Bloodgore

Prologue: The bloodbath of Emilia

In this wet and murky land, admits the pine- and larch raveled forest, stands a lonely wooden house.

The texture on the bark, that reflects itself in the gloomy-green colours of the woods, and the occasionally descending leaf, declare the oh so moony start of autumn.

Admits the lone standing cabin of tree skin, lives a simple family, consisting of a mother and a small child.

The alone raising mother had black hair and her face was streaked by two, vertical scars, that went through the middle of their experienced face.

Her also black-haired son, who never got to know his real father, however suffered from a disease, that constantly bend their spine and trough that causes them immense pain, every time he tries to move a limp.

In addition to that, produces his body a sort of cracking noise, which sounded similar to a stick being broke in half, every time he moves his body. Although the pain was unimaginable, this could be strangely treated by a cure, consisting of herbs and other forest secretions, whereby the pain and rattling of bones would nearly fully disappear.

Although this effect would, after about one and a half hours, disappear and lose its work fullness, which would once again throw the young boy in spiralling staircase of agony.

The name of this boy was Amoñ, whose mother, Emilia tried anything to somehow keep the frail boy on his two feet.

Despite all of that, Emilia still had to get her work done.

In addition to her humble home, she also owned a sheep pasture, where she sheered them and sold the received wool to the neighbouring agriculture-commune, whereby she would even occasionally offer them meat of older animals.

In return, offered the commune her food and other vital commodities, which allowed the family to live a stable and independent existence.

The way to this commune however was steep and exhausting and in addition also lead downhill.

Therefor the goods had to be taken downhill by a horse carriage, where they would collect them near the meadow and drop of the family’s earned goods, on the way next to their home. 

Although she would offend communicate with them, could she never develop a real friendship with them, whereby the only person she could develop a friendly relationship with was the local blacksmith, who affiliated himself and his family to this community of farmers and repair they’re broken tools from time to time.

This respectful friendship would remain however a stark contrast towards the ever grumpy and frowning faces of the countryman, whom she would unintentionally remain foreign with.

The meadow laid distant from her home, on a glade at the edge of the upper forest, an estimated ten-minute walk on foot.

Emilia often took Amoñ with her on this way and let him, in his painless state, help out by cleaning and petting the sheep.

Although this family had only gained a foothold here for around five years, felt mother and son themselves, amidst the impulsive forest, snug and cozy and hoped to continue lingering they’re following years at this exact position.

Morning set in and the sun slowly raised itself over the proud mountains of this empire.

The morning dew hasn't disapeard yet and the sunrays tried desperately to penetrate the thick and sturdy tree crowns of the forest. Amoñ still remained in his chilly and comfortable bed, while Emilia was already handing her furry wares over towards the delivery Merchant.

Yesterday’s products didn’t get picked up because bad weather and miserable ground conditions, that’s why they had to be fetched this early in the mourning, so as not to disrupt the upcoming delivery schedule.

“So, that would be all.”, shouted Emilia towards the commune Merchant.

“Good! Please excuse the delay, the weather is starting to get better it seems.”, replied the Merchant in a loud and emotionless voice.

“We all hope that, but only fate will tell.”, commented Emilia, “We wouldn’t want you and your colleagues to catch something like a cold on your journey. And if there’s any more trouble you people need help or support with, feel free to let me know. You know where I live.”

The Merchant seemingly took this with a sense of humour, but Emilia could sense that his reaction to this answer was more irritating than amusing.

It seemed to be his first day, she had never seen him deliver around here.

“Thank you, but next time I don’t need some woman, that wants to grand me their »courage«…”, spoke the merchant in a loud and scratchy voice, “You can believe me, that even if my body was near death, I would still master my assigned mission »alone« and without any hurdles.

Emilia didn’t know if this was supposed to be a sarcastic joke or a genuinely harmful remark.

To not irritate the man even further, Emilia started to raise the corners of her mouth in a grinning way and tried to answered in a forcefully friendly tone, “Ok…, <uncomfortable silence followed by clearly faked laughter from Emilia>, I think we both need to part our ways, the sun is starting to rise above the mountain curves and we both got more important things to do. But I still want to thank you guys a bunch for helping me out with the woo-“

“Yes, I will part my way. I still got a trip to the Pernstein ahead of me.”, explained the Merchant in a ones again unmotivated voice, while cutting of Emilias sentence, who in the same time grasped his wipe and signalled the horses to start moving, “Farwell <smack>”

“Goodbye, hope you´ll have a splendid day.”, called Emilia the Merchant after, who slowly started to distance himself and his carriage from her, eventually disappearing in to the depths of the forest.

“This new guy does not only have a bad taste for jokes, he can’t even bring himself to answer with likewise.”, thought Emilia to herself annoyed, but she also didn’t want this interaction to spoil her morning.

Emilia glanced back at the pasture for one last time, making sure that everything was at its right place.

All seemed to be fine. Some sheep frolicked over the meadow, while the rest still enjoyed their morning rest under the red and yellow trees of the forest.

The opposite edge of the meadow bordered different forest. While on Emilias side a purely   coniferous forest sprouted, permeated a colourful and divers deciduous forest the other side, which revealed themself at this time of the year in their foulest glory.

Satisfied with this situation, turned Emilia and started to carefreely walk back to her cabin.

Her dark-brown leather shoes, that where mad out of cowhide and possessed a few patched areas, stomped trough the damp forest floor, while the birds were repeating, their daily morning lullaby.

When she was around half way from her home however, she suddenly heard something fall down, with a dull sound, near her location.

Baffled by the sound, Emilia looked after the origin of this strange noise and what it could have been.

On closer inspection she realised, that it was just a plain old pinecone, and a big one at that.

Emilia exhaled calmly and thought to herself, “Hey, I think know someone who would really enjoy himself over something minor as this. Hopefully doesn’t my intuition fail me yet again, but I am pretty confident in this decision.

After that short reconsideration, she stowed away the pinecone in the upper pocket of her leather jacket, which just parley had enough room to fit the pinecone into, and continued with her walk towards her home, while the top of the collected pinecone peaked out of her cramped pocket.

After another few passed minutes, Emilia would already reach her intended destination.

The home possessed one floor and a small, dusty attic, whereby it contained five rooms, although the kitchen and living room would take up nearly half of the entire living space.   

Emilia moved towards the house entrance, where a canopy would halfway cover up a small terrace, that was decorated with a diner table and robust, wooden chairs.

Before Emilia set foot on the entrance area, would she direct her gaze towards the direction of their outhouse latrine, which was comfortably constructed and even owned a small airhole in the form of a raven, but in addition also possessed a loose metal roof, which occasionally removed itself from the weak grasped of the underlying outhouse.

But everything seemed to be in its right place today and the roof was still attached, but before she finally entered her terrace entrance, would she allow herself to take one last peek into the distance.

The cabin was located on the edge the mountain and was mostly swallowed and concealed by trees, only a beaten path, where the carriages of the merchants would dare ride on, pierced trough the maze-like forest and was thereby the only path that connected this lonely house with the lively valley below.

