Moros was in a state of trance, his body unmoving and devoid of much facial expression. Empty eyes watched into the distant stars and the starry night shone brightly atop the scene of absolute carnage.
The corpses lay around, the blood shed and organs strewn around, left was an eerie silence, which ruled over the place.
Merely the low sound of soft breaths being taken echoed throughout the lush forest tainted in the bath of red liquid.
Moros' body stumbled forward, in the distance another goblin cried out, shocked by seeing its kin slaughtered like cattle and left behind as piles of dead flesh, waiting to rot away.
[The permitted time period for herb gathering has been elapsed]
[You will automatically be transported to Elysium]
[Initiating teleport sequence in 5…4..3..2..1]
A flash of white enveloped the rigid body before it was transported to the gate where it had come from…moments after it had disappeared several hundred goblins arrived at the scene.
A goblin 2 meters stall, bulging muscles, and legs the size of a human arm, he stepped up to the corpses, its eyes dashing around looking for something. Only to halt in its tracks after seeing the goblin, which had been strangulated.
A guttural scream escaped its mouth and it ran towards the corpse. Drawing its battleaxe, the rope was cut and the body caught. Tears streamed down its face, as its hand caressed the dead body before it.
It cried out in pain, holding its son close to its chest.
Putting the corpse softly down to the floor, it looked at its tribe. With a hateful roar, it raised its battle axe and hammered it into the floor several times.
The chieftain had announced war, the tribe bellowed loudly.
"Death to the enemy, death to the humans," the chief yelled, the voice cold enough to chill the air.
The goblins screamed and yelled their allegiance.
War was upon the horizon, and neither Moros nor the people of this realm knew what kind of fire was spreading from the Evergreen Forest.
The murderer in question, was simply thrown through the gate, which he had walked into. Coming back from his mission, he was greeted by the evaluation of his mission.
[Evaluation of the Herb-Gathering Mission Type A1]
[Gathered amount: 0/20]
[Mission status: Critical failure]
[Summary of events: Moros Terra did not search for the designated herbs, nor did he interact with inhabitants of the planet or other magicians to ensure a supply of the goods. As such it is to be said that he is to be regarded to have failed in all aspects of this mission]
[System suggests a cognitive test or to ensure that the target is capable of reading and understanding speech.]
Moros would have been very offended by that statement, if he could read. Yet, his unconscious state persisted and he walked out of the gate akin to a zombie in search of brains.
The central guild had long been empty. Neither the barely dressed Malissa nor the rude kid were present. The entire place was as silent as can be Moros' body stumbled forward slowly.
Droplets of blood fell onto the cold, marble floor as he made his way out of the door and into the winter night.
His body moved forward, on sheer instinct alone it travelled onwards. Few people were left at this type of hour and those that did, had reason to avoid the eyes of the public.
Thus Moros' wounded body moved itself towards the only place it religiously went to, the route that even Moros would know in its sleep-deprived state. The body moved home, namely the heal station, which waited for his juicy small monster stones.
With 5 arrows stuck in the back, knives in the front and long cuts on his abdomen, a healing spell was more than necessary otherwise Moros would certainly bleed out in due time.
Soft did his steps echo in the snow, heavy were its breaths, tired was the body, the limit of its endurance, it was approaching. Long after the mind has ceased to function, it was the will of the body to move on…towards its only route for survival.
Time passed and the body moved slower and slower, more and more strength left the injured vessel. Yet, through sheer perseverance, the home was reached by the body at last.
The last few steps into the heal station, were done under the heavy aching of a body that collapsed just after the door was opened.
The gathered magic cores of the goblins were all spent on buying a small heal spell+. Under the influence of the spell, all the wounds came to heal. Skin regenerated slowly, wounds contracted and weapons fell to the floor.
Yet, due to the terrible quality of the cheap spell, scar tissue was behind. His abdomen still showed a long gash; it healed ugly. The outlines of the knives were still visible, their impact forever marked on his skin.
Moros' breathing became ragged. Beads of sweat dropped from his forehead as his whole body began to suddenly heat up. A fever, his body seemingly rejecting…something.
Moros' eyes shot, open..consciousness blurry, and woozy. By reflex he puked, blood trickled down his mouth…"What have I done?"
Moros' thoughts appeared slow, the situation from before hard to fathom. Snippets of memories appeared one after another, yet the bigger picture remained elusive.
He recalled his battle against the goblins, all the blood, and some of the injuries he received. Seeing the scars left behind and the general exhaustion his body was under, he could not help but have a big smile.
Missions truly were the most fun a normal person could ever ask for. Life was truly something worth looking forward to.
He did not need to kill Ballas all the time to be happy.
Though his endeavour to become a normal person faced another problem that soon arrived at his doorstep, yes. An angry childhood friend wanted to know where her dear bestie had been all this time.
A normal development for normal people in this rather abnormal world. Now, Moros did not know about the hell awaiting him a few meters away.
No, he made another shocking discovery…it was 2 am in the morning. And the normal people would have to go to school in a few hours.
"NOOOOOOO," screamed Moros into the night at his stupid oversight. He needed to sleep and he needed to make it possible.
His cry, however, had drawn the attention of a certain Malissa, who had just received the general location of her target. In a fury, which can only stem from bikini-wearing crazy, the abandoned female childhood friend ran towards Moros.
Moros, just wanting to have some sleep, found himself greeted and tackled by 60 kilos of pure, unfiltered rage.
Caught off-guard by the sudden tackle Moros was brought to the floor, ditching his head on the ground.
Ready to drop the speech about what he had been thinking to leave her alone for all the time there and where the hell, the bastard, had gone? She noticed a stream of blood spreading from the top of Moros' head.
With a heavy sigh, she sealed the found with the smallest fire she could conjure, broke into his house to get a blanket and his pillow out.
"He would not mind the door being blown to bits, right?" she thought to herself. At most they were even, since a gentleman does not leave a woman hanging.
And thus the property damage had been reduced to a simple act of repaying her grace. Seeing the knocked out Moros sleeping so soundly, she could not help but join him as he lay there so peacefully on the cold hard ground.
He really seemed worn-out, so pale. She thought she did him good, by putting him to sleep so softly. Moros, however, did not think nor could he reply─this time he really had been knocked out cold.
What goblins with knives could never have done, she managed with the force of a skimpy outfit and her rage against his antics.
Once again the weapon of a woman proved superior when dealing with the man enemy type. Moros now had been stunlocked, by the oppressive volume of her weaponry.
Seeing his sweet face, she really could not help herself and pinched his cheeks.
"Where is that soft and sweet child from when we grow up, huh?"
Her question echoed through the empty night, her memories of times gone by gave her a soft smile atop her cherry lips.
"Sometimes, I still see us running around in the main residence, playing hide and seek. You promised you would become something great and I wanted to be with someone great too."
She sighed, the dreams of childhood…they could not be further from the truth at times. Time changed them and the reality they woke up ten years later was most certainly a bitter pill to swallow.
Turning around, facing the night sky, she gave one last look to the scene above, before closing her eyes too.
"Dreams, I hope they do come true."