2.1

“An abandoned mansion...”

A dissatisfying whine came from John the moment he saw the rusted hinges along the empty pillars where huge gates were once attached to it. He made no further comments as the elf girl and him moved pass the front gates.

Raina proceeded to lead him into a cobweb filled mansion that was near to where they have teleported to earlier. Huge grey stones acted as the walls for all the mansion. There were a few staircases with missing steps that led to the upper floors, Raina wanted to climb them but was stopped by John who threatened to leave immediately if she going to put herself at risk.

“But this is a mansion, it would be such a waste if we don’t explore every part of it.”

“No. This place looks unstable, who knows if something might happen, I rather not have you hurting yourself,” John grabbed Raina’s hand before she could act. “Why are we even doing this in the first place? Mansions are just bigger houses. You live in the palace, this place is nothing compared to it.”

“You used to live in one, didn’t you?” Raina placed her hand on one of the walls and strolled along it, bringing John along with her.

“I did? I suppose… I don’t really remember that much of my life before A’vetheas, I don’t really need to remember about what happened.”

“Jeez, you really don’t care about your life before A’vetheas!”

“It’s not my fault that my memories of you have overwritten them.”

“Hmph!”

Even under the dark conditions, it was certain that Raina was puffing out her cheeks. If not for the silver moonlight shining through the cracks and openings, they would have not made it this far into the mansion. As Raina stomped her feet to show her displeasure, John’s ears caught noises that made his body stiffen.

“!!!”

He quickly stopped Raina, pulling her into a hug, taking great care to place his hand on her mouth. The girl who was caught by surprise stopped moving, “Johnny, we can’t, this isn’t the place that we should—”

“Shh. Keep your voice low, we aren’t alone.”

Who would be in a place like this in the night?

In the distance, clanging and rustling noises echoed throughout the mansion. There was no mistaking it, voices as faint as their breathing could be heard. Giving each other a nod of approval, they decided to follow the source of the voices. Creeping along the dark hallways tapping their feet lightly as they moved.

“Raina, put up some of your illusion magic on us.”

“O-okay.”

As they moved gradually, the noises grew louder in succession. They arrived at the entrance of a steep descent that led towards a fully lit basement. Two huge shadows danced on the walls as the figures busied rummaging what seemed like a pile of scrap.

“There’s nothing but junk here, Esme! This place is a fluke! Why do we have to loot this place for anything? They are either broken or rusted, none of these can even be sold for a piece of silver, let alone gold. Bleh!”

“Keep your voice down, Esma. We just need one of those fancy jewels and we’ll be set for life. Besides, Ramos said that there was something else that’s worth more than both our lives combined. If we can get it first...”

The two men argued among themselves as they ransacked the place without a care in the world.

“Looters, this isn’t good. Raina, keep your voice low.”

John peeked at the men, hanging by their waists were crooked blades covered with rust. Dull it may be, but if applied a strong enough force, even the toughest flesh would be grazed.

“We better leave. Right now.”

“Eeep!” Raina squealed as she hit her leg on the corner of the wall and stumbled. John gracefully swooped in caught her with his arms before her body hit the ground, dragging her body away from the illumination before they were discovered.

“We need to go now. This place isn’t—” John beckoned.

“Isn’t what?”

A voice as cold as steel addressed them from behind. A man twice of John’s size stared down at them. The menacing demeanor, the stance of a humongous bear ready to maul at them any second made John’s spine recoil in fear.

“[Blinding Flash]!” Raina shouted as soon as she saw the man behind them. Light appeared in front of the huge man and pierced the man straight into his eyes, the man let out a cry, taking a step back at her sudden assault.

“Run for it!” John yelled, his feet bolted at the opposite direction before his vision was cleared of the abrupt ignition of light. There was no way that the both of them could go up against someone as colossal as that.

“John, help!”

A pathetic cry came from Raina who was fifty meters behind him.

“R-raina?”

John quivered, Raina was stuck, she did not move an inch from where they were, let alone was behind him. Raina’s wrists were gripped by the huge man as she flailed recklessly to break free.

