Body aching Rina stood up and opened his weary eyes to see the world he once knew gone.
Putting his hands in front only to see pitch black, he started to run.
Every step felt like thorns stabbing his foot, but even so, his beating heart and the adrenaline pumping to his core made him numb.
Everything was dark, not knowing what was going on or if he was even making progress and too scared to think too deeply about it, he ran
Until he stumbled to his feet, entangled by the thorny veins that were hidden in the darkness, it was enough to stop the child.
The pain overwhelmed Rina; he cried as the thorns burrowed deeply into his skin, but no matter how loud his voice was, it was swallowed by the abyss he was trapped in.
He cried, but no one showed up; he was alone.
"Come now, it'll go away soon." A familiar voice called "...Cry it out if you must but never give up, Rina."
He looked towards the voice and saw his dad wearing a thick fur jacket to block out the cold.
He looked down and saw his burned finger and the tiny bits of charcoal stuck to his nail, the open fire coming from the stove was so close yet he did not feel its heat
"You can do it, Rina," his father said, showing him for another time how to do it.
He grabbed a thin piece of wood and inserted it into the stove before blowing into the already large fire.
"Did you see it?" Rina nodded and tried to copy his father
He grabbed one of the many woods stacked together and.... darkness.
But something was different from the abyss he awoke from, A string was floating in front of Rina's eyes.
'Papa?' He thought, Thinking it was his father's doing.
A white string stretched forward to the unknown, seemingly trying to guide him.
Pain overwhelmed him as he stood and the poor boy couldn't help but cry as he followed the string
The pain made the boy falter, rush, and even fall over, but he didn't stop. He stumbled until he finally reached the end of the string where another world lies.
An unfamiliar yet pleasant place.
Where all was green, and the wind was cold yet not so overbearing.
Little patches of colorful grass lie on the ground, and the trees have these green patches that cover their branches.
It was the first time Rina saw such a beautiful place much more beautiful than the snowy place he calls home.
He knelt on the ground, behind him was the trail of his blood that he did not notice as he took one of the colorful grasses,
Carefully observing its beauty.
"It is called a flower, have you never seen one?" A high-pitched voice called to him.
Rina tried to pronounce the word flower but it came out gibberish.
"That one is called 'averna' or, in your words, rose," A voice coming from somewhere above.
Rina looked around for the person but saw no one, and besides the voice, he could also hear the chirping of the birds from afar.
It was the first for him.
"Child, what do you think of it?" The voice asked, and even though he wasn't able to learn how to talk properly, Rina understood the Voice's every word.
"I see, then I'm glad the first flower you see is the flower I cared for," the voice said even though Rina didn't say anything to it.
"Rina is it? What a wonderful name," the voice continued.
Rina could only look around the foreign land, trying to search for where the voice came from.
"What a cruel twist of fate, you've endured something that wasn't meant for you to endure, I pity you"
"So I will ask, do you want to continue suffering or shall I end it for you?"
The trees surrounded him, the patches of flowers lay beneath his bloody feet, the cool, soothing breeze caressed his skin, and he could feel the warmth of the sun for the first time in his life.
Rina pointed at the sun and silence filled the air
"....that's the sun" the voice echoed through the trees.
"Are you not gonna pick?" The voice asked and Rina in response pointed to the trees
"....that's a tree" Rinna shook his head pointing again at the giant tree that stood in front "A leaf"
Then he caught a glimpse of it, the same thread that guided him to this place floating in front of one of the tree's branches.
Curiosity get ahead of Rina; if the voice could name all that he point to, could it tell him what the string is?
Rina points at the floating white thread, hoping that it is somehow related to his father.
"Ah....that's me Eitryl" the voice answered in surprise
"We wasted too much time child, it seems I won't be able to hear your answer"
"Then how about I choose for you?" the voice was closed enough for Rina to feel the warm breath coming from his left ear
He quickly turns to his left to see a small green caterpillar crawling on his shoulder
"Live and we may meet again"
...
"I remember now." The monster said his four arms resting on his side and his body so weak he was on his knees.
