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User	Dragonslayer | 2005-02-03 |
Subject	the story
Message	The Raise of Evil I looked out towards the sunset, overlooking all the fields of corn that surrounded me. People were finally leaving the fields, and I should go with them, but something held me there. I looked towards the west, when I finally saw something approaching us, with wings as long as a horse. I waited, and kept on starring at it. I felt something nudge me on my side, and I turned around to see who it was. It was my sister, Catherine, with a pitch fork, ready to hit me again. “What do you want?” I asked, rubbing the spot that she hit me, and turned around to look for the flyer. “Mama said that you have to come home,” she said, and turned around, running towards the house. Our family house has been around for three hundred years, and has seen better days. The roof had holes all over the place, and we had to get the holes fixed before winter snuck up on us again. I really didn’t want to go through another year of freezing again. I turned towards the winged creature again, but it wasn’t where it was a minute ago. I looked around for a while, and finally noticed that it was going somewhere towards the north, completely ignoring us. I sighed, and walked towards the house. I was hoping that it was going to come towards us for once, but it always went off to the north, and only once that I could remember that it actually headed south, but I couldn’t figure out why. All the cities were east from here, and nothing was north OR south. I always got fruasted when I thought about the flying creature. I cleared my mind, and thought of what I had to do now. Whenever mama called for me, it always led to some kind of trouble. The last time I was called like this, she pulled out dad’s belt, and gave me a whopping like I never had before, even from dad. The only thing that I did was steal some eggs from our neighbor. I would of gotten away with it, if Catherine didn’t tell mom about it. If it was dad, he would just tell me not to do it again, but she always did tell mom. I wish that she could do something like that, and I could tell mom… “John! Get in here!” my mom bellowed from inside the house, and I hurried my steps so that I didn’t get into too much trouble. Suddenly, people on horses appeared from my right, with one person on a horse all the way in front of them. It was a she that was ahead. She grabbed me when she passed, and threw me behind her, on her unsaddled horse. I was shocked, and couldn’t do anything to resist. I turned around, and couldn’t believe my eyes. The people on the horses had torches lit, and threw four of them into my house, and the house caught on fire right away. My family ran out of the house, and looked around to see who threw the torches. One of the horsemen pulled out a sword, and cut my mom in half where she was standing. My dad grew pale, and jumped at the horsemen, but he was cut in midair by another horsemen. My sister tried running towards me, but an arrow went through her chest. She coughed up blood, and sank to her knees, and stretched out her arms. I tried to jump off and run towards her, but the lady grabbed me, and held me to my spot. “What do you think you can do for her?” the lady asked, in an acideted I never heard before, still looking towards the east, while trying to get the horse to go faster. Tears ran down my face, and I screamed, “Why can’t I die with my family?! Why did you take me?! I might of saved them… I might of …” “You couldn’t save them even if you were trained by the best swordsman in the world. You’re lucky I took you with me,” she scorned at me, and turned around again, racing towards the forest in front of the horsemen behind us. I leaned on her back, and allowed the tears to flow from me. My sister, oh how I hated her, but I loved her. I couldn’t see my mom or dad again, arguing over something, starring at each other, doing so many things. My life ended; all I wanted was revenge. Revenge for my family, and all the others that died that day. I shall never forget them, not till I reunite with them in the afterlife. I didn’t know how long I was on her back, weeping like a little girl, but when I got up, we were by the river Tober, seven miles away from home. I looked back, but I didn’t see any of the evil men that should have been there. “Who are those men?” I asked, my voice still shaking from the sadness that gripped my heart, and never will leave again. “Those were men from the Emperor Cordon, who rules far to the east. He has attacked my land for ten years now, and we have fallen. He is slowly pushing east, and nothing stands in his way,” she answered, but looking towards the north, “But, we have one hope left…” I waited, thinking that she would finish her thoughts already. I waited for a while, and then asked, “What’s our last hope? I hope your not talking about the winged creature that appears in the distance…” I started, but she stopped me in my tracks. “Yes, the winged creatures that you say, are creatures that have been tamed, like horses,” she said, and patted the horse on the neck, “They are called the Labyrinth, and have been outside for many years. No one remembers what the creatures are called, but scholars.” My second shock of the day. I would perhaps meet the creatures! “But, doesn’t that mean we could be killed if we try to enter there lands?” “Maybe, but I hope not. They told us long ago, that they will aid