A World Beyond the Dark

by Andrei Navala

  The place was decorated in such a way that it resembled a harem of the kings spoken of in legends. All sorts of strange objects and sculptures resembling strangely shaped humanoids decorated the place. Scented candles filled the room with an intoxicatingly sweet and yet pleasant scent. A thick mist floated throughout the large chamber and given a faint violet color by ominous light. His vision was blurry and his movements sluggish- it was like his brain was slowed down. He felt relaxed and safe.

  Anvalth could feel a warm touch on his neck and multiple hands reaching around his body, across his chest and down his legs. He closed his eyes and let himself be absorbed in that cabalistic ritual. The next time he opened his eyes, the world around him was still unclear and most sensations were suppressed but he could feel the heat of multiple women surround him and was struck with a sudden, insatiable lust for carnal pleasures. His eyes feasted on the naked bodies of maidens around him, both plump and supple alike. His hands grasped their soft chests and bottoms and their lips joined. Anvalth was overwhelmed with the amount of women enveloping him in their loving embrace. It was like a guilty nightmare in which nothing else mattered.

  His emotions were suppressed so much that not even his Telaar could save him; his Telaar which brought him so much grief. In all that confusion, an image of his little sister flashed before his eyes.

  The two, brother and sister were walking down the road as the sun set behind them. It was rather chilly and he offered her his fur coat which she gladly accepted. Suddenly, from the woods around them emerged a group of bandits which surrounded them. They were hopeless in the face of such odds and the two held each other tightly, crying and praying to Tela that they could at least escape with their lives. The band stole all their belongings and tied Anvalth with a thick rope, pushing him on the ground and holding him tight. Before his very eyes, they forcefully undressed his helpless sister and took turns raping her. Anvalth was so angered and in pain that he started crying tears of blood as he struggled in vain to break free from his bonds. Up to that point, the power of his Telaar was unknown to him… or perhaps it was that very moment that awakened his Telaar. With the strength of a wild beast he broke free and went into a killing frenzy. His eyes were covered in blood and he lost all control over his body and even consciousness.

  The moment he woke up was when he heard a faint, anguished scream coming from before him. He could feel the cold handle of a dagger in his hands and when he tried to move it, he realized it was implanted deep into something. Anvalth wiped away the blood from his eyes and his heart almost stopped at the sight he beheld. His hands froze and his gaze was fixed right in the warm, loving eyes brimming with tears which looked back at him.

  “I-I didn’t… want to l-live… after t-this… T-Thank… y-you… broth-” The voice was becoming fainter and fainter until it faded out, along with the light in her eyes.

  In his arms, he held the scarred, bruised, violated body of his little sister which he impaled with murderous hate unknowingly. He was the reason for her demise. His gaze shifted down at the ground and he realized he was sitting in a pool of blood. He looked around with fear in his eyes at the mass of slaughtered, deformed corpses which fell beneath his blade. He shivered, unable to process what was going on around him. His gaze moved back to his sister which had a large gouging wound right in her chest. The first reaction to the disgusting sight was of sickness. His hands were shaking, his breath was heavy. He felt a sudden pressure in his chest, like something weighing him down. He wanted to cry but nothing would come out… he wanted to scream from the depths of his lungs but nothing would come out… he wanted to spill his guts, but nothing would come out.

  “Wake up rookie!” yelled an annoying voice. It sounded familiar but he couldn’t really place it. Before opening his eyes he wanted to move his arms and legs but he couldn’t even raise a finger, they were numb. He felt a swift slap across his face and he immediately shook his head, opening his eyes wide. Next to him was Liam, looking at him from above. He must’ve been in a bed, but when trying to remember about last night, he couldn’t come up with anything. All he remembered were Rilwen’s words before she went in her tent. His eyes instinctively looked around, and to his dismay three women unknown to him were lying naked by his side. “I have a proposition for you. If you don’t want any of this to be known by Rilwen and the others, you will have to serve me from now on, until I tell you that you are free to do as you please.”

  Anvalth was utterly speechless, “It must be a dream, I need to wake up.” he thought in his hopelessness.

  “More so, in the following and final battle you will fight by my side and sacrifice your life if harm comes to me. Lastly, I will have need of your blood to fuel my Telaar. Do we have an agreement?"

  “I…” Anvalth’s throat was sore and that was the only thing that could come out of his mouth.

  “You also have a loving family waiting for you right? It would be a shame if they found out you indulge in such acts while on the fronts. What do you think your lover would say about that?” Liam was going purely on guesses, trying to corner him as much as possible if his assumption was correct. Anvalth’s eyes widened and Liam knew for sure he hit the mark. “Do we have a deal?” He looked really menacing, a knight of the holy order. The self-righteous bastard of the group, pulling the strings in the dark, more heinous and evil than the monsters they were fighting. Anvalth hated filthy, miserable human beings like him and he was about to let go of all reason and unleash his Telaar. But it was perhaps best to comply, now that he had become one of the same people he hated.

