On the Road to Novigrad
The smell of decay and death entered Vesemir's and Mikael's nostrils as they entered an abandoned village. It looked empty, the shacks were burned, gardens stomped, crates ransacked, and blood everywhere.
Someone had looted this village, maybe took a couple of men or women while at it...
As they looked around, still on Vesemir's horse, it panicked, forcing Vesemir and Mikael to dismount, and used Axii on the horse.
"Slow down girl…" Vesemir whispered to his horse.
Mikael got on his feet. "What happened?"
"I don't know… monsters nearby." Vesemir answered, looking around the place.
Miquella then appeared before Mikael, pointing at the end of the village.
"Alghouls." his voice echoed. "Drawn to the corpses…"
"Alghouls?" Mikael asked, confused about the name. "And I don't see any corpses…"
"Corpse eaters." Miquella explained. "And the corpses have been eaten, but the Alghouls still stayed… which means… there's someone around here."
Mikael's eyes widened. "There, Vesemir," he said, pointing at the Alghouls.
Vesemir frowned as he saw the group of Alghouls. He looked around again, trying to find something.
"Someone's around here." he said, unsheathing his silver sword from his horse, before smacking the horse's ass, making him run away. "Watch out for the Alghouls, their bites are nasty…"
"Sure." hummed Mikael, also unsheathing his sword with his left hand.
Both of them approached the group of Alghouls. They had smelled the two men, and turned towards them, sneering and hissing. Almost all of the Alghouls turned to them, turning their gaze from a shack near them.
"Someone's inside that shack." commented Vesemir as he focused on the Alghouls. "Kill these corpse eaters first. Then let's check it out."
"Alright." nodded Mikael, and both of them rushed towards the Alghouls.
Mikael ran to the nearest Alghoul as it wanted to pounce on him. The Alghoul jumped high, but it was too high for an effective strike, so, Mikael stabbed him from the stomach, slashing his guts open, the Alghould died quickly, and it made Mikael the target of all the Alghoul.
Mikael then felt something lunged at him from the back, and bit him in the neck, making him groan in pain.
"Too careless." said Miquella in his mind as Mikael threw the Alghoul from his back to the ground.
"Sorry." scoffed Mikael in annoyance as he saw the Alghoul that bit him decayed, eating its body alive from the inside.
"What did I tell you about the bite?!" shouted Vesemir as he killed an Alghoul.
"I'm fine!" Shouted Mikael. He jumped to an Alghoul, stabbing it in the head, cutting it open. He looked at his shoulder, just some blood, nothing major.
Mikael then continued to slaughter the rest of the Alghouls along with Vesemir, the old man then burned the bodies quickly using Igni, and the smell of charred flesh spread across the village.
"Let me check." Vesemir then quickly walked to Mikael, checking the bite.
"I told you, I'm fine." Mikael said as Vesemir checked the bite. "I'm immune to this sort of thing."
"How do you know?" Vesemir raised his eyebrow.
"I just… know." answered Mikael. "Don't worry, it'll heal."
Vesemir just stared at Mikael, and hummed. The two then walked to the shack, banging the door.
"Open the door!" shouted Vesemir.
"H-Has it gone?" questioned a voice inside.
"What do you think?" said Mikael impatiently. "Just open the door."
The door then opened slowly, revealing a group of men, sitting around inside the shack. They were wearing light armor, and had swords and axes lying around, which was strange.
"Swords, axes…" Vesemir commented. "Why didn't you fight, instead of just locking yourselves here?"
"I-It has no effect on them master witchers…" said a man with brown leather armor. "W-We were just staying here for a couple days… but suddenly those… corpse eaters appear, we send two of our friends to them to fight it… but…"
"They died." hummed Vesemir. "I hear a faint heartbeat from the next room, anyone hurt?"
The man in front of Vesemir paled as he heard it. "N-No… i-it's just a friend of ours… sleeping… yes, sleeping…" he stuttered, sounding like he was making an excuse.
Vesemir raised his brow in doubt. "Mikael check the next room."
"Y-You don't have to master witchers…" stuttered another man. "I-It was just a friend… he's asleep."
