The forest moved. Footprints on the dirt are ever continuing, leaves rustle softly, the moon glowed as always, but it looked abnormally big now, seemingly had moved by itself. A natural occurrence that people knew what it warned and upcoming.

  The figure in black walked on the dirt road to what seemed like a village in the distance. On his left shoulder, slumped Va’dia. His expression was unreadable.

  Her face was almost lifeless, the purple cloak reacting faintly to the cold winds. What a terrible day, got tricked and kidnapped.

  ○◇○

  Now at the gate, Two morbidly obese twins guarded it, They are shirtless and have multiple scars across their body. Most likely self-inflicted. Both have a black eye symbol carved on their forehead. A way to gain powers and favor with the god they worshipped.

  “You got a nice woman for the chief eh?” The left twin said, approaching with malicious intents.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Hatek responded with a low voice, there was a hint of anger in it.

  The right twin simply watched his brother in disdain. Still stood in the exact same spot. He knew what was coming next.

  He went behind Hatek. “You wouldn’t mind right?”

  “What?”

  He reached out his hand and slid under the purple cloak. An attempt to grope Va’dia’s butt. Most kidnappers would ignore this because of what was coming next in that village.

  But not for Hatek though. “What do you think you’re doing?” He turned quickly and swatted the vulgar hand away.

  The twin frowned in disbelief, like a kid losing his toy before even touching it.

  “Fuck sake! Why can’t I touch her!? She’s going to die anyway!”

  Hatek simply glared.

  His anger quickly subsided to fear. “Okay Okay! I-I didn’t mean to say that crowman!” He kowtowed, pleading.

  The right twin shook his head, a more terrible view of his brother, he just cannot be loyal to the people above.

  Hatek cannot resist the overwhelming urge to kick this fat garbage bag. However, doing that would only waste his time. At least this crap still proved useful.

  Without wasting any more precious time, he began moving. The right twin opened the gate with respect. It took him a few grunts to open a small crack that was big enough to get in.

  …The tall wooden walls and gate now behind him, and forward were hundreds of houses made out of wood. They are worn down from time and some houses have nearly collapsed.

  Looking back at the gate one last time, he started walking again. Stepping on the overgrowth pathway.

  Va’dia remained slumped, the odor from garbage bags relentlessly assaulting his nose. As if they were there for months now, no one bothered to throw them away. Flies swarmed them like bees.

  He could feel vomit coming up, therefore holding his nose. The smell was not like trash. It smelled rotten and dead.

  No one would be able to withstand such.

  Even going far away wouldn’t help much. There still was trash littered everywhere and sounds of… feminine moans and orgasms? It was not anywhere far, literally in the house to his right.

  His face twisted in disgust. He simply hoped that the sounds would go through the other side of his ear, hatek slapped himself to regain focus.

  ○◇○

  The village chief’s house stood before him, stained and decayed. The only difference among the houses was size and had torches near the entrance.

  Speaking of entrance, the double doors looked old and rotten. Wood mite trenches can be seen across the surface of the doors.

  He placed a hand on it, slightly nervous.

  With a deep inhale of damp air, he pushed both doors open with one hand.

  Inside, the floor and walls are wooden, nothing interesting beside decorations and a village banner rotten by history. The room was spacious enough to fit in thirteen people.

  The sight of the chief eating a seasoned human intestine was a warm welcome. He was used to this long ago, now what mattered was whether the chief liked her or not.

  “I’m back. I got something for you.” Hatek put down Va’dia in a rough way, a thud echoed.

  Chief seemed to not pay attention other than savoring the intestine and holding his bowl high for an easy feast.

  He politely stood aside Va’dia unconscious form to avoid obstruction when he decided to judge.

  Minute by minute…

  Hour by hour…

  This dude's slow eating was taking a toll on Hatek, and he didn’t bother to take a glance. his brows twitched.

  Eventually, he would finish the meal. What was the time? Almost an eternity? Felt like an eternity?

  Hatek’s eyes looked like they would close at any moment.

  He set the bowl down; inside were some leftovers. Wiping his lips bare-handed, the judge began.

  It didn’t take long, one hundred times faster than the waiting. Instead of approval like he always expected, the chief’s expression quickly turned to anger.

  Standing up now was a two meters tall muscular man. Who had the same eye symbol like the gate guards, except he had three. Which looked like a small pyramid on his forehead.

  He approached fast and punched Hatek in the face with great force. It felt like getting hit by a medium size rock straight into the brain without protection of the skull.

