The Legend Of Black Eyes

I reached the intersection with the big boulder in the middle. I reached for the hidden switch and pulled it. The hidden door slid open and I soon found myself heading for the underground city.

I extended my senses as far as I could. I could sense Lemien"s Essence, faint. I a.s.sumed it was his link to his undead army. He was inside the city, but nowhere near me. Things were too calm up there, too quiet. I took a deep breath and advanced toward the temple.

"Are you ready for this?" Eva asked.

"No," I said. "I wish I could just find a warm place to coil around and sleep. I wish I could fill my belly with warm food. Some cooked meat would be nice too, but I can"t give up on this now, can I?"

"You wanted to take part in the Holi Wars," Eva commented.

"I"ve always been led around," I said. "If what Raiya said about the wars is true, then I have no choice but to fight."

"Why?" Eva asked. "I"m glad to see you have a purpose now, but don"t you think you"re biting off more than you can chew here?"

"One mistake Eva," I said. "One mistake! And my life suddenly became a living h.e.l.l. Why wouldn"t I want to fight this war? If I win, I will finally be able to learn more about the Church. I can even find a way to get my revenge on Utar."

I reached the foot of the stairs leading to the temple. I p.r.i.c.ked my ears. There was the sound of swords clashing. People were screaming up there.

"This is just the first step to your partic.i.p.ation though," Eva said. "And it"s already something you can barely deal with."

"We don"t grow if we don"t face adversity," I said. "I didn"t become a mercenary because I dreamed of it. I fought to get stronger. I couldn"t allow anybody to look down on me anymore. You of all people must know that."

"Look where all that fighting led you," Eva said.

"It wasn"t the fighting," I retorted. "It was ignorance. I didn"t know anything about the world. I just fought for the money. Somewhere along the way, it had become my way of life. I lost my sense of purpose. I lost myself to l.u.s.t and blood. I won"t make that mistake again. I will not allow someone else to do with me as they want!"

I climbed the stairs to find myself in the temple. Some of the grand statues I admired before had been destroyed. I saw many Children, with their formidable bodies and their long spears, lying on the ground, breathing their last. The scene that I was presented with made my blood boil.

There was this little one, a hunting knife in hand, walking around the temple. He was naked, save for the heavy looking cloth around his tiny waist. He groaned as he wobbled his tiny feet from one injured Sebyan to the other. Anyone showing any sign of life was gutted, got his throat sliced open, or stabbed multiple times. I extended my senses toward the tiny creature whose fangs hadn"t grown yet, he had Lemien"s link on him.

"What do you think of war, your highness?" I asked.

"I always knew it was nasty, b.l.o.o.d.y," she said. I could feel deep sorrow and hatred from her consciousness.

"Knowing and reading about it in books is one thing, but seeing is different. Don"t you think?"

"Can you please stop this?" she asked.

"The only way to stop this is to kill that necromancer," I said. "This one"s only recruiting more soldiers to carry out Lemien"s genocide."

I went to the tiny creature and broke its link to the necromancer nonetheless. I knelt beside it to close its tiny, hollow eyes. There was an enormous stab wound on the poor thing"s belly.

"How could he do such a thing?" Eva said, disgusted.

"Very few nations know how to wage war without harming the innocent," I said. "Few of them still remain in our world today. Fighting honorably leads to a nation"s doom…"

"When it comes to war and genocide, you"re quite knowledgeable," Eva retorted. It felt quite like she scolded me for knowing so much.

"Let"s get this over with," I said. "Lemien may not have noticed I"m already here, but he"s expecting me."

I pushed the temple"s door open. Chaos and carnage ruled the previously calm and serene city. Sebyan warriors were trying their best to repel the necromancer"s forces. Most of the fighting was happening in the city square, a few feet before the fox fountain.

I spotted Nag in the front line, cutting corpses and breaking the link they had to their master. He had thrown his long cloak away, and replaced it with steel plate armor. I also spotted the chief, among others, chanting in the back, their arms extended in the air. They were standing on a wooden platform, erected high enough to be out of harm"s way.

Most of the corpses the Sebyan were fighting belonged to their own kind. Pain was apparent on their faces as they cut them down. I looked around for Lemien. The necromancer was nowhere in sight. Two undead came at me then. I dealt with them with two swift blows and sent them rolling backwards.

