Chapter 15 Eye Of Ghost!

[Elder’s tale]

“Ludwig, come. Sit on my lap, boy. I shall tell you a tale that you will find most intriguing. Long ago before the land of Bethlia was established. There were records of a mysterious man who went by the name, Godsend. This man had such unnatural abilities. He could call upon the storms of the heavens, command nature’s aid, heal unspeakable wounds and morph rocks from the earth. In the primaeval era, Godsend was recognized as the source of immortality amongst man. He was the progenitor of majority of man’s descendants.

One day, Godsend wanted to make a renowned kingdom in his image, thus he set out on a venture to seek a queen who could sustain the powerful essence of his seed lineage. After decades of failed attempts of producing a strong bloodline, Godsend came across an indomitable woman who could sustain his immortal seed lineage. This woman was known to our tribe’s great-great ancestors as Louloth E. Bethlia.

Louloth E. Bethlia begat the forefathers of all the major tribes that are now spread across the vast lands of Bethlia. Godsend’s powerful seed lineage which had been passed on to all of these major tribes gradually watered down as the generation went by. Out of all these clans, only our Aigoo tribe still maintains some of our greater ancestors’ strength. It was said that after Godsend became board with the kingdoms he had created, he ascended into godhood far away from the earthly realm, leaving all of his wives and descendants behind.

When the main wife of Godsend’s harem, Louloth E. Bethlia became ill at the old age of 633, he visited the earthly realm again and bestowed his beloved an immortal gift. The immortal gift he had bequeathed Louloth E. Bethlia was none than his celestial cognomen that was given to him by the Natural Order of Divinity. The moment Louloth E. Bethlia spoke Godsend’s celestial cognomen from her aged lips, she became youthful once more. Additionally, immortality had smiled upon her corporeal realm.

No one knew what happened to Louloth E. Bethlia after her long-awaited encounter with her eternal beloved. However, before Louloth E. Bethlia had vanished without a trace from history, some said she etched the immortal name of Godsend into a wide crevice along the moon’s surface.

Once every 1,000 years when the fated eclipse would occur, the immortal name would shine upon the vast plains of Bethlia and with its bloodthirsty revelation, the Lure of the Dead would fully awaken. One of our tribe’s ancestors who perished a millennium ago spotted the glowing carvings from the moon from atop the highest peak of Bethlia. Prior to the moment of his passing, he used his own skin and blood to jot down the immortal name.

The ancestor's skin is still stored amongst our tribe’s most sacred treasures. I’ve only glanced at it once before. Due to the overbearing visuals that assaulted my eyes. It was on that fated day I lost my sight and became blind. Had I known it would be that dangerous I would have stilled my curiosity and not peeked. I believe the immortal name that was written down on our ancestor’s skin was something of this utterance, Azaizel. Remember this name well, Ludwig my boy. Whenever this name is revealed to the selfish natures of man, all that you know will be forever lost.”

[End of elder’s tale]

Day 43 ……

The elder’s tale faded to the back of my memory, my mortal eye then gradually opened to welcome the enlightened dawn. The first thing I saw was an obnoxious fly which pitched onto my naked eye abruptly. I blinked several times to shoo the annoying fly away. But as I did this, many reinforcements of excited flies began bombarding my face. [Buzz! Buzz!]

“What the hell is up with these damn flies?” I asked myself. The myriad of flies swarming around my face forced me to retaliate with violence.

“Why can’t I feel my limbs?” As I tried mustering strength within my limbs to swat away the swarming flies, I realized that my entire body was bound betwixt several lumps of rotten flesh.

When I found out what was restricting my bodily movements I almost puke my empty guts out. Surprisingly, my entire body was being sandwiched by the pile of corpses in No Man’s Land. I must have been buried after having my sword arm freed from the holy blade. No wonder these flies were behaving so viciously!

I wiggled my limbs while crawling out from underneath the pile of dead bodies. “Something’s strange.” I felt that my sword arm wasn’t functioning properly. I identified the cause of this issue shortly after I’ve crawled to safety. Most of my right arm was missing from my elbow down. Many slimy maggots and flies were swarming my mutilated flesh.

It was then that the realization hit me. “The holy sword! It only managed to reap half of my arm because of what Tagon did to save me. Huh, Tagon? Where is he? How did he manage to save me when he was dying from excessive malnutrition?”

As I continued climbing down the pile of corpses, I occasionally shifted my sight all around my unpleasant environment in search of Tagon's whereabouts but to no avail. “Tagon! Where are you?” Finally making it to the bottom of the mountainous corpses, I abandoned my troubled thoughts concerning the holy sword of Azaizel and focused entirely on finding my missing steed.

“Tagon! Tagon! Where are you?” I hopped around the crowded vicinity with no care in the world for my severe injuries. I ignored the throbbing pain in my chest and continued my mild search. When I stepped out of the barricade surrounding No Man’s Land inner quarters, I spotted a glimpse of my steed strutting in the distance behind a small gathering of warriors.

“How?” What startled me was how valiant and chubby Tagon looked in that bizarre moment. I expected his features to be malnourished, moreover, crippled beyond the capability of strutting around the impoverished settlement, however, my imagination betrayed my perception.

“What was going on?” I dashed towards my regenerated steed, seeking answers. When I got close enough, Tagon didn't stay put. I witnessed him galloping in the direction of the outer border’s barricade, the same wooden barricade that I had snuck into the city from. As I continued chasing behind my steed, I noticed Tagon running straight through the wooden barricade without any sort of impact. [Poof!]

“What was that just now? Am I still dreaming? How could Tagon vanish through so many thick woods?” I thought that my glitchy eye was deceiving me. Could my brain be showing me hallucinations because of how badly I missed and wanted to see my horse?

