It's a weird feeling…
To know you are going into battle you will not survive.
"I am having a hard time accepting it. Is it because I am so much younger than the others in the village?
As the dark-haired boy slowly inhaled, he felt the temperature of the air drop by a few degrees most people would be freezing in such harsh climate, especially if they were naked above the waist like him.
Yet the boy didn't seem to mind. "This is the power of the meditation after all, makes you ignore all negative feelings and emotions, an invaluable tool before battle." Exhaling slowly, he opened his eyes reviling their brownish color.
Before him stood a humble village, it wasn't big, but it was very beautiful, every house was made with utmost care and precision, the gardens around them filled with all kinds of different vegetables.
Snow was starting to fall, most likely due to the cold temperatures hinting that the incoming danger was a dire one.
"A storm is coming"
A quick glance and anyone will see that something was wrong, most of the houses were left to deteriorate, almost like there wasn't anyone to look after them anymore, their owners disappearing never to be seen again, creating a chilling sight.
Still, this is where the boy grew up, and where he would die.
To be honest, it was a miracle he had survived so far, he was supposed to die in the woods where his parents had abandoned him.
Only by some incredible luck did John, the only veteran in the village, happen to be on patrol at the right moment, to spot the abandoned baby in the middle of the cursed forest.
Most of the combat techniques he knows came from him. Even if he had already surpassed his master that didn't mean there wasn't anything else to learn.
Even if John could be seen as a very strict teacher to the boy, he was so much more than that, if not a father, a grandfather in a way, always teaching the boy things about life.
"There is more to life than combat" was one of his favorite phrases. Even if that statement was correct the boy simply failed to imagine it. His entire life he had been forced to fight after all.
In this humble place everyone was over 60, excluding him, of course. Making him the youngest in the village by far.
Not that it was surprising, the village was somewhere deep in the nothingness surrounded by the cursed forest. Long lost contact with the world, leaving it completely isolated.
The villagers loved telling the boy incredible stories about the outside world, a way to connect everyone together, something called "internet". There were also planes. Large metal vehicles that allowed humans to fly.
Of course, the boy couldn't comprehend such things, after all there were differences between imagining and seeing things with your own eyes.
Not to mention he didn't know what it was like to have a conversation with someone close to his age, not that he minded talking with the old folks, quite the opposite, in fact he loved it.
But there was obviously something that separated them, not allowing them to connect with the boy.
Maybe the reason was that the age difference was just too vast, or there was another reason unknown to him.
"No stop thinking about unnecessary things, focus on the upcoming battle."
After putting his old armor on, the boy slowly made his way to the gates of the village, just by looking at them anyone could see that they wouldn't be able to stop any serious threat.
Still, it was better than nothing.
A crowd of villagers had gathered in front of the gates. Everyone was armed … if you can call these decades old farming equipment weapons, almost all the weapons they had, were destroyed in one of the countless attacks they had experienced over the years.
An old tall gentleman with gray hair and green eyes was at the front of said crowd, from afar he might appear threatening especially with the large scar on his left eye, which he had received a long time ago making him half blind. The man was looking at the distant forest with a grim expression.
John was usually good at hiding his negative emotions, trying not to disturb the other villagers but it looked like he wasn't even trying to hide the worries he had about the incoming battle.
"So, he felt it too." the boy thought to himself.
"Ah, Victor you have come." John smiled when he saw the boy even if they weren't related by blood, he still considered him his grandson.
"This coldness in the air is worse than we expected, I doubt we will survive the upcoming battle, I suggest you get out of the village, run and never look back. You don't have to worry about us old folks, we have lived enough, but you are too young to die here."
Victor wasn't surprised, he had expected his grandfather would try to convince him to not participate in the upcoming battle.
"Run? Leaving you all to die? As I shamelessly run from danger? Leaving my home, my family the place where I have spent my life? Don't be ridiculous, I will rather die…
Not to mention what point is there in running away? I will have to traverse hundreds if not thousands of kilometers alone in this cursed forest full of terrors and abominations until I reach place where humans reside."
The expression on John didn't change, hinting that he was expecting this response.
Victor took a glance at the villagers gathered in front of the village gates, their faces failing to hide the fear and anxiety they were feeling. "This is not good, morale is important especially in moments like this."
He was going to be forced again to put on a mask hiding his emotions, acting as a fearless leader, that would lead his people to certain victory. Victor took a deep breath, raising his voice so the people gather here today will be able to hear him.
"Who do you think you are talking to, old man? I make the impossible possible no one will die today."
Before the old's man could respond Victor passed him placing himself at the front of crowd. Victor was a bit taller than his grandfather, standing at a height of 180 centimeters.
He could see in the distance the beautiful large trees, dozens of meters tall, dark as charcoal, completely hiding anything that might reside among them. Every single leaf was whiter than snow itself.
"Our enemy is somewhere there."
Of course, he knew the truth that everyone would die today, but it was important to keep the morale of the fighting force up.
Their chances were terrible, everyone was old and unfit for combat, not to mention their terribly old equipment. The only battle-ready people in the village were John, Olivia the spellcaster that was standing close to John and Victor himself.
