"We're hunting a traitor. He should be around here somewhere. He might look innocent, but he slaughtered a few of our group" Erebos seemed infuriated.
Someone was hiding in the fortress? And they wanted us to kill that someone? How odd.
'Whatever. It's not like hunting humans is too different to hunting monsters...ethic aside'
"Why did he attack your group?"
Twilight seemed to share his suspicion.
Something appeared in Rafe's hand, no one seemed to notice.
"Why what is one good question. We'd like to ask him ourselves. All we did was give him a little food...he seemed hungry"
Erebos acted hurt and confused.
Rafe looked at the item in his hand with confusion.
So some guy attacked this group over being fed? I highly doubt it. Not even Flower Boy would do something that blood-thirsty. Either this guy is lying, or this kid he's after is one insane bastard.
"We'll look for him. Could you wait here?"
Erebos glared at Twilight with a clenched fist.
It seemed he didn't want to wait. However, suddenly, the anger left his face, replaced with a friendly expression.
"That's fine" he smiled.
Inside, they searched the perimeter for the so-called killer. At first, they didn't find a single thing. Not a single sign of life.
The fortress was huge, finding one person was a hefty task. Luckily, it was quite open in the centre, so a large chunk of the task was relieved. Yet, finding someone in this labyrinth would not be easy.
Rafe scanned every detail of the place, moving from watch tower to watch tower.
Nothing.
After a while, he started to wonder if they were making the whole thing up, and whether this mysterious killer even existed.
However, a moment later, a voice called out to him with a whisper.
"Are you with them?"
Suddenly, the volume of the voice increased, and distain masked his words.
"I am not. However, they have asked me to find you. Why did you kill their men?"
Rafe had turned around to look at the source of the voice. It was a young man around his age, a bloody sword in his hand.
'He can't exactly say he didn't do it now, can he?'
"They...they eat people"
The young man seemed serious. His grey eyes were sharp and stared straight into Rafe's. He had short, mucky black hair with blood splashed in.
Rafe looked at something, intrigued. Again, he seemed confused.
"They eat people?"
Rafe was at a lost for words. Cannibals? He'd rarely seen any humans in the past three years, nevermind any that ate other humans.
His face grew dark.
"Yes. They even fed me their friend. Or tried to at least. They aren't human"
The young man was visibly disturbed recalling the moment. He grimaced.
'Ah...this might be a problem. Well...time for second opinion'
"Twilight"
She heard his voice from one of the watch towers.
"Yeah, Rafe?"
"Come here"
Soon, the stunning youth appeared, a rapier in her hand, ready to kill.
"Is this the killer?"
Her face turned grim.
"Hear him out first. He has...quite the story I'd argue"
Twilight seemed confused. The youth explained it again, causing Twilight's face to only get darker. Now, they had to decide who to believe.
Rafe had already made up his mind. It was all on Twilight.
"Rafe?"
He turned his face to the side. It seemed his blood-thirst had shown. He didn't like the feeling he got from the riders to begin with. Now, he had an excuse to kill them.
Everything about the youth told him that what he was saying was the truth. Rafe had chosen to believe him. Now, Twilight had to decide.
"So...are we killing the riders?"
Rafe turned his head back.
"Looks like it, doesn't it?"
"What if he's lying?"
Rafe's expression didn't change.
"Then I'll pay the price in hell"
Looking at Twilight, she seemed to be trying to hide her feelings. It made sense, she was stuck in a situation where it was one word against another.
As for Rafe, he wore a dark expression. Sick people deserved to die.
Progressing to the gate, however, his dark expression warped into a friendly face. Creepily friendly.
With that, the three of them made their way back to where the riders were waiting. When they say the youth behind the two strangers, a sadistic smile appeared on their faces. Their next meal appeared.
"Ah, thank you, travellers. We'll take it from he-"
Slash.
Suddenly, Erebos's head flew up, separated from his body. Rafe's Dao had now become painted in more blood.
Blood seemed to fly out in streams from both the neck and the flying head.
Erebos would wear that smile forever now...until he rotted.
In that same moment, Twilight's rapier pierced another rider's heart.
Overwhelmed by the pain, the cannibal couldn't seem to move. He simply ragdolled to the ground in agony. Wiggling around on the ground, hand on his pierced heart.
Only one remained.
"W-What the hell are yo-"
Slash.
Another head rolled on the bloody field. Another corpse entered Rafe's mind...forever. He never forgot a kill. Never.
"Should we head back inside?" Twilight asked.
Rafe nodded.
Meanwhile, the youth stood there perplexed. It was all over so quickly. The cannibal riders were dispatched in an instant.
He was suddenly petrified. All it took was a few words and they killed three men. Of course, he was telling the truth...but what if he hadn't? What if he was just a psychopathic killer? Then they'd just killed three innocent men and protected some psycho.
The youth stood shocked for a few more moments. Then he turned his body around, taking one last look at the corpses on the ground, and headed back into the fortress.
"Who are you two?"
"Rafe"
"Twilight"
They said simultaneously.
Looking at the two killers, the youth was still shocked. Although he'd killed himself, he'd never done it that easily, and been left uncaring after.
"I'm Jed...nice to meet you?"
Rafe nodded.
"Nice to meet you, too. You any good with that sword or is it decoration?"
Jed looked down at his bloody long sword.
'Decoration?'
"Erm...I used to take lessons back in the real world? I was never that good, though. What about y...nevermind"
Jed sighed. Pointless question; he knew the answer. Rafe was a monster.
"Ah...how long have you been here?"
Jed looked down.
"Must've been a year now. I bloomed late, I was 15"
"Oh, so you haven't been here too long. We're 17"
Jed looked up again, surprised. A year wasn't long? A year? It'd felt like an eternity to him. Surviving for that long was a lot of luck and struggling. Yet that was not long?
"Did you know each other in the real world? Lucky"
Rafe expressed his surprise as well.
"We met the other day. There's a castle a few kilometres south of here. We met in the library...she's...a bit of a geek"
Jed chuckled.
Still, he was surprised. They seemed more like long time friends rather than new companions.
'At least they're on my side now...I hope'