Yet a small opening between the branches and the accumulation of green needles, on the left side of the house entrance, made it possible to take a gander at the magnificent landscape, whereby mountainous peeks would be chased away, to make way for the ever-imposing valleys.

At time of the day, you could especially savour the unique shadows casts, who would mold themselves over the entire countryside and only leave the distant fortress of »Auryn« on the horizon, as the only place that was spared from the coldness of the mountain shadows and therefore blessed in pure, sacred sunlight. 

“A truly gorgeous view.”, thought Emilia dreamy and sentimentally to herself, “May the goddess bless these lands, now and forever with her ever-soothing purity.” 

But she had to end her philosophical prayer, because she could tangibly sense Amoñ, who was impatiently waiting for his breakfast and of course his medication, without he would otherwise be forcefully chain to his bed for the entire duration of the upcoming day. 

Emilia now walked quickly over the creaking, wooden floorboards, of the roofed terrace, and unlocked the front door.

As soon as she entered and closed the door behind her, could Emilia hear Amoñ, who was joyfully calling her from the inside his room.

The entrance of the cabin was situated right in the middle of the house and directly lead into the living room, where an elegantly yet simple light-blue carped was laid, which was adorned with a grey, snakelike bone pattern, to which their also laid a chimney, with firewood next to it, on top a garden cosmos blossomed, encased in a clay vase, which shared its place with a self-drawn picture of Amoñ and Emilia.

Emilia took of her shoes and placed them next to the entrance, where above them already a few blankets hung.

She entered the living room and thereby brushed her right hand over the soft surface of her rooking chair, which was padded in sheep's clothing and also possessed a special Armrest which was padded with the same material, and walked vigorously towards her son´s room.

They’re rooms where both located next to each other. Amoñ´s room was on the right half, while Emilia´s was on the other half, whereby her room would however be bigger than that of her son.

Emilia slowly opened the door to Amoñ´s room and greeted him softly.

Even tough the cabin was certainly not very big, was Amoñ´s room the tiniest of the entire household.

His bed touched both of the upside ends of the room, where it would also take away one third of the entire room space, and the rest would be occupied by a huge wooden wardrobe, whose upper part was shortened to even fit into the room, and a small round table, on which many drawings and many craftworks found their place.

The cloudy morning sun shined limited trough the half drawn red curtains of the window, enlightening the room and revealing even the smallest gabs in between the wooden planks.

“Mommy!”, said Amoñ simultaneously as Emilia turned the knob on his door.

She happily walked into the room and next to his bed, while greeting him with, “Hey my little russula.

Already awake this early, how come that?"

“The large carriage woke me up and I couldn’t fall asleep after that.”, answered Amoñ in a weary voice.

“The quacking of the wheels?”, questioned Emilia while sitting on Amoñ´s bed, “Oh yes, that probably came from the newly installed wheel. They had to quickly replace it as fast as possible this morning and probably made some kind of mistake while doing so. It was necessary, to not disrupt the upcoming deliveries. Otherwise, the upper merchants would get angry at them again, and I always tell you how easily they can freak out over such things.

“Ok.”, nodded Amon, as far as he could, while remaining motionless in his bed, “Was he at least nice today?”

“Pfff, absolutely not.”, said Emilia ironically, “It was some weird new guy today, seemingly stood up with the wrong foot.

“How did he look?”, asked Amoñ curiously.

“Big bald head, skin as dry as that of an old sponge, and as for the other details, I was just too lazy to look after them. I mostly cross-eyed after the sheep, that once again teased themselves and waddled after each other on the grassland.”

Amoñ started laughing after that, which he had to quickly abort, because his laughter was causing him massive discomfort and pain.

“Hold on a second, I will be back with your glass tea in a minute. After that you can finally raise out of that dusty bed.”, told Emilia Amoñ, while kissing him on his cheek and heading straight towards the kitchen.  

The kitchen located on the right site of cabin and took up, with associated pantry and ladder leading towards the attic, nearly the entire right side of the building. 

Their kitchen was decorated with many shelves and other storage furniture, only the front row at the window was equipped with a long cooking surface, on which many cutting boards, wall mounted fry pans and knives and a heatable stove, which had to be heated by fire wood.

Emilia stood herself in front of the stove and grabbed the nearby chops of wood and threw them into the inner fire place.

After that, she used an apperature, that slammed two flintstones against each other, which was a gift from a friend and also the owned abbreviation of »F-V´ -IV« on it, that was engraved on the semi-golden surface, and through that lighted the thrown in wood on fire, while she closed the lid again.

After that, she took a doted teapot out of the white shelve, that laid next to the right cooking surface.

She then put the teapot onto the now headed stove and picked up a pitcher filled with water, that laid under the work place, from which she would pour the water into the teapot, whereupon she would open a below drawer to her right, from which she would pull a bag of herbal tea, that she would also add to the warming up pot.

After another minute, Emilia would lastly grab a small, crimson coloured vial, from the window sill and drip 3 pours of the included fluid, inside the nearly boiling pod.

Emilia now extinguished the fire, with the remaining water inside the pitcher, and picked up the pot filled with heated tea, from the still hot stove and ran out the kitchen, whereby she quickly grasped a small cup out of the still opened white shelve and walked back towards her son´s room.

She filled the empty cup, with the freshly prepared tea, while she was walking, after which she entered Amoñ´s room and gently handed him the cup.

Amoñ carefully grasped the received tea and tried to bring it towards his mouth.

Emilia helped her son, through the raising of his head with her arm, so he wouldn’t choke on or spill the hot tea on himself.

Just seconds after drinking this infused tea, could he feel is body restarting and slowly started moving his limbs once again.

Emilia was pleased with this and signalled Amoñ, that breakfast would soon be ready.

But before she could leave the room, drew Amoñ attention to this thing that was peeking out of her jackets pocket. 

“Oh, this little thing here?”, smirked Emilia, while taking the sappy object out of her pocket.

“I nearly forgot.”, said Emilia, now holding the object in front of her eyes, “I found this little guy in the forest today. I thought he would appeal to you.”

Milliseconds after these words left Emilias throat, lightened up Amoñ eyes like sparkles and he reached after the pinecone.

Emilia gave Amoñ the pinecone, whereupon stating, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re the best!”, and speaking so fast because of his excitement, that most of his words where completely incomprehensible.

“I knew you would like him.”, answered Emilia happily, after which she tapped his nose, “I will start preparing breakfast now, so please be outside in about ten minutes. And don’t forget you´re cup and teapot.”, told Emilia Amoñ while leaving his room and returning towards the kitchen.

Amoñ gradually raised himself out of his bed and towards his closet, to rid himself of his sleeping cloths.

He laid his beige sleeping cloths aside and took out a dark brown trouser and a white shirt made from fabric, which he quickly donned and afterwords sprinted towards the entrance, while also grabbing his jacked on the way out.

In that same moment, Emilia also walked towards the entrance, carrying a tightly laced sack over her shoulder.

Emilia then opened the door for him and told Amoñ to seat himself outside.

Thereby she noticed, that Amoñ was carrying, bellow his jacket, the from her gifted pinecone, which he tried to hide under his right shoulder.

