《Dark Remnant - Injustice》


 First Arc, Chapter 1

    "It''s Dark...What Is this place?"


    There is nothing but darkness no matter where he looks. The only thing he can see is his own body as if it''s emitting a faint light. He notices a weird blue circle next to him. He can not see inside it but tries to put his hand in. He sees the parts of his arm disappear as he reaches deeper, but despite not seeing his arm he can still feel it. Once his entire arm went through it he starts feeling something. He grabs it...pulls It out...and sees a sword.


    At the same time he pulled the sword out he hears a howl, then growling. At first, it''s only one, but not only does it increase in numbers but it also comes closer. Then he sees it, black fur, blue glowing eyes, and it''s showing its white teeth. More wolves come out of the darkness, to Vesh''s left, his right, behind him. Their''s 4...6...8 and more keep coming. Vesh holds his sword up to keep the wolves away, but he''s completely surrounded. In a panic, he starts swinging his sword wildly to try and keep them away, but the wolves aren''t even trying to attack, they are just waiting.


    "I m just exhausting myself......I need to think of something else."


    Vesh stops swinging his sword and decides to just wait and prevent any attacks. But the wolves aren''t that patient, they not only keep trying to find a weak spot but are also tiring Vesh out by making him react to their fake attack.


    "If this keeps up I m going to die."


    "I need to do something....anything...."


    "......it''s all or nothing."


    In a last-ditch effort to escape certain death, he starts running at one of the wolves, with his sword in his right hand. But once he begins his charge the wolves in front of him start pulling back, and the wolves around him rush towards him. But Vesh smiles.


    "They fell for it"


    Vesh tries to slow down and turn as much as possible to face one of the wolves that''s rushing towards him, the wolf tries to evade but its no use, the sword is already sticking out.


    "One down...I Can dothi...."


    Vesh found a glimmer of hope in certain death, but that small moment of joy was his last mistake.


    "IT HURTS!"


    The wolves were completely unfazed by the loss of their comrade, and they didn''t let this chance, where his opponents only weapon was stuck, go to waste. They immediately swarmed Vesh and brought him down. Not even showing mercy by granting him a quick death.


    Vesh wanted to scream for help, but all that came out was agony. It is in that moment that he realized that he wasn''t fighting wolves. He was fighting demons.


    End of Prologue


    Vesh wakes up and finds himself in a forest. He is sweating and in panic.


    "Was that just a dream?"


    "It felt so real... I can still feel their teeth."


    Vesh starts to control his breathing in an effort to calm down. Afterwards, he tries to inspect his surroundings.


    "I don''t recognize this place"


    Behind him, Vesh sees a tall steep cliff.


    "Did I fall from there?"


    "No way I can''t survive a fall from that."


    "What happened yesterday?... I.... can''t remember"


    Vesh decides to go find a way to the edge of the cliff in hopes of finding something. He reaches it and finds dried blood at the edge.


    "If this really was mine, then how did I survive?"


    "Was I running away from someone?"


    Vesh looks around for more clues and notices smoke above the treeline. He goes towards it. Once he reaches the source he sees what seems to be the remains of a burned building. He looks through the remains, sees nothing but ashes until he finds a dead body.


    "Why...I don''t know this person...but why do I have this feeling...."


    After burying the body Vesh follows the road that''s next to the house. He comes across a couple of crossroads with signs showing in which direction he has to go to reach the city.


    "Even if I get to the city, I have no money and I don''t know anyone. What should I do?"


    Vesh goes to the side of the road to sit down an think. When he remembers the nightmare he had.


    "I got a sword at the start of it. Maybe that''s one way to find out if it was real or not."


    Vesh goes deeper into the woods to make sure that if it really works no one sees him, he reaches a part where the leaves don''t cover the sun. He puts his right hand up, but nothing happens. He tries to call for it but again nothing.


    "So it was just a bad dream? I feel a sense of relief."


    Vesh goes to the closest tree to lay against it. He looks up at its branches.


    "But man, having a sword would have been really useful. I could have at least tried my luck on wanted criminals."


    As Vesh lowers his head he sees it. A dark hole next to him. Just like the one from his nightmare. But this time whenever there is a ray of light coming through the leaves that part of the portal disappears.


    "You can''t be serious...It really happened?"


    He puts his hand in like last time and pulls the sword out, and just now he notices that the blade of is not only dark blue but that in the middle is a weird zigzag detail that resembles sharp teeth. Once Vesh pulled the sword out the hole disappeared. Vesh then tries to summon the hole again to put the sword back, but this time tries to control where the hole appears and it works.


    "Can I only summon it in shadows?"


    Now that Vesh has a weapon he continues towards the City. Upon reaching the City the first thing he does is look for wanted posters after around an hour of looking he finds a billboard with wanted posters on it, and he takes the one with the lowest reward. Vesh starts his search and after a couple of steps comes to a very bad realization.


    "This city is huge, and he could be practically anywhere even outside the city."


    "If I don''t find him fast I will be too hungry to fight him."


    "I don''t exactly have many options. I guess I should start looking through the alleys, try and beat up other criminals ask for my target, maybe even take their money."


    "Since I doubt he''s just gonna appear on the streets in broad daylight."


