23 Chapter 22: Witcher

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What is it really that required for one to be a Witcher? Is it courage or power? Maybe it is something more than that? But who are the Witchers, truly?

Hunter for the monster? Or just broken people that represent the way people live. Only a few take a path that leads to something, after all only live fish swims upstream, while dead swim downstream.

Witcher represents our society. Only a few make it out alive, and only a few are actually free.

But let's get back to our characters and see where their adventure will lead them.

[With Vesemir]

( Before the read, the baron is a bit of a freak. He speaks like in poems, so try to read his dialogues with some expression. It goes as far as my talent for writing things as this goes. Hopefully, you enjoy)

After a few minutes of searching, Vesemir was able to find a Baron that handles the village of Burdoff.

The man didn't look like someone special, had a long beard that reaches his chest. His face is covered in a lot of wrinkles, showing that he is not in his prime anymore. A belly that forms a balloon, clarifying that this man never had to struggle for food.

Baron spotted Vesemir and inquired with curiosity, "Oh, who might I receive today?"

Vesemir didn't like the man from his first words, but you don't choose your employee. "I heard you require a Witcher?"

"Indeed, I do," replied Baron, before continuing, "The task is hard, can take your life, you sure you are ready to sacrifice?"

Vesemir replied in a calm and bold statement, "That is my job. The only thing you have to do is take care of the money I receive "

Baron chuckled "Don't worry friend, let's introduce ourselves. I find it rude to speak with strangers. Can't share a glass of wine between each other? I do believe it makes for better conversation, shall friendship form through spoken words and drinking wine."

Vesemir didn't react to his initiation answering "I came here, seeking the job, not for the talks with wine at social gatherings"

Baron replied with slight delight, "It's not my will, but who am I to choose for you? Let's speak about things you need, but first, you better tell your name. My patience runs to quite low, you are the guest, but saint you not."

It annoyed Vesemir, the way Baron spoke, but he had no other choice. Vesemir introduced himself. "I'm Vesemir. I came here searching for an order for a beast that problems causing on your lands"

Baron smiled and clapped his hands, replying, "This news is great. It pleasure brought to me today. But first I tell you of my name Roy Laici call me from today."

Vesemir replied with frustration on his face, "Can you speak normally? I need to hear the details"

Roy chuckled, nodding his head. "I grant you wish to speak to me, the way I do not wish to be," he grinned before continuing. " Poor, poor Emma. She had lost her husband to the disease, leaving her alone with 3 children. Her poor, poor children they went to harvest food in the forest, but never made it out of it"

Vesemir rose his eyebrow, looking at Baron Roy. He seemed careless about the situation in his village. He was more involved in his thought while playing like an actor. Inquiring Vesemir demanded more "What else? Until now I have heard zero useful information that I need. What specific problem your settlement is facing?"

Roy's expression changed to a sad one. He sulked. "You gotta respect the time and effort I give to tell you the things I do"

Vesemir replied, "You know what? I don't really care, just tell me the specific problem and the amount of money you will pay"

Roy showed a proud face, saying "Shall pay you I 200 Orens, it is enough for things like you", he smiled at his achievement of him insulting a Witcher and continued " Towards the side, where forest lies, where death is only a single option. Assembled rally made of Ghouls that makes my nights be quite restless"

Having no more patience to handle the man in front of him, Vesemir left the house of the Baron. He was tired of having a pointless conversation that leads to nothing, but only satisfaction of the narcissistic desires of the Baron.

Vesemir left the Baron alone and returned to the kids, but he didn't know what Baron had in his mind at the moment.

As soon as Vesemir left the house, a man appeared out of thin air and stood in front of Roy.

A man was a sorcerer and had something in mind.

The mage looked in the baron's direction, asking, "Do you think he will be a problem?"

Roy chuckled and replied with amusement, "Hopefully not. Those stupid peasants demanded someone to fix the problem of Ghouls, but I guess they served the purpose, right?"

Mage slightly nodded his head in approval. "Yes, we already had enough test subjects in Rissberg"

Rissberg is a castle that is near the border of Temeria and Brokilon with Cedaris. It is located near the village of Burdoff. Just one day of travel by foot will be enough to reach the destination. Around that castle, there is a small town that specializes in magic wares.

