《Numb》


 Chapter 1: Finale breath

    Blood hit the ground like raindrops. The room was spinning around him and he didn¡¯t notice as he slipped and hit the ground face first trying to protect her he used his own body. The blood covered his face, but he didn¡¯t care, the only thing on his mind was getting help, the only thing that mattered now was that she didn¡¯t die because of him.


    ¡°Get her off the floor quickly, I need to stop the bleeding!¡± said the middle-aged doctor while trying to assess the situation. Seeing the doctor take charge made Will feel better, he needed to save her, even if it was the last thing he did. She was the only one he had left in this world.


    ¡°Are you alright sir!¡± said the young doctor clearly worried about his wellbeing. She had blond hair and was clearly in her early twenties. She was completely the opposite of the middle-aged doctor, her eyes scanned the room for any doctor nearby. If anyone saw them right now they would think she was the one needing the saving.


    ¡°Where did they take my sister, please save her life!¡± Will said while getting up after while trying to catch his breath.


    ¡°please lay still, you can¡¯t move right now. I will get the other attending on standby, just wait!¡± she said not waiting for an answer, moving as fast as she could with her long blond hair waving behind her. But Will didn¡¯t have time to wait, he didn¡¯t feel any pain, in a matter of fact, he didn¡¯t feel anything.


    He followed the line of blood, it was unbelievable how many liters of blood there was in the body of a small girl. When he reached the operating room he didn¡¯t enter, there was no use anyway. They would make him leave, and besides it wasn¡¯t like he could do anything to help. he sat down and waited, he didn¡¯t know how long it would take, the only thing he knew about hospitals was from tv and those always took a while.


    The hours passed quickly and he felt a deep urge to sleep like his body wanted to shut down. While trying to fight the urge to sleep the girl with the blond hair found him with another doctor standing next to her who looked just as young.


    ¡°Sir, please come with us, we need to examine you,¡± the boy said clearly more confident about what he was doing. But Will could still see the anxiety in his eyes, he would be scared to if he could see himself. His whole face was covered with blood from the fall and his body had gone pale from the blood loss.


    Will didn¡¯t react, he didn¡¯t even hear the two talking. His body was getting too weak, he didn¡¯t have the strength to fight the urge to sleep. Just when he was about to give up he saw the door he had been staring at for hours open and the middle-aged doctor exited. He faced him and said something while shaking his head, he didn¡¯t need to ability to hear him understand, she was gone.


    At the same moment, the urge to sleep took over him, he had given up, there was nothing to fight for anymore. He closed his eyes and made himself ready to get some sleep, anything to let him forget, maybe he would wake up and all of this would be a bad dream.


    The moment he fell the two young doctors tried to stabilize him, but it was too late, he had passed away. The urge to sleep was just too great for him to fight, especially because there was nothing to fight for.


    ------


    A young boy was laying on a steel table being examined by three people wearing green scrubs with masks on.


    ¡°The MRI showed more than twenty broken bones,¡± said the blond doctor trying to understand the situation. There is no way someone should be able to move with this much damage; the pain would have been immense. Even if you take in account the adrenalin, that would not last long enough for him to patiently sit and wait for his sister¡¯s operation, after a couple of hours the pain would have been enough to make someone scream in agony for months maybe years.


    ¡°Look at his tongue,¡± said the middle-aged doctor with a sad tone while shaking his head.


    The blond doctor opened the mouth and tried to take a clear look at the tongue, but she couldn¡¯t see most of it, it was like a part of it had gone missing, ¡°why is a part of his tongue missing?¡±


    ¡°Do you know the answer, Martin?¡± The middle-aged doctor looked at the young boy behind him observing.


    ¡°It looks like he has been chewing it,¡± said the young doctor trying to figure it out. He had never seemed something like this before.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°You are correct, this happens when kids are born with Congenital insensitivity to pain also knows as CIP, they can¡¯t feel pain so they chew their own tongue as infants, this explains why he was able to move, he properly has never felt pain in his life,¡± the middle-aged doctor said shaking his head, he had never seemed someone like Will but he had heard of them.


    ¡°Ironically it was not the broken bones that killed him, it was the loss of blood.¡±


    ------


    Will woke up floating in the air, he looked around and saw thousands of stars with bright colors shining, some even exploding around him without making any sound. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He was standing in a sea of people who looked like the ghosts, it made him think of the stories his mother had told him about spirits and how the soul is undying, he had laughed at her back then, but he was not laughing now.


    Just as he was trying to comprehend what was happening and wanted to look for his sister he felt a force pulling him to one of the planets, it felt like he was being pulled by the gravity of the planet itself. The planet looked different from the others, while the thousand other planets were made of earth and other materials this planet was made of the same white light he was made of.


    The speed at which he was pulled towards the planet kept increasing to the point he couldn¡¯t keep up anymore. The next thing he knew he was standing in front of a burning bush so bright he couldn¡¯t look directly at it.