She didn’t comment on it however, because she was just glad that her son found amusement, in such a mundane and irrelevant piece of life.

Amoñ sat down next to wooden table, whilst Emilia opened the sack and taking out a whole piece of bread.

After that, she looked over to him and asked, “Didn’t you forget about something?”

He wasn’t sure what she meant by that, therefor he anxiously raised the pinecone out of his inner jacket and gently put him on the table.

“No, I don’t mean him. But could you please not put the pinecone inside your jacket the next time. His spiny edges and resin are making you dirty and filthy.”, answered Emilia.  

“But you also had him in your jacket?”, retorted Amoñ.

“First of all, I was carrying him in my pocket and not the insides of my jacket. Secondly, my jacket is extra coded and does not easily become unclean. And third, you’re diverting from the subject.”, dunned Emilia.

Amonñ looked around and shrug his shoulders. He had no clue what he could have forgotten.

Emilia directly looked at Amoñ, with a serious look in her eyes, and moved her arms in a way that looked like she was pouring water into a vase.

Amoñ sat there and firstly didn’t know, what his mother was trying to show him, until it realised it and shouted out loud, “The teapot!”

He bolted, as fast as he could, back into the house, so he could finally get his forgotten tea.

Emilia chuckled and, while her son was still gone, placed the cutlery on the table and started cutting the bread.

The cut marks on the table pointed towards, that she was doing this action regularly and offend without any cutting boards, because she honestly did not care if the table would get damaged in this process, because she knew how resilient this tables material really was and that it would still last for many years to come, even if she would scratch it every single day.

Whilst Emilia was cutting the bread and the table below, Amoñ came sprinting out the front door and spilled some of his tea while taking a turn around the now served table, whose spilled drops instantly disappeared between the small gaps of the terrasse.

“Slowly boy, no need to stress. Not much needs to be done today, just the daily routine with the sheep and that is about it, so take your time.”, clarified Emilia calmly towards Amoñ, while wobbling against the railing with her chair.

Afterwards, handed Emmilia Amoñ a piece of bread and laid it onto his plate and after that, offered him a glass filled with blackberry jam, which he happily took and smeared it onto his slice of bread.

Both wished themselves a blessed meal and enjoyed a peaceful breakfast together. 

Whilst both of them were eating, Amoñ tried to feed his pinecone trough inserting breadcrumbs into the inside of the resin tainted inflorescence.

“Amoñ!”, shouted Emilia with an irritated voice, “Stop feeding your pinecone, he does not need it to survive and can you please stop playing with your fo- <splorge>”.

Suddenly, a loud and dreadful noised echoed throughout the entire forest.

Emilia and Amoñ were nearly solidified on their seats, because of this horrific noise, and Amoñ frighteningly looked towards his mother.

“Wha- what was that, mother?”, asked Amoñ worryingly.

The heard sound was like an explosion, only… meatier.

Emilia anxiously looked towards Amoñ, “I have no idea, but it must have come from the meadow.”, she determined, after which she abruptly raised herself out of her chair.

This noise, it left them both in a state of panic and confusion, whereby a cold feeling constantly shoot over their backs.

Amoñ looked his mother directly into her eyes, trough what he noticed that her eyes were widely opened and glassy, whilst her body was starting to shiver.

He had never seen his mother so anxious, so panicky. It gave him the creeps.

“Amoñ.”, said Emilia in a serious and worried voice, “Lisen to me carefully now. I want you to go into your room now and remain there, until I’ve returned from the pasture. You got that?”

Amoñ nodded, whereby he was so surprised by his mother behaviour, that he could not bring himself to utter a single word.

Amoñ went through the entrances door arch and looked back at his mother.

“I will now go look after the sheep, please remain in your room.”, ordered Emilia.

He started closing the door behind him, while Emilia ran towards upwards towards the meadow.

When she quickly arrived at the meadow, she hid herself in an accumulation of fern at the edge of the forest and overlooked the situation.

The sheep were seemingly unharmed and still alive. She also couldn’t identify a single person or other abnormality on the field.

“The sun is advantageously shining onto the meadow. All beings and objects which are existing on this filed, throw a shadow eastwards, while I on the other hand fully disappear in the light breaking angle of this flora. Whatever there might be out there, I will glimpse it first.”, accounted Emilia inside her head, in heavy concentration, “Just what could have created such a noise?”

Emilia patiently waited inside the dense thicket.

She knew that she wasn’t alone in this forest and that this noise couldn’t have come from nothing.

Many minutes pasted by and Emilia heard neither strange noises nor could she spot something abnormal with her eyes.

But suddenly, she could hear some odd sounding footsteps that made themselves noticeable behind her.

They were loud and conspicuous, either this person wanted a quick and painless death or this could maybe be a baited scheme, to lure her out of her hiding place.

Whatever it could be, Emilia could not take such a risk and remained in her bushy hideout, while she waited until that person finally showed themselves.

The incoming noises became louder and louder, with every uncareful step seemingly closing more in on her.

She now steadily started preparing herself for a confrontation with the approaching person and pulled a bandage, out of her inner pocket, and wrapped it tightly around both of her wrists.

This incoming person was now so close to her hidden location, that Emilia made a quick change in her initial planning and decided to ambush this person and pin them onto the ground.

It was ultimately about time and Emilia leaped outside her hiding place, pinned the person´s head onto the muddy ground and demobilized their arms and legs, in a swift yet fierce manoeuvre.

As the person abruptly fell onto ground, they spat out a cry of pain, “Ouch!”

This voice was rather high and as Emilia irritatingly examined the person she was currently pining down, whereby she noticed that the person was very small and weak, and something also felt very familiar about him, could she not believe her focused eyes.

“Amoñ?!”, shouted Emilia loudly, while loosening her grip on him, “Why aren't you in your room like I told you?”

“I wa- wanted to help you on your search.”, answered, the still pinned towards the ground, Amoñ in a scared voice.

“You didn’t think that what I said about, »staying inside your room«, was meant to be taken as a joke!”, reminded Emilia Amoñ, “There could still be dangerous strangers around here.”

“I… I just wanted to help you”, wailed the now saddened Amoñ.

“It’s ok Amoñ, everything is alright now.”, she said comfortingly towards her son, “I am actually surprised that you even made it here this fast.”

Amoñ slowly raised his head again and told Emilia, while he was whipping away a tear out of his face, “When I decided I wanted help you, I just started running, and I somehow couldn’t stop doing that. I also never ran out of air. It was like my body wanted to me help you.”

Emilia caressed him and said praisingly, “That is remarkable accomplishment. I am proud of you.”, whereby she cautiously and gently gave him a pad on his shoulder, “But don’t continue disregarding my orders like that. Strangers can be crueller than you could ever imagin.

You´ll soon lose the ability to walk however.”, noted Emilia, “We need to get you home no-“, Amoñ interrupted his mother proudly and explained to her, “I have prepared myself for this.”

Emilia questioned Amoñ bewildered, on how he wanted to solve this issue, because he didn’t seem to carry his required teapot with him.

