Arva had fallen. Not by my hands. But by theirs. My eyes trained on a group of raucous ‘holy’ soldiers feasting on generous amounts of food and wine. I could have had the same treatment as them but I blew it. Instead of focusing my blade on the Scourge, I had used it to slash at the demon. Bitter emotions welled up inside my gut, wanting to burst out. I, however, kept it in. If I was smarter, I’d have chopped of the head of the Scourge like they did. No, if the demon wasn’t there I wouldn’t have be so confused at what to do.

Listlessly, I poked at the cold hard meat that I was given. After some difficulty, my fork had finally managed to pierce the inside. Grunting, I brought the meat towards my lips. Then, I bit it. A repugnant flavour burst out, almost making me retch. The tears I had been holding back threatened to make an appearance so I quickly left the cafeteria without touching the rest of my plate and its filthy contents.

After leaving, I made my way to the training grounds that were almost completely empty due to the fact that it was our ‘rest’ time. Ignoring the one or two soldiers loitering on the field, I picked up a wooden training sword that was left on the ground by some irresponsible prick. And then, with that same sword, I made my way towards a battered training dummy to vent out all my frustrations away. Stupid glory-thieves! I was supposed to be the hero! Now it’s all gone. I hate this!

I didn’t say anything but I kept on striking the dummy with all my might. If I said something I knew I would’ve been a goner. I knew how it worked. I knew how the world worked. The moment I spoke my thoughts, I would’ve been a dead man walking. Still, it didn’t stop me from thinking. Die. With a swing that contained all my power, the dummy’s head, just like Arva’s, was gone.

*** *** ***

The little shrimp, after listening to me read for half an hour, decided that it was bedtime already. Unfortunately, the little shrimp decided not to go to her bed and instead slept on my lap. What’s worse was the fact that she was drooling. On my lap. Grimacing at the thought of having to clean my trousers, I was about to shoo away the little shrimp when a vision came.

Just like usual, my mind blanked and all my physical senses abandoned me, leaving me in a state of ‘ghostliness’ or so I liked to call it. The staunch darkness that always came about when my visions appeared assailed me. With nothing to see, I just waited there (not sure where ‘there’ is, though) without any form of entertainment and such. The minutes trickled by and no sign of the ‘usual’ materialized. Wow, it sure is taking its time…

No sign came. The minutes joined up to form hours, and the hours formed into days. Due to the tremendous amount of time, my patience had run dry and I just craved to get out of this state of boring ‘ghostliness’. Little shrimp, you better wake me up. If you don’t, I’m never going to read to you. My threats to the little shrimp turned out to be of no avail; she didn’t come nor did she save me. I was forced to wait.

I wondered whether the outside had already declared me dead and buried me alive or something. I wouldn’t have been surprised. Occurrences like that happened a lot up here in the Northern Peninsula. However, I wasn’t sure whether that was just a special quirk of the region or worldwide. If it was just regional, it kind of made sense that the guys down in the mainland called us barbarians even though we were proper civilized men that just happened to sometimes bury the living. Now that I think about it, that’s kind of bad isn’t it?

My mind wondered off to the magical lands of nowhere and everywhere, oscillating between fact and fiction, slowly wearing away my sense of reality. At least that’s how I thought of it, but it was just a ploy to keep my mind occupied and away from boredom. I thought of the time when I had seen Arva’s rise in my visions and thought that maybe he became what he was because he was accidentally buried alive. It could have explained why he rose up in rebellion against the nation.

As time went by, the musings that plagued my head became more and more unrealistic and just… plain weird. A whole range of topics seemed to open up to me and I gladly, and regrettably, partook in the making of rather stupid theories. However, by a stroke of very needed luck and fortune, my long-awaited vision stormed in just when I was starting to convince myself that trees were actually made of rocks and that water was made of a giant’s piss.

My sight that was lost at the start of my ‘ghostliness’ reappeared again. However, I wasn’t in my library nor my castle. I was outside. Yet, the outside that I always thought to be so beautiful just seemed so wrong. The fields didn’t look green like how I saw them through the windows of my quarters; they were red. Then, my position suddenly changed and I saw a figure with blood red robes and a scythe. My mind trembled as I realized what the figure was.

Reaper.

All of a sudden, I was brought back to reality. Drooling on my lap was the little shrimp sleeping oh-so peacefully, ignoring my inner terror. Prioritizing humanity’s fate over the little shrimp’s sleep, I shook her till she woke up. And, when she finally did, she looked like she was going to chew my head off. But, before she had the chance to become a cannibal, I interrupted her by barking, “Shrimp, inform the higher-ups that… that…”

The words that I was supposed to say got stuck in my throat. With great difficulty, I was able to croak out, “A… Reaper will come.”

*** *** ***

“How was your trip, Gromlur?” The ‘King of the Dwarves’ asked me in a playful tone. His dark brown eyes focused on me and his mouth, which was covered by an untidy mass of facial hair, curled into a childish smile that accentuated the wrinkles that beset his regal face. When I heard the question, I remembered all about the chaotic events of the so-called celebration party and laughed heartily. Wiping tears from my eyes, I replied, “You know what, Dwtha? You won’t believe how hilarious the whole mess was.” After saying that, I started giggling like a child.

After seeing my behaviour, Dwtha’s bushy brow raised itself and he proceeded to exclaim, “Gromlur, for goodness’s sakes, don’t skimp out on the story!” After regaining my calm, I began to recount the amazing events that happened in the Udzki Kingdom. First, I told him of my surprise question at the Udzkin envoy and then disclosed to him the identity of the envoy of the Vaelian Church. “Bwahaha!” His resonant laughter echoed in the empty room that we were in.

Like a good storyteller, I waited for my audience—also known as Dwatha, the King of the Dwarves—to quiet down. After he stopped laughing, I proceeded to inform him of the antics of the red guy. Annoyingly enough, my immature audience of one erupted into loud guffaws, interrupting my ‘glorious’ storytelling again. Mate, I know my stories are amazing but could you stop interruptin’ me every time I get to a good part.

Once he calmed down again, I lost all my will to tell the story so I informed him that I was going to bed. “Eh?! You still haven’t told me the rest yet!” His exclamation was loud but I ended up walking out on him with my response being, “Don’t care.” Ignoring his calls, I made my way to my quarters and lay face-up on the pile of straw that made up my bed. I stared at the rough stone ceiling and recalled the red man—no, the red demon. Closing my eyes, I muttered, “May you live your life in peace.”

Even as I said that though, I had this rather ominous premonition regarding the fate of the demon.