Kill the End; Chapter One: Kill the Encounter
Deep the forest, covered in thick lush leaves and green brush, a figure moved almost silently passing tree after tree, stopping to peer back before making way further and further into the deep brush. Hugging close to their cloak, their breath heavy and uneven as they continued forward. Stopping by a high level of shrubbery the figure stopped, if only momentarily to take a breath. As they kneeled, undercover of the shadows, slowly breathing.
A sound caught their attention, on the ground was a faint light emitting, there was something or someone on the other side of the bushes. But who? The forest itself was empty save for the plants and the variety of animals that occupied it, no one by their knowledge lived out here.
Peering through the brush of leaves, they spotted a large roaring fire, the blazing heat crackled and roared as a large spike and turn stood over it, a large animal, a boar by the looks of it, screwed on the metal as a figure turned the spire allowing the flames to roast the plump pig. As they looked further they could see tents pitched all over towards the lining of the trees, it was a campsite by the looks and fairly large one. Travelers or soldiers, it was hard to say, though it was a gamble the traveler couldn't afford to take. Looking around he prepared to move, making sure he was not seen, he slipped to the ready, around the camp.
'I need to make to the next town by morning' those were their thoughts, there primary goal, clutching their cargo they continued to move through the forest. As they finally made it a short ways away from the camp, ducking behind a tree to stay in the shadows, their heart was racing, but their body was tired after moving for days, most without rest. At the end of the rope, energy minimal, they slumped down against the tree.
'I need…to rest' it was the truth, rest was required, and without it they would be in no shape for their journey. But the fear and caution of who or what might stumble upon him while they slumbered and it would be the end. Clutching their cloak and cargo, they laid against the tree, eyes beginning to droop, just a short rest couldn't hurt, a breather to calm the nerve and regain energy for the rest of the trip. Slowly those eyes closed and they drifted into sleep and ultimately succumbing to the images that plagued their mind,
The color red, everything was red, the fire that blazed and ravaged the village, the fields where they grew food, the houses and homes, shops and the small school. Everything set ablaze by intruding forces. The ground scattered with blood, painted against the broken debris and buildings. Bodies scattered in the roads, parts and pieces here and there, ripped away from their owners.
Everything was gone, everyone was gone butchered like cattle and tossed away like trash. The crying and screaming echoed all over, no end, no mercy, nothing to break from the savage massacre they were forced to witness.
Eyes opened awakened from the deep slumber, Looking up he found he was still in the forest,
"I must have fallen asleep…" wiping his eyes he quickly got up and prepared to move again. Moving through the forest, his package on his back, he hurried, not wanting to be late as his mission was crucial.
'I can't stop…not for anything' as he exited through a long brush he found himself him a stream, the movement of the water mixing with the rustling of the tree's from the night air. Deciding to follow the river he headed upstream, after a few moments of stopping he came upon a turn, but as he neared it he stopped.
Slowly he kneeled on the corner, sensing another presence, he carefully peered over his eyes and senses sharp. There was a figure standing by the river, looking closer they became clearer until he saw,
'A…woman?' indeed it was a woman dressed a long dark blue robe like dress and had maroon blue hair, she began looking around, not in a scouting, her doe like eyes behind large circular glasses.
"This seems like a good spot" she said onyx eyes looked at the flowing stream, "Yes this will do…" he smiled,
'Eh…huh!?'
She began unlatching the clamps from their outfit, shedding her clothing, once the first layer was gone she set them on a nearby rock, lacing her fingers in the lace of her slip she pulled down the white fabric revealing her cotton blue panties until she was wearing nothing but her bra and underwear.
'Oh crap…she's undressing' he blushed furiously seeing her nearly bare, his brain going miles per hour trying to process the scene.
Soon she was in nothing, her creamy skin bare to the world, "Brisk" she chimed feeling the cool breeze on her skin, setting on the edge of the stream she set her feet in testing the water, giving a shiver when the cool water tickled her skin. The male blushed, 'I shouldn't watch this…', but that didn't stop him from looking away.
Once used to the cool liquid she slowly moved until she was submerged in the cool stream feeling the water moving against her skin.
"Such a nice bathe" she beamed relaxing into the water, as she basked in the serene calmness of the forest, "It's been a while since I had such a relaxing soak", a rustling of the bushes.
"Ah, seems like I've drawn some company" she sighed contently still lounging in the stream.
'Huh?' what did she say?, had he been discovered
"You know it's impolite to watch a lady when she's bathing, don't you think so?" she smiled turning to look at her peeper.
Back at the camp, a figure stood near the fire pit, they appeared to be checking the boar, their duel eyes looking over the large pig to make sure it was cooked through.
