Edward's body froze at the question posed to him. Patho? Why would these people need to go to Patho? What was it at Patho that piqued the interests of these bandits? The fishing? The goods? No, that wouldn't make any sense. Fishes could be obtained anywhere where there is water and Patho does not have any unique type of goods, so that means that the only logical reason why these people would need to go to Patho would be the people... They are looking for someone. The moment Ed came to that conclusion, his body started to tremble a little... his family was in danger.
"P-P- Patho? I have no idea where that is... I didn't even know such a place existed... what a unique name.. hahaha...", Ed said in a stuttered voice, sweating.
Lohk, staring Ed into his eyes, "Is that so? *points dagger at his neck* I think you're lying... *inches knife closer to Ed's neck, touching it* Liars deserve to have their tongues cut off..."
Ed's heart began to beat furiously. His pupils expanded from the fear of death. He looked at the dagger carefully that was right before him. It had ragged edges. Perhaps from all the men that Lohk had killed before. Ed was afraid. He did not want it all to end it here.
Tholgaius walked towards Lohk and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't bother Lohk. He's scared enough as it is. We've shown him the power difference already."
Lohk released Ed from his grasp and sheathed his daggers. He sighed and walked away from Ed whose back was on the floor. Lohk halted. He looked at the night sky that beheld the dreams of men like him.
"What is your name, child?", asked Lohk
"Edward, Edward Hars.", replied Ed warily.
Lohk placed his arms behind his back. He continued to look at the sky, silently, ignoring Ed's response. He then looked at Ed, staring into his soul.
"You know what keeps me going everyday in this world without losing my sanity? What gets me out of bed and do what needs to be done?"
Ed got himself up slowly as the pain was still stinging throughout his entire body. He faced Lohk, with his hand on his abdomen. What sort of man was Lohk like? He looked as if he had sacrificed his humanity, seen his friends and loved ones die before him and killed people, many people along the way. All of which explained his dead eyes that were filled with despair, waiting to be saved.
Ed, in a disgruntled voice, "I don't care what gets you out of your fucking bed. Or what keeps you going everyday... I know this may seem self-centered of me and many people have told me that but I could care less... What I care about is finding more about this world, how it functions, why things are meant one way and not the other... You keep doing things as if you're satisfied but your eyes clearly say otherwise! I'll ask you instead, WHY DO YOU KEEP LIVING?"
Lohk turns around and looks at Ed with a disdained face. He stares at Ed for about ten seconds, making Ed uncomfortable.
"You're so ambitious aren't you? You wanna know why I keep living huh? *scoffs* It's power. Power to not just rule over one's autonomy, but power so I can kill and bathe in the blood of my enemies... *walks towards Ed* This world is a cruel place and the only way to make the world less cruel is to become the embodiment of it. That is true freedom. Many men want it, but they won't work for it, much less sacrifice people for it. But I am different, I choose to dream and I choose to act on that dream. Freedom is the ultimate dream to have and in order to have absolute freedom one must have absolute power. Absolute power over other people, so as they won't trample on your freedom."
When Ed heard those words, he contemplated his whole reason for escaping and the events that happened the past few days. Lohk was in a way not wrong on his philosophy whatsoever- logically or morally speaking. In a way, both of them were similar. One sought power in order to be free and the other sought freedom in order to gain knowledge. The freedom. Both wanted it. Both needed it. But it beckons the question in Ed's mind- how does one gain freedom? Does one become free when one leaves another to do whatever the other pleases or is one free when one chooses to do whatever one wants; even going so far as to killing? Ed was never free. Truly free that is. He was always constrained by his parents, his friends, the village. Even now, after running away from the village he was constrained by these bandits- Lohk and his bunch of goon bags. Why? Simple. He was weaker. Powerless. But what was there to do about that? He was a small kid. No muscles. No combat experience. Only his analytical deductions to make out of the situation he was in. Simply being smart was not enough to be free. But power. Yes power, with power he can be free. Free to explore the world, free to obtain knowledge about the world and its functions. No constraints. Ed needed power.
"Tsk. I guess you are right... The weak must give way to the strong. In this case you are the strong one and the rest of us here, your bandits and me, we are the weak ones. Therefore, you are free... Haha... I hate to admit it but you are right."
"Exactly. You are a smart kid Edward. Your intelligence, wariness and observational skills will certainly bring you a long way... Perhaps you can take me down in the future. If you are up to it..."
