Her clothes were ripped, tattered and torn. But she was not weeping, not making a sound and enduring the torture.
A scream pierced the silence once more, and Niels turned his head, this time towards the corner of the room. A little girl, younger than the reincarnated Niels, curled herself up screaming and crying loudly.
The fat man, slowly turned his head, as his attention shifted to the child in the corner. Just as he was about to move, the woman on the floor immediately kicked up and hit the fat man in his nether regions, causing the man to buckle back as he gave the loudest most agonizing scream he could muster. His face twisted as he bent down and grabbed the woman by her hair.
"Ye f*cking bitch, How dare ye!" The fat man lifted up the woman partially off the ground when he felt a sharp pain in his back.
Niels, stood upon his back as he tried to plunge the dagger deeper into his back. Trying to severely wound him and getting his heart from the back.
"Waghhh", he screamed, as he swung his arms wildly trying to fling whatever was on his back off.
A loud thud could be heard as the petite Niels slid across the wooden floor finally hitting the hard stone wall.
"Damn you, little noble boy, how dare ye mess with my business." The fat man said as he walked towards Niels slowly.
"F*ck I should have guessed that the blade was too dull to cut through your boar hide," Niels spoke with a smile as he slowly stood up using the wall as a support.
"Boar!? Ye dare call this noble sorcerer a Boar? I am Buorb Yorozir! The great Buorb Yorozir! I will kill you!"
He shouted as he started to gain momentum and pick up speed, trying to grab Niels.
Niels immediately moved, using the Shukuchi method again to get around to the back of Buorb retrieving the dagger and getting ready to launch the next attack.
Niels thought inwardly to himself as he took a defensive pose. "Good, it seems he can't keep up. I'll use my next attack to settle it."
As Niels prepared to launch the attack, Buorb reached to the corner of the room where he picked up a staff made out of oakwood, it was twisted like a real tree branch with a small ruby stone affixed to the top.
"Fireball!" the fat Buorb shouted as he launched a fireball towards Niels, who turned to his side barely avoiding it.
"That... was definitely not in my calculations.." Niels thought to himself as he busied himself dodging the fireballs left and right. The scattered flames now landing all over the floor, causing small scale fires to burn all around the house.
Niels started to look for an opportunity, the chance for him to finally step forward and deal a devastating hit on the enemy, but between dodging the fireballs and flames, there really wasn't much time for anything to be done at all.
Quietly, a figure could be seen inching closer to the fat Buorb from behind. 'CRASH!' a loud sound resounded out as a clay vase smashed onto the back of Buorb's head the bits scattered as Buorb staggered forward, screaming out in pain. The distracted Buorb turned around and kicked the lady straight into the wall behind and stepped on her chest, squelching her once and for all.
"F*cking fly! No more distractions!" as he turned back around, a silhouette appeared in front of his face as he watched, almost in slow motion as a blade descended, slicing both his eyes blinding him completely. "YAHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he dropped his staff and covered both his as he fell to the floor in a complete panic.
Niels stepped forward and looked at Buorb who is using both his hands to cover his eyes, rolling around in absolute agony, as Niels stepped forward like the reaper, plunging the dagger in between the crevice of both his fat arms directly into his throat and pushing it down harder using his body weight. The sound of wheezing and gurgling can be heard as Buorb now attempts to cover his eyes as well as his throat, alternating between his hands. The dagger, left in his throat, preventing him from bleeding out too much.
Niels turned around and limped towards the lady who is now in terrible shape, looking like an arrow reaching the end of its flight. Although Niels inwardly did not want to admit it, she did save his life and thus he felt like he should owe her a favour.
"Hey, judging from your condition, you won't have long to live. Tell me if you have any unfinished wishes and I'll try to fulfil them for you." Niels said nonchalantly as he looked at the lady, half slumped against the wall, he had no intention of saving her as she was too far gone at this point, all he could do is to appease her thoughts before she heads to the underworld.
The dying woman, summoned her last ounce of strength, pointed towards the little girl in the corner. Niels nodded, fully understanding her intentions went over and dragged the crying little girl in front of her dying mother.
"Laylah... Be good… Momma doesn't have much time left.." she wheezed and coughed before she continued speaking
"Sir…. Please.. Take her away… please take care of her…"
Laylah stood, eyes red, with tears in her eyes reaching forward grabbing her mother's gradual cooled hands, "No Momma, don't go… We'll be together, please.."
"Laylah… Be good… Go... go with this young sir… you have to keep living.. It's fin…" Laylah's mother finally drew her last breath as she leaned on the wall which supported her, finally slumping down as her eyes grew cold and lifeless.
Taking a step forward, Niels extended his hands and gently brushed her eyes shut, before whispering under his breath, "Don't worry, I keep my promises."
Niels puts his palms together and bowed at the corpse on the ground. His gaze shifted to Laylah, who was still holding onto the hands of her mother's cold corpse, bawling her eyes out, pulling on her hands as if wanting to shake the life back to her deceased mother.
"Pay your last respects, Laylah. We have to go soon. The house is going up in flames"
Laylah continued to sob while holding the hands of her mother, crying in all abandon.
Niels went forward and grabbed her by the neck, jerking her away from the cold corpse of her mother.
"Crying will not bring her back, you dying in flames even less so. Right now, from my observations, what I can tell you is, I'm pretty sure these idiots didn't act on their own volition and everything was pre-planned."
Niels said while walking towards Buorb who was barely breathing. He reached out for the dagger and pulled it out with a swift motion, before walking over to Laylah who was still standing there motionless, her fingernails etched deep into her palms. In her eyes a fire could be seen, resolve, it was nothing like the little girl that was crying before. Fundamentally something in that little girl died that day, her innocence hanging in the balance.
"Live with the intention of knowing that whoever planned whatever they did to you and your family, you will reap their lives with your own hands." Niels tossed the Dagger into the air grabbing onto the blade and thrusting the handle towards the chest of Laylah. She looked at the blade as her tiny hands grasped the leather-covered handle of the dagger.
"You know what you should do now no?" Niels motioned towards Buorb bleeding out on the floor. "What you do now, is entirely up to you."
Happy Saturday everyone! What do you think Laylah will do next? Will she lose her innocence? Stay tuned for the next episode!
Thanks everyone!