  In fact, he would be dead by now. But thanks to the hidden magic barrier he used before the impact, it minimized the punch’s power.

  “I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO NOT TAKE KNIGHTS. THEY ARE NOT EDIBLE. MAKE THIS YOUR LESSON.” The chief roared, loud enough to be heard from outside.

  “S-sorry, I couldn’t find any civilians around…” He struggled to get up.

  “LOCK HER IN THE PRISON.” The last thing the chief said before leaving with a glare.

  *THUD*

  Eventually, he would be able to stand up with his mind still spiraling like a windmill. Dragging Va’dia with that; was a battle of resistance.

  Opening the hatch and dragged her down into the basement. He could have just simply held her instead. Va’dia’s armor clanged repeatedly down the stairs, jolting up every prisoner here.

  There were elves and normal humans, they all looked fine in terms of shape. He fed them a lot, not out of kindness but to thicken their flesh. There may have been children here as well but they had grown up and remained damned.

  At the last prison cell, he slid in the small key and opened the metal rods door. Drag her in and lock her right arm with a shackle. A fellow female elf was also in here, watching in fear.

  Hatek walked out silently and locked the door with a loud resonance. In just a moment, he was already out despite how long the tunnel was. The light slowly dissipated in long streaks as the hatch closed.

  Now there was only darkness. Pitch black. People here were locked for so long that their eyes developed a way to see in the dark.

  “Hey…” The fellow elf crouched down beside Va’dia and tried to nudge her awake…

  This village would have been abandoned and dead ages ago if they didn’t kidnap women and eat them.

  In history, this place was once normal and lovely. Just a regular forest village. But the cruelty of nature and hunger shattered it all. Crows destroyed their wheat fields, which made them resort to fruits as temporary replacement for food.

  They began replanting. Time passed. Winter came. The entire village panicked. There were no signs at all.

  Their food stock never see daylight again, females began to be seen as useless. They are too weak compared to the males and sometimes barely do anything. Therefore the chief commanded to kill and turn them into food sources.

  The village worshipped and gained favor with a mysterious god, whose symbol is that black eye. Even then, the village never changed — it only created an illusion of improvement, while the village silently going down hill from there.

  …

  “Wha-” Va’dia jolted awake, slightly dizzy.

  “Could you help us get out of here… please…?” The elf whispered. Face showing urgency for answer.

  Instead of responding right away, she gazed at the metal rods. They looked doable and thin enough to punch a way out.

  “Definitely… but I need to get this shackle off first.”

  She began pulling the bow of the shackle with her left hand, teeth gritted hard. It was unfathomably unyielding.

  Fellow elf tried to help, but she was too weak and skinny to pull it with proper strength. Eventually, they would start gasping for air in failure.

  “N-nevermind.” Va’dia said amidst ragged breaths.

  Sword was taken, no way of getting off this shackle. Then there was nothing else other than waiting.

  Silence enveloped. Not exactly silent, as she can still hear the prisoners whispering about escape. Because of the flashy metal armor, all of their hope goes to her.

  “W-what’s your name..?”

  The familiar weak voice reverberated in the dark.

  “Va’dia.”

  Nothing else after that, complete silence in cold darkness. As if everything just simply disappeared and never existed.

  Her eyes began to adapt and see in the dark. Even so, she could barely see the silhouettes opposite from her cell. It looked like everybody had fallen asleep all of sudden.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  To the left, the fellow elf had also succumbed to sleep. Curled into a ball.

  All of them wore torn gray leather clothing stained with dirt.

  A question in mind that will never be answered unless she went to find out. But who even bothered doing that?

  She kept pulling the shackle when it was clear that it wouldn't work. Ear-itching chain noises repeated in the middle of the night.

  Doing this mindlessly drew complaints. Someone on the other side banged on the wall multiple times, bare hands striking in anger.

  Chain noises stopped. Her gaze snapped to where the bangs once were.

  “Sorry about that…”

  Now there was truly nothing to do other than sleeping. However, It wasn’t an option right now, because an orange hue was creeping closer and closer. Before that was a soft sound of the hatch opening.

  The fellow elf also woke up at the same time as others. Sitting on her hay bed. Unexpected of what was about to come.

  The hue flared into their cell, it was a lantern from a morbidly obese man that stared at them with a face so ugly that Va’dia contorted in disgust. It was none other than the left twin.

  “Greeetinnngs!” He said in an elongated way.

  Her face expressed seriousness on par with a knight when in duel. “Who the hell are you?”

