7. Burning Shadows

In the village square, Riff stood beside Adrian, surrounded by the alarmingly huge crowd of people around them.

"Does everyone in the village come to see such spectacles?" Riff asked Adrian nervously.

Adrian nodded quietly. "Of course. Some people drag the sickly or more injured people to the Apothecary or the Divine Healers and beg them to heal those specific people. And how they repay them..." Adrian made a grim face. "I'm not sure if this is true, but payments can get extreme to the point that some women even give up their virginity to pay for being healed, if they don't have money to pay for it."

Riff couldn't help but cringe as well. "That certainly sounds...Very extreme." He remarked after much hesitation. "Why would people go to such limits? Do they surely see him as such a saviour?"

"Yes." Adrian let out a sigh, barely heard through the noisy chatter of the other villagers. "They almost quite blindly follow him...And I worry about that. I've always thought that there was something about the Apothecary that doesn't seem right. I just can't put my finger on what exactly."

Before Adrian could continue, a huge cheer went up from the rest of the crowd, and the two turned to see a man, probably about his mid-thirties or older, walk into the middle of the crowd, and the people moved back to make room for him as two other people, who Riff assumed immediately to be the Divine Healers, accompanied the man.

"That man..." Adrian trailed off quietly. "He's the Grand Apothecary. The two behind him are two of the Divine Healers. You already know the woman is Briana, and the other is Riley. But...where's Sven?"

Riff looked at the Divine Healers; indeed, Sven was not among them. The man standing beside Briana was not one that Riff recognized, but he had a hunch of who it was.

"That man beside Briana...he's Riley, right?" Riff asked. Adrian gave a quick nod as Riff looked a bit more closely at Riley. Riley was a tall man, probably about Riff's height, and his dark brown hair (which, Riff noted, was about the same shade of hair as Cassandra's except slightly darker) was tied back in a short ponytail. He had somewhat pale tan skin, and he was long limbed for sure. He had muscle, that was noticeable from underneath the black uniform with silver buttons on the coat, and Riff immediately assumed that he must be quite physically strong, too.

Most notable, Riff noticed, were Riley's eyes. They were a deep crimson, like the red of a fire mixed with the red of blood taken straight from a vein. The eyes were focused completely on the Apothecary, before switching to the crowd, before-

The eyes made contact with Riff's own eyes.

Riff immediately looked away, but then looked at him again. The eyes were still focused on him, but it was no glare of mistrust, nor anything cold like Riff had seen in Briana's eyes when he saw her stomp past him and Adrian the previous day. It was a gentle look, almost full of grace like Sven had gazed at Cassandra and given the older man his blindfold.

Then Riley looked away, focusing his attention on the Apothecary. Riff knew he had to focus too, to see what spectacles the Apothecary created.

In the next fifteen minutes following, Riff saw the blind regaining sight, the deaf being able to hear. The lame people walked and the previously mute ones now shouted for joy.

The Apothecary could truly, literally heal people. Riff felt bad for not bringing Cassandra; perhaps the Apothecary could get Cassandra's sight back...

But before Riff could linger any further on his thoughts, a chorus of loud roars and the screams of people made him turn and stare at the monstrous beings that appeared out of nowhere.


Cassandra and Sven crept through the alleys, not wishing to be seen by anyone.

"You skipped the festival to find me?" Cassandra asked in disbelief.

"Yes. And I also had to take care of Leroy." Sven spoke quietly, and he hesitated before continuing. Cassandra assumed he must be looking around cautiously, in case anyone was nearby. "We have to be really silent, as we're nearing the town square. Be careful."

"Right."

Before the two could continue sneaking about, a loud roar and several screams alerted them. Cassandra cringed at the sound of the screams as Sven let out a gasp of alarm.

"Down!"

Cassandra felt himself being pushed down as a loud growl and loud foosteps rushed past them. The two were silent, and then Cassandra spoke up, fearing that one of them could be possibly hurt.

"Are you alright?" Cassandra asked. He felt Sven help him sit up.

"Yes." Sven responded hoarsely. "But those things just now...they were creatures of evil. They shouldn't be existing in this village..." He paused before launching into an explaination. "Those things are called Cimmerians. Deadly creatures, they are...They feed off the flesh of humans and other creatures. It's a miracle that we didn't get hurt."

"Sven?" Cassandra asked as the two stood.

"Yes?" Sven inquired.