    ¡°My son, you have finally returned after all these years,¡± a strong and powerful sound emitted from the light.


    Will felt a shock through his body, what did he mean by son? It¡¯s true that he had never met his father but a burning bush was the last thing he expected.


    ¡°Your compassion and sacrifice made me proud, I will grand the human''s salvation and save them from the hands of the devil because of what you did.¡± The sounds became even more profound and continued with his explanation.


    Will felt a shock going through his body when he understood what the man was talking about, did he think he was Jesus?


    ¡°you don¡¯t remember my son? I send you to the human world as the son of the Virgin Mary to save the world from their sins,¡± the bush said with a proud voice. ¡°Now finally after many reincarnations, I have finally found you and brought you back to me¡±


    Will tried to process the information, did the voice say reincarnation? There was a time he would never believe him, but he would also have never believed is someone told him about this place. A world completely made of white energy, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. ¡°I¡¯m Jesus?¡± He said with a confused look on his face.


    ¡°Haha,¡± the brush started to laugh until the sound of laughter filled the whole planet. The profound voice had changed from a low voice to a more high-pitched voice that sounded like the one uncle everyone had who never grows up.


    The brush changed into a young man who was also made from white energy like everyone else but had something special to him. The first thing Will noticed was that out of everyone he had seen the man was the only one who was wearing clothes.


    ¡°He falls for it every time,¡± the man said still laughing clearly enjoying himself.


    ¡°Are you done playing?¡± said the other man entering the room. He looked the same as the other man, they could be twins, the only thing different was the colors, while the first man was surrounded by the white energy the other man was surrounded by black energy.


    ¡°I''m sorry, its just an old tradition of mine,¡± the man in white said with a smirk on his face while he walked towards the other man. When the two reached each other, they merged into one. The man''s hair turned grey, his skin became light and he was wearing black clothes.


    ¡°please excuse me, I have been serving in this station for more than a million years now and it gets boring sometimes,¡± the man said with a smile on his face.


    ¡°What did you mean when you said tradition?¡± Will asked with a confused look on his face, he couldn¡¯t remember meeting the man before.


    ¡°From the million years I have served in this place, you have died and been reborn more than eight hundred thousand times! I do now know why, maybe it¡¯s just bad luck, but because of this I have come to know you better than maybe you do yourself, my friend. This will be our last meeting, I have served my sentence and I will be free in another two years, I¡¯m glad I could see you one more time, you made my stay in this hellhole somewhat more bearable,¡± said the man while putting his hand on Will¡¯s shoulder.


    The moment the man touched Will a golden coin appeared in Will¡¯s hand. The coin looked like it was made of gold but it was made of the same thing as everything else, white energy.


    ¡°It looks like you have done some good deed in your last life, to get a coin of choice is not a small matter,¡± the man said without any emotion.


    Will looked at the coin in his hand and tried to comprehend everything going on around him. He didn¡¯t know what he should ask about first, the coin of the deaths.


    ¡°You do not need to ask about the deaths, we have had this conversation many times, and the truth is that I don¡¯t know why you almost never become an adult, even in the most evolved worlds, you always seem to die young, and even if I knew, you would still forget when your soul reincarnates. As for the coin, this is granted to souls that have saved another in exchange for the own life and it can be used to choose the world for your next reincarnation. But to tell you the truth my friend, I have no hope, you have lived and died on every kind of world imaginable and I don¡¯t think the coin will make a difference,¡± the man said with sadness in his voice, he had seen Will come here more than eight hundred thousand times and even though he didn¡¯t believe in curses or luck he had no other explanation.


    Seeing Will try to talk the man interrupted him, he knew talking would not help, the only thing he could do right now helped his friend reincarnate and forget about his troubles. ¡°Maybe one day you will survive and enter the realm of immortals, if that happens, find me, I would love to meet you again my friend,¡± the man said as he waved his hand and the body of Will disappear.

 Chapter 2: The path

    Will opened his eyes and he was standing on a field of energy that looked like a desert. He tried to look around but before he could do anything a man tackled him to the ground and tried to take the coin that was in his hand.


    He used all the force he could muster and hit the man in the face, the man hit the ground as he was holding his face and trying to crawl away while speaking to Will in a language he couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°You need to be careful my friend, the people here will hunt you down for your coin, some of these souls have been stuck here for ages trying to get a coin to enter the world of the living,¡± said a voice coming from behind Will.


    Will turned around and couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, it was a dragon! It was made of the same light as everyone else, but even so, it was still a dragon.


    ¡°Why would you need more than one coin?¡± Will asked in surprise. It was not like he could be reincarnated twice of something.


    The dragon smiled clearly amused by Wills reaction. He could always tell when someone had never seen a dragon before, most people would try to hide it but he could see it in their eyes, they could try to hide their emotions, but he could see the souls of people only by looking them in the eyes.