    It is then that Vesh sees 3 men leading a girl down the alley. They had a rougher feel to them then the other people walking down the street. Vesh decides to follow them and after passing a couple of corners they stop. He can see the girl visibly shaking. He pulls the wanted poster out to see if any of the men are his target, but they are all a mismatch. He takes a deep breath pulls his sword out and comes out of the open. The man notices him and turns around.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Criminal: "What do we have here? You better piss off before you hurt yourself with that thing."


    Vesh: "I m sorry to interrupt, but can you tell me where I can find Cage."


    Criminal: "He isn''t looking for applicants."


    Vesh: "No you are misunderstanding me. All I want is to meet him."


    Criminal: " We got a real idiot on our hands. Looks like we need to re-educate you."


    The criminal pulls out a sword and starts walking towards Vesh.


    *I feel like I know what I m supposed to do, and I don''t seem to be scared.*


    The criminal swings at Vesh, but Vesh parry''s and kicks him. The criminal loses balance for a moment, Vesh goes in and stabs his sword arm. He drops his sword and holds the wound with his other hand. Vesh uses his foot to push the wound of his opponent.


    Vesh: "Where can I find Cage?"


    Criminal: "What are you idiots waiting for getting him!"


    The other 2 man take out their weapons and start going towards Vesh.


    Vesh: "Well I can''t have you get back up."


    Criminal: "WAIT!"


    Vesh pierces his heart and gets ready to fight the other 2.


    *I didn''t feel anything when I killed him, this is probably not the first person I killed."


    Criminal: "You bastard what do you think you''re doing? You won''t get away with this!"


    This time his opponent didn''t have a sword but just a dagger so Vesh took advantage of his reach and immediately wounded his opponent. Making him unable to continue the fight. So the 3rd criminal starts running away. After there were no more dangers the girl who was still here watching all of it started crying and wiping her eyes with her arms.


    Girl: "Thank you...I was so scared...I don''t know what I would have done if you didn''t come.....Ha?"


    Once the girl looked back up the only thing that was with her in the alley where 2 corpses, Vesh had already left to chase the last man.


    After a while, the last criminal goes into a building yelling.


    Vesh: "He was looking for backup."


    Vesh stops in front of the entrance and looks around for a different opening. He sees an open window on the ground floor that belongs to the same building and jumps in. He hears a commotion and tries to hide in a nearby dark room. He hears more than 1 set of footsteps passing by and they seem to be closing the window. He waits until the footsteps are far enough away then relaxes a bit.


    Vesh: "That was too close."


    Vesh leaves the room and sees a lock on the window.


    Vesh: "I can''t even leave anymore without fighting them. But I feel...excited."


    He starts sneaking around the building trying to count how many enemies are in the building with him. This time everyone is using weapons with enough reach, unlike daggers. Some even have leather armor, but he notices a couple of guards are talking with one of the criminals. And Vesh remembers the face of the man the guards are talking to, its Cage. He starts to listen to the conversation.


    Guard: "...ignoring your actions so you can get your asses kicked. If this happens again we will dispose of you."


    Vesh: *Corruption? I hope I can still get the reward money.*


    The guards end up leaving and Vesh goes back to the first room he was hiding in.


    Vesh: "I counted nine...I can''t beat that. Should I just wait until I can sneak out? Maybe I should have made a group instead of trying to do it alone? If I just had some help I might have been able to do it."


    As He says that a hole appears on the ground in front of him.


    Vesh: "It has nothing to do with my sword. Maybe is a different weapon?"


    He puts his hand in but he didn''t need to go far too reach it. It was furry and heavy.


    Vesh: "Is it not a weapon? And why is it so heavy."


    He puts his second hand in and starts pulling it out. And then he sees it black furry, blue glowing eyes staring at him. Vesh jumps back and hits something. He gets up and holds his sword with both hands, but the wolf is just sitting there. Not even showing its teeth. He sits back down and at the same time, the wolf lays down. Vesh stands up and the wolf gets up.


    Vesh: "I can control the hole for my sword with my thoughts, and he seems to follow me. Maybe I can control him the same way."


    He starts giving the wolf commands in his head shake, lay down, rolls over and so on and the wolf does it all.


    Vesh: "How many wolves can I summon?"


    He successfully opens another hole, but this time after a short while the new wolf gets out by himself. YetVeshe''slimit seems too currently be only two.


    Man: "I think it came from in here."


    Vesh: *I must have made noise when I jumped back.*


    The man opens the door, but the room is too dark to see anything. He slowly goes in and sees a pair of glowing eyes going towards him fast. The wolf ends up leaving the shadows and his teeth become visible, he jumps and the criminal puts his weapon up to intercept the jump. But Vesh took the opportunity to pierce his stomach. The criminal is unable to stop the wolf now and falls to the ground, the wolf targeting his neck. After the first criminal falls to the ground the second wolf jumps over them and rushes towards the second criminal, Vesh following him. The man starts to run but the wolf catches up and bites his leg, stopping him. The man tries to scream for help butVeshe''ssword is already piercing his throat. It''s only now that he notices that the detail in the middle of his sword is glowing when he killed him. Vesh checks the teeth of the first wolf and sees its glowing blue as well. The glowing of the wolf stops before the glow ofVeshe''ssword.


    Vesh: "It glows when we kill someone? So what, are we absorbing life force with it?....Well anyway, seven left. It''s pointless to dispose of the body''s, they might realize that they are missing until then. I should surprise them."