Roy chuckled at that and inquired, "I wait for my reward"

The mage smiled and threw a bag of gold on the table near the Baron. Before teleporting out of the place, he said, "You better stay in your house tonight"

With that, he vanished in the thin air without saying a single word more.

Vesemir brought the boys outside of the Baron's house and brought them into the smithy that was located in the village.

Everyone approached the smithy and saw a tall, muscular man hitting a red-hot piece of metal with a huge hammer. He was all sweaty and concentrated on his job.

Group approached the smithy and waited until Blacksmith finished with his current task, it didn't take long for him to do so and he put his attention towards the group.

Blacksmith, seeing Witchers with his own eyes, had a surprised expression. "Oi, Witchers! It is rare in our times to see those of your kind. But how can help you today?"

"There is something you can help us with," Replied Vesemir and gestured to the boys. Saying nothing back, the boys threw all of their weapons onto the table of smith and created a small hill made of poorly made and rusty swords and knives. "I want to sell all of this ware"

Smith showed an ugly frown and replied, "I can't give for this more than for a scrap metal. All of those weapons are in poor conditions and have little to no chance of recovery"

It is not like Vesemir awaited anything more. He simply stated, "That will do," before asking a question, "How many good quality swords can you provide at the moment"

Smith replied with a slight groan "Sorry, I don't make silver weapons"

Vesemir said "Iron will do"

Smith smiled when he got a scent of money coming. "Oh, that is great to hear. So what do you need?"

Vesemir showed a smile that was rare for him, but when the talk was about the swords, it made him enjoy "Show me your masterpieces"

The request surprised Smith. Usually, those creations stay with him for a few years before even selling one, but it looked like he got himself quite a good customer. "Follow me, brave Witcher"

Vesemir turned toward the certain boys and said out loud, "Lambert, Eskel, Geralt and August, follow me"

4 of them followed Vesemir into a house of the smith and when they entered a certain room, they were greeted with a lot of shelves with average looking swords that had nothing special to them.

But before their eyes, Smith uncovered a door that was under a carpet that lead into a basement.

When they went down they saw a few stands, there were 10 in total with beautifully made swords, daggers and axes. All of them were polished until the state when you can see your own reflection.

Smith showed a proud smile and announced, "This is my babies, this is the best weapons I had ever made. But you better stay silent about this place. I don't need Baron guards robbing me"

August felt conflicted. He didn't know what to choose. He liked to wield daggers, but with daggers, he won't be able to fight against many enemies, so he had to choose.

Vesemir tapper on August's shoulder and said, "You gotta choose. This will be your future weapon for long and long years, so this decision should be reasonable"

August mused about many situations he will require a sword more than daggers, the possibilities were endless, with a sword he will hold greater distance, will be able to make a greater impact and will fight the huge beast, on the other side daggers will be only useful in the close space and silent assassination.

The choice was obvious. He nodded his head and walked in the sword's direction which had a handle colour of blood with a long edge to it.

(Here you will find a picture of the sword)

Geralt got curious and inquired, "Teacher, why are we the only ones to get the better swords? What about the others?"

Vesemir sighed and replied with heavy words, "You are the most talented of everyone, you have the best chance of making it until the end"

Geralt got even more confused. "What do you mean, the end?"

Vesemir explained, "There will be one more trial you will face, and not everyone will make it out alive"

Geralt had an expression of shock. "Why? We already went through a lot of suffering. Why should you do that, teacher?"

Vesemir felt bad, but he knew that the last trial was essential for the boys. Without it, they will not make it alive on their first job. With a heavy heart, he replied, "Geralt, this trial is the one that tests the abilities of the one. Ability to stay alive in a dangerous situation. Without it, none of you will make it alive from your first order. For now, you have me to cover your back, but in the future, there will be nothing of those sorts. You will have to solve your own problems with your own decision"

Geralt got silent, he didn't agree with Vesemir, but at the same time, he could not argue back to him since he already understood that this is the life Witchers live and certain skills should be in their arsenal.

