The Shapeshifter - Chapter 30 Experience 1

“What were my gains?” Alex asked the White Rhino. It wasn’t a question that was directed towards the rhino.

It was for himself.

“I seemed to have forgotte-” his voice stopped and his eyes were looking at the rhino as if the rhino was a magnum opus.

Another memory, forcefully resurfaced itself in his brain. Luckily, the emergence of the new memory didn’t bring him pain or he would’ve become crazy.

Alex, who’s mind was already in another world, subconsciously sat down. The memory was already playing inside his head like a movie.

The White Rhino, who saw him sat down without a word, knew what Alex was going through.

It was a sudden comprehension! Or if he was lucky enough he might attain self-realization!

…

I was forcefully brought back to the nightmare. I woke up to a cold dark ground. It was the same nightmare, yet a different one. It wasn’t a tunnel, this time it was room.

I stood up, thinking that the color of the surroundings would probably change from black to white, then white to black.

It proved me wrong. Nothing changed. I waited for hours outside those rooms. From hours turned to days. I knew I won’t be able to wait that long.

So curiosity lead me near the rooms. I thought of the nightmare, ‘days’ ago; where no matter what I do, I would not arrive to wherever I wanted to.

Sitting cross legged in front of the rooms, I contemplated whether I should go inside one of the rooms.

Considering what I had experienced, I slowly went inside the dark room, hoping that it would change into the white one. It was very creepy to walk inside the dark room. It was very cold and there were even times where the wind blew and I shivered.

I waited for quite a while, however nothing seems to be happening. It terrified me, being alone in this cold and dark place, that is.

So I closed my eyes and distracted myself by thinking of some hero fight scenes from the middle ages.

(A/N: This was what I usually think when I’m not able to fall asleep. Hehe)

I imagined myself, a 15 year old kid, holding a sword and watched from afar, as my village was robbed by bandits.

It was a scene where I should emerge as the hero and saves the village from the bad guys.

I watched as they slaughter the villagers. It was a massacre! I watched as they took away girls of my age and even those who were younger than I am!

My eyes started to turn watery, as I hold back my tears from falling. I was filled with anger, hate and helplessness.

It was too realistic, everything was just life like. This scene was too much for me. I didn’t even know why my thoughts wandered this far. I closed my eyes and opened them again to remove myself of this ‘dream’.

To my horror, I can still see the bandits as they knocked out and tied those helpless girls. Some of those that haven’t been knocked were bawling, crying and begging for forgiveness.

Then the bandits marched out of the village, towards their lair as if nothing happened. ‘They’ll probably going to spot me’, so I ran as fast as I could, aimlessly.

The darkness blanketed the skies and thunders were rumbling up above. ‘It would probably rain later’, I thought.

I just finished resting and I tried whatever ways that I could think of to wake up from this ‘dream’, but it seemed like my reality has changed for now.

‘I could only play this little game that I have given myself.’

I walked for a bit and saw hoof prints on the ground. It was easy to spot because the prints seemed new and it was a bit deeper than normal, meaning that they were carrying twice of their normal weight.

There were only hoof prints and no trace of wheels. Therefore, it shouldn’t be the fat merchants. It could only be those damned bandits!

I trudged towards the path of the prints. My legs were still quivering even though I already rested for half an hour.

The trodden path was a bit uneven, so my foot sometimes slips and bend. So I stopped as I reached a clearing to get myself a breather.

Then I suddenly heard the sound of horses neighing. I quickly ducked to the nearest shrubberies to hide myself; afraid that I arrived at the bandits lair and they would discover me.

I tried to locate where the sound came from and saw that the horses were left a few meters away from the cave. I sighed a breath of relief as I inched closer, ever so slowly, towards the cave’s entrance.

With a pitter-patter, the sound of rain hitting the ground echoed.

‘It would be hard for me if I get soaked by the rain.’

The sound of men laughing entered my ears. I could hear the moans of several girls and some of their cries. Anger bubbled inside me as I heard their begging.

I arrived inside and could finally see something!

I watched as men take their share of women. I saw men whipping the girls’ fragile back for being disobedient. I saw them do ‘it’ forcefully with those girls.

My heart broke when I saw those girls begging for those maniacs to stop.

I could only watch those scenes as fear took over my body and my feet was deeply rooted to the ground.

‘I could only watch! Ever since the beginning, I could only f*cking watch! Damn it!’

I couldn’t do anything! I’m a coward! I was afraid of killing people and also afraid of people killing me.

However, was watching the only thing I should be doing? I looked down and saw my hands turn white as I gripped my sword tightly.

‘What if these things happened to my loved ones? Will I only watch as these bastards play with them?’

No! No! Just the thought of it caused me to shake uncontrollably.