"Has anyone seen Charlotte" a voice said from behind the other at the pit, the hooded figure appeared to be holding two large baskets; each filled with various fruits and vegetables.
"I think she said something about taking a bath" pointing to the forest the hooded figure seemed to understand, "She should hurry back, the food is done cooking" the other said,
"I see, perhaps one of us should go fetch her" they said setting the baskets down on the ground, "We can't be wasting time, we have to get to our destination…" he paused a noise catching his ears, slowly he stood turning to the forest,
"It seems we have uninvited guests", after moments of rustling suddenly something jumped from bushes, before the two were three figures, all males wearing tribal like clothing and fabric, their dark skin and hardened demeanors proving they were hunters.
"Looks like we found something interesting" one of the man said, "When we spotted this place we thought it was some nobles…" it was easy from observation with the tents and all the food,
"We were actually hoping you were worthwhile opponents for us" they laughed, trying to intimidate the two. The scene was silent, violet eyes of the stared at the two individuals, those sharp eyes observing and examining, before he let out an exhale,
"Hey, how do you want to handle this?" he spoke, the figure at the screw hadn't turned around,
"Just the three of them, I don't sense a strong energy from them, so they wouldn't be worth it" they said with minimal interest, "Besides aren't they more your thing"
The male gave a scoff, "They aren't specifically my type…"
"Hey what are you two mouthing on about!?" the leader barked offended by the remarks of the two targets.
"Besides I handled the last weed problem" the hooded figure added earning another moment of silence,
"Oi, you two bastards don't make fun of us!" the leader yelled
"As assassins it should only take minutes, seconds to kill you" he grinned malicious holding his weapon, the sword gleaming in the moonlight.
"Heh, let's hurry up in finish these guys!" the group prepared to attack, the hooded figure slowly stood back up sensing an impeding battle. Suddenly there was a small rumbling
"What the…" with a jolt something burst out from the others back, the blackness oozing upwards becoming solid, two small hands with a darker shade of hands formed, then a head round, from it a symbol came out formed a large star shape.
"What's the hell?!" the attackers were awe struck having just witnessed something emerge from the others back. It looked humanoid in shape, but abnormal in appearance.
"Huh?" the creature blinked, "Hey brat, what's with all the racket? All this noise rattled me from my sleep?" their voice sounded masculine as it looked down at its owner from which it emerged form.
'What the hell is that thing'
"My apologies" the owner said evenly, turning their head it gave the others a better view of their face, they were young, possibly in their teens. They had short midnight blue hair with a clip on each side holding three stars of various sizes, they wore a regular brown shirt and brown pants and brown boots, in all they didn't look anything special with regular look of indifference.
"Oh ho! Look at all this food!" the creature gushed seeing all the food set out, "I'm starving! Let's eat!"
"Um I believe we have a situation to deal with before we food" he pointed, it's head turned seeing the other figures towards the forest, there looks of shock still present.
"Huh? Who the hell are they?" it questioned wondering who was stopping him from getting a meal
"Apparently their assassins who want to kill us and take our food" the figure said in explanation
"What!?" their eyes narrowed, "Oi, no one's taking my food, especially some so called assassins!" it yelled, though more concerned for the food then the other's lives, though the two didn't seem to mind it's selfish words.
"Hm, what's this?" leaning forward it's eyes seemed to stare at the men, "Hey do you see what I see?" it leaned down to whisper to the midnight blue individual, "Huh? See what?"
"That red color" the glowing red orbs that illuminated from their chest, even if they couldn't see he could,
"Are you talking about that, what about the food?" the pointed, "Well get to that, but how about a snack first" the tiny thing continued to watch the small group of assassins.
"Oi, enough of this babbling!" the leader yelled readying for combat, "Killing you brats is going to be a nice warm up for us!" he grinned wickedly, the two groups stared each other down, waiting to see who would make the first move…
"So I'll guess you'll be handling this then…" the hooded figure said, while he was distracted one of the assassins advanced, sword drawn he prepared to bring the sword down on the other,
"Got you!" he grinned wickedly with full intent to kill, as the sword made contact the male eyes quickly widened. The sword had not made contact with flesh or bone, the steel clashed with the abyss dark skin of the creature.
"The hell!?" he gritted, with mumbled noise that no one could seem to describe, the creature looked up at human assassin, "How could this little pipsqueak be this strong?" he wouldn't get his answer as something wrapped around his throat, looking down through pained eyes, it was the owner, their hands griping at the others throat squeezing with not enough pressure to kill, but enough to hold the larger male of the ground.
