The Lone Survivor

I bolt awake back in this gloomy prison cell.

Rhia and the knights are nowhere to be seen. The candles’ fires seems to be completely extinguished. I guess it’s been a while since they’ve left.

Thankfully, Rhia’s spell to allow me to see in darkness is still in effect.

I quickly get to my feet and went to try opening the cell door. Luckily, the door seems to be open. Did Captain Lipton and his men forgot to close it?

Nonetheless, lady luck has finally shined on me. I went out the cell. I try to pull on the metal door to get outside of here but it seems I completely underestimated all the knights who have opened this door.

It was extremely heavy. I have to push the wall with my foot as I pull on the door just to get it to budge open. Once I budge the door to a sizable extent, I slide in the gap and finally get out of this place.

Immediately, a gruesome sight befalls me. Several dead knights lay motionless on the tower halls. Did someone attack them? Maybe Felaris did it.

Korlan told me that I shouldn’t kill the knights but would this fall on my responsibility as well since Felaris is my ally? Nevertheless, I try to check up on them and see if they’re alive.

After checking up on a few bodies, it seems my efforts would be futile if I continue to do this. All the bodies I checked so far all have their necks slashed open. I don’t want to vomit right now.

I take the sword of the nearest deceased knight and make my way downstairs. Since Felaris mentioned that this place is called Sunspire Tower, I assume that a high value target like Rhia would be kept in the peak of the tower. Looks like I have a lot of going down to do.

Thank God, I did all that exercising when I did. This tower is so damn tall!

The tower seems to be designed in a way where the staircases to go up and down are on opposite sides of the hallway, so to get from one floor to another, I have to run down a set of stairs, run across a long hallway littered with dead bodies and repeat.

Along the way, I would come across the other prison cells that the captive elves were imprisoned in. The things I saw and smelled—they had it way worse than us.

Finally, after several minutes of running around, I finally reach a hallway with a door on the opposite side. This must be the door to get out of this place.

It does make me worry now that I have not seen a single soul all this time and Felaris is nowhere to be seen either. I can only hope that he’s already gaining on them though, I wish we could’ve gone together.

I push open the door and a gust of wind immediately greets me. The stench of death burns my nostrils—I thought it already had.

In front of me now is a tall wall that encircles the tower. A few other structures are within the wall: a blacksmith, a few of what seems like dwellings, and a stable—there are still horses there!

I quickly make my way to the stables. Bodies lay on the floor as horses that are ready to be ridden stay still in their stalls. I guess these men were killed just as they were about to leave.

Since the horses already have their saddles set in, all I have to do is ride one and follow the road but what road do I follow? I really wish I got to talk with Felaris more about the plan.

As I pace the stables trying to think of my next move, I end up tripping on a dead body making it grunt in pain.

I couldn’t believe what I heard at first but the body grunted once more. I gently flip the body and see a man still breathing, though quite erratically.

I remove his helmet so that he could breathe properly. His eyes widen as he caught a glimpse of my face.

“You! Fuck you!” His voice was filled with anger as he shouted at me with his last breath.

I look closer and notice that this man is one of the guards who took Rhia away from me.

This man seems to hate me even though they’re the ones who have imprisoned us. Talk about crazy. Either way, I need to get some information from him.

“Where’s Captain Lipton and the elves?!” I asked him in a rather rude way that I usually do. I just really want to find Rhia soon.

“You really think… I’d just tell you? Haha- ack!” He vomits a bit of blood.

I start to think to myself. I think the only way to get answers from him is to force it out of him. Perhaps pressing on his wound would do the trick.

As I thought that, I instantly remembered Korlan’s words to me.

““You must not kill any of the knights””

As soon as I remember that, I immediately disregarded that route. I have to convince this man to give me the information that I need.

“Let me help you.” I offered to the man.

“Fuck you and your… elf friend! Wearing our armor like… the coward he is.” So it really was Felaris who did all this damage.

It seems this man is still reluctant to divulge information. I guess I need to show him that I will actually help him.

I undo the straps on the side of his armor so that I can remove the chest plate. That way, I can have access to his neck and chest so I can help treat any wounds that he may have on there.

It’s difficult to do so—it was my first time doing it after all.

“What do you think… you’re doing?”

“I’m trying to save your life here. Felaris- my elf friend. He slashed you on the throat right? Tell me how to remove your armor so I can help treat it.”

“Hah- ack! He’s not that… good, your friend… You have to… cut the… straps, kid. It’s… too tight.”

It seems like he’s now ready to get help, thankfully. I use my sword that I picked up earlier to gently cut the straps. It’s sharp enough to cut even without exerting much force.

The straps on both sides comes off easily as I pull off the chest plate that’s making it hard for this man to breathe.

The first thing I see is this man’s chest having a wide cut on it. It seems it’s not too fatal as I thought—I let out a sigh of relief.

I tear a big piece of cloth from a nearby soldier’s undershirt. From what I’ve seen from medics in war movies, they always take a clean piece of cloth and press it against the wound until it stops bleeding.

If only Korlan gave me the power to use magic, this would’ve been way easier.

