Chapter 1: Buried Past

My name is Svend I’m a 21 year old guy whose job is to gather wood logs in the forests around the country Gold’berg, and sell them to carpenters near the outskirts of the city named Goldbury. I’ve been doing this every day for half a year and to be honest it’s quite exhausting, though I’d rather do this and make it my life than what I did in the past. You see I didn’t know much about how and why I came to this world and who my parents are, but one thing is certain and that is I did my very best to change and start a new life though something in me tells that this is not my purpose and that there is more to it, but whatever that gut feeling is I’m proud of myself for this small achievement. Currently I’m living in an unnamed Inn on the villages outside the city walls, the owner is a nice and hardworking woman named Maria, she is like a big sister to me and seeing her do the housekeeping just to keep and maintain her business going made me worked harder too, and that’s why I always payed in advance for her hard work. Well now I better prepare for my usual day of work and gather wood logs before night catches I should have delivered the logs to the carpenters and get my earn before heading back home. I sharpened my wood cutting axe before hanging it on my belt, and picked up my ropes where I usually place the wood logs to be tied with so it can be carried easier, after wearing my boots I opened the door where morning sunlight shined to my face and the cold breeze gently touched my nose, the birds chirping and the fog dispersing. I stepped outside facing another day and wondered to myself will this day be different, and once more I started walking and hoped for the best.

Carrying my equipment with me I headed out straight to the forests near the Inn, usually I gather the wood logs at the bottom of the nearby mountain but I’ve already wiped all the trees at that area so the part I’m heading towards in is fresh as new. Looking from afar and scouting for a potential tree that will be chopped down. I realized that this region is quite near the main road connected through and passing to the main gate. And while I’m nearing at the area, I saw blood stains on the ground as if someone got stabbed or attacked by a wild animal. I then crouched and touched the blood stain on the ground, wait this blood is still fresh, deer’s blood maybe? and its trailing in that deep forest maybe it survived an arrow from a hunter and ran away in there, hmph whoever it was good luck catching it. I stood up from the ground and started walking again closer to my goal, walking through the trail I started to use my axe because of the fallen large branches and mossy logs blocking my path, after clearing the obstacles I’ve managed to get near the middle where a certain tree caught my eyes, it was a tall thick pine tree, and as I stared at it, the tree can be a one week days’ worth of job. The smile on my face as I look up and down the tree was quickly turned down by a loud scream that it scared all the birds in the area.

“What the?!” I said with surprise.

With panic and fear on my face I gripped the handle of my axe tightly, my head looking at what surrounds me and took a deep breath to think clearly, don’t tell me that has to do with the blood stain earlier, overthinking what it could be.

Eaten up by deep curiosity I walked towards where the scream came from with each careful steps I braced myself that this might be a point of no return. As I walked towards the area I felt my body tremble not from fear but the uncertainty of getting closer and closer to the unknown. I came to a point where the ground trails down to a brook, and in front of me I realized just by crossing it will take me to the area where the unknown scream came from. I started coming down the slope, and as I walked through the brook, a feeling of dread started bothering me and I can only hope my idea is wrong. After crossing I’m now standing in another wooded area where the supposed scream came from, I slowly lowered my stance to the ground so that I can’t be easily seen and if there is indeed another person other than me here, I can escape without being noticed.

Every step I took my heartbeat became calmer as I ignored all the dread I was feeling and focused on what might be ahead of me, spotted an old mossy log laying between two trees I carefully crawled towards it and hide behind its body. I took a deep breath and exhaled before I slowly peeked from the log, and there I saw on the clearing a person dressed in white robes with a hood covering the face, his digging the ground and making a deep burrow, a few moments later two more hooded person with the same clothes appeared coming from the other tree line. And to my horrors they were carrying a dead man, his body was very pale and under the eyes are very dark circles, they were carrying him with one person holding onto the head while the other carrying the feet’s above his shoulder.

“Is that burrow ready?” asked by the one holding the head.

“Yes,” he then points to the dead man. “So that nuisance is already dead” said the one with the shovel, while grinning.

They then placed the dead man head first down the deep burrow, and as the hole was being covered.

“This fool was captured by captain Lennard and was tortured, he was a big threat against the Golden Order that’s why the council ordered him to be put down” said the one who was carrying the feet.

Realizing the situation of what I’ve witnessed, I just couldn’t take it anymore and decided of escaping for my own life. I started to crawl away from behind the mossy log to gain some distance, and from there I quickly took off, but just before I got near the brook my body was instantly stopped from running, and when I looked on the ground both my feet were inside a circle containing many symbols around it. I tried touching my surroundings but it was useless as if I’m trapped inside an invisible room, and before I can even look behind I was struck quickly by a hard object, and as I lay on the ground my vision started to fade away, the light sky I saw slowly vanished and finally lost into unconsciousness.