A giant bird flew above the orphanage, casting a giant dark shadow over the field, as the children gawked in fear of the monstrosity before them. It had come just as they were heading for eating hall, to have their evening meal, out of nowhere ,the creature that they were now gazed upon appeared out of nowhere abruptly. It's wings flapped strongly, thrusting a gust enough to uproot a fledgling tree.
The children, scrawny and frail, rightfully light as a feather, toppled down on their butts by just a touch of the fiercely gust, also blowing a heap of dry leaves off ground to the moonlit sky. The night was getting chilly up on each passing minute...
Children,who were older than the little ones, knew what it was. They stood aghast, trembling by the coming to life of the stories told by Master Konn. It was in their glaring view. The very creatures that he had often shared tales about.They quivered,in fear. They had lost their will to move,paralyzed by mere sight of the witches who were now laughing hysterically.
Screeching,the bird- a hawk-flew down on it's Master's orders. Darkness was slowly creeping throughout the kingdom,and their day of reckoning had come to be passed down upon them by the scourge known as witches.
On seeing the children frightened and under mercy of the witches, Master Konn dashed out of his chamber, carrying with him a sword. His heart thRobb stoneed like a thousand toad croaks. And his sweat dripped like a thousand waterfalls. He was in a panic.The only fear he had was just but one. His most treasured thing. The children lives. He rammed through the closed eating chambers door,almost flying off it's hinges. They were all in danger,he told himself. Why do they have to attack defenseless children, of all people? Why now? He tried to find answers in his murky mind. He arrived at the playing field, panting, just to find the children scared out of their wits. The hellish witches, one by one,got down from the flying familiar. He was breathing uncontrollably,and his eyes blood strained. And they were four of them,with each a familiar by her side.
The witch with the hawk as her familiar was a young maiden,almost of sixteen years by the look of her soft skin and bonny body; though she had a couple of years stacked within her deceiving bonny ravishing body. All in all,she was an old hag but an amazingly beautiful one. Her hair was white, like the a flurry of snow.But her smile was menacing and sinisterly. They stood rooted,not having moved an inch ,as though they were chaffing out which prey was good for the picking. With the other witch,she had a familiar that resembled a wild pig. It had tusks protruding out of its mouth and,she was fat and ugly-not quite bewitching even for a witch.
The other was a porcupine,a familiar, with its Master a slender woman likely in her forties. Nothing was peculiar about her,only that her hair was spiked like quills. She seemed disinterested in what she was about to partake in. Her bloodlust wasn't peaked unlike her fellow witches. Maybe she was fed up with the goring and killing?! But she still stood beside them,cautious and aware of the threat that stood armed before her.
Finally it was the witch with two,out of place, chiseled front teeth. She worn a grey hooded cloak like her sisters,and on her shoulder, a rodent sat comfortably. It was her familar. Glaring and whispering of god knows what,as it eagerly awaiting ,to stir up some chaos and rampage,on her Master's command.
Alekk now stood behind Master Konn, after heeding his orders for all of them to stay closer to him, and not be afraid for he was there to protect them ,even if it meant his untimely demise. He was willing to lay down his life for their sake. If their was anytime to show his affection for them,it was at this perilous moment.
Feverishly, he tightly clenched his fist onto his single edged sword. It was heavy and old but sharp enough to slice through a witch. He stood firm on his guard,unflinched, waiting for them to make their first move. Darkness had now cloaked itself all over the land. Wolves howled from the deepest pits of the accursed forest. Undeniably,Master Konn had his hands full,that was for sure. Or would an orphan rise up to the occasion and save the dreadful night? Only time would tell.
Alekk didn't know what was going on. Or who they were. He stared straight at them, confused, wondering the reason behind their gloomy faces . All children seemingly clung closer to Master Konn, hoping that he would protect them from the nightmare infront of their eyes. The giant hawk reverted back to its normal shape as it flew , gracefully landing on its Master's right shoulder. He continued to wonder.
The chilly night was creeping through their soft skins, shivering them, with the chattering of their teeth growing noisier at each passing minute, along with their fluttering beating hearts.
Master Konn darted a quick glance over onto his right shoulder,to catch a glimpse of how the children were fairing. His view of them was not pleasant,and right away he glanced back to the menaces at hand. Without batting an eye, he glued his eyes at them;they were to be feared. Birds nesting on the old oak tree chirped noisily ,and the rustling of the leaves by a passing gust, rattled the children further.
