Of Blood and Duty

Chapter One • A Violent Wake Up

-A Stranger- 

Dark dreams clouded his mind. Immersing him in spine chilling screams as his mind was running wild with the need to making sure someone specific was safe... but failing to do so. The memories of this person screaming trapped him in a paralyzing fear. Whoever it was, it was a woman. Her terrified voice rolled through every little vein and each part of his body, worsening the fear he was feeling as his entire being burned with the knowledge that he was not going to get to her in time. That there was nothing he could do to help her. Left unable to reach her... and failing her. 

She was too far away, out of reach. He could not move from pain, locked in place against his will and forced to relive it all over and over again. Forced into uselessness and not being able to come to the screaming woman's aid. Failing to protect the life he felt inexplicably responsible for. 

On top of his horrid nightmares, physical injuries and their songs of agony suffocated him from in- and out. Nothing gave him a single moment of peace. Was not even granted an opportunity to take a deep breath. Whenever he tried such a simple feat, his chest cried out from the very depths of his being, not allowing anything soothe his mind nor his aching body until it nearly rendered him unconscious. He was permanently stuck in a maelstrom of suffering. 

"I will not say it again..." A man muttered somewhere in his vicinity. Distracting him just enough to pull him out of his world of pain for the fraction of a moment. "This is a bad idea, Mae." He went on impatiently. Seeming to expect some sort of reaction the first time he opened his mouth. 

A frustrated sigh erupted next to him. The sigh turned into a gust of air that hit his cheek like a softly. Smelling of cheese... It told him that someone was sitting next to him. Whoever they were, he wanted to thank them for making him feel something else than pain, even if it had been only for a brief moment. 

The person was clearly ignoring the one doing all of the talking. The one who had called them Mae. 

This Mae's breath hit him again and he could smell wine on it as well as the cheese. He inhaled it just as greedily as a man dying of thirst getting that first sip of water would have. Thankful that he was experiencing something else than agony. 

"Yes, you said that... and now you have said it again. This, despite you telling me that you would not do it again." The person that had to be this Mae mumbled annoyed. It was easy enough to hear that she was tired of repeatedly hearing the other one's complaints over and over again. "Either shut up or leave. Whatever you choose, let me work in peace. This is tricky as it is without you wailing in my ear." 

He would have laughed at that, had it not meant a certain wave of nerve shattering pain would make him want to end it all right there. To his relief, his body did not move an inch. Keeping him in his current state. 

"Why are you persisting on not listening to me? Why do you not head my warnings about this stranger? He is dangerous!" 

"Because you..." Mae paused and in the next second a wet rag was swiped across his sweaty forehead. 

She is taking care of me. Why? He wondered. 

"... are scared." She finished her sentence with a low ridiculing chuckle. Playfully spoken, but still so blatantly mocking the man as if it was second nature to her. Despite its rude intention, the chuckle sounded soft, but still very hurtful to a fragile ego. 

A scoff shot out of the third person in the room. An obvious attempt to sound amused and unbothered rather than what he truly was; offended. "Scared?" Was all that came from his lips. Clearly the only thing he would think of saying. "Of what exactly?" He finally added after an embarrassing long silence had passed.