Scum of the Outlands

Pavor managed to catch the arrow in time before it went between his eyes!

His Perceptiveness and Reflexes stats were that of an exemplary Retaliator after all. A regular mortal would have probably had that arrow stuck on their forehead and died a swift death. 

Pavor looked at the arrow with conflicted expression. Here he was, lost in his thoughts about wanting to cease existing. And when the chance came, his body moved on its own for his survival. 

Is this just how humans work? Even when they want to die, they are designed to cling on to their life that could easily be taken away.

But Pavor did not have time to contemplate it much further as he realized he had been spotted. Tudo had called out to him, possibly having finally noticed him just as the arrow he deflected headed for the prince. 

"Oh, thank the gods! Your Highness, are you alright!?" Tudo said, ever the dramatic worrywart.

Princess Minerva stopped shooting and her face went pale when she saw that her fiance was there. She flitted down to the ground, and ran towards Pavor. 

"Prince Pavor, I…. W-Why are you here? A-A-Are you hurt?" She stammered, switching back to her anxious and socially awkward demeanor as if she wasn't trying to murder someone just now.

Pavor could tell that her concern for him was genuine though, since like the priests of Amore, he could empathize but mostly just for feelings of doubt, fear and dread. 

"I am alright. What is happening here?" He asked.

She looked down, knowing that she was caught red-handed. She was still holding the bow in her hands. "This is..... I…. I wish I could explain…."

She then dashed off, leaping into the air and flying as a silver glow surrounded her body!

Tudo called out. "Your Highness! Wait!"

Pavor turned to him. "You have a spell that could make us fly, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Tudo said, then turned to his spellbook. He mumbled words again in that very quick speed, and soon they were both surrounded by the blue light that commonly manifested as Tudo's power.

They flew to follow after the princess, racing among the clouds of the moonlit night. They have traveled past villages like Baileif, and were getting nearer and nearer to the edges of Erosith.

"Where is she going?" Pavor asked Tudo.

"I have no idea, Your Highness. She went to see me in the gardens earlier, and asked me how I knew she stole the bow. That the only ones who could have seen it was one of 'them'."

"Them?"

"I don't know what she meant by that either. But whoever 'they' were, she seemed very wary of them. Enraged almost." Tudo said. "I hope nothing bad happens to her. I mean this could sour the relationship between Erosith and Sagacitur."

Despite being maimed so many times, Tudo managed to say he hoped nothing bad happened to her. Pavor could truly not understand the kindness of humans.

But it was not kindness, and he was only thinking logically about the consequences if the princess had fallen to any type of danger. Even when Pavor could not care any less about her well-being, her escape could spell trouble for his new life as 'Pavor Plover'.

And he still had to complete the second mission. He doesn't want the princess to remain infatuated with him any longer.

Plus this served as a great distraction for…. whatever happened in the forest.

He does not even want to revisit the image of that creature of pure light singing and dancing, repeating the same melody and the same words.

"To love is to believe…."

Pavor instead focused on what's in front of him. The princess was speeding up her flight, and she does not seem to have noticed that they were following her. She soared into the air like an owl, very swift but quiet.

They were now flying into the ocean that surrounded the kingdoms of Erosith, Donatus, and Liberia. These three kingdoms were connected to each other to form the major continent of Beatitudes, the 'most beautiful continent', because they represent the three most beautiful things.

Erosith was the 'Kingdom of Love', Donatus was the 'Kingdom of Kindness', and Liberia was the 'Kingdom of Freedom', with their patron gods corresponding to these concepts as well.

But beyond the Beautitudes, past the small island of Sagicitur standing alone amidst the Beautius Sea…..

Was the Outlands.

And that seemed to be the direction where Princess Minerva was headed. 

Pavor's eyes widened as he was soon drawn by the nostalgia of home. The closer they got, the stronger he felt the familiarity of it all. Everything else in Amoreas was so pristine, so clean, so pure…..

But the air was simply different in the Outlands. It was filthy, suffocating, and vile.

