A/N : I am really sorry for not uploading the last two days folks. Got caught up in something very unpleasant. To make up for it, I will upload two or three extra chapters in the next few days. I don't know when, but I will.
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Inside the Marquis's mansion. In the party hall, the people stirred.
One of the first few to wake up was a young lady. She slowly got clarity and the first sense that she experienced was taste, even before her eyes opened, she had somewhat of a spicy taste and jelly texture in her mouth, and on her teeth some food was attached.
The young lady slowly tried to get up, but was unable to. First she felt taste, her eyes hadn't opened yet, but the next thing she experienced was weight. A very heavy weight was upon her and she was struggling, because of the struggle, all her senses got activated immediately, and she took the full picture in.
When she saw the obese merchant on top her, and the food from his mouth connected to her, just because of experiencing all this, she was about to lose consciousness again. But she was lividly awake, the pure violation she felt resulted in a scream from her throat.
"Ahhhhhhh.." it wasn't the sound of fear or anything, but was a scream born from utter disgust.
Hearing her scream, anyone who was unconscious and slowly waking up, was jolted up by the sound.
The young lady's scream jolted the hall awake. Those who could rise did so, only to stare in confusion at the carnage around them. They registered only confusion, they weren't able to understand anything that happened, or how it happened. The lower merchants and nobles who attended the celebration were panicking, and one after another screams followed the young lady's in a discordant chorus.
The maids and soldiers tried to make sense of something and tried to restore order, but even among their ranks many were dead. So, after sometime even they got engulfed in panic.
The soldiers then after collecting themselves, rushed around the manor, looking for a leader. Searching for a command to act upon. But their immediate Tier-3 captain was dead, the protector and the Marquis were nowhere to be seen.
When they ultimately discovered the half torso of the protector, it got much worse and the whole soldier battalion descended into disarray.
But who would blame them, the once mighty Tier-4 protector was unfathomable to them, and now that same man was dead. That too in such a gruesome way. Half of his body was nowhere to be found and his heart was lying out of his body.
The whole of the mansion was in chaos. And no one was looking for order. They processed chaos with madness and started screaming and running out of the mansion.
The common people who were going about their daily buisness, first started hearing shrieks and yells from the mansion, then they saw esteemed merchant and noble ladies run out of the mansion with disheveled hair and ruined clothes.
It was a shocking scene for the townsfolk to see the top brass of the society in this unsophisticated state.
Then the soldiers rushed out of the estate. The people who were familiar with some of the guards asked what happened?
When they got the full picture, it was now time for the town of SableWood to descend into madness.
Their ruler is missing, half of the people from yesterday's celebration were dead. And only the torso was left of the esteemed Protector they once knew.
Not only the soldiers, but the common people also lost their leader. All of them together didn't know what to do next.
Shops closed and the buisness came to an abrupt halt. People were running around the town trying to find information and some sense of security. They all collectively decided that the four walls of their house will provide them that, so they ran from the road to their homes.
After a while, only the soldiers can be seen around running, they didn't know what they were looking for, but they just were looking. Hoping to luckily find an explanation, any explanation.. but they were answered with the now eerie silent SableWood.
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Somewhere on the outskirts of SableWood,
The area was on the borderline of the outside wilderness. It was northeast of the Marquis's mansion, which was the centre of the town.
The place had no buildings or people, all around it was just filled with overgrown and dried bushes. The soil was harsh and the few trees were dead.
In the midst of all this, an isolated cabin can be seen covered by the same overgrown bushes. It was very small, and looked like it could crumble any moment.
The door of the cabin opened and Ava walked in.
Her eyes stared at the unconscious man lying on the makeshift bed that she put together an hour ago. It wasn't wrong to say that the man was sleeping on ground.
Ava continued to look at Azrael without blinking. She just got back from the town, and she heard everything. Everything the soldiers said and the people did. She was completely sure that whatever happened, this man infront of her was involved one way or the other.
When Ava saw the soldiers running around without a clue, she almost gave in. She saw a straight path of earning money by giving up Azrael, and it was much safer than what Azrael had promised. A path where she gives up the criminal to the righteous authority, and consequently she will be awarded for the good deed right?!
But something inside her said NO. She understood that the world wasn't black or white. It was more colourful than that in every wrong way. She'd seen enough to know that the people with torches and righteous anger were often the ones you should fear most. They fought with their definition of justice and not common sense.
Perhaps that was also the reason Azrael chose her. Because somehow he understood that Ava wasn't just black and white either.
Ava and Azrael had reached the isolated cabin by early morning.
Ava had things that she needed to do. So, after settling Azrael in the cabin she left for the town. The journey to the town and back was an hour long, remembering Azrael's instructions Ava got closer to him, propped him up as much as she could, and pushing the unknown thoughts to the back of her mind, she proceeded to feeding him the {stream of life}.
When she first saw the working of this miraculous liquid, she fell to the ground and her breath got caught in her throat. It wasn't her fault that no one warned her about the liquid. When she first gave it to Azrael, she visibly saw his missing leg have tissue growth and the wound acting up. It was disgusting and miraculous at the same time.
Then she saw his body "ballooned" up and down, as if someone was filling air inside him and releasing it the next moment. When the "balloon" was finished, steam leaked from his body. Solidifying her previous assumption.
The first four hours she was very hesitant, afterwards she left for the town, and now after administering the {stream of life} for the fifth consecutive hour, it was happening again but she didn't falter much as the first time.
"He sure is extraordinary." Ava commented looking at the half-reformed leg and the steam. Maybe this was also one of the reason she didn't give him up. Azrael, from the first time Ava saw him to even now when he was unconscious, he was mysterious and unfathomable to a mortal and a little girl like Ava, who hadn't seen much of the magical world. Maybe the unorthodox magic in Azrael gave a dangerous hope to the ordinary Ava.
"I guess he will be waking up soon." Ava concluded looking at his already healed injuries and his half-reformed leg, which was still wiggling and knitting itself from the growth of the tissues and muscles.
She got up from beside Azrael and moved to the edge of the cabin. There she had a leather bag placed in the corner, the bag functioned more as a pouch as she didn't have much to carry. From inside it, she pulled out two buns, a waterskin different from Azrael's as this one just had water. Then there was a wrapped up towel, which unfolded to barely a blanket. And finally she pulled out a knife.
Ava moved to the farther edge of the cabin, took the fragile wall of wood as her support. Covered herself with the "towel" and started eating the bun. After finishing the bun and quenching her thirst by drinking the water, she took the knife and positioned it straight at Azrael.
She held the knife with both her hands and just stayed glued to the wall with the partially covered blanket.
Her eyes were focused on Azrael and the knife pointed at him. But she didn't move, she just sat there with her knees hugging to herself and the weapon propped up.
She didn't know if she was his nurse, his prisoner, or his executioner. Maybe she'd find out when he woke. Maybe she wouldn't.