Ed barfed at the statement. Lohk was watching him the whole time? Even when he was fighting? How? When did he look at Ed in the eyes? Ed's thoughts raced through his mind and eventually led him to retch out the food he had eaten. He looked up and met with the gaze of Lohk's eyes. Ah, those dreaded dead eyes filled with despair. Ed has met with it so many times, yet it still sent chills down his spine. What a monster this man was, Ed thought to himself.
"How dare you!"
Lohk moves towards Ed, making a fist to punch him with.
Ed fell onto the ground and covered his head with his arms, he could not do anything. Fighting back would be a death sentence. He was simply weaker. All he could do was beg for the mercy of the monster that was about to beat him to a pulp.
"I'm sorry! Please no! Don't!"
Silence ensued for about ten seconds.
"Good. You have learnt your lesson. All this- me beating the fuck out of you, me fighting my men and our conversation. All this is to show the vast power difference between me and you Edward. You are on the ground begging for mercy, while I stand here looking down at your unimportance! Do you see now? I am free. You are not. *moves towards Edward and takes a knee* Remember this day Edward. Remember that there are people above you. People that are more free than you. Know. Your. Place."
Ed's tears came out of his eyes. He was trying so hard to hold back. To at least keep the gap of power as it is. But as it turns out, he was just a kid. Just a small kid in this big world. Ed started to bawl. It was as if the dam had been broken, after holding the water in for centuries finally being broken by a crack in the structure. The crack was in this case, Lohk. The world really is a cruel place.
Lohk continued to look at Ed and his pathetic state. Was this really the man that will bring him down? There were countless people that went after him in the past, seeking revenge. But there was something about Edward. Just something about him that made Lohk think that he would be a threat and that he should kill him right here, right now. But he chose not to. He had already established to Edward that there was a vast power difference between the two. So there was no reason to kill him. Plus killing a child in front of his men would really bring down the team morale. As any sane person seeing Lohk killing a child would mean that he has no principles, is unpredictable; therefore unreliable. Now Lohk would not want that would he? He is a man of ambition. An ambition of power. He cannot meddle himself with such petty things like a crying child.
"Gather now my men! We shall go and search for the city of Patho! Take out the fires!", shouted Lohk to his men.
The bandits put out the fire and packed their weapons and gear, all in a span of a single minute. They then formed two rows of straight lines behind Lohk. A very organised structure. One would think that they are a military battalion and not a group of bandits.
"Listen carefully my men! We may not know where specifically the village is but we are going to follow this dirt road. It should lead to the general direction of where Patho should be and when we reach Patho, *clenches fist and puts it closer to his heart* we will be one step closer to our revenge. Let's march forth!"
"AYE!", shouted the bandits.
As the men shouted, they moved towards the path of Patho. Like a raging stampede moving forward to cause destruction. It was terrifying. A bunch of giants marching towards a small and measly village to cause absolute destruction. What can Edward do? His family, friends, everyone in the village were in danger.
Ed, thought to himself, "I can't do anything... I'm too fucking weak! *punches ground* If only... I was stronger..."
As the horde of destruction headed off into the horizon and away from Ed's eyes, Ed gathered the courage to stand up and gather his thoughts. There was no way he can stop a horde of fifty giant men, let alone fight them one on one. He would have to distract them- no mislead them into thinking that they are heading into the right path. Yes, that way everyone in the village will be safe and Ed would not feel any regret from leaving the village.
krush* *krush* *krush*
Ed felt like he could no longer breathe. He was jogging for at least three hours, following the bandits footprints that seemed to grow fainter as the minutes go by. Ed's eyelids felt so heavy that he would take two seconds to open them. He cannot stop here. Not now. He had to cover as much ground as he could before nightfall because that was when he could no longer keep track of the footprints.
Ed, whispered to himself, "I need to stop them... Gotta save everyone... In the village..."
*looks up*
Ed sighed. Nightfall was about to come, he had to get away from the dirt road and get to higher ground. He recalled from his grandfather that at night it was when the deadliest predators came out- shadow beasts, tunnelers and even humans. The things that all these beings had in common was their adeptness in the dark and their unpredictability. And although Ed is the adventurous type, he was not willing to experiment this time, not when his entire village is in danger.
A tree. A tree with either broad enough branches or with a hole in it would be good. How hard could it be to find one? Very hard in fact. All the branches were too narrow, which were unable to support his already small stature. Nor were there any holes in any trees. The rope was burning. Ed had to find an optimal tree fast, he cannot lose his life here. Not now.