Witch attack Mode: Incomplete Hybrid union;Tension was building up,and the bloodlust witch made her first move. She trod calmly without worry, grinning murderously, along with her familar. Master Konn steadily gripped his sword, putting his right leg infront of the other,as his posture leaned forward and his sword slightly held at a distance off his thigh. It was now a life and death situation but mostly for him and the children. Over my dead body will I allow them to lay a finger on them,he reaffirmed himself. The night of the witches was upon them. Crickets now joined in the chirping, chattering roughly , and the air was becoming heavier and with a thrust, Master Konn sprang himself forward,likewise with the witches, now that their claws were showing.
Witch attack Mode: Hawk shredding Menacing Claws;A flurry of dust blew in the cold air, left behind by Master Konn dash,was clearly visible to see with the rare moonlit night, as he swung with all his might, with the hope of cutting their numbers to size. His sword,sharp like a blade of grass,sliced through the misty air in half, with her claws ripping the same air to shreds. Her right arm claws met his sword halfway,with a clanking of their weapons resonating across the field,as they both let out a deep grunt.
Esia stood at the rear end. Fear had gripped her, unable to utter a word to an even more terrified friend of hers- Gantz. They all stood at the very back of the hordes of other scared children; to conceal themselves from the witches glaring sight. Out of fear perhaps, Gantz unintentionally let out a fart, a reeking fart that's, but surprisingly no one was pegging their noses to conceal the smell nor giving him a piece of their minds. They were all in a tight pinch for them to spare a second to scold him as they usually did. It was nerve wrecking,to say the least. Watching as their Master fight off the witches all by himself,with no remorse for either him or them. Esia was too in an impregnable wreck. Her fingernails had an unceremoniously found themselves inside her mouth...
On the top of cottage, Pumpkin watched from a window, inside Master Konns study chamber. The look she saw down below her wasn't good. He was at the end of his strength. The little food he had wasn't good enough to sustain him through the gruesome battle,she thought. Pumpkin looked around,to see whether if saber was around. But she couldn't pinpoint him anywhere on the field. Had they already gotten to him,she wondered. He was the only one who could have at least tried to wad them off , even if it was for a second for Master Konn to think up of something. But he couldn't,with his hand full with the menaces that were seeking to devour them,even a second for strategizing a plan was now but just a dream. Saber wasn't around and her hope for their lives were as little as the food stock in their store.
Witch attack Mode;Rat Festering Claws and boar goring tusks;Master Konn swung his sword at the rat witch, angling his sword from his left shoulder as she charged forward with her familiar by her side,grazing her on the cheek ,while her familiar ,now a giant rat, rammed him down to the ground. On the ground, Master Konn let out a sharp grunt,with his head all bloody. A wild boar charge at him,to gore him with it's sharp tusks while he was still wounded and on the ground,but by a hairs breadth, Master Konn rolled over to his right, with the sword still still clenched in his hand.
Missing it intended prey, Master Konn swiftly swung his sword, while still lying on the ground, plunged his sword straight into the wild boar belly . Upon being stabbed,the wild boar was the one now growling out in pain, falling on its stomach, writhing in agony while it's Master charged forward, enraged, to avenge her familiar." I'm going to slaughter you cowardly man!" She shouted, charging with two tusks magically growing out of her lower jaw. They were thick and long.
Master Konn hastily got up on his feet, panting and wobbling, from side to side,with his sight becoming blurrier. Blood oozing out from his forehead slithered down to his eyes. He shook his head in an effort to regain his visibility. Only his left eye seemed to heed his calling,now that the blood flowing had changed its course. His right eye was growing stubborn to heed his call. The boar witch swung her hooves palms at him as he ducked down in a matter of seconds before she could connect with his face. With his knees bent, unlucky for him, her right foot kick sent him flying, as the children yelled out crying for their Master. He was in pain, and on his last straw of strength. And the children's tears didn't know no end. Master Konn, lying on his back, spurt out a spray of blood, with the droplets of it puffing out steams in the chilly air.She had kicked him to his chest. Slowly, she walked towards the prey, together with her other two coven sisters,to finally put an end to his miserable life.
He could still hear them.The crys,hopelessness and fears of the inevitable fate that was craving for their blood. Everything was clear to him. Even their frail shivering bodies. This moment was what she had meant,he clearly understood and with their cries still echoing,roared himself up from the ground. For the sake of atonement,he was gladly willing to die for them.