    ¡°The coin lets you pick one of only ten worlds, but if you have more than one coin you can go to a bigger hall of choice and pick a world out of more than a hundred. You didn¡¯t expect to have the choice from all the millions of worlds for just saving one life, did you?¡± the dragon said in a mocking tone.


    Just as the dragon was talking the man on the ground stood up and tried to attack will. The dragon seeing this used his hand to knock the man into the air, so far that Will was not able to see his body anymore.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid, souls can¡¯t die in this world. You have the luck to meet me here, because of that I will give you five minutes to decide which world you want to choose. I do want to give you the advice to not pick one of the first two choices, those are worlds for the blessed and unlucky, to enter them you need to have the will of at least an immortal,¡± the dragon said with a cocky smile on his face.


    Will listened to the dragon with caution, he believed the dragon because if the dragon wanted his coin there was nothing he could do about it, Will was curious as to why but he didn¡¯t plan to ask him, that would be like asking the officer why he didn¡¯t give you a ticket while he caught you driving 180 on the freeway.


    Just as Will was looking through the information provided by the coin, the dragon opened it''s winged and flew away. The people surrounded him used the chance and started to move closer.


    ¡°I did not say five minutes from right now did I kid,¡± the dragon smiled and watched from the air as the people surrounded Will.


    There was no way to escape, the only thing he could do was to give them his coin or enter the path to one of the worlds not even immortals would tread without caution. Will had seen the description of it, it was called the world of sin, one of only thousand worlds where people were put who had done great deeds of evil in their past lives.


    Will decided to risk it and run towards the vortex that was the entrance to the world. The path was long and made of energy like the rest of the place and there was nothing in sight except the vortex that was clearly the entrance to the world. Will expecting some sort of challenge kept running, but nothing happened, before long he heard voices of pain from behind and turned around to see the who were chasing him screaming in pain. What was happening?


    ¡°How Is he able to stand the pain?¡± the dragon said with some surprise in his voice, he had sensed Will''s soul and the kid was clearly mortal in his past life, so why was he able to keep moving forward?


    But the dragon knew it didn¡¯t matter, the pain right now was only 1% of the pain it would take to reach the vortex, even he couldn¡¯t enter that world if he wanted to, the kid was really unlucky.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Will kept running and after a while had almost reached the vortex while at the same time expecting something to happen. When the dragon saw Will reach the last couple of steps his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, ¡°there is only one way this is possible, there is no other explanation, he must have a mutated soul, I can¡¯t let him get away, to think what I can achieve with a mutated soul this powerful¡±


    ¡°Boy you better come back and let me take your soul or I will make you wish you were dead!¡± the dragon said while his voice field the air.


    But Will didn¡¯t care, he just kept running, there was no chance the dragon would let him go anyways.


    The dragon seeing this started to chase him with great speed. Will looked back and knew that running would not help as the dragon would reach him in seconds, but before he knew it the dragon hit the ground in pain, the screams of the dragon were so powerful the ground started to shake.


    ¡°Come back here kid, if I can¡¯t have your mutated soul, I will burn you with my flames, these flames are so powerful that it has the ability to overcome reincarnation, I can¡¯t kill you with it, but even you will feel pain that even immortals would not be able to stand, you will lose your sanity!¡± the dragon said while coughing up blood.


    Will didn¡¯t look back and kept running, he didn¡¯t have the fear of pain other had. The dragon seeing this got angry and opened his mouth and black flames surrounded Will in a blink of an eye.


    Will felt something for the first time in his life, it was like someone was pinching him. He didn''t know why but he started to laugh, finally, after so many years he finally felt something, and even though it didn¡¯t feel pleasant one of if deepest wished had been fulfilled.


    The dragon saw Will stand up while his body was covered in black flames, was he laughing? ¡°This is¡­. Impossible!¡±


    Will tried to experience the feeling but before long it was gone, the flames were still there, but the feeling had gone, there was no need to wait anymore, he looked behind him one last time and saw the dragon crawl back as he jumped inside the vortex.


    ---


    ¡°quickly, the wife of my brother is having a baby,¡± said a middle-aged man while the people of the town were gathering around the small house. As the man entered the house he saw Weidrek pacing and waiting for her wife to give birth to their fourth child. Even the fourth time was still as anxious as the first, he didn¡¯t care if it was a boy or girl, the only thing he wanted was for the child to be healthy.


    ¡°Weidrek, it seems like drinks are in order,¡± the middle-aged man grinned as he entered the wooden house that looked just a modest from the inside as the outside.


    ¡°Brother Oslac! Its good you came, but let¡¯s wait with the drinks and hope that the gods will grant me a healthy child like he has the last three times,¡± Weidrek said as he looked up to the wooden ceiling and made a quick prayer.


    ¡°She will be fine, unlike you, your wife is a capable woman who will be able to deliver you the son you always wanted, maybe then you will stop trying, or is it so much fun?¡± Oslac said with a big smirk on his face. Just as he was about to continue the house filled with screams.


