CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 51: PARADISE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST (26)

The new scene formed in front of Orion and the masked man in an instant.

The air itself was polluted with the smell of blood and dust. The great hall at the heart of the palace was destroyed.

Its pillars were shattered, its walls cracked, and the floor was in even worse condition. It was as if an earthquake had struck the place.

The nobles who once filled the hall, preparing to celebrate with luxury and pride, were now corpses scattered across the floor.

Others were injured, groaning under the rubble, some dragging themselves across the hall in a nearly unconscious state.

And some were barely breathing under the collapsed stones.

In the middle of this ruin the king lay trapped beneath a massive pile of broken stone.

"Run from here immediately!"

The shout was mixed with anger and desperation, as if it were directed at the prince standing before him.

The prince raised his head through the smoke and dust, looking around in shock.

The ceiling had completely collapsed, and through the wide opening above appeared that mythical creature.

It was enormous, so massive that looking at it alone was enough to fill anyone with awe.

It had giant deer antlers with broken ends, and the body of a colossal fox.

Around its neck was a thick mane resembling a lion’s mane, but it looked as if it were made of leaves.

And from its back extended huge wings.

They also seemed to be made of leaves, but they were black, extremely dry, and many of them were decayed.

Around its body a dark substance crawled in every direction.

With every passing second that substance spread more and more across the hall, dripping onto the ground and then flowing outward.

The scene did not last long. The light burst again from the masked man’s eyes.

A new vision appeared in the wilderness.

The prince and Darin were leading a massive group of fleeing civilians toward the great forest outside the kingdom.

Behind them the kingdom was buried beneath a dense black fog that covered the palaces, the houses, and the streets.

Everything was eerily silent.

The dark substance that had corrupted the great spirit had spread through the land as well.

It turned the animals living near the kingdom’s edges into twisted beasts with dead eyes that attacked anything that moved.

Darin walked beside the prince, his body exhausted, his face covered with dirt and sweat, and every few minutes he cast a sideways glance at the prince.

A glance that no longer carried the old respect. It held something closer to restrained disappointment.

Behind them hundreds of civilians struggled to move.

Women carrying trembling children, weak men who had never touched a sword in their lives.

Elders who could barely walk. Their faces were exhausted, thin, and broken.

Nothing remained of the kingdom except this miserable human flock.

As for the knights, only twenty of them survived.

Their armor was in terrible condition, some of them suffering from deep wounds.

Yet they marched at the front and the rear, trying to protect the survivors with what little strength they had left.

The rescue continued for long weeks of hunger and cold.

Hunting beasts that grew more aggressive every day.

They had to enter monster infested areas in search of survivors.

And each time they returned, they came back with fewer numbers.

Many people were killed before they even reached the deeper parts of the forest.

Children died in their mothers’ arms from hunger, men collapsed from exhaustion.

Or from a strange disease that began spreading because of filthy water and poisonous food.

The prince, who had not yet reached sixteen, became their last hope.

They all looked to him as their only savior, even though fear and confusion were obvious in his steps, no matter how hard he tried to hide them.

As for Darin, with every new scene of death, he looked at him with a heavier gaze, full of questions he never said aloud.

The gaze of a man who knew that something at the root of this catastrophe was tied to the prince’s decisions.

With time the scenes continued to shift with the light coming from the masked man’s eyes.

And with every new glimpse appearing before Orion the images grew uglier and uglier.

People dying, knights falling one after another.

The forest ahead did not welcome them.

And the king, the nobles, the kingdom, and the great spirit were all gone.

And the young prince walked at the front.

Before Orion could process the visions, the light shone once more from the masked man’s eyes, forming the next scene.

The hunger was clear on the prince and the others. Thin faces, sunken eyes, dry lips.

Some were so desperate they bent down and tore grass from the ground with their teeth just to silence the pain in their stomachs.

The prince and Darin went out on a new hunting trip, a desperate attempt to find anything edible.

The remaining knights stayed behind to guard the civilians, though they could barely stand.

At first the sound of crushed leaves under their feet was the only thing breaking the gloomy silence of the forest.

When they were far enough, Darin approached the prince.

"Prince, there is something I need to ask you."

The prince did not turn. He held his bow and stared between the tree trunks.

"I do not think this is the right time for questions."

But Darin did not back down.

"Prince, everything that has happened until now, it has nothing to do with you, right?"

The prince did not stop walking, did not look at him, and did not answer.

Darin reached out and grabbed the prince’s shoulder.

"Prince, tell me that you got rid of that bottle. Tell me you were not the cause of the kingdom’s destruction. Tell me you were not the reason for all the suffering we are living through now."

Silence lingered. The prince lowered the bow in his hand, his arms slackening and his head dipping slightly.

"It is me. I did not get rid of that bottle, and I tried to use it."

Darin’s hand slipped off the prince’s shoulder, and a deep disappointment showed on his face.

But he did not say anything.

They continued walking without speaking, searching for any prey, but hours passed with no success.

Finally they got a chance to hunt one of the large forest beasts.

The prince raised his bow, pulled the string, and took a deep breath.

But before he could release the arrow, a scream and sharp crying echoed from a nearby area.

The prince hesitated, distracted, and when he released the arrow it missed the target. The beast fled into the trees.

But the sound of crying and screaming was still loud and clear.

The prince and Darin rushed toward the sound, moving quickly despite their exhaustion.

They passed through several bushes until they reached a small clearing between the trees.

There they saw a small gray creature, no larger than a human child.

Its body trembled, and its eyes were filled with tears.

Darin raised his sword immediately, but before he could strike the prince lifted his hand and stopped him.