us, whenever we require it,” she whispered, and stood up straighter in her saddle, and looked off to the west, “Where do they usually go?” “They usually go north, but I did see them go south once, many years ago,” I answered, hope starting to fill me. Revenge shall be mine! “Then we go south,” she said, and turned towards the south. “But they usually go north. Why would they go north all the time, then?” I asked, trying to steer the horse north. “Stop!” she yelled, freezing me in my tracks, “The north holds nothing but water. Unless they discovered how to live under water, which I doubt, the logical decision would be to go south, where there is land,” she answered, and re-steered the horse south, and we started out at a walk. Off in the distance, I heard cries of women and children, and I hoped that they can have peace soon. I didn’t want to image what was happening to them. I closed my eyes, trying to rid my mind of images of people being harmed in countless ways… We rode through the trees, and perhaps after two miles, we came to a clearing once again. The forest continued in about another two miles, but I thought I saw some horsemen in the east, riding this way. I looked for them, and I found them. Three of them were riding this way, and I think they saw us at the same time. The horses galloped towards us, but they were two miles away. I was praying that we would make it, but we suddenly were in the forest again, but when I looked back, the riders were in the east, but we were deeper south then before. I starred at her head, and asked, “Who are you?” I started to shiver, hoping she wasn’t who I thought she was. She looked around for a time, and turned her head towards me. “I am Hasegawa, Sorecess of the Tower. I hope I didn’t scare you.” I tried to jump off the horse, but I couldn’t move. I looked at her in horror, and being scared to death by the look she gave me. I knew who she was. She was part of a group that came to my farm village, and stole my older sister from me. She was the first Catherine, but my parents still wanted a daughter by that name in the family. This person in front of me was a sorcesses, and was said to steal your very soul whenever they wanted to. “You will sit there, and you will help me ask these people for their assistance. I will not harm you in any way, unless you mess everything up,” she said, viewing through my eyes into my soul. “Yes, mistress,” was all I could say. My throat was just lumped up for anything else to escape my throat. “What is your name, anyway? You never gave me one,” she asked, turning around finally, “And don’t lie; I hate liars more than anything on this world.” I looked at her, and thought about lying to her. I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t live long enough to see the next sunrise. “My name is John, son of George,” was all I said, and I hoped she didn’t think I was lying. She didn’t appear to hear me, and I said it again. She turned around, and horror was on her face, “No… it can’t be…”escaped her mouth in a whisper, and I was confused. Why would she be so fearful of something? “What’s the matter?” I asked her, looking ahead for her, trying to see if we were about to hit a tree. “I’m…I’m…,” she tried to say something, but couldn’t force it out of her mouth, “I’m…I believe that I’m your sister, from many years ago, and those people who were slaughtered were my parents…” she said, and the third shock of the day made me horrified again. “You can’t be…my sister had brown hair, not blonde hair,” I said, trying not to believe what was happening in front of me. Her hair suddenly changed to blond, and she looked at me, “Did she look something like this?” she asked, turning around, stopping the horse dead in it’s tracks. I couldn’t believe it. She was my sister. She had the nose of my mother, small but pointy a bit, with eyes of my father, large and round. I realized my mouth was hanging open, and I shut it right away. I reached up to her face, but I became hesitant. A small part of me still didn’t want to believe that this was my sister, from so long ago… She grabbed my arm, and pushed it against her face. Her face felt just like it did when she took care of me when she was young… I grabbed her hair, and gave it a small thug. It was just like how I was ten years old. I let go, and starred into her eyes, “How… Why did you change your face?” was all I asked. She looked at me for a time, and turned around again, making the horse walk once again, “I didn’t want people to recognize me. I was too embarrassed to show my face in places that I went to when I was Catherine,” she turned around to look into my eyes, “I wish that those other people didn’t come to take me away. I would have had a sister, and saw you grow up…” I looked away, off to the distance, “You didn’t, though; those people took you away from us, from me,” I turned around to face her, “ I never did say goodbye to you when you left. You just…left.” “I didn’t have any choice. It was either I go, or die. I wanted to live, and maybe come back to my family. I knew it was impossible, after I was trained, but the hope was still alive in me. That was what got me through all these years; just to see you before I died. My wish came in a form that I never would expect. And nothing I would wish for you,” she said, and turned around, and I thought I heard a sniffle after a while. I looked at her back for a while, thinking about what to do. I hugged her, and leaned against