"Ah, damn it! Looks like i have to delve deeper into the forest and away from the dirt road... I'll have to place down a marking then, so that I won't lose my way when I wake up."
Ed took off his bag and placed it on the ground. He searched relentlessly for a rope and dagger, his dad's dagger. His whole bag was a mess, no proper compartmentalisation; just like his life.
Ed, trying to keep his voice down, "Ah!"
He found it, at the cost of cutting his finger that is. Ed pulled out the dagger from his bag. He looked at the dagger, it was beautiful and seamless. He was glad that he had not taken out the knife in order to defend himself against Lohk and the bandits, because if he did, who knew what would have happened?
Now what Ed needed was a rope, if Ed recalled he had packed a rope into his bag. Why? He felt like he needed it, plus ropes serve a multitude of utilities.
"Where... arghhh... is it?" *places hand deeper into the bag*
Ed felt something rough. He had found it. He grabbed it out of the bag and to his surprise, he did get what he was looking for, but only half of it. The rope had been cut. Ed looked at his dagger and put two and two together, yes, it must have been when Ed was jogging or maybe even before that, or both. Whatever it was, it was not good. But he had to make do with it anyway.
"Hopefully I'll find an optimal tree in time with this." *wraps rope around his fingers*
Ed headed straight into the forest, away from the dirt road, he then found a tree, (third one away from the dirt road, so that he could still see the path of the dirt road) took the rope and tied it on the handle of the dagger. He then aimed the knife at the tree and threw it. The knife flew through the air and landed on the tree, it was high enough, that people had to look up in order to take notice of it.
"Now, time to find that tree."
Ed headed off deeper into the forest. He had about twenty metres worth of rope to work with, and if necessary, he could use the other half, that was about fifteen metres, if he did not find a tree.
There was no optimal tree in sight, he had about five metres worth of rope left. He continued to delve deeper into the forest, hoping to find it. But to no avail. Ed sighed. He had to use the other half of the rope. He tied both ends of each half and then moved forward. A tree. The tree, it has to be close, close enough so that his rope length can accommodate for it.
Ten metres, nine metres, eight metres... The rope was nearing its end. Ed feared that there was no hope and that he would have to resort to sleeping on the ground, exposed to external dangers and such. But at the last metre of the rope, Ed had found it, the optimal tree, its branches were wide, wide enough to fit two Ed's that is. Ed sighed and threw the end of the rope next to the optimal tree.
"Argh!"
Ed placed his hand on his abdomen.
Ed had exerted too much on that throw, his abdomen was feeling extreme pain . Two of them to be exact. As Ed writhed in the pain, his surroundings started to look darker and gloomier. Nightfall is here. Ed ran to the optimal tree and and hugged it with his arms and legs. He then started to climb the tree, moving his arms first then followed by his lower body. A stinging pain struck through his abdomen. But he cannot stop there, he must reach the branch. *rub * rub* Just a few more centimetres until the branch. The pain from his abdomen made Ed want to give up, but he can't. His will to live, his family, his curiosity for the world all prevented him from giving up here.
"Just- argh! A bit- More! Got it!"
Ed hoisted himself up on the branch and lied down on it. He clutched on his abdomen and started to cry. He missed it. His mother's cooking, playing with his friends, the occasional village feasts that were held every other week. He looked at the sky, it was already dark. The stars had illuminated the dark and gloomy atmosphere and it gave Ed a ray of hope of what was to come.
Ed will save everyone and go on to have his adventure after doing so.
Ed, thought to himself, "I will have to formulate a plan tomorrow when I wake up. I'll have to stop them from getting to the village. Perhaps a visual distraction or a sound distraction would work. It would have to be on a massive scale though, so as to catch their attention."
Ed grinned. He had the greatest idea yet. This idea was one of ingenuity and knowledge. The likelihood of it working would be more than half. It would definitely work a hundred percent if a man named Lohk weren't leading them.
*rustle* *rustle* *rustle*
As Ed's sweat dripped down his forehead, he contemplated on whether his idea would work. He looked at the instrument of destruction beside him, a horn. The horn of Fjelberg to be exact. Fjelberg was what he could recall from his grandfather, a band of the strongest warriors in all of Kalkarra. They were feared so much by men in the country, that when the horn was blown, men would start to flee, in order to not get caught in the Fjelberg's path of carnage. That was the rationality behind Ed's creation of the Fjelberg horn; to scare off the bandits and bluff them into thinking that the Fjelberg were nearby.