“Don´t worry mommy. I filled my tea inside one of those tiny bottles you always drink out of.”, answered Amoñ confidently.

He pulled the bottle out of his jacket and showed it to her, whereby the tiny bottle turned out to be one of Emilias square shaped hip flasks, that was made out of wood and metal.

Emilia supported her son’s idea, but was also secretly mad at him, for using her expensive flask as a substitute teacup.

“Did you figure out, what could have made such a noise?”, asked Amoñ his mother.

“Not yet. There no people near the meadow, nor can I find any environmental damage around here. It could have been a naturel occurrence, like some kind of… lightning?”, responded Emilia unsure.

“Then let’s take a closer look at it together. Maybe we will find out, what could have made such a noise.”, suggested Amoñ in an energetic voice.

“Why not, I could not make out any potential dangers. Soldier’s or divisions would have already made themselves noticeable in some way.

You always have to remember Amoñ, everything leaves behind a trace, no matter I’ve it’s an animal or human, everything on this planet emits some kind of remanent, which points towards their location.”, explained Emilia, “I believe your now officially prepared, to go on a little search for clues with your dearest mother.”

Amoñ excitedly waved his arms around and afterwards took a quick sip of his tea.

They both climbed over the pasture fence, whereby Amoñ carefully pressed himself over the wooden fence and slowly lowered himself down again, whereas Emilia gracefully jumped over the entire fence, while supporting herself with her right arm, that was strongly laid on top of the fence post.

Both of them walked towards the middle of the meadow, where they also couldn’t find anything unusual, that could lead them to the origin of the unsettling sound.

But Amoñ seemingly noticed something peculiar.

He tapped his mother and pointed towards the end of the meadow, where all the sheep were standing around.

“Are you seeing something that I am not seeing, or what is supposed to be there?”, asked Emilia confused, “The sheep are standing where they are always standing.”

“Look closer, there is a small hole inside. “, replied Amoñ, while pointing into the middle of the hustle of sheep.

The sheep were seemingly really forming a circle around something.

“That is rather odd. Let’s take a closer look at it, from up close.”, decided Emilia, after which they both strode towards the circling herd.

The present animals were already used towards the family duo and quickly made way for them, to devour their weeds in another, less bothersome location.  

But as the livestock moved out of the way and pathed a path towards the middle, changed Emilias attitude from relaxed to fear and unwholesomeness.

Because a lamb was lying motionless on the ground, while a red liquid-soaked trough the field behind it, what also dyed some of the surrounding sheep’s wool.

Emilia shockingly looked towards the seemingly lifeless lamb, whereby Amoñ hesitantly asked his mother, “ehh…, what is that?”

Emilia, who didn’t know the answer to it herself, slowly walked around the lamb, to look after the full scale of the wounds, that have somehow been inflicted to it.

She didn’t seem to find something special at the carcass at first, what could have possibly caused such a heavy haemorrhage, but she then noticed that the lower abdomen of the sheep was corrugated and was seemingly collapsing in on itself.

Emilia lifted the lamb and pushed it, with her entire bodyweight, upwards, so that she could flip it onto the its other side.

As the animal once again landed onto the floor, it made a fleshy noise, while lose organs and entrails gushed forth from the heavily bleeding corpse.

As Amoñ saw this gruesome sight, he couldn’t help himself but to vomit on the spot.

Emilia however just shortly glanced away from this, after which she continued analysing the lambs deceased body.

The heavy, metallic smell combined itself with the stench of half-digested food residue and accumulated excrements, that now made their way out of the dead body, onto the lush fields and into the moist air.

That smell alone brought Amoñ to take multiple steps away from the lifeless body, until he docked his head on another sheep’s belly-wool, while his hand remained in front of his disgusted face.

Emilia pinched her nose shut and lifted the lose skin upwards, whereby she realised, that the innards of the lamb looked like someone had blown them up, even though there was no indication of burn wounds or other signs of explosives to be found.

Despite that, were the organs seemingly torn to tiny shreds and the bones were separated from the main skeleton, whereby they also shown many majors cracks in between them.

“Something must have set of an explosion inside the belly of that poor lamb, I am certain about it.”, described Emilia, while examining a piece of the damaged and moist tissue with her finger.

“But how can something like that even happen?”, questioned Amoñ, who was still grossest out and continually kept his hand over his mouth and nose.

“I know just as much as you Amoñ”, answered Emilia in a concentrated voice, “But please take another sip of your herbal tea, because you’re previous regurgitating could have shortened the tea´s effectiveness duration.”

“Oh, of course. Thank you mommy.”, responded Amoñ, while taking out his flask and resting his head on the now sitting sheep.

The shine of the morning also reached his wonderful pinnacle, in which many colourful leaves floated through the air, the sky was relieved of all clouds, with just a tiny front of bad weather on the horizon, and through the now uprightly standing sun, was every dark valley speckle spoiled with undeniable sunlight.

He also shined on Amoñ´s forehead, who was currently making himself comfortable, in the ever-softening dress of the unbothered sheep.

He could have fallen asleep on this very spot. The regenerating warmth, combined with harmonising tunes of nature, they simply invited someone to fall asleep to them. But Amoñ sadly needed to pass on this invitation for now, because he was after all, still on the search for clues with his mother.

But as Amoñ took another gulp of his required tea, whereby he cuddled himself deeper and deeper into to the infinite layers of softness that where the sheep’s´ woolly coat, could he vaguely make out 3 figures, that were slowly making their way out of the covering forest walls, which mostly consisted out of towering shrubs and suspending tree branches.

The first, rightly protruding person that step out of the forest was ginormous, probably the biggest person Amoñ has ever seen in his life, more than twice the size of Emilia´s height, and with a chubby, muscly body, which had numerus bumps on it, whereby most of them were located on his face and back. They also possessed many scars, had a bald head and only wore a grey mantel over his shoulders, whereunder a small chainmail, which didn’t even reach his breast, was found. Their ugly brown pants were in many areas torn and had numerus holes in them, which was shared bis their iron protected boots.   

The second and leftly protruding individuum was however dressed in more formal clothes and wore a black leather jacket, whose hood was padded in white fur, and night grey boots. But the face of this person was so striking, that even Amoñ glance was instantly intrigued by it. Because this person with a 3-day beard and heavy dark circles around their eyes, possessed, on both sides of his skull rim, few centimetres above his ears, an open and visible half of his brain, that was cleanly cut open.

He also was apparently  hiding a black and white suit, underneath his sorrowful jacket.

The last and rearmost person was of broad statue and wore a noble coat, which was coloured in black and red, adorned with silver, iron and many symbols and whose inside was padded with black fur. In addition, they wore iron shoulder pads and a metal-like, black armour, which slightly reflected the colour red. The face of the person was the only thing that remained unseen, because it still resided in the deep shadows of the forest.

Emilia, who now also perceived the figures footsteps, alertly looked over the animal carcass and glanced against these strange figures, that slowly appeared from the innards of the forest.

Amoñ looked on in amazement, as the ginormous person left the forest and, in doing so, carried with him numerous branches and plant vines, whereupon the two other figures also followed him on.