"The…fuck…" he chocked leering down at the other, who duals eyes watched him with indifference
"Don't underestimate me, weakling!" pulling their hand back, hand flattened, the man eyes widened feeling a great pressure in his chest. The sharp trick, with enough force to tear through his chest. His mouth widened, blood dripping from the side as his eyes widened from the sheer pain.
"How…" was his last words, in a split second his body fell back limp as the other released his throat letting his body fall limp to the ground.
"Not much was he" the little chuckled as they sat or rather laid against midnight blue strands, "At least's something came out of him" he chuckled, as his owner held something red and glowing in their hands, the small, red tailed orb floated in the hand they used to kill the other.
"Eh, rather small..." he noted the size, "Oh well a snacks a snack, and this is a tiny snack!" opening its mouth, the small red orb was quickly eaten by the small creature, making a small gulp before giving a sigh of exasperation.
"Not that of a filler" he grumbled, "The taste was about as weak as he was" he said with a look of dejection,
"Feh, damn you" the leader gritted after watching one of his subordinates be cut down so easily
"What should we do now?" the man asked the leader, now it was just two of them, having watched the other take down their comrade without effort, there was a high chance they would end up the same like the other, dead on the ground.
"Soulless, what should we do now?" the other asked their eyes looking upwards as the creature still sat on their head, appearing to still be sour.
"We should regroup in the forest…"
"Running away" they were cut off by the hooded figure, the men readied themselves, "You know Starr, I've changed my mind" he began, "I think I'll handle the rest of these guys"
"Damn brat!" suddenly from the bushes, two males charged at each side towards the other male, "Kill him!" the leader orders as they prepare to strike, as the swords prepare to clash something burst upwards creating a cloud of dust. The men gasped as something suddenly burst from the smoke, long green ropes, thick and long rushed out, entangling and ensnaring the men in mid-air, Wrapping around any part the could grab keeping the men immobile.
"V-Vines!?" the men struggled trying to get free, the ropes gripping them tightly in a bone crushing grip,
"How disappointing" he speaks seeing the men entangled, "It won't do you any good to struggle, those vines are naturally train to never release anything they grab" he stated factually as the veins grew tighter earning more struggles from its captives, who muttered and moaned in pain as the vines gripped tighter, the sounds of bones cracking and muscles popping and twisting could be heard over and over,
"It's a shame, my plants will have to have such, low class food" he said with a irritated voice, "Oh well…" with a movement of the figure the site echoed in screams and blood, as the vines crushed the for men, before dropping their broken corpses to the ground in a heap.
"Well that as drawn out…" Soulless groaned, upset he couldn't take their souls.
"Hn, it seems their leader escaped" the two had slipped off during the minor distraction.
Inside the forest, the two men quickly moved through the forest, their movements swift as they rushed through the forest, feet racing against the dirt and terrain of the vast forest. The leader was fuming after seeing most of his subordinates taken out and now forced to retreat.
"Leader…?"
"Find the others, well regroup and take out those bastards!" as they moved through the forest, exiting into a clearing, they slide to a stop once out of the thick brush. Turning back the leader decided they had made a good distance from the previous location. After the death of the others there were now only five of them left, they we need to regroup and plan out another attack.
"Damn them" he spat having been beaten so easily, their own fault for under estimating them, "Just what the hell are we dealing with?" they weren't regular travelers, hell they didn't even seem human.
"Let's just find the others!" the leader ordered, "We'll regroup and take our revenge later!" he gritted, his eyes dripping with venom and bloodlust.
Back at the camp sight,
"You did very good today, my apologies for their inadequacy", the hooded figure said, his hand petting against the vines, the plants wiggling and moving now and then from their masters touch.
"That's just sickening" Soulless groaned as he sat on the others head as was Starr seated on rock, "Hey feed me another one of those souls" sticking a fork into the small orb, they lifted it up allowing the other to eat and swallow it.
"Yipee! It might be small, but a souls a soul!" they squeaked before being given another of the glowing tailed orbs, "Hey" chewing he swallowed the last one, "Where's Ms. Holy then though, off trying to convert some heathen" a sarcasm dripping from his speech.
"She went to bathe in the wood" that caught Soulless attention, star pupils widening and growing only to return to normal after bouncing around in his eyes, "Now that's sound interesting" he hummed, suddenly a rustling from bushes caught their attention,
"Hello everyone!", from the bushes emerged a woman with short dark black bobbed hair and wearing large oval shaped glasses. She appeared to be dripping wet, as droplets slide down her skin and the shirt she wore clung to her body making it almost see through.
"Charlotte, where have you been?" the male asked seeing the woman walking out of the bushes and into the camp,
"Oh, sorry about that I was taking a bath and got a bit, sidetracked" she giggled rather embarrassed, "Oh by the way, I ran into the nicest young man!" she said pointing to the side as another figure excited from the forest. The three looked at the other, dark brown hair that spiked in various directions, dark cyan eyes, alabaster skin, his figure thin, but not skinny he had some muscle but the view of his arms.