    He goes to where Cage was talking with the guards. Ashelooks at the room he sees is a pile of blood. He goes up to the first floor towards where all the noise is coming from.


    Vesh: "I have an idea."


    On the other side, the criminals are either drinking, playing card or sleeping. When he started hearing the door shake.


    Criminal: "Those fucking idiots, can''t they even open a freaking door."


    The criminal goes to open the door.


    Criminal: "What took you sofu....."


    Vesh: "Six left."


    Cage: "You bastard!"


    The wolves drag the body towards them and Vesh closes the door.


    Criminal: "He''s messing with us."


    The criminals open the door and see Vesh standing alone in the hallway.


    Cage: "You''re the one that came into my part of the city messing things up?"


    Vesh: "I still plan on messing one more of you''re things up."


    Cage: "What can you do alone against six of us. Where did you''re pets go?"


    Vesh: "They are blocking the exit."


    Cage: "Then you will have to die before them."


    Vesh checks if all the criminals are looking at him and he briefly focuses his eyes behind them. He puts his sword up and prepares to fight.


    Immediately as the fight starts Vesh is on the defensive, he starts parrying one of them but another attack from the side comes and Vesh has to dodge. With every attack Vesh has to take steps back, which means he is slowly leaving the hallway and going towards a more open area.


    Cage: "This is going to be over soon. You should go on you''re knees and beg for forgiveness."


    Vesh makes a grin.


    Vesh: "It''s too late to ask for forgiveness."


    At that time they hear the screams of 2 man. One of Veshe''s aggressors turns around to see what''s happening and Vesh takes advantage of it and pierces his heart. The reason for the screaming is because 2 wolves were attacking them, successfully managing to topple them and bite their throats. Vash had placed 2 portals in the shadows next to the window, checking if any of the criminals were looking behind them. The wolves took a while to come out but once they did they sneaked up behind them and successfully took advantage of their situation.


    Vesh: "Looks like you will be parting with you''re head. Three left."


    Cage: "Don''t make me laugh what can wolves do against us now."


    Vesh: "What kind of wolves has glowing eyes."


    One of the criminals loses strength in his legs and falls on the ground out of fear and another tries to run away. The first one gets killed by the wolves and the second dies once he passes by Vesh.


    Vesh: "Looks like its just you left."


    Cage: "I won''t die without a fight."


    The 2 wolves each bite one of his legs forcing him to kneel down and focus himself on them.


    Vesh: "I already told you it''s too late for that."


    Vesh tries to get together all the money he can find from the body''s and puts Cage''s head in a bag. He leaves the building and finds his way back on on the streets, he asks for directions but most people refuse to help him. After a while, he finds a younger person that tells him where he can find the building with the wanted posters in front. Once he reaches it he notices that all the wanted posters for criminals are gone.


    Vesh: "Hello I would like to collect the reward for Cage."


    Vesh puts the bag on the desk and the clerk goes pale looking at it.


    Clerk: "Excuse me I will be right back."


    Vesh: *He''s quite young, maybe his first time seeing something like this?*


    The clerk goes into the back room and closes the door, yet Vesh can still hear 2 people arguing. He just can''t understand what they are saying. After the arguing stopped the Clerk comes back, he checks if the contents of the bag match the picture on the poster and give Vesh the promised money.


    Vesh: "Can you tell me where I can find an inn?"


    Clerk: "Ehm, an inn?"


    Vesh: "Yes, what are there no inn''s in this town?"


    Clerk: "No no, of course, there are. In fact, my family runs one, it just didn''t see much use since my parents passed away. But my sister is still taking care of it. The name of the inn is God''s Servant. When you meet my sister tell her that Marko sent you ."


    Vesh: "Alright, thank you for the help."


    Vesh finds the inn. He goes inside, rings the bell and waits until he hears a female voice.


    Girl: "I told you to stop bothering us. I m sorry, I thought it was someone else. What brings you here?"


    Vesh: "Marko sent me. I m looking for a place to stay."


    Girl: "You are one of Marko''s friends then? Hello, my name is Sophia."


    Vesh: "Hello, I m Vesh."


    Sophia: "It''s a pleasure to meet you."


    They shake hands, Vesh pays for the night and dinner. He eats and Sophia leads him to his room, where he lays down and thinks about his day.


    Vesh: "I hope that I won''t have any nightmares."

 First Arc, Chapter 2

    People are walking up and down the street, merchants are haggling. And a youngster, who almost looks like Vesh, seems to be waiting for someone next to a shop.


    Vesh: *sigh* "Uncle always makes me wait."


    At the entrance of an alleyway two teens are having anargument.


    Girl: "Stop is John, leave me already."


    John: "Come on don''t be like that Olivia, I will take good care of you. The same way my dad takes care of you''re mother...for a while at least."


    Vesh: *He''s doing it again. He''s reallypersistent*


    Olivia: "I m not like my mother."


    John: "We won''t know until we try it."


    Vesh: "HEY, you''re bothering her."


    John: "Piss of, I m busy."


    Vesh: "How about you try being busy with someone else."


    John turns around making a fist, while Olivia takes this chance to run away.


    Vesh: *This is not what I hand in mind.*


    Veh takes a beating, and after just a couple of punches, John decides to follow Olivia. After about 10 minutes Vesh''s uncle arrives.