“Just because you know some magic doesn’t mean I would be scared of you. This is nothing but a child’s play,” the man growled with his semi-shut eyes, still trying to recover from the blazing lights that went into his eyes.

“Ramos! You’re back!”

“Did you get what you were looking for?”

Esma and Esme, two men with identical faces heard the commotion and approached the huge man. Their lackluster faces promptly lit up as they caught sight of the huge man gripping Raina as she struggled to escape.

With his eyes widened at the escalation of the scene in front of him, with what leftover illusion magic that Raina cast on him, it would be difficult for them to pinpoint where he was.

John quickly hid behind one of the corners and took long deep breaths calming his shaking body, his brain repeated ran through the traits that he collected about the trio.

The twins are scrawny, they might fall if I can land a clean blow at them the other man however… I need to save Raina, while the he is still blinded, I should…

“I swear, I have prepared it somewhere...” his voice croaked as trembling fingers fumbled through his bag.

There was one thing he could do in this case...

A flat sheet of metal reflected the sparkling moonlight appeared at the opening of his bag, John had pulled out a razor sharp knife. His eyes blinked uncontrollably as he stared at the weapon, one hit is all it takes, if he could strike the huge man’s arm and cause him to loosen his grip on Raina, it won’t be long before they made their escape.

“I am coming, Raina.”

“[Mirrage Assau—]...mmph!” Raina’s spell was interrupted by a piece of cloth stuffed into her mouth, forcing her jaw to be stationary, at the verge of choking on her own tongue.

“Hey Ramos, where did you find this doll? I want one for myself too! Gyehehehe.”

“Not a bad catch at all… She could be sold for a high price. Considering the lack of useful goods tonight, she could easily be three weeks’ worth of gold if we find the right person,” Esme inspected Raina, matching his eyes to her furious glare.

“You dare sneak up on us on our raids, no one is supposed to know about our activities! Who the hell are you? Did the empire sent you?” Ramos barked, applying crushing force to her wrists, forcing her to cede her struggling.

“Gyehehehe!” Esma with the sticky breath laughed unnaturally as he crept closer towards Raina, his foul breath sent screams throughout Raina’s body, the predicament that she was in was getting worse by the minute. This all happened because she wanted to gain John’s attention, if only she had restrained herself. John, help me, I’m scared… a drop of tear seeped from her wet eye.

“Let’s seeeeee what she actually looks like under that hood of hers!”

Long bony fingers that resembled thick dried twigs yanked the hood off her head, Raina’s pointy ears popped up, her golden hair dropped to her shoulders John…save me… A chill threaded her chest as three thugs gawked eagerly at her elvish features.

“An elf! An elf! An elf!” Esma danced in delight. “Gyehehehe, we’ve found ourselves some treasure!” jerking his entire body back and forth as elation consumed him.

“Elf… That’s impossible,” Esme shook his head, dismissing his brother. “True elves are all extinct, Esma. This must be one of the half-elves, a pure bred one from the looks of it. How interesting...” Esme mumbled to himself.

“Oh? A half-elf? I’ve heard of them being sought after for their beauty, I’d never thought I can see one for myself. This one is a looker, even with my blurred vision, I can tell she is high quality. Hahahaha! Cerys can go—”

John, decided that his presence was unnoticed, jumped out of hiding while the men were enamored with Raina’s elvish looks. He charged straight at Ramos with unwavering determination, his grip tightened on that blade of his, arms thrust forward, ready to drive the blade into the man in the blink of an eye.

And it would have worked.

But he was wrong.

“Don’t I think I have forgotten about you. John!”

Ramos shoved Raina onto the opposite wall, drew his balled fist, quickly rushing it forward, colliding with John’s approaching forehead. Overwhelming impact shattered John’s skull as Ramos’ fist landed, John’s eyes rolled backwards as his body flew to the ground with a loud thud. His whole body twitched, foam spewed uncontrollably from his mouth. John vibrated incoherently for a few moments as he collapsed for good.

“John! No!” Raina cried as the cloth fell out of her mouth.

Ramos had been anticipating this valiant move from John when he noticed the girl’s prompt attempt at casting magic the second time. If a girl as frail as Raina were to prepare to take down someone huge like himself, without a doubt the guy that she was with could not use magic to save her.

