CHAPTER 1: Encounter
In the eery darkness of a forest, the wind brushing gently on the swaying trees produced the main sound, while in the background, owls, howling hounds and smaller creatures squirming through grass and bushes could be heard from a distance in all directions.
In the midst of soothing sounds of nature, Jacob walked past trees that easily reached up to fifty meters in height, producing a tapping sound every time his long black sheathed katana gently struck the ground with every awkward step he took.
His jet black hair swayed gently in the air, hair long enough to reach his back.
He also had pale white skin, and deep black eyes that had a cold and distant look to their gaze. Contrary to this look though, he wore a slight and gentle smile as he walked past tree after tree never looking in any other direction but forward.
The longer he walked the more he could hear loud bangs towards the direction he was approaching, never the less, he continued walking, slowly approaching the source of these sounds.
About 200 meters from the clashing sounds, he came to a halt, squatting slightly before pressing down on his sword and leaping about 30 meters up to the lowest branch of one of the tall trees surrounding him before taking a seat and quietly looking at the direction the loud bangs were coming from.
In that direction, a man at the height of about 200 centimetres, broad shoulders and red hair that could reach up to his shoulders which he tied into a messy bun with two long golden pins holding the bun up, kept flashing around.
He wore a red scarf with a big black sweater, black jumpers and black boots and he kept firing crimson flame spears in the direction of his opponent.
He moved at an incredible speed and fired rapidly at his opponent from multiple directions, yet his opponent match his speed perfectly and countered every flaming spear with ice spears similar in size to those of the flames.
His opponent was a woman dressed in luxurious clothing resembling that of nobles. She had beautiful and long blonde hair that she tied into a long ponytail, beautiful and flawless skin with pure and bright blue eyes that had a confident look to them.
Her luxurious golden earrings bounced around her ears as she moved at insanely high speeds that no normal human could hope to match.
Their confrontation kept moving closer, and closer to Jacob until they finally stopped almost directly under the tree Jacob sat on, 30 meters up on one of the branches.
They stood about 10 meters from each other, the red-haired man seemingly unaffected by the entire clash, and neither was she to an extent.
Although she had to catch her breath, she was completely untouched.
After about 10 seconds passed, she looked at the man directly across her, an annoyed look plastered across her delicate and pretty face."This is dangerous, we might not be far from the wall, but we are still outside and it's the middle of the night."
The man showed no reaction… this caused her face to twist with an expression of extreme annoyance, but it quickly reverted to normal before she let out a sigh that seemed to compose her even more.
With a cold look she spoke again in a very gentle tone and no expression on her unnaturally beautiful face.
"look…Drake…" she paused, extending her hands downwards to pat the dust off of her luxurious dress. "You know we've been at it for a while now and you know how terrify creatures of divinity are outside the walls. Why do you still insist on chasing me this far to capture me? This could easily result in my death instead, you know that?"
Drake kept a composed and calm look as he listened to her words and kept quiet for a moment after she spoke before replying- "Mrs Beatrice, as long as I capture you before we attract any of those creatures, I could escort you home without any problems."
The expression on Beatrice's face twisted again as she lost her composure a little. "What do you mean escort me?! This is all against my will! We have been here way too long, those creatures could show up at any moment! We can discuss this back in town!"
Drake shook his head. "There is nothing to disc…" but before he could finish speaking, they heard a gentle voice coming from above them. "It's too late…"
Hearing this caused them both to leap backwards in different directions out of panic.
They quickly lifted their heads to look up, but Jacob was already landing on the ground by the time they did.
Realising this, red flames enveloped Drake's hands before he took a fighting stance and began speaking, his entire demeanour still composed and cold. "who are you? Are you human?"
Jacob turned his head in Drake's direction and set his gaze on him, yet his eyes remained cold and distant… almost unfocused. His entire facial expression seemed cold, his slight smile the only thing betraying these features.
"Yes, I am human" he chuckled a little and continued "when I said 'too late' I wasn't talking about myself"
This caused both Drake and Beatrice to tense up. "What were you talking about then?" asked Beatrice with a look of concern on her face.
Drake still kept his guard up against the kid in front of him as he listened, not because he didn't trust that this was a human, but because he stood on that spot for a while and still couldn't sense anyone on top of him until the kid started speaking.
This made him weary of the boy. How did I not realise he was here this entire time? As he thought, Jacob continued to answer Beatrice's question. What he said caused both Beatrice and Drake to experience feeling of horror.
"I was on my way to the wall too before I got distracted by your fight, I don't know how far the wall is, but right now there is something here."
After a 30 second pause, Drake asked "where is this 'something' and why hasn't it attacked yet?"