"So does it mean you plan to cooperate?" The monster asked, but it lost all its strength and dropped to the floor before getting the answer to its question.
"Is it gone?" The elder asked pulling out the knife with his trembling hands
He turned to the man in black, but the person was already up on his feet, standing at the center of the altar, gesturing in the air as if closing a huge, immovable gate.
The man looked like he had just turned 20.
He stood 7 feet tall has a broad shoulder that made up for his thin body; his hair was cut short and uneven, and his beard was crudely shaved; he looked like the living definition of a fallen noble.
The knife in his hand was still fresh with blood, and the vivid pain as he hung at Eitryl's back still lingered.
The light coming from the destroyed wall softly caressed his skin, and the smell of metal made his nose twitch in disgust.
It all reminds him of what just happened and that everything was real.
As the shadow that he was silently watching got closer as he contemplated on what he had just done, a voice came
"I'm gonna take that corpse"
The elder jerked his head to the voice and saw Caesus looking down at him.
"Yes?" He answered as the two locked eyes with each other.
The corpse Caesar was planning to take was under the elder, used as a chair, while the elder could only look at the man and not dare move.
"Move," Caesar said, and at his command, the elder slipped off the corpse.
Caesus examine the corpse, brushing its fur against his finger and shoving his hand on the wound on its back.
"Where is it?" He asked himself before looking at the elder who was watching intently by his side.
"Do you not have anything to take care of like that imbecile?" He asked the elder pointing at a young adult who was covered by vomit, the corpse of his younger brother on his arms and silently weeping.
Everyone who was still alive resembled that young adult, they were all in a state of madness
Only six people remain from the original twelve families that lived in the village.
The most notable one being the grave keeper who managed to survive without a single wound on his body yet his mind was broken by the event that happened, he muttered forgiveness over and over, his bear-like hands pulling the few stands of hair that were left on his head while sitting with his legs tucked in at the edge of the temple's wall.
He did not stop even with the danger gone and is the most broken out of all who survived.
Without any word the elder rushed away from ceasus, not knowing what to say to the man who helped kill the monster that he summoned
Worried about the grave keeper, the elder walked wobbly towards him
The only survivor that he knew the name of.
The elder no longer socialized with anyone the moment he passed the mantle of the village chief to his eldest son, so he knew nothing, even the names of the younger generation.
"Armack, you still there?" The elder asked the trembling grave keeper but received no answer.
"It's gone, I killed it," the elder said but Armack continued his rambling
"Forgive me, Lord Eitryl," he repeated.
"Open your eyes, it's no longer here," the elder said, but Armack wouldn't listen; he was stuck in his little world.
"Elder, you should rest," a man in his thirties said, he had his back against the wall with one of his arms cut off
"Your arm" the elder muttered trying to approach the man
"No, you need to rest elder," the man said "Old man Armack just needs some time for himself, he's a stubborn bearkin that old man"
The man looked to his side, eyeing the missing piece of his body, watching it as he bled out.
"And I'm the same stubborn bearkin as he"
"I need to stop the bleeding," the elder said, deaf to the man's words.
He ripped off the thin fabric from his shirt, even though there were plenty of corpses nearby, and started to nurse the man.
Time passed by, and only after finishing wrapping the wound of the man did he notice that he was no longer breathing.
'it hurts' he thought to himself as he felt a burning pain in his chest
It was the same sharp ache in his heart that he felt when he saw his brother's body get lowered to the ground.
The same pain he felt as he saw his son die at the hands of Eitryl.
Now he felt that pain even though he did not know anything, even the name of this man.
"Is the kid you sacrifice important to you?" Caesus carrying the corpse of Eitryl asked the elder, he was standing by his side but the elder was too out of it that he didn't notice him
The elder only looked at Caesus in silence.
"I'm asking if this kid is wanted," he said, opening the thick leather he was holding to reveal the face of Rina.
"If not, I'm willing to take him"
The elder did not know why but instead of just staying silent or telling Caesus that he could take the child.
"Bear Mountain, visit the house on top....."
"They are the ones you should ask that question for"