Journey to a Warlord's Fury

There is a story,

not very well known,

about a merchant who,

after an encounter with two women and an old witch,

goes on a journey of self-discovery that leads him to his destiny.

He runs the errand for the warlord; he delivers it to the village on the other side of the mountain. He enters through the gate and stops in his tracks. There are dead bodies everywhere, but no one else alive. The village had obviously been ravaged by whatever caused those bodies to lie there like that. But then, he sees a woman lying in the middle of all that carnage – still alive, albeit barely.

He runs to her aid, and as he does so he hears footsteps behind him. He turns around and suddenly finds himself face to face with a man wearing black armor and carrying a sword drawn in blood. The man's eyes are cold and empty, but somehow they still command fear from the merchant. Before even thinking about what he was doing, the frightened merchant runs back to the woman he was just going to help. The man did not follow him. Instead, he just stood there in front of all those corpses as if nothing was wrong. Then he disappeared without making any sound whatsoever.

The merchant waited for some time before finally deciding to go back and help the woman. When he got near her again, however, she seemed somehow different than before: now she was seated upright against a wall and staring at him intently with her piercing green eyes that suddenly seemed both ancient and familiar to him in a way he could not explain or understand. Still unable to understand what was happening around him, the merchant went away from her again towards another part of town where more houses were still mostly intact and looked for someone who could tell him what happened here today.

As soon as he walked out of sight from where she was sitting leaning against that wall though, she suddenly disappeared as if she never existed at all. When he returned to where she was sitting before with no success finding anyone else alive in this hellish place that used to be a living town, she was back again staring at him intently with those same eyes he recognized from earlier. She said nothing but just stared at him intensely until finally one of those dead bodies lying on the ground nearby moved ever so slightly.

At first, it seemed as if it were just an illusion or some sort of trick his mind played on him since this body hadn't moved when he passed by it earlier when looking for survivors. But after walking towards it again, it became clear that indeed something must have happened to this body, as it was now clearly moving slightly, albeit only barely visibly due to how much dirt covered it. Then another body started moving too, but this one didn't seem to be conscious; instead, it was shaking uncontrollably while trying hard not to make any sound whatsoever, which made its condition even more terrifying than those of the others lying around here. Then suddenly, there were many more bodies starting to move around seemingly against their will.

All of these bodies had either been thrown over each other or piled upon each other during whatever attack happened here today, but now they were slowly separating from each other, getting up from where they had been thrown. After seeing all this happen before his very own eyes, something within the merchant clicked, and another side of him woke up from its long slumber: something dark, hidden deep inside him. A darkness that had lain dormant inside him ever since his birth...but which would eventually consume and destroy everything good about him once it awoke completely.

It would turn him into a monster capable of all sorts of terrible things...and all because someone took away his mother when he was little: someone powerful enough to do such a thing without any consequences whatsoever-but also kind enough looking that everyone thought they could trust them... And trust them they did...but they shouldn't have done so since they were led astray by someone they shouldn't have trusted...

But now...now he couldn't care less about being good or bad anymore; now, all that mattered was vengeance! That's why instead of helping these people who were asking for help, who were only getting up because their dying bodies were moving of their own accord without anyone controlling them, who were obviously evil spirits bent on destroying everything in their path – he decides instead to give into his hatred, which had been burning inside him ever since his mother died.

He goes straight towards where the woman who had been staring at him so intensely earlier is still sitting against that wall, while all those sickeningly moving bodies go past her far enough away not being able to see her anymore, yet close enough so she can see them perfectly well. Now standing right next to her staring down at her with pure hatred burning inside his eyes, the woman suddenly gets up with those same eyes she has always had, staring directly into his soul and saying simply "I know"...before disappearing