Destiny And Life

In the silent night, only the wind made noise. A single scream could never attract any attention deep in the woods.

"So you really are scared by that girl," Blondie said, and his lashes swept up as he blinked.

"It's not her, but death that scares me, okay? It's a normal reaction, really," he tried explaining, but could not make his friend believe.

He was just a coward, that is all there is to it.

Seeing that his plead was not working, he turned towards me and started interrogating.

"You whore, what the hell kind of spell was that," he screamed.

"As if I was able to use magic. I didn't do anything at all."

"Don't fucking (I did not approve of his language) lie, then how do you explain what happened just now?"

"Honestly speaking, I have no idea."

Realizing he would not get any useful information, he grew increasingly frustrated and closed in on me, but I didn't feel intimidated at all. In fact my mind was serene and I stood steadfast.

"Didn't I already say? Violence doesn't work on me," I stated calmly, "but think about it, if I was able to use that kind of magic, would I have let you all get this far?" I shrugged.

"Maybe you need a rest," Blondie chimed in.

Shocked that his friend would say that, he gritted his teeth and uttered, "so you are also believing her?"

"That's not what I meant, but just look at your arm, nothing's there."

The mage observed his wound and in the end swung his arm away.

"Tsk, fine then. Let's go, I don't feel like walking anymore," he remarked and trudged towards the place we came from.

Meanwhile, the trees were rustling quietly. We soon reached our original starting point—the cave. Nothing really had changed here, so there wasn't much to report. The trees were still the same, the rocks were also still the same, and the corpses were naturally also the same.

"Get some wood, let's burn those corpses, the mere sight of them is annoying me," the mage declared.

"Like, right now, In the middle of the night? That's not a good idea, don't you think?"

"I don't care, I want them gone," he said, and afterwards pointed towards me, "and you just stay put. Don't you come near me, you hear that. Also that head," he hesitated, "just keep the damn thing."

Afterwards, he left promptly. his friend Blondie took a quick glance at me and then followed suit. While he was running, I was able to hear him mutter, "always so willful, how am I supposed to explain this to the captain," and sighed.

Without realizing it, I was all alone again. Well, half alone.

I searched for anything that I could do to relieve my boredom, when I suddenly remembered the dead bodies. If they were going to burn them anyways, I might as well see if there's anything interesting.

First, I went towards the thing that I wanted to get done with as soon as possible.

In front of me, lumps of flesh, mixed with metal, leather and blood, laid before me. Reaching out of it were different parts of the human body, and it did not discriminate between the interior or exterior. They turned left and right, like a maze without an exit. While a hand may go one way, the arm and legs would go towards another. The blood was still fresh, and dripped from time to time.

So this was what magic in this world could do. Even a life could be taken that easily.

I thought back to what had occurred about an hour ago. A slight distortion in the air and it sucked in everything in its path, afterwards, it disappeared without any traces.

I took a short breath to compose myself. I knew, right now, the feeling I felt wasn't the right one, but I couldn't help it.

Sure, I was still wallowing in sadness due to Estella's death. Of course, I felt vengeful towards what had occurred.

But, I started quivering, wasn't it also exciting?

Magic. After all, who hadn't dreamed of using magic before?

I pondered about what its mechanisms were, how it interacted with nature, what it limits were and how to activate it.

From Teleportation to Telekinesis, where did it end?

I took another breath to compose myself. This wasn't the right time to think about that.

The reason for me to look at those corpses to begin with was because I hoped that I'd find something valuable no matter how small, but it seemed like this wouldn't be happening here.

Since I've been in this world, my life had many twists.

At the beginning I was dead, afterwards a girl, then an Archduke and lastly, a beggar. I can't remember when the last time was, that I switched so many roles.

I also looked through Lidra body, but there wasn't anything worth noting either. I couldn't take his dagger because there was no place to hide it, and he did not bring any coins.

I moved on towards the bodies of the kidnappers, and finally, there was something interesting. While searching through their belongings, I found out, they had a slight discoloration on the left side of their chest, basically the place where the heart is. Upon further inspection I realized, it was actually a tattoo. It was pitch black and primitive, but I instantly realized what it represented.

The tattoo was a chess piece. More specifically, it was a pawn. Although blurry and hard to make out, there was no mistaking it.

It seemed like they are part of an organization. And from the looks at it, they were at the lowest of the food-chain.

I wonder if the rest were also part of the group. If so, what rank were they at?

I said so, didn't I? My life had done many twists. Here's another one.

However, right now I didn't really care, maybe later I would try to find out more about it, because there was something even more urgent that I had to do.

The last body in the pile of corpses was Estella. My stomach sank when I saw her headless state.

She laid there peacefully, seeming like no worldly horror could disturb her tranquility. Her arms tucked in like a mummy and body tilted towards the side made her look as if she was trying to protect herself from the cold.

I carefully lifted the body up and took her away from the others.