    ¡°Hiltrude!¡±


    Weidrek and Oslac ran into the room only to see Hiltrude screaming, even for someone who was giving birth this felt wrong, it felt like she was being tortured to death.


    ¡°What is happening to her?¡± said Weidrek trying to understand what was going on, his wife was one of the strongest women in the whole town even he had never seen her scream like this before.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s because of the childbirth, even so, let¡¯s get the baby out quickly,¡± the old woman quickly got a birth pill and forced it inside her mouth, the pill was used to make childbirth a quick and painless process. It was a hard pill to make and it was only used in emergencies.


    The pill seemed to work and the old woman tried to quickly get the baby out now that the head was visible. When the woman touched the baby a pain like she had never felt before entered her body, so painful that she dropped the baby on the ground.


    Weidrek seeing this happen tried to catch the baby unsuccessfully, the baby hit the ground hard but the baby was still, there was no crying. When he touched the baby with his hand he felt a pain that felt like his finger was chopped off, as he pulled back his finger the baby opened his eyes and looked at the world for the first time.


    ¡°What are you doing brother, quickly pick up the baby!¡± Oslac said while he reached for the baby. Weidrek stopped him with his arm and picked up a blanket from the bed and covered the baby and tried touching him with the same finger, even that one second of pain was painful enough to be the most painful experience of his life, but this was his child, he had to find a way to hold him.


    Luckily there was no pain and after some experimenting, he could pick up the baby, he looked at Oslac and said, ¡°brother, instruct everyone not to touch the child if they do they will surely feel a pain so strong that I can¡¯t describe it.¡±


    Oslac was surprised, his brother was one of the strongest warriors of the town, he couldn¡¯t imagine how painful it must have been for his brother to say that. But when he took a long look at the two woman he understood, the pain was so great that Hiltrude had lost her sanity, she was looking at the ceiling and drooling while breathing rapidly.


    At the same time Will opened his eyes, he could remember everything, earth, his death and even the dragon. ¡°What is going on, where is this place?¡±

 Chapter 3: Bloodline

    Will woke up like every morning before and got the wooden stick out his mouth he used not to bite his tongue while he was sleeping. His clothes had been washed and made ready for him by the maid who would make sure to always do so when he was not around. He got dressed and made sure every part of his body was covered except his face, which everyone made sure not to get near too. He had lived in this new world for almost sixteen years now and even though the difficulties he liked it here.


    Just like his last life, he couldn¡¯t feel any pain, he couldn¡¯t be sure but maybe it had something to do with this mutated soul he had heard the dragon talking about. But it was not that big of a problem this time around, because of him remembering his last life he made sure not to do too much damage to his body.


    He had broken his leg and his right arm once but that was nothing compared to the twenty-five broken bones in his last life, and that was only in fifteen years. Besides, the medicine here was way more sophisticated here than on earth, with the pills old granny made his injuries would heal in just a couple of days. The only problem was that the granny didn¡¯t really like him, it had something to do with him almost killing her when he was born, at least that¡¯s what people told him.


    Will walked to the dinner table and saw his father waiting for him. His sisters had gotten married and left the home this meant that only him and his father were left. In two days he would turn sixteen and the elders would pick him a wife just like they had picked a husband for his sisters. Just like they had left to live with their husbands, he had to bring his bride home and live together with his father.


    ¡°Grimwold, these few days are really important in the life of a man. Today you will go to your uncle Oslac and join the others for your first-day training at the martial arts academy. Never forget that we are the only ones who can stand between these savage beasts and our families,¡± said Weidrek while eating a spoon full of rice.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Will said knowing his father was encouraging him to do his best. When he got older he told everyone to call him Will but his father was the only one who still called him by his birth name.


    After eating Will got up and went to the training ground looking for his uncle. His uncle Oslac was once the strongest warrior in town until his father had become of age and shown the incredible strength that even until today nobody had matched.


    Will greeted the people he encountered, and before long saw his friend who had graduated school at the same time as he did.


    ¡°How are you doing this fine morning Will?¡± said Eumer clearly excited to start training. This was every boy''s dream, to become of age and fight with the warriors to protect the town from the beasts.


    ¡°Morning, I heard you got paired with Everild, seems like your luck is not that bad,¡± Will said with a smirk on his face. The wedding had not been announced, but with a town of only a hundred and fifty people, the town was just small enough for everyone to know everything about each other.


    ¡°How do you know; how much do we really know about the girls? For all I know she can be one of those ¡®where were you until now, its midnight¡¯ type,¡± Eumer said while his eyes focused on the warriors training.


    Will laughed amused, he liked how Eumer would always find problems in even the best of situations, ¡°And why would you need to be out after midnight? The only people awake at that time are the Wlfrun sisters working on making wedding dresses,¡± Will said with a big smile on his face.