her back, “It’s nice to have some family alive,” was all I said, and I looked of to the side, starring off. She did return, like our parents said she would. I never believed it. After she left, without saying goodbye, I just thought she didn’t care about us, and hated me especially. If only she stayed, life would be so much different than it was today. With everyone that I ever knew dead or dying, there was a gap in my heart. The gap grew and grew, making me think that I would burst, and join them in the after life, and be happy forever. We reached the river Cover, but I never came here. The only reason I knew where we were was because of a map my dad had, or used to have, now. The map marked off rivers and some cities off in every direction. The map stopped after only twenty miles in almost every direction, except for the north. The map stopped only after ten miles of just trees, and one river, but it didn’t have a name. I wish I remembered a little more of what laid to the south of here, but I just wanted to go to the east, where all the great cities where. After hours of riding, the sun was dropping to the west, and all that was around us were trees of every size. Oak, maple, pine, and many more, even some that I never before in my life. Catherine stopped the horse, and jumped down. She looked around, and led the horse to a place where there was only branches, and many more things on top of that. “We will camp here tonight,” was all she said, while she pulled off some sacks from her horse. “Where? There’s no where we can lie down here,” I said, looking around to see what she meant. “Under the branches,” she said, and climbed under it. I was amazed. I never thought of hiding under bushes and stuff like that just so that you can sleep. I looked around, taking one good look at the surrounding. Somewhere towards the north, a wolf howled at the full moon that was rising. I saw birds flying towards the west, probably because of all the events that were happening in the east. The trees were thick here, not allowing you to see only a couple of feet in every direction. I felt…scared. I never was a person that liked places that made places seem smaller than they were. That’s why I didn’t want to go under there; I was afraid of dieing there. I knew I had to go, or I would never hear the end of it from her, of what I remembered about her. I picked up the branch that was in the way, and I took a deep breath. I put my head under it, and climbed in. The place was completely different than how I expected it to be. The hole was at least four feet deep, and there were places where you could hang your stuff. I knew she had something to do with it, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to go on a bad start with my sister, especially know. I felt tears going down my checks, and I realized that I was thinking about the rest of my family, the ones I grew up with. I sank down onto the floor, and wept once again. I didn’t understand why they had to kill everyone. Why couldn’t they just take them, and put them in a cell, or something like that. Then I could save them, and bring them back, and start my life over again… I felt my sister’s hand on me, saying some sort of words, but I wasn’t listening. I pushed her away, and she seemed shocked for a moment, but only for a moment. She went and sat down, and looked at me. I put my head between my legs, and cried every tear out of me, it seemed. I looked up again, but my sister had moved off to the side, cooking something over a small fire. I wiped my tears away, and crawled towards her. I felt something stop me from moving. I couldn’t move at all. I pushed against it with all my might, but I still couldn’t move. I stopped moving, and became scared. She had me in some sort of grip that I couldn’t move. She turned around, and starred at me in cold fury. I tried to back up, but I couldn’t move that way either. Catherine moved towards me, though. She had a spoon with some sort of soup in it, and I knew it was for me. My eyes went wide, and I couldn’t think about anything else but that soup. I opened my mouth to say something, but she thrust the spoon into it instead. The contents had a taste of so many mixtures, that I couldn’t tell one from the other. I just swallowed, and hoped it wasn’t anything that would kill me, but I had to do something to get back in her good graces. I felt something happening in my stomach, and I just wanted to get rid of everything in my stomach. But, to my horror, I couldn’t open my mouth, and I was stuck with my puck in my mouth. I had to swallow it; it would have been worse if I kept the contents inside of my mouth. I looked at her, hoping for some form of mercy from her, but I didn’t receive any. She walked around, and she waited for something to happen, it seemed. She looked at me, and then walked around me again. I felt something in my gut, but it wasn’t in my stomach, like I first thought it was. The feeling was warm, and growing all around my gut. The warmth slowly went through my entire body, and I just felt happy. I got scared when I saw something like spider-webs around me, but I looked at them. The feeling was pulling at me to destroy the webs itself with something, but I couldn’t figure out what. I thought for a long time, but I still didn’t know how to get rid of the web around me. The idea came to me to concentrate my mind to get rid of them. I concentrate on the webs, and they slowly feel apart. Some force was