As the summer trip arrived and with it, the sunset casting vibrant orange rays onto the wall in my room and the events that led to where we were now were quite amazing.
Just to refresh my thoughts, the moment I saw Ego's carriage with horses and the means of transporting the students along, my breath hitched; it had been a while since the last time I had rode a horse.
We packed the carriage with all sorts of bags and materials, such as food supplies, tents, spare bedsheets, a lantern and, last but not least, the tents themselves. However, we lacked anything of importance. It's just basic survival tools.
As we had arrived to our first destination on the summer trip, it had been around a week now of living on the open road and my legs were almost dead to me. They were practically made of jelly.
Due to the long distance, the school provided many forms of transportation and it was required we rotate every twelve hours or so when using the various means.
For starters, the school had numerous carriages provided for the use of the students and the teachers and we were asked to share so as to have equal responsibility over the many loads the carriage had to carry. For one, there were too many supplies and extra baggage, making the horse draw it less smoothly. I opted to stand by the window and stare outside, which had been a brilliant choice as the landscape was eye-catching, full of hills, forests and little farms, the occasional farms spotted here and there along with the many mountainous cliffs.
"Woah, did you see that giant thing ahead?!" I exclaimed as the vast cliff face entered my sight.
Thorne, who had also been tasked with guiding the horses and checking the map, stared at me with his beady little eyes, his lips pursed.
"Yeah I know about it Cyrus," Thorne growled, with the hatred seething in his words, and I got it, I beat his ass. I didn't deserve this kind of scorn.
I lowered my head a little bit. "I'm just really surprised to be honest."
Thorne ignored my statement, his body jerking forward a little as the carriage slowed to a stop in the clearing before the base of the cliff. We both got out and grabbed our packs from the storage compartments to our side. As I watched, the other carriages approached the location where the teachers stopped; when I looked at each student, they carried some semblance of shock and horror on their faces. There were two bodies laying in front of us, lifeless.
The two corpses were sliced apart at their vital spots, and the blood, in copious amounts, had covered the ground where it stood. I ran over to the corpses.
"Who would do such a horrendous act?" Emerson cried out and tears slid from her eyes, dripping onto the blood-soaked earth beneath. Her body quaked violently and her eyes were glossy and unfocused.
The blood gushed freely from the gaping wound, trickling into small rivers that quickly dispersed in the soft soil.
It was sickening.
It was disgusting.
The corpse of the woman lay in a pool of crimson liquid as a stark white robe covered the entirety of its figure, draped loosely over the shoulders of the body. "EVERYONE STAY BACK, THESE BODIES ARE STILL WARM!" I shouted at everyone and motioned them away with my arm, with Ariel following me away with her knees buckling and she struggled to maintain a firm balance on her own two feet. The sight before us was beyond shocking; I guess no amount of seeing death would cause one to become used to seeing such a macabre scene.
"It appears whoever attacked the bodies, knew what they were doing," Ego spoke, staring at the remains with a sorrow-filled voice. I gazed at the wounds, which had been expertly cut straight into the organs and deep into the spine. These people died very quick deaths. "Those who did this, were people who knew precisely how to cut these corpses, making them feel as much pain as possible."
The teacher inspected each body while maintaining a certain amount of caution, keeping his distance. However, just then did Headmaster Reagan stride forth in an attempt to control the class. "Everyone stay in your tents, Ego and I will take a look around the area and see what the hell is going on. Until then, I want EVERYONE to stay put."
I felt the presence of 4 people, hiding in the shadows. Why wasn't anyone able to sense their mana? And why didn't anyone even detect their movement at all, let alone the people around here? We weren't close to anyone... were we? I watched Headmaster Reagan walk away from the group of children. "HEADMASTER, WATCH OUT!" I bellowed.