    Hearing him Eumer made eye contact for the first time and the grin on his face got even bigger as he said, ¡°and what¡¯s wrong with making dresses? Maybe I¡¯m helping them make one for you to wear at your wedding.¡±


    The two laughed and walked towards the training field while looking around, trying to find Oslac. Will made sure he kept his distance, the last thing he wanted was to hurt someone and be made to wear that mask the old granny had designed for him to wear.


    They greeted Oslac and patiently waited to start their training. They had training in the basics for the last couple of years and were ready for the more advanced lessons. Oslac ordered them to stand in front of him and took our three wooden swords and give one to each of them.


    ¡°I expect that the two of you to have learned the basics of sword fighting, show me your progress,¡± he said as he moved with surprisingly low speed and attacked the two of them head-on.


    Will saw the attack coming and stopped it easily with his wooden sword, he was good enough to stop the basic attacks but his skills were nowhere near that of Eumer. The two of them kept Oslac at bay but felt the pressure increase with every new attack, his speed had increased but not to the point the couldn¡¯t keep up, the real problem was the unpredictability of the attacks.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The two were able to keep up for another minute before Oslac completely overwhelmed the two of them with attack after attack. Will couldn¡¯t believe he was able to use such complicated combos with just the basics, it was no wonder his uncle was once seen as the considered the most outstanding genius the town had ever seen, only the birth and rise of his father had overshadowed the genius that was Oslac.


    Oslac looked disappointed, especially at Will and said, ¡°what went wrong here? I was using the same speed and the same skills as you and I was able to defeat the two of you so easily¡±.


    Eumer looked at the ground disappointed, he wasn¡¯t so delusional to think he could win, but he wanted to at least put up a fight. He clenched his fist and said, ¡°I was no match for your skills and combinations, you outsmarted me with every move elder¡±.


    Oslac moved his head in agreement but didn¡¯t react, he looked at Will and when he didn¡¯t say anything shook his head again and continued, ¡°That¡¯s right, but that¡¯s not all. You two have learned the basics and know the moved, especially you Eumer, you used the right moves on almost every attack. The problem was that you still need to think about the right move, this is why the academy¡¯s main job is to learn you the basics so that the moves become a part of you and the sword becomes an extension of your body, always remember, the body moves faster when you fight using instinct instead of with your mind. Always be present in the now, only then can you fight with your full potential.¡±


    He gave the two a couple of pointers and assignment them to keep practicing the basics for now. Eumer was a little disappointed that he had to keep working on the basics but could not deny the words Oslac had spoken. After finishing the lesson Oslac asked Eumer to give him some time alone with Will.


    Oslac looked at Will for a couple of seconds like he was trying to figure out something, his ability to read people was the best in the town and it was the reason he was chosen as the one to train the new generation. After a while, Oslac shook his head and sighed before continuing, ¡°Tell me boy, what are you afraid of?¡±.


    ------


    Weidrek entered the towns headquarter and the three council members were waiting for him. He felt the awkward mood in the room as he entered, especially when he saw that none of the council members made eye contact, he knew something was wrong.


    ¡°Take a seat, my friend,¡± said the most senior elder Leofwynn Drage, he was part of the council even before the other three were born.


    ¡°We have some unpleasant news and we hope not to offend you by what we are about the discus. Everyone one of us knows that if it was not for you this town would have already been wiped out by the demons. But you know that the council is made to protect the town and sometimes we have to do something that is unpleasant,¡± old man Drage said while shaking his head and rubbing his hands together nervously.


    ¡°Please speak freely senior Leofwynn, we have been brothers in arms on the battlefield for more than twenty years now,¡± Weidrek said trying to reassure the elder but mostly trying to understand the situation.


    Old man Drage hesitated for another second before he continued, ¡°the council had decided that your son Grimwold will not be eligible for a wife. We are aware of his condition and we do not think he can have children, as you know increasing the population of the town is the most important priority of the council right now¡±.


    Weidrek almost fell off his chair, this was the last thing he expected. This was the first time the council had denied someone a spouse, this was the biggest insult the council could make towards his, he who had saved the people of the town multiple times.


    But he tried to keep calm, there was always a way to solve the situation, he looked at the council members and calmly said, ¡°surely the council would not act so harshly again my family, maybe there is a way for my son to impregnate a wife without laying with her.¡±


    The councilmen shook their head clearly not agreeing with him, they knew that the essence of a man was part of his body and that if a touch could make people go insane from the pain, impregnating a woman would have the same effect times ten.


    -----


    Will was thinking about his talk with Oslac while he was walking back home. The experiences of his old life had made him afraid of hurting his body, he could not feel pain so he could not tell if any serious damage was done, so he would always act cautiously when training, Oslac was the first teacher until now to notice this. In his last life he had been careless and at an age of sixteen, he had already damaged his right leg to the extent that he had a limp and could not run anymore and he didn''t want that to happen again.


    When he reached the house he saw his father moving from one room to the other. At first, he thought that he was preparing for one of his mission but a moment later he saw his father packing his clothes.


