Chapter 33: The Village (6)

The sounds of screaming erupted into the night air.

They were the screams of a lone, frail voice, one that was hoarse and shaky as it continued to pour out.

A young John was walking through the street, a scarlet red deciding to drown out the purity of the whitest of snow. Bodies were strewn throughout. Some lay in the street, their faces toward the sky as looks of anguish were forever plastered on their faces.

A woman was hunched over, and underneath her was a child, one who, like her, had long since lost the vibrant glow of life in their eyes. It looked as if the woman had tried to protect the child, but the attempt clearly failed.

John's wails carried throughout the otherwise silent town.

Tears flowed down his face, seeming as endless as a waterfall as they hit the cold, cold ground. He looked to his left, seeing a friend, looking to his right, seeing another, and another. This horrific sight seemed to never end.

He continued walking further and further into town, the deeper he went the more he felt his mind slipping into madness.

Eventually, he made it to his own house, where the door was left open slightly.

His breathing slowly grew heavier and heavier as he stared at it. A part of him didn't want to go in, the door being left agape was enough of an answer to his assumption.

Regardless of his fear, there was a chance that she was alive, right? He stepped forward to open the door. "M-mom?"

John's eyes flashed open. They seemed worn down and sluggish as if he hadn't just been asleep. He slowly rose out of the bed, a manic smile on his face as his hand was placed over his abdomen.

"That's good. I'm glad these dreams still find me. It's a reminder... of what I need to do…"

He sat in silence for a moment, just staring down at his stomach.

"You good?"

He turned his head, seeing Ashur staring at him. The man was sitting on his bed in a criss-cross position, having a curious look on his face. John, unsure of if he heard him or not responded in an upbeat tone. "Definitely. How about you?"

"I got decent sleep which was definitely needed given the schedule for today. I know a lot's happened but besides the issues I hope it hasn't been too unpleasant of a stay."

A skeptical look was on Ashur's face for just a moment after hearing his answer, which made John think the man had heard the yelp of terror he no doubt released upon waking, however after his response he wasn't too sure. Ashur continued speaking as if nothing had occurred.

"Yeah, so far it's pretty interesting. I didn't expect the village to be like this." John replied.

"Do you mean with all the spirits and such?"

"Yeah, that and…" John's voice trailed off. He started to mention Marion, but stopped himself. The two had talked about him briefly last night, bringing him now would have only put John into a more tired state. He truly didn't know what to do about him.

The animosity the man aimed at him was off the charts.

It was understandable to a degree, seeing how he was contracted with Annerose, who was previously contracted to Mary; however it still bothered him.

While he wasn't the closest with Mary for the short time they knew each other, his being at odds with her family didn't sit right in his heart.

As he started cleaning himself up, preparing to venture out into the village he was intently thinking of how to make things right.

With Ashur leading the way, he stepped out of the house.

John couldn't explain it, but he felt like the sun was burning especially bright in the village. He'd noticed the difference in heat yesterday but with everything going on he barely had a moment to focus on it.

Now that he thought about it, it was as if the sun directed most of its light here, that they were in a somewhat special place.

As they made their way through the town John just admired the scenery. Seeing all the greenery and minor spirits leisurely flying drew his attention. He half-hoped he'd find Annerose among them, seeing how she was missing in action but he wasn't as lucky.

"Hey, there young master." A woman whom they passed said with a polite bow.

"Goodmorning." He replied.

That kind of greeting continued from person to person as they traveled through the village. Despite the many different add-ons to their words like, "what a good morning it is" or "It's a nice day for harvest," referring to crops, they would always end the sentence with young master.

Ashur returned their greetings with his own, being displayed through a smile, however, John could notice it become more and more strained the longer they went on.

John hadn't thought about it previously but this experience must've been surreal for his partner. He was back home, but that same home came with a lot of baggage.

He would be forced to face his past here, the past which he so desperately wanted to close the page on. To move forward. To do that there was something he needed to do.

"So, what were you needing to do today?" John questioned, hoping to take Ashur's mind away from the attention he was getting. It worked, the man's gaze shifted to him as they continued walking through the village.

"I need to get a weapon here. One passed down since our second clan leader's time. It's known as Astreas Blade, otherwise called the black blade. It's the only one of its kind."

"Oh? That sounds like quite the treasure then."

"Yeah. That's why it isn't such a simple process to get it. We're currently heading toward the location my uncle gave."

"So that's where the weapon is?"

"No. It's somewhere separate but it's a halfway point so to speak."

John couldn't help but feel curious about the weapon. Knowing Ashur's strength, the fact the man felt the need to get a sacred weapon in order to face Boreas, was interesting to say the least.

He couldn't reasonably ever imagine him losing, however Ashur didn't share in his mindset. In his mind, the threat his brother posed was very real.

This brought a slightly sickened feeling to John's stomach. The feeling was familiar, it took him a mere moment to recognize it as unease. It was the same kind he had when he was a child, the day Zubec was late for his training.

A cold sweat subtly emerged from his palms, all the while he tried his best to shove the feeling of unease down. He was stronger now. If something were to happen, he could confidently say he would be able to help Ashur. He refused to be a bystander again, like when he was just a boy.