    Vesh: "You''relate."


    Uncle: "Where you protecting our shop with yourlife on the line?"


    Vesh: "No I was trying to protect a girl with my life on the line."


    Uncle: "And? Did you get the girl?"


    Vesh: "She ran away the moment the guy turned towards me."


    Uncle: "Did you at least win the fight?"


    Vesh: "It was one-sided."


    Uncle: "At this rate, you''re gonna destroy my shop''s reputation. Let''s get inside to fix that face of yours."


    After Vesh finished today''s work he went straight home. Halfway to his home, he got stopped by what seemed to be John and his friends.


    John: "You didn''tforget about me did you?"


    And so Vesh gets beaten up for a second time today. Then the next day it happens again, and again, and again. But Vesh didn''t stop them, he didn''t fight back, he didn''trun away, every daythey would wait for him in the same place. And every day he would get beaten up by the same people. Why didn''the put a stop to it? Because Vesh knew how merciless these people are. If he made them stop they would target someoneclose to him. And if that didn''t work they would target there work, their livelihood. Like his Uncle''s shop. It wouldn''t be the first time something like that happened in this city and it would not be the last.


    But Veshe''s father knew what was off. Despite his effortsto hide the marks. His mood, his emotions, could not stay unrevealed from his father. And so one day he confronts Vesh.


    Father: " I won''t ask what is happening. I won''t tell you to let me help you. And I won''ttell you what you should do. But I do want you to listento me. In life, you will face many hardships. Peoplemight hate and try to shame you. Yourlovemight cheat and leave you for someone else. Your friends might abandon you. But in all that, there is one person that should never hate you, one person that should never abandon you. You. And there is one emotion that will make sure that never happens. You''repride. As long as you are proud of who you are and of who you will become. The past will never pull you down. Your hardships will never pull you down. As long as you don''t let yourself and other people bring down your pride, as long as you challenge anyone that would dare to do that. You will always have yourself to rely on."


    Yet Vesh hears a bell. And in the next moment, the image of his father isn''t in front of him anymore, it''s in his memories. Because all he sees right now is but the ceiling of the room he was sleeping in.


    After waking up Vesh looks out the window and sees no one on the streets despite it being morning. Vesh looks forSophia and ends up having breakfast with her.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Vesh: "How come there are no people on the streets right now?"


    Sophia: "On mornings the entire city stops whatever it is they are doing and prays."


    Vesh: "How come you aren''t praying?"


    Sophia: "I stopped believing."


    After Vesh was finished he thanked Sophia for the meal, and she left with the dishes.


    Vesh: *I got enough money for a couple more weeks. But whats worrying me is the corruption. If they see me as a problem I might be in trouble, but I didn''t leave any information about myself. Wait... Marko knows. There is no way I can trust him. But if he really was out for me he would have done it tonight. Aaaaah, I don''t know what to think anymore.*


    As Vesh is laying with his head on the table a younger Guard enters the inn and sees Vesh.


    Guard: "Hey, did you sleep we...ehm, are you alright?"


    Vesh: "I m fine. I don''t think we met before my name is Vesh, who are you?"


    Daniel: "Nice to meet you, my name is Daniel. Marko sent me to look after you since your new to this city. So do you have any plans for today?"


    Vesh: "I planned on doing more bounties for criminals, but I noticed that all of them were gone yesterday."


    Daniel: "Looks like you have competition. You could still try your luck with the monsters that have been causing problems. In fact, I will help you meet the people that recently had complained about them."


    Vesh: "Well thank you, but why help me."


    Daniel: "Any friend of Marko is my friend. And I m a guard I m supposed to help the citizens of this town. Even if I m not the one doing it directly."


    The two go towards the outskirts of the city until a guard sees them and runs towards them.


    Guard: "Daniel their looking for you!"


    Daniel: "I already talked to my... sorry Vesh would you excuse us for a moment?"


    Vesh: "Sure."


    Daniel and the guard end up coming closers to each other and start whispering. Daniel looks visibly worried and after a while, they go back to Vesh.


    Vesh: "What happened? Who''s looking for you?"


    Daniel: "I cheated on my girlfriend and nowher family is looking for me. I already talked about it with her, but it seems like her family still doesn''t like me. So I will have to leave you now. But my friend here will help you."


    Guard: "My name is Jack."


    Vesh: "Hello, I m Vesh."


    Daniel: "See you later."


    And he runs away right after saying that.


    Jack: "The family of the girl you cheated on can be really scary."


    Vesh: "Yeah but this city is pretty big and I doubt they know where we are headed."


    Jack: "The problem is that the family''s house is in that direction."


    Vesh: "Alright."


    They reach the outskirts of the city and Jack asks the people who some complaints about wild animals or monsters. But every time Vesh ask''s if he can help he gets rejected; "I m already praying."; "I don''t need YOUR help"; "If you want to help me, pray for me"; "God is the only one that can help me.".


    Vesh: "This part of the city is oddly religious."


    Jack: "...it''s not just this part..."


    Vesh: "Did you say something?"


    Jack: "We might have more luck here."


    This time Jack is knocking on the door.


    Middle-aged Man: "Oh Jack, did you meet with Marko?"


