Charcoal and ashes. Those were the only things left of the village when they finally arrived. Tiny embers still glowed from underneath the rubble of cinders, ready to burn out any second now.
No matter how many atrocities he had witnessed, Ega couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten and let his expression turn grim. Still, he had to look at the remains with careful eyes.
‘Strange…’ That was the first thing that Ega had thought as he cast his gaze across the village.
Despite the horrible scene, he couldn’t see any bodies strewn across the earth, only bloodstains here and there. Stopping the horses, he jumped down from the coachman chair. Although he kept his eyes out for any potential Outers, something about how this village was razed to the ground seemed off.
Not a single body or building in sight, almost as if everything had been burned away. As Ega examined the rubble, he could see the charred remains of the villagers, many stacked together.
Just what kind of Outers purposely burned their victims? Just how was there not a single building standing? Where were the bodies of escaping villagers? How come he couldn’t see any marks left by the Outers?
All the missing parts were pointing toward one thing, and that was that the village had not been attacked by Outers, but by other people.
“But just who…” As Ega pondered the question he looked around further to try and find some sort of evidence to whom it may have been.
It didn’t matter where he looked, as whoever had razed this entire village to the ground had covered their traces well. The only thing they had failed at was trying to make it seem like it was the Outers that had attacked the village.
Maybe if some other person had investigated the scene, they would have chalked it up to Outers, but Ega had witnessed the destruction of those monsters far too many times.
“Those bandits?” Ega muttered, but not even those bandits were enough to catch every single villager and burn them. Even if it was them, just why would they risk putting such a big target on their back?
No matter how much he thought about it, the answers weren’t coming to him. The only thing that he knew for certain was that he needed to leave quickly. With all that fire and smoke, there was a high chance that Outers were converging on the remains of the village.
That was what the perpetrators were probably betting on to cover up their actions, but Ega had caught them at a bad time. Returning back to the carriage, he was met by Ella’s concerned gaze.
“What… happened?”
“Nothing good. We have to leave right now.” Having to force the horses on the move again, Ega was beginning to feel bad for running them into the ground.
“Shouldn’t we look around for any—”
“No, they’re all dea—” Ega chose his words in a more careful manner, “gone. I don’t think there’s anyone left.”
Not wanting to scare Ella with knowledge about the Outers, he quickly got the horses to move again. As he considered the entire situation again, Ega began to curse inwardly. It was clear that there was some sort of powerful group ahead of them, but at the same time, there was a high possibility of Outers behind them.
Wedged between two dangerous groups, all he could do was stay ready and push forward. At the very least, he needed to get away from the remains of the village.
The sun began to set a few hours into their travels. The horses had grown exhausted, but they could push through until the night, Ega would make sure of it. For some reason, Ella seemed to be wearing another worried expression.
“Something wrong?” He asked.
“Uh… Don’t you need to sleep? I can try and control the horses so you can sleep.”
Ega couldn’t help but be taken aback. Was she that worried because he hadn’t slept yesterday?
“No, no, I’ll be fine.” A day without sleep was nothing. Once it gets to a week however, that’s when the trouble begins. “You want to learn how to control these horses?”
It was a good opportunity to teach Ella something other than martial arts. Although he worried that the subject would be too boring for her, seeing that little glimmer in her eyes quickly quelled his concerns. It seemed like she was interested in learning anything but reading and writing.
“It''s simple, you just use these reins. Pull at it to slow them down, whip it lightly to have them move faster, and to bring them to a halt, just pull as hard as you can. Easy, right?” Ega presented the reins over to Ella.
Looking at them for a second, she gingerly took it from his callused hands. She held them awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
“Don’t be so tense. Just have a good hold on the reins and the horses will respond to your commands.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Hearing that, Ella took a deep breath and pulled at the reins, slowing the horses down. Shaking the reins, they began to move at their previous pace. For a second, Ega thought he could feel the horses side-eying him at the strange commands.
“See, easy.” Ega took the reins back, letting her go back to studying. “If I never need you to take the reins, you’ll know what to do, right?”
Ella nodded her head, wondering when he would ever need her to take the reins. But that moment would come a lot quicker than they had both imagined.
Night quickly fell on them, and their pace had slowed down to a crawl. The horses were exhausted from walking the entire day, and just as Ega was about to stop them and set up camp, a night breeze passed by, sending a chill down his spine.
There was something sinister in the air, and as he veered his head around to find the source of his fears, he had finally laid eyes on it. An Outer.
Its figure was otherworldly, constructed from some sort of black sludge which held some semblance of form. About the size of a wolf, it shambled forward on its odd number of legs, its dozens of beady white eyes piercing through the moonlit night locked onto their carriage.
