The blood-covered Gyanav Regio was squatting by the river, his stomach churning and his face pale. There were all kinds of emotions mixed in his heart, ready to erupt at any time. He felt nauseated and disgusted, but at the same time... somewhat joyed. He couldn't exactly explain what he was feeling at that time.
Near the river, there were two lifeless bodies of a man and a woman, and another unconscious man lying nearby. The dead man's skull was cracked open while the woman had a deep wound on her neck, tearing all the way into her throat. Gyanav took a glance at the dead bodies and started vomiting again.
Bleargh!!
Although it was not his first time seeing death in person, it was the first time he had killed people with his own two hands. The sensation it evoked inside him was different when he first saw the mangled body of his relative; it was something much stronger, and much more personal.
"Woof! Woof!"
Seeing his master not feeling well, Alfie wore a concerned look on his dog face, rubbing his head against Gyanav.
"I-I'm alright, Alfie. Just give me a second," he said weakly but warmly.
Gone was the cold visage he had displayed earlier when facing the human attackers. He was grateful that his dog was by his side.
The young Caeco slapped his own face lightly and tried to recover as quickly as he could. There was one person among his attackers, who was still alive, and he had to deal with the man promptly.
"The area beyond the wall is lawless, Alfie, so I shouldn't get in trouble with the authority. But if we don't do something about that guy, he might come back with more people to take revenge," he said, his tone was grim.
"Woof!" Alfie barked, in response to his name being mention despite not knowing what his master meant.
Since wielding a knife would hurt him, Gyanav had no choice but to pick up a heavy rock by the water. It was a heavy one and the size was a little bigger than his head. Carrying the rock carefully, Gyanav approached the unconscious man lying on the grass.
The man with the mohawk hadn't shown any signs of waking up soon, so it was perfect for Gyanav. Looking around, he made sure that there was no one to see him committing the act. Since the man was unconscious and defenseless, it would no longer be self-defense for Gyanav, but murder, and he didn't want to be branded as such.
He took a deep breath and braced himself for what was to come.
Time seemed to pass very slowly; seconds became hours, hours became years. His heart was beating faster and faster and all sorts of thoughts rushed into his mind. His head was in a state of chaos while hesitation grew inside his heart. If previously he had been only retaliating to the enemy's move, this time he was the one completely in control over his own action, and it felt very different for him.
Trying to regain his focus, he breathed even more deeply, exhaling through his mouth slowly.
Gyanav placed the heavy rock right above the unconscious man's head and raised it as high as he could.
Once everything was set, all he had to do was throw the rock down as hard as he could. However, looking at the man made his body stiff. It was something not easy to do after all.
"*Breathe* Sigh... I have to get used to this. The road ahead of me is not going to be all rainbow and pancakes."
Smash!!
Gyanav tossed the rock downwards with all his strength. The heavy object fell down and hit the man's head hard, effectively crushing it. Blood splattered all around the grass and Gyanav's robe, which was already bloody in the first place.
Wanting to run away, he held himself back and forced himself to see what was in front of him. The sight of someone whose head he had crushed was imprinted inside his brain, and the memory would forever remain inside his mind; It was the sight of someone whom he had chosen to kill.
His stomach began acting out again and once he couldn't hold it anymore, Gyanav quickly ran back to the river. Alfie was sitting near it the whole time, watching his master with curiosity but not daring to get anywhere near.
Bleargh!
He once again let out everything he had eaten earlier in the morning.
Only after he felt better did he leave the river's side. His face was still pale but it seemed that Gyanav no longer needed to vomit now.
"Alright. I'm okay now, Alfie... I think..." he said to his dog who had come and walked by his side.
"Woof!"
Since Gyanav had killed all those three people, he felt like it would be a waste to just let their belongings lie around and be taken by a random stranger. Besides, their equipment could be sold for some money.
"Let's call it reparations for the mental trauma they caused me," he joked.
Gyanav took a deep breath before beginning his looting process. The first one was the woman, who held a hook tied to a chain. It was the thing she used for her Drain spell earlier. When Gyanav held the hook, his hands began to hurt, which meant it was still counted as a conventional weapon. He quickly tossed it into his bag.
Besides the hook, Gyanav also took the woman's coat because it looked like it would fit him. On top of that, the coat looked to be of a higher quality than his, so he couldn't pass on it. With difficulty, he took it off the woman before rigor mortis took effect.
His stomach was still churning every time he saw the wound that he had inflicted, but he tried his best to hold on.
After folding the coat into a small bundle, Gyanav stuffed it inside his already full backpack and moved on. He didn't want to wear the coat until he washed it, so he had to compromise with the lack of space.
Since the woman had nothing else valuable-- not even money inside her purse, Gyanav approached the burly man with a bloody head--or what remained of it. He looked to be the best equipped among the three, probably because he was their defender.
Gyanav took off the man's steel-plated leather jacket and tied it around his bag to carry it. He wanted to take the man's scrap metal shield and crowbar because they could also be sold, but he had no means to carry them, so he left the equipment behind. He went for the man's wallet instead and was disappointed to find nothing at all.
"I guess that's why they were desperate to get you, Alfie. They are really poor. But I wonder how they were able to buy this equipment..."
"Woof Woof!" Alfie replied excitedly.
Having done searching the burly man's body, Gyanav walked towards the last man; the mohawk with a crushed head. He was interested in the man's shoulder pad, so that was the first thing he took off the man. The mohawk's skull earrings also looked like they could be sold, but Gyanav didn't take them.
"The earrings might be a symbol of a gang or something. Let's not take our chances," he decided.
With the addition of the shoulder pad and the man's bloodied elastic clothes, Gyanav's backpack was now filled to the brim. The jacket tied around the strap also made it even heavier.
"If only I could carry those weapons by hand..." he regretted while looking at his open palms. Gyanav then turned around and looked at his golden retriever, "Alfie, can you pick one up and carry it for me?"
Since they were all scrap metal, it didn't matter which one he decided to take with him; the price would all be just as low.
Obeying his master's command, Alfie trotted towards the round shield and picked it up with his mouth.
Gyanav then quickly left the bodies of the people after cleaning some of the blood stuck to himself. He didn't want to attract predators, after all.
After walking quite a distance away suddenly, he heard a loud ringing in his ears while his head began spinning. He quickly pressed his palms strongly against his ears to stop the ringing, but it seemed to be coming from inside him. Gyanav's forehead began to be filled with cold droplets of sweat as he stumbled on his knees, in pain.
After a few seconds, the ringing and the headache disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place. Gyanav opened his eyes and noticed that Alfie was standing very close to him with his tongue sticking out.
"Woof! Woof!" barked Alfie, sounding somewhat worried, although all of his barkings mostly sounded the same.
"I'm alright, Alfie. Thank you. Who's a good boy now?" he replied, petting and rubbing his dog's chin passionately.
"Pant... pant..." the dog looked like he was smiling.
The headache had completely gone now, and Gyanav's mind was much clearer than before. He could feel that something had changed within him.
"Alfie, I just got a new ability!" he said in delight.
Gyanav focused on the new ability that he had got and tried to get the information about it from his brain. Some information had apparently been transferred along with the pain just now. Sitting on the grass cross-legged with his dog next to him, he began speaking.
"This is another Curse, Alfie. This Curse allows me to inflict pain upon my enemies by using a medium. This is like those Voodoo things that I used to read in the books when I was younger. This should be pretty useful, right, Alfie?"
"Woof!"
"When we get back home, we should quickly sell these and maybe get myself a medium for this new Curse. I'm sure it will be of use to us,"
"Woof!"