  “Forgive me, Liliana.” he thought as he stood up from the bed and grabbed his clothes from the ground. “I will do as you order…” Anvalth was with his back to Liam, who had a wide grin on his face. “But if anyone finds out about this mess you pulled me into…” He pulled up his pants and unsheathed his rapier, turning towards him and pointing it right below his chin. Liam was startled and moved slightly, cutting himself on the tip of the blade. “I swear on everything I hold dear that you are not escaping from me alive, no matter what other villainous plot you concoct.” He retracted his hand and sheathed his sword, afterwards putting on the rest of his clothes. He stormed out of the place and right outside the door was Oswald, leaning against the wall and smoking from his pipe.

  “You disgust me.” Uttered Anvalth vehemently to him as he continued out of town and through the forest, headed back to camp.

  His hand was gripped tight around the handle of his rapier, his fingers eagerly moving around its cold shaft. In his eyes were both anger and pity, for he was mad at the stupid noblemen which were all alike and pity for the world which they corrupted. As he continued to walk with heavy steps, he realized he couldn’t blame others for their actions when he was the monster that he was.

  “What a joke, a world in which monsters fight monsters.”

  “No matter what lies in one’s past, he must always strive for greatness and good. Our vision is too clouded by hate or grief to see the true beauty of this world…” From behind a tree appeared none other than Élerion, the mightiest of paladins. His voice was as imposing and calm as always. “These are merely the words of my father, but I took his creed as my own. So what troubles you, young man?” For Anvalth it was extremely unusual to see the fated knight of legend so often. Not only that but he was dressed in common clothes.

  “What would you do if you made a grave, irreparable mistake; that is bound to haunt you for the rest of your life?” Anvalth realized his casual speech far too late. “Excuse my impoliteness, sir.”

  “If it was not something of ill intention, the first thing you must do is forgive yourself. The rest will come by itself.” His eyes were like the clear sky and all Anvalth could do was avert his gaze when confronted with his truthful stare.

  He could hear hurried footsteps in their direction and when he raised his gaze, a scolding voice yelled at him.

  “I had a feeling you were here, what-” Rilwen froze in her tracks
when she saw Élerion. He slowly approached her and leaned closer, whispering something in her ear. With a wave of his hand, he left the two alone.

  Rilwen stared at Anvalth who was staring back at her. The only thing breaking the silence was the enchanting song of birds and the wind, blowing through the trees gently. Suddenly, he made a movement. He slightly raised his hands and spun in place, looking at the nature surrounding them.

  “He was right… This world is truly beautiful.” When he turned around to face her again, she had a bright smile. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve said she was but an innocent girl living her life to the fullest; and not a trained warrior fighting against fear itself. Her beautiful visage reminded him of his girl, waiting for him at home. “I’ll be home soon, Lily.” He thought, as a broad smile appeared on his face.

  “Let’s get back to camp.” She said, turning around and walking away. With a quick sprint he caught up to her and the two walked together.

  Back in camp, it was nothing like the previous night. Everyone was busy with something, sharpening blades, training or gathering resources and picking up some tents. Only one day remained before they had to leave and regroup with the other armies, launching the final assault against The Queen’s troops. Now that he could see the faces of all those inhabiting the camp, he realized the numbers of the foreign races, elves and dwarves. It was a rarity to see even a single elf or dwarf where he came from, but here it was a most common occurrence. Not only that, but their garb was much more organized and resembled that of a real army unit, unlike his band of mercenaries. The general tabard worn by most people was that of an upwards sword from the hilt of which spread out multiple rays of light. As they continued deeper into the camp, he found out from Rilwen that specialized squads were put together by Élerion himself and given different banners. The main squad which was comprised of the great knight and a few select others had a golden horse on a royal blue background, while their small squad had the depiction of a woman with gold hair holding a sword upwards. Anvalth was pleasantly surprised by the information given to him, finding it interesting.

  Back in their quarter, he was greeted by a new sight. The relaxed, care free soldiers who he met for the first time the other night and would henceforth be his allies on the battlefield, even if just for a battle, were each working around. The dwarf was busy with reinforcing their armors and sharpening their blades, aided by Caldwell, titled the drunkard by Anvalth. The two elven brothers were working on elixirs and Rousseau was all over the place helping everyone. They found out that Joachim and Sebastian were on patrol duty on the south western side of the camp and that Henrick was requested in delivering fresh supplies through the camp.

  After hearing the report from Rousseau, Rilwen was greeted by a young man with elven traits. Judging by his appearance, Anvalth could tell he was a half-elf. He wasn’t as well armored as most of the others and carried a large tome with him. She turned around and approached Anvalth.

  “It seems that I am needed to heal the injured. You’re free to do whatever your heart desires in this camp until tomorrow morning.” She was about to turn back to the half-elf but stopped part way. “It’d be of great help if you could bring back those two lazy rascals, alright?” She smiled at him and went along with the one who requested her aid.

  Just as the two left their squad’s quarters, Liam and Oswald returned from their affair. They seemed oblivious of his presence and passed right next to him without even making eye contact. Anvalth wasn’t intimidated by their attitude since he did not even want to be bothered by them. Nonetheless dark thoughts troubled him when he remembered what happened regarding them. The words of Liam were especially troublesome. A hand fell on his shoulder and he jumped up, startled.