He stood there,with his legs buckling under the strains of pain and exertion. His breath was heavy and also was his sword. It was becoming heavier for him to continue holding onto it. They now stood three of them before him. His sword was blunt aganist their powerful magic. He knew that,no matter the times he slashed them,they could effortlessly get up without a scar on them. It was blunt for neither was it a silver sword nor was their any fire nearby to lynch them with.
"I'm quite surprised that you even have some remaining strength left in you, to crawl yourself up,let alone fight," remarked the hawk witch." You aren't a one arm helpless fool like I earlier thought." They were all gloating, smirking themselves silly. He was on opposite side of the coin. No smile was on his face. He was at the end of his rope. Now they are just making a mockery of me, Master Konn thought to himself. But why isn't she attacking like the rest of her coven? Or is she waiting for me to fall so that she can gobble the children up?! He questioned her motives.
"He is quite a fiery man, lydith," replied the rat witch." He makes my blood boil with excitement."
" It's quite savory,if I may say so,Algiad,"answered the wild boar witch." When was the last time you felt your blood rushing in sheer ecstasy?"
" Oh, like centuries ago,"replied Algiad, laughing." I can never get enough of this unfathomable pleasure, sister Alisandra." And the witches burst out in a ridicule laughter and suddenly,they kept quiet with their smirks fading off their faces .The cold reason behind their grimacing faces was due to the man that stood between them and their prey. His laughter had drowned theirs, hysterically. And the children, were quiet as well.
" Master Konn!"they'll moaned,in murmurs. They were confused by the sudden change of him. In the arms of their friends,they sought solitude. Their eyes were lost in desolation now that their only saviour wasn't himself anymore.
"I dare you to try and lay your filthy fingers on them!" he shouted. It rattled the children to nearly soiling their loincloths. Never in their many years of taking sanctuary at the orphanage had Master Konn raised his voice, at them or any other person. He was a different person that they were seeing before them. They didn't know whether to cheer for him or quiver in fear of him as their teary eyes swelled up even more, almost coming close to bursting out. Right away ,he knew that he ought not to have raised his voice like that in their presence.
"Children," he called them, calmly. The night was slithering down into a much darker period for them. Yet she still hadn't moved an inch,with her familar by her side, watching in silence.
"Master Konn!" they'll whimpered out to him, with their bellies grumbling in hunger. With his back facing them,he didn't have the courage to look into their eyes. He was ashamed of himself.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice in such manner. Please, don't cry," Master Konn begged,"wipe off your tears. I swear nothing will happen to you as long as I breath."
Like good daughters and sons,they nodded to his request,as they adorably wiped the dripping tears dry with their patched up sleeves while still whimpering.
Together they surged at him, with each a familiar by their side. Master Konn stood his ground,feebly though as they ragefully pounced on him. Lydith clawed her way through his chest, ripping from up to down as he growled out in pain. He swung his sword at her only for Algiad to catch it by the blade. He was powerless,as the wild boar ran into him with it's head straight to his groin-his pain was relatable. Master Konn, reeling from unfathomable pain,crouched down to his knees,hold onto his rammed crotch. The boar had almost squashed his baby making weaponry. Grimacing in pain, with his forehead sweaty and full of creases,he tried to bear the despair by bitting his lower lip.
Lydith scornfully laughing, remarked," Ha-ha-ha-ha... I mostly forget that you men are too vulnerable in that area of your bodies!" They begun to make a mockery of his manly anguish.
"See how his eyes are almost to tears!" Alyssa mocked. Master Konn raised his head,and truly his eyes were watery. The shame was too much for him. To be hit so low below his waist,was beyond degrading. The boar snorted exuberantly for it's part in his misery.
" You men are pathetic!" Algiad grunted. Wobbling,he got on his feet. In his hand,no sword was there. It laid on the ground,a bit far off from his grasp. He knew without it,he had no chance of saving them or himself from their gobs. The hawk flew off to the sky, screeching as it transformed into a terrifying monstrosity.Still hovering in the sky,it dismembered into hordes of hawks. They were in the tens of thousands, flying into the cold skies. The other familiars too dismembered into hordes of rats and boars.
