Far from Valemir,
In a distant forest where no light penetrates within,
An ancient shadow walks ahead, followed and surrounded by spirits.
Before him lies the village of Morinaka, an agricultural village nestled in the middle of the forest, radiating a bright gray light that draws the eyes of all who see it.
****
On a dark night, hours before destruction.
Inside the village
Bodies fell in the alleys like scattered remnants of gunpowder...
And their blood became a raging sea that flooded the ground.
Amid the furious gusts of wind, the village alleys were littered with their remains, and the place was not free from the stench of rot.
Between severed hands and torn faces, darkness crept, following the bright gray light.
Amid decayed plants and ruined grass, Sairo sat, pale, staring over a faceless corpse.
He held a sword without a hilt in his torn hands, overflowing with the blood of those he had slain.
Sairo threw the sword and began to clutch his shoulders, shivering at what he had done. He had no courage to face his actions; his words came out in a hesitant voice: "What have you done to me? Why did I follow that dreadful fate? No, why did I go with you in the first place?"
His words echoed around him; his tattered clothes threatened to tear from his anger. Just thinking that he sat atop a body he had slaughtered himself made everything inside him corrode, a strange feeling pierced by anger that could only be calmed by an explanation for what he had committed.
Yet his tongue did not calm, and he continued harshly: "We were only supposed to escape, by the ruler's honor, why did we follow that light?"
And to silence that annoying muttering, the second thief replied: "Do you blame us for your action? Sairo, have you forgotten how you grabbed your sword and slaughtered the villagers just because they were strange shapes?"
Sairo answered: "And that's what scares me. Naoki, tell me, have you ever seen shapes like those in your life? Haven't you seen the harshness of their bodies or their suspicious smiles?"
Naoki screamed, disbelieving what he heard: "What are you rambling about, Sairo? Are you contradicting yourself? Moments ago, you screamed at what you did and blamed us, then now you tell me they were strange?"
Sairo bit his lips and said in a trembling voice: "Shut up, Naoki."
Unconcerned, Naoki continued harshly: "Should we kill everyone around us just because of their strangeness? You dragged us into this massacre, and we killed everyone just to protect you, only for it to turn out that the reason for your attack was their forms. In my whole life, I have never seen a hypocrite like you."
Sairo lowered his eyes to the ground, pointing at Naoki with his right hand. He wanted to reply but found his words evaporating inside; he didn't know how to respond because what Naoki said was true.
Sairo stared at what was behind Naoki and saw a hideous face, pointing with his broken hand toward that thing.
Naoki was astonished at Sairo and his sudden calm; after all those screams, his tongue finally stopped.
Yet his curiosity grew at what Sairo was pointing to, so he looked, and as he turned to the right, he lost his balance, and his tongue failed to describe what he saw.
Naoki spoke, unable to describe the scene: "Smiling corpses… how? Their insides are torn and their bodies cut, so how are they smiling?"
Sairo laughed a little at the terrified Naoki. "Didn't I tell you they're strange? Fine, this is your reality; don't believe what those with you say until you see the truth of their words."
Naoki remained in temporary silence, leaving Sairo to boast he was right.
With Naoki silent, a voice angrily spoke to the two: "When will you stop chattering?"
The owner of the words looked at Naoki with disgusted eyes; his dark eyes bulging, surrounded by decayed rings.
With his massive sword, he swung at the annoyed Sairo, releasing a smell of dust. Stray locks of hair flew over Sairo's annoyed face.
The strange man tried to stop their argument. Sairo replied, biting his lip in a broken voice with a sharp glance: "Stop interfering in what doesn't concern you."
With bulging eyes, the thief looked at Sairo in surprise at his harsh manner and spoke mockingly: "Did you free your tongue to respond to me, Sairo?"
The thief wanted to look at Naoki, who only shrugged, then saw Sairo return his sword and speak, his eyes seeing the dark forest: "It's dark, very dark."
The thief shouted, increasingly worried by Sairo's behavior: "Why are you talking to yourself like that? Are you mad?"
Sairo said quickly: "I have no time for your arrogance."
Only worried, the thief replied: "What arrogance do you mean?"
A few words made Sairo lose his temper, so he shouted a voice heard by all the thieves: "What arrogance? I apologize, but can you convince me that pretending to have power is not arrogance? Even if you are the leader of thieves, you are just an insect easy to crush like us."
Sairo continued his words, unable to suppress his anger: "Let's flee the empire; that's what I suggested. We followed you without realizing we were heading toward our deaths."
The leader of the thieves merely stared at Sairo, speechless, thinking what nonsense this fool was saying.
He only pressed himself and said:
"From the beginning, I knew you wanted to escape. Did you think of the consequences?
If you refused to go to war?
Do you not know how many heads have hung before the Order of the Crown just because they refused to go to war?"
The leader of thieves sighed, having calmed down, and said sharply:
"If your desire is to leave, go, and I hope you do not die.
If you are confused, guard us tonight, and when you are ready, go with us to Valemir."
Sairo turned hesitantly, furrowing his brow, remaining in confusion. His silence was his answer.
The leader of thieves kept staring at Naoki, giving the same reaction, and asked him: "What nonsense is Sairo talking about? He asked me to look behind me. I trembled, thinking something was there, but there were only rotting corpses."
The leader of thieves said: "He's trying to escape, Naoki. Sairo committed a crime he will never forget in his life. He caused the death of the villagers, and now he tries to justify his act. Just leave him."
Naoki nodded in agreement.
Then he said: "By the way, haven't you noticed something strange about the village's name?"
The other thief asked: "What's strange about its name?"
Naoki replied: "Morinaka… I feel like I know this name well."
The thief widened his eyes in unexpected shock; his face paled, death seemed lighter than hearing the name. His hands trembled.
He said in a terrified voice: "Let's leave quickly; our time here is over."
Without hearing what they said, Sairo continued walking,
Amid the surrounding shadows, hidden eyes inside the trees increased, seeing the mad thief feeling proud of a few words he said, unaware of the consequences.
Whispers echoed, saying that the night was not over and that Morinaka never forgets its guests, and the bodies do not leave their killer.
End of chapter