Chapter 29: Chapter 26: An Overwhelming Defeat

It has been a rather challenging journey up to this point, but now, I am almost near on end. With my companion walking next to me, we passed through a massive courtyard filled with all sorts of skeletons, aimlessly wandering around. Some of them are tall some are short. I counted two dozen with still some flesh intact on their bones. But there is one thing in common for every one of them. Their eyes glow in blue, a trait undead in the forest doesn't have. The place was long abandoned and in need of some care. Rotten bazaar stands from who knows how many years ago, creates a small labyrinth, and slows us down. I used this little time frame to inspect my surroundings a bit better.

 

I counted at least two hundred skeletons in the courtyard. All of them are soldiers (I assume that from their equipment), and they seem to be on alert against something, but I don't know.

 

Wolf was looking anxious. I can't blame him. The air here smells of death and fills your head with hopeless thoughts. I wonder just he is feeling. He was uneasy the second we took our steps inside. I reached into my bag, grabbed a piece of smoked meat, and offered it to the wolf. Usually, he ate anything I gave him on our way with excitement, but he didn’t even bother looking at what I had to offer this time. I better be on alert too.

 

We finally exited the labyrinth of abandoned street decorations and reached the entrance of the main building. Two unorthodoxly giant skeletons were guarding the gate. Each of them is at least three meters tall, and both hold an executioner's ax and make a cross that blocks the entrance, but the second I stepped in front of them, they pulled their weapons away and allowed us to move in.

 

With courage coming from the fact that I already came this far, I stepped in and began walking through the dusty corridors with somehow still-lit torches.

 

Because of an unknown reason, I decided to follow the torches. I passed through corridors, and halls, climbed through spiral stairs, and finally arrived at a large room with a massive iron double door. Just like the one at the dungeon, there is a story on it.

 

A small band of knights is marching in what seems to be the forest outside then they encounter a monster, something like a human with goat legs and two bat wings. Without hesitating, knights draw their swords and attack the beast. And finally, after many losses, they defeated it. With goat legs and bat-like wings, it resembles a demon. I bet my remaining food supplies my guess will be correct. I only wonder when they will be my problem.

 

I reached for the double door and began pushing it. Its hinges made an ear-scratching sound, similar to a painful scream. I wonder the last time someone opened this door, let alone did the routine maintenance. Its neglection is giving me a hard time pushing it. Other than the sound the hinges are making, it is rubbing against the floor.

Air rushed from outside to inside as I got closer to completely opening this rusty pile of metal, and with one final push, I finally managed open the doors and got inside a large hall.

 

A combination of moonlight and giant windows made from stained glasses pour colorful light beams. Their combination creates a magical and beautiful look. In the middle of this scenery, my enemy, a knight in shining armor and a long red velvet cloak is standing. He is holding a sword reflecting the colors coming from the windows. There is a small opening on his helmet, and I can see his face, white as snow, with no flesh, just bones. It is a skeleton, as one may expect from all the similar ones walking around this castle.

 

I pointed right outside of the hall. "Sit," I ordered to the wolf. He is weak, and I doubt he will be helpful in the fight, but his scouting abilities are valuable to me. I must keep him away from this one. “And do not follow me no matter what till I say otherwise.”

 

Wolf followed my orders, moved to a corner, and lay on the ground. Well, he followed my orders to some degree, but good enough. There wouldn’t be any threat to him outside the hall, hopefully.

 

"Here we go." I raised my polehammer and entered the room. Skeleton didn't mind my presence, so I began approaching him. I don't think the boss monsters I encountered so far were in order of strength, meaning this bone bag will be an easy target.

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The distance between us is almost close. Just a couple more steps and we been attack range. 

In a blink of an eye, the skeleton knight closed the distance between us and slashed his sword toward me. I managed to block the sword with my weapon handle, but the sword cut into it, and for a second, the blade glowed in dark red color, and a skeleton cut through the handle.

 

And before I could even react to this move, my eyes began to darken, and I felt a heat in my stomach. Pain followed it up right after. Skeleton stabbed me right through my ribs.

 

I tried to say "when," but no sound came from my mouth, just blood coming out and my lips uncontrollably shaking. And now, I finally lay down, hopefully, dead for good this time.

 

Is this the end? After months of fighting and surviving against trials of survival, my fate was getting killed by two strikes that I didn't even see. But I am not angry. It is just relieving that I will finally rest for good. I had nothing to live for in the first place. I don't even know why I tried so hard to survive.

 

I can see my past flashing before my eyes. The warm and quiet moments I had in the family library, reading books. Their soft leather covers and the smell of old books. Just a little forward, I see myself sitting on my school desk, listening and noting every note coming from my teacher's mouth. Now, in my high school years, training my body and mind with no goal, just doing as I was told, like almost every other kid.

 

But one day, I decided to step up for a random kid. The first time I raised my fist to protect someone, or to be precise, to stop something I didn't like. I buried being a soldier deep into my mind in those years. The culture I was living in, and being able to stand for something I felt was right, made me make that choice, but I didn't follow this dream. My academic carrier was great, and my teachers suggested studying engineering to work in the family company. My father unexpectedly (for me at that time) accepted it. I followed his orders.

 

Now everything is speeding up. The despair I felt from the news of my father's death to the first time I wore a uniform in the army, then to my first assignment, and my first kill. Every battle I fought, every mission I survived, the pain I felt from every scar up to this day, one after another, I live all of them again. It is hitting me like a freight train.

 

And finally. It is warmth and peace. The abyss wraps me around and drags me into somewhere quiet, somewhere I can rest.

 

"As if we all were this lucky." A sound echoed inside my brain, the voice of a male. It sliced through the darkness and opened my eyes. "You haven't died yet."

 

I opened my eyes inside a stone chamber lit by a single torch placed on a pole middle of the room. I am circled by countless silhouettes, hidden in the shadows of the room's corners. They resemble figurines of a human to some degree. Some are too wide, some are too tall, and maybe my eyes deceive me, but some even seem to have extra limbs or body parts.

 

"Be not surprised by this. Soon you will understand. We talk from our experiences, welcome current Lich King, welcome to your first glimpse of the eternal prison we dwell in." 

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