《Tangled In Deadman's Strings》 Youll be free, I promise Long ago when the world¡¯s first empire started to develop there was a mysterious man who appeared in the time when the sun rose and the moon descended. Who entitled himself as The Last Carrier Of The Flames Of Will wishing to change this world with his testimonials and the knowledge of his people which has been carried through generations. A large number of people believed in his wish and became loyal followers of The Carrier although no one knew where did this mysterious man come from nor if he is human. Nevertheless, people believed in him and heard what he had to say but there also were those who questioned the truth of the matter and refused to believe The Carrier. Claiming that the people who follow him are all too naive to realize that The Carrier only wants to use his followers for his own wicked needs. The Carrier didn¡¯t want the local people to start any conflicts between each other and wholeheartedly promised to prove himself to the unbelievers and in return wished for their loyalty. The unbelievers agreed to this and declared peace between them and the followers of The Carrier on the condition that The Carrier would prove himself in a timespan of a month from the moment when the peace declaration takes action and if the needs were not met then the followers of The Carrier would be executed for betraying the king. Some time had passed and the deadline was getting closer each day. Some followers started to question the power of The Carrier and refused to put their life on the line, leaving the life that they once lived as a loyal follower and starting a new life as an unbeliever, questioning everything they once thought was self-explanatory. The people who stayed loyal to The Carrier took matters into their own hands and started to gather equipment and other valuable materials so to be ready when the unbelievers did decide to make their first move. The Carrier grew worried, nervous and called upon The Devil for advice. He then ingeniously told The Devil his problem and Satan, being the clever beast that he is, promised The Carrier to make his wish come alive and said: ¡°I''ll do everything on my part to make your wish take flight but for me to do so I need twelve human sacrifices and a drop of blood from your left hand.¡± The Carrier didn¡¯t have any choices left and immediately agreed to make the deal. A new Sunrise was upon the world and The Carrier took along with him twelve truth-seeking unbelievers unconcernedly telling them that he would finally reveal his true powers to them. The Carrier doubtfully called upon The Devil again to make the deal, but before he was ready to give Satan his blood he said: ¡°Before I give you my blood I want to see a prophecy of this world when my wish truly manifests¡± At first, Satan hesitated to show The Carrier the prophecy, but after thinking about it The Devil finally agreed and touched the forehead of The Carrier revealing the prophecy to him. After seeing it with his own eyes The Carrier fell to his knees and started to cry and laugh psychotically at the same time trying to describe what he just saw to the sacrifices but failing every time due to his outrageous outbursts of emotions that were making him choke on his words. When The Carrier finally got his emotions under control he looked at Satan with his eyes shining from all the crying and Shouted: ¡°I¡¯m ready, Do what you must.¡± Satan clawed The Carrier¡¯s left hand with enormous strength, pulling The Carrier up with only one of his hands and started to laugh with a terrifyingly hysterical evil laugh. The Carrier felt as The Devil was draining the life out of his left hand. His hand was getting cold, weak and skinnier with every passing moment. Seeing this, the sacrifices tried to escape as far away as they could, but Satan, while holding up The Carrier, brutally captured all twelve sacrifices and injected twelve demonic souls, which were infused with the powers of The Carrier, into the sacrifices thereby giving vessels to the souls of twelve powerful demons. The Carrier managed to barely escape from The Devil¡¯s claws but his actions gave life to twelve demonic demons, who each resembled The Carrier in some sort of way. All hell broke loose and Satan, looking dead in the eyes of The Carrier, smiled and disappeared with an evil grin on his face, leading the demons towards the empire. The Demons ruthlessly destroyed the empire, viciously slaughtering every living soul in their path. The Carrier desperately tried to stop them, but the force of all the twelve demons was too much for him and The Carrier got