I ran toward Nag then, punching and kicking whoever came my way. It was more exhausting than using a sword. My entire body had to move in order to get rid of them. I even had to jump from time to time in order to kick. Thankfully, my Essence provided support. I would"ve run out of breath a long while ago otherwise.

I reached Nag fairly quickly. He had just slashed another undead Sebyan when he spotted me to his right.

"What are you doing here?" he asked then decapitated another corpse that was about to stab him with a short sword.

"I got rid of the necromancer"s secret," I said. "Where is he?" I kicked two undead out of the way.

"I don"t know," Nag said. "You"re lucky the others are too busy fighting. They think you betrayed them."

I stared at the prophet blankly. I expected as much. I just didn"t expect to see the look of anger and mistrust on his face too. That short span of inattention, earned me a club to the back. Nag didn"t even try to warn me about it. I was lucky I recovered quickly enough to punish the a.s.sailant and repel more undead.

"Do you know anyone named Tao Zhar?" I asked.

Nag had just beheaded another undead when he turned to face me. "Where did you hear that name?" he asked.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" I asked. "It seems this thing won"t end unless we get to the serpent"s head –" I punched another undead in the gut and broke its link, "– and cut it."

Another undead had just rushed Nag, who avoided its downward swing and sent it to me. I punched the thing so hard I caused a ruckus in the undead ranks. Many of them fell down as the corpse I sent flying toppled them on its way to the fountain. I caused enough of a distraction for the Sebyan forces to advance and gain momentum.

Nag ordered the warriors to advance then pulled me aside.

"What"s the human doing here?" one of the warriors had spotted me and spoke to Nag.

"The necromancer can be defeated," Nag said. "Their mission was a success. Don"t let those corpses get near the Chief!"

I had just realized the Sebyan had spoken in my language.

"Where did you hear that name?" Nag asked again.

"Lemien, the necromancer, has allied himself to him," I said.

"Son of a Milk Drakha!" Nag said. I a.s.sumed it was an insult I understood nothing of. That took some of the charm away though…

"I also met someone called Boon Jeema," I said. "Do you know him?"

"Boon Jeema"s alive?!" Nag said. The surprised look he gave me was hilarious to say the least. Sebyan were a weird looking race.

"Not anymore," I said. "The banshee killed him."

"Now at least we know where she came from," Nag said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Tao Zhar had recruited Fairies to his side," he answered. "If the necromancer had made an alliance with him, I can only imagine what other creatures he might have promised him."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"We can kill him now though," I said. "I understand that Tao Zhar was some deity, but he can"t reach us unless Lemien does something about it."

"f.u.c.k!" Nag suddenly blurted out. "Come on," he urged. "I know where he"s disappeared to."

Nag turned away from the battle and ran for the Chief and his chanting committee. As soon as we got closer, two dozen guards appeared out of the blue to block our path. They started screaming in their native tongue.

Harsh words were exchanged. Murderous looks were cast upon me. Nag argued quite fervently. I saw the tip of their spears point toward me, more shouting and harsh words ensued.

"What"s happening?" I asked.

"Stay out of this!" Nag snapped.

I suddenly heard the chief yell something to the guards and they put their weapons aside. They made way for us and Nag urged me to follow quickly. We reached the dozen old looking Sebyan on the platform. The Chief had left the chanting and come to meet with us.

"The necromancer"s going for the ancient lock!" Nag said.

The chief looked at me then at the prophet. "Why are you speaking human tongue?" the chief asked.

"Because he needs to hear this too," Nag said, casting a side glance at me.

"Did you bring these news?" the chief asked me.

I nodded.

"Where"s your skinny friend?"

"He was badly injured," I said. "I left him in the dungeons to recover."

"Did they accomplish their mission?" he asked the prophet.

Nag nodded.

"Then don"t waste time," the chief said. "Go to the temple, we"ll change our chants!"

"No!" Nag argued. "We"ll take care of the fairy. This one knows how to kill it." He jerked his head toward me.

"There"s no need," I said. "The fairy"s dead."

Both of them turned toward me. Their eyes almost came out of their sockets. With huge faces, protruding fangs and abnormally large square jaws, seeing a Sebyan"s eyes bulge out was pretty hilarious. That wasn"t the time to make jokes or snort though. I repressed my laughter then spoke.

"It"s a long story," I said. I didn"t want to waste time talking about the Aeon. I also didn"t want to mention it. Lemien was mortal now, we had to hurry and kill that son of a b.i.t.c.h.

"Can we now go get that f.u.c.ker?!"