trying to put them back up, but I just concentrate a bit harder then before. Before I knew it, the webs were gone, and I could move. I got up, slowly, looking at Catherine in a new light. “What did you do to me?” I asked, in a voice which had no emotion in it at all. “I just wanted to know if the theory was true, and I guess it is…” she said, but she trailed off. I thought of the web around her, the same way they were around me, and she couldn’t move or talk anymore. I was happy; I could do the same thing back to her. I walked around her, thinking of what to do. I let go of the webs after a while, and she fell to the ground, but she still looked up to me, in horror. I looked down at her, in cold fury. I went to the pot with the mixture still inside of it, and smelled it. I got light-headed, and pulled myself away from it. “What is this stuff?” I asked, waiting for the answer. I didn’t hear one, so I turned around. She had a knife in her hands, ready to throw it at me. “I wish I didn’t have to do this, but all men who can channel anything must die,” was all she said, and she threw the knife at me. I made the webs around the knife, and the knife stopped right in front of my face, brushing my nose. I pulled the knife out of the air, and dropped the webbing in the air. I looked at her, and then to the knife. The knife had a symbol on it; two swords, both connected at the points, blood flowing over both of them, with a man and woman in the background. They were both wearing robes, but I couldn’t tell anything more from it. I looked at her, and she was up, reaching for another knife. I went up to her, and grabbed her arm. She looked at me, with sadness in her eyes. I pulled her up, and looked her right in the eyes. “Why?” was all I asked, and she started to shed tears. “Because…” she started, but she stopped herself for a moment, “Because…, all men who can channel die after they first grasp the power. No one knows why, they just do,” she turned away from me, perhaps not to look at my face anymore. I grabbed her face, and turned her around to face me. “I will not…die. I will avenge our family, with or without your help. You will not hold me back. If I have to, I will tie you up, and leave you here, to die. Don’t expect me to do anything less,” I let her go, and went to the other side of the bowl from her. She looked at me, and tears went down her checks. She dropped her knife, and went to her knees. She raised her hands, both arms outstretched to the sky. She started to whisper something, but I couldn’t hear her. She talked too softly for my ears. I started to walk up to her, but stopped. Her knife was on the ground, facing her. The knife was dripping in blood. I rushed to her side, and grabbed her face, “What did you do?!” I screamed at her, but all she did was smile. I looked down, and saw where the knife went into. Her stomach was covered in blood, and the blood didn’t stop coming out. I looked at her face, and tears started to roll out of me, “No…you can’t die yet…I need you…” I said, in a uncontrollable voice. “All sisters are to kill themselves if they can’t control a man who can channel. If she was to live, she would be humiliated by all the other sisters in the world. It is bad enough you survived, but that you’re my brother. I leave this world, in hopes of restoring order, and for forgiveness,” slipped her lips, and she fell against me, no signs of life left in her. I picked her up, and starred at her face, “NO!!! You can’t die!!! You’re not dead, you’re sleeping. Yes, a deep sleep…” I said, but I didn’t believe myself. I dropped her, and fell to the ground. Tears that I thought I could never shed again came, and I cried for what seemed forever. I rolled around, and hit the tree itself. I didn’t feel the pain, but I looked at my fist, and blood covered it. I didn’t care; my last sister was dead, and all I had left were memories. I fell asleep, with dreams of my farm life, and everything going on as usual, until my sister saved me from the horsemen… * * * I awoke in the place where my last family member died. I looked around, and saw my sister, Catherine, lying actually where she did died. I thought perhaps that she was still alive, that everything that happened last night didn’t happen at all. New tears that I thought I was rid of came up once again, and I was weeping like a babe once again. I crawled up to her, and looked down at her. She had a smile on her, and I was taken aback. I didn’t remember her having a smile when she crashed into the floor yesterday. I couldn’t get myself to look through her bags, yet, so I decided to go outside. No one was around, except for her horse. I walked up to it, and looked it over. I found out that it was a male horse, a warhorse if I didn’t miss my guess. I walked up the hill that was in front of me, and tried to see if there was anyone out there. What I saw I couldn’t believe. There had to be at least two thousand men down there, all with swords, walking towards my village. One of them had a symbol of the Queen, and I was thankful. When I looked closer at them, I noticed that none of them had any emotion at all on their faces. They looked ahead, as if they knew that death was coming. I felt their pain. They lost everything they ever knew, and now they just want revenge. They all wanted death, or revenge. That was a certainly. I started to run towards them, but I held myself back, after the thought of my sister. If they saw her, and thought that