wounded deadly. Before his dying breath The Carrier did what he could and by using the power that was still left inside of him, created a form of consciousness of his own, who would rise above the twelve beasts. The Carrier used the power of his creation to instantaneously capture and imprison the twelve demons and disappeared with all the beasts sealed inside of him as quickly as he first appeared, taking along the whole empire with him. The next sunrise after the incident, there were no living souls nearby the area. The empire vanished within a night taking along all the souls that lived near or in it. Nowadays there is a temple called The Temple of Light that resigns in the area. It¡¯s markings on the wall light up every time a full moon shines on it revealing secrets carved in a language which is lost in the sands of time. The locals say that inside the middle of this temple there¡¯s a tomb chamber where rests a man who brought stars to the night¡¯s sky. There it was... our worst fears manifested as a beast from the 9th Circle of Hell itself. I had always heard stories of creatures like these but never could have imagined something this humongous and frightening. As everyone around me started to panic and run past me I suddenly zoned out. I could only hear my thoughts frantically rushing through my mind. My mind wanted me to run but I couldn¡¯t move my legs. For an instant, It felt like I was just a floating head on top of a frozen body. I just started tearing up and screamed: ¡°NO NO NO! That¡¯s my mom over there!.¡± Someone ran past me and pushed me to the ground... I just started to crawl backwards so to get up and run. Didn¡¯t look back for a second and I just ran along with the crowd. On the way, saw a collapsed house and I climbed up on top of it to see them come... I clenched my fists and teeth. There they were...flying over me like a flock of birds leaving a trail of smoke as they sore through the sky... I cheered and saw them burning the backside of the beast meanwhile troops on standby were saving people out of harm''s way. I wanted to get an even better view. Looked around my surroundings and saw so much blood everywhere and it shook me to the core..no child should have witnessed this all on his own. I didn¡¯t want to see it... I ran up the stair of a nearby park, but when I made it to the top, saw the creature in its entirety but something was off. it had stopped moving¡­ It just stood there whilst blood dripped down its nape I heard a deep voice next to me and turned around. There it was¡­ a skydiver just sitting on the ground bleeding... His leg had a big wound on the side of it with his pants slightly shredded.¡°Oh no are you alright..can you move your leg!?¡± While trying to get himself up without standing on the bleeding leg ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine kid, why are you here... you should be at the boats by now- it''s not safe here.¡± My eyes continued to water up and I told him: ¡°No I¡¯m not leaving without you.. you¡¯re bleeding.¡± Him, now standing on his feet, adjusted his outfit. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking you to safety.¡± He grabbed me by the waist side and suddenly my feet couldn¡¯t touch the ground anymore¡­I looked down on the ground and quickly panicked. ¡±we¡¯re flying!?¡± but when we neared the boats there were only a few left on the docks. ¡°Hold on! It¡¯s just around the corner¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A boatman from one of the boats in front of us screamed: ¡°LOOK OUT THE HEARD¡¯S COMING.¡± In a blink of an eye, we had suddenly flown high up which made me cough. All I saw were people running to the docks on four legs screaming¡­ ¡°The boats are that way¡­where are we¡­ ¡± I tried to speak, but I stumbled on my words. ¡°We don¡¯t have time when I say jump get ready to jump, alright!¡± He¡¯s right hand got warmer... I felt it even while in the air. ¡°But I saw people running..¡± ¡°Ready! Jump!...¡± He let go of me... I was in the air and I couldn¡¯t see the ground... I immediately closed my eyes and screamed¡­ I think I was caught by someone and stopped falling through the air. When I opened my eyes I was being held by a figure with a leather mask... I jumped out of fear and looked away. I saw metal flooring and walls covered with steam cans¡­ ¡°Easy kid.. you¡¯re safe now.¡± ¡°Can you stand?¡± I nodded slightly. The figure put me down on the floor and my legs were shaking. I felt tingles running down my back and sat down. Looked up and saw blue eyes with a concerned look looking down on me. ¡°You alright?