Chapter 6: Attack – Part 01.
The two continued to walk, slowly returning to the forest's lighting, but it was still slightly dark without seeing the village in the distance.
As they walked, Arthur put the backpack on his back making it more comfortable to walk and Oliver looked back to see how the swordsman was doing.
Noticing Oliver watching him, Arthur lifted his head and they exchanged glances ending with the archer looking forward with a smile on his face, after which he looked up and then spoke.
"Hey Art. Come be a knight with me, it would be of great help. In our spare time we could hunt."
Upon hearing Oliver's sentence, Arthur looked to the side with doubt, but then he smiled and shook his head.
"No thanks. I would like to go with you, Oli, but I don't want to spend all my time training or fighting for a bigger salary, it's not for me."
"You never give in when I ask, huh... and you speak so highly of my work that it's almost making me give up..."
Oliver lowered his eyebrows slightly uncomfortable, but then Arthur smiled and hurried to stand beside Oliver.
"You go for the pay, after all you have to help your family. I would too if I had to, but it's not like I don't think about it now and then, but I intend to venture across the continent, being a knight would take up all my time."
As he listened to the swordsman's first sentence, Oliver smiled and then sighed. At the end of the sentence he laughed and spoke.
"My time is? What an easy life..."
"If I could help you I would, Oli. But after a while wealth will come, your family is also important to me, even though your sister is a beast..."
"She likes you more than you know, you don't realize."
"It does not seem..."
The archer laughed and both continued walking, after a few more steps they heard a sudden ringing that echoed through the forest.
After listening, both stopped walking and Arthur was surprised as he turned his eyes upwards seeing the position of the sun that was still far from the middle, indicating that they had been there for a few minutes, he questioned.
"The church bell? Shouldn't he only play at noon?"
Even after questioning, Oliver remained silent, still in doubt as to what that had been, but soon after, they both heard the bell chime once more and starting a frequency of hurried chimes that echoed to the forest, reaching them.
Still not understanding, Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"How strange, the Cleric hadn't left the village?"
And right after Arthur's sentence, Oliver squinted slightly, but in moments his neutral expression became a terrified one with wide eyes.
The archer screamed.
"COME ON, ARTHUR."
After his sentence the archer started a fast run that surprised Arthur who took a while to understand, but soon he started to run following the archer.
The two passed at high speed through the forest, the hurried and heavy steps left their mark on the earth, due to the speed at which they left, the light entered a little more through the leaves and the forest was lighting up, but at the same time as they approached , both began to feel a strange smell and a light smoke in the distance, until they heard the incessant chimes stop.
Seeing the smoke and the bell stop, Oliver quickened his pace even more, surpassing Arthur's speed, who also struggled to run further, but was still left behind watching Oliver distance himself and disappear into the distant light that led to the end of the forest. .
Moments after the archer disappeared from his sight, Arthur crossed the light and left the forest, covering his eyes by the strong glare and as soon as he left he saw Oliver looking straight ahead paralyzed.
It was still hard to see fully because of the sun's glare, but Arthur noticed a strong smell of burning while he felt a certain difficulty breathing, until he managed to open his eyes even with difficulty and had the same vision as Oliver.
The two contemplated over the city wall a black smoke coming out and the strong glow of the flames that were in the houses, the scenery was completely destroyed and they could not see people in the streets, besides rubble with something reddish coming out from under some.
The view to the square was completely black with something burnt similar to bodies lying on the ground, the bell was on the ground with a huge red stain that extended to the bottom, where the same red liquid was flowing, the church was completely destroyed without power stand out from other buildings.
Arthur's eyes widened with a devastated expression as he watched his home village go up in flames, even the weather was hotter and embers flew across the sky approaching the two.
His vision doubted reality, until he saw a large shadow take his front and go towards the village.
His trance was broken and he saw Oliver run towards the entrance of the village still in his accelerated run.
Arthur clenched his teeth and ran towards the archer, his eyes starting to blur as he followed.
The two passed through the previously lively streets, Arthur looked to the sides trying to find some different sign, until they passed by the remains of a carriage destroyed and in flames with a body beside the carriage, the other was sitting against the wall.
With that image, taking lapses from a few hours ago, he remembered the faces of the two merchants and felt his legs give out.
Oliver with a worried look continued to run, but he heard the sound of something falling to the ground and turned back, seeing Arthur on his knees facing the two burned bodies that were there.
Soon he clenched his teeth and ran towards the swordsman pulling him by the hair as he screamed.
"ARTHUR, COME, ARTHUR."
The swordsman continued to have lapses and visions from earlier, until he was pulled over and heard Oliver with panic on his face but still looking serious and hurried.
Soon he returned to reality and stood up, while he was situated he remembered his home and widened his eyes, immediately turning towards his home and talking.
"Oliver... my house..."
The archer squinted his eyes and teeth, also worried about him, but then he took both hands to the swordsman's shoulder and looked into his eyes.
"Arth… I have to see my family… go see yours and if you find someone go to Asmith, we'll meet there, I need it to be quick because we can still save someone. Cover your mouth and nose with your clothes and go at once."
The phrase scared Arthur, who widened his eyes still in panic when he learned that he would be left alone, shortly after speaking, the archer began to run towards the city bridge that had collapsed by the flames, leaving only pieces of wood in the city river.
The swordsman seeing the archer leave, soon started to run, still following him and spoke.
"Wait, we can search together… I…"
As soon as he spoke, he saw the archer rush his steps and jump from one end of the broken bridge to the other, extending his legs he managed to reach a part, but he soon fell feeling his weight.
Oliver's eyes widened seeing that and he threw himself to grab the wall, managing to put a hand before he fell into the river, supporting himself to climb still with difficulty.
"I'll go with you!"
The young swordsman screamed and prepared to jump, but was soon scolded.
"GO GET YOUR PARENTS, ARTHUR, YOU'RE WASTING TIME!"
"BUT-"
"FUCKING, ARTHUR, WHY DO YOU NEVER OBEY ME? WHY DO YOU NEVER GIVE? FUCKING GO!"
The phrase made Arthur widen his eyes and stop his attack immediately, his fear for not wanting to go alone made him retreat, but Oliver's phrase brought him to the fore, while the archer insisted on climbing, until he managed to reach the other side even with difficulty.
Oliver soon got up and started running past the fire, heading towards his training field near where his house was, disappearing from Arthur's sight who was still standing and wide-eyed when he saw that he was alone.
He felt paralyzed and his legs were still weak, until he heard the sound of something collapsing and he noticed beside him the wall of a house falling towards him.
Scared, he widened his eyes and ran throwing himself to get out of reach of the wall, which fell making a loud sound and raising dust, Arthur fell to the ground, but due to the emergency he soon found himself remembering his home, he clenched his fists and clenched his eyes. teeth, gathering strength to get up even with difficulties and so he left in a run towards his house.