"...Considering that we're close to town square and they just passed us...Wouldn't that mean that they're probably heading towards there? There's a festival going on, and that means there would be more people there..."

"Oh no." Sven muttered under his breath. "You're right. C'mon!"

Cassandra felt himself getting pulled by the arm sharply, being forced to run.

"What about the whole 'hiding from the townspeople because you were skipping the festival to find me' plan?" Cassandra asked, surprised by Sven's sudden actions.

"I don't care! Those people will be dead meat if they don't realize a horde of Cimmerians is upon them!"


Riff and Adrian had no idea what to do in the midst of the chaos.

People were screaming, people were running and getting attacked, and Riley and Briana's attempts to fight the creatures were not helping much. The Apothecary was shouting things like "My people, calm yourselves as your screaming will only provoke them further!" but it was far too late for such warnings.

Riff took out a gun and started shooting at the beasts as Adrian instinctively took out a knife, ready to stab any that came near. They knew they had to defend themselves and get the heck out of here, quickly. It wasn't safe-

That was when Riff spotted a certain blindfolded man rush into the midst of the beasts, accompanied by a familiar blond-haired Divine Healer.

"Adrian!" Riff pulled on Adrian's arm lightly, pointing. "What's Cassandra and Sven doing here?" He asked in disbelief.

"Crap." Adrain muttered, starting to run over to the two. "They're going to get killed if we don't get them out of here. C'mon!"


"This isn't good..." Cassandra heard Sven as the two finally got to the town square. "This isn't good. Quite a few villagers are dead already..."

Dead already... The two words stuck out in Cassandra's mind, and he immediately thought of Riff and Adrian. "Sven. Riff and Adrian, they're here because they said they would tell me about the Apothecary when they got back...Do..." He hestiated before asking quietly, "...Do you think...They might be dead?"

"Let's hope not." Was all Sven replied with the same quietness. Before Cassandra could respond, he heard a loud growl, and he immediately knew that they were surrounded by the beasts. "Darn it..."

Cassandra wanted to mentally slap himself right there. Why didn't I have a sword, or some sort of sharp weapon!? The ex-Hierophant of Delilah wailed to himself in his mind. Now I'm going to die, because of all these stupid beasts ripping me apart...

Before he could continue in his thoughts, he felt his right and left hands grasp onto two things, and he knew what those things were.

He was holding onto two swords.

What? The blades shouldn't exist here in his hand. He didn't have any sword with him, nor did Sven, he supposed. But...Then...Why...How?

He didn't have much more time to think, as he instinctively lunged forwards and swung at the beasts, feeling the the blade connect with flesh and rip it apart. He felt himself spinning, feeling the blade connect with flesh several times as the beasts' screams echoed in his ears. He ducked down as he sensed something trying to smack him in the face, before he rolled to the left and quickly got up, disarming another creature and slashing its flesh, too.

He remembered this feeling, the feeling of wanting to simply destroy whatever it was in the way. He remembered it back when he was about to run Jizabel through with a sword.

But wait...what happened after I tried to run him through? Did the attack actually meet my target? No, no, it didn't. But then what happen-

Cassandra felt himself getting slashed in the chest, and he staggered backwards. Feeling an odd burning sensation at where the creature struck him, he cringed in pain. He knew it wasn't good, and he shouldn't be preoccupied with his thoughts at the moment. He mentally cursed himself for that, before suddenly going into a quick spin and slashing the beast with the two blades, before stepping forwards and stabbing it with both blades. He heard the creature let out a weak roar, before the sound of a thud occurred.

Cassandra knew, right then, that he'd killed every single beast in the town square, and he didn't even need eyes to realize it. He felt the weight of the blades suddenly vanish, and he promptly put a hand to his face, feeling something sticky and liquidy come in contact with his skin.

Is it blood?

He touched his arms, grabbed at his shirt, and touched a few strands of his hair. The same feeling occurred at those places, too, and he had a feeling he must be completely drenched in blood. The feeling of it made him sick, and he staggered backwards, about to fall, just as he felt strong arms support him.

"Cassandra?" Adrian's alarmed voice was the last thing Cassandra heard clearly. "Cassandra! Can you hear me!?"

Cassandra tried to say something in the midst of all the pain, but he couldn't. His mind was getting fuzzy, and he felt as if he was losing consciousness. The ex-Hierophant felt himself getting weaker and weaker until he couldn't feel anything anymore, completely losing consciousness.