Epilogue (1)
Afenos' Point of View
____________
The sounds of people running around and stomping their feet aroused my senses. Even before I opened my eyes, I knew that the world around would beco a hectic scenery. All my five senses kicked in as if it was dialled to eleven. And the delicate blanket touched my exhausted fingers, inviting to slumber for more.
"W-Where am I?" I asked, but nobody heard my voice
As I peeled my eyes open, random villagers road around in front of , nding the wounds of the injured people. That site juggled my mind, rembering the mories I had when I was still conscious.
"RAIN!" I shouted, while glancing in every direction, hoping to find my little sister.
The last thing I rembered from the battle was fighting against Uruk-hai or the ogre that wreaked havoc on our village. And my father fought with us during the clash.
I would love to find my father in this shelter. However, I needed to look for my sister first, since she exhausted all of her arcane in that fight.
"Afenos, you're awake?!"
A familiar voice echoed behind with a hand resting on my shoulder. As I turned around, the chief's face welcod my eyes. Upon scrutinizing his looks, I deduced the guy had sothing important to say.
"Your sister, Rain, she's okay. She's right there in the other tent."
After hearing his words, I rushed outside of the camp without thanking the chief. My eyes scanned the entire place, looking for the tent parallel to the one I went in earlier. Within a few seconds, the setting that the chief ntioned greeted my orbs, inviting over to the other side.
I did not doubt my guts and went straight inside, with my sister's imaginary face appearing in front of .
"Where is she? Where's Rain?!" I asked the helper roaming around the place about my sister.
As soon as the villagers heard my calls, most of them pointed their fingers at the far end corner of the tent. My eyes followed the trail and t with Rain's body.
"No way," I murmured, and fell to my knees.
I could not believe my eyes before . There was no way in a million years that my sister died during that battle. She stayed at the back lines and even fired her magic spells from afar.
However, in the hands of that monster, Rain still t her dreadful fate.
"What are you crying about, brother? Why do I get the feeling you're mourning about sothing?"
A voice from above coursed through my ears. But my mind kept itself busy weeping every tear contained inside my body.
"Geez, Afenos Don't be such a crybaby. I'm alive. See?"
The sound beca crystal to , as if disrupting the forr lie. As I gazed above and opened my eyes, Rain welcod with extended arms, asking for a hug.
I gave what Rain asked for and wrapped my arms around her body. I squeezed her tight, like it was the last thing that I would do in this world. Rain did the sa and enveloped with her warmth. It felt like aeons ago when we last embraced each other's arms.
"Thank goodness you're alive if you died, I would have never forgiven myself," I whispered, and continued crying a river in front of Rain.
I knew I did terrible things to my sister. Since Rain had sothing special, she could manipulate magic earlier than . Although that scene happened, I never succumbed to jealousy. No matter what would happen to the two of us, we always had each other's backs.
We were a family, after all.
"Are you okay? Do you feel hurt? Can you cast healing magic?" I asked, with panicking eyes.
Rain giggled upon hearing my words and replied, "You know I can't do that yet but I'm willing to learn. If only Arthur could be here to teach , I would love to learn more about magic skills from him"
Rain opened up the broken path to Arthur and . Before the village got attacked, my heart turned black as I shifted my hatred to Arthur. But as soon as he showed up to defend the town, all that anger escaped from my body.
"Where are Arthur and my father?" I asked, and looked around. "Has anybody seen Arthur? Has anyone seen my father?"
Despite my bombarding questions, none of the villagers gave out their answers No. It was not because they did not know the answer. Those people knew sothing that they did not want to share about, specifically Rain and .
"WHERE IS ARTHUR AND MY FATHER?!" I shouted.
All the villagers nursing the injured shrieked in horror as they discerned my violent scream. Even the people resting on their temporary beds woke up from my voice and scattered. Everyone present inside this room couldn't look in the eye as they tried their best to calm down.
Before I could burst into madness, the chief, whom I t before, entered the tent. That man stared at my figure for a few seconds before announcing the answer that I wanted.
"Your father and Arthur killed the monster."
"We won?! That's great. But where are they?" I asked.
Everyone filled the air with silence, despite our numbers almost reaching around a hundred. Nobody dared to utter a word, considering the weight of our current conversation.
However, I stood my guard and crossed my fingers while urging the chief to speak his full.
The chief had no choice but to tell everything that had happened
"The two of them sacrificed themselves to kill the ogre Your father died from that monster... demon," the chief corrected. "... While Arthur died by pushing the ogre to the cliff"
After hearing such a statent, I walked backwards and sat on the mattress beside Rain. My sister was also at a loss for words after listening to our talk.
"N-No! Maybe they're still alive from that cliff! M-Maybe my father is still alive!" Rain cried, while containing her tears.
The chief shook his head and replied, "The two of them got washed up from that raging lake I doubt they are still alive We found the corpse of your father near the cliff Half of them must have fallen from the terrain, while the rest.... I'm sorry."
"Leave us alone... please," I asked the chief, while staring at the ground.
The leader and his assistant heeded my request as they exited the tent. The injured people remained inside the shelter, since they could not move their bodies. All they could do was wait until their legs work and their arms did their thing.
As I raised my head, the cries of the villagers remained fresh inside my mind. If my father was still alive, he would have nudged my shoulder and mocked from feeling depressed. However, I couldn't help but feel hopeless, considering the situation that Rain and I had.
We lost our mother and our father in the hands of demons. The two of us were still powerless to stand on our own feet against those overwhelming forces. If Arthur did not defend this place, that monster would have wiped everyone into nothingness.
"I guess I owe Arthur our lives.," I murmured, while bursting into tears.
I could not suppress the dam in front of my eyes and let loose all the salty liquids stored in my orbs. Rain joined in my crying session and cascaded a waterfall of tears beside . The rest of the world still moved on its own. But the two of us felt that the world had gone slow slow enough to mock .
The curtains from the entrance waved once more, revealing the chief entering inside the tent. I was about to tell him to leave us alone, but the leader insisted.
He claid my shoulders, shook it, and exclaid, "The knights just arrived right now. They are asking what happened in this village, and who took down the demonic monster. They are looking for you, Arthur."
"The knights? Why would they be here when the show's over? Tell them that most of our people died because of that damned monster Those knights should not have co here," I answered.
But before the chief could even retort, a man with white and shining armour entered the tent. I went into a defensive stance and raised my hand to protect Rain behind . Rain, who was in the middle of recovering, summoned a magic circle around her arms. She did not want to fight against these soldiers empty-handed.
"By the looks of it, the two of you helped defeat the demonic monster?" the knight claid, as he placed down his sword on the ground. "Two teenagers have this power all along frightening, isn't it?"
"Get the hell out of our village! You never protected us when we needed you the most!" I shouted.
"No. You're wrong, kid. We were non-stop helping other neighbouring villages. All of my n got killed during the process. We three were the only ones alive in this raid. We haven't slept a wink or eaten a decent al."
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