The valley where I last saw my squad members is levelled, surrounding block mountains collapsed from destruction. Not giving up, I search the surrounding areas.
Fortunately, traces of an escape can be found outside a collapsed cave. Corpses of monsters mark a path.
I follow the trail until I see a spearhead jabbed into the rock, broken.
!
The handle protruding from the snow stops my heartbeat. A severed hand firmly grips the pole.
"No..."
Fuck...
Close scrutinization reveals the pole to be military property and the hand is highly Masoc's.
"Kegh..." I grit my teeth and gaze down.
Traces of battle spread across the area. The cracks and clashes stopped at some point before the party likely retreated deeper into the mountain range. Whatever was fighting them was big and it slammed all of nature as it gave chase. I follow all the traces rapidly, every second, my heart pounding in anxiety and fear.
At least be alive. Please.
No matter how much I travel, only haphazard mountains fill the horizon, but I'm sure I'm getting closer.
Or am I?
I descend to a slope and glance around.
Weird. Am I going in circles?
Is this illusion magic?
I punch the slope, breaking a hole. It feels real.
"Sir?" Issac's voice echoes from below.
!!!
He stands at the base of the slope.
"Issac? Is that you?"
"Sir!! You are alive!!" He exclaims. I slide down to Issac and grasp his shoulder.
"You...are really Issac?" I ask.
"Y-Yes sir..."
"You alright? Where is the rest?" I say as I frantically check his body.
"We and Sir Gary...are all alive. However, Sir Gary's squad was wiped out."
"Ah...I see...I see..." I gaze down and my heaves multiple sighs of relief. Truthfully, I don't care about the other knights as much as my own.
"Sir. Follow my steps or you will never reach the destination. We are in a trap formation," Issac points in one direction and says.
"Trap formation?"
He shrugs. "That's what the master living here said, Sir."
I copy his movements behind him through the seemingly normal terrain.
"Sir...Are you okay?" Issac asks, hiding his expression.
"Somewhat. I can move and fight, albeit not my best."
...
"On the way, I saw Masoc's..." I say.
Issac stays silent, refusing to reply.
"Is he okay?"
Issac nods. "Alive."
After Issac moves one step forward, he suddenly disappears.
?!
I step forward and the surrounding scenery vanishes, revealing a small cabin perching on the edge of a rugged cliff, its weathered texture and aged wood blending with nature. Snow blankets the roof and gathers in thick herds around the base beneath glistening icicles hanging from the eaves. Smoke curls slowly from the stone chimney and the windows are fogged, signs of life.
YOU ARE READING
A Background Character's Fate
Fantastik"In war, commoners are the victims in victory or defeat." Struck by poverty amidst a long and devastating war, an ordinary mercenary dies among the countless corpses on a snowy battlefield. Yet by a stroke of luck, he regressed to his younger self...
