Fox was back on the grassy plains again. There were four wooden huts burning in the back not far from him. The small harvest of corn and grains that was piled beside him was stained with blood and three dead men were lying motionless near it.
He was bleeding intensely too. He already have a few gunshot wounds in his body and a fresh big sword slash across his back. The thick and warm blood that seeps out from his wounds made his head spin and soon his knees gave up on him. He fell in the ground with a dull thump.
Fox can't recall what happened before all of that or who were the people that lay dead beside him. All he could think of at the moment was the intense pain from his wounds and the numbness in his muscles. What he just wanted at that exact moment was to close his eyes and embrace the cold and silent darkness that would take all the pain away.
Suddenly his body rose up again. It was like something was awaken inside the deepest part of him and took total control of his body.
Fox just wanted to close his eyes and let all the pain end, but his body refused to obey. It felt like he was sleepwalking, but he was completely awake. Something was controlling his body and Fox was only left to watch everything happened from his own point of view.
His possessed body started to walk forward, towards the group of men that burned the huts and killed all these people.
They were wearing some kind of leather vests that he had never seen before. There were four horse drawn carriages. People were inside a wooden cages in two of them. Loud cries and screams filled the area as they were whipped by the men in leather vests.
They must be a band of bandits or maybe slave traders. Fox saw about 14 of them surrounding the area. Some were already on the horses holding the reins, and some are still strolling around, spreading the fire at the already burning huts.
One of the men saw him. Fox wanted to run away and hide but his body continued walking forward.
He felt his muscles tense up and his adrenaline rushing in. Somehow all his wounds stopped bleeding. The numbness he felt earlier had vanished and he could feel his heart beating excitedly in anticipation of a fight.
"I thought you killed all the matured men, seems that one is still standing over there." A man holding a whip said, addressing the others still on the ground.
"It's all right, I'll do it and send him to the Gods." A large man with an axe said and casually walked towards him.
Fox was screaming inside his head, willing himself to run but his possessed body continued advancing forward, intending to the face the man with the axe head on.
The large man with the axe snarled at him when they were finally just a few steps apart. He let out a loud battle cry and swung his axe downward violently.
Thinking that he would finally die, Fox stopped resisting and waited for the axe to cut him down.
However it didn't happen. His body twisted to the side and let the massive axe fall to the ground with a loud crash.
The large man was so surprised but before he could recover his axe, Fox launched his palm upwards, hitting the man solidly in the chin.
The man was lifted from the ground with the massive axe still in his hand. Fox grabbed the axe by its blade and kicked the man sideways that it flipped his body in a full circle before hitting the hard soil.
It all happened so fast that on the first second, the man had just swung his axe. The next thing they know was the man, already dead in the ground. His neck was shattered and the axe was already in Fox's hand, being gripped on the blade.
The rest of the men in leather vests was also caught off guard. The man holding the whip that seemed to be the leader ordered some of his men to remain in the area to kill him and then drove off with the rest, including all the carriages.
Fox shouted in his mind once more to go and chase the fleeing horses and save all those people inside the wooden cages but his body refused. It seems that the scent of blood in the area drives it hungry for more violence.
The remaining men quickly draw out their guns and fired at him.
Fox jumped to the dead man's body that he just killed and lifted it to block the incoming gunfire, The dead man's big frame and his thick leather vest was enough for him as a makeshift shield. When the gunfire paused to be reloaded, he immediately hurled the dead body towards his attackers. Two of them were directly hit and knocked down to the ground, temporarily immobilizing them.
Fox leaped sideways and threw the massive axe in his hands forward, hitting the nearest attacker from him. The man was thrown back with such force that the axe nailed him to a nearby tree, killing him in an instant.
Fox dashed ahead and was able to close the distance from his remaining attackers that they were not able to shoot carelessly anymore. He leaped and dodged around, everytime they fired their weapons, someone else would be hit and fall on the ground, dead.
A man managed to point his rifle in front of Fox but as the man fired his gun, Fox also meet the flying bullet with his fist. His fist melted the bullet like a grapefruit, smashed the rifle and crushed the man's chest that was holding it in one single blow.
It did not take long before all the men in leather vests were lying on the ground. There were seven of them all, with the last one gasping for air. Fox stabbed him with his own rifle, puncturing his chest and lungs.
The man was crawling away from him, spending the remaining strength of his body to escape from the area.
Fox watched from the perspective of his own body as he lifted the crawling man by pulling him up by his hair. The man was trying to say something, maybe it was begging for his life.
Fox laughed loudly before slapping the man so hard that he was instantly killed before his head hit the ground.
Fox suddenly woke up with cold beads of sweat on his forehead. He quickly scanned around and remembered that he was in his room at Zaia's mansion.
