Book 2: Chapter 21

Cyil watched as the man fell onto the ground, kicking up a storm of dust.

Seeing that the man was dead, Cyil felt a sense of relief wash over him; Cyil was tired and his body ached in all places. It would be so easy for him to just close his eyes and sleep. That would be nice, but Cyil knew he had business to finish.

Cyil got up and strode to the shocked Valter. When Cyil got to Valter, he looked at the four teenage boys laying on the ground and calmly said, “We have to kill them, too.”

Valter could feel the conviction in Cyil’s voice and he began to wonder where his cheery Brother Cyil had gone to. Valter had questions to ask, but knew time was of the essence. Should anyone pass by and see what had happened endless trouble would ensue.

“Okay,” Valter responded with a nod and walked up to the ordinary looking boy.

The ordinary looking boy was pale and laid there unmoving, unable to resist his impending doom. Valter stared hard at the boy and his hands began to tremble. Valter had never killed another living human being before and though he knew he might have to do so eventually, he still had to prepare himself.

Breathing in deep shallow breaths, Valter turned the ordinary boy over so that his neck was exposed. Valter knew how to kill the boy, but actually executing it was the most difficult part. As Valter hesitated, he heard a muffled snap like the sound of a dry tree branch snapping.

Valter looked over and saw Cyil removing his foot from the tall boy’s deformed neck, bent at an impossible angle. With a lurch, Valter threw up a little bit in the back his mouth then his trembling grew worse as he saw that Cyil was now standing over the shortest boy. Valter couldn’t bear to look and could only listen to the sound of two more snaps entering his ears.

Valter had been standing still with his eyes closed when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

Valter jumped up in shock and opened his eyes to stare at Cyil who gave him a nod along with a reassuring squeeze.

Cyil stomped down onto the ordinary boy’s neck then quickly began to move the bodies into the nearby underbrush. Cyil’s movements were robotic, as if he had done this a thousand times before.

Valter stood in place, staring into empty space as Cyil continued to move the bodies by himself. When Cyil was finished, he came up to Valter and said, “Brother Valter, go back to Soaring Wolf headquarters for now. Let me deal with this.”

Valter wanted to argue otherwise, but he couldn’t even speak, only managing to nod before dragging his feet away.

Cyil watched as Valter went off and hoped that these events would not negatively affect Valter.

After Valter disappeared at a bend in the road, Cyil cleared up all traces of blood and gore on the training grounds then went to the underbrush and began digging a hole. Cyil hadn’t a spade so he improvised between his wooden sword, stones, and long branches. When the ground became too hard to pierce Cyil used Water Sphere to wet the ground.

Tired and overdrawing his elemental energy, Cyil digged through to the night and when he was finally finished, the moon was already high in the sky.

Cyil tossed the 6 bodies into the 5 foot deep and 7 foot diameter long pit. The bodies piled up in a disorderly fashion, but Cyil didn’t have the energy to worry about the little detail. Cyil then tossed in his wooden sword and the branches he had used to dig. After carefully filling the rest of the hole with dirt and making sure everything looked natural, Cyil thought everything was over. He walked out from the underbrush of trees, stooped down to pick up and wear his discarded clothes, then continued on to Soaring Wolf headquarters in a state of absent mindedness.

Cyil didn’t remember how he got back to his room at Soaring Wolf headquarters nor did he recall entering meditation, but he broke out of meditation feeling refreshed. The accumulated stress on his body from’ yesterday’ seemed to have all vanished.

Cyil felt power coursing through his veins, the pulsing of his muscles, and a robust flame burning from within the pit of his stomach.

Standing up, changing into a spare set of clothes and walking out of his room, Cyil could hear a cacophony of voices in the main hall. When Cyil walked out into the room, quietness killed the heated discussions. There were no “hello, brother Cyil,” or even a wave or nod of the head.

Cyil could sense the dense atmosphere pervading the room and looking to Valter who had a downcast, pale white face, Cyil knew what they were talking about.

Florens was the first to approach Cyil.

“Brother Cyil,” Florens said with a stern look on his face. “Brother Valter told us about what happened three days ago. He also told us about how you managed to send off two rank 3 warriors.”

Florens paused and examined Cyil once more, as if reevaluate him. “So you were a mage, Brother Cyil. Before, I didn’t know I was in the presence of an esteemed mage so I apologize if my ramblings upset you.... As for this issue, don’t worry, your secret is safe with us Brothers here.”

Florens tried to force a smile, but it came out awkward and twisted.

Cyil couldn’t remember a time when Florens hadn’t always smiled brightly and felt sadden.

Cyil looked to all of his Brothers who now looked at him with changed eyes; taking in a deep breath Cyil said, “So it has already been three days...Brother Florens, I think it is time for me to leave Soaring Wolf. I want to thank you all for taking me in and treating me like a Brother. I have learned a lot and grown tremendously in this time. I will always remember Soaring Wolf in my heart.”

Cyil bowed to Florens and the rest of the members of Soaring Wolf then walked out of Soaring Wolf headquarters, not giving Florens a chance to speak.