Thus, Ramos waited for the right moment to deliver a clean blow to John, incapacitating him in an instance.

“[Heal].”

“Fool. To take on someone larger than your size is no different than asking for death. You should have tried getting help from others before coming at me,” Ramos spat at the floor. He moved towards Raina who was struggling to get on to her feet, grabbed her face with his large hand. “Now, where were we—”

“Ramos! Look out!” the twins shrieked as a swift blur appeared behind Ramos.

Crack. The sound of Ramos’ bones fractured reverberated loud and clear, something cold had pierced into his back, only inches away from his heart. Just as the blood drained from his face, the knife that was stuck in him rotated ravenously at its position, grinding all possible nerves and tendons at the spot and rendered them into mince, jolting an electrifying pain across his back.

“Gyaaak! Why...you! I’ll kill you!” rageful tears and snot flowed out of him as he swung his right arm as he would with a mace, grappling John who was behind him. Ramous yanked John’s right arm, twisting it until it no longer returned to its original shape. Despite suffering from immense pain of the blade stuck in his back, the man’s movements were far from being immobilized.

John, who jumped away from the huge man the moment he twisted the knife in to the large man’s back was still too slow for Ramos’ speed.

“Argk!” the pain of a thousand needles pierced at John, he grit his teeth while he cried out in agony.

“[Heal].” Right as his body hit the ground, every cut and bruise that had blood gushing out of them stitched themselves, his twisted arm made cracking sounds as the bones returned to their original state.

No time to lose, that sole thought powered his mind, he ran towards Raina, casting [Heal] on her as he hoisted one of her arms over his shoulders, making a run for it.

“Let’s go while we can.”

“Johnny...” Raina had a relieved look on her face.

Ramos was grinning from behind, he popped a liquid and the wound to his back closed up. The damage was still there but he could not have cared any less.

He now bore the eyes of a predator who had just caught sight of its prey. Reaching towards one of his pockets he made a swiping motion with his arms at where John was. Where a sleek projectile of death flew straight towards his target.

The projectile flew true.

A rusted knife’s tip protruded from John’s neck, penetrated his windpipe, stopping him in his tracks. He choked out blood, reaching desperately for the hilt at the nape of neck as he mouthed the words at Raina.

“Run!”

“Esma, Esme, do it,” Ramos snapped his fingers, the twins drew their crooked blades and rushed at John, slicing away at his tendons. Like a puppet severed of its strings, John fell to his knees, then collapsed onto the ground, wide eyed.

“This is why I hate dealing with people who use magic. You never know how annoying their spells can be. Now that your vocal cords are severed, how will you use that miracle spell of yours? Hahaha, and I was wondering how you survived that punch from me earlier. Usually people would shrivel up and die from that impact, apparently that was all an act from you isn’t it, JOHN?”

Ramos moved towards him and reached for the hilt at the back of John’s neck and moved the rusted dagger with the same twisting motion that he had applied to Ramos earlier.

The blade twirled and gnawed at the flesh of his throat to the point where recovery with the healing potions that he had in store would not be enough for him to escape with Raina.

John looked at Raina, expecting the girl to have already made herself scarce, but was only met with streams of tears and a shaking head. No! Now is not the time! Get out of here! He gave her one more look, urging her forward, with pleading eyes, he was on the verge of breaking down as he felt his strength sapped away from him along with his blood.

“[M-mirrage Assau—]...mmph!” Raina was quickly silenced as soon as she tried casting her magic.

“Did you think we would forget about you, my little elf? Gyehehehe!” Esma’s sinister face appeared in front of Raina, stuffing the cloth into her mouth.

Raina’s arms were immediately pulled backwards. A pair of hands slammed something cold at her wrists, making a loud snap. A pair of cuffs found its way onto her, chafing the her very skin as she tried to free herself.

“If only you two had not seen us…” said the other twin behind her.

Let her go! Let her go! Even if I die here, I’ll make sure Raina gets out!

John clawed at the ground before him, reaching for the two men beside Raina. Being on the floor and unable to move his limbs, the pain did not subside as it had the first time he took Ramos’ punch. He jerked and jerked his neck, in hopes that his voice would come out in the attempt to cast [Heal].

