Chapitre 14: Ch:13 Morals
Pov: Henry
A blonde man wearing a hat could be seen discreetly walking down a rough dirt road leading out of malshion village and into the forest nearby. He came before a well with 4 paths. He walked around the well and noted that a star represented south, a tree represented north, 4 slashes were west and 2 vertical slashes were east.
Upon realizing this information he walked down the path represented by a tree which led him to arrive before a fallen tree that looked like it had accidentally been dropped onto the path. He also took note of a large bush just off to the side next to another tree that had the words "turn back" clearly scratched onto its bark.
Upon seeing this the blonde man simply raised his hands which caused some change as multiple figures started walking out from behind the surrounding treeline with bows drawn but there were without a doubt more hidden away. The blonde man watched as a single cloaked man whose face was hidden approached while the others kept their distance.
"What do you want Henry?" A rough voice questioned, this voice of course belonged to the man walking over who soon stopped at a safe distance from me. Even from a distance, one could tell the man reeked of death and decay which probably would've been enough to make a person gag and throw up everything they've ever eaten. Yet Henry knew he couldn't let this affect him as he was in too deep to back off now he told himself as he lowered his hands. "I need your services cavil" henry said calmly.
Cavil simply snorted before turning to his men and letting out a hearty laughter. " You hear him, gentlemen?! He wants our services!!" Cavil said loudly which made cavil's men burst out laughing before starting to relax their bow strings.
"I can pay...you know I can, I also got something else I think you'd be interested in" I said before reaching into my coat's pocket. Tensions rose like a high tide in a kiddie pool as their bow strings tightened.
I looked towards cavil with a neutral look before glancing at his men who were growing restless by the second. I let a small smirk appear before slowly raising my hand and revealing what I had brought.
An evil smile crawled onto Cavil's face as soon as he saw the item I brought to him on a silver platter. A wind chime could be heard from a distance most likely from a trap or warning system of some sort being set off. He promptly gestured for his men to stand down. "I think we can work out an agreement Mr. Henry" Cavil said but I could tell from the look in his cold eyes which glanced at a couple of his men before shifting to who I assumed was his second in command.
...…
POV: Noe
"Sherrryyy!" Noe hollered from his office as he leaned back on his chair. Light footsteps could be heard making their way toward the office as it wasn't really soundproof.
Noe then corrected himself in his chair and faced a black-haired teen who wore leather clothes enriched with fur and a small tattoo of a star on the back of her hand. She nervously held her hands behind her back as she stood before Noe who seemed rather unimpressed.
"Sherry, get me a bottle of whiskey, and then get me Jack halan." Noe ordered while rubbing his thumb and index finger together. "Alright sir" sherry said before quickly turning around and walking out of the room for a couple of minutes. When she returned she had with her a bottle of whiskey and a single shot glass.
"I tell you I hate dealing with those assholes. Always thinking they know better than me." Noe said as he gestured to himself before handing sherry a knife from his pocket to open the bottle. Upon opening it she set the knife down and poured Noe a shot of whiskey before standing beside him with the bottle in hand.
"Now I gotta make a deal with even more fuckers just to keep the peace. It's slowly wilting Sherry, I'll say that much" Noe said as he looked at sherry out of the corner of his eye with concern before drinking the shot.
Sherry quickly moved to refill the glass only to be stopped by Noe's palm. "Leave the bottle sherry, you're free to go." Noe said before taking a swig from the bottle of whiskey.
He watched as Sherry walked away with a nervous look in his eye. She glanced over her shoulder at him, her face full of concern. Seeing her like this pained his heart but he hide his pain by giving her a small reassuring smile as she walked out.
Yet as soon as she was out of sight his smile slowly disappeared and a frown took its place. His face darkened as he took yet another swig of whiskey only to realize the bottle was already dry. "When did that happen?" Noe questioned somewhat sluggishly as he proceeded to rest his head on the wooden desk, his eyes feeling heavier and heavier until he was finally out cold on his desk.
Noe opened his eyes only to find himself in a beautiful forest filled with trees, the grass covered with morning dew which the sunlight made sparkle like glitter, and a creak that was simply calming. Two blonde kids soon came into view as they trampled over some tall grass that had gotten in their path.
Noe looked on in confusion before trying to look around only to realize he couldn't move. He tried moving his body nervously but soon came to accept that he couldn't move so he did the next best thing, watch. He glumly looked at the two kids that he had noticed earlier.
One was slightly taller than the other and wore a hat. They were nearly identical if not for the height distance. They seemed to be playfully chasing each other around as they ran circles around a couple of trees before jumping off a boulder beside the creak.
Dark clouds seemed to have gathered rather quickly as the two brother's feet left the ground upon jumping. It was frighteningly quick as a storm formed above, the brothers finally landed in the creak with a splash as a bolt of lightning struck the ground before him, blinding him with a white flash of light.