Emilia, that now got to see the individuum’s clearly, fearfully flinched, while her pupils once again opened to their furthest wideness.

The person furthest behind, opened his clenched hand and pointed it towards Emilia.

A bloody fluid flowed from their right arm into the palm of their hand, wherein it shaped itself into a flying ball of blood, which size kept increasing until it was nearly as big as the entire palm itself and also began to slightly vibrate.

Then the pulsating ball collapsed in on itself and rearranged into a branch-like staff, which thereupon thrusted towards Emilia´s direction.

Emilia quickly leaped upwards and grabbed, the still cluelessly on the floor lying, Amoñ and ran away, with him inside her right arm, as fast as she possibly could.

Through the sudden change, of the previously peaceful and quiet, atmosphere, which also startled the surrounding livestock and made them wildly run away from their current rest location, seemingly also changed the weather, from an enthusiastic clear, blue and hopeful sky, to a more greyish and suffocated blanked of suspension and dread. 

During her sprint, Emilia shortly glanced behind herself, whereby she could only see the spiteful grin of the middle person that still grasped the pulsating branch, which was strangely twitching and, on some occasions, even emitting small crimson bolts.

The middle person maliciously laughed, before pulling back his right arm and followingly shooting the mass of blood forwards, like a rocket, where it then split itself, on about halfway from its destined target, in many small, needle-shaped projectiles, that now flew, in double their original speed, towards Emilia and Amoñ. 

They impacted like cannonballs, in a widespread formation, and deformed the surrounding environment, however where strangely none of the many sheep, that still remained on the meadow, hurt by this.

One of the many projectiles struck next to Emilia, who was instantly thrown onto the ground from this and also lost Amoñ out her arm because of it.

She quickly pulled herself together and clutched Amoñ into her arms again, but in doing so, also felt a warm, pulsating stinging in her left hand.

Emilias sight was blurred and her hearing muffled because of the impact. That’s why she couldn’t figure out at first, what was causing her this irritating pain.  

But as she slowly regained her sight, had she realised that her little left finger, and the area surrounding him, had been completely torn off by the explosion and was bleeding heavily. 

Emilia looked at her wounds in disbelieve, but she didn’t have the time to process this major loss, because she still had to protect her son from these people and needed to bring him towards safety, as fast as she could humanly do.

Without much overthinking, continued Emilia her sprint towards safety and overrun the now destroyed pasture fence, whereby she loosened her right hands bandage and tightly wrapped it around her open wound, halting the heavy bleeding, for now.

Amoñ lied motionless in his mother’s arm and was paralysed, but not from pain this time, rather from the sheer fear and terror, that were caused by this situation.

Who were these people, what could they possibly want from his mother, and would they both even make it out alive?

She ran and ran, until she finally reached the upper hill leading towards her house, where she shortly took a second to breath and regain her strength.

Through the pressure of time and the priority, that her son needed to be brought towards safety, jumped Emilia into the sky, spread her legs downhill and swiftly dived downhill, and as she reached the finishing part of it, once again jumped upwards and unfolded herself, upon landing on the ground again, and stormed through the entrance door, next to which the still served breakfast resided.

Meanwhile, at the pursuer’s location, who are currently, sluggishly walking through the forest:

“Shouldn’t we walk a little faster, when thee truly desires her so?”, questioned the big person, with a grumbling voice.

“No, no. This paste is perfectly sufficient for the situation at hand.”, replied the middle person self-assured, “You do still have an eye on her, don’t you?”

“Yes. She just reached the anticipated dwelling.”, they retorted, while struggling to move their spastic and thick lips up and down, so their vocals could be understood clearly. 

“Splendid, everything is falling into place.”, responded the middle person, “But don’t lose track of her current whereabouts. I intend to not be needed, to expect any unforeseen schemes from her.”

The left person glanced, with a meaningless expression, at the others and quickly turned away, when the middle one noticed, that he was being glared at, after which he continued staring blankly in to the endless spreading treetops of the forest.

The middle person cleared his throat and said, “You seem to be a little bit bleak today, Migraine. I can formally smell your frail body’s soul’s tension. I surly hope, that you are not currently worrying yourself about this woman’s fate.”

“N-no. But we are not just talking about some runaway woman. We are talking about Emilia. The woman with the knowledge of the old goddess, the person who gave thyself…, you know what.”, explained the left person, whose voice changed from expressionless to nervousness.

“Her deed was minimal and meaningless, but present fear, of the ways of the goddess, is justified, that even myself, the highest authority of this empire, and certainly agree with your worry´s towards the gods.”, admitted the middle person, “But Emilia was just a vessel, a victim for the interests of the affiliated goddess, therefor she is neither blessed with or of any higher relevance. She is a rebellious brat, who stood herself in front of my way and thereby hoped, that she would remain prosperous. Oh, but in the end remained only her flight against the inevitable, which I will soon relish in.     

But to find back towards my point, you are a doctor, greatest of the empire, and I expect constant concentration from member of the Blurry-Vessel, no matter the occasion, got that?”

“Yes, indeed…”, responded the left person, whose gaze quickly escaped from the middle one again.

“And a further reminder towards the both of you, that the usage of higher powers or deadly technics is, unless I give the explicit order towards them, prohibited, I hope that this clear.”, formulated the middle person in a direct voice, that afterwards, before the other could even responded, suddenly uttered the words, “Let us halt these pointless ramblings and let us focus our horizon, only towards this filthy woman. My dream grasps towards it.”

At the same moment, Emilia stormed into the middle of the living room and sat Amoñ down onto the wooden floor. “Mommy…, who are these people?”, asked Amoñ sacredly and confused.  

Emilia got down on her knees and sat down in front her son, after which she explained in a soothing, but also clearly stressed, voice, while laying her hand on Amoñ shoulder, “These pea-…”, Emilia faltered and started her saying anew, “I doesn’t matter what I would tell you now Amoñ, you could never understand it and you shouldn’t understand it. This person, that is currently after us, is, in the eyes of many in this empire, viewed as a hero and holy saviour…”

“Then why are we running away from him?”, interrupted a confused Amoñ.

“He is not that, what he claims to be…”, said Emilia with a desperate voice and enhanced grip on her son´s shoulder, “He and his empire are built upon lies and betrayal, only a few know his unorthodox ways, on how which he got his true might and this magic, that he literally, brutally snatched for the manifestation of purity itself!”, Emilia voice became more and more furiously, until she could pull herself together again and afterwards, vigorously in- and exhaled for a few times.

“I need to get you to safety Amoñ.”

“What are you talking about mommy?”, asked Amoñ perplexed.

Emilia pulled the light blue carped aside and reached into a small opening beneath, whereby she raised the prepared wooden boards, that revealed a minuscule hideaway underneath them.

“What is that? Mommy…, Mommy?”

Emilia lifted Amoñ into the air and looked him deeply into his eyes.

“Amoñ, my son. You need to trust me now.”, clarified Emilia with an again sentimental voice and soft eyes, “I will need to hide you in there, for a short amount of time…”, she quickly breathed in again and continued her speech with, “But don’t worry, nothing will happen to me. I will just…, talk with this person for a short time and then, I will get you out of this hole again, okay?”

