to step back slowly while keeping his eyes in the direction of the ditch, being cautious with his footsteps to avoid drawing attention from the creature. When he is finally at a comfortable distance, he turns his back to the ditch and walks away. After taking a few steps, he notices the creature’s loud, ravenous eating noise is now suspiciously silent. He slowly turns around, pointing the torch toward the direction of the ditch, and sees a creature on all four slowly standing up. A silhouette of a humanoid creature, standing by itself with both its arms hanging limply beside it. He notices that the creature’s left arm is holding on to what seems like a large sack.

He puts his left foot slightly behind him and slowly shifts his weight to the ball of his right foot. Hidden underneath his cloak, his right hand discreetly reaches for the sword strapped to the left side of his hip. Resisting the urge to blink, he stares at the silhouette as if he believes, for as long as he maintains a line of sight the creature would not move. Moments feel like hours, the torch on his left-hand feels like a boulder, and his eyelids feel like an iron curtain. The only comfort he feels is from his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

            [“Uhhhhhhh…..what the hell? That creature just stand up on two leg?....?”]

He raises his torch closer to his line of sight, squinting his eyes, and mutters to himself.

“Am I still hallucinating from those mushroom?........ I really hope so, I really don’t want to fight right now.”

“That remind me, I should have take some mushroom for O’mari, he would love it.”

-“I wonder how much those mushroom worth if I sell them to the alchemist at the capital.”

            As he talks to himself, the creature nonchalantly puts its right hand into the large sack and rummage about in it. He is confused when he hears noises that sound like metal clanking within that sack. At first, he thoughts he must have misheard it, but the longer he listens the harder it is to deny the sound. The creature pulls out an object, but the darkness conceals its shape. Finally, the creature let go of the large sack and dash towards him with the speed of a starving predator chasing its prey. Startled by the creature's aggressive initiative, a peaceful retreat is now no longer an option, he decides to take a fighting stance.

He comes up with three options in his head, but he chooses none of them because in his panic he hurls the torch at the creature’s face when it was about ten feet away. Without stopping its advances, the creature uses the backside of its left hand and slaps the torch. In that brief moment, the creature’s left hand obscures its field of vision and without missing a moment he dashes forward into striking distance of the creature…..Panic, the creature swings its right hand towards him, which he was anticipating. With one swing, he chops off the creature’s right arm. However, he misjudged the distance and the speed of the creature’s attack, his sword cut into the creature’s forearm, halfway from the elbow instead of a clean cut into the creature’s wrist.

The creature stumbles back and collapses on its knees, clutching the dismembered limb and crying in pain. The creature's cries sound like many voices screaming all at the same time, overlapping each other. He steps back and takes a defensive stance; he takes a quick glance at his sword and then at the creature’s right arm twitching on the ground.

[“Oh, damn it!!! I miss?? That was so sloppy! Master would turn over in his coffin if he see that.”

        -“Thanks Mother Earth, the blade’s edge isn’t damage….”

--“What is that? Is that the creature’s arm? Why is it twitching!?”]

        [“Are those claw? No…those are fingernail, long and sharp, like an animal.”

        -“…..What’s that in its hand?”

        “!!!!!!!!!!”

        “Uggahh! where is this pale light come from!?”]

            He takes a few steps back, and he sees the creature’s dismembered arm is holding a cleaver partially covered in dried blood. That is when he realizes, it was the moonlight reflected from the cleaver, blinding him. From the crouching position on the ground, the creature lunges at its target with a wide-open jaw, filled with a row of jagged teeth like a wolf. He quickly turns his attention toward the incoming monster, he shifts his weight to his left foot and connects a critical kick to the creature’s jaw with his right foot. The creature once again recoils and rolling on the ground cries out in pain. He turns his head in many directions at a snapping speed; his head finally stops once he sees the object he was looking for. He rushes toward the object, reaches out his left hand, and picks up his torch. He disappears between the houses while carefully concealing the torch with his cloak to hide his position.

The cold wooden walls feel so unfamiliar to him, but for a brief moment, they provide him with a small sense of comfort and safety akin to a child burying himself beneath his blanket to hide from a monster.

