He entered the small room. A group of men had doting looks on their eyes as they stare at the green-haired Vie who sat with her shoulders tuck. The group of men had their arms folded and asked Vie questions. They were particularly interested in the new arrival.
"Your hair is it poison?" said one of them.
"Yes. The enchantment gave my head the enchantment of over 152 poisons," answered Vie.
"Are we going to get poisoned by it?" asked another.
"No, the poison is dormant unless it is plucked off my head or I will it to become poison. I am immune to the effects so I have no problems with it. I can drench my whole hair inside a barrel and I can turn a barrel of water into poison."
"So I can do this?" said the man who patted Vie's head.
"Yes, but I am not a kid!" said Vie.
"I see," the other man patted her head.
"Stop it!" she said with her cheeks pouting.
The men who were surrounding Vie laughed heartily. Castro who was eyeing the scene took a glance at Nolan and approached him with a slow pace and arched his arms on his shoulders. Nolan grunted. He looked at Castro. His brows closed together.
"Nolan, why would you put a flower into this place of men? Now, look at the bumbling fools, acting like fathers to this young woman! She's going to be doted here!"
"That's bad!" said Castro. "These sons of bitches would miss their long lost ones! We are steel hearted and tough sons of bitches that could brave through hostile lands! But in the end, we are lone walkers who lost everything!"
"Yeah, but she's a walker too. She must have lost everything to walk the bleak path," Nolan retorted.
Castro said, "I know that. But look at that gloomy face of hers. These former fathers would want to protect that! But it isn't bad since they would have to act like role figures. Really, they just can't help but dote on young ones."
"I get that," said Nolan. He experienced the doting of these men who were former fathers. Despite the sigils in his eyes, they would try and give advice to Nolan when they can. They know that Vie isn't an incompetent person but they still think of themselves as older men who have experience in life and that they need to advice them.
Nolan glanced at Vie and saw that even though she was pouting. Her gloomy countenance beamed a strange happiness. There were women bleak walkers that would come to the outpost but they don't often stay too long. Bleak Walkers might be men and women who have lost everything to walk the bleak path. But they are not heartless men who feel no emotions. They just expect things to happen so they can ease their hearts and prevent it from breaking.
"You don't have to walk the bleak path with just two legs," said Nolan. "
Castro smiled. "That's right, there's no rule that you can walk down the bleak path alone. Even if those you walk with are left behind, you carry the weight they would leave behind on your chest. And you haul it with you until you stop, lay your back on the ground and stare up."
Nolan nodded and Castro pulled his arm back. Nolan walked to one of the tables and put down his mantle. On his hand was a contained filled with paint. Nolan took a brush and started drawing a cross with a snake coiling around it. On top of the cross, there was a dove standing in the middle of a crown of thorns.
Vie slid to the seat across Nolan and eyed the sigil that he was drawing. She nodded her head at the sight of the drawing. She kept her silence. The men that were talking to Vie noticed Nolan drawing the sigils and nodded their heads. They dispersed and went back to their seats and continued doing what they were doing.
Castro went back to the counter and started to sharpen the weapons and oiled them. Nolan was quite as he slowly adds detail to the cape. He made sure that the drawing was clear and the painting would stick. Vie kept her silence and folded her arms quietly.
Nolan was lost in thought. His hands slowly stopped moving as he took the cape with him and clamber up to the balcony. He put the cape on the ground and let it dry under the sun. He gazed upon the blue sky and started to feel dizzy. He trotted down and went down to the underground beds. He walked to where his bed was and laid his body. He stared at the ceiling and thought of many things. He raised his hands up and looked at his palms, his eyes flickering. His face contorted into a frown as if the scars he carried inside him ached and throb. He closed his eyes and slowly fell into slumber.
He found himself in an abyss of nothingness. A chilly feeling invigorated him as he found himself reliving the nightmares of the past. His painful days as a lost child transported into a cruel world. He remembered the days he begged for alms and scavenges the alleys behind taverns for leftovers. He remembered the days he suffered training as the guard of throes. He remembered the times he escapes death and fought to survive. He remembered finding hope and acting like a love-struck fool. He remembered breaking his heart to the point that he was throwing his life away for the sake of revenge.
The abyss suddenly stirred and rippled. He found himself reliving the events. He found himself walking through many lands and climbing a slippery mountain along with a Band of Bleak Walkers. They followed a trail until they reached the highest summit of the mountain. He remembered the strange happiness as he rested his body and drinks the canteen he was carrying. The others rested their butts as their chest goes up and down. A man started to lay down the tents and some started to check their gear. He was about to help the band he was with but noticed someone walking to the edges of the cliff.
A man stood tall and faced the half rose sun and basked his body upon the warmth of the light. The man wore worn leather armor and a cloak torn stained with blood. His face showed exhilaration as he looked over his left shoulder.
