The mark on the afflicted is said to be on the tablets of nothingness, the first And the last text:
"It's an entity stuck in the soul... it will protect you and give you temporary physical skills. until death"
The sound of a metal boot hitting burning wood... then another, and a third, until a circle of soldiers formed around a pillar half-ashed, half-smoking.
"False alarm," one said, his voice mocking. "Nothing here."
"How could a worthless child distract us so much?" another replied, adjusting his weapon.
The laughter echoed, followed by bored sighs... but in the distant shadows, something watched them.
It was a "thing" that wasn't supposed to be there. A being. It wasn't watching with one eye, but with an eye of no known species.
Then...
A short shout from one of the soldiers:
"Guys... What is that thing?!"
The sentence wasn't completed.
The being pounced.
At the speed of light.
Without a sound, without warning, he tore one of them in half, then sank his claws into the neck of the other, and clamped his teeth on the flesh of the third...
and ate.
With a primal voracity, as if hunger were not a feeling but a law.
...
Far away, in the heart of the forest, Mayoth was running.
Above the dry leaves of the trees, under dense shadows that hid the sun.
Behind him, screams could be heard, but he didn't stop. He didn't turn around.
The chase had begun, and the soldiers were behind him.
He ran until he reached a small, green, grassy area that stretched out in front of a small cave where he had lived for years.
He jumped over a broken trunk, but the leader following him was faster,
aiming a special rifle at him.
The bullet came out quickly and struck his shoulder.
The bullet wasn't ordinary.
It contained a poison specially designed for his kind...
for those afflicted with sin.
Mayoth fell.
As he groaned, one of the soldiers stumbled into a weed-covered hole, falling among snakes spitting venom in every direction.
Screams.
And then... eternal silence.
The commander approached and looked at Mayuth with contempt.
Wiping the blood from his sword, he said, "For a villager like you, I'm surprised... how you managed to kill two of my men?"
Mayuth responded, applying pressure to his wound.
"I'm in my own home... I learned all my skills here. Unlike you, I don't kill on the orders of cowardly chiefs..."
The commander took a step forward.
"At least... I'm not cursed like you. Your fate is sealed, you will die as you were born: in vain."
Mayuth breathed heavily.
"Do you remember what you did in the orphanage? That night? One of your men... dressed in the same black as you burned the place down and killed innocent children. Do you deny it?"
The commander pursed his lips and said in a cold tone:
"We kill the spectres. As for the civilians? We have nothing to do with them..."
Mayoth shook his head.
"You're lying. I see evil in your eyes."
The commander raised an old-fashioned rifle and pulled the trigger threateningly.
"Enough talk. Your time is up."
But in a flash, Mayoth threw a small smoke bomb he had hidden behind his back.
The gray cloud exploded, and from its center, he swung his dagger toward the commander's leg, wounding him, then retreated.
But the iron chain suddenly snapped, binding him, and knocking him to the ground.
The commander said with a crooked smile:
"Smart... but you're no good at direct combat."
...
He tied him up and placed him on his horse, then returned to inspect the fire that had broken out above.
As he arrived, he was shocked.
The bodies of his men lay scattered, torn apart.
Bones were exposed, blood stained the stones, and the air smelled of animality.
The leader whispered to himself:
— "This isn't the boy's doing... This is something else. Something... Chaotic."
Then... footsteps.
He turned around and saw the creature.
It looked like a dog, but taller, bigger, and stronger.
Its breath was smoke, its claws were bleeding, and its eyes were like two hellholes.
The leader shouted:
— "You... are a creature of Chaos!?"
The fighting erupted.
Blows, the echo of steel, and the gnashing of fangs.
The leader fought with his sword, the beast with everything.
As for Mayoth... he slipped away, cut the rope, and fled, dragging his injured leg.
He ran.
He ran until the ground shook beneath him.
The mountain cracked.
He fell into a narrow valley, among rocks and thick darkness.
There, the poison spread through his body.
Slowly. He felt his soul being ripped from his bones.
He sat on a rock, staring at his arm.
The tattoo... a crescent moon, began to glow.
He began to live...
He tried to crawl, and the light grew brighter.
Then, suddenly, the sun rose.
A weak ray of light entered through a hole in the stones,
and fell on Mayoth's body.
A faint ray of light filtered through a narrow hole in the crumbling stone ceiling, sloping as if carrying devastating news. It pierced the darkness that had descended, groping its way through the dust, until it fell like a broken thread of hope over Mayuth's body.
He was lying on the ground, submerged in a pool of his own blood.
His body was motionless, as if he had died long ago.
His eyes were half-open, as if they were still waiting for something... someone...
But no one came.
Blood dripped slowly from his side, drop by drop,
as if his heart still insisted on beating, just to write its final goodbyes.
The silence was deafening, suffocating...
Even the air seemed unable to move.
Then... a breeze blew.
A light, cool breeze drifted in like a lost soul.
It brushed over his blood-drenched hair,
and gently moved the edges of his coat, almost comforting.
In that moment, everything seemed to break.
The stones, the silence, the light, even time itself...
He paused for a moment, mourning the loss.
It was as if the wind whispered to the entire world:
"He's gone...
Mayoth... He'll never open his eyes again.In his old world "