A scythe wanted to kill me

A drop of morning dew woke Vira up from his short, fitful sleep. He opened his eyes and saw that the other are already up and was preparing for breakfast over a small fire they made. The morning was cold, an early sign of the coming winter. He shivered and hugged himself before he hastily walked towards the fire. He sat down and smelled the amazing fragrance of the roasted wild chicken.

"How's your sleep?" Endo asked him while he was rotating the stick that holds the delicious meal.

"Still the same, I'm just thankful that no other beings have attacked us," Vira extended his hand just a bit near the fear to feel its warmth. He was relieved to not face any danger after they were able to send those shadows away. He was not physically built to deal with those kinds of monsters and it was not helping that his ability was healing.

After the meal, they started on journey once again. While running away from the shadows, they took a bit of a detour and needed to find the stream that they were following. Their eyes could not help but wander around in vigilance.

"Stop doing that, the possibility that a supernatural being would attack us during the day is very little. Most beings that can move during the day are harmless and the supernatural beings that would attack or kill humans usually roam around during the night." Arthur laughed at how fidgety the remnants with him had become after they heard his story about the reality of these non-human beings.

"But we can't help it!" Endo exclaimed in exasperation while raising his hands in the air. "After you told us about the existence of these creatures, I can't help but look around maybe I'll spot something different."

"You won't be able to see them easily unless they voluntarily show themselves to you, so looking around won't help you." The man in black chuckled at how childish Endo was. Endo frowned and crossed his arms on his arms like a child who is having a temper tantrum.

Dreigh realized that they were actually quite naïve and lacking in common knowledge. There were many things that they did not know about and if Arthur was not with them, they may have continued to be ignorant. The world outside Glasfale was so vast that it can lure anyone to go around and have a look. They were clearly isolated and even though they knew that other kingdoms exist, to visit these kingdoms is much more welcoming than only reading them from books or listening to other's stories about it.

"Have you been to other kingdoms aside from Glasfale and Luellia?" Dreigh suddenly asked, the excitement and enthusiasm in his voice can't be hidden by his usually expressionless face.

"Yes, more or less I've been to different places for the three years that I have become a mercenary but mostly I was there to help them in battle or assassinate someone. I would receive my payment and leave, go to other places and repeat the same routine," he answered blandly. Those days were already left behind, he was enjoying this hide and seek game they were doing right now.

"Then why did you choose to join us? You could have left Glasfale already and by this time I'm sure you are already at another place and not here," Dreigh had been wondering why Arthur chose to join them. He had said before that Dreigh had a similar feeling to his former master but there was no proof. It was only Arthur's gut feeling. So why would he go to so much trouble to help them?

Arthur stopped for a moment, deep in thought, "I also don't know, I've been traveling alone for so long now and may have felt lonely so I decided to join you. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Oho, you feel lonely?" Before any of the four could answer Arthur a voice full of sarcasm echoed through the forest where they stood. They were startled at the intruder but they did not quite know where the voice came from.

Arthur felt a terrible shiver and he could feel the hairs on his body stood up. Hearing that voice, some unpleasant memories suddenly came to mind and with this short period of inattention, a death scythe appeared and pierced the ground in front of him. The scythe caused the ground to turn into ice. Arthur stared at the scythe with wide eyes. "Are you trying to kill me?" he shouted in horror after he saw how near the scythe was from slicing him in two.

"Don't worry, the next one will certainly hit you," the voice once again spoke and the scythe on the ground removed itself from the ground and flew towards the east. Not a minute longer, a woman came rushing towards Arthur while brandishing the scythe fiercely.

With all the force she could, she lifted the scythe and brought it down towards Arthur with so much momentum that the scythe was able to break the ground and turn it into ice. Arthur immediately moved away from his position before the scythe could reach him.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Why are you attacking me? I didn't even do anything wrong!" Arthur exclaimed while he ran away from the woman who was intent on killing him or might as well injuring him. The woman did not talk but continued to attack Arthur using her death scythe.

The other four remnants saw this interaction and guessed that the two of them might be acquaintances. They looked at each other and silently agree to stand on the side and watch them run around. Arthur ran and sometimes defended against the attacks but he knew that he can't win. The woman chasing him now was much fiercer and would not stop unless he was beaten to the ground.

With all the thoughts on his mind, he did not notice a group of water spirits waiting in ambush. The water spirits immediately launched an attack towards Arthur the moment he entered their area of vision. Arthur was hit with a barrage of water slicer and fell to the ground miserably. The woman took this opportunity to once again bring down the scythe towards Arthur.

He could only close his eyes as he waited for the scythe to pierce him or make his body into pieces but he only waited and waited but the pain never came. Arthur opened his eyes and saw the woman giving him a triumphant smirk from above. "Tsk," he stood up and gave the woman a glare. He almost died of heart attack from this woman's surprise attack and yet she still has the confidence to smile.

"Is that how you should welcome me?" the woman did not stop from smirking and instead teased Arthur.

Arthur did not speak and instead turned his back on her and strode towards where Dreigh and the others were. He would not talk with this woman until he feels okay again.

The woman looked on as Arthur left without speaking a word to her, "is that how you treat a friend?" she yelled.

"Is there a friend who would attack his friend?" Arthur yelled back to which the woman only laughed. The woman walked towards the group smilingly. She stood there and looked at them with judging eyes.

"Are they you're your new friends?" she asked casually like nothing of the intended killing happened.