Heart of Retribution

HAND OF FATE

Elis leapt back to avoid a jab from Amon. Instantly, lightning struck. Rolling away before it hit him, Elis realized Amon had anticipated his movement. The general’s shield

rammed into Elis, sending him flying. Ringing filled Elis’s ears. Blood dripped from his head and nose. Amon loomed a short distance away, grinning as he approached.

Elis staggered to his feet, dizziness hitting him. He had known a direct hit from Amon would deal significant damage. He calmed himself, sucking in the cold air.

“You’ve done well,” Amon said over the now howling wind. “But you are too raw, inexperienced. Your speed cannot save you. You will just be another corpse in my wake, forgotten. This ends here.”

Elis listened to the man’s arrogant, vile words. Dealing with a monster like Amon required extreme measures. So Elis muttered the words he had been forbidden to say—the words only a man willing to die would utter. Amon slowed, now cautious.

For the first time in a long while, Elis smiled. Not the warm smile he had when his sister made a drawing of him, nor the grateful one he gave his mother after she cooked his favourite meal. No, he smiled like Amon—cold and empty.

Elis placed his palm on the cold earth, muttering incantations to the howling wind. It obeyed, becoming heavier and more violent. His eyes burned with an otherworldly glow as he invoked powers better left untouched. A vortex formed around Amon, trapping him.

“You think some wind will stop me, boy?!” Amon bellowed over the accumulating wind. But it wasn’t just wind. Transparent, hellish creatures materialized within the vortex, circling Amon.

“This is for my mother. For my sister. For every life you’ve taken in mindless submission to your greed.” Elis said.

The creatures fed on human souls, and Elis had called them to feast on the most corrupt one of all.

The incantation would cost him, but he had little left to lose.

Seeing the creatures, Amon panicked, struggling against the vortex but unable to escape. Slowly, his cheeks hollowed, his hair turned grey, and his body shrivelled as his very essence was drained. Amon dropped to his knees, screaming and clawing at his chest. Soon, all that remained was an empty husk.

Elis collapsed to the ground, his breath shallow and mana drained. Tears streamed down his face, and exhaustion overpowered him, but Amon was gone.

#

Darkness clouded Elis. His entire body felt numb and weak. He could vaguely hear some voices around him but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. There was a woman and a man. The voice of the man sounded rough a coarse like the tunnels of a long forgotten mine, Elis tried to open his eyes but found his eyelids to be heavy.

“He’s waking up…” the female voice said softly.

Elis managed to open his eyes but was greeted by a blur of white light. He tried to raise his arms but found them stiff.

“The injuries he has cannot cause such weakness. Something else must have happened to him” said the other voice.

Elis reached for the mana within him but only found a soft flickering ember as opposed to the raging fire and warmth he usually felt.

“Where…. where am I?” He managed.

One of them moved closer to him. He could still only see blurs, but judging by the shape, he guessed it was the woman.

“We found your unconscious body in a farm just outside the village. We couldn’t leave a person there to die, so we brought you here.

“How long ago was that?” Elis asked.

“That was almost 4 days ago. You’ve been asleep the entire time.” The other person cut in. Elis noticed something in his voice. Pity perhaps?

Elis tried to stand up. His vision was slowly clearing up and he could now see the features on the face of the woman. Her brows creased with worry as she gently pushed him back.

“You shouldn’t get up so quickly” she started. “You’ve been asleep for days, so your body is bound to be sluggish.”

Elis gently, pushed her hand aside and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Gripping the edge of the bed, he realized it was mad from wool. They just mentioned that this was a village. How were the able to afford wool?

Elis soon understood why as he took in the room he was in. All around were shelves and cupboard and from the open cupboards and the items on the shelves he could see that this place belonged to healer.

Elis turned to the man. He looked to be in his late 60’s. His hair was mostly white but still had streaks of black on it. Looking at his frame. He still stood straight and despite his years, he still looked very capable.

“What’s your name lad?” The man asked, slightly tilting his head.

Elis was grateful for their help but he wasn’t particularly in the mood to exchange pleasantries.

“Thank you for helping me” He said instead

His clothes had been changed and he now wore some shorts that did not fit properly around his waist as well as a loose fitting shirt.

“My clothes?” Elis also wanted to ask for his weapons, but he didn’t want to alarm his saviours by immediately requesting for weapons.

The woman stared at him for a moment before turning away to hunch over one of the storage cupboards on the other side of the room. As she did, the man moved closer, his eyes locking with Elis. There was something in the way he looked at him. Almost as if he was weighing the balance of some scale. Either way, Elis didn't want to stick around to find out what the man was planning.