Ed, took the horn with his right hand.
"I sure hope this works. Took me about three hours to craft this piece, would have been lesser if I actually crafted horns, instead of just watching granddad do it."
The insides of the bush were humid, Ed could not stop sweating. He feared failure and the annihilation of his entire village, his entire race. He could not fail here, not when everyone's life rests on his shoulder. He peered through the bush with his left hand, trying to see what was going on. Nothing as of yet- the village elder and Lohk looked like they were talking, even having a laugh together it seems. Lohk's men were on standby, waiting for his very command. Could this all be a ruse? Was what Lohk said two days ago all a lie? The talk about revenge and all that was just to instill fear into Ed was it not? Perhaps it was, after all Lohk was an unpredictable man. All that was just for show; the fight between Lohk and his men, Lohk beating him up and his speech. All of it was to just teach Ed that the world did not revolve around him. Ed put down his horn and sighed.
"That's a reli-"
As Ed uttered those words, the sight of blood, caught his eye. It was spurting through the air, flawlessly. It all happened in a span of less than a second, but in Ed's mind it was longer, everything moved slower, the swinging of the sword by the bandit to the collision of his blade and the elder's neck, the blood spurting and the elder's flying decapitated head.
Ed was wrong after all. This was the worst case scenario.
RAOOOOOOOO RAOOOOOOOOOOO RAOOOOOOOOO
Ed blew the horn.
All the bandits looked around and held their weapons in a defensive manner, ready to take on any enemies coming their way. Ed could see that some of the bandits had fell trap to the bluff, running away from the village, putting their life as the top priority; as any reasonable man would.
More blood. More dead. The runaways were killed off by the other loyal men in Lohk's group. It seemed like Lohk ordered them to kill off the traitors in the group. It was brutal, some had their heads severed off, others their limbs, while some were tortured. It was utter chaos. Sure any form of betrayal in a group should not be tolerated- Ed agreed with that philosophy. But the way it was dealt with was one Ed could not agree with. It was irrational, disproportionate and absolutely disgusted Ed's eyes. And the fact that it had ensued on for a whole ten minutes made Ed barf from the revolting acts that the bandits were engaging in. Spilled guts, decapitated heads, severed limbs, oh right there, one of them had their spine pulled out. So much blood. So much chaos. Was this what Ed wanted to find out? That the world was this cruel?
"Fuck! Ed thought to himself, shaking.It didn't work... Lohk saw through it right away! What gave it away? The fact that there were no men charging at them? Or was it right when I blew the horn? But either way, my plan didn't work! Damn it!", Ed thought to himself, shaking.
Ed looked at Lohk, his eyes expanded when Lohk raised his arm. He knew that it was certainly over and that Ed's 'ingenious' plan was all for naught.
The bandits started to beat up the villagers, the men were rounded up and tied up and among them, Ed could see his father- all bruised and beaten up. Ed clenched his teeth at the sight of it. The women were dragged in front of the men, their clothes were ripped off their bodies and they were raped, gang raped. Ed could see his mother being one of them. Tears came down Ed's eyes. There was nothing he could do, absolutely nothing. His plan of stopping the bandits ended in failure and this was the result of his selfishness. The downfall of a village, his entire race.
Ed started to cry. There was nothing he could do. He was afraid of standing up against the bandits. All that talk about revenge against the Valeans, wanting to explore the world. Wanting to be free. It was too ambitious. Too unrealistic.
"No... Stop... *punches ground* Just... *punches ground* please... *punches ground* stop..." *punches ground*
Ed saw his mother screaming. From what he could discern from her mouth movement, she was begging the bandits to stop having their way with her. His father was screaming and looked like he was going on about how he would kill all of them. The heinous and deplorable acts of the bandits ensued for about thirty minutes and Ed witnessed it all. From start to the end. Lohk was just there standing, watching his men. It was as if he had seen this multiple times that everything that happened before him was insignificant.
Ed looked at his palms. They were bleeding from the fact that his nails dug deep through his skin; he had clenched his fists very hard throughout the entire endeavour. But there was no physical pain to be felt. No pain was greater than what Ed had in his heart. It felt like it was going to explode.
Ed, with tears streaming down his face, "Ha... this is what I get for-"
A light was glaring and caught the corner of Ed's eye. His eyes expanded at the very sight of what was ahead of Ed. The bandits had torches and started throwing them at the huts. His home.