    Jack: "Yes he told me about your problem and we are here to help."


    Man: "The guards finally decided to stop being on the sidelines?"


    Jack: "No, but Vesh here killed Cage and his entire gang."


    Man: "I thought he would sooner die of all age then a sword. Well, come inside."


    The man is a forester and it''s his job to make sure people don''t cross the borderI into the darker part of the forest, among other things. Apparently, the darker forest is so dense that it doesn''t let any sunlight through. It has all kinds of animals and monsters, that occasionallycross the border and become a problem to him. This time a dire fox has started to roam the forest on this side and it''s too strong for him to beat alone. Making the forest dangerous for not just him but also lumberjacks. A dire fox isconsidered a monsterif it has more than one tail. The difference between a monster and an animal is that a monster posses magical powers. Those magical powerscan range to anything from healing or hardening their body to throwing fireballs or starting lightning storms.


    Vesh: *The pay this time is four times the amount of what I got from Cage, which already was aclose fight. This entire idea might besuicide.*


    Vesh pulls out his sword and manages to summon 3 portals this time.


    Vesh: *But what m I supposed to do...when I feel this excited about it.*


    Vesh orders his wolves to look for the fox andthey split up. All four of them are looking for the fox until Vesh hears a howl. He rushes towards it with one wolf linking up with him. But he arrived too late. The wolf is already bleeding heavily, but the fox is not finishing him off instead it''s just observing the portal that formed a bit away from the wolf. But Vesh didn''t summon the portal, and heknew that. Suddenly black hands come out of the portal with arms that just keep being longer and longer. The hands grab the bleeding wolf and starting pulling him towards the portal. Vesh tries to cut the hands with his sword but it just goes past them as if the arms aren''t even there. The wolf tries his best to pull himself away but he is to injured to muster any strength, he tries to bite the hands but it ends the same way as the sword. Vesh tries grabbing it and he can, but no matter how much strength he uses the wolf keeps coming closer to the portal. Until all that he can grab is the wolf himself.


    Vesh: "I m not going to let you go."


    It is then that the wolf bites Veshe''s hand to make sure he is the only one that gets dragged into the darkness. Vesh tries to summon him again but it''s futile, the moment he summons the portal it closes immediately. His limit became 2 again.


    Vesh: "I thought they were demons, machines. I never imagined that they have a will of there own."


    The third wolf arrives while Vesh is holding the small bite wound from his wolf.


    Vesh: "I only knew them for a day. But to lose someone who displayed so much loyalty towards me."


    The two wolfs start growling.


    Vesh: "It makes me furious."

 First Arc, Chapter 3

    It''s now that Vesh notices that the fox is slightly bigger than his wolves. Vesh stands in front of the fox while his two remaining wolves try to flank it. But the fox doesn''t let itself get surrounded and pulls back slowly. Vesh instead decides to charge the fox together with his wolves. WIth one wolf aiming for the neck the other for the body, and Vesh acting as a distraction. The fox in turn charges at Vesh and everything works up perfectly. The dire Foxe''s head gets decapitated, his neck and body are getting worn down by the wolves. But despite Vesh feeling his sword go through flesh and despite his wolves grabbing onto the fox with there teeth. The head isn''t falling off and neither is any blood showing. Yet the fox is completely still. It isn''t until Vesh notices one of his wolves looking behind him that he turns around. And not only is the fox they have attacked vanishing but another fox is already jumping at Vesh targeting his neck. Vesh tries to create more distance by falling down and placing both his arms in front of him on top of each other. And the fox pulls back before the wolves could attack it. Vesh gets up to and looks at his wound.


    Vesh: "It hurts, it fucking hurts."


    There are a lot of holes and 4 bigger ones at the side of his arms that was closer to Vesh. And they are all bleeding.


    Vesh: "He can make illusion... *heavy breathing*... and appear anywhere? Aaaaaah, fuck it hurts... He doesn''t have...enough jaw strength to break my bones... but if this keeps going... I will bleed to death."


    While Vesh is trying to pick up his sword again that he dropped the fox rushes towards his wolves. Vesh orders them to cover each other back. But the fox replaces himself with an illusion and simply appears on the first wolves side and bites his neck. The fox pulls back again before the second wolf can do anything. The bitten wolf stand back up but he is bleeding and has difficulty breathing. A portal already opens close to him. Vesh can do nothing but look as he loses another wolf and with him the hope he had to kill the dire fox. For the first time since losing his memories, he experienced fear.


    Vesh: "There is no way I can beat it... My only chance to survive is to run away."


    Vesh orders his wolf to follow him and they start running away. But the fox chases them. It becomes clear very soon that the fox is catching up, and despite the wolf being faster then Vesh he is staying close to him. But the fox isn''t targeting the wolf, he''s targeting Vesh.


    Vesh: *Is this it? Just because I killed a bunch of people by tricking them I thought I can win a fair fight? Just because I got huge ego I m going to die? How pathetic is that?*


    As the fox is coming closer and closer to Vesh, it happens again. The wolf, without being ordered by him, bites the foxes side, stopping it from chasing after Vesh. He sees that, but out of fear he still keeps running.


    Vesh: "He did it to save my life. I need to keep running."


    Voice: *You are sacrificing his life to save yourself from death?"


    Vesh: "My pride doesn''t mean anything if I die."


