THE COWARD

The sound of his footsteps filled the empty tunnels in front of him.

Ddak!

Ddak!

It is the sound of footstep stepping into puddle of water

There is a person inside this darkness of this seemingly unceasing tunnels. The man pants in exhaustion but his eyes have some fire.

He wanted to survive, he wanted to live. There is nothing more important than that. To be alive

'One more steps' he thought to himself and because of that one single thought he could keep on going in this dark place.

It is because of this thought that he could keep put his feet forward

The smells inside this place is musty and pungent. It is like the smell of thick fat of a pig.

A revolting smell assaulted the air around him.

Looking anxiously from left to right, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. He looks behind him and the light he saw before is no longer there

The darkness makes him imagine dark things and dark thoughts. Some dark things could come and eat him like the monsters in the horror story of Asterosi

The torch in his hand flickered. The wind that comes from above blew under and it brought the smell of blood, death and misery

He could still imagine the sound of the screams, and he could still smell the iron in his fellow men blood

He still remembers the song on the camp, the song to raise one spirit. But he had no intention of singing right now.

Not one bit

He took a deep breath and he almost choked because of the smell

By the grace of Light, I never thought it would smell this bad, he thought to himself. His hand is still steady but sweats filled his forehead and his back

I don't think they've noticed me, he thought. Be fast, be nimble. Silent like the shadows. I must not be caught.

The torch flickered again. He could already feel the wind. Not the breezy wind of the plains but the wind of winter, wind that bring death.

The cold one would experience before dying. He walks forward in this darkness and walk on the path that is illuminated by light of his torch.

He thinks to himself about many things as he walks slowly, without the sound of footsteps or as least volume as he could possibly achieve

It is easy to lose oneself into one dark memories here in this darkness alone but he tries to focus his thoughts on something else.

He had secured his getaway, a horse tied at the outskirts of the city. Even that horse he had to stole it from some dead person.

He smiles. But not out of joy or happiness. There are times when everything seems so ridiculous and absurd that one unconsciously smiles

He could not help but think of this matter to make sure his thought does not go to the dark places in his mind.

He walks and he walks and only the sound of the fire from his torch accompanied it with the slight sound of crackle that reminds him that he is still alive and exist.

This kind of darkness…. could swallow a man alive and leaving him to become just a husk.

There was just one more tunnels separating him from freedom...and death. It felt so close that he could even ignore the smell from the area

As he walked he notices something

His legs were trembling from exhaustion, and as he wearily wiped sweat from his long, snow-white hair he realized how long it had been since his last meal.

Eating in the sewer was far from ideal and the stench was overwhelming, but he had no choice.

He sits down in the sewer, put down the torch beside him and make it stand by using some stones around the area and opens his lunch pack.

He packed his lunch box in a leather he took from a murdered captain. He still remembers the corpse of that person.

His face seems to be sliced by something broad and sharp. His face looks as unidentifiable like all the corpses he encountered all over his life.

He uncovered the lunch pack. The lunch pack itself is made from shiny metal that could pack food.

It looks something that is fancy and cost a lot of gold. Peasant like him could never afford such thing unless they hunted it themselves and sew it himself.

It looks like something one would find from a Ranoa trading ship.

'Eat, drink, walk…stay alive' He muttered it almost like a chant by now.

Maybe it is a prayer to Light. To stay alive.

His shaking hand untangled the wrap of roasted fish he had taken from the army's kitchen and he devoured every scrap.

He took the time to look around as the fire from the torch illuminated the area where he is eating

His eyes scanned the sewer, drab and dark and his body could feel the cold.

He doesn't like it one bit.

Noticing an odd heap, a little way from him, he strained his eyes to see more clearly.

'Wha-'

With a sickening jolt he realized it was a corpse, rotten and twisted.

Its skin was melted off and maggots had eaten through to the bone in places; it must have been there for a long time.

Most men would scream at such a horrific sight, but he was stoic. He had seen this kind of views many times.

After the Great Slaughter, he had become accustomed to such nightmarish scenes. It was nothing he hadn't seen during his year in the Coalition army.

Death and gore littered the Human Continent, what difference did one more corpses make?

From where he sat he could just make out a symbol on its clothes.

Curiosity battled his disgust and won, and he heaved himself up and wandered over for a closer look.

Beneath the blood and mold, he saw that the embellishment was a lion clutching a pearl. He scoffed and shakes his head

Vangua troops, he thought.

He leans his body backward to the wall and sighed

Taking a heave, he got up and he let his mind swim and replay how he came to be standing in the sewer beneath Zettel, running from the army and creeping inside the shadows.

****************************************************************************************

Now it begins. For those who knows this story has been requested for a long time. Only now I had the chance to post it back.

Anyway, will be posting in regular releases until Lord Shadow hiatus ended. For thsoe who don't know this story I hope you also will fall in love with the character