¡± I looked around me and saw so many people with similar leather outfits around me. ¡°Ye-ah... I think so..is this the? I tried to gain my balance and just started to look closely at everything. It was so overwhelming and exciting at the same time. ¡°Skydivers airbase?! sure is..¡± He said There were so many air cans on the walls and so much noise coming from the big opened floor. I looked outside and saw a great view of the city. However, so many buildings near the centre of it were destroyed in the explosion. Now the creature was just laying there with half of its body remains intact. ¡°Ah, don''t worry about that.. we took care of it.¡± And as I looked further near the docks where the shadows of the buildings ended slightly I saw a red tint on the pavement. I tried to make out more, but I couldn¡¯t, as I took a step near it I lost my balance again and someone grabbed me by my hand and pulled me back. Saw his slightly scarred but smiling face ¡°Hey, careful now.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s my mom and the others¡­ I wanna go home¡­ why is this happening?¡± The mood suddenly changed and I started to weep on my own. The blue-eyed masked figure whispered something to the man and he said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll take you back to your mom and everything is going to be fine¡­¡± I looked at them and felt a little better. ¡°WHO THE HELL BROUGHT A CIVILIAN INSIDE THE BASE WITHOUT GRANTING A PERMIT!¡± A man rushed through one of the metal doors and slammed it wide open. The wounded skydiver took a stand and said: ¡°It was me, Sergeant Maccoy, from the Ist Pyrowing squad Sir!¡± he rushed down the stairs ¡°You dare to disobey my commands while putting this whole operation at risk sergeant¡­¡± ¡°Cut him some slack Commander Lionheart. He saved the boys¡¯ life after all.¡± the masked figure took off his leather mask and stared back at the commander Both men now turned to look at me as I was scared and held onto Maccoys hand tightly. ¡°Very well then. Sergent Gerard take this young man back down and then meet me back here in two hours. I have a task for you.¡± ¡°Yes, got it, Commander Sir! ¡° Maccoy turned around and pulled me to the side. ¡°Are you hurt?¡± I looked down on the ground again and felt ashamed of myself for feeling this way. ¡°I¡¯m really scared mister..¡± No worries. Things got a little carried away that¡¯s all. He stood back up and started to walk C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get you back down. We walked through the corridor of the base and there were many locked doors and windows. We made our way to the stairs and started to walk down. I saw that he¡¯s leg had stopped bleeding and there were no scars or bite marks on it. I stopped behind him and pointed my finger at his left leg. What happened to your leg, mister? Oh, this? nothing out of the ordinary... I just got stuck that¡¯s all. We made it down the long stairway and he opened a heavy metal door. Maccoy punched a tall man who was standing right outside the door and it started to scream. What¡¯s that?! He pinned him to the ground and its blood just spilt all over the ground. I ran outside and saw Maccoy¡­ he had stabbed the man what looks like through his chest. Dahmmit He mudder it to himself. I¡¯m sorry you had to see that, kid. I just looked at him with a face full of concern and horror.. started to step back slowly This is a walker... A skinwalker to be exact. it usually has multiple distinctive features to it like¡­ I zoned out again while he was talking and I just looked at the monster on the ground...It looked horrifying like something straight out of a nightmare with its long skinny legs, its scary animal-like face and sharp teeth and claws..it had no hair on its head and there was what looked like a tail laying on the ground beside it. Usually, Skinwalkers can¡¯t get inside this place but this one could for some reason..probably ran along with the herd... Do they kill people?! I looked at Maccoy with a very concerned look in my eyes. Maccoy looked back at me while putting away he¡¯s knife .yes kid..every the last one of them... ¡­ we both stood there speechless by what just happened It¡¯s the harsh truth kid..there are a lot of things in this world that you don¡¯t understand or begin to even fathom in your right mind just yet. I just stared at the corpse with deep concern in my eyes. Maccoy got closer and kneeled between me and the body on the ground. But I promise to you that I will help you understand... He took my hand and started to lead me away, back to town... Oh, I think it¡¯s a better time than ever... what¡¯s your name, kid? I smiled and looked at him¡­ Edd... Edward Hulter, mister. Edward huh... he started laughing all of the sudden and just padded me on the head I like that name..it suits you... I just smiled back at him and we continued walking. On the back of my mind, I still felt unease..like someone was watching us. Calling Out Your Name But on a seemingly normal day, Aysel heard from Edward something weird and idealistic. - Edward: ¡°I¡¯m going to fly over the outer walls all on my own merits.