    Voice: *Will you be able to live with the person you are about to become?*


    Vesh: "You are asking me if I want to live or die!"


    Voice: *No, the current you will die either way. The question is if you want to die full of misery or pride.*


    Vesh stops, he turns around and runs towards the fox. There is still no portal opening near the wolf which means he is still fine. Vesh is just a couple of meter away and orders his wolf to attack the fox. The wolf does and as expected the fox replaced himself with an illusion and appears next to the wolf, appearing between Vesh and the wolf, the fox feels safe knowing that Vesh is still far away. He goes for the bite while the wolf has his teeth still in the illusion. And then before the fox manages to bite a sword had pierced its side, without anyone holding it. Vesh had thrown his sword in an effort to save the wolf after ordering him to bait his opponent. The fox tries to bite the sword to pull it out but the wolf doesn''t let it expose its neck. And while the fox is desperately trying to fight the wolf injured, Vesh closes the distance and pushes the sword deeper inside. Killing the fox. Afterward, his the middle of his sword starts to shine again, only this time he actually feels a difference. He checks how much stronger he became by summoning more wolves, and together with the one currently out he ends up with a total of four. Vesh takes the foxes head and the 2 tails and returns to his client.


    Vesh knocks and goes inside. Once inside he sees Jack waiting. He shows the proof of killing the fox and gets his payment.


    Vesh: "Why are you here?"


    Jack: "Please, we need your help to save the city."


    Vesh: "What do you mean save it?"


    Jack: "The entire city has a huge crime problem. If you are a criminal your only concern is if other criminal enter your territory. For some reason, all the guards are told to turn a blind eye to it. Some of the higher ranking guards seem to know the reason why. But something of this scale can''t just be corruption. I showed you how obsessed the people here are with there religion. Not accepting any kind of help besides Gods or there own. This city is sick Vesh, and we need your help to cure it."


    Vesh: "Who do you think is behind all of this."


    Jack: "The mayor, he is the only one with enough power to do this."


    Vesh: "So you are asking me to take on an entire City?"


    Jack: "You won''t be doing it alone. We managed to gather over 100 people, most of them are younger and some like me are part of the guards."


    Vesh: "And how many people are in this city?"


    Jack: "Around 20 000."


    Vesh: "So you are telling me to fight with a little over 100 plus myself, against a force of around 133 guards together with the criminals that are apparently in this conspiracy?


    Jack: "You killed a dire fox that normally takes at least 10 people to defeat."


    Vesh: "I refuse."


    Jack: "You obviously won''t be doing it for free. Once we free the city we will give you enough money so you won''t have to work anymore, for the rest of your life."


    Vesh: "I would be risking my life with a bunch of kids that are up against a trainer and organized force. Not to mention that they most likely even have priests using magic as a backup. You should probably give up on this."


    Vesh is on his way to leave the house.


    Jack: "A warning. The wanted posters were put up by our group. The reason why they got taken was that the guards didn''t want anyone interfering with the criminals. Marko took all the blame and is now waiting for his execution. Daniel is on the run they are blaming him as well because he was working the same shift with him. And now they are also searching for you. So I suggest you stay out of the city."


    Vesh: "I appreciate the warning."


    Vesh goes back to the forest, hunts some food with the help of his wolves, eats it and then goes to sleep. He makes sure that from now on he always has at least one wolf watch over him while he sleeps.


    And again Vesh seems to be dreaming about his younger self. He is in front of John''s group.


    Vesh: "How about we stop this?"


    John: "You are finally showing some will to resist."


    Vesh: "I can''t really take this forever."


    John: "For me, the real fun begins now."


    John comes closer and Vesh shows his knife.


    Vesh: "This can end in one of 2 ways. Either one of us dies or you leave."


    John: "What are you trying to play you little bitch."


    John tries to push Vesh. Vesh wanted to stab his hand but was not able to bring himself to do it when he got the chance.So he just punches John in the face.


    John: "The more you resist, the more fun this is going to be for me!"


    Vesh picks the knife back up and instead of stabbing with it puts it in the way of there attacks. Although he ends up taking a lot of hits he also manages to get at least some of them in. And every time his fist connects with one of his opponents he comes to enjoy this fight more and more. By the end, John and his group leave saying that this isn''t over.


    Vesh: *I don''t think I ever felt this good in my life. I can''t stop smiling.*


    Vesh goes back home and tells his father that-


    Vesh: "From now on I will never let go of my pride."


    His dad smiles and pets him on the head.


    Father: "I know you can do it."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The next day in the same place John comes back with a lot more people, most of them much older than John.


    Leader: "You can''t even beat up such a weakling? Maybe you should be next once I m done with him."


    John looks distressed.


    Leader: "Well I m responsible for taking care of my the reputation my man create. And the best way to fix it would be to kill you."


    Vesh looks for a path to run away but all the routes are blocked off by more man.


    Vesh: "Do you get your entire gang together to beat up kids on a daily basis."


    Leader: "Most kids aren''t as stupid as you."


    As they are coming closer to Vesh the Leader notices behind him another person carrying a sword.


    Leader: "What do you want?"


    Vesh: "Dad?"


    Father: "I m making sure my kid faces an even fight."


    Leader: "Even? Are you so old you can''t count anymore."


    Veshe''s Father draws his sword and they charge him with three people.