"The warmth of light blesses us! Haha, do not fret brothers! We have longed walk this path for too long!"
The same man lay bleeding on his own pool of blood. His face showed a daring smile as he gazes at the grey-haired young man that was holding his tears back. His face contorted as if he would break at any second. The man in his pool of blood grinned up to his ears.
"Nolan! Be good! Be strong! Be brave! Carry your heart through the bleak path! Do not let the Light of Hope die! Live and fight through this hell!"
A bearded man with a head full of white stood standing despite the arrows on his backs. His face was stolid and stern and his bastard sword acted as his support. The man with the grey-hair in front of him was holding his tears back. His hands shaking and unsteady as he looks at the bearded man with a head full of white.
"Why do you fear, Nolan! You've walked this Bleak Path! You've fought monsters no adventurers would dare to face unprepared! You fought through the barren lands and marched with Heroes! So stand up and steel your heart you fool! This old man will be your shield until the last of my blood drops! Now go and Charge damn it!"
In a hill of flowers, a group of men garbed in hooded cloaks stabs swords in the ground. They held gloomy faces as they began to form up into a column. They muttered prayers and blessings. They shed their tears and clenched their fist.
"Brothers, we will leave you all to rest here!"
A battlefield with armies of men scattered and charged at gigantic beings and monsters with hides and scales harder than iron. A column of robed men raised their staff as they fire arrows made of energy and chanting words of power that silenced and blinded the enemies. A tall man with muscled arms raises his great sword and shouted.
"Why do you fear, my brothers! Why do you hesitate when you'll have nothing to lose! Or could it be that you want to live forever? In the name of all that is good in this world, attack!"
Six figures glowed with the elemental power faces a gigantic hill-like monster with their backs steadier than any wall. They unleashed their powers and faced the hill-like monster who unleashed an Armageddon of spells towards them. The six figures fought with fire, water, wind, earth, energy, and light. Their domineering figure shining as the rank and file soldiers held their shield wall. Men garbed in torn cloaks with sigils of animals wove through the shield wall and shouted
"Hold the line! I don't care if you lose your heads! Hold the fucking line! Damn it Shawls! You still have a fucking arm left! Push now!"
"Nolan! You pick up that shield! Damn it! We are still not near the Overlord! So when I say push! You will fucking push!"
The image changed into another chaotic battlefield with demons standing ten feet tall and overlooking the whole army with sneers and scoffs. The army charged with their pikes. The great helm wearing men armed with maces and shields glowed as they smash their maces on the army of demons. Men with battleaxes charge at the giants and held them off. Men garbed in torn cloaks with sigils ran doggedly as they strike the enemies that have been neutralized by a wizard's spell. Maidens in plated armor rushed with their spears, their plated armor protecting them from projectiles.
Men and women wearing animal fur turned their bodies into bears, wolves, lions, and even panthers. Their bodies were slowly torn and skinned as enemies charged. The men and women fought as armies of horrifying and grotesque demons charged them with intents to devour them.
"Nolan! Charge to the Castle of the Overlord! Let the Overlord see the sigils of hopes in your eyes! Let it be known that a Bleak Walker reached this far! See the Light of the Days for us! Hope lives! Don't extinguish it! We shall burn them with our might!"
"Run Walker! Run and let it be known that Light's Army trusts you with this task!"
"Go! Tell them Crusaders of the Salt Passing reached the barrens!"
"Go! Tell them Marlon's disciples reached the pale pass!"
"Go! Tell them that army of men reached the barrens!"
"Go! Tell them that the Sword Maidens of Throes reached the end!"
The Grey haired man hesitated before weaving through enemy lines. A person in violet robes gazes at the dashing figure of the Grey haired man. Her eyes pouring tears, her hands trembling as she bit her lower lip and unleash a myriad of spells!
"Run! Let hope live, you tasteless man!"
He saw the myriads of spells that landed on him. It invigorated him as he sprints out of the battlefield and into the barren desert where the overlord's castle should be. The surroundings suddenly started to blur. The images of those who were left behind appeared as he runs.
Their faces were stern and solid. Their chest was thrusted out with pride as they raised their chin. There was no regret for their actions. Their visage stayed still as if protecting him. The dim darkness and the glow on his body from the myriad of spells made him look like a torch in the dark.
"Go!"
A scarred woman with a gentle smile appeared like a mirage and patted his back. His mind and heart steeled. His fist clenched as he runs from the battle behind his back. His figure slowly vanishes into the horizon of the desert. The sigils of the Dove of Thorns and the Snake of Woes flowed on his cape.
Nolan opened his eyes. His face wet with tears as he slowly rose up and scan his surroundings. A trace of bitterness riddles his face. His countenance turned into a grimace. He sat up and grab his hair and started to feel the weight he was carrying along with him...