¡± Now Edward held her hands. - ¡°I want to take you along with me.¡± Aysel shut him down and stayed true to herself. - Aysel: ¡°It¡¯s a very tempting offer indeed. But I can¡¯t risk it, sorry.¡± Edward looked puzzled after that.. but on the very next early-morning, Edward flew to the Evergreen¡¯s house with his LDA-gear and jumped inside through an opened window on the roof. Edward though confidently to himself. ¡°I have to let her see the outside world, the beauty and everything.¡± Suddenly they saw each other and Aysel screamed her heart out, out of surprise, Edward quickly hugged her and pressed her mouth against his chest to mudder her tone of voice. After that, they both started to quietly giggle so to not wake her mom and dad up. After some time Edward went back up on the roof and now also helped Aysel on the roof, who was still half asleep trying to yank her blue-tinted leather jacket on. - Edward: ¡°We¡¯re going to overcome that, which holds all of us back the most, fear is the thing that helps to keep us out of harm''s way but enough is enough. Tonight I¡¯m making history..with you by my side, together.¡± Aysel looked at him surprised but didn¡¯t say anything just yet. Edward prepared his LDA-gear and effortlessly swooped the girl of her feet off of the roof. For a moment both of them were falling towards the ground but some kind of force pushed them and now they were on their merry way gliding upwards the sky.
- Aysel: ¡°We¡¯re flying ?! so this is what you¡¯ve been up to all of this time in the academy.¡± Aysel looked down on the ground and shivers ran through her spine down to the souls of her feet. She held tighter around Edward¡¯s shoulder now. - Aysel: ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t like this..this is terrifying, Edward.¡± - Edward: ¡°Hold on, just a little more.¡± Now they had passed the walls of the city and landed not so smoothly on a hill near a forest, which very well could have been filled with predators still lurking around hunting for something to eat. - Edward: ¡°You landed on my leg..¡± - Aysel: ¡°Are you hurt? can you stand? ¡± - Edward: ¡°Yeah, I''m good¡­¡± They both tried to stand up. -¡°We did it! ¡± They hugged each other out of joy and then looked around to examine the area. - Edward: ¡°Looks harmless to me¡­ with all of this empty grassland around.¡±
- Aysel: ¡°Mhm, I wonder why other people haven¡¯t thought of coming here sooner. I have never ventured off this far from our house before. It feels like I can do anything now.¡± - Edward: ¡°Ough, I¡¯m feeling a bit drowsy, gimme a second.¡± Edward sat down on the grass below and just stared at the horizon. Aysel walked around a bit until she also sat herself down on the grass to rest. Edward turned his head towards Aysel. He just observed that spark in her eyes, a spark of a girl who¡¯s one dream had just come true right in this very moment. She just looked at everything that surrounded her with amaze and with a childlike wonder. - Edward: ¡°Can you imagine, that I can be the happiest person alive on this hilltop just because you are feeling so happy here on your own.¡± They both stared awkwardly at each other and silence spread after Edwards remark. After that Aysel just nodded and grabbed his hand to hugged it tightly against herself. - Aysel: ¡°You know it¡¯s not very polite to make others cry like that, right.¡± Aysel also now stared at the horizon but also turned her eyes on the stars in the clear sky. Zoon after dawn hit the grasslands outside the walls. They made one last stop before returning to the city. Edward turned his attention back to the forest and saw Hollows moving as the sunlight hit the forest. It was possible to read genuine fear, worry and overall seriousness from his face alone and Aysel saw just that.
He turned to Aysel and with a merk on his face. - Edward: ¡±Shall we continue? before anyone finds out that I had snatched you? ¡± Aysel smiled to that but kept it to herself. Descended back on the same rooftop she saw that the wind had blown the window wide open. As she was ready to go inside she remembered something and turn herself back to Edward...but there was no one there. He had already flown away.
