Through Hellfire - Chapter 6.2 ...was Here

Seven years later..

In a path laid in the forest, a large caravan was travelling in a slow place. It was a large merchant caravan, also transporting people, goods and animals.

But, today the main contract of the caravan is to transport a 700-year old, Cold Gold Ore.

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Cold Gold ore is an ore, most preferred for forging flying shuttles. It was very long lasting and has high energy efficiency. And the older the Cold Gold ore, the better the efficiency.

But, Cold Gold ore only appeared in regions of high concentrations of Yin energy, and on a planet such as Evergreen-3, such locations were too scarce and almost non-existent.

The Leader of the caravan was a Peak-Level Wind Saint and had successfully ran this venture for over two decades.

In the far back of the caravan, there were a couple of carriages with a higher number of people. In one glance, they could be called beggers and castaways. They somehow earned money for the trip, but couldn’t afford for the food or any of the luxuries.

When noon arrived, the caravan stopped it’s movements and began preparations for lunch. The rich merchant, who owned the Cold Gold Ore, had his servants prepare meals of rich meat, freash bread and fruit juices for the meal.

Far away, a little child in rags watched the rich merchant with bated eyes. He saw the juicy meat dish, the bread which looked like it was fresh out of an over being served for the merchant from far away.

The child looked down in disappointment at his own meal, a small slice of near stale bread and a piece of dried meat. He wondered if he was ever going to have a meal like that rich merchant.

The child’s mother looked at him, and sighed. She herself wasn’t going to eat anything, leaving all she had for her child. Her husband had passed away years ago, and now she was travelling to her brothers home, to find some way to let her child have a better future.

When the child turned around, wanting to complain to his mother to get a better meal, he saw her lightly smiling back at him.

“Hawk, come here. Mommy will feed you. Say aah.”

“Mom! Don’t treat me like a child. I’m ten years old now. I’m a man now.” Hawk complained.

“Okay, big man. Eat your food, now.” His mother joked. Some, of the others in the surroundings laughed at the scene and continued their meals. Hawk sat down and ate his meal silently but, his displeasure could be easily seen by anyone.

“Hey Kid, come here.” A voice called out.

The voice belonged to a hooded figure, sitting a yard away in the shadow of a tree. He too sat without eating anything.

Hawk saw the hooded man, and walked to him. As he approached the hooded man, Hawks mother called out to him.

“Hawk! come back now!” She shouted.

But, before Hawk could turned around, the hooded figure drew out an orange from his cloak and peeled it open. He took out a slice, and offered the rest of the orange to Hawk.

“Go share it with your mother, kid!” The voice said to him.

The mother relaxed, but was still suspicious of the hooded man. By taking out a slice of the Orange he showed that it wasn’t poisoned.

But, a man who completely cloaked himself was surely up to no good, and she remained wary.

Hawk on the other hand was greedily eating the Orange, and shared the rest with his mother.

Before long the Orange was eaten, but Hawk still remained hungry. He couldn’t ask the hooded man for one as that would be impolite and rude. It was true that all good things could be eaten in few bites while those distressing meals could take hours on end before they were swallowed.

That very instant, another orange rolled over to Hawk. He turned around and saw the hooded man, withdrawing his hand back into the hood.

Hawk bowed to him in gratitude and said his thanks, “Thank you, kind Sir.”

“When you grow up, take care of your mother kid. Don’t show ingratitude to her sufferings for you.” The hooded figure grunted and turned away.

Hawk kept staring at the hooded man, who walked back into the carriage, before going home to his mother, and sharing the rest of the orange with her.

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Around nighttime, the caravan had stopped for the night, when a guard approached the leader in a hurry.

“Boss, something is coming from the forest heading straight for us.” He said quickly, his voice filled with panic.

“What is it?” The caravan leader spread out his Saint sense to find out. Soon, he found out, a hoarde of viscious beasts approaching from the west, and they were closing in soon, and would possibly reach them in about five minutes.