    ¡°What is the matter father, why are you packing our clothing?¡± Will said in a low voice, he knew his father and he was clearly not in a very good mood.


    ¡°We are leaving, I should have known that waiting and hoping was not going to solve anything,¡± Weidrek said while still moving quickly trying to find the necessary equipment for the journey.


    ¡°What do you mean leaving? We are surrounded by the white demon clan, if it was that easy to leave everyone would have done that by now,¡± Will said trying to comprehend the situation, but he quickly regretted it as his father stop and looked at him, because he knew, if anyone knew the reality of the outside world, it was his father.


    ¡°It¡¯s true that I have four children, but you are my only son, when your sisters married they left my family and entered another, only you are my heir and can continue my bloodline. I tell you what my father told me when I was your age, a man¡¯s first responsibility in life is to continue the families bloodline, so we have to try finding a cure.¡±

 Chapter 4: Autopilot

    The white light of the full moon was shining on the two men sitting next to the campfire enjoying what seemed to be fish but was clearly big enough to feed a family of five. The once white robes had turned brown from the dirt and had claw marks on them.


    Will looked at his father enjoying the food like he was eating in a three-star restaurant, he was tired of this, stuck in the jungle for the last two months, he hated the mud, the rain, and wost of all the cold nights. At first, it was exciting, he had never been outside of the town and everything was new to him, but it became old quickly. All the trees looked the same and all the monsters had tried to kill them including this fish who they were having for dinner.


    He missed his sisters and his friends, he didn¡¯t have time to visit all of them before leaving, he only said goodbye to his sisters and Eumer. When the townspeople heard of them leaving they even offered him a bride to make them stay, his father was their strongest warrior and him leaving the town was the worse thing that could have happened. It was true that the town was safe, and that for some reason the monsters couldn¡¯t get near it, but the people had to leave the town regularly for gathering food and water.


    His father had refused because he was angry at the council, but because he knew that they were right, he had to do something to save his son, he had to find the city of Eking and see if anyone there could cure his son.


    But the journey to the city was not an easy one, the journey was long and not one person had made the journey in the last thousand years, some of the townspeople even called the city a myth and a children¡¯s story.


    Will took a bite and chewed the fish meat while trying to get it down as fast as possible, he didn''t like the taste but knew he needed the strength for the many days to come. He looked at his father with a beaten look on his face and said, ¡°father, we have been traveling through the forest for months now and there is no sign of a city, if we turn back now there is a chance for us actually get back without dying a horrible death by the hands of one of these monsters looking for an imaginary city.¡±


    Will had seen the afterlife, he knew that the soul of any living creature was immortal and would be reborn after death. This made things like bloodline irrelevant to him, the body was only a temporary thing that the souls would leave behind, this meant that he had thousands of fathers and mothers that he had already forgotten. He found it depressing sometimes, knowing that everything he did was irrelevant and that he would forget everything basically starting all over again in a never-ending loop.


    His father looked at him a took a couple of seconds before responding, ¡°I know the city of Eking exists,¡± he said before taking another bite of the fish and trying to decide what to say next. This was something Will really admitted about his father, unlike him who would say anything on his mind he would calculate every word he said.


    His father sat straight and took his hands through his hair, this was something he would do when he was about to say something important, in a matter of fact, this was what he had done when he had told him that they were leaving the town. Will sat down straight and paid close attention, he knew his father, he was not the man to say something like that if he was not sure.


    Weidrek took another quick bite of the fish meat and shook his head before saying, ¡°I was not born in the town of Izline, I was born a long time ago in the city of Eking, as the son of the lord of Eking¡±.


    Will had a blank look on his face, this was the last thing he had expected. Moving from place to place on this planet was not some easy feet, most of the planet is a field with deadly monsters that would attack any human without any warning. He made sure not to interrupt his father, this was the first time his father had told him something about before he was born.


    Weidrek took another deep breath before continuing, ¡°I will not get into much details about what I did when I was young, the only thing I will tell you is that power can mold a child into a monster and that I did things that I¡¯m still ashamed of until this day. I had everything I could have ever wanted but I still felt empty, I had thousands of people around me doing my bidding, but I had never felt more alone. In time these feelings turned into anger and before long my father could not ignore my bad deeds anymore, so he banished me to one of the eight small towns that are under his rule. At the time I cursed him and ran away, but now I thank him for sparing my life. After I ran, I got lost in the woods and the next human I saw was two years later, it was your mother who was also lost in the forest trying to hunt at night. She was the most amazing woman I had ever met, I had never seen a woman outside hunting before, especially at night, not even men would dare to do that. She was special, she had the heart of a warrior. Later I found out that she had snuck out of the town against her father¡¯s wishes to prove to him that she could hunt just as well as any man could,¡± he said as his eyes were tearing and his voice was shaking. Weidrek could still remember how his father in law had taken him in and together with the other council members made sure nobody ever found out about his real identity.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    This was the first time he had seen his father cry, he knew how much he loved his mother and had heard stories about how he was a different person before she had died. Will had never blamed himself for her death but he never understood how his father could love him as much as he did and never blamed him for it.