“Yes, but while you really be fine? We just ran away from these people, and now you can just talk to them?”, questioned Amoñ, who didn’t quite know how to handle everything that was currently going down.

“Now Amoñ, we can’t waste any more time.”, Emilia kissed Amoñ, one last time, and then placed him into the hole, that was just barely his size.

Amoñ said nothing from now on. He was petrified and just helplessly looked towards his mother, who was holding both her hands on the wooden hatch and was preparing herself, to soon shut it closed again.

Shortly before his mother ultimately shut it, Emilia spoke some last words towards her one and only son, “Amoñ, my faithful son. May the future be good towards your regard, and you should always know, that I, as a mother, couldn’t be prouder of you. Farewell.”

<bang> Emilia closed the hatchet over Amoñ´s head and rolled the carped over the hideaway again, whereupon she knocked a strange rhythm onto the floor and uttered one last prayer, “Sancta mulier, custodi prolis voluntatem, ut vivat et custodiat dolorem suum.”, after which distanced herself from the rug and hideout and wiped over hear face again, whereby she also picked up a brown hairband from the living room table, with which she tied her hair into a ponytail.

The previous wound, seemed to have been clotted and the bandage stopped any remaining blood from spilling out. 

She walked towards the house entrance and slid Inside her wardrobe, her jackets and scarfs aside, until they made way for the sharp edges of a hung-up dagger.

She pulled it, with a lot of force, of its mounted wooden pedestal and opened the front door, whereby she hid her swung dagger inside her inner jacket pocket and then openly displayed herself in front of her home.

At the exact moment, the three people appeared and slowly moved down the hill towards her.

The first thing her focused eyes locked onto, was the nasty smiling visage of the middle man, that was moving itself, unchanged downhill.

A gust of wind howled trough the tight loopholes of the forest and the air became noticeably tenser. 

Her long, black-haired tail waved like a flag in the wind, while the elegant coat of the middle man unfolded itself, through the harsh gust, into in all kinds of wavey shapes. 

“Baron, why are you showing yourself here?!”, screamed Emilia towards the man, whose name was now revealed.

“Emilia please, you most definitely know the reason for my current presence.”, spoke the Baron in a provocative voice.

“But why are you seeking me, of all times, out now? I inflicted your scar about eight years ago, why are you showing yourself now?”, questioned Emilia baffled and tensely.

“A former spy should normally be in the clear about the concept, that their counter-player only then strikes, when they anticipate their perception the least.”, reacted the Baron.

“Spare me with those finely memorized monologs!”, shouted Emilia disgustedly against the Baron. “You are not her because of the scar, you’re here because of the goddess, am I right?”

“Off course I am not here because of thine childish act, you pulled of quite some time ago.”, answered the Baron in a raised tone, “I am here to find out, how you managed to gain the favour of a long dead goddess. I expect you to be able to swiftly answer me this.”

“I bet you ´ed wished it would be this easy. I know the true reason for the goddess disappearance, that occurred so many generations ago, and the reason is standing before my self-owned property.”, replied Emilia provokingly.

“Firstly, you own nothing of this land, and secondly, do I want to know what pathetic worm planted these stories into your head.”, said the Baron, who shabbily giggled, while his accomplices were silently walking aside him.

“Who it was doesn’t matter now. You should only know, that the might, that you tried to kill centuries ago, gave me a signal, and you zinc-head should most certainly know what that means.”, explained Emilia, while her hand slowly neared itself towards the dagger inside her pocket.

The Baron stopped and remained, without breathing, on his spot, “Emilia, the woman that alone with her presence, cut throats of her enemy’s.”, pronounced the Baron, whose voice turned very calm and relaxed, whereby he raised his hand and signalled to his henchmen, that they shall halt their current movement, “I wouldn’t have expected less from such a title. You were seemingly also awaiting this day as much as my humble self. But you shouldn’t expect, that you are now currently holding me in some kind of chokehold.”, he spoke with a sarcastic tune on his lips, “You may behold the brains, to hold your own against me in a simple conversation, X-formed scar face, however in your physical form, you remain powerless and inferior towards me and my other companions.”

Emilia looked at both of the Baron´s minions with a critical eye, after which she quickly concentrated towards the Baron again. 

Whatever she may attempt, she would never win this fight.

“And who was this small louse besides you? Perhaps your son?”, asked the Baron, while leaning his head to the side.

“Leave him out of your game! He has nothing to do with any of this.”, yelled Emilia against the Baron, “Besides, he is probably already long gone and away from you. I knew that Trench couldn’t uphold his concentration for that long.”

The Baron turned towards his right person, whose name was Trench, and saw, how he frantically tried to keep his elides open and how his upper eyelid hectically pulsated. 

“Trench…, and to think, I lectured the Migraine on concentration.”, elaborated the Baron irritated.

“That can’t be possible!”, thrusted Trench out of his misshapen mouth, “Even though I am currently struggling with my eye, I should have still felt his footsteps.”

The Baron leaned forwards, towards is associate, and told him mockingly, “Yes, it can.

A small child, trained by a spy, on a ground who´s sound is being isolated by fallen leaves and mud? Hmm, are you sure that he would emit a high and perceptible frequency?"

Just as Trench tried to answer on this, said the Baron comfortingly, while putting on a fake smile, “Don’t let this mishap cause you any regret. I after all know of your little defects.”, whereafter he turned away from him again.

“Now back towards you, Emilia!”, the Baron proudly proclaimed, while he stylishly swung his coat to the side, “Because you wouldn’t want to cooperate with us, am I now forced to lure the information’s out of you, with vigorous force and violence…”

“Trench!”, ordered the Baron, with a loud snap of his metal-like gloves.

“At your command, Baron!”, he retorted.

“Get that wench and bring her to me, no matter if bones need to shatter before that.”

“Understood!”

Trench stormed towards Emilia, who´s heavy footsteps resounded through the entire forest.

Emilia also started moving and ran towards her charging aggressor, whereupon Trench let out a loud grunt and began movement in his right arm, after which he stretched his arm to catch Emilia in his deformed and meaty palms.

However, Emilia slid, with the right hand still around the dagger, underneath his fat pair of legs and stabbed into his left calf, causing him to fall on the muddy forest floor, whereby the wet soil engraved itself into Trench’s clothing, and irritatingly moaning, “Nrgh, Mephistesmetal.”

“What?”, questioned the Baron, whose voice shortly turned serious.

Emilia then raised herself again after the attack, whereby she pulled out the inserted dagger, with her other hand, and spinned herself into a standing position again, and confidently looked towards the Baron, whose face gradually started showing signs of irritation.

But as he noticed that Emilia was awaitingly looking at him, changed this disrupted look into a once again self-assured smile.

“Everyone, listen up!”, spoke the Baron in a militaristic tone, “The usage of blood magic is now official granted. But don’t try to instantly gut this lamb, got that?"