Noe held his eyes shut tightly as he prayed in his mind for god to not leave him blind after this, Only to realize his back was pressed again something cold. He could now somewhat move but at what cost he wondered as his heart palpitated out of fear of the unknown yet he still turned to face it either out of bravery or foolishness.
He looked on in confusion as it was just an oak tree with a massive hole that let him see through it. The things that were on the other side were strange yet still felt familiar for some strange reason. Yet at the same time distant almost as if it had nothing to do with him.
It showed the two blonde kids from before now circling around a black-haired man with a mustache who was fairly fit but also fairly injured and judging by the fresh cuts along his foot which seemed rather serious to the point where the man couldn't even stand to give them a proper fight.
Unfortunately for the brothers, however, the man still had some fight in him as he waved a long sword around and continuously tried to get the brothers who worked like hyenas to back off.
Yet it was all in vain as the brothers smiled like it was all a game. They twisted and turned their swords playfully while the man twisted and turned, deflecting whatever sword was heading toward him in a desperate attempt to live.
The brothers laughed maniacally as they worked together to distract and stab the man in the back. Though after a while it was obvious they were just playing with their prey as they didn't plunge their swords deep enough, probably to keep the game going.
They were clearly monsters in the eyes of the man they toyed with as more and more stab wounds appeared on his back. The man however no longer seemed to deal with these two monsters or the pain which was probably covering nearly every single part of his body as he plunged his longsword into his chest and through his back which painted the shorter blonde kid in his blood.
The move seemed to tick the brothers off as they angrily started stabbing their swords into the poor man's corpse again and again. This didn't satisfy the brother however as they started kicking the shit out of the corpse which dyed their boots red.
"Noe" a pleasant voice called causing him to look around confusingly only to suddenly feel the ground shaking below him.
Noe quickly gasped as he shot up from his desk. He looked around and found himself sitting in the office he was so familiar with. "Are you alright Noe?" the pleasant voice from before asked.
I immediately turned to my right and found sherry by my side, I let out a small smile which I quickly hid as I listened to her soothing voice ask me if I was alright.
I let out a breath I didn't even know he was holding and started to try breathing manually for a few seconds. "I"m good, I'm good... what did you need Sherry?" I asked.
"Jack Halan Is here, do you want me to bring him in right away" she asked patiently.
"uh..yeah..yeah... bring him in.." I told her before rubbing my forehead with my icy hands as she walked away. "That was one hell of a dream" I muttered to myself.
....
Pov: Adam
"Where are we going Ms. Maria?" I asked as we passed several small shacks of similar-colored wood. she began tapping her finger on her chin as if considering whether or not to tell me about our destination and judging by how she started to speedwalk, I could tell that was all I was going to get.
"Hurry up, we're nearly there" she said as she walked slightly faster which simply made me sigh as I started to speedwalk as well. Yet as I went to do so I noticed a group of villagers sitting on a bunch of wooden stumps whispering to each other which seemed rather odd as I've always seen them talk loudly to the point where you could hear them from the edge of the village. One thing I took note of was the fact that when they saw me walking by some of their faces weren't looking very friendly and by the second more and more of them stopped looking friendly.
Seeing their unfriendly faces I quickly opted to get out of there before things started getting ugly which was when I noticed Ms. Maria had stopped in front of a large patch of short green grass with a couple of trees lining the middle of the field that sat between two large shacks. There was some space between the buildings and the field which was occupied mainly by vendors who covered the U almost entirely with the exception of a couple of spots that mainly served to give stalls some space between each other.
This place was clearly a very busy place but also seemed to double as a place for people to hang out, as people let their kids roam free while they shopped, talked, and viewed the products displayed by vendors. Of course, there was the occasional group of children who would run in between the stalls while others climbed the trees on the field.
One thing that stood out to me from everything else was a wooden door of a dark color that was positioned at the end of the U with a couple of apple trees that weren't ripe yet. The main reason the door stood out was because of the star-shaped symbol which was carved onto it.
"We're here adam" Ms. Maria said sadly, her voice soft and weak as if she had paid a huge price just to get the words out of her mouth. Which made me wonder if she had any history with the place. "Why are you so sad miss Maria?" I asked as we walked past the vendors only for one vendor to wave his hand happily at Ms. Maria. "How's Marco been Ms. Maria, I haven't seen him around did he get sick?" the vendor asked
"He's just on a trip with a few of his friends" Ms. Maria lied before waving goodbye. I mouthed an understanding Oh as I awkwardly followed her as we walked through the crowd toward the building unsure of how to go about cheering her up with this one.
