https://youtu.be/G049LeVG6BI

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Awake.

I sat up, and looked around.

what is this? wasn't I...

That's right.

Death.

Again.

Suddenly, the urge to laugh became overpowering, and I had to lie back down.

Awake? Ha! As if.

It's quite obvious where I am. After all, I met Jordan here once before.

speaking of which, where is he?

I looked around, but couldn't find him. Wait a second... Isn't this...

The main square of the capital. Stone cobble was beneath me, and shops underneath awnings surrounded the fountain, which I had missed seeing before.

How could I miss something like...

Fog. All around. It wasn't thick enough to make me blind, but somehow I could not make out more than fifty feet or so away from myself.

Where did this fog come from?

To the best of my knowledge, the ocean was a long way away. How would fog...

Where are all the people?

What is going on?

The square was empty, and the fog seemed to shift...

There! A person!

I ran over there, only to pause as I heard a grinding sound behind me.

Black Moon.

Where...?

It was my sword, connected to a chain. And the chain was connected to... me. Wrapped around my right forearm, was a snake-like black chain, that protruded out of the pommel of Black Moon. And the jewel was missing...

Azariah.

I frantically looked around, and yelled as loudly as I could, trying to find out where that mischievous blade had gone.

"Curse this fucking fog!"

No matter where I looked, I could not make out where he/she had gone. Falling to my knees, I brought Black Moon up to my eyes, and inspected it closer.

Everything was the same except for the absence of the jewel normally inlaid in the pommel.

I wonder why that chain is here?

When I took a closer look at the chain wrapped around my forearm, I noticed something strange. My arm was see-through.

What the f-

It clicked. After all, why else would a chain be binding me to something I would never willingly let go of?

So this is what it means to be a Demon-Swordsmen, huh?

Not even allowed to die, the wielder is bound to the blade eternally. But, that's all right with me.

Now... how do I make something of myself?

First, I tried picking up a leaf, but within a few seconds the leaf slipped through my hand. looks like nothing but Black Moon is solid for me.

What about that person?

I looked up, and saw a down-trodden man walking aimlessly, not even acknowledging the blue wisps floating by his side. I quickly ran to his side, and tried calling out to him. When he paid no mind to my words, and simply continued walking with his head down, I gave him a hard poke.

"Ah!"

He jumped, did a 180 and came back down, looking scared as a mouse. I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"hey, hey, it's all right. What's got you so scared?"

At first, he just looked through me, but his eyes slowly started to focus on me, and I tried to give a reassuring smile. though, my smiles are more likely to scare people more...

"You... you can see me? You're not just crazy and talking to the air?"

I had to grin at that. "Oh, I'm crazy all right, but that doesn't mean I can't see you."

"R-really?"

"Really. Now, can you tell me where I can find others like you?"

At this, he lowered his head again and looked sad. "I've been walking for... I don't want to know. Never seen another until you. Except..."

My ears perked up. "what do you mean, 'except'?"

He tried to avoid my gaze, and muttered something under his breath.

"sorry, what was that?"

He raised his head, but couldn't quite look me in the eye. Then his eyes wandered behind me, and they widened so much I thought they'd pop out.

"Except for those!"

I heard a whistling noise.

*duck*

I felt air being cleaved just above my head.

I kicked against the ground, and flipped over my attackers head, jerking the chain and bringing Black Moon into my hand, and saw my opponent for the first time.

At first I thought I was being attacked by air, but then I could make out a pale-white ghost, clothed in ragged black cloth. But, that was not what made this opponent different from any other...

It was the ghoulish face, like the combined expression of someone who had lost all hope, and a torture victim, which had been buried and eaten by worms. Disgusting.

But, just being gross wouldn't make you dangerous... the long claws like rusty blades did that.

As the wraith whirled around, I brought down black Moon, and ended its' misery.

...or so I thought.

As I turned my back on the halved enemy, I felt a burning pain across my back.

The Pain!

It felt like the fat on my bones was being roasted again, except instead of frying the nerve ends and stopping the pain, it kept, on, burning.

My body stumbled forward, and I dropped Black Moon.

I'm going to die again...

...

nO!

What?

I wiLl nOt diE aGain!

It's useless... living isn't worth the effort...

HoW cAn yOu saY thAt?! arEn't yOu suPposEd to be thE strOng oNe?!

I give up. I can't do this anymore.

...

