"What a long day it was today... I envy you a little for your flexible schedule, Ti-Chaak."
"Haha! It was you who wanted to work at the gates, Sak-Lu. You could have chosen the same place as me. "
The two friends chatted casually at Ti-Chaak's house while drinking. It had been a long day, where Sak-Lu had to help with the repairs of the arena, unlike Ti-Chaak, who was able to enjoy his day with drinks and competitions.
"How the hell would I know that today someone capable of destroying the arena would appear? When I saw that Sariel, I wouldn't expect it to be so strong."
"Indeed. In fact, everyone in that group is extraordinary! Today I competed with Raymond in the arm wrestling, and he defeated me even after more than a dozen of shots."
"Didn't you happen to work today?" His friend stared at him with a certain anger.
"Well... you know how it is... It was all a mess due to the arena, so I was able to escape for a few hours, hehe."
"Did you at least visit my wife?"
"Oh, yes... She is fine, as far as possible."
Hearing this, Sak-Lu sighed and supported his head with one of his hands. By an unlucky twist of fate, his wife's pregnancy was risky, and it was necessary to be watched to prevent something from going wrong and her losing the child.
"But relax! Everything will be fine! You know how skilled healers are."
"I just hope the child doesn't die... It would have been a waste."
"Well... Why don't we change the subject? I heard you got something interesting; can I see it?" Ti-Chaak's tone became serious.
"Oh yes, look here." Sak-Lu got up and walked to a table, where he had left an object as soon as he arrived at his friend's house.
It was something long, almost two meters long, wrapped in a cloth.
Ti-Chaak approached and peeked under the cloth. His eyes shone when he saw what it was, as if he had found a great treasure.
It was a little difficult to see, since it was night and Sak-Lu had not yet illuminated the house, so the only light came from the moon, which entered the room timidly, adding almost no luminosity.
"That's a great find!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Too bad our leader is going to confiscate it anyway..."
"That's true, but I'd love to test it on someone first... Why don't we fight afterwards?"
"Only if you let me use it too."
"Deal."
Ti-Chaak peered at the object again as he exclaimed in admiration for that object. Sak-Lu joined his friend and also admired the item.
"Wonderful, right?" A third voice asked behind Ti-Chaak.
"Yes... Wait, who..."
Ti-Chaak turned quickly after hearing this unknown voice but was grabbed by the neck by a powerful hand.
"Guh!"
Sak-Lu immediately stood up and tried to attack that unknown person, however he was hit with a kick, being thrown and colliding with a locker.
"Where is your meeting place?" The mysterious man asked.
Ti-Chaak covered his hands with fire and threw the flames into the man, but they didn't hurt him, they only lit up his face.
Sak-Lu, still on the ground, turned pale the moment he saw the man's face engulfed in flames.
"Sa-Sariel!?"
"I won't ask again, answer me or I'll kill you..." insisted the traveler in a bored but angry tone.
"Please! Wait! We have family!" Sak-Lu begged.
The traveler looked at him, taking his attention away from the guard he was holding. The bloodthirsty gaze he possessed penetrated Sak-Lu's soul, as if staring at his core.
"Die!" Ti-Chaak shouted, covering his hands once again with fire.
However, these flames were different now, as they burned a dark purple color, unlike any existing fire in nature.
He was ready to throw those strange flames at Sariel, yet the traveler hurled him to the ground with tremendous force, causing him to lose the air in his lungs.
Then he drew his sword and slashed in the direction of Ti-chaak. Sak-Lu, seeing his friend about to die, immediately stood up and tried to punch the traveler.
Sariel's sword slowly approached in Sak-Lu's vision. It reminded him of the day his friend saved him from an angel, the day they both met and immediately became best friends.
When he was about to hit the traveler, he was kicked again to the place he had fallen in the first blow.
Ti-Chaak tried to use his flames again, however his head was cut off before he could even think of defending himself.
The traveler kicked his head where Sak-Lu was, making him stare into his friend's lifeless eyes.
The guard went into shock as he saw his friend's head staring at him with wide, empty eyes. Before he knew it, a few tears came to his eyes and threatened to escape at any moment.
Then Sariel walked towards him imposingly. Although his height was close to the guard, his figure was like a slowly but uninterrupted advancing shadow, devouring everything in its path. The only trace of light in him came from his eyes, blue and cold, like his soul.
"Wait! I have a wife! Don't kill me!"
But it was useless. Sariel, relentlessly, kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall to the floor and vomit his dinner.
