Railey pushed his way through the depths of the forest, his sword hanging from a tired hand, his clothes torn after years of isolation, hunger, and sleepless nights. He walked without any clear destination… except for one burning desire in his chest: kill.
Every step reminded him of his past.
Armand Ascronum: "A talentless child… You will stain the Ascronum bloodline with your failure. You are nothing but a burden."
The words echoed in his head like a never-ending whisper. His jaw trembled, and he clenched his fist so hard it bled.
As he dragged his feet through the dirt, his nose caught the smell of smoke… a fire burning somewhere nearby.
He slowly lifted his head.
"Their village…"
He whispered, barely forming the words.
He hid among the tall grass, approaching silently. Minutes later, a full goblin village appeared before him wooden shacks, burning fires, and small green bodies moving, laughing, screaming.
He didn't plan.
He didn't think.
He didn't feel.
He simply… entered.
He raised his sword and stood in front of a small goblin picking up stones from the ground. The goblin stared at him in fear before the blade pierced through its mouth and exited from the back.
A small scream…
Then silence.
But that scream was enough.
Goblins gathered from every corner of the village dozens charging without order, screaming, waving rusted daggers.
The battle began.
Railey's face was struck.
His chest stabbed.
His back torn open.
Blood covered him completely.
Yet he moved like a killing machine.
No screams.
No hesitation.
No thought.
He struck with no mercy, no fear.
For every goblin that fell, another came.
And another.
And another.
Until the ground turned into a lake of blood, and the entire village fell silent.
Railey stood among the bodies… breathing hard… his sword trembling from the endless slashes.
He sat for only a second, trying to catch his breath
But the sounds began to approach.
Heavy footsteps…
Shaking the earth.
From between the trees emerged a massive goblin three times his height holding an axe larger than its own body.
Railey froze for a moment.
The giant goblin roared and charged.
Railey charged too.
Sword and axe collided.
Railey flew backward and hit the ground hard.
The goblin lifted its axe and swung
Railey's right ear was sliced off.
The scream that escaped him… he had never heard anything like it.
Blinded by rage, Railey rushed at the monster and stabbed a hidden dagger from his thigh into the goblin's eye.
The goblin roared, grabbed Railey's right arm… and tore it off completely.
The sword fell.
The arm fell.
Railey dropped to his knees, suffocating from the pain.
"So this is my end…"
"I just wanted to live… as a prince."
But the giant goblin, now blinded, kept roaring and smashing the ground searching for him.
Railey crawled forward slowly… his face covered in dirt and blood… grabbed his sword with his trembling left hand…
and stabbed the goblin in the back.
The giant goblin grabbed Railey's left leg and ripped it off, forcing another scream out of him as he tried to cling to its neck.
The goblin flipped over, seized Railey by the throat, trying to crush him but Railey kept going…
driving the sword into its neck again… and again… and again…
until its voice fell silent.
The heavy body collapsed.
Railey dropped on top of it…
breathing painfully…
his face disfigured…
his body half-destroyed…
his eyes barely open.
Then he fainted on a battlefield that had turned into a swamp of blood.
And so…
he slept among the corpses, not knowing whether tomorrow would come.
End of Chapter 4