DAKU
"I promise," I oathed and wasted no time to approach the nearest injured villager. I knew damn well that promise was a huge responsibility. Saving all the villagers seemed impossible, especially if they were beyond saving. "Then, let's save what we can."
The scene was much more horrendous in a closer look. The wails and battlecry almost turned into an ensemble as a music of this tragic view. The flames that devoured the houses resembled gluttonous monsters digesting every wood and flammable material present within the abode.
The clang of swords and swoosh of magic imitated familiar musical tools as if accompanying the horrific and heart-wrenching screams of pain and agony. Smoke filled our lungs while embers soared like fireflies. I wasn't that far from the village but I felt like I took a mile marathon to reach the nearest unconscious person.
Without any second thoughts, I knelt beside him and checked for his pulse. Luckily, he was still alive but the wound on his lower left abdomen would surely drain him out of blood. His pale lips told me that he was close to becoming a goner.
"I'm not gonna let you die," I mumbled as I began to deliver my healing magic. With the training I received from the Goddess of Health herself, the healing took only a minute. The wound closed up and his lips returned to its original color. "Rest here for a while. I'll go save the others."
I moved on to the next person and healed him. One after another, I healed every single one of them. Whether it was still breathing or not, I healed them. I had enough mana to heal a hundred people in one night. Thelah trained me for that.
"Look what we have here," a voice said, stopping me from healing a woman. I turned my head to face him and learned he was not alone. There were five of them, each holding a weapon of various forms. A smug look was plastered on their faces as if telling me to stop whatever I was doing or get killed.
"He's a Healer, I bet," one of them guessed.
"Healer or not, he'll be dead," the one at the very front declared. He closed the gap between us while lifting his sword to deliver an attack. But I just looked at him straight in his eyes, courageous and unmoved.
The man swung his sword at me only to hit something hard. The impact and friction it made sent sparks and high-pitched rings. Before me was Kenshi blocking the attacker's sword with his weapon. I knew he would come. My gut told me a while ago that he would arrive to save me. And it seemed like my gut was right.
"What the—? Where did he come from?"
The remaining four prepared themselves with their weapons as the one who attacked me stepped back to regroup. Kenshi stood straight to face them all. I went back to my interrupted task and proceeded to heal the woman. When I was finished, I stood behind Kenshi and watched the five get intimidated by my comrade's presence.
"Do you think you can win against five of us?" the one with a spiked club taunted. I could feel their uneasiness and it was safe to assume that they were unskilled unlike the leader Kenshi once fought. They were basically like pawns thrown in the battle to occupy the enemy and bid their leader some time to prepare or worse, entertain himself.
"Let's find out," Kenshi responded and engaged first.
I could tell his speed improved a lot. He was faster than last time, which surprised and scared the five's shit out of them. In just a blink of a second, the five fell breathless. One by one, their head separated and rolled away from their body with their soulless eyes still open and their mouths gaping. Disgust reigned my tongue, making my stomach churn.
"'You okay?" Kenshi inquired who was now at the rear of where the five once stood. His sword was covered in blood which he whisked off of its blade.
"Do you really have to cut their heads off?" I asked as I pushed my disgust back to the depth of my throat before I started throwing up.
"Just making sure they won't get to live again," Kenshi justified.
"You better go save the others. I'll catch up once I'm done here."
"Are you sure? No one's gonna protect you."
"I can manage, Kenshi. The villagers need your protection more than I do. I know how to protect myself."
"And yet, you let these five almost kill you."
"I already saw you coming this way so I didn't bother," I lied. I never saw him. "Just go already!"
"I'll be fast. I'll be back before you even know it."
Kenshi dashed toward nowhere while I went to the next injured person. This one was a child, probably, the same age as Kana. Soot and dirt soiled her gorgeous face and several pink-to-red lacerations invaded it as well. She was breathing. No fatal injuries. Just unconscious.
Leaving her here out in the open was a stupid thing to do. I lifted her off the ground and onto my arms. I searched for a safe place to put her even though the whole place was no longer safe at all. Every nook and cranny of the village was a notorious place to be. If there was a safe place now, it was the forest.
I wandered my eyes, looking for a better route to the forest. But then I remembered Thelah: she could watch over this child. Without any doubt, I ran in the direction where I left Thelah. I knew she was no longer there but I knew as well that she was watching. I just needed to call for her. I was certain she would come. She was the kindest god after all.
I finally reached the outer rim of the village. It was the space separating the villages and the forest. A gap that divides the two domains. The transition between the domesticated lives and the wild.
