Prologue-3

'What were they talking about?'

Arsh walked back in the direction of his house. All of the questions were still ringing inside his head. He knew something was wrong with the situation. Something was missing.

"I have to ask her directly. If I want any kind of answer from her."

Entering the house, he quickly went through all of the rooms of the house, in search of his mother. Only to find her doing more of those weird paintings, on the ceiling of the guest room.

'Again?'

Giving her a complicated gaze, he then added.

"Mom… What are you doing again? At least leave the ceiling clean for god sake."

Samantha jumped down the ceiling, still holding the painting brush in her hand.

"Where were you after I left you outside the chief's house? I was looking for you."

Arsh averted his eyes quickly, trying to not meet Samantha's gaze.

"I was with Edward." 

Samantha gazed at him suspiciously for a few more seconds, before walking towards the kitchen.

"Hmmm, okay. It's time for dinner now anyway, help me prepare it together. Unfortunately, today I only found mantises on the hill, so we have to make do with them."

Arsh's face instantly contorted with disgust. Bugs were the one thing he always hated with a passion. As they were too prevalent inside the hilly area of the terrain. He usually had to eat those giant bugs regularly.

"Whaaat? that thing again? You know that thing stinks like poop, Mom."

"So, you want to eat poop then?" 

Samantha replied curtly, not even sparing him a glance.

'.....I guess not.'

After 2 hours of cooking the stinky bugs, Arsh was at the dining table with his mother. Arsh looked at the bugs with a sullen expression and finally resigned to his fate.

'...about time.'

Arsh was eagerly waiting for a chance to ask the questions he had. And now the silent mood seemed perfect for it. He tried to sound as natural and uninterested as possible, to avoid being caught in the suspicion of eavesdropping.

"Why don't we follow any gods, Mom? The villagers say every person is born to pray to the gods. Also, Why is the village chief constantly talking about Gods and their wrath all the time?"

But he didn't expect Samantha's reaction in the slightest.

Samantha's spoon hit the ground as soon as she heard his last sentence. Her expression turned enraged as she shouted at Arsh in an extremely harsh tone-

"I thought it was Edward on the balcony but it was YOU. Arsh, there was a reason why I told you to stay out of the cottage. Why do you never listen to me?"

Samantha looked back at Arsh. Who was unfazed by her shouting. Sitting on his chair with a determined look on his face. He was determined to find answers. Even if they are going to do more harm than good to him. 

Samantha looked him straight in the eyes, but he did not buzz. Finally, she let out a defeated sigh, replying bitterly.

".....If you want to know everything no matter what? Then, listen closely."

Samantha's tone changed to complete seriousness, her face turning expressionless. As she was still trying her best, to not give up her thoughts on the matter.

"You are curious? As to why we don't pray to any gods."

She stopped for a few seconds, looking directly into Arsh's flaring crimson eyes.

"It is because the Gods had already abandoned us long ago. They are not as benevolent beings, as people make them out to be. And I don't want you to know how they are. At least not yet."

Samantha picked his spoon up from the ground, moving to the sink.

"You asked in the morning, right? Why do we live so far away inside a wasteland?"

She elegantly took a seat back on the chair, before speaking again.

"It is because we don't have any other choice. We are forsaken, Arsh. By the whole of humankind. Constantly being hunted by the churches and the followers of those filthy creatures... We have nowhere else to go except for here."

Her eyes faltered, giving away the emotion she was trying to hide- Worry, and the insurmountable amount of sadness, dripping through her eyes.

"You have to promise me, Arsh. You will never leave this village. Never."

Arsh was no fool. He knew what it meant to be hunted. But he was still very sure, there were many details left out in the story. It was only a part of the true story.

"I will only promise it. If you promise to tell me everything about it too. Otherwise, I will do my best to get to the heart of the matter. I am not a fool. There is just no way that this is the full story. I just don't understand! Why are you trying so hard to hide everything from me? "

A pained expression appeared on Samantha's face. She responded, trying to hold away all the bitterness inside.

"Ok…. I promise. I will tell you everything eventually with time."

They finished eating together in silence. Again, An awkward silence ensued between them. Arsh moved to his room, not able to bear the awkwardness, and went to sleep.

The next day came. Arsh woke up from his slumber and moved out of bed to wash his face, first thing in the morning.