“Damn it, there’s too many of them.” He swore out loud. The caravan was his lively hood and too important to get damaged. There was also important items with them being transported, not accounting for the Cold Gold Ore. Those materials were to be delivered to some very influential and powerful clans, who could spell his doom if the items didn’t make it to them.

Very quickly he made a decision.

“Throw those castaways to the beasts. They can slow them down, while we escape.” He ordered his men.

Soon, at the end of the caravan, a group of people were left behind, as prey for the approaching monsters. Most, of them couldn’t cultivate and had no ability to defend for themselves.

As Hawk was trembling, his mother grabbed him and held him close and comforted him, as they ran.

“Don’t be afraid, Hawk. It’s going to be alright. Nothing will happen, okay.”

She knew that her words held no weight, but that was all she could do in this despairing situation.

Gods above, please don’t hurt my baby boy, she prayed in her heart.

Soon, the people in panic, began to split up and ran in different directions, and the mother and child were alone in their misery.

Heavy sounds were heard behind them, as they ran through the night. The sounds grew closer and closer, and they could hear the cries of beasts. The mother picked up Hawk and ran desperately for their lives.

But, soon the moonlight grew dimmer and they couldn’t see where they were going anymore.

But, soon they saw something that would give them a bit of hope. Straight ahead in their direction of retreat, there lay a huge ravine, with a long tree that served as a bridge. The tree wasn’t wide enough for the pursuing beasts to follow them on, they idealised.

As they somehow made it to the tree, suddenly, the mother tripped on a tree root, and crashed to the ground.

Hawk flew from her arms and hit the ground and his knees and arms got bruises from the fall.

“Mother!” He ignored his bruises, and rushed to her side. She struggled to get up, and her left ankle was sprained, impeding their escape.

“Go, Hawk! Run now! The monsters are coming. I’ll slow them down! Go now!” She implored him to escape by himself, and decided to sacrifice herself.

“What are you saying mother? Let’s go now. Lean on me mother, we’ll cross the tree..” Hawk pulled her arm and used his tiny frame to try and move her forward to climb up that tree. The mother tried to move, and limped with immense pain.

“It’s useless, Hawk. Leave me and run now. That way you’ll survive.” She fell down again.

Her steps were very tiring, and she knew that she would slow him down if they went together.

“But, mother….” Hawk wanted to complain. His tears began to overflow. His mother was the only family he knew, and without her, he didn’t have any idea what to do.

As Hawk tried to pull he mother with him, and as she tried to push him away to safety, they quickly noticed one thing.

The beasts that were chasing them had grown quiet. Naturally, they should have reached them by now, but nothing had come yet.

Maybe those beasts were going to jump out right now, and their lives would end that instant. They both prayed to the Gods on high to give them some hope to make it through.

But, in the next instant they heard a noise like sparks, and from the trees and dim light appeared and flickered out.

Then, a bloody hooded figure stumbled out and fell down to his knees. In his hands were two single headed axes, dripping blood. They suddenly disappeared and he pulled his hands to his knees to support himself.

His blood began to drip onto the forest floor and he swayed in his position, almost collapsing any instant.

He slowly, raised up his head and Hawk realised that, this was the hooded figure who gave oranges to him earlier today.

The hood fell back, and revealed a youth of about sixteen years of age. His dark blue hair flew backwards with the wind. His face was handsome but was marred by a scar, running all they way from his left eye to his jaw bone.

In that moment the dim, moonlight shone again, this time falling on that figure, who knelt before them, and he appeared more mystifying than before.

The mother realised that, this man was the one who had slain the monsters that were chasing them. The reason that those powerfull monsters were chasing them never caught up, even in their weak and tired state, was thanks to this youth.

He must’ve thrown himself in their path to block them. His injuries could even be life threatening, and the blood that was dripping off of him was proof that he was in grave danger.

They prayed to the Gods to send someone to save them from this hopeless situation. And the gods answered.

Their hope, who saved them, was here!!