I was halfway through the clearing when a red magic circle suddenly appeared a meter before me. With my human instinct and reflexes, I managed to stop myself and evade the circle. I held the child closer to me while closing both of my eyes, waiting for the next awful thing to happen. At that very moment, a deafening explosion caught my ears. Pebbles and dirt poured down like rain.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked a voice. A woman's voice. My ears caught footsteps as well, implying her proximity. I opened my eyes only to be screened by dust and smoke. Suddenly, a gust of wind removed the filth and there I saw, standing a few meters away from me, a woman holding a book—a grimoire, to be exact. "No one will leave this village alive."
Her seductive yet elegant voice matched her appearance: a black fitted dress and a shawl made of wolf fur. I could tell she hailed from a noble family just by looking at her. Her sophisticated way of standing emanated lust and pleasure. Any grown man would swoon over her effortlessly.
Fortunately, I was sane enough to think that this woman was here not to satisfy my karnal need but to kill everyone. That thought alone was enough for me to ignore all the good things I had said about her and focus on defeating her. Those eyes yet lustful were brimming with killing intent. I bet murder was her kind of pleasure.
"Why are you doing this? These people did nothing against you!" I defended, still holding the child close.
"I can tell you're not from here, young man," she claimed and she was not wrong. "Why bother knowing when you're bound to die within a minute."
I kept my mouth shut. If there was one thing that I must not do right now, that would be to provoke her and advance my death. I didn't have my dagger with me. I left at the hut thinking nothing bad was going to happen. I only had my fists.
I needed a plan—a strategy. I knew I was nothing against her. She was a mage; her magic could kill me in an instant. But outsmarting her could turn the tables around. I just had to think of a great tactic.
But with the child in my hand, this would be difficult for me. If only—
Strangely, the child vanished from my grasp and I had no idea where she went. I didn't even know what the hell happened.
"Quite a magic trick you got there," the woman praised, reminding me of her presence. "Too bad you don't get to live longer to perform your petty little magic show."
"I'm no magician," I corrected. I let healing magic gather at my hands which were now fists. "I'm a Healer."
"Much better. I won't have a hard time killing you."
The woman's grimoire flipped several pages on its own followed by a cyan-colored magic circle. I started running as sharp projectiles made of ice darted out of the circle and toward me. After evading them all, I launched at the woman while pulling my first to send a punch. Lucky for her, a barrier stood between us, blocking my fist.
"Fighting with only your hands? What a dumb way to commit suicide!"
Two golden magic circles appeared on both sides flanking me. A deadly buzzing sound escaped from the circles while tendrils of electricity tried to reach out for me. Using the barrier as my platform, I jumped away from the circles just in time. A clap of thunder roared the entire place as the circles released their magic.
I sighed a breath of relief upon realizing it was a close call. She almost got me there. Thanks to my intuition and my fast reflexes.
I landed back to my original position earlier and spoke, "What did you say earlier? I'm bound to die within a minute. I'm still alive and it's already been five minutes."
"Just because you manage to stay alive for five minutes, doesn't mean you can escape alive. Overconfidence kills, remember that," she pointed out.
"Same goes for you."
The woman delivered different magic all at the same time. It even got me worried for a minute not until I got the hang of it and started dodging the magic without effort. It was not a perfect dodge—I still received minor cuts and burns—but with my healing magic, it was as if the wounds never existed in the first place.
The plane was once again masked by a thick cloud of dust and smoke as a result of the successive eruption of various magic. The woman continued to send her magic even though I was already out of range. She was oblivious to it because the dust kept me hidden from her sight.
I waited, with my right hand pointing at her and the other as support. Thanks to the light emitted by her magic circles, I had a rough idea of her location. Just as I expected, she released another gust of magic wind to clear out the dust. The moment the dust was completely removed, I flicked my finger reinforced by healing magic. The stone I picked earlier while avoiding her magic, flew toward her like a bullet.
She never knew it was coming. She didn't even know where I was until she removed the coverage. The stone shot through her head and her brain, leaving a tunnel made of flesh and blood. Blood dripped out of it and on her face.
Her grimoire that once floated above her hand dropped. It was not long enough for her lifeless body to fall as well. I watched and waited for any signs of movement or life. Her chest no longer bobbed up and down and her eyes failed to blink, too, despite being open for quite a while now.
She was dead.
And I won.
My eyes caught a faint white light at the entrance of a forest and saw Thelah. Beside her was a child of a familiar face—she was the same child that I carried earlier and suddenly disappeared. It was Thelah's doing all along. And they were both happy about my victory.