  “You need anything?” asked the friendly Rousseau. His pure visage, and gleaming inquisitive eyes brought some reassurance to Anvalth’s heart.

  “I… uh, am unsure.”

  “I see you’re at a loss for words. How about you help along with me and when we’re done, we spar a little?”

  “I’ll follow your lead then.” responded Anvalth, somewhat nervous that he would only be a nuisance since he’s never done anything resembling what his tasks would probably be.

  After checking up on their inventoried resources, the two aided Erik make the finishing touches to their gear. Anvalth was intrigued to find out that Rousseau was using throwing knives along with a short sword on the battlefield. And to his surprise, the dwarf presented him with a brand new set of armor which had the tabard of their squad. The plate had extra padding around the abdomen and light armor around the arms for swift movements with the rapier. The helmet was a full face plate which glided upwards and downwards, having a long, horizontal visor and small holes beneath through which he could breathe. What stood apart from a standard helmet was a crest of white feathers. He donned them on over his common clothes, along with a thin chain vest and tried to move around in them. It was quite a difference from his usual leather tunic and he found it really difficult at first to do maneuvers but after an entire hour of practicing around with his rapier and trying to dodge he got the hang of it. When he was done, he donned it off and mounted it on a rack. He followed Rousseau to where the elven brothers were working. Their craftsmanship was wondrous for they could create elixirs from herbs he never knew had such usage. Their standard flasks contained potions of vigor which enhanced one’s stamina and fastened the regenerative properties of the body, but since the end of the campaign was coming to a closure, they decided to go all out. They prepared a batch of holy oil which could be poured over the blade of a weapon and inflict terrible wounds to the demons. Anvalth had never heard of such thing, but he did realize that demons were much sturdier than anything of their world, perhaps the only beings with greater protection against blows were dragons.

  Lastly, the elves required help with a bold project. They wanted to create a cart with two compartments, one filled with regular oil and another with a pit of flames, in order to ease the job of lighting arrows on fire. Anvalth retrieved a sack of coals from the camp’s reserve, while Rousseau and the two carried a large jug of oil. They mounted two metal compartments atop a wheeled iron board, and in one place they poured the oil while in the other they spilled the coals and lit them ablaze. Once they attached handles to it, their work was a success. The two left the quarters to get approval of their invention and distribute the pattern to other quarters.

  By the time Anvalth noticed, most of the day was over. A herald informed them that drinking or leaving the camp wasn’t allowed that night neither any other activities which could endanger the mission the following day. While he rested outside his shared tent, Rilwen returned to camp exhausted. He wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings and did not notice her, but he heard Rousseau jump out of his tent and dash somewhere.

  “Are you okay captain? Need a drink?”

  “Thanks for your concern. I’m just tired because we had to finish healing all the injured soldiers before dusk… and my healing potential was severely drained lately.”

  He heard her but did not dare raise his gaze, and yet he felt her stare in his direction. The two whispered something which he couldn’t perceive and then he heard a set of footsteps head towards the captain’s tent and another one towards him. He expected Rousseau to join him, but instead was greeted with a tired smile.

  “Heard you had a productive day helping around the quarters?” She dragged another empty box next to his and sat down.

  “Is it because of me that your powers are weakened?” He cut right to the chase, catching her off guard. Silence was his response. His first reaction to this situation would’ve been to apologize, but he did learn one thing from his past. Thanking a person brings him more joy than an apology. “I am truly grateful for your existence, had it not been for you I would’ve bit the dust on that terrible day. And more so, had I not had a loving wife back home, I would follow you anywhere, even after the war would be long over. A person
of such selflessness as yours is a blessing upon this world.”

  “It’s moments like these that I live for… making someone happy, bringing hope in their life. Everyone around me smiles, and that makes me smile as well. I thank Tela for the powers that she had bestowed upon me-”

  “Sorry to interrupt. Your water…” Rousseau came back from the captain’s tent and brought with him an ornate flask. “We are running low on water.” He left them without another word, hurrying into his tent.

  Just as he left, Joachim and Sebastian returned from their patrol duty, along with the elves. Still, there was no sign of Henrick, and that worried Rilwen gravely. Anvalth was surprised to see such a vast array of emotions in the span of two days from a single person. That said a lot about her as a person and it proved as further validation to his choice of following her.

  “I’ll have to ask the other captains if they have any clue-”

  “Let me search for him in your stead. It’s the least I can do to pay you back for all you’ve done to me.” He hopped off the crate and sprinted out of the quarters without looking back. Through the many admiring gazes, there was one who couldn’t stand such a sight. His presence bothered Liam, and it was perhaps that he was a lowly commoner, unfit to fight besides such a high noble as himself. He sneaked out of the quarters by himself and trailed Anvalth. Not far from the center of the camp, there was a ruckus among the members of multiple squads and the main army. While Anvalth was questioning people, Liam blended right in with the crowd and could flesh out a general idea about what was going on. Multiple people from all across the camp vanished mysteriously and some have seen strange apparitions in the woods, especially around the nearby village.

  “Oi, Liam! How are you-” One of the knights in the garb of the main army recognized and approached him but Liam silenced him immediately with a flick of his wrist.