Children stood frightened beyond words,as they screamed sharply while others huddled amongst themselves for safety and solace.Pumpkin seeing Master Konn all but beaten,thought deeply of what she could do. She was racing against time to think off something. While she gazed on the wooden floor,deep in thoughts,something came jolting right into her mind. It was worth the try, she thought. Master Konns study chamber had all sorts of weapons and she begun to look around the place for a sword. Casting her eyes all over,in desperation, there it was, a peculiar yet mysterious sword hanging on Master Konn chamber wall. The sword on display was one of a kind. A true warriors sword. "What's this?!" she asked herself,"I have never seen this sword here before!" For the many years that she had come and gone from Master Konns study chamber,the dusty sword always escaped her eyes: maybe because she was mostly concerned by other things to give it a minute of her time.
Pumpkin plucked it out of the wall, cautiously. On pulling it out of the wall, unaware of it's heaviness, she clumsy dropped it down as a cloud of dust formed making her to let out a sneeze. The sword had a double bladed edge. It's edges were an usually blunt, even for an old sword. And the other peculiar thing about it was its blackness. The whole sword was pitch-black as well as it's hilt.
"What kind of a sword is this?!" Pumpkin wondered." And its heaviness. Even a full trained soldier would have a had time lifting this thing,now what of a child!" Her plans seemed unviable by the weight of it. Pumpkin had intended to drop it down from the chamber to a worthy orphan to fend off the witches.
She wished that her courage was as strong as Master Konns but she wasn't tough as they thought. She too feared much of their menacing glare and gruesome ways. Pumpkin hid her short comings behind her smile and her sanctuary, the kitchen. Her hands were not meant for the sword but merely for the cooking sticks and pots. Cooking was all that she knew. Her solace had always been with the ladles.
Blood oozed out of Master Konns head orifices. They were pummeling him to death, with the horror happening infront of the crying children.
"Master Konn!" they'll yelled, crying and whimpering. He was close to meeting his maker,as they showed no mercy for him,with the hordes of hawks grazing his already weary body.
"Stop hurting Master Konn!" they'll cried out. But their cries were unheeded,as they continued beating him to a pulp. Still pummeling Master Konn to his early death,a rock came flying out of nowhere straight into their midst hitting lydith right onto her left eye. Infuriated,they ceased with their beating. Master Konn fell down on his face, bleeding profusely. His breathing was forced. And his gashes grew deeper and wider.
"Which of you monkeys threw the rock at me?!" Lydith asked agitatedly, with a bruised eye. They all kept quiet, with no one daring to answering her back. Her eyes had swollen, only for a measly few seconds unfortunately. Their regenerative powers were out of this world.
"We have had enough fun with him," said Alyssa." The children were our priority to begin with. Let's grab each a child or two and get heading back. Mother is waiting for us!"
" I couldn't agree with you more, sister Alyssa," replied lydith." I hope you have chosen your picking? We ought not to be chasing just any preys." They had all picked their preys from the many of them. Some were well fed,and while others were too tempting to choose from the many. " Quite true, sister lydith. I've had my eyes on a fat boy,"muttered Alyssa" I can almost smell his fatty body from way back there." Alyssa licked her lips in anticipation, for when her prey would be served on a plate. His fatty juicy liver was so tempting as well as mouth watering for her to let it pass by,that drools begun to form by the edges of her mouth,dripping. Master Konn strugglingly tried to get up, spurting out a spray of blood on the wet ground. Tirelessly, Master Konn rose up again,as they looked down on him with disgust in his attempt to stand up to them yet further.
"What a stubborn fool of a man. Your persistence is enviable, I have to say," insisted Algiad." I couldn't be amazed any less." Alekk watched from a far, standing all by himself. Even now,no one wanted to be near him. He stared glued at them.
"It is quite admirable," lydith agreed." He isn't like the other sightless men we faced the night before!" Master Konn was really putting up a strong face;for their sake. The sword was near him,with his blood, salty in his mouth, dripping down onto the cold steel blade. Choking on something,he coughed out a cloud of warm bloodied breath,as it mingled with the chilly air. They all watched,the painful struggle of their adopted father. All those years together with him,not once had they thanked. Yet he never held it against them for not appreciating him. What kind of a father would he be,if he expected to be thanked for everything he did for love? His love for all of them was infinite. Even the rowdy ones or the quiet ones he loved them all the same. Colour of ones skin couldn't sway him from not giving them his love. After all, there was an endless well of love, deep within his beating heart.