Dodging to the left, he had moved just before an assassin jumped down on top of his position, appearing as a large, muscular man with pitch black clothing covering their skin. Another man emerged, this time in a mask that hid the eyes and nose. Headmaster Reagan drew his rapier and sprinted, striking the figure in the abdomen, while another assassin materialized in front of his face, raising the knife for a single blow. Reagan had little time to respond before the assassin came into range and then released his sword in one powerful downward thrust, striking him in the chest.
An intense feeling, something that should never be unleashed, boiled within me, as the blood of a good man had spilled over the green, fertile land. "You fucked up."
Ego turned with wide eyes in response. A purple, toxic aura radiated off me as it twirled around and mixed with the atmosphere. What a bother, I need to dispose of this scum. "So you're the vessel that the Apostle of Hate was talking about." the man declared.
Why are the Apostles of Omnixis back? I have a feeling it might have to do something with my ability to use aether, but I'm not entirely sure. "Who the fuck are you?" I laughed.
I've never seen this pile of shit before. I grinned maliciously. "It seems you might be an issue."
How could I kill him with ease, or make sure he lives a short but painful life. Perhaps a large explosion would suffice.
His knife clanged against my sword. He had good form; too bad I'm going to shatter him and make sure he never gets up again. With my eyes filled with fury, the man's figure contorted with terror. "D-Dammit, S-Shit, I... can't keep up with him!" the masked man cried out. I grabbed his face and dragged him to a secluded area.
The blades had begun to crack from the excessive amounts of force placed upon them, the dark matter slowly corroding away, revealing the sharp edge of the knife. My blade lashed out at his torso and cut clean through, making him tumble backwards with a small grunt and I moved my foot up into a hard strike.
My boot impacted his face as a soft gushing sound, mixed with a sickening crunch of bone, echoed and followed soon after. The dark spectre of blood spattered from his mouth and flew forward like a crimson liquid projectile.
A voice echoed in my head, repeating the same words over and over again: "kill him." It was as if he had set a mission, which was something I had never done, to kill someone, even though I'd never taken the life of someone, nor have I actually killed an individual. Maybe in the spur of the moment, when I lost my consciousness, I may have killed, but never could I willingly take a person's life.
"What is that aura that surrounds you?" The man's voice trembled in fear.
Is this what he talks about? An overwhelming power... no. I don't feel as if I need to do this, I was fine just a moment ago and... I... My feet glided forward in perfect strides, and with that, I threw myself forward with tremendous speed, clashing once more against his sword with all the might I could muster. He backed up slightly, falling to a knee and getting a glimpse of the damage; all he could do was watch a mere child overwhelm him in power and do nothing about it. I grabbed a fist full of the masked man's hair and tossed him through a window that was nearby.
"Heh... I have nothing left. Finish it." He coughed, spattering crimson. He seemed weak.
I lunged and tackled the assassin to the ground, holding him against the floor as I proceeded to slam my hand repeatedly into his skull, and he didn't fight back, simply allowing it to occur.
"You seem awfully accepting of death... so easily." I conjured my Ethereal Edge and impaled him through the chest. I sat and took a moment to realize I just murdered someone; this was a whole different ball game for me, yet all I could see was the pale color of his eyes, blank and empty as I slowly cranked the blade to twist and grind against his bones. This is who I am now.
I... need to run. I ran, my mind fraught and exhausted with the many possibilities of what to do in my future. If it were only as easy as escaping, then maybe I wouldn't need to fight this battle on my own. The best answer is to escape from all this shit. I can't deal with killing someone; it was like some weird emotion washed over me. A powerful emotion, fueled by fear, loathing and disgust, pushed its way past the door that was my consciousness. It flowed like a dam, unable to hold back the rapid flowing current.
I should've left the Verdan Expanse long ago. My power is something I can't control. I looked down and was horrified.
Lub-DUB. Lub-DUB.
With each second, it felt as if I were slowly drowning and having my consciousness fade away. Was it ever truly me who did such horrific things? To the point of slaughtering an army or wiping out thousands in the blink of an eye? I don't have that kind of power anymore.
This is fucking unbelievable. The thought of me being like the old me was ridiculous.
This isn't who I'm supposed to be.