I did it… I would never receive my revenge. I dropped to the ground, and prayed that they didn’t see me before I dropped down. None of the men down there even looked my direction, but I had to be careful. I didn’t want all the deaths to go in vain. I waited till all the soldiers were out of sight completely. That’s when I got up, and ran back to the place of my sister’s death. It was approaching nightfall once again, and I didn’t wish to sleep in the same place my sister died. Once I got there, I jumped into the hole, and stopped in my tracks. Catherine’s body was missing, as if she came back from the dead. But I then realized that there was a dog inside of the place along with me. I realized that it’s eye’s were red, showing that it was mad. I heard a growl escape his throat, and I knew he would attack. He lounged at me, and all I had to defend myself was my fists. The dog crashed against me, and I felt the bites trying to rip me to shreds. I punched as hard and fast as I could, but that didn’t help me at all. The dog wouldn’t move an inch, even though I realized that I couldn’t feel my arm anymore. I was in shock. I always could defend myself against a dog. I finally remembered that my sister died all because I had magic, and that got me thinking. I did the same thing that my sister did to me, and the dog stopped attacking me. The web was around the dog tightly, as if it was to protect him. I got up, and realized the dog ripped the flesh off my forearm, and I could see my bone under it. I dropped to the ground, and felt the pain for the first time. I made the web go even tighter than I made it, and the dog started to pant. The web went tighter, and the dog was fighting for air. I was happy with my magic skills, what I had. “You are not as smart as I thought you should be by now,” some woman said behind me, and I jumped start up, and turned around once I hit the ground again. The woman had a dress on, but that’s all I could tell. The place was just too dark to see anything else, but I got scared, for I didn’t know who she was. “Who are you?” “You don’t remember me? Well, you were too young to remember anything that was happening to you then. I am the Goddess Seka, and I am your mother,” she answered back, but I didn’t want to believe. I had too many surprises already. I stepped back from her, tripping over the dead dog. I hit the ground, and starred up into the branches. I didn’t want to believe. I looked up, and starred at her. She looked faintly familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked back up at the branches, and thought about life. I just wanted to die. Too many things happened that I would of never of image. I miss my old life. “Why are you running? Well, I did surprise you, but I thought you would be dead, with the rest of your foster family. Come, and you can become a God, “ she said, holding out her hand towards me. “And if I refuse?” I only asked, and a look of fury came over her face. Her open hand became a fist, and fire seemed to glow from her eyes. “If that’s your choice, then you have one choice from me: death”, was all she said, and the pain started. At first it felt like a tooth ach, but it grew and grew, till it felt like a knife going through me. I screamed, but it didn’t help at all. I looked up at her through tires, and saw many webs, so many different colors. It would have been enjoyable to look at, if it wasn’t causing me pain. I did the only thing that I could think of; I tried to reverse the web onto her. At first there was only a wall, but the wall slowly disappeared into a small wall. I pushed at it after a while, and realized that the pain slowly went away. I pushed and pushed, and the pain left me. I smiled, and looked at her. She was in pain, and I was happy, for the first time since the attack. I pushed it even more, and she screamed. She fell to the ground, thrashing about, trying to rid herself of the pain. But, it didn’t work, as my screaming didn’t work. Blood was coming out of her ears, but I didn’t care. After a while, I noticed she wasn’t moving anymore. I went up to her, and checked to see if she was dead or not. She wasn’t breathing, and blood was oozing out of her body. I released the web, and starred at her. “Isn’t a Goddess suppose to me immortal?” I asked no one, and kicked the body. I scratched my head, and then shrugged my shoulders. Oh well. Another body to worry about. I turned around, and looked at my sister. Or what was left of her. Most of her skin was gone, but I turned my head so I didn’t have to look at her anymore. “Well, the people from the west still love to kill,” a woman behind me said, and I jumped around, ready for anything. The woman in front of me was the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on. Her body had curves that any man would want, and a face that just screamed at you to grab. I held myself back, because I noticed she had two men in armor standing behind her. “I was defending myself,” I responded back at her. She lifted an eyebrow, and moved towards me. “That is still killing,” she said to me, and grabbed my arm, “Anyone should understand that. Defending yourself doesn’t mean you have to kill. Killing is evil, and brings more killing. After all the killing is done, there usually is only one person left. The one who only defended himself in the beginning,” said, and anger was cropping unto her face. I looked into her eyes, and said, “I didn’t say it wasn’t killing, but sometimes