Smith declared, "All the things here will cost 300 Orens each, but if you are here to get rid of those filthy creatures that eat our families, I will cut the price in half"

Vesemir replied with gratitude, "Appreciated, I can give you my word about that. But I would like to know the gossips that are going around the village. Oh, and get me 16 more simple swords"

Smith replied with a smile at the sight of money, "No problem, the normal swords cost only 20 each and that is added up to a total of 770 Orens"

Vesemir handed money in hands of a Smith and smith, went into another room and brought sheaths for the swords. August took one colour of black with a few decorations here and there and put his sword on his hips

(here is a picture)

When they were done packing the things, Vesemir told all the information that he could gather from Baron Roy and told August to lead the group of 4 and try to solve the case, while Vesemir will provide the cover if needed and will investigate the case separately.

…..

August went ahead and asked Smith some questions, "What do you know about the ghouls that attack?"

Smith mused about the question before replying "We never had Ghouls in this area as long as I can remember. They start to appear about a year ago when people went missing. The more people went missing, the more ghouls appeared in this area. I know little to nothing, but our Baron is a rotten man. Only after about 30 Villagers went missing did he call for help"

August thought to himself, there is some kind of plot behind that. There just can't be so many things that add up together without someone playing their own game behind the scene.

He asked more questions to Smith, but the only useful information he could obtain is the location of Emma that had her children missing.

The boys went in the direction of the house where Emma lived and knocked on the door, close to the house. There was a strange smell of rotten flesh that didn't bring any pleasant feelings. They waited for a few more minutes, receiving no response whatsoever.

*rrrrrraaaa*

A sound came from inside the house. Without wasting time, the boys rushed inside the house. For some reason, the door was open, and they didn't have to create a lot of mess and sounds doing so.

In front of them, they saw a ghoul, unlike others. He was much bigger than his normal size. He had sharp teeth and long sharp nails. His face was fully covered in blood, he was eating fresh flesh with squishy sounds and moans of satisfaction.

Under Ghoul's feet lay Emma, her frozen face with a scared grimace. A lifeless body, with her belly, ripped apart. Her viscera was all out and created a strong smell of something like rotten eggs with sulfur.

Geralt showed a small grimace of disgust and covered his nose with his hand.

August, on the other side, didn't hesitate for a second. While the creature was fully focused on eating poor Emma, he took an arrow and his bow. He pulled his bow with the maximum amount of force he could and aimed his arrow toward Ghoul.

August said out loud, "Morning Bich"

Ghoul's attention quickly went toward August, who with a smile on his face, before Ghoul could make his move, shot an arrow right through his head. Lambert went around and finished the beast once and for all with a swing of the sword. He decapitated the creature.

Eskel strangely looked at Lambert. "Why?"

Lambert shrugged, saying "Just to be sure, he looked creepy "

August inspected the body of the Ghoul, making some notes in his head and also noticing abnormal things that Ghoul had.

August sighed and asked Geralt, "Can you see if there is something I didn't notice? He has an abnormal size for a ghoul and those nails they are like 3 times the length that Ghouls usually have."

Geralt inspected the body before moving to the head and cutting it open. He pointed in the head's direction and said, "Brain, they are too big. Usually, they are tiny for their primitive nature, but this creature has the brain size of a human"

August nodded, making his assumption, "They are not natural. Normal ghouls never attack during the daytime."

Lambers argued about that and said, "Are you sure? They might be just mutated, kind of something like Alghouls"

Geralt shook his head saying "No they can't be alghoul, they have a unique structure of the body and are significantly stronger than their counter kind Ghouls."

August commanded, "Let's get out of here. I think we need to see what is there on the field where a lot of Celandine grows. It was not too far from the village."

It took them half an hour to arrive at the field where a lot of Celandine was located. August quickly collected some and hid them in his bag before inspecting the area.

There was a pattern to the field. In some parts of it, there were more of the herbs growing, while other parts had little of them growing. Finding the place where an abundance of herbs was growing, he said "Here"

Eskel inquired, "Are you sure?"

In response, August nodded his head and said, "We will wait for the Ghouls here tonight. Don't kill all of them, they might bring us to their hideout"

….

4 of them set up a small tent and small campfire to wait for the night to arrive.