  The elf looked back and forth at them in worry. Unsure of what to do before things escalated.

  “Right… your miserable state earlier left you clueless here. Ha!” A long gap of silence from asthma. “Should you die by your own hand or get eaten.”

  She flinched slightly. Not out of fear but how embarrassing he sounded.

  “How many books have you read?”

  “The fuck do you mean!? Quit joking! Look at yourself and realize how miserable you are!” The man got provoked at a meaningless question. He should look at himself first.

  “Miserable? I don’t even know what that means~“

  “Of course you do! You piece of shit!” He was already beyond his limit. Kicking the metal rods in fuming rage as his lantern swung. Booms reverberated throughout the tunnel.

  But then he would calm down extraordinarily fast. “I forgot why I came down here. Hehe..” Just by those words, she could see his dark intention.

  “You are not fun… and would resist too much.” He then looked at the elf.

  Va’dia noticed the shift and frowned. “What are you going to do!?”

  No answers. He just inserted and twisted the small key. In no time, the door was opened.

  He walked in and crouched near the elf, who has been silent since. “No one would help you.”

  The elf was shivering, eyes widened at his words.

  Va’dia knew what he was about to do. Useful knowledge, if only the shackle let her use it.

  Settling down the lantern, he pushed the elf down the hay. Then took his pants off and started doing the horrid.

  Va’dia looked away to avoiding visuals. But the wet sounds and cries were making her uncomfortable.

  Guilt latched on and wouldn’t let go.

  Twenty grueling minutes passed…

  Heavy footsteps could be heard amidst cries. She didn’t think much, probably another bastard came down to make hell even worse.

  But the pace told her otherwise. It was fast and enraged, no orange hue creeping up like a lantern, but rather an impending doom.

  She gazed beyond the metal rods. Just briefly to avoid catching a glimpse of the horrible sight near her.

  “How dare you steal my key!?” The person arrived. It was Hatek. The lantern’s light allowed her to see his fury.

  He grabbed the naked obesity by nape and pulled him off. “W-what? Crowman? Why do you care!?”

  Hatek stayed silent and flung the man into the closest wall. “Argh! S-stop s-stop!”

  Out of fear for his life, the man raised his hand up, black liquid started to engulf it, three tentacles can be seen in his palm. Just as expected, he shot them out.

  Hatek barely dodged it. If he was slow for just a second they would pierce his brain.

  His earlier fury was now burning brighter than ever. Stomps rained down the bastard’s head, fast and brutal. “You think that pathetic magic of yours could kill me!?”

  With one last stomp, the skull structure collapsed inward. Painting the wall in fresh blood and brain pieces, eyes popped out of the socket like a spring.

  With this thought, he looked at the elf, who was lying still and gasping for air. Her eyes welled up with tears of suffering.

  “Could you get this thing off for me?” Va’dia raised her shackle up, as if asking wasn't demanding enough.

  He entered the cell and plucked off the key that once was in the jail bars locking mechanism. Apparently, the shackle was locked with the same key. Convenient nonetheless.

  It was torn open with a twist. Va’dia stood up with an expression of blooming happiness.

  “Why did you drug me?”

  She got extremely close to him. Keeping a terrifying smile that wanted nothing more than an apology.

  He could feel her hot breaths itching on his neck since she was shorter by a head. Hatek remained calm and unfazed, an expression like this meant he would not apologize.

  She turned away slightly but kept eye contact with that same lifeless smile. However, any flames usually never last long.

  A long sigh came out. “Am I in your village?”

  “Of course.” His voice contained a hint of fear, even though he looked calm.

  “Disgusting.”

  Shortly after the conversation, they both already freed all the prisoners. A lot of jail bars are punched beyond fixing, only one or two are spared kindly by the key’s heart. Elves and humans alike are in despair judging by their faces. The fellow elf was the worst in condition among them, traumatized by that already dead fat pig.

  She thought, looking at one after another.

  Heartless thought, she dismissed it and focused on Hatek with a question in mind. She knew for a fact that this village was cannibalistic, and he brought her here was definitely to… uh…

  “Hatek. What is your intent actually?”

  “What do you mean?” He turned from staring at the opened hatch. Depressively calm as always.

  “I mean, what’s your purpose in bringing me here?”

  The question struck him like a lightning bolt, vapourizing the secret he was hiding since the start. He sighed, out of relief actually. Shouting for help but stopping when it was right there and keeping all of it as a secret was foolish of him.