defending yourself brings on killing. After that, guilt climbs into you. But, I can’t feel guilt right now, not after what happened.” I pulled her hand off, and walked off to the side, replaying the events in the village, my family being slaughtered. “But what could cause so much pain that you can’t feel guilt?” she asked, moving towards her men again. “If your family was slaughtered by men you never saw in your life, wouldn’t you become empty?” I yelled back, and then collapsed to the floor. “What happened to your family? Slaughtered? By who?” she asked, concern creasing her face. “Some empire is pushing this way, and killed everyone in my village. Catherine….” I whispered, my face falling into my hands. I heard movement off to my side, but I didn’t care. Nothing could bother me now. The woman went to her knees in front of me, and looked at me. She reached towards me, but hesitated before exactly touching my arm. “I… I am sorry for your loss. Is there any thing I could do?” she whispered to me, and my head rose a little higher. “Can you tell me where the Labyrinth are?” escaped my lips, but she didn’t react at all. Her face was like stone. “Yes, I can. I am part of the Labyrinth Republic. How do you even know the name?” she asked, and I knew my revenge would come, soon. “My sister, Catherine,” I pointed towards her body, “Told me we were going to search for you, because your people told us they’ll help us if we ever would need it. That’s all I know.” “Is it that bad?” she asked me. “Yes. She told me most of the major cities have fallen, or are being besieged, by that empire I told you about. I don’t know anything else,” I told her, and hope started to crept into my heart once again. Maybe the people from my land can be saved… “Well, I… don’t know about this ‘agreement’ that you told me, but perhaps it’s true,” she said, sitting back on her heels, “But, I will take you to our city. That is all I can promise for right now.” “That is all I want,” I told her, “A bit of hope.” “Then gather what you have, and meet me outside.” She got up from the ground, and brushed the dirt off. I sat there for a little bit, gaping at her. She nodded her head, and walked outside. I was still in a state of shock. The people I was looking for walked unto my doorstep, and revenge could finally be mine. I wonder how this ‘city’ of hers will be like… I finally realized that I was sitting there for too long. I jumped up, and looked around. I didn’t have anything of my own, but my sister might have something in her pack. I grabbed it, and opened it. There were bottles in there, mostly, but something dragged my eyes to it. A book. A very large book. I took it out of the pack, and read the cover. ‘Lightness Spells.’ This could be very useful. I opened to the first page, and read the first spell. It was something about healing, but I didn’t have time to look through it all. I shut the cover, and put it back into the pack. I looked around, for the last time, at the place of horror. I walked outside, and the three were sitting on their horses, looking off to the east. They didn’t notice I was there, so I walked to my horse. I patted the horse’s neck, just to make sure it wouldn’t kick at me or something like that. I jumped on, and noticed there was another pack on it. I wanted to look inside, but I didn’t want the strangers to see anything important. If there was anything important in there. “Come on. I want to get at least half way there by sunrise,” the lady said, while turning south. At least Catherine was right in one thing before killing herself. I stayed in the rear of the small group, and watched as they rode ahead, completely ignoring everything around them. I wouldn’t be that ignorant as they. I looked around, noticing some of the deer as they ran away from us, and the squirrels who climbed the trees, completely ignoring us, as the three in front of me. I saw a bear off in the distance, chasing a wolf, who had something in it’s mouth. Probably something that it stole from the bear. As time went on by, the sky got brighter, until the sun finally rose from the east, and one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. I wish I could exactly feel the emotions from the beauty of it…but I just feel hollow, like a can. The three in front stopped, and started to look around for something. I turned my head, buy couldn’t see anything special. I just looked at their back, hoping someone will tell me something, instead of the silence that has grabbed everything around me. They started to move again, but I still didn’t have a clue of what was going on. I decided that I had to break the silence, in some way, “What’s going on?” I asked, trying to get this ugly mood out of the air. “Something…doesn’t feel right,” the lady said, still looking around, with fear in her eyes. I looked around, and saw smoke in the air, farther to the south. I saw the winged creatures flying high above them, as if they were running away from something. The three in front noticed, too, and made the horses gallop ahead. I shock my shoulders, and did the same thing. I caught up to them, but I didn’t want any attention drawn to myself, so I dropped back a bit. When we reached the smoked area, I went blank. I couldn’t describe the echoes that was happening that day, but it was horrible. Men screaming for wife’s and children that they couldn’t find, women running around, trying to find their loved ones. Children running away from the fire, and