Requiem Of A Failed Hero

As the door opened a row of men in armors made with hides of different kinds stood in front, all of them armed with diverse weapons, spears, different kinds of blades, hammers, and shields.

They all had this rugged face, dirty and rough. Like a set of men that had seen better days. Now all that seemed to be left of them was 'tough times don't last, only tough people do'. They looked like old stories and worn out warriors. But one thing they still had in common was that deadly look.

That alone made them almost fearsome.

Raith entered slowly… with caution. He bowed at them and spoke:

"Please I mean no one harm. May I speak with your leader?"

Even after speaking, the people continued to look at him with rage, gritting their teeth and readying their weapons.

Raith raised a brow, 'do they not understand me?'

Thard - Harl walked to him and touched his shoulder, "these people speak another language."

That was the first time Raith took note of it. As far as he could tell, the only language he had ever learnt and was actually able to speak was Therutese, Korean and English. However, he had been able to communicate perfectly well with Thard - Harl, even with the villagers.

'Why am I just noticing this now?' Raith made a slight frown.

There's hell in no chance that Thard - Harl has been speaking English or Korean to him all this while.

[There's an auto translation effect]

[You can perfectly understand selective language and speak them]

'Uh… so I guess whatever it is that these people speak is not part of these languages?'

[Affirmative]

Raith watched Thard - Harl step forward and began to address the people in some tongue twisting language. After a couple of minutes, the asura turned to him.

"They have agreed to let us in but they are very wary of you."

Raith grimaced, "Wary of me? If there's anyone they should be wary of it should be you!"

"Tch. Seems like you frown that corny mouth of yours since we left the planes. You need another beating don't you."

"Oh my oh my, my big brother. Don't mind this your disciple, he is just too… you know how he can be." Raith curled up a bootlicking grin.

Irrespective, the asura spoke with a frigid expression:

"They say they will have to guard you heavily. But don't worry, it is only until we make whatever findings that we want to about Farngs."

'They want to lock me up? Somehow I'm convinced that he told them to do it…' Raith stared at the asura a few seconds, then he looked at the men who were still on standby.

He brought his eyes back to Thard - Harl and asked.

"What is it with this place? Why are we even here?"

"I mentioned to you. The guy stayed here before eventually going away from this place. If there's anyone who can better tell us about this guy. It's them."

Raith nodded his head. Looking at the crowd of men, he sighed and turned to Thard - Harl.

"I don't particularly accommodate the idea of being watched or locked, whatever the case maybe but I suggest that I have no choice but to trust you on this one."

The asura replied him with an indifferent gaze.

"Are you ready?" He inquired.

"Let's go…" Raith stepped forward and paused.

Immediately, the men brought ropes and tied them around him. He patiently watched them tie his limbs and body tightly.

A second later, someone struck him hard with the pommel of his sword. Before Raith could react… he passed out straight up.

A wide grin formed on Thard - Harl's face as he watched them carry him away.

—

Raith's eyes slowly came open – it was met by a pitch black darkness somewhere that knew couldn't tell apart anything. To add to the headache, he was hanging with his head downwards.

After a few minutes, he started to feel heavy in the head, like most of his blood has flowed to the point and it was overloading. His eyes were slowly adjusting to darkness and he could see a little bit, that was not a feature that was available to everyone, just a person of his on kind.

The last time his eyes deftly adjusted to the darkness was when the abyss was still with him. He never thought he'd be able to do that again.

Raith could tell this place apart now. It was some sort of cave. Byt a very deep one. He didn't know how the people had managed to pull it off but the rope hanging him was attached to the ceiling of the cave.

The depth beyond him was far. There's no telling what could be in that place. Raith thought of freeing himself but he thought of how many way things could go wrong.

Instead his focused on living the moment.

'That damned asura'

Raith was sure Thard - Harl would have put them up to this. He definitely has something to do with it.

"I've been lost for a while as to how to teach you this."

Thard - Harl's voice resounded in the darkness, its echo lingering a little more than necessary.

Raith frowned slightly as he heard, "So this is what it is. Training? You could have just told me."

"And ruin the surprise I have planned? No thank you. What I want to teach you is the fundamental of footworks or as the asuras will usually call it. Neofut."

His voice paused and continued:

"Neofut is a philosophy and a style. It's a debatable believe system that all things start from the foot. It is adopted into the art of growth. A baby from a young age, feet level, then growing up and up until the head level very big. It's a believe system that strongly debates the idea that all things is connected to the feet level"

'That's just messed up as hell'

"I didn't ask for your opinion"

"Crap. I apologize."

Thard - Harl lingered and continued:

"The belief system formed the fundamental of martial art for asuras. If you can get your feet right, you can get every thing right. I will be falling down every soon… I assure you this depth is very far. But you must land on your feet, they'll probably break but yea that is what you must do. Land on your feet even if it breaks."