    Weidrek waited a couple of seconds and calmed himself down before he continued, ¡°when my father told me to continue the family bloodline I thought the same thing you properly thought when I told you, that continuing the bloodline is for the honor of the family, but nothing is more from the truth. My father had eight sons and most of them also had children, so why would, me having children matter in the greater skim? It was after meeting your mother that I understood, continuing the bloodline was not for the glory of the family, it was for my sake, it gave me something no amount of power, money or woman could. it gave me fulfillment,¡± he said as he stood up and extinguished the fire and got ready to go to bed.


    ¡°Tell me right now that something is not missing and we will return tomorrow,¡± Weidrek said as the two of them were lying on the ground, looking at the night sky with the many stars and the big moon that was many times closer to the planet than the moon on earth. Will could not deny that he felt like something was missing, he had never felt bad about life but he also never had felt like life was anything special and was living it the only way he had done in this, and his past life, on autopilot.


    The next morning, he woke up and saw his father getting ready for the trip ahead. A pot of fish soup was boiling on the fire and Weidrek was practicing some basic moves with his sword. Will got up and got ready quickly knowing that they needed to travel as soon as possible because traveling at night was too dangerous.


    The two ate the soup and got ready to move north, the path was full of big trees and the ground was still muddy from the rain a couple of days ago. His father was leading the way, as usual, he was using his sword to mark the trees in case they needed to go back. This was the only hope Will had left for turning back, but after last night he didn¡¯t want to turn back, he liked the idea of going to the city and maybe finding a cure for this thing.


    The two walked for most of the day as Will looked around for some birds to catch, he didn¡¯t know why but from all the meals he had, the birds always tasted the best, luckily for him his father was an excellent archer and they were able to roast a couple of them in the last couple of weeks.


    Just as Will was looking at the trees trying to find his next meal an animal scream louder than anything he had ever heard came from behind him. He turned around in shock and saw what looked like a female human with big claws and yellow hair lying on the ground with what looked like to be his blood on her hands. Before long she stopped screaming and lay on the ground without moving, the look on her eyes told the whole story, she had lost her sanity.


    At the same time two-man also with yellow hair and claws attacked him at the speed he could not see or react to. Before he knew it, his father was standing in front of him and blocked the two attacks with his sword easily. Will quickly got his sword and got into position behind his father like he had taught him.


    The larger of the two men with the face tattoo looked at the dead woman with sadness and anger in his eyes, she was clearly dear to him. ¡°I will make you pay for what you did to my sister, prepare to die,¡± he said while the two of them circled Will and his father.


    ¡°You know, in the human culture we always flirt before we start stickingsharp things into other people,¡± Will said as he rolled his eyes.

 Chapter 5: Broken sword

    The two men looked at Will with a worrisome look in their eyes. Who was this kid? Not only had he killed one of their strongest members but he didn¡¯t even react to the wound on his back. They felt no power coming from him and they were almost sure he had not started cultivating which made it even more mysterious.


    Even Weidrek was surprised by Will¡¯s reaction, he saw the deep wound on his back, and even though he knew why the woman had died he was still surprised that his son remained so calm and didn¡¯t show any sign of pain or being scared. But staying alive had more priority right now, he could always ask him after they had escaped.


    The man with the tattoo looked at them with killing intent in his eyes and a smirk on his face and said, ¡°we were planning to kidnap you two and sell you to our lord when we heard you were the son of Lord Edric, but now I will hack you in pieces and deliver you to our Lord. Knowing our Lord, he would give us an even bigger reward.¡±


    Will looked at his father hoping to get some instructions, what he saw surprised him, for the first time in his life he saw a smile on his father¡¯s face and the aura around him had changed. Even the two men surrounding them were surprised by the killing intent coming from Weidrek.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which second-rank animal clan you belong, but today I will teach you what happens to your kind when you attack a warrior of Eking,¡± Weidrek said as his eyes started to glow red and the aura around him started to become even stronger, before long, energy was surrounding him and two black wings made from pure energy were formed on his back.


    Will couldn¡¯t see what was going on behind him, he didn¡¯t dare to take his eyes of the man standing in front of him, especially because he knew that the man was many times stronger than he was. Before he noticed anything, his father appeared behind the man he was facing, and with a clean hit killed the man by cutting him into three parts. Will could not help but feel a little bit scared, his father had turned from this simple and calm man into this monster that was clearly enjoying cutting the man into three parts. He couldn¡¯t believe the form and clean hits, the sword moved like a part of his body and he had cut the man only using the basics.


    Will did not understand where this power came from, even though his father was the strongest man in the town this was not the same man that he had gone to hunts with. It was clear to him; his father had hidden his real strength from the townspeople and even from him. He turned around and went into a defensive position making sure he was protecting his vital organs, he would gladly accept a couple of cuts in his arms and legs in exchange for protecting his vitals.