"A worm like you dared to marry?" The traveler's gaze showed anger and disgust. "Don't try to fool me, I know who you and your friend were."
Sak-Lu, realizing that he would only die if he tried to persuade him, decided to fight. His hands covered themselves in purple flames and pointed them in the direction of the traveler.
However, with a single, swift movement, Sariel tore off both of the guard's arms, cutting through the flesh and bone as if it were paper.
"AAAH! MY ARMS! AAAAAH," Sak-Lu howled in pain as he felt his own blood soak him.
The traveler approached him and, instead of finishing him, brought both hands closer to what was left of Sak-Lu's arms and, with a golden glow, closed the wound, stopping the bleeding.
Sariel bent down next to Sak-Lu and stared at him coldly.
"I'll ask again, for every time you don't answer me, I'll rip off another member of yours." He stared at him deeply in the eyes. "Where. Is. Your. Meeting. Place?"
"I don't know what you're..."
The traveler didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence to cut off his right leg, healing it soon after to stop the bleeding.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Answer me."
"I don't..."
One more leg cut off.
"AAAAAAAH! HELP, SOMEONE HELP ME! HELP!" With no more limbs, all he could do was violently shake his head in an attempt to move.
But no one came...
"No one will hear you but him," Sariel turned Sak-Lu's face towards his friend's severed head, who stared at him with wide and dead eyes. "I put on an Illusion Magic to stop the sound of your screams from being heard. Now, answer my question."
Sak-Lu, with no way to fight, stared into the traveler's eyes for a long time.
Finally, his gaze changed, showing a glow of someone who had not given up fighting.
"You can kill me, but this won't stay that way. We will find you and kill you!" He challenged him confidently.
"Well, you've finally shown your true nature huh? But I didn't ask you that, answer me right away."
"Fuck you."
"You leave me no choice..."
Sariel brought his right hand, which emitted a brown glow, close to Sak-Lu's forehead.
The next moment, the guard felt his mind being invaded by the traveler's consciousness. His whole life started to go through his head like a movie.
His memories did not follow any kind of order, sometimes he saw his memories of when he was a child, sometimes he saw the most recent events.
It all seemed to last forever. Sak-Lu was unable to resist the invasion and forcibly saw his life being repeated. He saw himself as a child, playing in the streets of the kingdom, which was thriving despite the war. He saw himself on the day he had finally become a warrior, eager to face the angels. He saw himself at his wedding to his wife, where they both exchanged their vows with a big smile on their faces.
In addition, he also saw his memories with Ti-Chaak, whose head stared at him lifelessly. He saw when he saved his life, when they fought in the arena and his friend defeated him, of all the times they both had fun together and fought for the arm wrestling.
Endless events flashed through his mind, until Sariel finally found what He was looking for.
"In the woods, huh?" He said as retreated his hand away. "Well, now you're no use to me anymore."
"Heh, hurry up, kill me." He challenged him with a skeptical smile.
"You were long dead..." The traveler's tone became grave. "May your God consume your pathetic soul," he said as he stepped on Sak-Lu's head.
Sariel, applying superhuman strength, crushed the guard's skull, causing his head to explode into hundreds of pieces. His brain stuck to the floor and wall, dyeing them red, and a pool of blood began to grow larger and larger as it leaked out of the guard's blown out head.
Its skull was not even able to withstand such force and was destroyed completely, like a mere watermelon being trampled by an elephant.
An intense smell of iron infested the house, a smell that would surely soon attract insects.
In the middle of all this carnage was Sariel, his boots covered in blood and parts of Sak-Lu's brain clinging to his sole.
The traveler, showing not the slightest remorse for what he had just done, moved toward the table and picked up the object that was covered, then rummaged through Ti-Chaak's corpse and found a silver stone. Then he went to the door and left the house, abandoning two bodies without their heads and shrouded in blood.
In just a few hours, that whole place would stink of putrefaction and traumatize the unfortunate person who would find that scene of terror in the morning.
Upon leaving the house, the traveler was immediately greeted by Paqui, who landed on his shoulder the moment he saw him.
Croac!
"I know, I know... Hold back a little, I'll give you as many snacks as you want." He stroked the bird's beak
Croac?
Pagui tilted his head, and you could almost see a question mark floating around him.
"There are a lot of snacks as far as we're going."
Sariel, made himself invisible with the Illusion magic, walked quietly to the wall of the kingdom, jumped over the wall and walked into the forest, disappearing into the shadows of the trees intensified by the night.