"Who's that guy?" Soulless question seeing the other male, the male didn't have time to answer when suddenly he found his arm being held, pressed against the woman's still wet breast, "Now don't be so rude, this young man help me after I was about to be attacked by some bandits!" Charlotte said before taking the males hands in her own,
"This young man truly has a strong heart. May our Lord smile down upon you!" she smiled warmly as she spoke her prayer, the male however seemed confused and bewildered by the woman's demeanor.
"Here she goes…" Soulless rolled his eyes,
"By the way, Charlotte, where did you get that shirt?" he knew it wasn't hers
"Oh that, it's mine" the male replied, earning a few looks from the others, "Um…I just leant it to her because hers got destroyed back in the forest" he explained how three bandits had attempted to attack Charlotte while she had been bathing, he had stepped in to protect her. In the end he managed to kill the three males, but with Charlottes clothes having been collateral damage.
"He was so brave, such a kind soul" she smiled warmly, it reminded him of a mothers smiling to her children, warm and inviting.
"T-Thank you Ms..."
"Charlotte" she finished, "I am Charlotte Web, pleased to meet you" she introduced herself kindly and politely hands folded neatly in front of her.
"And those are your friends?" Charlotte again giggled nodding her head, "Allow me to introduce you…"
"This is Shoku" she pointed to the hooded male with the lavender purple eyes and almost stern demeanor,
"Greetings" Shoku said with a polite voice and gave a curt bow, "Thank you for helping Sister Charlotte" he added
"And this small young cutie is Starr" the male looked at the other, as he stared over the other there was a question that kept popping up into their head.
"Hello there!" he greeted with a friendly smile, Starr remained passive looking off to the side before giving a short, "Hi"
"Don't take it personally, Starr is just shy" Charlotte said
"Hey what about me!?" came a smaller, but loud voice, turning onyx eyes saw the small creature on Starr's head,
"Oh Soulless, I almost forgot about you" he said with what could be described as ditsy and surprised
"Oh I bet" he fumed at the woman who just gave him a cute smile,
"Um, what is that thing?" the male pointed rather shocked seeing the small creature on the midnight blue haired individual.
"He's Soulless" Shoku answered,
"Soulless…" did that mean he didn't have a soul or what exactly was he or it?, "Exactly what are you?" he asked looking the miniature thing,
"Hey buddy to close, back off!" with his small round hand he smacked the male right on the forehead making him move back,
"Hey, what's the big idea you little monster!" the male healed rubbing his head
"Screw you! Ya little punk!" Soulless growled,
"Soulless that wasn't nice" Starr said earning an audited snort from Soulless
"Big baby, crying over a little bruise" he grumbled, "I'm going back to sleep" with that he disappeared inside Starr.
"Irritating little jerk" he tensed
"You get used to him, sometimes" Shouko gave an exasperated sigh, "Again thank you for 'helping' our comrade"
"Really it's no problem, I'm just glad I was able to help" he replied, "Hopefully I won't run into anymore bandits out here"
'Bandits?' so they were bandits, a side job from assassination how juvenile, "Where exactly are you headed?" the violet eyed male asked
"Diocese" he replied, "It's a district in the capital" it was a small district, but a good place if you needed supplies for travel.
"Diocese" Shouka spoke folding his arms, "Starr aren't you going to Diocese?" the statement surprised the other, his eyes peered over to the individual known as Starr who was carving into the carcass of the giant boar, turning their head slightly they gave a nod.
"Perfect" the male said before turning to the stranger, "You two can go together" his statement seemed to surprise everyone in the campsite.
"What?" the stranger asked
"Think of it as a way of repayment" Shouka replied with an endearing look in his eyes
"T-That's not necessary" the stranger seemed to decline, it wasn't anything personal, but he had a mission to do. Plus the thought of traveling with that thing…that seemed to reside inside Starr nerved him.
"Plus I'm sure you guys have places you need to go too" he added as an excuse hoping they would buy it and he could continue.
"Actually Diocese district is one of our stops" Charlotte piped, "See we were actually head to a village not far from the capital and then make a stop at district when we were done"
"Since there are only three of us, splitting up would be impossible" he noted, "But if Starr goes with you then it should lessen our trip"
"But…I…I…" he found himself lost as the three continued to speak and converse on the new travel plans, in the end the young traveler ended up having dinner with them with the confirmation that he and the other would travel with him to the district in the capital, much to the others charging which fell on deaf ears. After eating and few short conversations the four retired to sleep.
To Be Continued…