When the sun went down and moonlight replaced the place of the sun, a lot of sounds filled the area.

Sounds of screams, shouts of ghouls and the big fire went inside the village.

August looked towards Village and saw it burning. He felt they were being played by someone. This place was a setup to lure them out, but the actual target was a village.

August alerted everyone, "Quickly we need to get back to the village" before any of them could react. He dashed in the village's direction.

He run as fast as he could, easily beating the fastest man alive and arriving in the village in bare minutes.

With a high jump, he climbed up the roof of the house to see what was happening. There he saw in the middle of the village a crowd of people that was surrounded by ghouls, but in the distance, he was a huge Alghoul that stood on 2 legs. His height was about 3 metres, which was much more than it should be

The entire village was filled with howling ghouls. Tens of them roamed the streets of the village, but not a single one of them was close to the house of the Baron.

People got surrounded by the enormous group of ghouls, and there stood the rest of the August brothers, defending civilians. Among them stood a single man that was a Smith with a huge hummer in his hands.

Vesemir was butchering Ghouls left and right with easy and fast swings that cut their heads like butter.

Every single peasant didn't dare to stand their ground against ghouls. They hide behind the backs of the children that they believe to be monsters that can fight anyone because they are Witchers.

This only made August more frustrated. They were not only tricked but also had to protect total cowards. With a rush of emotions, somehow he amplified his voice with magic without realizing it and shouted, "All men and women that are older than 15 should fight"

Results were of no surprise that made August pissed. He launched an arrow that made a hole in the peasant's leg, making all of them terrified even more.

Once again he shouted, "I said take a weapon and fight or my next arrow will be someone decoration for their skull"

With trembling legs and arms, peasants rise with pitchforks, knives and all kinds of weapons and stood along small Witchers defending their children.

August, seeing their actions, quickly shot all the arrows that he had in his quiver, taking down a few more ghouls.

He unleashed his new sword which was in perfect condition. The Sword that never had a taste of blood yet, the sword that had a sharp edge with no chipping to it. He admired it for a second before jumping from the roof right on the head of the ghoul, impaling him with a sword and pinning him to the ground.

Few ghouls attacked August together. They didn't behave as normal ghouls would. They behaved like they had more brains than them like they had someone controlling the situation.

But for August, it was of no importance. Getting a firm grip on his sword, he jumped in the air, making a backflip. With the force of the jump, the sword that he was holding get pulled out off the ground, making a pirouette around himself, August took 3 more lives of the Ghouls landing on their bloody bodies.

August looked around and spotted his next target. He launched himself through ghouls, making his way towards the big Alghoul.

Swinging his sword left and right, making holes cutting off heads of the ghouls getting cuts from the creatures that tried to swarm him, he slowly, but surely, made his way towards the destination he was going to.

With windmill moves, he made some space for himself to move around, not letting Ghouls take advantage of their numbers. Like Vesemir, he created another blood rain on the village ground that became a battleground.

Parry, slash, parry slash.

Closer and closer.

It took him 10 minutes of restless combat to arrive close to the creature.

He looked at the massive Alghoul that had crazy eyes looking towards August. With a swift move, he took the extract of the herb called Banewart. It had one of the most toxic properties that could kill almost anything.

He applied it to his sword and launched it right at the Alghoul.

Sword flew right into the abdomen area of the creature, making it howl and scream in pain.

For poison to take effect, it requires some time. August was left vulnerable to the attacks without his weapon.

The Alghoul on the other hand started to go crazy like other Ghouls. They lost all of their coordination and attacked anything in their sight.

The Alghoul launched himself into August with his long hands that tried to slash him in two.

Dodging the slash, August could escape his death, while Ghouls that were close to him were not that lucky. The long claws of their leader divided them into 2 parts.

For a second, Alghoul lost August from his sight and scanned the area for his presence. Before he could find him, August sneaked around the beast and got a hang of his sword. But it was holding onto the beast, making it hard to get back.

August rested his legs on Alghoul using him as a support and pulled his sword with all his might, taking it back.

The Alghoul felt how the sword moved inside and found August. He tried to catch him in his palm to crush August's bones with all his might, but August pushed himself with all his might away from the enemy, taking his sword along.

