Midnight Orchestra

Relapse - The Stranger

If you play SoulCalibur, one of the characters might seem a bit familiar. ;) If you don't but you own a PlayStation or an Xbox or whatever, give the game a try. You might like it, especially SoulCalibur 3 for you people who love a good narrative. The game's awesome. The first game in this series is one of the games I played when I was, like, five. It's a shame it isn't very well-known. :(

Anyway, here's an update. You can read it even if you don't play SoulCalibur.

Also, Poonima, I think you might like this, if you know what I mean. ;)

Sorry to keep you guys waiting too long.

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Relapse – The Stranger

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He's got me in a daze. He's got me in a trance. He's got me so thrown tonight, no, I need to recover.

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I could see my cold breath floating in the air in front of me. The sun was awfully weak in the outskirts of Erminedale, and what was worse was that the clothes would take such a long time to dry. Carrying the laundry basket with my shivering left arm, I rubbed my other arm on my stomach. Oh, how I hated the cold. It made work much harder. Sadly, it was cold almost throughout the year in Erminedale, especially when you could almost see The Range, the land of icy mountains, from here.

Sighing, I watched the river as it struck the rocks opposite me. Desperately, frantically, helplessly, the waves smashed themselves against the mountain across the river as if it was begging for something. Begging for what?

I looked up and could make out two figures on the mountain, fighting each other. Could they be animals? Wolves? No, the wolves were long gone in Erminedale. I hung our clothes on the clothesline and paid the figures no attention...

...until a shadow of a man leaped from the mountain and splashed into the river.

I dropped the laundry basket and scampered towards the shore. I had to hurry. The cave wasn't very far, but the river was vast and he could drift into the seas and I wouldn't be able to rest knowing I could've helped him. I ran as fast as my legs could take me. He was drifting towards me, but he must have lost consciousness because of the duel. And red emanated from his body. I pushed my legs to move faster, clutching my skirts as I hurried along the shore and towards the area nearest to him.

When I came to the edge closest to him, I stepped into the water, waded through it, and seized his arm. With great effort, I dragged him back to dry ground.

"Gavin!" I called. "Gavin, help. There's a wounded man out here!"

I rested his head on my lap and frantically checked his...rather hard chest because the blood seemed to be coming from there. There was horrifying gash with almost twice the length of my forefinger below his rib cage, blood ceaselessly gushing out. I ripped a part of my skirt and wrapped it tightly around his waist.

"Gavin!"

This wasn't good. Aside from his gash, he was covered with cuts and bruises. I would have to tend to his injuries as soon as possible for him to survive.

"Gavin!"

I couldn't wait for him any longer. Slipping my hands under the stranger's shoulders, I heaved him towards the house. Every second that passed, every step that I took, made me want to catch my breath, but I never stopped.