Reality became more blurred as I continued chasing after my steed’s shadow. I squeezed through the small gap in the barricade and exited the city. Coming outside No Man’s Land I took a gander around the destitute area and quickly located Tagon standing nearby the same impoverished pasture which I had laid him before I went ahead and snuck inside of the settlement.

“Tagon is that really you?” [Neighs! Neighs!] My steed responded to my unsure enquiry by prancing around in circles while occasionally exuding elated snorts. After getting closer to Tagon’s proximity I noticed something deadly peculiar. My steed’s malnourished corpse was still resting in the impoverished pasture with not a sound to his bones.

“If that is indeed my Tagon lying on the ground then who is this radiant horse before me who looks exactly alike?” I was experiencing bewilderment like none other. I looked towards my dead steed lying in the pasture then back at the valiant horse standing by the corpse.

[Gallop! Gallop!] The chubby Tagon dashed into my embrace all of a sudden. When I caressed his elongated face his thoughts started flowing into me. It was then I understood that this radiant-looking Tagon was the spiritual nature of the mortal carcass that was resting soundly among the impoverished pasture.

“But how could this have happened?” I could still perceive Tagon’s spiritual nature even though he was dead. Was this a side effect of me interacting with the holy blade and surviving?

[Neighs! Neighs!] As I pondered, I noticed my spirit steed withdrew his elongated head from my embrace then dashed behind me abruptly. “Tagon, what is it?” When I followed his brusque trail, I was taken aback by what I discovered. Myriads of vengeful souls were gathering around me! Their increasing presence caused my head to ache severely. I gripped my forehead and almost fell to my knees. It felt as if a shrapnel bomb went off into my head.

[Neighs! Neighs!] Tagon was fighting against the gathering numbers of vengeful souls to prevent them from reaching me. “What does the dead want with me?” Tagon overheard my dire riddle and commenced whispering to my soul’s understanding, making me aware of what was going on.

Apparently, the holy sword had compelled the countless vengeful souls surrounding No Man's Land to capture me so it could finish its ritual. Since a part of my blood and soul essence was already drained by the holy sword, furthermore, I represented the 10,000th brave soul, the ritual seemed to have hit a glitch. One that couldn’t be rectified without gobbling me up entirely. Until my soul essence was fully consumed by the holy blade, no one else was able to get close enough to test their might against its sharpness.

“I won’t let you catch me!” I began fleeing in the opposite direction of No Man’s Land. I knew that hell would be unleashed if the holy sword had managed to assemble with 10,000 brave souls. Due to this, I was running as fast as I could to avoid getting captured by the vengeful spirits. However, I hadn’t gotten far enough before they started swarming all around me.

“What should I do now? I have no knowledge of fighting against vengeful spirits.” In my interim of grave peril, my steed’s spiritual nature abducted the carcass of a stray mount which was feasting on the grass nearby and dashed towards me. As I hopped onto the possessed mount it began galloping with enough velocity to outrun the rising sun.

[Gallop! Gallop!] Never in my entire life have I ridden a horse with such unmitigated speed. I was literally soaring through the air. Tagon's dominance over the mount's carcass made it possible for it to show off wild phantasmal speed. Now I knew what being a bird felt like. However, my amazement was short-lived as a result of Tagon not being able to possess the living mount for long. I saw his spiritual nature dissolved out of the mount in the form of steam, right after, the mount collapsed. With this blatant mishap to my onerous escape, the vengeful spirits caught up very quickly.

I tried executing the strength of 12-men to hamper their advance but my attempts were useless. I had no arsenal in my warrior’s pack to compete against spirits. Due to this obtrusive lacking in spiritual attributes, I was quickly taken captive by the vengeful souls. They dragged my wounded carcass right back to No Man’s Land. The way by which they returned me to that impoverished settlement was by no means normal either.

At the moment of my capture, I was forcibly tossed into a dark abyss that appeared into the cracked ground. A blink later, I found myself falling from the airspace directly above No Man’s Land mountainous pile of corpses.

“KYAAH! I’m falling!” My voice cracked from the vehement shouting of my terrifying descent. As a result, my inexplicable entrance garnered the attention of the thousands of warriors below.

“What is that falling from the sky?”

“Is it a man?”

“How is that possible? Since when can mere man fly? Such blasphemy!”

“Watch out! He’s falling towards us!” The men waiting in line atop the mountainous corpses retreated from the holy blade in such impetus haste, it caused them to fall down the pile of dead bodies.

[Boom!] I crashed directly into the holy sword below with my back facing the ground. Moreover, the celestial hilt of the sword had penetrated me from behind and was now poking through my chest. My hurtful cries were loud and toxic, but even so, the holy sword wasted no time absorbing the rest of my soul essence. It showed no mercy whatsoever.

[Cough! Cough!] I choked on my own blood which formed into my mouth as I was disgusted by my crushed heart that was sitting atop the holy sword’s shiny hilt. At the time I was puzzled by how I was still able of remaining consciousness throughout that dreadful death experience. I mustered what little strength I had left to lift myself from the sword’s sharp penetration. Thus I grabbed onto the hilt with both hands while desperately pulling up myself.

“Hah! Hah! Huh?” What threw me awry was the strange fact concerning my severed sword arm which had regenerated in the form of ghost. My phantasmal sword arm possessed a transparent form which faded through tangible objects. I realized this after trying to grab my punctured heart from atop the hilt. Hence I had to use my only living arm to scoot it away.

“What bloody sorcery is this?” I heard the Brilmah's king liegeman shout echoing throughout the airspace. “Isn’t that man the one from last night?”

“Yes, general, he is!”

“That man, keep a close eye on him. Archers get into position!”