Even though he was only 16 years old he possessed a body that was strong as a season veteran, to possess a body of that caliber at such a young age. Showed how much suffering he had gone through and how hard his grandfather had trained him.
In the first place the only reason the village still stood was Victor and his two old swords.
"My body might be ready, but my equipment is not" he thought to myself. "My old armor is about to fall apart, the same can be said about my two swords even if we win today, the next battle we face will surely be our last. Other than that, I have a glass bottle filled with oil it might come useful if I want to set something on fire."
Glancing around all he saw were old people staring at him with regret in their eyes. All of them mostly likely thinking something along the lines of "I can't believe I have fallen so low to have to rely on a child for protection."
Victor felt his heart grow heavy. "It's not a pleasant felling, so many people relying on you."
"Where were the people outside the forest? Why had no one come to search for them? Leaving them isolated for decades, leaving them to die, or maybe... they were the last humans to exist and just didn't know it yet."
Victor grunted his teeth "This won't do our odds are bad enough we don't want everyone to feel discouraged." He slowly filled his lungs with air.
"Listen carefully" Victor said with authority in his voice prompting anyone that wasn't already looking at him to look.
"For some reason everyone appears to have given up already, which to be honest is surprising. I knew you were old but not that you were this pathetic, have you forgotten that I am here? Have you forgotten what all of us have accomplished? How many times we were against impossible odds and won regardless of that"? He raised his right sword in the air and shouted. "We have done the impossible countless times and today shall be no different, follow me to victory!
There was a silence for a moment then old man shouted with all the might he could muster 'Victory!" then his wife followed "Victory!" then John followed suit.
After a few moments everyone was shouting with all their might victory over and over. It must have looked bizarre from a distance, a of bunch old folks screaming "Victory" to the young lad that stood before them with his sword raised in the air.
"Bullshit, all of this is bullshit" he thought to himself "I know it, they know it, even then they don't stop chanting just so they can ready themselves…
for losing battle."
"Why… Why am the one who must lead them to their deaths?"
After some time, the phrase changed from "Victory!" to" Victor!". "That was why the villagers named him Victor after all, so that he would win, so that he would bring them victory.
But then the shouting was cut short as loud sound came from the forest in the distance.
Victor faced the forest unleashing his left sword. "Prepare yourself!" he shouted, everyone getting into position.
"They are coming." Judging by how cold the air was it was going to be the most dangerous and most likely last fight they were going to experience.
There was silence that lasted for a while. Making everyone anxious, waiting for the abominations to show themselves.
"Who knew silence can be so loud?"
Then a few birds flew out of the trees, looking like they were fleeing away from danger, then a hand showed itself from the countless trees, grabbing on one for support. Immediately everyone became pale, the hand was almost as big as a human was, it had six fingers each ending in a very sharp black nail. The hand was covered in white fur, the kind that only the strongest of creatures possessed.
"Oh no, this is bad, this fur can only belong to …" before Victor could finished the thought, the abomination showed itself.
With 13 meters in height two hands ending with 6 incredibly sharp fingers two wide legs, wide thick and incredibly tough for piercing and slashing fur, and above all the place where its neck - if it were human - was supposed to be, there was only a hole with countless sharp teeth, ready to swallow anything.
It was a Gehtur. Incredibly dangerous creature that possess the ability to kill everything in sight with ease.
And the scariest thing was that there were two of them.
"Crap" Victor jaw was going to hit the floor if he wasn't keeping apprentice for the villagers. "Maybe with a lot of luck, I can kill one of them, but two? There was no hope"
Victor inhaled deeply, calming his racing heart.
"Okay if I can't deal with both of them then I will have to divide and conquer."
"Listen to me" he shouted trying to not let his fears and worries show themselves.
"I will deal with the one on the left, you keep the right one occupied until then, don't worry they are big but slow, just stay outside its range and keep it busy until I am done with his friend!"
With that he began calmly walking to the one to the left. Of course, he was anything but calm, yet surrendering to fear was not going to bring any benefits.
Victor placed his two swords on the ground and poured most of the oil on them, leaving just a bit in reserve. Then used spark the only magic he knew to set them on fire. "I have to use everything I have if I want to have fighting chance against this abomination."
"56 poorly armed old villagers, John and Olivia. I hope they can stall for enough time so I can deal with the more dangerous Gehtur. After I am done, I will have to go and assist them with the second."
"Yes, this is a good plan, we just might have a chance."
While Victor continued calming himself, getting closer to the Gehtur with two burning swords, one in each hand and his brown eyes burning with determination. He steeled his resolve.
"Kill, I will kill you" this where the boy will mostly likely die without experiencing many of the great things the world had to offer.
friends close to his age
a purpose that he wished to follow
a dream that he wished to achieve
lover with whom he can share his burden and rely on hard times.
In the field where snow was starting to fall caused by the terrible storm a deadly 13-meter creature with ho head stood before a young man with determination in his eyes and his two burning swords preventing the snow from forming around him.
He would most likely die, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to take the bastard with him.