Arsh was sitting at the table with his mother, for lunch. It was the soup of the mantises again.
Arsh looked around his house, which was giving off a strangely ominous premonition.
'That voice, again. I swear..... I already have heard it somewhere before.'
Something was very wrong with the situation. But, he just can't seem to be able to put his finger on it. And the constantly ringing voices in his head were not helping either.
Arsh felt numb, his consciousness drifting away from the real world. He found himself floating in a sea of tar black swamp. A swamp sinking everything in sight to utter darkness.
The voice in his mind repeated. Sounding, more ominous, and terrifying. He was suffocating in an unknown swamp. Sinking deep into it, all alone in the unidentified place.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
Arsh started trembling on his chair, a very painful sensation all over his body. It felt like with every fleeting second, he was sinking more and more.
"Arsh, are you okay?"
Samantha shook Arsh out of his horrors, asking with a worried expression all over her face. Her hands-on his cheeks, snapping Arsh out of fear.
"I am fine mom. It just feels a bit str-"
Arsh let out a heavy breath. lifting his head again, to see Samantha's face for comfort.
"m...mo...om"
Instead what Arsh saw was a headless figure of his mother, her hands stretched out to his cheeks. Caressing them peacefully.
"No! No! No!"
"Not again!"
Arsh jumped, falling backward with his chair. He closed his eyes, murmuring like a maniac, lying flat on the ground.
"Not again. Goddammit!!"
Arsh felt an ominous presence to his left. Arsh tried to ignore it. But, he failed. The moment he turned his head, and opened his eyes, his heart stopped beating.
Every memory of the cursed day flooded his mind. Arsh tears uncontrollably streamed down his face. He looked at his beloved mother's decapitated head.
The head snickered hatefully. Looking Arsh directly into his eyes.
"It's all your fault-"
"You cursed child"
Arsh turned to another direction in convoluting terror, trying to defy reality, or whatever this was. To convince himself that all of this was fake. He will wake up again with her mother by his side.
[ Death Is Eternal ]
Arsh lifted his head to the ceiling. Only to find the darkness with 4 eyes staring at him. The darkness spoke in a monotone. As the four eyes stared into his very soul.
BOOM!!
Arsh's head busted into a thousand pieces. The silence ensued, the 4 ominous eyes staring into vast nothingness.
"MOOOOOM"
Huff Huff Huff
Arsh woke up in his bed, his breathing ragged. His cheeks were red, tears rolling down all over his face.
'That accursed dream again.'
Arsh clapped his face with both of his hands, trying to get a better hold of his trembling self. Arsh looked at the darkness in his room. Reciting to himself, again.
"Just wait I will show you. Whatever you are-"
"Nothing is Eternal."
______________
"Where are we going this time?"
"Obviously to the forest. Dumb kid"
Alan replied with his usual grin. They were in the middle of the forest again. To continue the dagger training again. Every time Arsh was training with him, he got more severe injuries than any monster he ever fought.
Alan dismissed the little skit with a wave of his hand. He jumped up to a tree. Sitting on the top branch. Pointing at Arsh's dagger with his eyes.
"Two weeks have passed since you got the daggers. Now! Can you explain it to me? Why are you still rugged and tugged with your movements?"
Arsh was practicing how to use daggers with Alan, for almost 3 weeks now. But, not a single one of his attacks ever broke through Alan's lazy defense.
"Then let me use your sword movement with my daggers? I just have to slightly adjust it to my standards."
Arsh retorted with his reasoning. For the last 3 weeks, he was constantly destroyed by Alan. Alan used a black sword, every single time-fighting Arsh. While restricting Arsh to only 2 daggers.
Arsh tried to replicate the movements with his daggers. But, it was next to impossible, due to fundamental differences in the weapons.
"You are a dumb one, Kid. Swords have exponentially more weight than daggers. Strength is the main factor for them, unlike daggers."
"You can't just mix 2 styles into one. It might not be impossible. But, for now. Focus on only one."
Alan jumped down, removing his sword from the scabbard. He signaled Arsh to come forward.
"Watch me. I'll show you all the sword movements that I can remember, for now. Memorize every single one of them. That way you can find a way to one-up them if you ever encounter it in the future."
