Fort Geranium

Thirteenth Chapter: Examination (Sacrifice)

[Charlotte’s Point of View]

My name is ‘Charlotte’, though I’m not sure if I ever had a surname or not. I come from a fringe race known as the ‘Elves’, but somehow ended up in the land of Humans through a network of slavery. I had been a slave all my life and even my earliest memories were not of my loving parents but as a slave. Thus there’s no point in trying to detail what my life has been like until now, because all I remember are thick metal bars that caged me in like an animal.

However, that all changed recently; it was when I met the most important person in my life that I was granted freedom. My master… Mistress Mariana von Ulysses, a Human noble and though she’s of a similar age, she is far from what I am. Everything I’m not she is: confident, knowledgeable, wise, strong… she is my savior. No, she’s even more; she may as well be no different to a God.

She was the person who gave me everything. More than my own parents who gave me life, she was the one who gave me a reason to continue living. If it was for her, then I’d do anything.

Although I would want nothing more than to serve her to the best of my abilities, every time I ask she chuckles back and strokes my hair. ‘All you need to do is be yourself and my friend,’ that’s the excuse she uses to avoid my devotion. She is truly unfair; more than those accursed metal cages, she has confined me to her will through words. Yet that’s fine, because I will continue following her even if her path was through hell.

It may not be tomorrow, or even in ten years but someday… I will repay everything she had given me and more. After that I will truly gain the right to stand next to her as equals, but until that time I will always walk just a few steps behind. It would be impossible for me to do it now… but someday I will grant her wish and become her ‘friend’.

My master…

The one that I will devote my entire life…

Mistress Mariana…

***

“A corpse in the Dvell Forest?” Mistress Mariana mutters from under her breath. “This place isn’t too far from Amberheim so there’s a good chance it’s some adventurer or gatherer from there,” she usually makes these intense expressions when she’s lost deep in her thoughts. This time was no different. It was this kind of profoundly contemplative and mature gaze that drew me to her and right now she was trying to work her magic. Yet suddenly she shook her head, “right, we should deal with that Orc first.”

What? She still desires to fight against that monster even after having witnessed its tremendous brute strength?! ‘I have to stop her!’ I thought to myself. Just its mere stomp alone could destroy a good portion of the ground beneath it yet she didn’t fear it. Was I the weird one? Was it wrong of me to be so afraid of the prospect of having to fight against such a beast? I don’t know, but what I understood was that it’s far too dangerous even for mistress. “A- are you really going to do it, mistress?” I asked.

“Hmm, sorry Charlotte, but we have to in order to progress through the test.” The answer she gives me leaves me with a deep uncertainty. ‘Test’… was it so important that she had to risk her life to accomplish it? I didn’t get it; it would’ve been fine to take it one step at a time, but mistress was always thinking thousands of steps ahead of me. I’m sure whatever it was, there was a good enough reason to see this through.

Yes, I am afraid. The mere thought of having to confront that brute was frightening enough that my legs would give out. Yet there was something even more horrifying and that was the thought of losing mistress. I’d rather fight against thousands of those monsters than to see even a single scratch on the person who is most important to me. I took a deep breath and replied to her resolve with my own, “I… understand, I’ll help out to the best of my abilities but please… be very careful.”

Mistress was not the kind of person I could hold back no matter how much I protested- the moment I tried would be the moment I lost sight of her. The only path that remained for me was to catch up to her with every fiber of my being. At my answer she gave me a complicated look but nods with the same soft and thankful smile as always. She gently caresses my hair and cheeks. I felt the warmth of her palms slowly transitioning into me, “thanks Charlotte… and sorry.”

Yes, if it was with this person than perhaps fighting against such monsters would be okay.

“RAWRRGGHH!!” a horrifying feral scream interrupted my peaceful moment with mistress. The skies above trembled at such fearsome shouts. The ground beneath us quaked; with every step the monster took it was as though the end of the world was that much closer. More importantly, that quake seemed to get stronger each time. It was almost as though…

“Shit!” I wasn’t given enough time to think about what had gone on as mistress pushed me down. With my own two eyes I witnessed the large, sturdy true that offered protection, cleave cleanly in two with just the bare fists of that Orc. Chunks of timber and debris flew off across the forest at high speeds, shredding everything it passed through. My mind froze with terror; just with one attack it was able to cause that much devastation, then what would happen I that kind of attack hit directly?

“No… you can’t! No! I won’t let you!” I couldn’t suppress my fear. The fear of that monster getting within even a kilometer of mistress! Both my mind and body moved through the sheer force of fear. I raised my arms and an intense surge of magical energy flowed through every vein in my body. My breathing became haggard, my vision blurry, with that kind of power I unleashed everything that could be mustered up towards the monster. A barrage of enhanced ‘fire bolt’ spells was unleashed directly towards the beast’s face.

Yet no matter how many bolts I hurled at the enemy it soon became apparent that I couldn’t even dent this monster with such reckless attacks. My stamina was quickly drained and my arms felt weak but I refused to stop. Until this monster laid charred and dead on the floor, I couldn’t afford to stop!

Due to the fire, everything had been enveloped in a thick steamy mist. Yet just as I thought everything might be over the howls of a pained monster screeched into my ears, “RAWWRRHH!!” When the mist cleared the daunting figure of a behemoth stared down at me with reddened eyes. Arms raised, fists clenched, the air thickened as a pressure unlike anything overwhelmed my senses and functionality of my body. My body refused to move, ‘ah… I’m too scared to move,’ I concluded as I hopelessly stared up to the titanic fists that were about to squash me like a bug.