The sky is dark and the rain is pouring down. Aysel is with her thoughts and isn¡¯t focused on her parents having a heated argument on the first floor. She could only thing about her brother, about where has he gone off to and why hasn¡¯t he come back home. ¡°It¡¯s been three days already.¡± she thought to herself. Aysel doesn¡¯t think that dad is the one to blame for this. But then again that doesn¡¯t mean she thinks nothing negative about this whole situation. She has started to blame herself in a way but always plays it off to her emotions just acting up again. Hope dies last and her brother can get by just fine on his own. She looks outside of her window over the walls to the large buildings that stretch over the separating walls. ¡°Even if he attempted to go higher up the mountain, he¡¯s still fine. They say that inside those fancy houses people have the whole floor of a building just to live on alone by themselves. It¡¯s weird to think about. What a lovely way to live.¡± Aysel walks outside and takes her red umbrella with her. She walks up through the street headed to the centre of the city. Halfway there she encounters a white dog, who¡¯s shivering in the cold rain. She kneels and stretches out her hand, with bread from her coat pocket inside of her palm. Lately, there¡¯s always something edible in her pockets when she goes out for a walk. ¡°There are so many lonely animals moving around with nowhere to go. It¡¯s sad really.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The puppy gladly eats every piece from her palm and starts to wag its little tail around after that. - Aysel: ¡°There you go, all gone.¡±
She stands up and starts to walk ahead again and the little pup follows her slowly. She now reaches the centre of the city and she notices that the marketplace isn¡¯t as crowded as it was yesterday. ¡°Must be the rain..although everything is still open.¡± Suddenly she hears a loud blood-curling scream from the back of the marketplace. She moves closer to where she thinks it¡¯s coming from and sees a trail of blood spread across the cobblestone street. There¡¯s also a man being dragged across the ground to a narrow alleyway where another man with a lit cigar is standing opposite of her. As she is watching it all from afar she jumps out of fear when the little pup reaches up to her and lets out a loud bark at the men. Aysel immediately turns back around and starts to move back down the street with a faster walk than usual. She can¡¯t think about anything else then what she just had seen back there. When she made it back home she laid her umbrella down and just sat down in front of the door and fell back into her thoughts. ¡°Dammit, big brother where the hell are you? Are you well or has something happened to do you?¡± Her eyes started to tear up and she quietly hiccoughed as if struggling to hold back her feelings. In front of her made its way that small pup who had followed her all this way back and who now rested his small little wet nose on Aysel¡¯s gold hands. She looks at him and then puts him on her lap. - Aysel: ¡°What¡¯s your name, little guy? Who¡¯s pet are you? Are you all on your own? ¡± She paused for a second.
-¡°I know exactly what I have to do.¡± She held the little puppy gently on her lap until he fell asleep and Aysel just wiped away her tears and smiled to herself. The same night both Edward and Aysel planned to fly over the walls again but this time they stopped longer on top of the wall than usual. - Edward: ¡°Why are these even here? Why are we being held inside of these like cattle or livestock just waiting to be killed and devoured? " Edward just kept going on ranting about the walls. Aysel now just sat on the wall with her hands holding her legs close to one another. - Aysel: ¡°Big brother hasn¡¯t still come back home...what do I do? what can I do? ¡± Edward quietly listen to her. - Edward: ¡°But why should you do anything at all? He was the one that left you. He also was the one who always more often than not was contemptuous and mean to you. Do you think¡­¡± - Aysel: ¡°Yes, he would be worried for me too if our roles would be switched. We are still family after all and we always stick together.¡± Edward smirked while stepping closer. - Edward: ¡°Mhh, I think, that wait one more day. Then let¡¯s both go search for him together.¡± - Aysel: ¡°Today, I saw how a man was being mugged and killed¡± Edward sat closer to her and with a concerned look. - Edward: ¡°Where did you see him? ¡±
