Sickle

I have traveled for about a day now since coming across that pale girl and her disgusting meal, the image of her and her family gnawing at that raw meat still seared into my mind. No amount of walking, clearing my head, could rid my psyche of the gory sight. Not only that, but this forest seemed never ending, further driving my insanity. Even while I was staring at it from the top of the dune, it looked like it stretched far, but hiking through the shaded canopy has given me a much different perspective of how large this dead forest actually is. I was beginning to go mad, staring through the infinite silhouettes of parallel trees, still unable to see a clear end through the burnt woods.

Sleeping was another issue I had to overcome. I was not able to get a good rest last night, my eye bags fighting the full force of gravity as I moved along. My body was aching and my head was pulsing. I was lucky enough to find a lone, decently intact house out here in the thick of the woods, but with all the ash blowing through various holes in the walls, it was hard to sleep soundly. I was also down to the last couple strips of dried meat, my stomach beginning to churn from hunger, but I knew I had to save this meat for when I truly needed it. I had been far too generous with feeding myself thus far, even in this post apocalyptic wasteland. In the midst of my cravings, I began to doubt my past actions. Maybe I should have searched through those houses in the village, despite my disgust with what lied at the center of it all. My thoughts deepened before I began to think things that I would have thought vile just a day ago. "Maybe I should have taken some dragon meat from them?" I thought. I shook the idea out immediately. I was far too hungry and sore to be thinking straight.

I continued onward in my weak state, knowing that I would not be able to find food if I stayed put. It was hard to endure, but I managed. I stared through the infinite maze of black wooden columns, their branches twisting complex patterns overhead. It was the same repetitive pattern I had been seeing, yet the formations never cease to amaze me. As I continued to stare into the dark clouded sky, and the even darker vein like branches, a sound in the distance rang in my ears. It was faint, but was so clearly just ahead of me. I averted my gaze back down toward my path. In the distance, mixing in with the shadows of the dark trees, I saw a large mass, its silhouette making it difficult to see any details. The sound of the soft ground sifting whispered through the woods, like something heavy was being dragged. I kept staring at the shadowy mass, realizing that the mass was slowly getting larger, inching toward me. All my instincts told me to run, but curiosity got the best of me. Instead, I hid behind a thick tree, hiding as much of my body behind its trunk as I could.

I stayed low to the ground as the silhouette grew larger. Its distance to me shortened, details becoming more clear. The gigantic mass was not moving on its own, but was being pulled by someone. The person was maybe about seven feet tall. Their stature was nicely built, so much so that I could have mistaken their shadow for a tree if it was not for the giant mound behind them. The person wore a tattered, grayish cloak with a hood, the fabric by the neck area being held together by some dark button or pendant. Underneath the cloak, they wore a full set of nearly black, rusted armor with detailed trims, the trim's faded color clearly once gold. The dark helmet under the hood boasted sharp and angular features, accentuated by the trims at each edge. Around the knight's chest area, large dull chains were wrapped and trailed over their shoulders. The chains were in tension behind the knight's back as he slowly dragged the mass along. Despite their large size, I would not have expected this knight to be able to pull this large of an object, yet here they were, leaning forward as far as possible, lugging the thing inch by inch.

I continued to watch from behind the tree, finally noticing something that flipped a switch in my mind. On the knight's left arm, a long, narrow, diamond shaped plate, slightly bigger then their forearm was attached. I presumed this to be a shield, but there was a hollow metal cylinder jutting out the top of it, right above the back of their black gauntlets. In the knight's right arm, a length of smaller chain was wrapped many times around the forearm, its one end dangling loosely by their elbow. The other end of the chain was connected to the bottom of the hilt of a weapon that was firmly grasped within the knight's hand. That weapon was a large sickle.

The sickle's crescent form followed a circular trail nearly perfectly. Its straight length from the top of its hilt to the furthest curvature of its blade was a length I would have expected from a long sword. The blade's outer edge was black and its inner edge was a dull silver. The sickle's point looked extremely sharp, while its edges were chipped and worn.

I stayed hidden, adhering to the instructions that the pale girl had told me before I left: "Do not disturb him." It was then that I realized the thing that the girl and her family had been long awaiting was before me. With the large chains wrapped all around it, the corpse of a massive, dark red dragon was being dragged through the ash, leaving a wide trail in its wake. The knight steadily heaved through areas wide enough to lug the dragon, avoiding dense groups of burnt trees. The dragon's wings dragged across the ash, kicking gray dust up as it was trudged along. The chains between the dragon and the dark knight seemed just about ready to break, yet they held firm. Finally, the knight crossed where I would have been if I had not gone to hide. I shuffled a bit to get a better look at the tall, black armored knight. A quiet, pivoting noise came from beneath my boot as I turned. Suddenly, the knight stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to face me, their piercing gaze meeting mine through the cold, dark metal of its helmet.