[“Huuuff…huuufff…That was scary, my heart is beating so fast I could die.”

-“Maybe I’m relying too much on my sneak attack to win.”

“This is my fault; I should have train my sword skill more, now I have to hide like this.”

-“At least I’m safe….for now. I need to wait, in the morning I can get out of here.”]

[“If that creature is still here in the morning, then I could get a good look at its face to see what it is.”

-“Or….since I cut off the creature’s arm, maybe it will die from blood loss. It have about two hour before it bleed to death.”

“FINALLY!! I love it when thing are going my way, for once. It already weaken by the blood loss.”

-“If I go out now, I think I could kill it. Hehehehh.”]

With those thoughts in mind, he bears a wide toothy grin across his face, feeling emboldened by his small accomplishment. His feeling of pride quickly vanishes as soon as he comes to a realization.

[“hehehe…heh…….Ummm, wait….speaking of blood, I don’t remember seeing it bleed.”

-“Yeah….thinking back I didn’t think about it before, but now I remember no blood come out when I cut off its arm.”

“I guess….when the blinding moon light reflect from that cleaver distract me…..that monster try take advantage with a surprise attack.”

“Oh crap that’s right! It tries to sneak attack me! What the Hell am I even fighting!? It has enough intelligence to use tool to attack me and, not to mention…. sneak attack.”]

He falls flat on his butt from his crouching position, putting his right palm on his face and rubs both his eyes.

[“Then, I guess that mean it can’t be an undead, since most undead don’t use tool to attack, and sneak attack is a tactic often use by wild animal.”

-“But, I’m pretty sure that any beast would bleed if you cut them.........Why didn’t this one bleed?”

“…….”

“Ummm…I also remember, when I hurl my torch at its face, instead of being slightly scare, it just slap the torch away like it was nothing while rushing toward me.”

-“Most normal beast would at least flinch at the fire.”

“Okay, let’s say that this one is a special undead that can use tool. I guess that’s something I can keep in mind for now.”

-“It's been a long day.”]

Rubbing his chin and racking his brain trying to unravel this circular riddle, the sensation of exhaustion and drowsiness slowly crept upon him.

[“Well, it’s finally quiet. I might as well get some sleep.”]

He reaches into his rucksack, pulls out a waterskin, and pours some water from it to douse his torch. Afterward, he puts those items back into his rucksack and put his back against the corner of the room. Resting the right side of his face against the cold, wooden wall, he wraps his cloak snuggly against his body and closes his eyes.

---

 

 

After Note

            I didn’t expect this chapter to be as long as it did, I also didn’t expect it would take me two years just to publish this one chapter I guess that’s what happens when life caught up with you. Initially, this chapter was only supposed to be about 10 pages long. I guess after many rewrites it became longer. At first, the main character was the only one monologuing, but after several rewrites, the dialogue didn’t feel natural so I included another voice into the story. For this chapter, I also did research into fly’s life cycle and using terms that fit the time period that I’m trying to convey. For now, I’m happy with this chapter but knowing my personality I will probably rewrite it again sometime in the future.

                  I have to go back and add a few extra details to the story since I decided to go on a 72 hours water fast (I only drink water and tea, no foods) to experience what my character was experiencing. From this experience, I was able to describe what my character was feeling in more accurate details since in this chapter my character was starving anywhere between 24-72 hours.  After 24 hours of fasting my body already began to feel the effect of starving for that prolonged period of time, I began to feel light-headed and weak. Around 36 hours I feel nauseated, and after 60 hours my body began to become accustomed to the starvation and those other symptoms were not as bad anymore. I drink water and tea constantly to stave off this hunger, but it was still a struggle.

I'm not sure when Chapter two will be out but I will try to write it.

Summary

1. There’s a ditch filled with the corpses of the villagers.
2. The farm animals are missing.
3. Who or what killed those people?
4. Why were those people killed?
5. He finally gets to eat after starving for days.
6. He loots stuff from the dead.
7. His swordsmanship skill is better than a beginner's but still has a lot of flaws.
8. There’s a strange predator eating the corpses of the dead.
9. This strange predator doesn’t bleed and can use tool/s.
10. He is hiding and sleeping in a house somewhere in the hamlet.