In his last attempt at expelling the remaining air in his lungs, John could only wheeze helplessly.

“You going somewhere, John?”

A large boot stomped on his back, plummeting him onto the ground. Ramos pulled his black hair, leaning in close to his ear and spoke with spite.

“If you haven’t tried that stunt of yours, I would have just sold her as a slave. Now that I see your desperation, I changed my mind. I’ll defile her as humiliating as I can in front of you, you brat!” Ramos said, slamming John’s head to the ground.

“Alright you two, here’s the thing. All that fight with this piece of shit here has gotten my blood raging for a good time. If you two hold her still while I finish using her, I’ll let you two do whatever you want before we sell her off,” Ramos announced to the duo.

No! Don’t you dare lay your hands on Raina!

“Gyehehehe, elf, elf, elf! All for myself!”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you kept her purity. I am sure we could get more coins out selling her if she is a virgin. Half-elves are already rare enough, let alone an unused one. Are you sure about this, Ramos? Shouldn’t you be taking care of that wound of yours in the first place?” Esme asked the huge man.

“Huh? What are you talking about? I have survived much worse than this, that’s why even with their petty illusions hovering over them, I can still make out their positions,” Ramos tapped his head. “Once you scare the caster enough, they’ll be unable to keep their illusions. Besides…don’t you want to see how our beloved John there will struggle seeing his beloved getting defiled moments before his death?”

“...”

“I take that as a yes, Esme. You are smart, but you don’t have to pity someone like him, unless you want to take his place, be my guest.”

Esme looked at John’s battered face, nose crooked and bleeding, what was left on his face was nothing more than a piece of swelling meat that had been battered to the brink of death. Esme understood what Ramos’ words meant, ‘if you don’t want you and your brother ending up like him, shut up and do as I say’.

“Let’s make him suffer for the remainder of his short life,” Esme said coldly.

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!” Raina struggled as Ramos traced a blade across her white dress. The tightly woven linens split into two pieces in no time, exposing Raina in her undergarments. The curves of her half-naked body highlighted by the moonlight entranced the three men before her.

Raina felt her heart drop, John showed no signs of recovering, each breath that he tried to take was shallower than the last. And now, she herself was about to be defiled right in front of John’s very eyes. If only she had not insisted John to visit this forsaken mansion, she wouldn’t have gotten him killed, if she had not been reckless, all of this could be avoided.

Raina agonized as John was inches away from deaths door, struggling to hang on to his dear life. This was all her doing, all because of her own idiotic whims.

No, don’t look. I don’t want you to remember me like this.

She shook her head feebly at John, her pitiful wish was for the that she loved to turn his head away from what was about to happen to her.

If anything, she would bite her own tongue the moment the cloth was out of her own mouth. Just a few more pushes with her tongue and she could take her own life. She would not allow herself to live on with such disgrace to befall upon her.

And then it happened...

John’s body stopped moving, no more was it grasping the cold air with every strength. The fire in his eyes doused out, leaving an empty husk before her.

No! John! John! John! No...please...don’t go… I...

Like a thin branch being stepped on, Raina’s mind snapped that very second. Her eyes became distant, her squirming body that was dying to escape was replaced by a limp one. The reason for living had just vanished before her very eyes without even a sound, and as such, her will to live.

Ramos wicked smile turned into an expression of annoyance as the girl became lifeless. “Don’t play games with me you bitch! Do you think I won’t rape you if you put up that act?” Ramos raised his hand and slapped the girl back to her senses.

“Ramos, it’s the kid… His body went cold.” Esme who noticed the elf’s change in attitude.

“Who cares about that brat? I will claim this beauty all to myself, in front of his dead corpse! That will show him to never mess with someone more capable than him!” Ramos yelled as he continued launching strikes with his palm at Raina who lost all her senses to bring back the struggling elf.

Esme could only watch such a scene despairingly, Ramos had gone from wanting to defile the elf into beating her to death. He knew Ramos was not the most sane person around, but from trying to ruin a perfect merchandise to outright murdering it.

Esme no longer understood how the world works.