They’re just beasts in human form!

“F*ck you all! Burn in hell!” I bellowed as I ran towards the busy bandits. However, the sound of the rain masked my aggrieved voice. There were about 30 of them and more than half were naked.

This was my f*cking chance! Either I die or they f*cking do!

When I got near the first bandit, he was still looking at me incredulously. Maybe he was belittling me, but that was none of my f*cking concern!

I thrusted the sword straight into his open mouth and pierced. I swung the sword sideways to make sure the man died. Then the man’s body slumped down lifelessly into the ground with his eyes still open.

‘It was my first time killing a human being, but so f*cking what?! These f*ckers deserved death!’

I looked around to find the nearest bandit and noticed that only a few of them were looking at me. Some were still busy with their own ‘agenda’.

I grinned towards my next prey and ran quickly. I did a simple, but swift swing, then his head was already separated from his body.

Before his body could even touch the ground, I already killed another bandit that had his back on me.

Thinking of running? Kek. Haha!

The last bandit who saw me, suddenly screamed when my sword was about to kill him.

His shrill of a scream echoed on the cave. Then again, only a few was attracted by the scream. It should be because of the rain or maybe the others would think that it was a girl’s scream.

Hehe.

I beheaded him straight away and his ‘ear-piercing’ scream stopped. I could only behead these beasts as that was the easiest that I could do.

‘I’m pretty sure that I would be missing their vitals if I ever aimed on them. So I could only stick to beheading people.’

The massacre began ages ago and I was already on the depths of the cave. The smell of blood wafted in the air. Some of it came from my blood soaked body and some came from the dead ones.

I smiled gleefully towards the remaining three bandits. Of those three people, two were carrying crossbows and the other had a sword.

It was obvious who would win this showdown. It’s gonna be me!

I could see their legs tremble in fear as I inched closer to them. A crossbow bolt flew towards me, but I easily deflected it with my sword.

Honestly, I flinched when I saw the bolt flying towards me. However, I was already in the ‘zone’, from killing those beasts. So deflecting the bolt wasn’t mere luck. Hehe.

(A/N: To those who doesn’t know of ‘The Zone’It’s like the adrenaline rush where you could do impossible things. Or you could just watch Kuroko’s basketball.)

The two crossbow men were clearly afraid of me, as bolt after bolt were sent flying. Only a few came directly my way and the others missed.

Then a scarred bald man shouted towards one of them and took the crossbow for himself.

I watched as the bald man sent three bolts towards me in a matter of seconds. I got too full of myself and was only able to deflect a bolt.

I couldn’t dodge and was helplessly pierced by the bolts. One landed on my chest and the other on my shoulder.

It hurts so bad that I felt like crying. Not only that, but I was also having trouble breathing.

This wasn’t the time for this. I could see those five men rushing towards me. Instead of beingafraid, I even sighed a breath of relief.

I thought that I would become a porcupine soon, lucky me, they ran out of bolts. Haha!

I prepared and saw that someone was running at his top speed and would definitely arrive in front of me in no time.

This guy looked like he was bedazzling someone; probably their leader.

The guy jumped towards me with his hands high up, intending to cut me down in one move.

I couldn’t help but laugh at him. This guy was too much of a newbie than I am. I sidestepped his attack and pierced the side of his neck precisely.

Then I saw a silhouette at the end of my vision. I baited him into thinking that my I hard trouble getting my sword out.

And it worked! Baiting someone that has his mind on a mess was very simple. In a one swift motion, I beheaded my attacker.

I looked in front me and the bald man was nowhere to be seen. Then I looked at the entrance of the cave and saw the baldy running for his life.

Then again, I could only watch as the leader of the bandits get away from me.

Before I could even get in this cave, I was already exhausted. With all those fighting that I did earlier, it burnt every energy in me. I also have bolts in my body too.

I lowered my head and then my legs finally gave out. The impact of me hitting the ground was so painful and blood flowed from my chest and shoulder.

I was now kneeling on the ground.

I looked around and found the girls looking at me fearfully. I flashed them a sorry smile and told them they were now free.

They were still huddled together and unmoving. I couldn’t care less. I already did my best to save them.

At this moment a shrill cry echoed inside the cave. As curious as I was, I cannot even lift my head up anymore.

Then the sound of men marching entered my ears. I bet they’re wearing heavy armors. Should be a cavalry.

The sound of their footsteps became louder and louder, then a metal boots entered my vision.

“Were you the one that killed them?” a righteous voice sounded.

With a hoarse voice I answered truthfully “Yes. Are you going to kill me too? For killing them?”

“No. On the contrary, would you like to join the army?”

It was a question that I could not answer, as everything descended into darkness and I passed out.