A raven soaring high above through the endless sky, flying through the clouds and as it descends down towards the desolate battle field. One of its black feathers loosens up and drifts through the air. Amidst all the ruined land, a single tree stood there firm fighting against the harsh fate of its land and near it was a young man sitting unconscious facing the sky surrounded by bodies. The feather fell onto the lap of the man sitting in the field on his knees while his hands were suspended. The young man, whose black eyes were devoid of light as if he was staring at the void of death itself. He was wearing a black fabric clothing which was tattered and torn from some places resembling marks of getting stabbed by sword, one even at heart but no wound was to be seen.
'Save her… Save us for this may be the last'
A faint distorted but nostalgic voice echoed in his ears with a hint of sadness hidden in it.
His finger slightly twitches as the young man regains his consciousness. His ears slowly start to buzz.
'The sky? Did I lose consciousness?'
The world seemed blurry to him, his mind was in the right place.
'what happened?'
He had never lost his consciousness, at least not in a long time, more like he doesn't pass out even if he wants to. He always retained some of his consciousness making it impossible for him to pass out in peace which is why it was odd that he lost his consciousness in the first place.
His ears were ringing as he sat on his knees . His focus starts to recover, he smelled the same nostalgic smell one can not describe but knows it for its unique scent and only be smelled by them.
He took heavy breaths and the air coming out of his mouth instantly turned into mist. It was not cold outside.
'I hate the cold…What was I doing?'
As a gust of wind blew against him, he felt something cold and— sticky on his cheek.
He gently touches his left side of cheek with his right hand's middle and ring finger and raises his hand to inspect.
He gasped in horror after checking the cold sensation as he thought to himself 'Is this— Blood?'
The blood was colorless. He notices everything, the land, the sky, blood– everything was robbed of its colors and his hand had a grey-ish outline that was fading away.
He felt something slimy and sticky at his toes, touching something wet?
As he shifts his gaze below, towards that sensation, he found a puddle of blood with his foot inside it.
'Blood? Am I– bleeding?' he noticed that he wasn't in any sort of pain except the headache, maybe the adrenaline was kicking in.
'What happened to me? Am I— dying? without knowing anything?'
His focus came to, as he looked around. He finds himself in a barren plain with no sign of life or plants. It was a colorless ,desaturated world he found himself in. His Head suddenly starts to experience throbbing pain constantly and it is increasing with the passage of time the more he looked.
'It hurts, Why is everything colorless? My head— I feel like it might just explode at this rate—'
As he was talking, his eyes caught a glimpse of the scenery of his comrades behind him, dead and lying cold around him with no sign of motion. His heart starts to beat faster every passing moment.
His body started to shake as he whispered quietly 'Brothers? What is going—' but was interrupted as he felt something grabbing him. Neither strong nor too weak. Just enough to grab the attention.
He hesitantly looked towards his back only to find the mercenary leader, his master, Fariz, barely breathing and hanging onto his life in his shadow. He had black hair and was covered in blood
'Master?'
He felt a sudden sharp pain in his head and he remembered— the reality— as it hit him. His memory starts flooding onto his mind, He was on his first mission of scouting with the mercenaries.
He has been with the mercenary unit ever since his village was burnt down by an army. He had vague memories from his past, he couldn't even remember his name.
He was a cheerful kid who always had a smile on his face. Even his village started to call him "That Smiling Kid" or "The Kid" as his nickname. It became his second name and a title for his cheerful behavior.
One day he went out to collect forest woods to get praise from his parents and to show them that he is now grown up, wanting to prove he can go alone just like his older brother.
His father rejected the idea of him going alone as it was dangerous but he still went off secretly on his own but while doing so when he was returning, some pack of wolves who came too close to the village attacked him. The boy dropped the collected woods and ran, fearing for his life, yelled out for help and tried to run, but his young legs could only carry him so far in the state of fear. The boy dropped on his feet and was surrounded by the blood thirsty wolves.
But in the nick of time, a wandering man appeared and saved him. The boy invited him to come with him as his saviour but he rejected it with a stiff fake smile avoiding eye contact and he went away.
Without thinking much of the encounter, the boy happily hurried towards the village to tell them the story of his savior…
But fate was never kind towards the kid. He returned back to the screaming terror and the fiery village.
Without a second thought, he dashed straight towards his house amidst the raging flame only to find a man's sword penetrating his fathers chest at his heart. The man was just standing there with his sword dripping red blood among those raging flames.
His presence was unsettling, almost as if— he's not from this world. Something unnatural. Something unordinary.
The eyes of his father met with the boys and without letting the man notice, his father grabbed tightly to the sword's blade that was penetrating his heart and not letting it go. Screaming loudly like a war cry with the last of his breath.
The man coldly kicked him off the sword but his father still had not let go of the sword but with a single swipe, the fingers were cut clean off from the sword.
The kid noticed the world going colorless and the man had some weird Golden glowing outline emitting around his body before he passed out.
After the flames went out, a small mercenary unit that was passing happened to notice the kid barely holding onto his life as he was bleeding from his head. It was lucky that the unit leader decided on a fluke that allowed the boy to survive.