Something was wrong, Mikael could tell. So, he ignored those men, and walked to the room. Inside, he found two humans, a girl and a woman, cowering in the corner, scared as Mikael entered the room.
They only wore rags to cover themselves, all dirtied with mud, their hair looks messy, their eyes filled with fear, their faces pale. The woman was protecting the little girl, hugging her as Mikael entered the room.
"P-Please…" said the little girl. "D-Don't hurt mum anymore… Y-You can do–"
"No!" shouted the woman. "P-Please… stay away from her…"
As he heard that, Mikael's blood suddenly ran cold. Miquella appeared beside him, his face was calm, but Mikael could tell that he was enraged.
"I've seen their memories…" he murmured. "Those… beasts… before… they did things… to her…"
Mikael clenched his sword so hard, his knuckles went whit, he turned around to see the fear in the men's eyes.
"They're the cause of this." Miquella continued, holding his voice. "Villages empty because of them… they didn't pay tribute, so they slaughtered them… keeping the women for themselves…"
Miquella then turned to the men, his eyes cold. "In my days… people kill… but this… I will never get used to. They used the women as bait for the corpse eaters outside… trying to escape… but everytime… it failed…"
Mikael's eyes went cold, almost identical to Miquella's eyes.
"Mikael…" Miquella spoke, disappearing as he did that. "You know what to do."
Then, Mikael blacked out.
—
When Mikael woke up, he was sitting against a wooden wall, covered in blood, his sword in front of him, stabbed to the ground. He looked around, and saw the dead bodies of those… 'beasts'... as Miquella called it.
Their bodies were torn apart, heads far from the bodies, legs missing, hands on their necks, as if trying to stop bleeding.
Mikael also saw the mother and daughter in the corner, tended by Vesemir, covered in a blanket.
Miquella then appeared in front of him, sitting opposite of his place.
"What did you do?" questioned Mikael calmly. "Didn't remember anything…"
"I didn't do anything…" he said. "Your body… simply reacted…"
"I don't understand." Mikael continued. "What do you mean?"
"You are a foreign soul, in a foreign body." answered Miquella. "Memories remained, emotions deepened, and instinct took in."
"So this isn't my body?" scoffed Mikael.
"It depends on how you view it." said Miquella. "Is it yours? Yes. is it only yours? No."
"Just straight to the point." Miquella said impatiently.
Miquella stood up. "Souls come and go from bodies," he answered. "You are not the only soul who has used this body, even if it's just a moment."
Mikael frowned. "Can't you not speak vaguely like this?"
Miquella just turned away from Mikael, and looked at Vesemir. "Continue this path, it will lead you to the sorceress."
Miquella then vanished into thin air, disappearing into golden dust.
Mikael just clenched his fist, annoyed at Miquella, and pulled the sword in front of him, sheathing it to the scabbard.
"Some work you did here." Vesemir suddenly commented, noticing that Mikael was awake. "Could've given me a warning you know?"
"Sorry, lost myself…" murmured Mikael as he walked towards Vesemir. He looked at the mother and daughter, and asked the old man. "What will happen to them?"
"W-We have a family… a village near here…" answered the mother suddenly. "T-Thank you… for saving us…"
"It's just a coincidence young lady, you don't have to thank us." answered Vesemir. "You could go there on your own, right?"
"Y-Yes… w-we need to take a rest first…" the mother answered.
Vesemir nodded. "You can take those… bandits'... belongings… perhaps asked your family to go here again, retrieving their loot."
Vesemir then took his sword that was leaning against the wall, and wore it on his back. "Anyway, it's time we go young lady, take care."
Mikael and Vesemir opened the door, and exited. But then, someone tugged Mikael's trousers, making him turn.
He saw the little girl from before, she was holding a small doll.
"T-Thank you…" she said shyly. She then offered the doll to Mikael. "H-Here… take care of Emily…"
Mikael crouched down, smiling at the little girl. He ruffled her hair, and took the dool. "Sure kid, I'll take care of it."
The girl nodded vigorously, and just ran to her mother again.
Mikael stood up, and looked at the doll.
"A sense of satisfaction… is it not?" suddenly questioned Miquella in his head.
Mikael hummed, and just put the doll in his bag, before following Vesemir to his horse, continuing their journey to Novigrad.