The Overlord Trilogy: The Darkness

1 • All Alone Part One

He walks through the woods, no destination finalized. Walks with a hope of finding something that could end his miserable life and start it anew. He walks with no purpose but yet has one all the same. He knows one thing and one thing only: He can't be near his family anymore, not after what he's learned. 

Walking past a crumpled piece of paper Mystery Man continues down the path, knowing he is nearing civilization. Through the trees the signs of life throw themselves into Mystery Man's arms. Laughter, talking, work being done. All of these things Mystery Man gladly accepts but yet he still feels like none of it will last. Nothing ever lasts when he is around, something he has grown to understand all too well, no wait. That can't be right. Now that he left he is safe, he's not stuck in the horrid fate his idiotic wife and cursed son are. With these in mind he allows himself to feel a small bit of joy, some of the sadness dimming away.

Crack!

Mystery Man quickly turns towards the noise, his smile long gone and his hand already reaching for his knife. A little girl squeals when he sees her and runs off, towards whatever lay beyond the dense trees. Mystery Man sighs and continues on, his backpack seeming to gain weight as the sounds of life grow. How long have I been walking for? Of course time was forgotten a long time before this for Mystery Man. He use to track it by the moon and sun before they merely became nuisances in his life. How many things have become nuisances in his life? He surely had to have lost count by now. 

"Mama! Mama! I saw a strange man in the woods!" Mystery Man allows his frown to grow, the thought of children bringing back dark memories. It hasn't been long since he left but he knows that he can never return. 

"Okay honey... Go inside..." Mystery Man walks out of the woods, dumbfounded to be near a city, just as the little girl runs inside her large estate of a home. That is her house? The mother quickly runs up to Mystery Man, waving off her workers, most likely slaves. She smiles and grabs his hand, shaking it in a greeting.

"Hi. Welcome to Overgaard! I am Lady Catherine. You are on my estate outside the city. May I ask why you are here?" Mystery Man sighed. He couldn't remember the last time he had spoken, the days all blending together. Two slaves walk up to Lady Catherine. One, a young woman wearing a shirt far too large for her, though it may have fit at another time,  and the other an old man whose hair was graying.

"Lady Catherine," the young woman's voice was soft, a large contrast to her scarred face. "Maybe he needs some water before he speaks. Seems like he was travelling for a long time..."

"Yes, yes. Martha go get this man some water." The young woman, Martha, ran off to get some water while the older man stayed beside Lady Catherine.

"Get back to work!" the old man winced as she yelled and went back to work plowing the field near them.

"Come inside sir. We will talk there and you can rest." Lady Catherine grabs Mystery Man's hand and leads him into her castle of a house. Mystery Man fights the urge to reach for his knife and cut a line across Lady Catherine's neck, trying to remember how things are different now. He doesn't have to fight the demon of a son his wife birthed. Some of the slaves look up from where they're working in the fields, quickly looking back down when Lady Catherine glares at them. This is a nice estate, I wonder how she got this much l- 

~~~

"Thank the heavens you're awake!" Martha smiles as she puts a towel on Mystery Man's forehead.

"How... long...?" His voice sounds strange to him, almost as if it isn't truly his own.

"Only a couple of hours. Lucky Lady Catherine didn't faint with you," Martha laughs as she hands him a glass of water. "If she fainted you probably would have been left on the steps." Mystery Man gulps down the water, finishing the glass in seconds.