    Leader: "Showing a son the death of his father, this brings back memories."


    But instead of his Father dying he manages to bring all three of them down, one after the other.


    Leader: "Looks like you do have some fight in you. Take the kid away."


    They manage to capture Vesh and take him away, while his father is killing one after the other. After killing all the people that staid behind and no one but theLeader is left, he begs for his life.


    Leader: "Wait, we just wanted to teach him a lesson."


    Father: "Don''t worry, all I wanted was to become part of your memories."


    After leaving behind a bunch of corpses Veshe''s Father tries to follow the kidnappers, but it''s already too late. He has no idea where they took his son. He tries to search for him until a girl that seems to be Veshe''s run towards him.


    Girl: "I know where Vesh is, follow me."


    Father: "Who are you?"


    Girl: "My name is Olivia, Vesh helped me out once. Please, you have to trust me."


    Father: "Alright, lead the way."


    Olivia leads him to an old warehouse and once inside they see a lot of just random things and at the end of the warehouse, they see Vesh tied up and unconscious. His father starts fighting the kidnappers while Olivia goes around to free Vesh. She shakes Vesh to make him wake up, and he slowly does.


    Vesh: "You...look familiar."


    Olivia: "It''s me, Olivia. You helped me ten days ago."


    Vesh: "Ah...now I remember."


    Father: "Olivia take Vesh and hide somewhere. The guards will come soon."


    Olivialeads Vesh to a very dark spot and they both hide amidst all of the random things, after about 5 seconds of hiding they can hear a lot of footsteps.


    Officer: "I feel like this had happened once before,Victor. I thought I made it very clear last time that you are not allowed to administrate your own view on justice."


    Victor/Father: "Slow to react as always."


    Officer: "This time simply kicking you from the guards won''t be enough Victor."


    Victor: "And you are guarding what exactly?"


    Officer: "Victor, Victor, Victor... I m so sorry, but you will have to die here."


    All the guards surround Victor, and without much difficulty end up bringing him down. Vesh seeing this comes out of the hiding place and runs towards his dad, the guards stopping him from getting any closer.


    Vesh: "Dad?"


    Victor: "I m sorry son...*coughs up blood*... your old man doesn''t look that great right now."


    Vesh with tears coming from his eyes.


    Vesh: "Dad I''m sorry, this is my fault. If I just didn''t...if I just..."


    Victor: "No matter what you do Vesh. I will always be proud of you."


    Officer: "Did you hear that Vesh? The last touching words of your father. But don''t worry we won''t go after you...after all, you are just a victim."


    The guards leave and Vesh can do nothingbut stare at his father''s body.


    Vesh wakes up with his wolf still staying guard, but after a couple of seconds, the morning turns to night. A weird fully black human-likefigure standing in front of him. His wolf looks at the figure but doesn''t see it as a threat. After a while, Veshe''s right hand begins to be coated in shadows, almost like black fire yet it does not burn. He points his arm towards the figure and one word appears in his mind, "Bind". It''s immediately after that word rang in his thoughts that four small portals appeared around the figure. And they were just big enough to let through one black hand eachthat looked like the same black hands that come for his defeated wolves. The only difference is that these black hands has a blue line going fromthere palm''s and then spiraling around the rest of the arm. Those black hands hold the limbs of the figure and then its morning again. The figure along with the hands disappeared.


    Vesh: *Is this how I learn new powers? Well I definitely prefer it from being eaten alive.*


    Vesh: *Dad...It wasn''t the first time you tried to fight for justice, was it. And if it wasn''t for me you would still have been fighting. This time I will fight for you, just like how you fought for me.*


    Vesh returns to the city and almost instantly get spotted. But instead of going up to him one guard simply follows him while Vesh is going deeper into the city. After around 10 minutessome disguised figure walks up to him, but Vesh recognizes his voice.


    Jack: "Why did you come back?"


    Vesh: "I m in."


    Jack: "Id like to wait but Markos execution is today. We are doing it now. Go to the inn and wait there, they should send a group for you. We will ambush them."


    Vesh goes back to the inn and waits in the lounge. He draws the sword and hides it close to him and summons his 4 wolves and hides them. After a while, around six guards enter and one walks up to him.


    Guard: "Are you the one that has killed 12 citizens of this City two days ago?"


    Vesh: "Well murderers and rapists are still citizens so I guess I did."


    Guard: "No matter what kind of crimes you think you have committed, you are not part of this city''s law enforcement."


    Vesh: "Sory I m a bit confused. I m not sure if it''s laws that this city lacks or if its the nonexistence of there enforcement."


    Guard: "I have been a guard for 20 years. I will show you just how real we are."


    Vesh: "It will be an honor for me to be your very first example of justice in your carer."


    Vesh stands up kicking the table, once it fell on the guard rebels swarmed in and upon seeing the huge numerical disadvantage of 30 to 6 they surrendered. Vesh goes up to Jack who was part of the ambush.


    Vesh: "There is one thing I don''t understand. Why are the guards not trying to suppress the crime in this City."


    Jack: "I will tell you on the way to our next target, and the man who will have all the answers. To the mayor of this city."


    Vesh follows Jack and eight more rebels into the sewers putting his wolves back into the portals.