The kid had no name, he could not remember it when he woke up, The mercenaries just called him "Kid" or "The Kid" and always treated him like his own family. Whenever he felt down or lonely, they would come and cheer him up in different ways. He might not have had a normal childhood but he never felt alone with the company of the mercenaries but not all relationships are perfect.
The kid one day took up the sword trying to catch their attention and earn praise but he had no such talent with the sword. He was just an ordinary lost kid whose childhood was robbed by the world wielding a sword not for glory but not to feel lonely and left out, for something to give me peace of mind and to protect people around him.
The leader was not only a leader for the boy but a teacher and father like figure in his life. Everyone trained with the people near their age group but the leader trained with the kid himself since there was no one near his age at the camp. The leader was always persistent about his training even when he thought of himself as useless.
He always wanted to go be part of battle with the others but the Leader never let him, telling him battles are not something kids should be worried about.
He always argued about wanting to be part of a unit and his excitement for it but he was only allowed to part take in a few harmless scouts.
This was his first ever scout at which his master allowed him to take part without any objection, making the kid excited as if he was now ready to be useful.
This was the first mission going for scouting of the area around void, also known for "The Land In-Between" or "Veil Between The Worlds" due to its unique look that looks like a veil hemisphere covering a land. It was a place where no normal life can exist due to its harsh environment that is made when it appears.
The mercenary group was always located at the village near the village which was close to town called "Satus" and the void spawned near that village and their group and few adventurers were hired as scouts for the main army. Usually mercenaries wandered around places from time to time but this mercenary were always situated near the village which was some distance away from the town
The kid was excited for it but before even reaching the void, they were ambushed and now he watches the mercenaries whom he used to laugh with are lying on the ground motionless with no memories of how it went down.
He finds the same outline but white colored, emitting from his own leader but visibly becoming faint and vibrating for every passing second.
He thought to himself 'Am i hallucinating?'
For him everything was robbed of color, only the sparkling light from master body remained.
He is now visibly confused and his mind is clouded with thoughts.
His master made a shocked face but a little relieved as he said "Kid? I thought you were dead for sure"
The kid was just sitting there, losing his will and hopes as he stared at his master. His eyes were dull and blank, devoid of light itself. His face was emotionless as if he stared into darkness.
"Damn it kid – don't you dare start losing your marbles now" His leader yells at him as he is gasping for air.
"Listen to me, Do not—" suddenly stops from pain and takes a heavy breath "Just take this ring." He forces the ring onto his hands.
"Do not forget about it— and never lose it. No matter what. Keep it close to you" As he coughs blood.
He snapped back and said 'Master, don't talk, you will be alrig—' as he was saying but suddenly stopped after taking a quick peek at the wound.
"I know my body better than anyone, kid…"
The wounds were fresh, as if it happened just some moments ago before him waking up but bleeded out long enough to be fatal without a healer.
"my organs have been punctured. There is no hope left for me now, I have been fighting for so long, I have outlived my life. I am barely alive on borrowed time."
'Don't leave me alone, everyone is dead. I.I will be all alone— again' As his face turns towards regret.
"Kid, I am sorry but you must continue— alone, without us. Do not be held back by deads"
'What is there to live for?' kid replies back with a cracking voice. 'There is nothing left for me to look forward to.'
"Then Live on, carry on our will— till you find yours."
"That sad face of yours, it doesn't suit you well, smile my boy, smile for one last time— for me."
The Kid looks at his master and looks at him smiling even at the face of death. The Kid puts on a forced smiling expression on his face as the tears start to flow down his eyes.
"Hey it isn't your fault. Kid." said the master. The kid looked towards his master who continued "That you can't use magic… Be free" His master smiled brightly as he drew his last breath.
The expression of the kid turned blank, he smiled with dull eyes.
"Be free" the words hit him hard. As his master always repeated this same phrase. He never knew the meaning of his words. Even now he has no idea of what those words mean and might never for his master was already gone.
Blue translucent butterflies emitting faint light from its wing appeared around the master's body and landed on it. The light emitting from the body slowly faints away as if the butterfly was sucking away the light.
The Kid tried to grab one of the butterflies, it was like he was holding nothing, emptiness itself and when he opened his hand, it turned into weightless dust and flew away in the direction of the rest of the butterflies.
All the trauma on his mind came to him all of a sudden, it hit him as he was starting to lose his mind.
His emotions were on peak, about to explode from inside.
He stared at his master's lifeless body. He snaps back to reality. Almost as if his emotions were being suppressed.
'Fate can be so cruel— If it demands the blood of innocent for its thirst… then I shall quench its thirst with the blood of its own'
He closes his eyes and looks up in the sky. It was cloudy. The wind racing against the face of a silent battle field. As if it was cleaning up the foul smell of death and blood for mother nature. It was taking it all away with it, even the glowing light of body and the butterfly that turned into dust and carried by the wind.
The excitement of his wanting to go to battles turned into hatred for it.
'What were we even fighting for? What is the purpose, if in the end one has to die— for the one they leave behind to grief? This is no war, this is madness. Madness with no end to it. What a world we live in'
He looked at his master for one last time and looked at the ring, the ring. It had a unique pattern of a flower viewed from above with two veins around it which had two thorns on each and a total of four.
'Thank you, thank you for raising this kid and not abandoning him in the hands of this cruel reality.'
He just kept on staring at the sky mindlessly