Time ground to a slow. Those monstrous fists slammed down with such speed and intensity it glowed with flames created by sheer friction.

“Move!” at the moment I was about to be swatted like a fly I was tackled backwards by mistress. For a split second as she pushed me away I thought I saw mistress pull out one of her ice daggers from her pouch. The both of us barely evaded the giant’s swing, but it was far from over. The instant that steel-like fist collided with the floor everything went dark. Sand, trees, dirt, rocks and boulders, even the ground itself was flipped over by such a powerful slam. It was a shock-wave so intense that it flung us several hundred meters away from our original location.

Seconds… minutes… or even hours, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed in between that attack and when I regained my consciousness. When I opened my eyes I was met with the fragile silhouette of my master watching gently over me. She gave me a soft but pained smile, “ah, Charlotte… are you awake? Thank god you’re okay…” she let out horrible coughs between each word as a thin red line of blood trickled from her mouth.

“M- mistress?! What-” as I was about to call out to her she covered my hands with her left hand.

“Shh… it’s not over yet, that monster is still here. Can’t you… feel its footsteps?” I listened in closer and she was right. It was faint but I could feel the tremors echoing across the floor. However, the Orc wasn’t the main issue, mistress! What’s happening?! Due to the piles of rock and debris I wasn’t able to properly survey either of our conditions.

“Mistress…?” concerned by her odd expression and actions I reached out to her but at the lightest of touch to her face she grimaced. More blood trickled out of her mouth, dropping past my face. “Mi…!” she applied more pressure to her hand to cover my mouth and shook her head, ‘don’t say anything’ she whispered. At her command I waited with bated breaths and forced myself to become a statue. The tremors continued to echo through with no signs of the monster leaving soon. ‘Dammit! When will that brute leave us?!’ I screamed in my mind.

In this frigid darkness there was something else. The area around my stomach had somehow become damp. As I investigated this matter, horrible results yielded as something caught my attention quickly that was… “Blood?!” I unconsciously yelled out. The furious stomps outside ceased, ‘crap, the Orc!’ it must’ve noticed us.

“It’s okay… Charlotte, just… stay quiet for a second…” she whispered but from the way her arms trembled it was clear that she was rapidly losing her stamina. I held closely onto my mouth as I suppressed my coarse breathing. Fear seeped into my very soul not towards that Orc, it was at the blood. They were not my own, I had no wounds or injuries upon my stomach which could only mean one thing… Oh no…

Due to the poor lighting it was a little hard to see but with concentration I could pierce through the veil of darkness and see the truth. As the puzzle clicked together, I had almost wished this was all just a bad nightmare. My fear morphed into something more: ‘despair’. Protruding outwards from mistress’ stomach was at think piece of rubble. It penetrated through her back and out the outside as was wrapped elegantly by an oozing crimson.

She must’ve found out that I knew because she gently patted my head with a smile. There were probably words she wanted to say but her voice didn’t leave her. Powerless, hopeless and useless; all I could do was weep for my master who continued to comfort me even as she was about to die.

My master… however can I ever repay you for such kindness…?

Time was up. My thoughts cut short with the debris that weighed us down being thrust away so suddenly. Bright daylight flooded in but that was the light of evil looming over us in the form of a gigantic monster. The Orc; this was the first time I beheld its ugly detail. Its massive frame made even the knights under Lord Ulysses look like mere rag dolls, the way those bulging puke colored skin reflected light was disgusting yet seemed sturdier than steel. Ragged clothing made only of old cloth attached to rudimentary pieces of scrap metal to create the illusion of armor. The Orc smirked maliciously with sadistic flare. “Mistress!” I called out now we had already been found out.

Cold sweat running down her face, her complexion turned pale, she laid to my side with a thin piece of stone lodge through her abdomen. I crawled over to her and embraced her. Nothing… there was absolutely nothing more I could do for her than this! I am so useless! I held on tightly and shut my eyes.

Yet even as our situation devolved into exceeding hopelessness, she never let go of that smile she showed me. She returned my embrace and spoke into my ear, “it’s okay… Charlotte, it’s all… over.”

“What do you…?” when I turned to ask the Orc suddenly fell to its knees. A massive quake ensued as its gigantic frame fell face first onto the dirt.

“ARRRRGHHHH!!” it shouted in deep, excruciating pain. As though it was being torn limb from limb it clenched tightly onto its chest while it continued its horrid screech. It stood up in defiance but only for a brief few seconds as it fell back down struggling with itself. It vomited out whatever contents were in its stomach and finally blood. There was no more gory or horrendous scene such as this and I had doubts I would ever see something worse.

“W- what…?” mistress took my head and brought it closer to her chest.

“Shh… children need not watch such things… cover your ears Charlotte.” In this embrace filled with the scent of my master and blood I clutched tightly and waited for everything to be over. I felt all of my power drain away…

It had been too long of a day and I didn’t know what would happen. There was a lingering doubt in my mind as to whether I really wanted to wake up after I fell asleep. Would my master still be there?

Would she still be alive…?

I don’t know but my vision dulled to a closing darkness…

I don’t know…