"Ngh-- " My head throbbed. What happened?
It hurt. "Help," I called out weakly, looking around. The entire carriage was wrecked.
"Areb, Fulgur," I called for them. "Help."
There was no response from either of them. I crawled forward, feeling something warm and thick. A red liquid was flowing from Areb's lower half, buried and crushed by the rubble.
"Huh-- bo-blood?" I trembled at the sight.
I slowly crawled out through a small opening in the wrecked carriage, shaking. "Help" was all I could mutter repeatedly, hoping someone would hear and come to our—my aid.
As soon as I got out, I saw the aftermath of a big fight. It was night already. Soldiers, knights, and some new people in red robes lay sprawled across the battlefield.
The ground was painted red, tents and trees were burning. In addition, bird-like monsters with lizard features flew around. They looked ghostly and phased through each other, circling around the moon. In the novel and the game, these things were called phantoms. Phantoms could come in any shape—dragon, human, or monster—and behaved differently. The only way to tell if it was a phantom was its ghostly body structure.
Phantoms were neutral creatures that wouldn't attack unless harmed. They usually appeared in places they deemed safe, though powerful phantoms could reside in deadly areas as long as the resident monsters were inferior to them.
Seeing these small phantoms playing around, I hoped there would be no big and powerful monsters now.
The giant monster corpses still concerned me. If this was the world of *Shadow of the Shattered Veil*, then I should be aware of the world's dangers and incoming calamities.
What befell the village of Gunta was the beginning of the first calamity. There were 97 calamities in the story, and one year from now, the dark age would begin—an age of suffering and death.
"TAKE ME BACK, FULGUR!!" I screamed desperately. There was no way in hell I wanted to experience those 97 hells.
"FULGUR!!" I turned around and saw the carriage I got out of, half-buried by a big rock. This was what had crushed Areb. My surviving it was just luck or perhaps plot armor, but with the countless deaths of key and favored characters, I didn't believe such a thing even existed in this novel.
I desperately went back inside the carriage and shook Areb's lower half. "FULGUR, TAKE ME BACK!!" Aren't you powerful enough to send me to a world of a novel? Then maybe resurrecting the dead shouldn't be impossible for you. Or at least give me a sign.
... -ah I want to cry, "FULGUR!!" Please take me back. Tears streamed down my face as fear took over.
I couldn't even imagine my future here.
Twenty minutes later, I was still inside the carriage. At any time, just a little shift and the rock could fall over and crush the entire carriage. Yet, consumed by emotions, I was blinded to see that danger.
*cough *cough "cap-tain..."
I heard coughing. If you're not showing up now, then I might as well ensure my survival.
I quickly got out after wiping my tears. Just give me one knight or soldier. Give me someone who could protect me or something.
I quickly tried to find the survivor, and to my disappointment, it was one of the men in red robes, an angel crest on his hood.
He was missing both arms, blinded in one eye, and covered in blood.
These guys were part of the Guardian organization—an evil secret organization that would make a name for themselves right at the fifth calamity.
YOU ARE READING
Fiction Forger
Fantasy> is a beloved story about a young hero that captivated many. But then, inexplicably, it vanished from the face of the earth. All traces of its history and existence disappeared, leaving no memory of it-except for one person. A young aspiring noveli...
