I really didn't want to leave but I figured this would be a pretty boring dream if all I did was just sit and stare at the landscape, so I reached inside my coat and was astonished that just like in Yggdrasil, I had an obscene amount of items that I had never really bothered to throw away. Daggers, blacksmith tools, paper, ink, oh and huge amount of clothes all neatly folded and waiting to tried out.
How did I fit all this inside a simple trench coat? Well, early on in the game I came across a rather unimpressive looking chest hidden just behind a tavern counter. When I opened said chest, this little beauty appeared in my inventory stating that I didn't have to worry about inventory space. Couple that with a the fact that rarely threw things away, and you can imagine how happy I was. Finally, after rummaging through a catalog of other items, I found exactly what I was looking for. A simple looking necklace with a silver feather mended into it. I moved to put it on when I realized that I was already wearing something. It was the same little watch I had found back when I was about to log out. Now if I had really been thinking back then, I would've started panicking then and there. But I was just too excited at the prospect at what I was about to do, that I just chucked that thing into my coat and slipped on the feather necklace.
"Fly." I commanded with no small amount of excitement. A second later, the feather began to glow brightly and a second after that I was lifted right of the ground. I laughed. I laughed long and hard as I just twirled and flipped through the air for maybe five minutes solid. I was only brought of my childish trance when I heard the sound of a few birds singing in the sky a few hundred feet above me. My face curled up into what might've been the biggest smile I had ever had and I shot off into the air. I probably should mention that flying in YGGDRASIL, while looking great, never really felt like you were flying. You didn't feel the wind across your face, or the temperature change as you rose towards the clouds. Here though, Here you felt those things and more. I flew right past the birds and further into the bluest sky I had ever seen screaming and laughing more than I had ever thought I was capable of. Once I had finally calmed down, which was probably a little over an hour after I had lifted off. I was content to fold my legs and just sit down on nothing, looking down on the world below me. Wherever I had woken up from, was pretty far away from civilization. I couldn't see a town, or village, or settlement, or even a road anywhere nearby. So with no specific place in mind, I took off in a random direction blazing through the clouds like I had been doing it all my life.
A good amount of time had passed when I finally found a road that led to a small settlement. And I in that time, I did begin to wonder why the hell I hadn't woken up yet. Not that I was complaining but still, most dreams I had never seemed to last this long. The good ones anyway. Still though, I was enjoying myself far too much to really want to wake up. Unfortunately, that all began to change when the village became more visible to me. A fire had just recently been set inside the center of it and the sounds of screaming could be heard even as high up as I was.
I'll never really forget those screams. Something about them turned my stomach upside down and even now still cause me no small sense of dread. My new foundinstincts kicked in when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a knight with a huge great sword clutched in his hands raise it over the head of a girl who couldn't have been older than seven. I darted down, somehow ignoring the astonishing smell of blood and landed right in between them. The sight must've been a little awe inspiring as the knight who admittedly towered over me dropped his sword behind him. His helmet hid his face but I'm still pretty sure it must've been one of fear as I threw my fist right into his stomach.
I had above average strength stats in YGGDRASIL so I expected some damage to be done, but what I did was something all together different. The man was sent flying back across the village plowing through a burning barn and collapsing on the other side of it. Two things stood out to me, one I had a much more powerful punch here than I had in YGGDRASIL and two, the punch had hurt my hand. Like hitting anything would. Now, I'm no dream expert but in every dream I had ever had, whenever I hit something, I didn't feel pain from it. I was only brought out of my thinking when a yell of another grunt rang into my ear and the sound of an axe brushing through he wind pumped me full of adrenaline. I sidestepped the attack and prayed that the girl had run off after I had punched the other guy. When I saw that she was gone, I looked at my new attacker.
"Watch were you're swinging that thing." I said kneeing him in the stomach. I could actually here the bones crack under the force of my knee and I was given further proof of that when he let loose a gargantuan amount of blood onto my leg. I wanted to freeze at the sight, but my body wouldn't have any of it. Without really thinking, I then grabbed a hold of his throat and chucked him into an incoming group of other knights. I looked around for any other surprises when the sight of a two more of the on horseback came towards me with spears outstretched from their arms. Time seemed to slow as they finally came within striking distance. In what might've been my first conscious act, I unsheathed my rapiers and leaped in between the riders. Now these guys were pretty well armored so you could imagine my surprise when my blades pierced through their chests like butter and knocked them them straight off the horses with relative ease.
As all three of us hit the ground, the sounds of blood and gurgling from their mouths nearly caused me to throw up. As quickly as I could, I stood back up and pulled my blades from their chests. As the soldiers lied there choking on their blood, I finally caught whiff of the smell that had spread through the village. I don't know how I stopped myself from collapsing from it. The smell of blood was everywhere with a strong second scent of burning flesh compiled onto it. I looked around for wherever the origin of the odor was coming from and what I saw…..
I think the point I truly realized I wasn't in a dream was when I saw just in the hell people were capable of. There, piled outside for all to see, was a group of maybe twenty or thirty people. Men, women, children, all of them were stripped naked and set aflame. I stared at the massacred people for far longer than I think I should've. Not really thinking about anything accept the horror of it when I heard a loud, evil yell come from behind me.