When Cyil was finally gone, Florens sighed and muttered to himself, “This is for the best. This is for the best.” Florens then turned to the rest of the Soaring Wolf members and said, “Brothers, no one shall ever speak of this event again. For the safety of Brother Cyil and ourselves, we are to remain silent. Understood?”

“Understood.” Every member of Soaring Wolf repeated.

“Understood,” Valter whispered a beat after everyone else while clutching a dirt covered pouch filled with money.

***

Ravenous Serpents’ branch mercenary group’s base: in a lavishly furnished room sat a large man, at least four heads taller than an average man and two times as wide. He was not fat but had big bones. This man was a sub-leader for Ravenous Serpents and he had in him ¼ giant’s blood. The giant blood allowed the man to wield enormous strength. Even the defences of his bare skin was as thick as a hide and comparable to a rank 1 defensive magical equipment. The only downside to this man’s giant’s blood was that he moved a bit slower than others and could not run as far or quick.

The man was called Jughog and for the last few days he had been in a rather poor mood. He had learned from his wife that her only brother had gone missing. Jughog may be intimidating towards his underlings and his foes, but he dearly loved his wife and doted upon her like no other. Hence, when his wife brought this concern to him, Jughog became distressed.

Jughog ordered his men to search for his wife’s younger brother, but even after 3 days of searching no one found a thing. Jughog had even hired an artist to paint a portrait of the teenage boy and promised a handsome reward of 300 gold coins, but nothing had come up.

“He’s a tall boy, much taller than your normal teenager.” Even Jughog himself, an esteemed sub-leader of one of the strongest mercenary groups in Rovaria Kingdom, had taken to the streets to ask passerbys if they knew anything.

When Jughog came up empty, he returned to his distraught wife whom’s sobs stabbed him in the heart. She cried, “I should have never let him join the Ravenous Serpents. He begged and begged, but I should have never budged. He may be big but he’s soft as a pancake. He’s not cut out for this life. What will I do without him--he’s my only family left in Nakrul.”

Jughog could only console his wife with meek promises: “No one would dare mess with a member of the Ravenous Serpents! We are the most influential mercenary group stationed in this city and our rule is iron clad. Even the Mayor is on good terms with us. We will find him soon, my dear. Worry not.”

As the days dragged on Jughog grew more irate and anyone who got on his wrong side would suffer a kick to the face or punch to the gut.

It wasn’t until 13 days passed by that some tangible news surfaced. A scrawny old lady came before Jughog and professed she had seen a boy, just like in the portrait, walking along with three other boys as they began a quarrel with two boys of a similar age. The old lady said that as the fight broke out the tall boy was beaten instantly and suffered enormous pains. When asked if she saw the attacker’s face, the old lady shook her head, saying her eyes could not see too far. When asked if she knew what happened to the boy, the old lady again shook her head and said she left when two men told her to “get lost or die”.

After hearing all of this, Jughog told the old lady to bring him to the place.

When Jughog and his crew of 20 got to the empty patch of dirt, he told half of the men to begin scouring the entire area and ordered the rest to inquire nearby buildings for information on who used this empty grounds.

Not even an hour into the search, a person to stumble upon a poorly covered hole. The dirt was mismatched and there were clumps of dried dirt in odd places; it was like a starving animal was digging through the ground trying to find buried vegetables.

“Over here,” the man called, bringing everyone’s attention to the area.

Following Jughog’s orders, everyone began digging. Jughog himself got his hands dirty by using his enormous hands to claw at the ground. It took less than 5 minutes before the group found something, or rather, it was someone.

This body belonged to a man they recognized as Arnald. He was easy to remember because he always said “indeed” in nearly every sentence. Arnald had a gaping hole right through his heart and when everyone saw this they held their breaths.

Something or someone who could do this could very well kill them, too. Most of the subordinates here were rank 3 warriors and couldn’t help but look for answers from Jughog, who was a rank 5 warrior.

Jughog frowned as he examined the body then calmly said, “continue digging!”

Jughog had been in many fights and had killed many foes, so he knew this wound on Arnald was of no human weapon. It had to be from a magical weapon, or worse, from a spell.

Jughog knew that if a mage was involved then he likely couldn’t offend the other party, but as the bodies kept coming up Jughog saw that the bodies of the boys had their necks crushed. Jughog thought this odd, but his thoughts were interrupted when the finally body was retrieved from the ground. Jughog saw a familiar face and he roared in anger, causing his men to cover their ears.

Jughog’s eyes blazed with fury and he picked up the lifeless body of the tall boy.

Thinking of how devastated his wife would be, Jughog commanded, “I want to know who is responsible for this! Even if it’s a mage, he’ll have to pay!”

All of his underlings did not dare voice any complaints and only nodded.

Then, just as Jughog was about to head back with the tall boy’s body, two of his men who had gone scouting the area for information returned.

One of the men quickly got down on one knee and said, “Sir, we have strong reason to believe that members of Soaring Wolf trains here. They are the closest mercenary group to this area and as of late, others have reported seeing two boys training here.”

“Soaring Wolf?” Jughog had never heard of the group, but didn’t care even if they were a mage guild. He would find the killer no matter the cost. “Lead the way!”

Promptly nodding, the two men lead the way as Jughog carried the tall boy on his back and followed, an unrestrained murderous intent suffocating the area.