    Jack: "Every guard has the order not tointerfere with God''s plan. If someone is murdered for example, then it was because God wanted that person to die. And for some reason, nearly all of the people of this City are also seeing things like that as God''s will. Yet we are different. We wanted to take matters into our own hands. The only reason we could find as to why that is the case is that we didn''t pray as much as all the adults. Which means the prayers in this City are manipulating people in some way. But we have no proof. And we don''t want any. We are seeing with this blind faith is doing to our family. To our fathers, our mothers. And we want to bring a stop to it. We have asked, we have begged and this is the last thing we did not try."


    The group goes up a ladder leading out of the sewers, and he reaches it. The mayor''s mansion. Surrounding Vesh is now a stone wall. They go into the mansion itself but get spotted on the way in, the guards sound the alarm and once inside they are stopped by a group of guards.


    Jack: "Vesh we will hold them off here. The longer we fight the more guards will appear. You have to find the mayor and take him hostage."


    Vesh nods and takes a turn, summoning two of his wolves to follow him. Every time Vesh run into a lone guard he locks them into a parry and has his wolves take advantage of the opening. Until he enters a huge room with very expensive looking furniture and a very well dressed man looking out the window.


    Vesh: "Are you the mayor of this City."


    Mayor: "Yes that would be me."


    Vesh walks towards him but then notices a bright light in his way. The light slowly starts to take the form of a human, but by the end, it looks more like an angel made out of yellow light.


    Vesh: "What is that?"


    Mayor: "It''s the whole reason this city exists. It''s called a guardian."


    The Guardian creates a sword and begins attacking Vesh. Every time Vesh tries to parry he loses balance because of the huge difference in strength. And whenever the wolves bite the guardian not only do they not deal any damage, but being in contact with his light at such a distance poisons the wolves and makes them lose strength in their jaw. The wolves are useless for a while and Vesh loses balance and has the Guardians sword resting against his neck.


    Mayor: "Did you know, a normal guardian isn''t supposed to be this strong. But there is a way to make them stronger. By feeding them the faith of there followers. In other words, the more faith a follower shows towards his God the more powerful the guardians of that faith become. But simply trying to tell a population to have more faith and rely on God more is simply not good enough. The more emotions are in a faithful follower, the more use he has."


    Vesh: "Is that why you have the city in such a state?"


    Mayor: "Correct, all the food that this city is missing gets important while the citizens themselves are not allowed to leave the region. We have created the forest beyond the border to make sure they don''t try to sneak out. The criminals have free rain to terrorize the city but they also have limits. And of course, the guards are not allowed to intervene."


    Vesh: "So you create desperation and fear as the emotion. How are you making everyone so religious that they would deny help from others?"


    Mayor: "Whenever someone prayers, that person gets connected to the closest guardian. The closer the guardian the more influence he can exert on that person''s mind. But it takes a very long time until there is a difference. Which is why so many brats are revolting."


    Vesh: "So you are using this entire city to increase your military strength."


    Mayor: "Of course, as long as it''s for more power a country will allow anything."


    Vesh: "Why so many people are suffering."


    Mayor: "And now you are doing all this to find out the truth. Now that you know it I will let you return to your comrades."


    Vesh: "...I can''t tell them."


    The mayor smiles.


    Mayor: "Exactly, if you did all their hope for a better future would be lost. They would either choose to give up or not believe you and say you are in on this. But it matters not, since you are smart enough not to fall for it I will have you die here."


    The Guardian is about to pierce his neck but the two wolves jump on the sword to change its thurst. Vesh looks for shadows to summon his remaining two wolves but the Guardian is too bright, he cant find one. He kicks the table next to him and opens two portals. In the meantime, the Guardian manages to get rid of the two wolves killing one of them. The wolves come out and they position themselves a couple of meters to Veshe''s left and right. The wolf whos jaw was paralyzed stands behind Vesh slowly gaining his jaw back. Vesh swings at the Guardian and it parrys without any issues. The two wolves on Veshe''s sides run around the Guardian towards the mayor.


    Mayor: "It''s futile."


    The Guardian shoots out beams of light out of his wings killing the two wolves. But the third wolf was going under Veshe''s and the Guardians legs. It tries to fire at the wolf but its wings can''t reach directly behind him. The Guardian turns around to try and stop the wolf from killing the mayor but Vesh takes theopportunity. While the guardian is turning its starts firing from both his wings to stop Vesh. But before reaching Vesh the firing stops and Vesh kills the guardian. The wolf is in front of the mayor.


    Mayor: "Taking me hostage won''t achieve anything."


    Vesh: "Do you have anyone to take your place."


    Mayor: "No, why?"


    Vesh stabs the mayor in his heart, and the mayor looks confused.


    Mayor: "W...h...y."


    Vesh: "I also lived in this city."


    Vesh puts his one remaining wolf in the portal and starts dragging the mayor''s dead body out of the mansion and towards the town''s center. Leaving behind a trail of blood.He meets the group that sneaked into the mansion with him, with only three of the rebels remaining, Jack was not one of them. The guards and the rebels stop fighting after seeing the mayor. He leaves the mansion grounds and into the city, seeing all kinds of people fighting the guards and criminals, old and young. Once they see the mayor they stop fighting. Vesh putts the body in the center of the town while the city is in complete silence. He then looks at the people around him and leaves the city.


    End of the first arc.