When I woke up, the first shock was that I had survived. At first, I couldn't accept the idea that somehow, I hadn't died.
Was I saved by someone? There was no one nearby.
But I wasn't lying in the same place where I'd lost consciousness that night. That meant someone must have brought me here.
In the end, I realized that lying around wouldn't get me any answers.
I looked up into the sky.
Clouds were speckled across it like paint. The sun had just dipped beyond the ring that hovered above.
As I tried to stand, it felt as if my entire body had been dragged through a field for weeks.
I groaned and looked down-bruises covered every inch of me.
More questions.
Eventually, I managed to get on my feet. I swayed a little, but I took a step.
It wasn't pleasant, but I could move.
A few steps farther, I found a cliff. No-the cliff.
It was the same cliff from the night before, the one that had ended our escape so suddenly.
The memory struck hard.
My mom was dead.
She was gone. Forever.
But I couldn't see her corpse below the cliff.
And the creatures—where had they gone?
Had they taken her with them?
Then I saw the blood. It was everywhere. The ground was practically drenched in it. Everwhere was red. Like a battlefield.
But that...couldn't be! With this much blood, some of the goat-creatures must have died, right?
And yet, there was nothing.
No bodies.
As if someone had dragged them away. But then, again, there where no traces of blood that suggested any bodies were dragged around. Like the bodies simply...dissapeared.
It was hard to tell if there were other footprints—the ground was torn apart, ravaged.
Maybe a closer look will reveal something.
So I climbed down. It was a rough descent-I knew I wouldn't be able to climb back up, but I could walk around.
When I reached the clearing again, something immediately caught my eye: an imprint in the stone wall behind me.
It had a suspiciously familiar shape-human.
No. My shape.
Could it be...?
Was it really so far-fetched? Where else would that imprint have come from?
But if I had hit the wall that hard, I shouldn't be alive.
So many questions.
And no answers.
I knew I wouldn't get any.
So I started walking toward the tower.
There was no longer a reason to go there-
But there was no reason to return home, either.
I hadn't yet decided what to do.
My life, the way I'd known it, was over.
——
A tall, white shade stepped out of the darkness a few hours later.
A knight, clad in undetailed, almost flowing armor.
He was large-over two meters tall, with a broad back. His face was hidden behind a flat white mask.
In his hand, he held a spear. A fearsome weapon, nearly two and a half meters long, its tip flickering in the fading light.
Another knight followed, stepping silently from the shadows. An archer, wrapped in a more revealing white armor.
She knelt and picked up a broken horn shard.
"So much blood," she murmured. "This must be the source of the noise last night. It all happened here. And from the smell… I'd say a god, and a warden."
The spear-wielding knight pointed into the tall grass, flattened by some massive presence. "See the crushed bushes? That must've been the warden."
A grin crept beneath his mask. "Looks like it's a strong one. I'd love to slaughter it."
The archer's voice was cold and calculated. "You know charging in blindly is dangerous, even for us."
"There's nothing that can stop me. If the warden tries, I'll pierce it like any other. No beast can rival my strength."
He demonstratively swiped thru the air with his with spear a few times.
The woman sighed at the tall knight boasting as if she was used to it.
"Your arrogance surprises me every time."
The devious grin dissapeared of the face of the white knight at the remark and he approached the stone wall at the edge of the clearing.
"Small, for a possessed one," he muttered. "And after this kind of impact, he's probably still injured. Do you think he'll make it?"
The archer didn't hesitate.
"With the warden behind him? I know he will.
It's unlikely the lower corrupted ones would dare challenge that thing."