What? No jeers? I lectured you so much before, don't you want to at least say 'I told you so'?"

...

ch, look at me. Arguing with the voices in my head... I really am pathetic, huh?

Wrong.

What? And what happened to your voice-

I'm Done Letting You Mess Things Up.

I don't get it...

No. You Simply Don't Want To Get Tt. You're Afraid Of Me, Aren't You?

...

Well? What Do You Say?

I am afraid of you.

So, What Are You Going To Do About It?

On the ground. Surrounded by hideous ghouls clothed in ripped black cloth. Wounded with some kind of poison that made movement impossible.

The fingers twitched.

There is nothing I can do. I'm just afraid.

If You Truly Believe That, Then Die Like The Dog You Are.

The wraiths heads moved as one, coming up, and their hideous expressions changing to one-

If I give up...

...

Will the pain stop?

Wait. I cannot ask someone else this question. I must ask it of myself. If i were to let myself die, and slowly decay until I become the same as these creatures, would the wounds on my body sting any less?

-of Fear.

If I just give up-

Panic flitted across the wraiths faces, and they quickly raise their claws and try to stab the person in the middle of them-

-nothing will change.

-but he's gone.

"oi!"

The wraiths turn, seeing the cat demi-human standing on his toes, with his sword in hand, pointed towards the ground.

-A Smile-

"Where're you looking?"

-A blur-

All the wraiths lose their bottom halves, which quickly re-attach.

Looks like cutting them isn't effective... what about this?

I run up to the closest of the eight, and grab it by the face. correct to my guess, it's face is solid to my fingers, which means-

Unlucky wraith #1: A whoosh of air, and then whole left side of my face caves in.

Then nothing.

Shadowpelt: Well, that seems to work. I think, while holding the crushed skull of my first victim.

I straighten, and evaluate the seven others.

-The Smile grows wider-

I let go of black moon, letting the crescent-like blade fall to the extent of it's chain, then dash forward and grab the next closest wraiths, cracking their skulls together, pulverizing their faces to dust. then, my head rotates ninety degrees, looking at the frozen ghoul.

Unlucky Wraith #4: Within the near-intelligent-less mind of the wraith, the memory of a phrase stirs...

oh shit, oh fuck, shit! fuck!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Shadowpelt: I grab the back of it's head, and pull its' face down onto my rising knee, ending it's miserable life forever.

"I just want you to know i take no pleasure in this."

-The Smile becomes a half-circle-

"Even though it's so fucking fun!"

Unlucky Wraith #5:

A fist. Then blackness.

Unlucky Wraith #6:

An elbow. then nothing.

Unlucky Wraith #7:

Pain. For the first time in it's short-term memory, it felt indescribable pain.

-Then nothing.

Shadowpelt: "what? you've all gone so quiet!"

The last wraith looks at me, and simply stays still. Not even trying to defend itself.

I shake my head, and click my tongue. "This is no good. If you just give up, where's the sport?!"

The wraith stares at me with its' dead eyes, and gives a half-hearted swing with its' claws.

-A blade-

"Too slow."

the final wraith's head explodes from the collision of the flat of my blade.

I turn, and look at the frozen face of the wandering soul who had witnessed me.

I try to give him a reassuring smile, but only when he freaks out do i realize I'm still in murder mode.

Then the pain comes back all at once, and I black out.

---

Lost soul: What a scary guy... but he did save me...

I had the cat person on his stomach, and was doing the best I could to heal the wound on his back. Sadly to say, my best was nothing.

So, I just tried to keep him comfortable, and close my ears to the ear-splitting screams of pain echoing out of his throat.

As I looked at the throbbing wound on the mysterious mans back, I gave up hope.

when I told the man I had never seen others like him before, I had lied.

All of the others just died. Some getting swarmed by the scary ghouls, others getting tiny scratches and then dying of fever.

At one point, there had been twenty of us.

But, one after another, it had become just me.

Why me? I'm the most cowardly of the lot! Perhaps that is why.

Their is a saying...

In war, the dumb and the brave die, while the cowards live.

I can't remember where I learned this... I can barely remember my first name! Much less what happened before I died.

But... something about how that man had fought, even after receiving a wound I had seen lay low the strongest of men...

It ignited something deep within me.

Then the screams reached an all time high, and I knew that the man had died.

Poor boy...

A grip on my arm.

I looked down, and saw...

...a smiling face.

One that would make the gods themselves quiver with fear.