C16 - Truth

Radan watched Vidus talking without blinking, he even took a breath slowly and in silence since he wanted to hear every word. The only thing it disturbed his attention was his heartbeat which was as loud as a war drum.

"The bell rang about straight one hour when the beggar took off his head from my shoulder and said 'Join the First Legion' and sat down. I was excited yet afraid of what will I find once I leave the building."

"The moment when I opened the door, the sound of growl, colliding metals, sliced flesh, and screams filled the air of the city. My legs rooted because of the view that fell before me. It was a slaughter where the soldiers and knights struggled to fight for their lives against a threefold overpowered enemy." Vidus body uncontrollably trembled at this moment.

"Someone noticed me and that man rushed towards me with a spear in his grasp yet I still stood without moving a finger. I froze by the horrible reality. But before the man touched me, a fancy armored man stood before me, stopping the attacking guy who left a moment later."

"The fancy armored man asked me, am I with the empire or not. His eyes were sharp, I felt they pierced through my body and shattered my mind. I nodded slightly to his question. Then he told, he was the first legion's general, Ferion, and told me to follow him." A cold breeze passed through the room.

"He leads me to the square of the city. It was a death march ... I puked at a point. Countless lifeless bodies lied on the ground. Some rain drain even filled with the people's blood! Corpses, torn limbs, crushed bones and body parts, like a bloodbath, just more horrible." Vidus nearly puked at the end of his speech and took a little break to force back what he nearly left escape from his stomach.

*Gulp* *Cough*

"Ah, sorry. I will continue." He said while he coughed a few more times.

Radan just silently watched Vidus while Lyanna listened to them with closed eyes. She sat down on the cold floor in her cell and begin to ponder on something that she heard.

"At the city square, there were some tied up people with a cloth on their head. Ferion lead me behind the people and left me there. There was a similarly armored knight behind every tied-up person like me. He walked before us and shouted. He told us clearly if we can't kill that person who kneeled before us, we will swap with them without a second chance."

"Everyone drew their weapon with trembling hands like me. Everyone pointed its weapon to the person before him, then an order echoed in the air as 'Execute them!'. I was hesitant, I didn't dare to do. Someone dropped his weapon and said loudly he can't do that. A member of their legion walked there casually and easily killed both of them without batting an eye."

Vidus continued to tell the story because he wanted to finish fast. Remembering and telling the events at that day was enough terrible yet he witnessed with his own eyes which made him having nightmares till nowadays at some night.

"After that, everyone raised his weapon and smote down, me too as well. The commander nodded and told us to remove the cloth from the head of the dead bodies, see the dead's eyes. He laughed like a maniac while he spoke. I did what he told and ... a-and ..."

The words stuck inside his mouth, but for Radan it was clear what happened then. Vidus again fell on the floor as the sorrow and sadness came back into his chest. At that time his feelings nearly ate his heart at that very moment, and he got a heart attack back then when he saw his loved one's lifeless eyes.

The same feelings pierced his heart again with the same if not fiercer pain while he didn't let any sound leave his mouth.

After that, he tried to consume himself with everything that came into his mind. Vidus drank until he passed out, he cut an 'x' on his chest where his heart was supposed to be, and every time the wound healed, he reopened it. He hit the wall until the bones in his fingers broke into many pieces and it painted the white wall red with his blood.

Radan didn't know what caused that much damage at Vidus' home since he believed someone vandalized his little house from time to time for some revenge, but when he saw the bloody walls or the cut apart sheets on his bed, he frowned sometimes.