Arsh looked confused. But, he still complied anyway. The moment he reached in front of Alan, a massive sword came forward, aiming at his thigh.
Arsh quickly took out his daggers, trying to deflect the unbelievably fast sword. But, Due to it being a surprise attack, he failed even if not completely.
He moved back in the last straw attempt. The sword followed him all the way back, opening a ghastly wound in his left leg.
Arsh backed away quickly, grimacing in pain. He fell on his knees, a spasm of pain contorting his face.
"The fuck are you trying to do?"
"Haven't you heard of the saying?"
[ Surprise attacks are the best way to teach defense]
{There is no such saying.}
Alan laughed, again moving straight towards Arsh. After that, it was more brutal than the usual routine.
'I will kill this bastard someday'
"First learn how to stand up, kid"
Arsh was lying flat on the ground with wounds all over his body. His hand's skin was tattered, his legs soaked in blood, and other minor injuries were all over his body.
"The first rule of an assassin - Save your legs from the enemy. If you can't do that, you will die more pitifully than a bug. Let's go, we should get you healed."
"You just made my legs a bloody mess. You maniac!"
Arsh shouted from the ground. He was too injured. Even shouting was hurting so severely, any normal person would get unconscious from the pain.
"Oh my! Shouldn't you be training to walk with them? You never know. What kind of horrors may come your way?"
Arsh snorted, trying to stand up but falling every time. He finally stood up on the 4th try, after he crawled to a nearby tree for support.
Arsh lynched a long branch from the tree to help him walk. He was staggering. Alan gave him a 'Not my problem' look and moved alone toward the town.
Arsh sighed, too tired to even curse his mentor. He silently followed Alan, staggering and falling every 50 steps.
"....Am I a masochist?"
After a walk of 30 mins, Arsh finally reached the town's gate somehow. Dead tired from all the pain, that washed over his body.
"Just a little bit more."
'AAH! This hurts more than I imagined'
"Let me carry you."
Alan chimed in, standing some steps away from the town's gate. Arsh gave him a resentful look, quickly changing it to a smile.
'I crept all the way here. Now? He wants to carry me?'
"I will manage, there is no need for your help."
Arsh smiled, trying to hide his bitterness. After living with Alan for almost 3 months. Arsh surely knew his mentor was plotting something again. He tried to not be swept away in his plot.
'Fuck off. No way in hell I am falling for that.'
Alan proceeds to lift Arsh anyway. He tried to resist, but his body was too tired for that.
The moment Alan set foot in town, bloodied Arsh on his hold. Every person at the gate moved towards them. All of them showing concern for Arsh, asking Alan. Why was he so injured?
"I left him to train there all alone. He had a bit of very terrible luck though, a beast attacked him while I was away. It is a relief that I reached there in time. If I was not there, he might be dead, right now"
'Have some shame. You bastard!'
Arsh ignored this fiasco of his outstanding mentor. However, annoyed he was by Alan's shamelessness. He can't just tell them how he got those wounds.
'I hope this guy dies a brutal death.'
But, It didn't annoy him any less, even with all of this reasoning.
Alan swiftly carried him to Leo's workshop. Confronting people of the town, from every direction. Arsh was again reminded of how insanely popular he was.
'He still avoids adventures, though.'
Leo was working on his anvil. Hammering a scorching hot red metal with all of his might, wearing some kind of protective goggles, that Arsh never saw before.
Leo stopped, looking at Alan. He placed his hammer table, moving haphazardly towards the duo.
"What happened to him? You maniac. You again did something crazy to him."
Leo eyed Alan suspiciously, a sour expression all over his face. He was also acquainted with shenanigans of Alan by now. Every time Alan made a mess of Arsh, he always came to Leo for healing.
"What are you talking about? I was the one who saved him in the first place."
Alan chuckled suddenly, drawing gazes from both of them.
"Yeah, that ugly monster also used a swor...AAAAAHHHH"
Arsh had come up with a witty comeback in the meantime. He was waiting for this very moment.
"Have some Sha.....AAAAAHHHH"
But, it was useless. Alan pinched him with inhuman force before Arsh could even finish his sentence. He had to shut his mouth, flinching in pain.
'After killing all those bastards. YOU are next on my list. Fucker!'