The Wizard

Merlin fell to the ground in scare. his face was paler than snow.

"Bleu-!" He covered his mouth with his hand.

He tried not to vomit from the gruesome scene right in front of him.

He cursed his fate. His dream and passion for living a good life as a powerful wizard were domesticated by the reality of the world.

"Hoo...." The water wielder bandit looked at the desperate Merlin.

"Just kill him quick! He won't worth much money even if we sold him to a slave trader." Shouted one of the bandits.

"Anybody wants to do it?" Asked the water wielder.

"I'll finish it!" The spear wielder stepped forward.

He stood in front of Merlin. He lifted his spear and plunged his spear onto the boy's neck.

Merlin looked at the bandit hopelessly. Without any reason to live, he was already accepting his fate to be presented by his death door.

"[gis]"

The spear stopped. It was blocked with some sort of semi-transparent shell. Sentences of unknown runes orbited around the shell. Merlin was shielded with magic.

It was from a man with a familiar black robe who suddenly appeared behind him.

Merlin turned his eye to the same wizard that he saw in the morning. The familiar robe with gold embroidery reminded him of the peaceful and innocent times before, of the times he spent with his family and friends before the appraisal ceremony began.

"What happened here?" The wizard asked calmly.

Merlin couldn't answer. His eyes were lifeless.

The wizard turned his gaze forward.

"Who are you?" He asked in his gravelly voice.

"Huh...! Who are you?!" The bandit asked loudly.

"That's none of your concern."

He tore down his shield. He raised his hand forward.

"[jør]" He whispered.

"What? I can't hear you!"

A dozen of golden translucent snakes appeared in his hand, and they strikes the two bandits in front of him.

The two bandits were overwhelmed.

"Aaaah! Help!!"

They were buried, swallowed, and poisoned by a mountain of snakes. They died from being feasted on by the snakes.

The wizard then looked toward the water wielder on his left.

"Wha...! How dare you!" The bandit summoned a large quantity of water shaped like a whale to drown the wizard.

"[gis]"

The wizard summoned his shield back. The water splashed on the ground.

The wizard saw the wooden wall on the abandoned house. He directed his hand towards the wall.

"[ym]" He chanted.

A large tree immediately grew from the house and it grew fastly towards the bandit. It managed to shroud his body and limit his movement.

Similar, but different runic symbols were also seen to be circumventing the tree bark.

The bandit was now stuck in between the wood of the tree.

The wizard dispelled his shield and walked toward the bandit.

"Who are you?" The wizard asked again.

"I don't know! That's none of your business Old man! Does it even matter if the world is going to reset anyway!?" The bandit replied daringly.

The wizard was enraged. With unidentified runes encircling each of his fingers, he squeezed his hand and the tree bark that cocooned the bandit got tighter and tighter.

"Aagh!!" The bandit screamed in pain as his flesh bones were crushed slowly by the living wood.

Then, a silence followed. The bandit died not too long after his body got crushed.

The wizard then glared at the three bandits who stood quite afar.

They were afraid of the wizard. They tried to run away to the opposite side. They ran very hastily. Sometimes they fumbled their footsteps.

"[aeth]" He chanted again.

Quickly, he appeared in front of them like he was able to teleport. The wizard put forward his arms.

"[hyp]"

Three medium-sized balls of light appeared in front of his hands.

The light spheres quickly loomed over the bandits and they exploded, obliterating their upper body parts and only leaving the lower body parts of the bandits.

Seeing the lower parts of the bandit fall to the ground, the wizard walked toward Merlin.

"Are you alright young one?" The wizard asked gently.

The boy, who's now confronted by his ideal fantasy, could only respond in silence.

His eyes were hollow, overwhelmed by emotions.

"Is that your friend right over there?" The wizard glanced at Olaf's destroyed body.

"Yes," Merlin muttered quietly.

"What a tragic fate. He seems to have a vast potential with his talent." The wizard mourned the dead child.

The wizard looked back at Merlin as he only sat on the floor, bleeding, unable to look at his deceased friend or his talking partner.

"[apol]" The wizard chanted.

The spell managed to fully heal the wound of the boy.

"Thanks... I guess...," Merlin murmured in his gratitude.

"Can you get up now?" The wizard asked.

"What's the point? Just let me die here."

"Are you going to give up like that?"

"Even if I lived, what should I do anyway?"

"I believe that you can do so much, boy. You have plenty of untried roads ahead."

"But, I've lost everything. My life, dreams, friends..."

"What about your family?" The wizard interrupted.

The boy's eyes lit up. He immediately got up and ran towards his house. The wizard followed him.

"Huff... huff... huff...."

The boy's breath was heavy and full of worry. For he was desperate to believe in the survival of the last and only things that would give him any reasons to live, he prayed.

"God! Please!" He whispered deep inside his heart.

He kept running fast. His feet knew no fatigue as the adrenaline rushed through every single corner of his bone and blood.

He finally arrived.

He looked in front of him and he saw a house scorched by flame. He looked at the field and he could only see ashes scattered everywhere. Then, he saw the storage barn that was already turned into a grandiose campfire.

"No...! No...! No!" He spoke in disbelief.

He ran towards the house.

"Father! Mother! Are you there!?" He yelled.

He rummaged through what was left of the house to find any traces of a living being. He couldn't find any.

He then ran towards the barn.

"Wait! Stop!" The wizard grabbed the boy's collar from behind. He stopped Merlin from marching forward.

"What!? Don't stop me!" Merlin yelled in anger.

He slapped the wizard's wrist and managed to get away from his grasp. He continued to run.

"Wait!" Said the wizard.

The wizard then took a deep breath. He then chanted,

"[helm]"

A large ring of golden runes suddenly appeared on top of the barn. It quickly revealed a large alien creature right in front of the young boy.

The creature was 10 meters tall, almost as tall as a three storeys buildings that you see often in large cities. It stood on two legs with two pairs of arms, and four pairs of wings. Three pairs were on its back, while one pair of small wings was on its long and pointy head that was adorned with many sharp teeth. Its skin was pure white with black patterns covering its thin but muscular body.

Merlin froze in shock. The demon was slouching. It was using its beak-like head to forage through the ruin of the barn.

"What is that?!"

"A demon."

Distracted by the dialogue, the demon suddenly averted its eyes toward Merlin. As if the creature had found a pot of gold, it stopped.

The demon stood up and it made Merlin shiver and fall to the ground.

Hanging from the mouth of the giant was a lower part of the human body with a familiar long skirt that was often worn by Merlin's mother. It then used one of its long and pointy fingers to grab the skirt to direct its nourishment towards the inside of its mouth.

The beast closed its mouth and blood was gushing everywhere.

The demon was fully feasting on Merlin's parents.

Eh? That can't be true right? Merlin thought to himself. The child pondered in silence, trying to conjure reasons to reassure his fragile soul.

The boy's mouth was shaking and his eyes widened.

"AAAHAHHAHAHHHHHH!!!"

The boy let out a scream brought out by anger and sorrow. At that point in time, the trauma from his powerlessness was deeply etched into his heart and mind.