It seemed to snarl as it caught sight of them and in an instant, it began to sprint toward their direction. If that wasn’t already bad enough, another Outer of similar size quickly followed, pounding its legs against the ground as it moved.
“Shit shit shit.” For a second, all Ega could do was curse. Thankfully, there was a good amount of distance between them and the Outers, giving him some time to react.
As he tried to calm himself down, Ega whipped the horses, giving no regard to the amount of strength that he was putting behind it.
“Go! Go!”
Maybe they had also felt the presence of those Outers, because despite their exhaustion, they had quickly kicked into a full gallop. Still, they were moving slower than usual, and it was only a matter of seconds before the Outers were on them.
Ella darted her head around, unsure of what was going on. “Ega? Just what—”
“Ella! Take the reins!” Ega began to pull out the quiver and bow from his soul sack. “When I jump off of the carriage, just keep on going and count to five. Once you do, stop the horses, understand?”
Despite the sudden bombardment of commands, Ella gripped the reins and nodded her head.
Hearing the sounds of twigs snapping and the messy drumming of the earth grow louder and louder, Ega turned his attention back toward the Outers. Scrambling toward the back of the carriage, he began to mix all of the useful souls that he could into his own. It didn’t matter that he’d have to spend the next few days focused on separating them later, he needed to give his all here and now.
Knocking an arrow, he sent them whistling straight toward the Outers. Although most of the arrows missed their mark, they were slowing them down, even if it was just by a tiny amount. As the Outers dodged one arrow, Ega released another arrow, skewering one of them. Prepping the second Outer in a similar fashion, he quickly pulled out the bag of nova burst petals.
“I’m jumping off!” Praying that Ella remembered the slew of commands he had given her, he jumped off the carriage.
Scattering the nova burst petals in front of him, he drew his sword. Getting into the proper stance, he focused on the two Outers. Although piercing each of them with the arrow was slowing them down, they were still charging at him at an incredibly fast speed.
He had dealt with Outers before, having the method of killing them being hammered into his head over and over again. He waited for them to get closer and closer until finally, they pounced toward him like ravenous wolves.
Remembering how his soul felt when he was training in the rain, he ignited his soul once again. Strength suddenly surged through his entire body, and just as they were a meter away from tearing him into shreds, Ega swung his blade.
His mithril blade shimmered under the moonlight, and for a second, he had created a shimmering white horizon in the endless darkness. The pieces of the Outers fell onto the petals that Ega had scattered about, but they were far from dead.
The pieces squirmed about, desperately trying to piece themselves back together. In almost a second, they had clumped together, but that was as far as they would get.
Creating a spark with his flint and steel, Ega ignited the nova burst petals to burn the Outers away. He continued to hack away at the pieces of the Outers, preventing them from regenerating as the fire tore them away from existence.
After three minutes of slashing at those disgusting beings, he had finally rid them of their world. Sweat was running down his face as he tried to catch his breath. No matter how much stronger he had gotten, those monsters still shook him down to his core.
Ega looked down the road, seeing the tiny light of the carriage lantern. Looking back at the last bits of fire, he considered himself lucky that the Outers he had faced weren’t any bigger than the size of a wolf. Even with the rest of his nova burst petals, there was no way he could have burnt away the Outers without preparing any kindling beforehand.
That was what facing the Outers usually hinged on, preparation. Having a way to hamper their incredible speed, the ability to cut them into pieces, and preparing a strong enough fire to burn away those pieces were the essential parts to dealing with Outers.
After mixing so many souls into his own in a short time and igniting his own soul to deliver that strike, Ega was beginning to feel a heavy weight on his chest. Turning toward the carriage, he began to walk back to Ella.
Needing some rest, he figured that they would just camp where she had stopped the carriage, but rest would not come easy. Having not even taken ten steps forward, Ega something pressing against his chest, no, his soul.
It was light, but whether it was light or heavy, he could instantly tell what was happening. Someone had expanded their soul realm across the area.
Bursting out into a sprint, Ega began to expand his soul realm outward as well. Inexperienced in such a method, he could only extend it out a few meters in front of him, but that would be enough.
In one breath, he arrived by Ella’s side and quickly scooped her into his hand. Just as he did, a volley of arrows flew toward their position. Although he had dodged the sudden attack, a few of them hit the horses, preventing them from escaping.
Bandits had surrounded them, and they were keen on revenge. Although there were more of them this time around, that wasn’t what made them so confident in this fight.
The weight on Ega’s soul began to grow heavier, splitting his efforts between keeping the other person’s soul realm at bay and having to fight off the bandits. Not only that, but he had to keep Ella protected as he fought.
From a fight against Outers to a fight against bandits, it was going to be a long, bloody night for Ega.