Trench straightened himself up again and clenched a ball full of blood in his hand, whose blood came out of his lumpy neck space, thereby probably out of some ruptured bump on his back, and flowed into his inner palm.

The man left of the Baron, also seemingly had something activate in him.

Emilia looked at him with doubt, while his entire body gradually stared shaking and their face became more and more soulless.

Eventually, his entire body and clothing started turning into blood.

“Baron! I will find this child. No matter what!”, screamed the man emotionally, while his entire body became blood and culminatedly flew, with high velocity, into the sky and out of Emilia´s angel of view.

The Baron looked after him with ambivalent, but should this act of self-initiative not affect his plan.

Trench´s blood suddenly poured out of many of his body regions, which wrapped around his body like a scarf-like bandage, after which, he started to compress the ball of blood in his hand and slammed it, with great force, onto the moist ground, which spread the blood on the dirt like a bloody carpet and created barley noticeable lightning.   

Trench focused his gaze towards Emilia, who at once prepared herself for the upcoming attack.

He expanded his eyes, as far as possible, and let the pound out of blood underneath him flow towards Emilia like a river.

Emilia just barley jumped aside, thereby dogging the raging flood of blood, that dragged itself, like a river, linearly over the floor.

Emilia tried to stand up again, but the trail of blood, that was left behind by the bloody stream, started pulsating and started forming small thorns, while also expanding itself.

Before she could stand up straight again, bursted the twitching mass and created a small explosion, which shot tiny, hardened spines in all directions, whereby these hit Emilia, the house and the surrounding flora and piercing them with the shot-out thorns. But the Baron was strangely spared from all this impalement and was left untouched.     

The small spikes pierced Emilias flesh and tossed her back on the muddy floor, while she led out a painful cry. 

These thorns weren’t lodged in deeply, but were still severe enough to keep Emilia on the ground and shortly detained from getting up.

As the thorns were supposed to hit trench however, they just bluntly recoiled of him and then sank back into his skin, where they turned back into functional tissue.

The missing projectiles shattered trough the cabin windows and damp walls, while enabling, the still motionless and trapped, Amoñ´s hearing, that was previously blocked of through the noise absorbing exterior of the cabin and granting him the ability to listen in on the »dialog« his mother was currently conducting.

He asked himself, what possibly was going on outside and desperately yelled after his mother, whose voice became broken and scratchy, after all the crying he had gone through.

But none one would answer him, because although he could hear the voices from outside, was the construction of his involuntarily hideout build in such a way, that all sound from within was muted and no one would or could know, that he was currently in this closed of hole in the ground.

Back outside, Emilia raised herself again, while the thorns in her body were starting to melt out of her bloodied skin, and prepared herself to continue fighting.

The Baron looked on in amusement, how Emilia struggled to keep herself upright, and couldn’t hide his malicious enjoyment and fretfully squeezed his hands, as he realized that Emilia was strongly trying to downplay her actual pain.

Trench dragged himself, in walking speed, towards Emilia, in thought that she would give up now, cause her wounds were rendering her unable to agility fight this further.

Emilia, despite her bleeding wounds, raised her dagger in Trench’s direction and still did not want to give up. She didn’t want to and simply couldn’t.

But as she wanted to sprint towards Trench again, pierced her a blood-formed spear, with high velocity, from the back, that impacted over her pelvis and completely drilled its way through Emilia´s body.

Emilia fell onto the floor, painfully screaming and convulsively rolling on the ground, while scattering blood all around her.

“It’s over, your time is up.”, proclaimed the Baron, while slowly making his way towards her, “I want to ask you something now.”

He kneeled himself before Emilia and said self-assured, “You may have foughten well, Emilia. But this »desire«, that you have shown me eight years ago, has seemingly burned out. Despite this fact, I am still curiously forced to tear the truth from you.”, clarified the Baron, while nearing his face closer towards hers, “From where did you get the favor of the godd-“, Emilia leaped towards the Baron with new found energy and slashed after his throat, in intention to slit it wide open.

The throat of the Baron reflexively turned into blood and dodged the dagger from Emilia, as he then supernaturally jumped backwards and his throat formed itself back to normal.

Emilia quickly backed away from all her aggressors and stopped on the grassless ground, that lied in front of her house, whereby she raised herself as far as possible to not show any weakness.

Trench didn’t try to run after her and continued to stand motionless on his post.

The Baron exhaled a sign of relief and called towards Emilia, “You could have made it far in my ranks. A talent, that would have even led you towards a status of a general. However, because of your own incompetents, are you now standing before me, with the end soon on the horizon.”

“I would rather choose death, then to serve your regime for one more day.”, countered Emilia mockingly against the Baron, while she tried to balance herself after all this outpour of blood.

The Baron, certain of his victory, walked elegantly over to Emilia, whose legs became weaker and stared fold in.

“Stop denying me woman, give yourself to me and tell me how it happened.”, reacted the Baron, awaitingly waiting for a response. But to no avail. Emilia did not want to answer this question.

“Now then, Trench! Grab me that woman.”

Trench stepped expressionless over to Emilia, whose eyes stared to close themselves, and picked her up by her right foot.

Emilia tried to fight against it, but her body was so far weakened by the blood lose, trough what she even dropped her dagger out of her hand, who tinglingly fell onto the ground, that she had no choice but to surrender herself to Trench´s bone shattering squeeze.   

“Please do not abandon us yet, we still have so much to discuss together.”, said the Baron as he raised his hand and tightened his entire right arm. He closed his eyes and slowly lifted his right arm upwards.

Suddenly, Emilias blood that previously left her body and was gradually seeping into the dirt, started levitating of the ground and glided towards the Baron´s open hand.

He let all the blood sink into his hand like a vortex and afterwards, as every droplet of blood had entered is palms grasp, closed his hand tightly again and took his arm behind his body, like he was trying to throw something.

He eventually thew his arm back forwards and hurled a huge ball of blood directly against Emilia´s left breast half.

She couldn’t avoid this and continued to hang downwards, like a dead turkey, form Trench´s grasp.

The mass broke on impact with her skin, after which it began to climb inside her wounds and flow back into her blood vessels.

It was like Emilia was being flushed with new energy, whereby the feeling in her hands returned and her face regained its colour.

Emilia looked after her previous wounds and saw, that they were all clotted and didn’t spill out any more blood. 

She looked against the Baron with disbelieve, who grinningly looked at Emilia and ominously told her, “Don’t catch yourself any false hope, that was just that you didn’t kick the bucket. Trench, prepare her.”

He cleared his throat and spoke towards Emilia´s upside-down face, which almost sounded melodic, “I know, here you like to live alone, it’s more tainted than it seems, yet soul share the harm, of the ongoing time. The morning is your repentance, the night shall be your high. Your bones mirror trauma and your endless paining breast~.

And this current gift of yours, I ponder of changing it.”, expressed the Baron, who afterwards, with his view towards Trench, snapped his finger once and look at her with a cruel expression.

Just as Emilia realised what would befall her, laid Trench his other arm around Emilia´s thigh, whereupon he would heftily press her leg apart, so that it loudly snapped, like a broken twig, and tore her entire kneecap apart.