Next thing to do is bandage up the wound. This time, he helped by telling me that he has bandages in his waist bag. I take it and wrap his wound with bandages.

He seems to stabilize now.

Now, back to information gathering.

“Now that your condition has stabilized, it’s time to fess up. Where are Captain Lipton and the elves?” This time, I ask in a polite way—the way I always do.

“Tch! Who said I’d tell you?”

What?! This is exactly what I was worried about. I can’t hurt this guy too or I might face Korlan’s wrath.

What do I do now?! All I could think of is to beg it out of him. I don’t like to do it but it really feels like it’s all I could do.

“Please, I’m begging you… I promised the princess I’d save her…” My eyes started to tear up as I gushed about my true feelings.

I feel so pathetic.

“*sigh* Help me up.” The man said unwillingly.

I was taken aback by what he said that I instinctively pulled his arms up.

“Augh! Bastard! Do it gently!” His wounds might’ve reopened.

“Sorry!”

I put his arm over my shoulder this time and gently help him up. He didn’t complain as much this time.

I bring him to a chair in the stables and have him sit upright. He’s still pressing against his wounds. I guess that kind of pain wouldn’t just subside with a bandage.

He points at the dead man and tells me something.

“Kid. Flip him over… He should have a map.”

I do just that. I flip the man over—this one being significantly heavier than him—and sure enough, there is a wrinkled map in his possession.

“Give it here, kid.” The man ordered.

He keeps calling me kid. I’m not too comfortable with people calling me that. I’d rather he just call me by name.

“It’s Naoki. Naoki Kusunoki.”

“I don’t fucking care.”

Okay.

I give the map to him and wander around the stables for a bit. I doubt he’s going to try anything stupid with his current state.

I immediately went over to meet the horses. I specifically went over to this one that’s colored white like snow.

Just like in the videos I’ve seen on the internet regarding horses, I slowly and carefully extend my hand to pet the horse.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be wary of me as it let me touch it freely. This feels nice. The horse even smelled my hand!

“She seems to have taken a liking to you; that’s rare. Even ol’ Killian over there took a while until she let him do that.”

So the dead man whom I took the cloth from is named Killian, and this horse is his.

“What’s her name?”

“He called her Mistyvale. She’s the fastest one out of all the horses here.”

Mistyvale is a good name for a female horse. I pat her head once more while I say her name. She responds in cheer as she becomes all giddy.

“Hey, kid. Come here for a second.” The man called for me.

I left Misty’s stall for now and see what all the fuss is about.

I go back to the man and he hands me back the map. I look at it and notice an unmissable black line leading from one place to another.

I look closer. The black line starts from a place called Sunspire Tower—that’s here. It goes all the way up with some turns here and there, to a place in the map named Blackwood. That’s their homeland.

I look back at the man.

“That’s the route they’ll be taking. You should be able to catch up to them if you go at it now.”

The man seems to have a change of heart. I wonder why though? Because I helped him? Either way, this is excellent news. I now have a lead!

“With this, I don’t owe you anything. Go now and save your lover.” The man proclaimed.

Heh, I guess I’m glad I listened to Korlan and helped this man. I wouldn’t be able to-… LOVER?!

“We’re not lovers!” I yelled, flustered.

“Oh, really? It didn’t seem that way to me.”

I go back to Misty’s stall and try to get on her.

Lovers? Did we really looked that way? I guess Rhia isn’t all that bad once you get to know the real her.

All this distraction made me fumble and fall on my face. Luckily, the ground is filled with hay so it at least soften the fall.

“You alright there? Don’t tell me you don’t know how to ride a horse?” He read me like a book. Well, it’s not like I was making an effort in trying to hide it anyway.

“Yes… Can you help me?” I asked, half my face still buried in the hay.

“*sigh* Maybe I shouldn’t have helped you.”

I slowly stand back up, dusting the dirt all over my body.

“The stirrup; the part where you put your foot in. Put a foot in and jump over the horse as high as you can while pulling yourself up.”

I did just that. I place my foot in the stirrup and pull myself up the horse. It wasn’t a perfect execution from me but I am now on the horse. I feel so tall.

“Woo! I’m now on the horse. How do I actually ride this thing?” I still have no idea how to actually ride a horse.

“You mean her! You’ll learn more about that once you are out of this place.”

Oh, that’s right. Misty here is a girl. I just hope I don’t get thrown off of Misty and then she leaves me behind.

Misty starts walking out of her stall. This might not be all that hard.

“Be safe out there, kid.” The man said with concern in his voice.

“I will, mister, but what about you?” He’s still wounded. I can’t possibly leave him here.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll find my way back.” He said confidently.

I nod at him, as if to say goodbye and he returns it. As Misty started to head out the stables, I hear a voice behind me.

“It’s Yuri!” The man yelled.

I looked back and gave him a smile and nod.

Me and Misty head out the gates and headed north, following the map’s directions.

I have no experience travelling by myself but I did pay attention during the journey from Hollowspire to Glimmerholm.

I should be all set. I will catch up to them sooner or later.

“Rhia. I’m coming for you!”