- Aysel: ¡°I walked and it caught my eye...some people are just so horrible in this world.¡± Edward looks down on the walls and then turns his head back to her. - Edward: ¡°Wait so now you think, that something similar also has happened to him? ¡± Aysel turns her head and now looks Edward straight in the eyes. - Aysel: ¡°I don¡¯t think, I know, Ewwu. My gut feeling is never wrong.¡± After that Edward thought about her words. - Edward: ¡°I-I can¡¯t help you with that, sorry.¡± - Aysel: ¡°How come? so you¡¯re just going to turn your back on me like everyone else? right, when I need you the most? " Edward now stood up. - Edward: ¡°I can¡¯t I¡¯m not permitted to help you, because it would be too much in my opinion.¡± She also stood up now. - Aysel: ¡°Ewwu, look at where we are. This whole situation, the fact that we are standing on these age-old walls is already too much.¡± - Edward: ¡°I¡¯m aware of that and that is precisely the reason why I don¡¯t wanna risk anything more than I have already.¡± - Aysel: ¡°Oh¡±
Aysel looked down in despair. - Aysel: ¡°Ahah, I get it now, yeah. You can¡¯t possibly betray the trust of your mentor or risk losing it even if it would be because of me and my family.¡± - Edward: ¡°What? No, that¡¯s not...it¡¯s not like that...things are a whole lot more complicated than you could imagine.¡± - Aysel: ¡°Whatever. I¡¯ll find him myself with or without your help. You don¡¯t have to worry about it anymore. Just bring me back home and leave.¡± - Edward: ¡°Aysel...I truly want to but I can¡¯t help you like this...¡± - Aysel: ¡°Help me like this? Like how could you then, huh? ¡± - Edward: ¡°Ahh, forget about it, just get on, I''ll take you back down." This time they landed in front of Aysels front door and after that Edward just walked away. - Aysel: ¡°No goodbyes? just like last time? ¡± Edward walked and now shouted in her general direction. - Edward: ¡°Goodbye, Aysel. See you later!¡±
Edward knocks on the door and stood in front of the house with a sleeping dog. Low toned voice echos from inside the house. - ¡°Go open the door, you can hear, that a person wants to come in, can¡¯t you? ¡± *Click* the front door opens up and Aysels mom Esta is standing on the other side. Edward steps back a little and asks. - Edward: ¡°You must be Aysels¡¯ mom...Is Aysel at home? ¡± - Esta: ¡°It depends who¡¯s asking if you don''t mind me asking.¡± Edward begins to answer but doubts himself for a moment. He recalls the night when he stormed off and left Aysel alone. - Edward: ¡°I¡¯m Edward, Edward Holter. A friend of Aysel.¡± - Esta: ¡°A friend? well, young man, she hasn¡¯t been seen inside of this house for 2 days.¡± That caught Edward off-guard. - Edward: ¡°R-Really? Okay, Thank you.¡± Esta coughed as Edward turned around. - Esta: ¡°If you¡¯re going to look for her then also let us know what you have found... We just barely caught shuteye since after yesterday''s rigorous search. The local women also don¡¯t have any clue about her.¡± Edward¡¯s face froze in fear.
- Edward: ¡°Ye¡¯right, I''ll let you know if I happen to find anything.¡± The door shut and Edward ran toward his house around the corner. ¡°No, no, no what do you mean she¡¯s not home? I have to find her. I have to apologise to her, I just have to find her.¡± He made it back home and stormed upstairs to the second floor, to his room. He quickly started to put on his LDA-gear but struggled to make any sense of the situation. ¡°Well here goes nothing, sorry Gerard but now I just have to find her.¡± Nighttime falls and Edward laid himself on the roof of the Evergreen¡¯s family house once again. -¡°Where is she? I have already scoured the entire outer cityscape but still nothing¡­¡± Edward closed his eyes and he remembered Aysels words to him. - Aysel: ¡°I don¡¯t think, I know, Ewwu. My gut feeling is never wrong.¡± - Aysel: ¡°This whole situation, the fact that we are standing on these age-old walls, is already too much." - Aysel: ¡°You know it¡¯s not very polite to make others cry like that, right.¡± - Edward: ¡°Damm it all, hell if I know what¡¯s right anymore. I have to get outside these walls. If she¡¯s not inside then she¡¯s probably outside of them.¡± to be continued...