Yet he,who once robbed others of their dearly held lives for the fun of it,was now the humble man whom the children looked up to; proud and respectful of. Master Konn early life, before finding his salvation, had always been marred with blood for as long as he could remember. Almost fifteen years of his life were cloaked in the blood of innocent men, women and children.
Back then, when he was still a soldier, and a captain,of the kingdom of Aldia,he would often gloat of the numbers of the meaningless people he had slain. And they loved him for it. His war commander marveled and loved him for his staunch obedience to his orders. Those fifteen years of his life of blood and goring were more than enough to earn him a seat at hell's table, to even dine with the devil himself.
The corpses,of all the victims he had slaughtered ,could've piled up more than enough to make a hill out of them. Back then he was too young and naive,to let his strong hands to be used by others , that he would jump onto any missions there was without question, anything that would led him to the slaughtering of his enemies.
Yes,the same man who was now bleeding and still fighting for the sake of his adopted daughters and sons was once a maniacal killer. His past mistakes always haunted like a shadow. His transgressions for his fellow men could never be forgiven. Their blood always cried out day and night, cursing and seeking for his head.
Those lonesome fifteen years of living a solitary lie were more than he could take. Were it not for her,his life would've been something beyond vile and saving.She,the royal and untainted by the filth of the world of men,saw good in him where no one man or beast could see. They had abhorred him, even his mother, father, siblings and his wife, with only a swarm of flies gracious enough to entertain him,the scummiest of all men. Each one of them had turned their backs on him when he needed them the most. The closure that which he sought from them wasn't there. Hollowness,riddled with despair,slowly creeping itself stealthy,deep into his heart and flesh, slowly devouring him bit by bit.
With nothing to live for,Konn resigned to nothing but death,desperately wished and eventually trying putting an end to his misery too no avail. Strong reed nooses broke on the very instance he tried to hang himself to death. The river too, unwilling to swallow his kind, down below it's consuming belly, coughed him out in his attempt to drown himself . Even his swords and daggers, forged from the very best craftsman, shattered into pieces in his last ditch of attempt to stab himself to death. All earthly things abhorred his very sight. They refused to give him the death, the redemption, that he desperately desired.
Death was unwelcoming of him into the afterlife. Unable to even grasp death by the scruff Konn's misery continued to rain down upon him like a ant in the middle of a rainstorm, beating him mercilessly without a shred of remorse. No hope of death was forthcoming, nor redemption,that's not until he fatefully met her. Of all people,she smiled at him with no shred of spite. She held his blood tainted hand,undeterred by his unspeakable past. The Queen,a royal person, was the last person he could have ever thought off to become his saviour, not even in a thousand years or more.
" Please, my Queen," he said, prostrating on the ground,"don't come near something as filthy as me!" His clothes were all but just tatters,with a foul stench emanating out of his unwashed body. Yet she was unbothered by all of his pleas,or his foul reeking unwashed body and breath. Konn,at that time,had already parted ways with his left arm as a cost of retribution, coming as a result of a fight with some capital goons, while stupor, upon calling one of the goon's old lady distasteful names. In rage,they rained blows and kicks till he was unconscious.
As of the insulted man's wife, whose name had been sullied by a worthless mouth of a drunkered and in order to douse his boiling anger,had Konn's left hand chopped off to teach him a lesson and some manners. Only an arm, thankfully. It could have been worse, let say both his hands.
Konn,as at that time ,lived his remaining miserable days near the river. There he had built himself a shade to take shelter whenever it rained or during a scorching hot day. The queen, during a visit around the capital and on the course of a habit of hers, passed by the calm river ,which was always close to her heart. And it was there that she had come to know him. A man drowning in sorrows beyond imagination.
"What's filthy about you," asked Queen Anna. Closely behind her, were her royal palace guards who usually escorted and protected her wherever she went. Their hands were always inches away from the swords hilts. Also with her, were four royal handmaid's .
"I'm filthy, inside and out. Please cast your gaze away from something hideous as me,"Konn pleaded, crying. Now Queen Anna on hearing these,wanted to touch him even more. She desired to save him from the hell of his: from not accepting to forgive himself. For no sin under the sun was unforgivable.
Unapologetically,she crouched on her knees, touching the very ground that he walked on, pissed on and defecated on... Her royal servants, pleadingly, tried to reason with her from soiling or getting closer to such a reeking trash of a man. Yet again,she refused to listen to their pleas. Now she was on the same wavelength with the scum of the capital. Konn had his head touching the ground,as she slowly lifted it gently,with his face having the look of a man drawn by an artist with a very bad taste of art.