His village was burning. He could hear the faint screams of the villagers that were having their homes burnt. He bit his lip with his canine so hard that it bled. He was writhing in anger. He wanted to kill all of the bandits, especially Lohk. But what could Ed do? Go in there and die? With his hurting abdomen, bleeding lips and palms? No combat experience, no weapon with him. He had his dagger before but he left it in the forest. All he could do was watch. Watch his friends, family and villagers burn right in front of him. Ed wanted to scream, but he didn't want to be found out. Not when he was the last Angrotorrian standing.
Ed placed his bleeding palms over his mouth and screamed.
Ed: AHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Tears flowed out of Ed's eyes like a waterfall. A helpless child in a world of uncertainty. What was there to do? Nothing. This was what Lohk meant. True freedom. Freedom to do what one pleases. The villagers were not free, they had no power. They were simply weaker. That's what caused their downfall. Weakness. Ignorance. No ambition.
As the minutes passed by, Lohk and his men gathered and moved off, away from the scene of destruction. An ominous aura formed around Lohk, something sinister was growing around him as he and his men walked off into the horizon. The moment that they were no longer visible with the naked eye, Ed walked ran towards his village, hoping that someone would be alive.
"Please, just let there be someone alive. Just someone...", said Ed, panting.
As Ed reached the burning village, he ran through the flames, looking for any potential survivors. Nothing. No one.
"Is there anyone here that is alive? Anyone?", Ed shouted.
A faint cough resonated through the burning rubble, catching Ed's attention. He ran towards it, hoping to save the person who was still in this pile of destruction. Ed froze the moment he saw the person.
"Edward? Is... that you?"
Ed, ran to the person and grabbed him by the hand.
"Don't worry father, I can get you out of here!"
"Don't bother... I won't make it... Just heed my words before its too late..."
Ed tried to move the rubble away from his father's body. If he can't save his mother, sister or anyone else, he can at least save his father.
"No... hmph... I can get you out, then we can get our revenge on those bastards!"
"God damn it Edward, will you listen to me for once! Everyone else is dead!"
Ed stopped trying to move the rubble away from his father's body. There was no way he could even move it in the first place. Even if he were able to, his father had already lost too much blood that it would have all been meaningless. He instead listened to his father's dying words.
Ed, with tears dripping down his face, "What is it father?"
Adam, wiping tears off Ed's face, "It's okay... *coughs blood* You'll be able to explore the lands of Kalkarra, Valea, Estrador, Kyoroh... You'll experience their cultures, customs and systems... and maybe one day you'll rule over them... *laughs faintly*
"But father, I know it in my heart and pride to not forgive those bandits...I feel our people cannot rest, knowing that out there a man named Lohk is breathing, living and doing anything that he pleases. I cannot explore Arret until I kill every single one of them."
Adam, seeing that a flame of hatred was burning in Ed's eyes, sighed.
"Edward. Forget about revenge. You have to live for yourself, not for us anymore... I don't want you to suffer anymore than you already have..."
Ed, clenching his fist, "BUT WHAT THEY DID TO MOTHER, LILY, THE VILLAGE! THEY'RE ALL GONE FATHER! GONE! MOTHER WOULD WANT ALL THOSE BASTARDS DEAD!"
"No, Edward, your mother would have wanted you to live for yourself. Not for her. Even though she lectured you about the outside world, she felt guilty keeping you here and that she only did it because the world out there is cruel and she did not want to lose you... All this time Edward, we were going to explore the world together, me, you, your mother and your sister... once you and Lily were of the right age that is... But now since all that is gone... You have to live on for yourself... for our sake, Edward."
When Ed heard those words, he cried even more. All this time, he thought that his family was against his ambitions. But as it turned out, they were never against him, they were with him.
"Don't cry, Edward... didn't you *coughs blood* say that you were a brave man?"
"Yes... Yes, I am.", Ed replied, wiping the tears off his face.
"Good... that's my brave man... Promise me, that you'll... live for yourself..."
As Adam uttered those words, his grip on Ed's hand had loosened. His eyes had no light in them. He was dead.
Ed lifted his father's body and hugged it. He bawled into his father's chest. He cried and he cried and he cried.
He then looked around. His burning village. Where he used to play, laugh, get scolded, dreamed. The bandits took it all away and that man. Yes that man. Lohk. He has to kill him. He has to get stronger. He has to be more free than him.
Ed's eyes turned from blue to orange. His rage could not be contained.
"I'm sorry father... But I cannot honour your wishes. I will kill every. single. one. of. them."