  “Well…”

  Twenty years ago, year 592, the start of the village’s cannibalism. His sister was one of those victims, forced to watch her, the only person he ever had, getting escorted to the chief’s house from a window as the snow fell.

  He lived with the fireplace as his closest companion and the only light source in the darkness. Crackle, crackle, may the happy moments live on.

  A ten year old boy like him could never endure such loneliness, let alone moving forward and simply living. One night, he’d find himself standing in front of the tyrant’s house.

  Peeking through the doors’ crack, his gaze caught in a grotesque scene. The chief was sexually violating his sister. Her eyes were hollow, face devoid of life, even in death—she wasn’t spared.

  “...Now I underst–”

  “When will you two shut up and let us out!?” The prisoners behind them got quite impatient.

  Their sudden curse freaked Va’dia out, she quickly apologized and juggled out with him.

  Honestly, she shouldn’t have freed them. The moment the duo got out, they disrespectfully pushed them aside, possibly to shut them so they don’t command nonsense and waste time.

  The double doors busted open from their collective strength, the cold air of the night flowed in, at the same time, all the prisoners ran out.

  Va’dia frowned.

  “Ignore them for now. Go take your sword.”

  “WHERE!?” Her frown turned into anger in a mere second.

  ○◇○

  The incarcerated people were still not free regardless, there was still a long way to go to reach the gate. Their desires for freedom proved deadly on these trash littered streets, no one was around so they ran carelessly and didn't think about waking up those psychotic villagers in their attempt.

  In just a moment, they all split up. Doors opened, they befall this upon themselves. A game of cat and mouse. Screams could be heard, echoed far enough to reach the duo.

  “Did you hear that?”

  He chose to remain silent.

  “I will take that as an apology for THROWING MY SWORD INTO A PILE OF TRASH!”

  She cursed loudly, and it was a good one nonetheless. Because they were not mere rubbish, but human remains jumbled into such tight space. Even a sword needed to shower.

  His face showed no interest in talking back, he spun and walked away.

  “Rambling all you want, I’m out.”

  Just like that, guilt settled over her. Escape was her priority after all, cursing at her own saviour was almost unforgivable, but at the same time — Hatek throwing her sword into bagged human remains wasn’t any different.

  She followed.

  The smell caused Va’dia to feel nauseous, not to mention the occasional headaches. Screams echoed again, this time somewhere near, there was no doubt that these were the prisoners’.

  Selfish thoughts repeated multiple times, her mind was being completely honest.

  Ten minutes of walking later, they’d find a dead body. It was hardly recognizable due to its face and body being a complete mess, revealing almost all innards.

  Despite this, she looked unsurprised. Rather, tortured by the horrible smell.

  On the other side, Hatek was studying this fresh corpse. Or perhaps — he already had the answer to what the perpetrator used to kill, but was just acting like a scholar when exposed to new interesting things.

  “I think this person got burnt by the black liquid.”

  “The same one I saw from that fat guy?”

  He nodded.

  “It’s a gift. Carve the symbol on your forehead and create your own spell with a thought.”

  Sounds powerful for those with creativity. Anyone would abandon their current god and shifted to this weird, obscure being that people only knew about through the

  “A Day Of Abyss” event. Or for short “The Dark Moon”

  “Anyway, it’s a greed trap. Wish for more and you will be cursed, becoming a maniac.”

  “Scary~”

  Her voice was a mock toward it, not interesting to her in the slightest. Just a piece of information that will stay in the back of her head.

  The smug look created a terrible vision of her personality for Hatek. She wasn’t taking him seriously, which felt disrespectful since he had carved the symbol. However, it was hidden by his hair so there was no excuse to scold her.

  He sighed. “Could you help me kill the chief? That’s why you’re here after all."

  These words reminded her of when he was rambling about his past life.

  “I don’t know who that is.” And then to a face with no cooperativeness. She simply wanted to leave, not to stay here and fight whoever that is.

  After a while of explaining and convincing, it was just barely enough for her to accept. This sudden change in goal made her not so happy.

  …

  The cat and mouse game was happening and it wouldn't be strange for the “cats” to stumble across the duo here and there during their attempt to locate the chief.

  All of the battles on the way were just swatting flies, but still deadly nonetheless.

  For a while, they couldn’t find him anywhere. Va’dia gritted her teeth, clearly regretting her choice.

  “That was such a waste of time!”

  She cursed at him, fist clenched, ready to punch the guts out of him.

  “Alright alright. Sorry, at least I know where the exit is.”

  He raised his hand, trying to calm her down. Worked, yes, but unknowingly they were slowing themselves.