"I don't deserve your kindness," he said crying." My hands-my hands are stained with blood of countless innocent lives." And yet she smiled for him. She didn't not utter a scathing word againist him. Nor did she feel disgusted by his reeking breath.
" So what if you have killed innocent lives?" she asked." What sin is there that cannot be forgiven above the unreachable sky or under the deep depths of the seas?" Her guards,her servants and him were all astonished by her revelation. "Was she once a goddess or something?" they wondered. His cries were but just salt and water. His ailment,his pain was way more than what they were seeing plainly. His pain, like a destructive whirlwind, ravaged him from deep within . His soul burnt in anguish. And his heart throbbed in tormenting anguish. Every inch of his body lived in an insufferable torment. Him, living every second of his miserable existence,was his eternal damnation.
"But my Queen!" he cried out," which world is that,so I may go and die there?" Queen Anna smiled on hearing his question, and request.
" No other world but this one. The very world that despises you. The same world that yearns for your demise. And the same world which you desperately seek to depart from. There is no other world that you deserve but this one,son of Aldia,"replied Queen Anna.
" But how can I live in this world where everyone wishes for my death. Where everyone sneers by my mere sight. Where everyone flees from me when I am near,"he asked, sobbing," I'm begging you,my queen,tell me how I can live in this same world with everyone drumming for my demise?" His face was nearly covered with tears and drying mucus. The queen, pitiful of him,teeled out a handkerchief from her pocket,as she motherly wiped his tears away. He initially resisted only to give in to her. Even he was weak before the goodness of a gentle soul.
"We are all humans. And as humans we bound to fall into sin eventually. But everything falls upon the person who committed the sin. Only those who seek redemption for their transgressions and are humbly remorseful for it can actually live in these world and die in these world,"she consoled him," and I've no doubt whatsoever that you have paid for your sins. That you have repented for them. And that you have been remorseful enough for it. Tell me, son of Aldia,what kind of a world would it be without forgiveness for ones sins?" He smiled for the first time,in his fifteen years of unimaginable hell. Her words were artistic for his own good. She had a way with words, that even the once ruthless murderer was moved by her words,to tears. Not just any ordinary kind of tears, rather the joyous kind.
" But where do I start?he asked." No one, not even my family, friends or wife, would wish be back?." The queen slowly got up to her feet,with her royal gown sullied from kneeling. On her feet,she held his hand, lifting a lost son of Aldia from the ground that had been living off his misery.
"You shall be a father of the motherless and fatherless," Queen Anna said." You have a long way ahead of you. You must survive,Konn! They're waiting for you,to protect them,to shower them with affection." He was lost. Who are these people that she is talking about ? And they are waiting up for me?! he asked himself. She suddenly cast her gaze to the southern side of the kingdom,with the tall trees and the ever flowing river hiding the place he would soon come to see as his new found home. And children whom he would later come to call as his own adopted family.
" To where and who is waiting for me?!" he asked curiously. Now the sun was setting in the far mountains. Queen Anna looked back at him, smiling and answered.
"Where,you ask! Of course,your new family. They await your arrival You are a needed person
after all. There is so much more for you to offer this world before you bid it your goodbye's...
Master Konn."
And here he was, fighting on for his very own family. Though bleeding and beaten,his spirit was yet to be broken. Not so easily was he about to give up. His true family. They were his priceless treasure,the only treasure that he could proudly call as his true family.
"I will not let anyone of you harm a hair on their heads," Master Konn said,weakly. Lydith was already getting fed up of him for always rising up everytime they pinned him down to the ground. He was becoming a stinging nuisance for them. Now her familar flew just above her, commanding it to strike him to death. Heeding her command, it flew right into him with it's claws aimed to kill. As it drew closer to finishing him off, out of nowhere,on trajectory,a rock came flying and hitting the crow, after it had reverted back to its monsterous form, straight on the eye. Reeling from the pain,it fell but ultimately hitting Master Konns with its left wing, with his sword flying out off his hand and stabbing the ground a few distant away.