    The man with the tattoo looked at Weidrek carefully trying to figure out his next move, just a couple of minutes there were three of them, and now he was the only one left. The other man was nothing more than a servant and he didn¡¯t care, but his sister was one of the strongest members of their clan and was destined to become a contender for the next lord position.


    Weidrek didn¡¯t give the man the chance to think, he knew that the more he attacked the saver his son would be. The two of them moved with great speed and exchanged blows, one with the sword and the other with his claws.


    Will could not keep up, so he did the thing his father and uncle had told him to do in this situation, find a rock or tree to take cover. Before long he found a big rock and made sure he had done everything to take cover and knew that the rest was up to his father.


    Will looked up at the sky and after a couple of minutes saw the man change into a yellow bird that was at least five times the size of his father. Turning into his original body had clearly made the man stronger, even Will could tell that he was slowly getting the upper hand.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°You think I care where you are from, human?¡± Said the yellow bird, ¡°the only reason we have not wiped you off this planet, is because of the damn formations and that you multiply like rats,¡± he continued with a proud demeanor as he attacked Weidrek with all his might.


    Will could not keep up, the two were fighting to fast for him to see who was winning. What he didn¡¯t know was that Weidrek kept attacking the bird with all his might to make sure he could not attack Will. Not long afterward he saw his father¡¯s standing in front of the bird with one of his wings in his hands that was almost as big as his whole body.


    The giant bird coughed out a mouthful of blood that was more blue than red and was clearly panicking. The last attack had made something clear to him, he was no match for the man standing in front of him. He was clearly faster, and now with his wing gone, there was no way to escape.


    The giant bird started to laugh frantically and from inside his mouth, a red sword appeared. Before Weidrek could react, the bird threw himself at him clearly willing to take some damage for his attack to succeed, and at the same time, the sword moved towards Will with an incredible speed.


    The red sword pierced Will¡¯s chest and the rock behind him. Will didn¡¯t know what had happened, one second he was standing there and the next a sword had pierced his body that he could not remove even with his full strength.


    ¡°Now you get to decide human, you save your son by teleporting with him or you can kill me and let your son die at the tomb of my ancestors,¡± the bird said with what looked like a smirk on his face. This was his last gamble to save himself, the sword was a family treasure, but what good did the sword do him if he was dead.


    When Weidrek saw the sword starting to transform he quickly moved and tried to pull it out himself. But even he could not move the sword, his next option was trying to destroy the rock behind Will but that was also unsuccessful, not only did the rock not break, the sword in his hand shattered into pieces.


    The sword and Will at the same time were starting to turn into dust and it was clear to Weidrek that he could do nothing to stop it. Before Will and the sword had disappeared, Weidrek touched the sword and before he knew it he was falling towards down, towards the ground at an alarming speed.


    Will could not see anything and didn¡¯t even know where he was, the only thing he knew was that he was falling towards what seemed to be his death. The next moment a sharp object hit his right shoulder and the force made him hit a wall before falling down again, traps!


    A couple of seconds passed and the speed of which he was falling slowed down, he felt someone holding him. Another couple of seconds passed before a big flame lightened the what seemed to be a wall made of stone encircling them before he could react to seeing his father he felt the flame hitting them both and this time making them both collide against the wall.


    ----


    Will woke up as he was lying on the ground and tried to make sense of his surroundings. His eyes were damaged by the flames and the only light he could see was a couple of flames made by simple torches.


    It took him a couple of minutes to find his balance as he started to look for his father. His sight started to improve a little and within a couple of minutes, he found his father lying on the ground motionless. ¡°Hiltrude,¡± his father kept repeating.


    He quickly moved and tried to help him but when he touched him Weidrek started to scream. Will quickly pulled his hands back and saw that his gloves were gone, in a matter of fact, he was completely naked. The flames had properly destroyed his clothes when he was hit.


    It took him a couple of seconds to guess what had happened, the traps had not done this, it was him! His father had sacrificed himself to save him.


    Will stood up and saw the half-broken sword next to his father, he knew that there was nothing he could do now. Knowing this he fell to the ground and started to sob uncontrollability. For the second time in his life, someone he loved had died because of him and he could do nothing about it. He didn¡¯t care about the reincarnation, he loved his father and now he had lost him.


    Just as Will was crying the body of Weidrek started to spasm and he started to scream again, the damage from the fight, traps, and touching him was too much for his body to handle.


    Will used all the strength he had left to pick up the sword and walked towards his father still crying, he knew what he had to do. He could not let him suffer like this, he had to be strong for his father.


    ¡°I Grimwold Weidrek promise hereby to cure this curse and continue the family bloodline,¡± he said as he stood in front of his father and with both hands pierced the sword into his father¡¯s heart, and continued, ¡°but not before I kill every god damn bird on this planet!¡±