To Be Continued – S01E04

The warrior stood behind a wall, shivering, whimpering and scared to death, as the element master threw hell on his comrades. He could hear the fire gurgling intensely as it burnt the soldiers. The screeching screams, the smell of burnt flesh, the scorching heat, and most of all, the smell of death… the warrior just couldn’t move. All he could do was clench his dagger even tighter with both his hands and just… coward behind that wall, desperately hoping that the element master wouldn’t notice him in the piles of dead and burnt bodies. Only then was there a way he might survive this nightmare.

He caught a glimpse of another soldier, crawling his way towards him in a last-ditch effort to cover himself from the fire and save his life. His legs were completely burnt. And the rest of his body was just alive enough to get him crawling.

The warrior was looking at him. And the soldier too spotted him. The soldier heard the element master humming the spell to throw another fire-flood. This meant nothing but death. He started to rush but what most could he do with such a battered body. He raised his hand towards the warrior and with what he had left, said, ‘Help…’

The warrior couldn’t hear him but he knew exactly what he wanted. And he just kept looking. Unable to move, with the element master almost about to hum his last verses.

‘Help me…’ the soldier said again. ‘Help…’ one more time and the warrior looked away and closed his eyes. He just couldn’t take it. He knew very well that he could have saved him. But he was just… too scared. Finally, the element master completed his spell and unleashed another fire-flood, taking out the soldier and many others with him.

The screams, the heat, the smell of burnt flesh, and most of all, the constant reminder of what a coward the warrior was, he just couldn’t take it anymore. Why did things had to turn out to be this way? Why did the head have to recruit him and ensure him with the lives of Aki and his soldiers? Why was even this child so important? And most of all, why was he the way he was? Why was he such a coward?

After all the years of training, suffering, and killing, why was he still so scared? Why was it that now when the time had come to put into practice what he was, he just, couldn’t? Did this how facing death feel like? Was this how his father felt? 

His father… he thought. And all of a sudden it occurred. All of this, seemed familiar. Perhaps, too familiar. And this was not him. Facing death wasn’t new for him. He had been doing it since childhood. And he was known for the only slayer in the seven nations to have slayed two dragons at once, just to save the life of a little girl.

No. He was no coward. And he was definitely not his father. He pulled himself together and looked around, murmuring, ‘This… is not real…’