"Who hit my familiar!" roared lydith angrily. Just there and then, Saber and Zulu arrived to the greetings of their fellow orphans tears and cries. They both were drenched in sweat, with shortness of breath to accompany them. They had lost their sense of direction due to the darkness of the forest. Now here they were,back home. Back to a hell that was eagerly awaiting for them. Saber wasn't believing what he was seeing. The giant bird. Was it the same that Zulu had earlier told me about? He thought. It's hugeness was beyond normal. And what about them,are they witches? Of course they were or who could they be! His mind questioned itself.
On the ground, lying in a pool of blood was his adopted father,Master Konn. Saber trembled in fear and rage,so was Zulu-but mostly for him was fear. What have they done to you,father? Why are you on the ground bleeding? He looked around and saw no other person was either injured or dead. He was a bit relieved. While watching his adopted father lying almost dead,the witches made their move. To capturing their intended chosen few. With their familiars slowly surging forward, Master Konn mustered a bit of strength to pass a word for his children. A word from a defeated father.
"Children!" he called, coughing and breathing heavily."Run to the house. And lock your chambers " As he was talking, hordes of familars trampled over him as they ran towards the children,with their Masters stepping over him as well. Saber was livid. A sword stuck out like a pimple on a face near him.
On seeing it, Saber sprung forward towards it, bursting with resolve and anger. It had stabbed itself on the ground and without waiting to be told,he plunged it out with both hands. The sword now was in his hands,it was heavy yet it's heaviness couldn't deter him from confronting the witches and their monstrosities,as he ran hastily towards the charging hordes of rats and boars before they could've rammed themselves into the fleeing children.
The children were now running to the safety of the cottage, screaming. But Alekk stayed behind, still glued to the ground. He wasn't going to run again. Not again,he told himself. Also behind him, were Esia and Gantz. They too hadn't ran for their lives. Fear had gripped it's cruel hands around them, paralyzed stiff, to even make a grand escape for their dear lives. Esia was shaking from her neck down while Gantz farted himself silly. Sadly enough,fear had unmercifully won over their minds and bodies..
Saber tirelessly tried to hold them off,but no matter how much he tried they were too many of them to keep at bay. Luckily for him, the children were safely in their chambers. Upon entering,each and everyone had their doors tightly closed along with the windows.
Lydith familiar quickly recovered from earlier Alekk's slingshot throw,joining its fellow familiars. Flying,it went through the door which was already broken down by Master Konn. Screams coming from the children didn't cease, with the familiars continuously ramming their heads onto the locked doors in effort to tear them down. But he knew,the only way to a certain their lives for sure was to fight them. And hopefully,they would retreat with no deaths on either side; especially on their side.
Pumpkin, seeing Master Konn beaten to a pulp, hurriedly lifted the sword with both her hands. On lifting it on top of the window,she threw it with all her might as it dropped down plunging itself straight into the ground almost splitting, the young man she seeked to ask help from, into two.
"You there!" She shouted, calling to Alekk. Alekk looked up, on the cottage's upstairs window and there he saw Pumpkin. She wanted to tell him something." I'm begging you, please help that boy infront of you. He can't defeat them all by himself. Fight with that sword down..." But before she could utter another word,spikey quills rained down on the window that she was calling out from. Luckily for her,the wooden window swinging came in the nick of time to her rescue, shielding her from the unexpected attack. They had come from the docile witch. Her familiar,a porcupine,had shot the long spiked quills from it's back. They were lethal, enough to kill a man. Hiding behind the safety of the wall, Pumpkin bid her time quietly, and hoping for the two young men to rise up to the occasion and save them from the bloodthirsty witches.
Alekk slowly walked towards the sword before him. Calmly,he reached out for it as he ragefully pulled it out off the ground. Like the last time,it was heavy for him to lift it off the ground with just but one arm. Actually,it was a bit heavier for his liking. Unknowing of any other way,he tightly gripped it with both his hand, straining to even lift it at least above his buckling knees .
His hands too trembled by the sheer weight of the sword. With the sword so near him and in his grasp, it's peculiarity didn't raise anything suspicious into his mind.
Not to conjure up a flame of suspicion out of him, these was because Alekk had been brought up in the forest,a place where swords meant dime to the strengths of the beasts that roamed it. In his once beloved home, they weren't any swords of which he knew of, that's. His slingshot was the only weapon that he ever carried with him, and not forgetting his pet cat. So to him, the sword was nothing special to give it any food for thought or to be fascinated over it,after all it was just an old sword, like any other. A sword forged to exterminate friends and foes alike.