Next, I stuck my hand into the cold soil and started digging. At first, a slight chill enveloped my hands causing me to flinch, but soon after I found it quite comforting. Gradually, piles of dirt began to form and slowly a hole had appeared in the ground. It started to grow deeper and wider, until it was big enough to fit a human body.

By the time I was done, I was already drenched in sweat. I patted the dirt from my hands and my cloth and not until it was completely clean did I grab Estella and placed her in the ditch.

One last time, I stared at her headless body.

I also let her head take one last look. Yeah, I wasn't gonna leave that one.

After properly burying her, I clapped my hands twice, and send her away. May she rest in peace.

Not long after, the duo came back with a bundle of dry wood and tinder.

"Ok, let's start."

Rather than taking the bodies towards them, they spread the tinder all around it. A large amount of dry leaves, bark and some wood shaving began to hide the dead. To keep the flame from burning out too fast, they placed small twigs next. Lastly, the duo took the thickest logs they could find and using a flint, ignited it.

At first, only a small spark appeared, but soon it began spreading. The tinder was the first to dissipate, as it rapidly turned into ash. Afterwards, the fire engulfed the kindle and in the end even the logs catched the flames.

The heat washed away the darkness and the cold of the night. The frigid air that was always present had disappeared, replacing it with only warmth.

The fire was flickering, and wildly danced as its glowing embers fell like snow. It was bright and lively, as if a kitten trying to catch the attention of its owner.

At first, the fire had a hard time penetrating the dead bodies, unsure what do with it, but it did not take long until it gathered the confidence and swallowed everything in its path.

The fire was mesmerizing to watch, swinging from left to right, almost following a rhythm, causing the observer to fall in a trance.

The blazing fire was reflected in my clear eyes and when I stared at the mage, he too was swept up by the beautiful flame.

As of right now, the only thing that kept us from total silence, was the crackling fire.

"Isn't it captivating?"

The mage nodded slightly.

"Especially that sweet smell of almond, quite alluring. It just makes you wanna follow it," I walked closer towards him, "can you smell it?"

Without realizing it, he took a deep breath.

"Did you know, there's chemical compound, which also has the smell of almond. It's a gas found in plants and fungi, they emit it as a defense mechanism against herbivores. It's name is Cyanide, it's also highly toxic," I moved even closer. "Can you still smell it?"

His eyes opened wide, and stared at me. Soon, he started to lose his sense of balance. However he managed to hold on this time. I flung my arms and turn around.

"Look at the smoke, isn't it a beautiful color? So dark, so black," I paused slightly, "just like death."

He held his his head in an attempt to not fall and said, "you think I would fall for the same trick twice?"

"What trick? I am not doing anything at all. Oh the smoke is rising."

The mage backed away, he stared towards the flame to see if anything was wrong with it.

"One, two, three," he started counting, "wait, ones missing, where is it," he muttered. His voice was raspy and almost overshadowed by the roaring blaze.

"Right now, your throat must feel like it's burning up. Take a look at me, Inhale, and exhale. Follow me. In and out. In and out. Faster, now even faster." His breathing grew rugged, and as he was about to clutch his chest, I stopped him, "do you feel it spreading in your lungs? That unbearable itch, that sweet almond smell?" I laughed.

"The dread you feel, it's consuming you right? Just like how the poison is consuming you. Next, it will reach your stomach, a bitter taste will start wafting through your mouth, and then," I clapped, "it's over."

Unable to hold it anymore, he vomited clear water and fell. His eyes lost its luster and I knew that he was slowly turning crazy.

Just as I was getting to the best part, his friend had realized what was going on and rushed towards us. Seeing how the mage was clutching his throat, he immediately knew something was wrong.

He tried helping him, but was thwarted away. As they kept on struggling, I knew that was as far as I could go for now and left. The moment I did that, the mage ceased the resistance and fell in the arms of his friend and his breath slowly stabilized itself.

"The smell of almond," he gasped, "it disappeared."

Hearing him say that, I almost laughed again. I covered my face to not be discovered and took a deep sniff.

A wave of almond hit my nostrils.

If the mage was more perceptive, he would have known that the smell wasn't coming from the fire but from me. It was while I buried Estella, that her almond has rubbed onto me. Ultimately the thing that he himself killed, was his downfall.

Having faced death twice, it would be hard for him to hold on to his sanity, I believed.

As the mage felt himself returning to his normal state, he glared at me with bitter hatred. Immediately he rushed towards me, and lifted his hand. A slight distortion appeared, forming a ball. I pulled my hand off my face and revealed my eyes which were covered. The smile that I had, had vanished and all that's left was coldness.

"Are you going to kill me? I would like to see you try."

His hand, ready to deliver the finishing touch, hesitated in midair. What reflected from his eyes wasn't hatred anymore. It was fear.

In the end, he stopped his spell, and went away, with his friend following him again.

I said so in the beginning, right?

He was just coward.