As we walked more vendors noticed us but seemed intimidated by my size and thus didn't bother us at all. This was a sharp contrast to how they treated other people as some vendors got in people's faces and occasionally pulled them towards their stalls to show them something. Then there were a few notable vendors who tried a different approach as they started promoting their products loudly and how they were decently priced and of excellent quality.
I noticed a scrawny woman secretly take an apple from one of the vendors ahead of us but didn't say anything as she looked like a stick. The vendor was seemingly preoccupied with talking to another vendor rather than watching over his stall which made it easier for the woman to take another apple from the vendor away before he noticed something was off. When the vendor turned to his stall she quickly hid beneath the stall narrowly avoiding being spotted by the vendor.
Sadly she messed up and hit something underneath most likely a support beam which caused the stall to tilt to the side causing a bunch of products to fall off and splat onto the dirty floor. The vendor watched in dismay as his products fell before trying to save what he could. The woman not wanting to be caught and punished for what had happened started running away while eating the apples she had stolen. Unfortunately, for the woman, however, the vendor noticed her running away from the scene and by the look on his face, you could tell he put two and two together. He quickly pulled a machete out and gave chase to the scrawny woman who was running towards us.
I looked toward ms. Maria but it seemed she hadn't even noticed the commotion as she looked lost in thought. ~it's probably best to not butt into their business Adam~ ghost said from the back of my mind. ~He's going to kill her though, I should do something to stop that from happening after all does she really need to die simply for trying to survive?~ I asked the ghost.
I steeled myself to stop them just as the woman pushed past Ms. Maria.~Maybe she will be spared if I catch her~ I told myself as the woman ran closer and just when the woman was about to run past I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug which catches her off guard.
The vendor a 30-something-ish man with a goatee who was giving chase ran over with glee. The closer he got the more the woman panicked and the more she struggled to break free. She didn't seem too eager to be punished by the vendor or the fact that she couldn't free herself from me which was probably why she pulled out a dagger and plunged it straight into my stomach. I let out a hiss as I feel her probing my insides with the damn dagger which was a mistake as this only encouraged her to try and push it further in before trying to stab me again.
Not wanting to deal with the pleasure of having multiple holes in my stomach, I moved to stop her and did so just in time as she was about to stab me again. I quickly crushed her little hand which made the bones in her hands make a popping sound which was quickly covered up by her letting out a pained scream as she finally dropped the bloodied dagger to the ground.
The vendor finally made it but after noticing the bloodied dagger on the ground his face showed one of worry and panic. He grit his teeth and lifted the blade to behead her in one fell swoop. The woman's eyes widened as the blade raced towards her neck only for a cloaked arm to wrap around her neck at the last second protecting her at the very last second.
The blade buried itself in Adams's thick arms which shocked the people watching the commotion. "No one.. is dying… got that" Adam said shakily as blood started running down his cloak, slowly staining it red. The stunned vendor fearfully stepped back as Adam pulled the machete out of his arm before crushing it with his uninjured hand. The vendor watched as pieces of the broken blade fell, his reflection still somewhat visible despite the blood covering some of the pieces.
Yet at that moment Ms. Maria walked over and told Adam to stop messing around and just follow her in a soft but cold voice. She didn't seem to acknowledge the situation which confused nearly everyone present but that mattered little as Adam let go of the skinny woman who fell to her knees upon losing Adam's support.
"Sorry about that" Adam said to the injured woman before walking away to follow Ms. Maria. As soon as Adam walked away the vendor started berating the skinny woman for what she's done. Yet the woman's eyes seemed unfocused and lost before getting goosebumps upon hearing the distant rattle of metal chains slowly edging closer.
A layer of fog could be seen moving in and covering the road lowering everyone's visibility every so slightly. But that didn't stop the busy people who seemed to have already forgotten about the events that happened moments prior. The vendor at this moment stopped berating the skinny woman as he came to the realization that it was pointless and a total waste of time. He instead opted to grab her hand and take her back to his stall to work off her newly acquired debt. Yet something peculiar happened when the woman was yanked forward by the vendor as in the split second she caught a glimpse of a child's face hiding in the shadows between a pair of tents
The horrified woman's mouth opened yet no words came out as she stared into the empty eyes of the child's face. Its skin peeled away like an apple, revealing thick dark purple veins that traveled up and down it's body, if not for it's face still being there she would have thought it was an abomination of flesh and bone. She shrieked loudly while pointing at the horrifying abomination, yet it had no reaction, instead it's face simply slid off revealing a barebone skull underneath.
The surrounding villagers immediately shrieked out of fright as they stared upon the skinned body of a child. A brave villager soon approached the body and tapped it with a stick before turning it around to reveal a wooden sign nailed into the childs back that read "Show me around, I'm new here" The villagers looked at each other horrified at this message and whispered about it's meaning, making a few crazy theories and stories about who was behind this terrifying murder.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone