Jack opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a great shade of blue. It was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. That of course, without counting the woman in the painting.
"When was the last time I saw the bright sky? It feels like it's been ages."
Jack continued laying down while seemingly lost in thought.
"It's truly a beautiful sight. I wish the sky was always so bright..."
Jack sighed and got up while looking around. "What should I do now?"
He seemed to be in the middle of the woods, and he had no idea which direction to take.
"Let's just go straight in one direction and I will eventually leave this place."
And it was like this how Jack's journey began. Everything began on the woods.
Jack spent a couple of hours walking but the surrounding landscape didn't seem to change at all.
"It feels like I'm walking on a loop."
Just when Jack was thinking of changing directions he heard a loud howl in front of me followed by the apparition of a white wolf in front of him. The wolf's fur was beautiful, glistening white, untainted by nothing. And it had blue eyes that seemed to pierce your soul. But the big and menacing wolf's fangs were not so beautiful.
Jack took out his sword and prepared for the clash. And the clash came indeed, but not in the way he expected.
The wolf did not move from the spot, instead it howled once again and ice spears seemed to form around him and shot towards Jack at a speed almost unattainable to the average human eye.
Jack reacted quickly and ducked down to avoid the ice spears while at the same time he took impulse with his legs to close the gap between him and the wolf. Jack didn't know how to use magic so his only chance of winning the fight was by fighting on close distance. If he couldn't do that, he would die and his new life would come to an end quite soon.
The wolf didn't seem stupid and when it saw that the human was trying to get closer to him started to retreat while continuing shooting ice spears towards Jack.
After a couple of minutes and some injuries, Jack's persistence was paying off as the wolf seemed to be getting tired and slowing down. The wolf didn't seem to have too much stamina and it was getting annoyed because a human was avoiding most of his spears and the ones that managed to hit him, did it barely and left only superficial wounds.
Just when Jack managed to get in melee range with his biggest blow prepared he noticed something weird. He looked at the wolf's eyes, and he seemed to get dizzy for almost half a second. But he got back to reality really quick and slashed his sword towards the wolf's neck with as much speed and strength he could muster at that moment.
Blood flowed from the headless corpse of the wolf and it seemed to have an incredulous look on the eyes before dying.
"Sorry, but mind attacks don't affect me too much. And I couldn't let you kill me when my life has just begun. But it was a good fight nonetheless."
Jack continued his journey for a few days. He encountered some beasts once in a while, but none of them seemed to be as strong as the snow wolf, so he took care of them quite easily compared to the first fight and then stored their corpses. He didn't know if he would be able to sell them, but maybe someone would be willing to pay a decent sum of money for the snow wolf's fur to make a handbag, so he decided to keep them inside his ring.
There was one time when he encountered what seemed like a giant cyclops, but he didn't think twice and ran away from the creature as fast as he could.
"Thank god that thing is kind of slow. I think that one-eyed beast could kill me quite easily."
And that was Jack's routine on his journey. Kill the beasts that appeared on his way, meditate to restore his injuries and at the same time train his mental strength and soul, harvest some herbs with some properties that he thought could be useful, train with the sword and sleep.
And Jack continued like that for almost 3 months. Some people would have gotten insane after all this time alone, feeling like they were trapped on a loop on a never changing scenery. But every morning Jack looked up at the bright blue sky, a big smile appeared on his face, and he was happy from the bottom of his heart. He enjoyed fighting, it made him feel alive, and the more creatures he encountered, the more interested he was in this world.
"Darkness doesn't bring back good memories. Wherever the shadow goes, only sadness and despair is left."
Lost in his thoughts Jack heard shouts and the sound of weapons clashing not far in front of him. He also saw what looked like the end of the woods as there were less trees in front of him and the light seemed to enter more easily from the front. So Jack started walking without making noise towards the exit or the entrance of the woods, depending on one's perspective and surveyed the situation.
There was a carriage with two horses surrounded by a group of 5 hooded figures. There was a corpse of a middle-aged man on the ground and the corpses of 3 hooded people. He saw two people defending the carriage from the assailants. One of them was a middle-aged man with a brown beard and mustache who was badly injured. And it looked like if the fight continued he would probably die very soon, but the other one had a determined expression on his face, and even though he was also injured, he stood his ground and was getting the assailants in trouble even though he looked a bit older, had all his hair so white that he seemed he got it tinted and was wearing an eye patch on his left eye. Jack guessed that the 3 men that were defending the carriage were stronger than the attackers since they were fighting 3 against 8 but still managed to kill 3 of them while they lost one and the remaining five didn't seem to be having it easy. But Jack guessed that it was mostly thanks to the old man. The old man was faster than the wind with the sword, and he always seemed to attack the weak spots of the enemy. But still, there was too much of a difference in numbers.
"Eloi, today will be your death's first anniversary. We warned you. Just let us get the person inside the carriage, and we would leave you alone. But no, great hero Eloi had to kill one of us instantly without even considering our proposition. But look how it turned out, in your next life maybe you should accept others' kindness." One of the hooded figures spoke.
"Hahahahaha, others' kindness you say. How laughable you say that. Kind is not exactly the word I would use to describe your despicable group. I have to admit I didn't expect an ambush on this journey, at least not from your part. The Golden Order has been quite busy recently disbanding many of your hideouts." Said the old man with a wry smile on the corner of his lips.
"Those were just some random hideouts used as branches. Not even the Golden Order would ever find our main hideouts and our main leaders. Most of the people celebrated with good drinks and nice hookers that they killed those useless members and finally found those branches. You know, there was even a bet on how long it would take the Golden Order to find them, but most of them lost the best because they took too long. Everyone was so disappointed." The man, seeing the imminent victory, even had time to joke.
"I see, then this was no coincidence." Eloi turned to the other man fighting beside him and apologized to him. "I am sorry Paul that everything has to end like this. I should have refused this mission when it was given to me."
"Don't worry old man. Just invite both Chris and me to a nice cold beer in our next life, and we will forgive you." Paul laughed even though he seemed to be already half dead.
"Yeah, two beers it will be." Eloi smiled and turned to the enemies once again ready to have his last fight. He may not be able to win the fight, but he was gonna make sure to bring at least a couple of them with him to keep him company on hell.
"How emotional. I think I'm gonna puke. Just kill them both and take the person inside the carriage. Remember to keep the person alive!" Screamed the person who seemed the leader just before hearing a sound behind him.
*Plop*
After the sound, a head came rolling towards his feet until it stopped.
When he turned around he saw one of his partners headless body fall to the ground. And what remained there was a young man holding an old sword with a stupid grin on his face.
"Maybe we should even the numbers a bit." Jack was excited and his blood boiling.