9 Melancholy Darkness

Ray stopped grieving on the past and headed towards the North. Along the way, he fought many monsters to rank up and hunted animals for food. Even though he does not have his sword and royal ornament anymore, he fought them with his bare hands and magic. Now he was doing all fine. Three days later, he finally found the exit of the forest. There were fire torches which made his face visible so to hide his face, he used the fur of a monster to cover his hair and mouth. Only his light green eyes gleamed in the forest's darkness.

One step outside the forest, he saw something excruciating. His face grew pale. No voice came out from his mouth. A reality worse than a nightmare. A horrendous sight which made Ray forget to breathe.

(SFX -- GASPING.... COUGHING)

"A....a...aaaaa...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, " Ray bawled as he knelt in front of his dead parents. Once again his tears ran non-stop. His Father was hugging his wife (Mother) and both lay dead on the field. On his father's back were two swords and a dozen arrows, while his mother who lay below his father had her throat slit. Her right hand was two meters away from her body while the other hand draped her husband's (father) head. The surrounding land dyed red with their blood. There was a white flower beside the body, which got partially painted red. Ray slowly plucked the flower and held it with both his hands in front of his parents.

(SFX -- _TH_nd_r... Drip Drip....Pitter-Patter)

(The exit of the forest led him to his village's fields.)

The land turned wet.... The dried blood on the land looked fresh, and the flower lost its red colour.

"Whose there?"

"Someone's still alive over there"

"Kill him..." yelled someone as 4 people rushed towards Ray from behind.

(--STORM BLADE--) (--STORM BLADE--) Ray spelled twice without looking behind.

"KEEP QUIET !, "Ray commanded. *raining* Once again holding the flower with both his hands....he continued, "Can't you see I am busy?"

(SFX--Thump!)

The 4 people fell on the ground with their blood oozing out from their bodies. Slowly he raised up and vaguely walked towards the Doron village, without noticing that he stepped on the people he just killed when he crossed them.

The village was more than half burnt and destroyed, with not a single house unharmed. Ray went through the streets gazing at his surrounding full of corpses. Including, The Village Head who gratefully accepted his money every month, men who drank in the feast, the ladies who made the food for the feast, the elders who blessed Ray when he went to the capital to become a hero, the girls who chased him, the youngsters who wanted to become heroes and the innocent infants who still didn't spell their first word... all...Everyone from the Doron Village were killed mercilessly with no exceptions. It was not the work of a single person, Ray realised from the wounds on the corpses and the damage to the houses. Everyone who did this didn't hold back even a bit, It was a completely one-sided fight... not a fight but a hunt. He also realised that the Royal guards were a part of it as there was no sign of their corpses.

(SFX -- _TH_nd_r)

(SFX--Pitter-Patter *raining continuously*)

A river of blood flowed along with Ray. He could not produce anymore tears, so the rain helped him cry. As he crossed a burned house, he saw a woman along with her baby wrapped in her hands burned to cinders as the rain leaked from the roof and swept their ashes gradually into the main bloodstream. This made him remember his parents once again....

(SFX- GAH! *gasping*)

The Village, from top view, seemed like blood capillaries connecting to an artery (here the blood capillaries are the network of small paths connecting to the main street, which is the artery where ray was walking.)

Ray had no emotion on his face as he continued to walk vaguely on the street with the dim torches present rarely on some buildings.

---------------------------------------------

"Oooh! Its raining pretty hard over here" A royal guard inside a half broken house spoke.

Hearing her, he stopped outside the house and stood there while being drenched in rain.

"Ya, what's with this suddenly"

"I feel a bit cold"

"Want me to warm you up"

(SFX-- Bam) The girl royal guard hit the guy royal guard. All the 8 (3 girls and 5 guys) of them sat together around a small campfire..

"Stay away, you pervert"

"You never learn do you?"

"By the way... how many more days do we have to stay here.... Its already been 3 days since we killed everyone" another girl Royal Guard asked others.

"I guess that by the next two days we will end up disposing all the bodies in this village in the forest....and then they will spread a rumor that monsters annihilated this village."

"It's an acceptable excuse by the main palace"

"At first I was against it but later it got fun"

"Ya..ya.." Everyone agreed.

"But I feel terrible for them... I kind of got attached to this village and its people.," the third girl Royal guard said.

"What are you acting all sad for.... Are you the distressed heroine of this village"

"Ahahaha," everyone laughed.

"Hey did you see the couple who tried to escape into the forest ?," A guy Royal Guard said.

"Yes, I saw"

"The old guy tried to save his wife who got a slit on her throat... Then they fell on the ground.."

"Then..Then.. Some of us shot arrows, so he shielded his wife from them."

"He really was a tough guy... all those arrows didn't stop him.. So those two heroes had to thrust their swords in him to make him fall."

"But why did they leave their swords in him making him a tragic hero... Also, they were laughing after killing him..... "

Ray clenches his fist.

(SFX- BAM) The wall shatters.