Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Raith scratched his head, feeling besides himself. Thinking so deeply was not something he was used to or preferred doing, except from a year ago when he had nothing but had to relish in the imaginations made available to him by the novels he read, Hallan Lamar books and much more.

Even though Raith prized himself as very intelligent, he didn't presume to be so from the actions he took. Walking with the abyss had made him so much of a simpleton that he just took everything as it. What else to expect when you can always get a second chance.

There was a memory of himself being like this, taking to note the dotting details of what people say, do, how they act and even trying to decipher the untold, unknown meaning behind those behaviors. It was an unpleasant memory… it earned him his father's hatred.

He had several vivid recollections of how his father would slap him for asking some questions. Or when he practiced the sword too hard, tried to make something extraordinary out of the moves he was being taught… his father warned him not to be excellent.

Told him not to be any meter above average and to stay dumb. For a young boy not less than ten-years-old, who had just lost his mother...that was the worst possible thing to hear.

Desperately wanting his father to accept and love him, he stopped trying. And it became an habit.

But now, when death lingered at the edge of every of his actions. It wasn't an option, he just needed to survive. Raith found himself thinking again…

He shook his head as he remembered his father's word again. Now that he was old enough, those word sting bitterly and brood nothing but hatred for the man. But what use was the emotion, he was dead after all.

'...I'll never forgive him.'

Raith didn't know why the man was so weary and scared of him. But there was no excuse that could make him overlook and forget the man's actions. If he can get his soul, he would make it suffer until extinction.

Gripping his hand on the sword, Raith raised his head. The wall of white smoke was more important. He pushed his hatred and resentment behind his mind and focused on what was in front of him.

Since, he was now sure that the second option was the case. The illusion was not a metal one but physical. Which meant no matter how far he goes, he would only continue to walk deeper and deeper, traversing endlessly and becoming a lost soul in search of the abomination but never to find it.

Raith grimaced at the thought of it. He hadn't come this far to get lost. He extended his sword out.

How then does he break free from this illusion? He wasn't sure if it was going to work but his thinking faculty prompted a thought. It was the reason why Raith now swung his hand backward.

'Let's hope I'm right about everything.'

"Arrghhh"

With a loud yell, Raith brought his blade upon the wall of smoke, slashing it apart like tofu. As the wall fell to his sound, the surrounding smoke suddenly dispatched from him. Disputing and disappearing completely.

Immediately, a fraction of second later, a ear-itching screech tore across the entire expanse of the depth.

The young lady had nocked another arrow and was carefully taking an aim using her uncommon "focus-intensive" eyes. They suddenly widened as she saw something, she had not seen in all her years of trial.

"What? The veil disappeared?"

She muttered to herself. The sea of smoke that covered whatever was in the depth had completely disappeared and she could vividly for the first time after all these years, see the creature that has caused her so much agony.

The thing was humongous as Raith had suspected. It was a strange looking creature with a bloated, oval shaped body stretching over eight feet wide, standing on four elephantine legs and had a disgusting rock-like hide. Two tentacles stood high, over nine feet long, extending out of the depth. There was one more tentacle, shorter than the other two, forming a vine-like stalk and ending with a jagged, irritating eye.

The creature's body contained a massive, dirty, fang-filled mouth, shaped like a crude gash through its center.

And a human standing beneath it. Seeing the human face was hard, there was a limit to how far her special eyes could see.

Her brows furrowed as she saw what unfolded next.

A crude clash of tentacles and metal. The monster did not spare a second, retreated its tentacles and began to attack the human with its fanged pad, slapping them forward like ropes. But the human withstood the attack. Slapping his sword against each attack. The power of his blade alone sent each tentacle reeling back in the air.

But the monster would immediately shoot them forward again, desperate to leave a savage slit on the human's skin. From her point of view the exchange quickly ascended into a blurry exchange of movements. Sparks intermittently flew as the human and the tentacles battled for blood. The bloodthirsty tentacles, unrelenting but the human was in fact more impressive. His legs were buried in a single stance, the right side of his body pushed to the front and his hand literally disappearing before her eyes, sparks adorning the vicious grace of their onslaught.

She frowned unbelievably…

"Ama… amazing…"

It was almost hard to accept that a hopeless looking human could stand his ground against a monster that would have crushed her in one swipe. She wondered if she would have been able to withstand the tentacles like he was doing. Apart from the fact that she was an archer and arrow was her specialty.

Who is he? Where does he come from? And why is he fighting the monster? Why is he helping her village?

A mind resonated with so many questions. They were going to stay unanswered… for now. First she had to pray the human to survive and also help him from where she was.

She straightened the arrow back and squinted her gaze, carefully scrutinizing for another attack. This time she was going to aim for the eye.