  ○◇○

  They would have gotten out a long time ago if only they were not idiots. They stepped out onto the main road, to the left was the entrance gate.

  “What the…”

  Va’dia’s lips parted when her eyes landed on a hulking figure, obstructing the form of the wooden gate.

  “That’s him.” Hatek said.

  He was holding something, judging by his moving cheeks — the man was munching. Beneath him were lifeless, torn bodies of many female inmates. The sound of crunching bones sent chills down her spine.

  The enemy was right in sight.

  “Crow madness!”

  Hatek made a hand sign and subsequently a large amount of crows were created from black liquid in thin air. The liquid splattered everywhere with each new born crow, which caused him to feel disoriented.

  Twenty crows flew toward the chief, he was at the same time turned to the source of noise. The moment he’d done, a violent welcome of pecks assaulted his entire body. Especially the head and torso, because he was shirtless.

  The man let go of the half-eaten arm to swat the crows, but they were too clingy and relentless.

  “Go, Va’dia!”

  She glanced at him then to the chief, unsheathing her sword and charged. Running as fast as possible, then slash at the giant’s left waist. The cut was massive, it was like an axe strike.

  Dark blood drooled out of it and flowed over his pants, finally trickled onto the ground. Chief roared in fury, tearing the crows like they were cotton.

  They all turned into piles of dark carcasses in no time. Va’dia stared at the giant from behind with emotions that she couldn’t quite express. Something like excitement and fear simultaneously.

  Hatek could see that the chief had completely gone insane based on his two empty black eyes, and a face scrunched in burning fury. The curse had taken over him.

  With a smirk, she turned the sword downward with both hand and backstabbed chief. The monster didn’t even flinch. Sensing an upcoming danger, she pulled the sword out, blood sprayed, he turned around and tried to grab her but she was already gone. Rolled through the opening and stepped back.

  Crows came in again. The chief lunged, ignoring the crows entirely and launched his fist. It was too fast, too fast to react. She gritted, luckily managed to block it with the flat side of her sword.

  Here came the second fist, she ducked and slashed his abs. Hatek continued to summon more crows, he felt disdain and weak, but maybe at least he could blind this monster.

  “Aim for the eyes!” He commanded the crows.

  The chief now aimed at Hatek despite Va’dia’s continuous slashes. He rushed at him, this move left chief wide open, one of the crows managed to bleed his eye with its talons, which caused him to stop abruptly on track.

  “You’re dead!” Va’dia seized this moment to slash his throat, blood sprayed out like a shower.

  Sadly, the chief has three eye symbols, all he used to wish for strength, in which his anatomy had been altered to be immortal. Her face showed hopelessness and shock as the massive wounds regenerated like nothing had happened.

  Chief swiped, the backhand slammed hard into her face. She was sent flying and crashed into a wooden wall of a house, its material bent inward. Ears ringing and dizzy.

  The monster once again hurled itself toward him, there was no luck this time. Hatek guarded, ready for impact but scared witless. The fist crashed, it felt like getting hit by a car, protection or not — he was sent flying anyway.

  Va’dia struggled to prop herself up even with the sword acting as a staff. Still feeling extremely disoriented.

  Hatek’s situation was worse, the chief’s enormous shadow draped over him as he struggled, he wasn’t exactly just standing there doing nothing. His fist was menacingly raised high.

  He shortly calculated the blow, it will definitely crush his head upon impact. Just thinking about it made him swallow hard, dread contorted his face.

  “D-Damn you!”

  Va’dia screamed on top of her lungs to distract the monster, but to no avail. His fate was sealed.

  Or not?

  The chief threw, Hatek closed his eyes and made one desperate guard. At the last second, the monster’s head suddenly blew up into dark carcassess, to the left was what seemed like an arrow stuck into the ground.

  Va’dia, now had stopped spiraling, gazed at the tall wooden wall, the direction of where the arrow just came from. However, she saw no one.

  Whatever, that doesn’t matter. “Hatek! Go! This is our chance!”

  He stood up immediately upon her call, the chief now had no head and was swiping maniacally. He ducked through the gaping opening and ran with her.

  Loud ravaging echoed behind them, they both pushed the gate and squeezed out, leaving behind the raging monster who was blindly destroying houses.

  Outside, the right twin was lying motionless on the dirt, his throat looked like it had been slit, blood painted the grass beneath him in red.

  They ignored and ran without intending to stop, there was nothing else more logical than going back to the kingdom of Brandon.

  …for what?