"Hey, Mom! I am going to get the firewood for today."

Arsh looked at Samantha, but he got no response from her. She was sitting on her chair, chanting something while cleaning her sword with a white piece of cloth.

'She also acts weird nowadays....'

Arsh sighed and moved out of the house. 

The forest was a little far away from his house. Slowly walking, he slowly dived into his thoughts again.

'Why do the other villagers pray to gods, if all of them are forsaken? Why have we forsaken anyway? Do mythical beings even exist?'

Arsh asked himself all the questions off the top of his head. But was never able to get even a hint of the answers. He knew this was all connected to him somehow. And his mother was still hiding how.

From the previous conversations, at least Arsh knew something was about to happen in the village. Due to this his mother and most of the adults were always weirdly restless every day.

Arsh moved deep into the forest, bored and confused by all of the events. He just wanted someone to answer his curiosity.

As he moved deeper the stench of blood came to his nose. He followed it curiously only to find Edward there, camping there with the horde of corpses of different monsters. 

Edward had piles of monsters around his camp, some big enough to swallow a human whole. While He was sitting idly in the middle of them, with just a campfire.

"Is this some kind of picnic spot?"

Arsh asked Edward with a smile. He moved slowly toward Edward, trying to avoid stepping on the corpses lying around.

"You can also camp here with me if you want Arsh. I just have to see for how many seconds you are going to survive. My generous guess will be 40 sec." 

Edward stood up quickly and jumped up to the tree near him.

"I am here for firewood. Help me out a bit."

"Kid, we are in a forest you know. Go cut some trees and go back home. I have something important to do...What is that strange presence?"

Edward chanted something and tendrils of lightning cladded his body in the next moment. He moved forward in the direction of the village, leaving only afterimages behind.

"....He ditched me again."

After cutting some trees, and dragging them with him. He started moving back towards his home, still curious about what his mother was going to tell him.

'Gods, huh?'

CRACKLE

Suddenly, Arsh heard a loud sound of thunder coming directly from inside the village. Which was not a rare occurrence per se, as there were several villagers with lightning affinity.

'What the hell was that?'

But this one was a lot louder than the ones he was used to.

Arsh felt restless by the strange premonition. He felt something was wrong, something very wrong with this thundering sound. Panicked, Arsh started running to the village, leaving all the woods and blocks behind. 

'Shit! I am too far away.'

Arsh was a little far away from the village, due to his unnecessary venture into the deeper part of the forest. It was going to take a few minutes at least.

'SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!'

Arsh was afraid beyond reasoning, everything he was hearing in the last two days was pointing at something coming their way. Something dreadful.

Arsh reached the very boundary of the village and stopped there for a moment to catch his breath. 

He was too tired after running all this way. But his mind was still restless, and his senses still warning him about the drenched horrors in his vicinity.

Arsh took a deep breath again, taking a single step inside the village. 

"...Wh...att?"

What he saw first inside the village, was the most grotesque sight a human can ever hope to see. 

Blood and body parts are all over the village. Corpses of several people lying around everywhere. Some with a head, some without it. Some with legs, some without them.

There was not a single complete corpse anywhere. Every single one was slashed and hacked into several pieces, making the sight even more dreadful.

"W-Wh..at is this?"

Arsh moved between the corpses quickly. His mind was shouting with pure terror to run away. But he had to slow down a little, trying to avoid the body parts lying everywhere. 

Arsh walked past through corpses, his eyes stopping at a familiar head lying on the ground. Completely decapitated from its body.

It was the head of the same big kid that picked the fight with Arsh yesterday. His eyes were hollow, looking at nothing. He was no longer in this world.

With Horror dawning on his all senses, Arsh started running with all his might. Only one thing rang inside of his head.

"Please be safe, Mom. Please be safe. Please be safe."

Arsh ran toward his house, which was situated slightly outside of the village for some unknown reason he never knew of. But there were still more pressing questions he wanted to ask.

'What happened here? Who did this?'

Arsh's heart was beating wildly, after seeing the butchered body everywhere around him. He didn't stop anywhere and moved just in front of his house.

'My hous…'

His heart stopped beating, the moment he reached in front of his house. All the life force slowly left his body, making his crimson eyes hollow. He fell to his knees looking at the horror in front of him, as he mumbled in an inaudible whisper.

"m....mo...m?"