Jacob reached for his sheathed sword after hearing Drake's question, causing Drake and Beatrice to once again take a step back in caution.
Lifting his black sheathed katana, he pointed it up and said- "I knew which direction the wall was, until I didn't. I'm sure you must've lost your sense of direction too."
Drake's eyes widened again when he heard this, but this time so did Beatrice's eyes. It seemed Drake and Beatrice knew what this meant for them.
Beatrice again, quickly reverted to her normal cold and confident expression and spoke in a soft but annoyed voice.
"Tsk, this is all your fault" saying this as she stared down Drake in an intimidating manner.
Drake replied to her again in a cold but respectful manner, as if addressing an employer. "Ms. Beatrice, as long as I'm here you'll be safe whether it's inside the walls or outside. Let's go, I'd prefer not to stay too long here at night."
After speaking, Drake turned his back to them and walked off, causing Beatrice to follow behind trying to catch up to him. Seeing this, Jacob kept his smile, tapped his sheathed sword twice on the ground and took a step in the opposite direction from where they were going before turning his head slightly and gently shouting.
"It was nice meeting you!" this caused Beatrice to pause. The same with reaction came out of Drake.
Sensing this, Jacob tapped his sword on the ground twice again before coming to a stop too.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly showing a look of concern before asking. "Is something wrong?"
A look of heavy concern washed over Beatrice face when she saw this before she turned around and walked straight towards him.
Lifting one eyebrow he simply let her approach with a curious and confused look on his face.
When she reached him, she extended her hand and grabbed a hold of his.
With his smile still gentle and his expression still calm and cold he just let it all unfold. When Beatrice grabbed his left hand she got a proper look at his face.
Pale and beautiful and quite youthful features, silver earrings on both ears that hung long with three black jewels on each earring.
A cold and distant gaze that seemed almost unfocused on his eyes is what caught her attention.
she turned around after taking his hand, locking all of his finger with her own to keep a solid grip on him before pulling him towards drake's direction.
"Drake can sense some people in the direction we're going. It will be easier to leave here if we have more people to get information out of.
Even if they also just realised this, they might've experienced it differently from us."
As she said this she turned her head slightly to catch a glimpse of Jacobs face again.
'He looks about 17 or 18 years old.' When this thought crossed her head, the same expression of concern washed across her once again causing her to bite her lips a little.
When they reached drake, they all continued walking, following Drake's lead through the cold and dark forest.
…
After about 15 minutes into their silent walk, Drake slowed down and said "they're just behind these trees" before continuing at his previous pace approaching what seemed to be a campsite with an enormous bonfire and quite a number of loud voices in the direction he was heading.
Beatrice tilted her head slightly when she saw this- "aren't we going to wait and see if they're actually people before we approach?"
With his usual, cold demeanour he slightly turned his head to look at Jacob who had been quiet since they started walking before quickly retracting his gaze.
When Jacob sensed this, his eyebrows lifted slightly and he kept the slight smile he has had since they met him as he answered Beatrice's question in Drake's stead.
"They already know we're here."
Drake didn't pause when he heard this and neither did the two behind him. They passed the trees and revealed themselves, causing the entire campsite to turn silent when they saw the three people approaching.
Every single stranger in the camp lifted their heads in unison when they saw them.
The only people to not do so immediately was a young man who had not realised they were there and a brawny looking man who didn't pay them any mind, continuing to sharpen his axe.
A smile appeared on the closest person to the three who had appeared as he approached them opening his arms wide.
"howdy there strangers, looks like a new batch joins us once again! Old man, the red head looks strong!"
An old man walked out of the crowd when he heard this, smiling too as he replied to the skinny man who had approached Drake. "Hold on now manther, we haven't even introduced ourselves."
When the old man said that, Jacob's head tilted a little as one eyebrow also lifted slightly. "hmm?" When he produced this sound Beatrice immediately turned to look at him.
"What's wrong?"
Jacob kept his calm smile as he scanned the entire area of the camp showing only a slightly perplexed look that lasted only a second.
"So many corpses? Why are they moving?". When Jacob said this, Drake and Beatrice both turned their heads to him with serious and surprised looks.
So did the old man and the skinny man named Manther as well as the two who had initially not paid attention.
Suddenly the entire camp looked at Jacob, this sent a shiver down Beatrice's spine. All their gazes were cold and lifeless except the four who had initially stood out.
In a matter of seconds all their heads simply fell from their bodies, perfectly even and clean cuts remaining on their necks.
Blood only streaming down their necks instead of squirting and spraying out as their bodies stood right up, still faced at Jacob's direction.
They were all indeed dead… corpses.