"I dreamed about it again. Damn." He murmured to himself, clenching his fist tightly.
That was what happened to him almost three years ago. Also the earliest memory of himself that he can remember.
He can't remember anything else that happened before that incident, and who those people were. As if all his memories only started on that day, when he was almost dying and wounded on that grassy plain.
After he killed all those seven men, his possessed body also began to calm down. Slowly, he was able to regain control of his exhausted body again. All his wounds were already healed at that point, but he was so tired, thirsty and still in so much pain that when some travellers passed by, he was not able to resist them. he was bounded by a rope and brought to the prison for killing all the 10 dead bodies that was found in that area.
The authorities didn't bother to investigate about the incident properly because the corpses were quickly looted from their own arms and equipments. They just made an official story and claimed that he had killed all those ten 'merchants' all by himself.
Fox was not also able to defend himself because he didn't know anything. He don't even remember his own name. On that same day, He was locked inside the prison and given a his identity, he was called Foxtrot-5 by the prison's I.D. system.
He was already aware from that time that his wounds can heal quickly for some unknown reason. There are also times that when he gets hurt or injured so much that it would seem like he might pass out, he would feel the same wild sensation inside of him that will try and take over his body once more.
It just happened again a couple of days ago when they first met the Midnight Dogs in the forest and Raru attacked him. When one of Raru's flying spikes punctured his shoulders, Fox felt an intense pain that almost knocked him unconscious. At the same moment, he felt something stirred inside his chest. Like some savage creature waiting to be free as soon as Fox was weakened enough to the point that it could take over his body one more time.
The Midnight Dog must have felt it, that's why it ran away after wounding him.
Fox doesn't have any explanation for his condition that when the idea came out that he might have accidentally contracted a rare beast, he quickly accepted it without questions. He will go with that story for now.
Fox stood up from his bed, took a glass of water and stepped out of his room for a fresh air.
It was still dark outside. He remembered that after his duel with Zaia earlier, he went back to his room and read some books that was on the shelf. He seemed to have fallen asleep during that time.
Fox walked around the quiet mansion, he think that it's just early midnight at the moment. He went outside to roam around.
He was just barely out of the front entrance when he saw a figure of a beautiful woman with her back on him. She was sitting on one of the wooden benches outside. She was wearing a tight fitting sleeping dress that the curves of her body was very visible to the eyes. Her long wavy hair was flying freely on the air.
He inched closer and recognized her as Alieya, she was alone in the bench.
Fox quickly relaxed and made his presence obvious by making his steps a bit louder.
Alieya's face turned towards him, a little surprised.
"Hi, you're still awake. You can't sleep in your room?" He began casually.
Alieya was silent for a moment, as if deciding to herself if she should speak to him or not.
"No, I'm just thinking over some small things. I just had a small talk with Zaia earlier this evening." Alieya answered.
"I see, what was it about? Is she mad at me because of the duel? Did I hurt her?" He asked. suddenly curious.
"No, she's all good. We talked about something else. A girl's talk."
"Oh, right. It means that I am not allowed to know about it because it's between girls only." He said, almost laughing.
"Yes, It's for us girls only." Alieya replied, smiling back at him.
Fox sat beside her silently. He doesn't mind the silence of the night, he was just here for some fresh air in the first place. Being accompanied by this beautiful woman was just an added bonus.
"How about you, why are you still awake?" Alieya asked him a few moments later.
"I fell asleep early. I just woke up because I got hungry, I haven't eaten yet." He answered, scratching his head.
"I have some wine in my room, and some food. Do you want some?" Alieya offered.
"Sure, I'm really starving." He quickly answered, smiling weakly at her.
He followed Alieya back to her room silently, Their personal rooms was not very far from each other so it was just a short walk.
Alieya quickly apologized and made him wait outside her door. She said that she would clean up her room for a bit first.
He didn't mind if a room was clean or not, He was used to living inside the prison in the first place. He wanted to laugh at Alieya's self-consciousness but he just let her do the things that would make her comfortable.
Fox waited for almost half an hour outside her room. He even thought that maybe Alieya had already fallen asleep inside.
He was about to leave and head back to his room when Alieya opened up her door and invited him in.
Fox noticed that she had changed her clothes and her hair was now neatly tied in a ponytail. Her room looked nice, It doesn't look very different from his room.
"You can take a seat there. I will prepare the food in a second." Alieya said in somewhat awkward voice.
Fox watched her in full amusement as if it's her first time to have a personal guest.
"You don't have to be overly formal with me, we have been together for a few days now, right? You can behave as yourself." Fox said, unable to help himself.
"What do you mean? I am behaving as myself." Alieya blurted, almost annoyed.
Fox wasn't able to stop himself from smiling as he watched Alieya set the table in front of him.