Emilia´s scream echoed throughout the forest and even furthermore it.

But just as she tried to process this horrendous pain, glanced the Baron once more in Trench´s direction and maliciously nodded towards him.

After this gesture, snatched Trench Emilia´s other leg and also broke it in half, with the same heartless method.

Emilia was shivering from all this pain, but still tried to downplay her actual inner anguish, to not grand the Baron even more pleasure.

After both of Emilia´s legs were broken and useless, received Trench another signal from the Baron, that he shall continue with this.

Trench threw the now immobilised Emilia back onto the ground, who desperately tried to crawl away with her arms, and grabbed her left arm, after which he also snapped it apart.

He continued the same with her right arm and left her, from pain twitching and suffering body, squirming on the dirty ground.

Entertained, leaned the Baron over Emilia´s face, who bit into the ground, to somehow hide her current agony, whereupon he said, “I will now ask you for the final time. Tell me how you got the favour of the goddess.”

Yet again, Emilia denied the Baron an answer. The only thing she acknowledged towards him, was raising her head of the ground and to spit directly into the Baron´s face.

“Your answer as been accepted. You seemingly leave me no other choice…”

Amoñ, who helplessly had to endure his mother´s suffering, pathetically tried to open the hatch of his hideout, but the energy of his body, physically and mentally, seemed to gradually leave his frail body and nailed his body, like an anchor, back onto the rocky floor of the forsaken hideout.

He tried, with all his left-up power, to get back up and to somehow help his mother, but the exhaust and pain was too much for the eight-year-old to handle and he always landed back on the mocking, dark ground.

A few meters before the terrasse, took out the Baron a sharpened mushroom knife, out of his right coat pocket, and opened it with an irritatingly slow tempo, right before Emilia´s eyes.

Emilia looked disturbed against it, while Trench removed her jacket, which exposed her normally trained arms and back.

“Prepare thine self, for your true intended fate. Your gnosis, made from pure agony.”, proclaimed the Baron in a calm and menacing manner, while laying the blade of the knife on Emilia´s upper arm.

Trench kept Emilia on the ground, as the Baron dared his first cut, which clearly slit trough Emilia´s skin.   

She could no longer escape this judgment, both her arms and legs were broken and a huge muscle mass pinned her onto the floor.

And so started the Baron with his long-anticipated gnosis and carved a scrap of skin, like a piece of butter, off of her, whereby here she could no longer tolerate this pain screamed of such pain, like no human being could even imagen.

Her skin was gradually peeled off, little by little, layer by layer, as her screams became louder and louder and her body shed countless drops of blood. But trough the Baron´s ability, flowed the lost blood directly back into her other openings, and trough that, back into her bloodstream.

Amoñ couldn’t endure this any longer.   

This had to be a dream.

So much pain, the morning began so innocent…, and now this.

He futilely tried to straighten himself up, while his pain became even more intense and it almost felt like his spine was trying to escape his body. But even though all his efforts, was he thrown, renew and again, back on the cold floor.

Amoñ did not want this.

His fastly pounding heart echoed throughout the entirety of his tiny enclosure, while his neck became number and his hands even more moist.

He wanted to cry, but his eyes were painfully dry and unable to secrete more tears.

“This is wrong, this is wrong, THIS IS WRONG! I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be here… Please, I need help.

Mother, mommy, awake me, awake me, end this, END THIS!”

Amoñ´s screams mixed itself with those of his mother, that also laid weepingly on the ground and suffered emotional and physical torture, whose extent would break a normal human’s soul.

But suddenly, was it like Amoñ´s hideaway was changing into a now form. The entire room became pitch black and blocked out every any beam of light that was trying to shine through the floorboards.

He heard voices, saw strange in the stretching distance, but the still continuing screams of his mother made him ignore and see past any of this.

But after all these agonies, collapsed Amoñ´s spirit and he fell unconscious.

Following a very long assembly of torture, lastly finished the Baron his gnosis and looked at Emilia´s face, who was just barley clinging onto life, whiteout uttering a single word.

Emilia´s skin didn’t featured an epi- or dermis on many parts of her body and some places even shown parts of her bone and muscle structure.

She was unable to cough out a simple sentence, cause her body simply didn’t have the energy for it.  

But before the Baron let Emilia die, he said, “Worthless and broken, no goddess there to safe you. A disappointment. My story while therefore prolong itself, for an indeterminate amount. But this torture, it will end now. Now, to never see you again.”

He raised his index- and middle finger on Emilias throat, whereby he sharpened his fingertips into firm blood and swiped them lightning fast over her neck, trough what it was widely opened and lead Emilia towards painfully suffocating on her own blood.

Emilia perished seconds after this, with only her hair, as the only recognisable piece on her entire body, of what person she used to be.

“Is my dream hereby extinguished? No, by no means, but what paths will open to me now?”, whispered the Baron to himself, “Let us regress Trench, there is nothing left for us here. Did you track the current location of the Migraine?”

“Yes, Baron. He is currently north from us, about 3 kilometres from this plateau, on foot of the mountain.”, reported Trench in a concentrated voice.

“Splendid. Let’s see if he actually found this child. My hopes remain low, but should someone, in these progressed times, be allowed to hope a little.”

Trench knocked on his hollow cavity in his shoulder and trough that, signalled the Baron towards Emilia´s still standing cabin, before what a huge carped of blood lied.

“Oh, your totally right. How could I almost forget that.”, reacted the Baron with a smirk, while once again raising his hand towards the cabin.

The form of the blood mass didn’t resemble a branch this time, but a sort of pointy bolt arrow, which he swiftly fired towards the wooden cabin.

The bolt drilled through the front wall and exploded in the middle of house, which brought the entire house to collapse and also to bury Emilia´s corpse beneath it.

The Baron breathed out satisfied and asked Trench, if anything was still missing.

He answered him with, “In fact, yes. The dagger Emilia used. He carried the signal of a private blacksmith, what you can recognise on the hammer-like symbol, which, with the smaller size of the handle, clearly points towards the craft of a private blacksmith.”

“And coincidentally resides only one talented blacksmith in these regions, right?” Let us, after we snatched the Migraine again, pay this person a little visit.”, answered the Baron. 

“Understood.”, confirmed Trench, as both of them tracelessly disappeared into the depths of the forest again.

Although the explosion destroyed the entire cabin, seemed Amoñ, who still laid in his hideout, to be fine and unharmed.

Tough it would take a whole day, until a group of neighbouring agricultures would find him inside his hideout, through his loud banging onto the hatch of the hollow space, and be freed form this hole, whereby he got a small instant of seeing his mother’s presumed remains, which were carried by a big, white bearded man, for the last time in his life.

What happened to her remains was kept a secret, whose details even remained unknown to Amoñ and the members of the rescue team, which then carried the disturbed child into their commune, on the orders of the bearded man.

“I don’t even know, when I lastly sensed joy in my life.” <Á>

“Amoñ please, loosen your shaking hands of your face. I know that you want to go, but please <pant>, please don’t give up yet, … do it for me.” <H> 

-Prologue End-