Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 128: Realm of Yarwin

"Wake him up!" Ser Greymort demanded, glaring down at the half-naked boy. They'd found him on the high roads north of Forwin. Greymort would have ignored it, but his lady had demanded otherwise.

From the moment his Lady Aria Silvermane gazed upon him, mesmerized. She froze, commanding that he be taken in and cared for. She had never seen a more handsome man.

It had been three days since, and Ser Greymort had lost his patience.

Immediately, the Silvermane Spearman hurried forward, bearing the crest of a silver sword and shield over their ring mail, and dunked the boy's head into the water until the bubbles stopped.

The Young Man's eyes snapped open in a panic, feeling the foul water filling his lungs. He flailed when the guardsman pulled him out of the water bucket. There, they saw red and black eyes glaring.

"Who are you, boy!" Ser Greymort demanded in basic. He'd never seen red eyes before, at least not in a human, but it left him raw and exposed.

Somewhat dazed, the Young man felt himself bounded by the two guardsmen's arms. He glanced down, noticing his naked body, and his frown deepened as he looked back up.

[Ding]

[Welcome to the Realm of Yarwin]

[Quest: ???]

[Time Limit: ???]

Restriction: [All external Mana skills will be sealed.] [God Observation]

The Young Man growled with a throbbing ache of hunger burning the back of his throat. He was still confused but not enough to forget himself.

"Altair..." He answered with a deep rasp in his throat. "W-Where am I? Hells, my head hurts."

"The High Roads." Ser Greymort answered, scrunching a brow. "How old are you?"

"Twelve," Altair answered, still struggling to recall what happened. He groaned and glimpsed a golden ring on his finger. 'Drupnir,' he thought, more confused. ' But how? I gave this to Master.' He looked up at Greymort, who seemed as if he'd heard the most ridiculous thing.

"Twelve!" Greymort roared with a sneer. "You look to be at least sixteen or eighteen." He said, looking the boy over. He had pale milky white skin, without a hint of a blemish, as if he had not felt the sun's glare before. "Do not lie to me."

Altair grimaced and tried to stand to his feet. But the Silvermane guardsman held him down. He winced, annoyed, pondering whether he should make a move or not.

"Have you seen a woman with red hair? Beautiful with two blood-red eyes." He saw to ask.

"You are in no position to demand questions," snapped Greymort. "Now answer me. Why were you on the high roads? Why were you bloodied? And why were you—"

"So you don't know," Altair realized, closing his eyes, unable to sense his Fallen Shadows within his shadows. Rather... they were further away... Very far away. Four, five, six days journey.

Hopeful Altair allowed his mind to connect to Jorm, where he saw her resting in a field of flowers, with Kuu resting on her bosom, protected by Kirr and Jorm. He sighed a sigh of relief, feeling the tension leave his body.

Greymort struck him with the back of his palm, bloodying his lips. Altair spat the blood from his mouth onto the ground, somewhat dazed. When Ser Greymort jerked his head up by a handful of hair, "Boy, I'll hang you by your tendons if you don't answer me." he said.

When Altair drove forward, he kicked off his feet like an arrow leaving its string and snatched a sword from the body of a dead Silvermane Guardsman that had been run through by an arrowhead, exploding out from the back of his head, dark and wet. He was upon a bandit in the blink of an eye on horseback.

as his sword danced into a dreadful arc of light, blurring through horse and man in a single stroke.

[Bandit Felled. Exp Gained]

By the time the bandit fell into halves, his organs spilling out in a dreadful scene of madness, and his sword tumbling towards the ground, Altair was already upon another, his longsword beginning to carve out a path, laying waste to whatever caught his eye.

[Bandit Felled. Exp Gained]

[Bandit Felled. Exp Gained]

[Bandit Felled. Exp Gained]

Liana watched, shaken to her core at the slaughter he brought. But didn't move to join. Her task had been to guard her lady.

"Greymort! Aid the boy!" She commanded him, tightening her fingers around her spear.

Slowly, minutes later, after a hard-fought battle, the regiments of bandits fled, tumbling over themselves. When the cruel order to take no prisoners came. Arrows rained like a dark shadow, cutting them down one after the other. Altair had his fill of blood when no one was looking, stealing a few souls.

He gorged himself to quell his sanguine hunger when he sensed Liana approaching, spear in hand, with ten men by her side.

"Who are you!" Liana growled. She'd never seen a man so young and skilled move like that. It was as if he were a master.

Pretending to rummage through the dead bodies, Altair wiped his mouth of the blood and stood up. "Your friendly neighborhood, wanderer," he said lightly. " Though I suppose I'm no longer welcome. Well. It's all the better. I've much to do.

So consider this me paying you back."

Liana scrunched her brow. "You needn't leave."

Altair looked up at the skies and then at the carriage. "You are heading North." he looked back at her, and the men beside her stiffened in fear. "Am I mistaken?"

"No,"

"I must head West." He told her, swatting over the dead, to better find something other than rags.

"Come with us," Liana said. "We'll pay. And it looks like you—"

"Is it over?" A gentle voice rang out from within the carriage of silver, airy and young it sounded. Revealing a small thing peeping out from a crack, where a small child slid its head out. No more than six or seven, she had hair of long spun gold and eyes a deep ocean blue that sparkled like sapphire.

"Ari!" Liana cried, but it was too late as she lept out of the carriage with a bright smile in an ocean of blood and death.

"You're awake!' Aria said, pointing, trotting over with her small legs.

"My lady, it's not kind to point." Ser Greymort said with a kind grin over his gaunt flesh, wet with blood. "Come, my Lady, this is no place for a Lordling."

"But a Great Prince is here!" Aria said, staring deeply into the black of Altair's eyes. "The Prince who shall burn the world and create it anew."