one exactly ran into my horse. I looked down, and wanted to cry. The child in front of me had it’s face burned off, and blood was gushing in every direction. The kid finally fell to the ground, too weak to keep on fighting for life. I jumped down, and said a prayer for him to go to the afterlife, where there is everlasting peace. I looked up, and noticed people were looking at me. I looked down, and noticed I had blood all over my clothing, but that didn’t matter to me. I lead my horse past the people, and sadness gribbed my heart once again. The buildings were all on fire, with the smell of both burned wood and the smell of the deceased. I just wanted to run away, but I knew that I had to stay, and help, in any way that I could. I just wish the scene wasn’t so disturbing…. I walked by a child who was trying to breath, but couldn’t. The child’s face was completely burned off, the second of the kind. I thought about helping, and the book came to mind. I took it out of the pack, and opened it. The healing spell was there, ready to be used. I read it, once, and then again. The spell required that I cut the tip of my finger, and mix my blood with the person’s blood. I took out my belt knife, and dabbed my finger. I let the blood drip onto the child’s face, and put the webbing around it’s face the way the book told me to. The child’s face slowly came back together, and I realized what I just did. The shock of it almost made me drop the child. But I held on, just because I knew people were watching me. “There you are, little girl,” I whispered to the little child in my arms, “Can you move?” the child looked around, surprised, or shocked, on her face. “I…Yes,” the girl spilled out, looking up at me, “Thank you.” “Your welcome,” I told her, helping her up, “Now, run to someone you know, if you can find them.” She ran off, hope filling her face before she ran off. “What…How…,” a woman on my right whispered, terrified for some odd reason. “It’s called magic, and please, don’t say anything against it. Magic just saved that child there. She can grow up, and tell the story of what happened here today. This shall never be forgotten,” I told her, and then I walked off. That’s all I did for the entire day: I walked around, and healed people. Most of them were children, but some were old grandpa’s and grandma’s. I asked them if they wanted to live. Most said no, but there were some yes’s in the huge pile of bodies. The entire day felt as if it was dream, no, a nightmare. The bodies just got bigger and bigger. At one point I just wanted to lay down with them, and die. I almost did it, but a child near death stopped me. I had to push myself more and more, just so that I wouldn’t kill myself. After the long day, the sun finally decided to set, off to the west. The sunset would have been more beautiful if death wasn’t all around me. I found a rock, a little ways out of town, and leaned against it. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The smoke seemed to be red, and a face seemed to appear from it. It was laughing at everything below him, and I knew it was the evil emperor. All the people who died… The head disappeared, as fast as it appeared. Thoughts crossed my thoughts, ranging in many areas. One was just to go and find this emperor, and kill him. But, I knew that wouldn’t be enough. That’ll be just cutting the arm off. Another would eventually attach itself to the body, and then this would happen again, and again. The cycle has to be stopped. Maybe if I destroyed the lands that they lived in… The lady who found me in the forest was walking up to me, with a sword drawn already. I pushed myself from the rock, and fell straight on my face. My legs couldn’t support me anymore. I picked up my head, one of the few things that I could, and saw her standing on top of me. The sword was raised above her head, ready to come crashing down. I couldn’t do anything, I was so weak. “You are a monster, and must be killed. I don’t care what you did, evil will come out of you eventually,” she growled at me. “I’m evil, am I? What evil have I done?” I asked her, hoping to distract her long enough that I’ll have some energy back. “You can control magic, and anyone who can control magic is evil,” she answered, while panting, “We have done away with magic, only because we know of the evil that can come out of it.” “It shouldn’t matter if you have magic; the thing that matters is how you use it. Magic is just a tool. It can me abused just like any other tool. Like a fork. A fork should only be used for eating, but a fork can become a weapon. It just matters about the user, and what kind of person he is.” She stood there for a while, looking down at me. Finally, she dropped the sword onto her side, and backed away from me. I made a sigh of relief, and tried to get up. That was harder than I thought. My body didn’t want to function the way I wanted it too. The only thing I accomplished was to sit up, against the rock. I looked up at her, waiting for something to happen. She cried out a war cry, and starting running towards me, sword tip first. My eyes went wide with freight, and the only thing that came to mind was to use magic. I made the webbing extremely dense, so that nothing could cross it. I waited, and hoped for the best. The sword stopped just short of my face. I reached up, and gribbed the sword out of her hands, and stood up. I walked around her, and looked for anymore weapons that she could use against me.