Soldiers came pouring inside, armed to the teeth. They were dumbfounded when they saw me, with my arm covered in blood, in front of the crystal.
"KIIILLL HIIM!!!!"
An angry shout came from the back of the soldiers. The crystal started shining.
Crap! I cut too deep! How much blood was it absorbing?
As soon as the light show was over, I heard gasps coming from those people. What happened?
A crown. A huge, golden crown was floating above my head.
*Thud*
Those soldiers started falling to their knees, some even bowing to me.
"The King!"
"The true King!"
"Oh, almighty King! Please bestow your favor upon us!"
The soldiers started worshiping me all of the sudden. What the hell were they doing?
Ahh! The murals! Were they thinking that I was the king from those murals? No, but that..
"WAKE UP, YOU FOOLS!! That's just a kid that did some kind of trick with light magic! Kill him and bring me the crystal!"
A muscular man, with his own golden crown on his head, started shouting orders at his soldiers.
Crap! I gotta get out of there!
Taking advantage of the general confusion between what they had seen and the received orders, I escaped through the hole in the ceiling.
I put all the strength in my legs, propelling me towards the ceiling. The poor crystal took quite the hit, after crashing into the ground below.
Luck was on my side, as I landed safely in the same place I fell from so much time ago.
I heard shouts coming from below, but I paid them no mind. As I was about to start running, my foot slipped again.
I barely managed to grab onto the mass of moss, hanging in the air over my doom. I avoided falling by a hair of breath.
An arrow whizzed by my head. I had to move! I pulled myself, grabbing tightly on the moss to avoid another heart-racing accident.
After that, I started running, while being a lot more careful of my surroundings.
****
Where was I? After running for a long time in a straight line, I arrived at the same spot I started from. An illusion?
What the hell was that, another trial?!
"Now what?"
There were still people below me, working on something. They would sometimes throw something through the hole, probably hoping to scare me and make me fall again.
Fools! Who would fall for your tricks?
I started going through the tunnel once again, but that time I was searching for anything that looked like an exit.
*****
No luck. I ended up at the same place, no matter how many times I went in both directions.
Only the place that I came through remained.
Soldiers were guarding one exit, while at the end of the other one, a monster was waiting for me.
Or was it? So much time had passed; who would have that much patience?
I went inside and waited for a while. Absolute silence. Did it really give up?
There was no other option. I started walking and, after a while, running.
My eyes had strangely gotten used to the dark. Talent nr 88, Dark eye. Or that's what I named it.
Should I change it to dark vision? Or was it night vision? I should make a list after I get out.
****
It didn't take long to see the end of the tunnel. The trip was strangely short. When I stepped outside, my body froze.
The terrain looked as if a huge monster was taking bits from the stone, crumbs of stones falling from its crooked mouth. How the hell did I survive that? Oh my god...
I climbed over the rumbles and looked towards the place where the village was supposed to be.
Should I go and take a look?
That thought appeared in my mind, eroding the pitiful sane reason I had left.
What? Wasn't there a strong monster and a bunch of spiders there? Who cared, I had a lot of talents, who would stop me... from running away, that is.
I didn't go insane to want to fight now that I had gotten stronger. No, no. That was only for battle maniacs.
I would take a peek and then get as far away from there as possible. I wanted to get out of the forest, but I wasn't exactly sure of where I was.
I darted towards that place, following the chewed stone.
****
Surprisingly, what I found was a bunch of people that were camping there. How brave!
The village had long since turned into a spider nest. But any b*astard of those that I saw was dead.
Maybe those 6 had taken them out? Such good people...Sniff... to destroy my enemies even before they were asked.
"Who is there? Show yourself!"
A sudden cry awoke me from my thoughts. How did she find me? I was quite a distance away from the camp, lying on my belly on a distant hill.
Ah, she had ears on top of her head and a tail! Was she a beastkin? There were only a few of them back home. and all of them were slaves.
What was she doing with a bow in her hands? Did her masters allow it?
My hair suddenly stood up, sending shivers down my spine. Danger!
I jumped up, just in time for an arrow to hit the place where I was hiding.
"Found him!"
"A human! Wait, Lelei! Don't shoot!"
"But that bastard was spying on us! Why should I show mercy on him?"
After hearing that, the man that grabbed the beastkins' arm shut his mouth.
No, well, she was kind of right. I WAS spying on them. Although not intentionally.
"Wait! I'm not someone suspicious! I just came here because there was someone I knew living in this place. I came as soon as I heard that their village was attacked."
"Huh! How the hell did you hear us? You are not even one of my species!"
What was she talking about? Of course, I wasn't one of her species. I was, without a doubt, a human.
"Lelei, what is he saying?"
"He said that he came here searching for some villager."
"That's right!"
This time, she was dumbfounded.
"How the hell are you hearing our conversation?"
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"Don't fool me! You are a spy! Die!"
She knocked an arrow on her bow and aimed at me.
"Wait!! I surrender! Don't shoot!"
I put my hands high in the air, showing her that I had no intention to attack.
Three people from the group approached slowly and tied me with a rope, dragging me toward their camp.