To John's surprise, as well as Ashurs' there was a familiar face further up their path. It was Sherryl. She was wearing a black crop top instead of the white one the other day, her shorts were the same however.

She waved at them and after a little more walking, they converged. "It's good to see you two." She said with a smile, her voice bouncing up and down.

"Likewise." John said, returning her smile with one of his own.

Ashur looked in between the two before speaking. "It seems you two got a bit closer."

Sherryl gave a hearty nod at the man's observation. "Mhm. It was fun showing him around."

"Yeah. I'm glad she was my guide."

"So, what are you two doing right now?" She asked, shifting the topic of the conversation as she eyed them curiously. The group started walking, with Sherryl standing between the two of them.

John started to respond but paused, before glancing toward Ashur. He didn't want to give out information if the party involved wasn't open to it. However, his softened expression told John all he needed to know. It wasn't a secret or anything.

"I'm going to get Astreas blade."

Sherryl, whose stride was unperturbed, suddenly stopped. Her eyebrows raised as she tilted her head to the side. "Oh, wow. What would you need that legendary weapon for?"

The pace of Ashur and John didn't slow despite her stopping, so she quickly skipped forward to catch up.

"To fight of course. There's someone I must stop, my brother, and to do that I unfortunately can't rely on just my own strength. I'm hoping the thing left behind by the second clan chief could help."

"Ah, I see now."

With her line of questioning at an end due to receiving her answer, she fell silent. She continued walking alongside them but was mentally far away, thinking to herself.

Boreas. It was a name that was infamous among the clan. All of the tales spread about him were horrid.

They were bona fide ghost stories, something parents would tell their children. That if they were bad Boreas, the ice demon would come for them in their sleep. Despite the stories similar to those of folk tales, he was very real.

After all, she had met Boreas before when she was younger. There was no way she could have forgotten the sea of red he brought with him.

That was the day that everything had changed for her. She was the only survivor of his assault on the rebellious second village, a fact that none but herself and the perpetrator was aware of.

To this day, she couldn't understand why he had spared her, and even though he killed her parents, she didn't harbor any hate for him. It was odd. She was sure that was a natural and somewhat understandable response but such an emotion didn't bury its way into her heart.

She wondered, if Boreas were to die how would she feel? Grateful? Happy? Or even care at all. That was something she had to reflect on, as it seemed that was Ashur's goal, to defeat him. However, given the stories of the man, she was unsure if he would go down so quietly.

John, during their whole walk, kept a look out for Annerose. Unfortunately he didn't spot her. Also he was still unable to sense her presence anywhere, leaving him feeling strangely alone.

Over the course of the few months he'd been contracted to Annerose he'd gotten used to housing her inside of his body. Now, however, that she blocked their connection, he felt empty. Or maybe that wasn't the right descriptor. He felt like himself, fully and truly.

"Alright. It seems we're here." Ashur's voice brought not only Sherryl but John out of his thoughts as well. Before them were three individuals, two were simple guards while the last was Charon. He had a smile on his face as he walked forward to greet them. "It's good to see you. I see you brought friends."

Ashur nodded. "Right. As you know this is John and this girl is-"

"Sherryl. Yes, I know, our resident trouble maker."

"Ha." The young girl scratched the back of her head, a bashful look on her face.

John turned to squint at her. 'Resident troublemaker?' He thought to himself. Noticing his scrutinizing gaze oozing curiosity she turned her head away from him.

"Well, that's quite the reputation you got." Ashur said with a light chuckle.

"Like I said before it is good to see you but it's a shame you came all this way. Only Ashur will be coming to the site."

"Really Chief? But we came all this way. Are you sure we couldn't take a little peek? Just for a-" Before Sherryl's vain attempt at convincing could continue, John placed his hand on her shoulder.

"We understand sir." He said with a solemn expression.

Releasing a sigh of defeat, Sherryl caved in. If John, Ashur's partner didn't voice any complaint or resistance to the Chief's words then who was she to do such a thing.

"I'll see you later, okay Ashur?"

"Right." The man replied with a serious nod.

Once the outlines of John and Sherryl became faint in the distance, that was when the next step would begin. In quick fashion, Charon handed Ashur a blindfold and he responded by putting it on silently.

He was then moved. Geographically, Ashur couldn't feel much difference. As far as he knew, they were still walking on flat ground.

There was nothing of note throughout the trek and he stopped moving roughly around the same time he'd processed they had been walking for a decent while. Then, the blindfold was removed.

The glare of the sun blinded him for a second, but once that light lessened, he could see his surroundings.

Directly in front of him was a cave, and he instinctively turned, glancing all around him. The trees in the area didn't look familiar, showing they were truly outside of the normal village outskirts.

"This is the cave where the two sacred weapons are held. As you know, only the chief or owner of the sun's blessing are allowed to wield them. The chief is the only one to know of its location however. Now, let's head inside."

Ashur nodded wordlessly. To his surprise, now that he was able to see without restraint, he noticed it was truly just him and his uncle at the location. He couldn't recall how far back the guards stopped following but it had to be significant given his uncle's explanation.

Excited to see the legendary weapon, he stepped forward. The item would prove vital if he were to defeat his brother so he hoped that it would not only live up to the legend, detailing its ability to cut through anything but possibly exceed it.

With expectations high, he followed after his uncle into the cave.