"You! Who do you think you are?!" Something snapped inside of me. I turned around faster than I ever had before and gave the man a look of pure rage. I had a few tears coming down my face, so it must've been quite the look, if it caused him to tense up. There were about ten knights behind him who where probably the same people I had knocked down with that one knight.
"Who are you to interfere with our holy work?!" Another one shouted as I picked up my rapiers from the ground. I normally would've given some smart ass reply but after what I saw, they didn't deserve it. I dashed towards them and began to carve them up. To tell you the truth, I really don't remember exactly what I did to them. I was mostly seeing red by that point and I think it's a good thing that I was. For when I finally came out of my rage, I was knee deep in blood and gore and there wasn't a single intact body of the men who had done this. Heads, arms, legs, so many body parts were missing from so many of them that it might've been the world's bloodiest puzzle game if you tried to put them back together. I let out a much needed yell that echoed all through the area and collapsed against a nearby blood soaked wagon. Tears were still flowing down my face and I made no motion to stop them.
I tried everything I could to wake myself up in a vane attempt to convince me that I was still in fact dreaming. I bit my arm, pinched my skin, punched myself in the stomach, slapped myself. Nothing was working and I only panicked even more. Finally, a twisted idea rose up in my mind. I pulled one of my daggers out from my coat and held it to my neck just in time for it to start raining.
This was the last idea I had. That maybe if I died I would somehow wake up back home as my old self. I never got any farther than the thought however as I caught glimpse of the young girl who had taken refuge in one of the few remaining shacks a dozen or so away. The look she had on her face, I'm not even sure my own could compete with it. I squinted my eyes when I saw the outline of a few things beside her. Two adults, more than likely her parents, and a smaller body almost the exact same height as her. I looked bad down at the dagger and after an inward struggle, put it away. It was harder getting up than I thought it would be but I finally did so. I walked slowly over to the girl who didn't even seem to register my presence until I was right beside her. She was crying too and I was half afraid that seeing me would only cause her to do so even more but she just looked up to me with the saddest, most wanting, face I've ever seen before hugging me. I really didn't have any choice but to do the same despite the blood I was covered in. The rain intensified outside effectively drowning out any other noises that would've occurred as well as finally ending the fire. Around that same time, she released me and looked up trying her best wipe the tears away. I did the same while trying to put on a comforting smile.
"I'm sorry." I said to her. She looked back to her family and then back to me her sadness never fading and even a little fear sneaking in.
"Can…..Can you stay with me?" She asked.
Now I don't know about you, but I doubt anyone with a heart could've refused her. I nodded and knew I had to get her away from this place. So I took my trench coat off and placed it on her. I then motioned for her to climb on my back, moving Jade to my front, and after a minute or two, she complied. The rain was coming down with force now, slamming against the ground and corpses with a disturbing thud. So I was instantly soaked on my tenth step from the shack. Luckily giving her coat was the smart move. Not only was she dry but she must've been more tired than she let on because she was out like a light. As I stepped out what remained of the front gate, I gave one last look to the pile of corpses and silently gave a short prayer for them.
"Fly." I said far more depressed than I when I had first said it hours earlier. I shot out into the now grey sky and began looking around for a hopefully safe village. The rain was much more powerful up here and coupled with the wind blasting all around me I wondered if a hurrican had made land fall. Nevertheless, I continued my flight through storm.
More time passed, whether it was hours or minutes I didn't know or care but I was really starting to get tired. Luckily, I think I finally got ahead of the storm because the rain stopped. Not long after, the clouds disappeared as well and I finally got a glimpse of the sun. It had lost a lot of its light and was currently descending across the mountains. It was probably another great landscape picture but such things were far from my mind now. I stopped dashing forward, and scanned the surrounding area below me. It was pretty barren save for a lone building that sat right at a crossroads. I descended quickly nearly slipping as my feet hit the ground before walking towards the front door. I spotted a few horses, standing outside in the stable and silently pleaded for no soldiers to be inside it. I stepped up towards the door and turned my ear towards it. I didn't hear much just some singing and the sound of maybe a few laughs. I wondered if maybe I should probably get back into the air but I was really getting tired so I decided to take my chances. I think I kicked the door a little too hard because I heard several gasps from behind the door. A moment later, the door cracked open and woman's wary eyes peered through it.
"What do you want?"
"Help." I replied simply, letting my my own weariness seep through my voice, I shifted my body so she could get a glimpse of the girl I was carrying. Her eyes shot open and she practically ripped the door off it's handles beckoning me to come in.
"Troy, Maurice! Get over here." She said as I stumbled inside. Two men appeared in my line of sight, both of them pretty fit and each standing a few inches taller than I did.
"What is it Lyra?" One of them asked before looking at me.
"It's Kyla." The woman named Lyra replied frantic as she grabbed a staff and beckoned me to follow her into a room. "I need you two to guard the door in case they were followed." The two men nodded and immediately moved past me and out the way I came it. As for me I followed Lyra through another door and deposited the girl on my back onto a small bed. Ther room itself was a modest one, really just having a bed and a chair stashed over in the corner. As the woman named Lyra proceeded to check on the girl, I made my over towards the wooden chair. And after collapsing into it, dozed off.
A/N: Well there ya go. I hope you enjoyed this little continuation and hope to hear from you about it. Talk about a dark turn, but as you know, Overlord's world wasn't really a nice one to live in. Oh and don't worry. The people of Nazarick with appear sooner rather than later.
See ya later