He smiled. Ah, how he missed his home.

The Outlands took up only one-tenth of Amoreas, at the bottom of it. But its presence remained strong, as the smoke from its numerous volcanoes and geysers can be seen from thousands of miles away.

From outside the world, it looked like a small black stain on this pretty white sphere. Like the world was a pearl that accidentally fell into a muck, or perhaps dipped in an inkwell. 

The ground was coarse and dark like coal. The only living things that thrive here are strange and bizarre, and they survive in a different manner from those that lived in the other continents of Amoreas.

They were also very, very dangerous.

"Why is she going to the Outlands!?" Tudo was flabbergasted, his face wrought with concern. "She could get herself killed the moment she steps in there!"

He was right, even the air was toxic for humans to inhale and the soil was so hot that it would burn their shoes. Cultists survive by wearing clothes and shoes made of skin from creatures from the Outlands that attack the rest of the world.

These materials were only legally allowed to be sold to Retaliators, and even then, you would need a permit to procure it and a record for using them. 

Because there had also been instances of Defectors: Retaliators that turned into cultists worshiping the Lord of Dread. 

Pavor relished every moment that a Retaliator would turn into a Defector. That must feel like a huge slap to the face to the gods who had chosen them, and he gets to control such powerful individuals under his fist. 

But if there's one group that Pavor hated the most—

"This is suicide!" Tudo said, casting spells to protect himself and Pavor from the Outlands. "She may have the Bow of Erudition, but she's not chosen by Memtem! There's no telling he would protect her!"

"Let us split up then." Pavor offered. "We can cover more ground that way. You take the left shore, I'll take the right. She couldn't have been that far."

Tudo thought this was a logical suggestion, when in fact Pavor just wanted to enjoy his former home by himself. "Good idea, Your Highness! Here, take this stone. It's a messaging rune that we can use to communicate with each other."

Pavor took the stone, and Tudo went on his way to search for the princess. But the former Lord of Dread was in no rush.

He went to admire his surroundings, drinking in the sheer hideousness of it all. The moon shone red over the Outlands, hazy and dripping like a stabbed eye. 

And amidst the crimson haze...

A man was on the ground, crawling on the shores while laughing maniacally.

"Finally! I reached it….. My final resting place….. I shall be in the arms of darkness, where I am truly meant to be….. The calling in my heart is finally satisfied... The never-ending pain and dread that I could only gain from you, My Lord….. "

Pavor looked at the man like some pest. His body was slowly deteriorating, covered in burns and turning a sickly shade of purple as the toxins filled his lungs. His voice was hoarse, the words barely formed, but Pavor did not need to hear them well to know what he was saying.

These people were the ones he hated the most among the visitors of the Outlands.

They were not like the cultists who wanted to align themselves to Pavor out of hatred for Amore's world. They were not like Defectors who betrayed their own gods, for personal reasons or grudges.

These people were…..

"Masochists. Suicidal vermin." Pavor muttered under his breath.

He went over to the slowly dying man, who's eyes were turning into creamy white and melting within their sockets like runny eggs. He must still have some vision, but he probably could only see silhouettes, and the haze did not help in any way.

When he looked up….

All he could sense was the immense aura of malice and rage.

"My Lord…..? You have come for me….."

The man's ruined features were hard to ascertain, and his clothes were in tatters from the burning soil too, making it hard to tell what kingdom he was from or his social status. It's hard to tell whether he was a merchant, or a commoner, or even just a noble that was tired of the easy life. 

His purplish skin was getting darker, turning black like coal….

"The Lord of Dread….. Please take me….. Take my soul and bring me closer to the Void, your true domain, the world beneath this one..... A world where suffering, madness and evil does not hide itself through rose-tinted fallacies... Take me….."

He reached out to Pavor like someone worshiping a statue, the idea of him. The idea of what he could deliver. 

Pavor gritted his teeth and stepped on the man's hand!

"Go die in your own land, you disgusting pervert!"