Rolling on the ground, August swiftly stood back on his legs.

Spitting his mouth full of blood, August looked at the beast with a smirk. "Let's start round 2"

With that said, August launched himself at the beast. To avoid the beast's attacks, August rolled between his legs, while the beast roared at August and with a newfound power started to slash all around himself. Making it impossible for August to focus on attacks.

But all August had to do now, is wait and give some time for the poison to do its job. To win sometime, August raced back to the village with crazy Alghoul tailing him. August didn't kill anyone in his way, instead, he used the bodies of the ghouls as stepping stones, leaving a dirty job to their boss.

It didn't take long before Alghoul slowed down, losing power. With every slash, every step and breath he took, powers were leaving him. Before he fell to the ground with little strength to move.

His breath turned rapid and his crazy state went away. August slowly walked to the beast with his sword, ready to end his life.

But before he, August inquired "Any last words"

To the surprise of August, that knew that Alghouls have no ability to speak, it spoke.

"Various terrible things and phenomena are happening in Rissberg. There is little to no moral or justification for their actions. "

August raised his eyebrows being surprised, but it didn't matter, the beast had to die. With a piercing move of his sword, it went right through the head of the beast, killing it instantly.

After Alghoul was killed the rest of the ghouls, that still had the ability to move started to run away with groans and howls. Most of them were killed, but there were still a lot of them that were alive.

They filled entire village roads with blood and guts scattered around, a mix of ghouls and human corpses that filled the roads, pained the ground in red and filled the hearts of people living here with fear and horror.

Most of the villagers were killed, not all of them made it past the first few minutes of the attack, not all Witcherssurvived, huge rallies of ghouls could defeat anyone. All small Witchers were covered in blood, some of them were on the ground with their legs and arms eaten, but still alive.

Their mutation didn't let them die fast, their extreme vitality that was provided them with herbs by mages never disappeared.

One of the young Witcher had his face ruined. Ghouls that run their sharp claws across his face ruined it. His face now represented something familiar to lasagna.

Only half of them made it through. Eskel, Geralt and Lambert survived. Eskel had a deep wound in his belly. Geralt received an ugly scar running across his arm. Lambert had a hole in his leg.

August had all of his body covered in injuries. All of his back was in blood and wounds from the Ghouls' attacks. Half of his face had no top layer of the skin.

But one of the most desperate were the ones who were still alive but had no chance of surviving. One boy was lying on the ground, covered in blood with his guts out and with his leg eaten, still breathing, still alive.

He lay on the ground and muttered something to himself in delirium, his eyes didn't show any signs of being sane. Looking at one of his brothers in such a state made August sad.

He walked towards the young Witcher and kneeled in front of him. "Rest on the other side brother, we will remember you"

August took a sword and plunged it right through the heart of the boy, ending his life in seconds. Looking to the side, he saw one of them with tears running down his face.

He could still understand what was around him but had no ability to move. His spine was broken. He could do nothing but move his eyes and mouth.

August sat next to him and inquired, "What is your dream, brother?"

With tears running down his cheeks he replied, "I wished to have a loving wife, to travel, to see wonders." he took a pause and took a deep breath. He laughed, saying, "But I guess I didn't even make it out of the training alive."

His eyes went toward August, but he still could not see him. He asked, "August, can you move my head in your direction, so I can see you"

August did as the boy asked.

The boy looked at August saying "I always was envious of you, sorry for that. You were good at a lot of things that I could not do. Can you promise me something?"

August nodded his head, looking at the boy with a small light of hope in his eyes.

"Can you take my dreams as yours?"

August could no longer contain all of his emotions and, with a heavy face, full of sorrow, he shed a tear and plugged his sword into the boy, saying, "I can"

With his eyes slowly losing light, the boy replied, "Thank you"

[Somewhere far away]

Mage stood looking at the small boy that had to kill his friends and smiled.

The mage was the one to pass the message to August through the beast. Obviously, Alghoul could not speak, but with a help of a powerful sorcerer, it could.

The mage was smiling madly, he achieved something that he wished to. And he will continue to observe young Witcher that that has a lot of potential and may be used for the future.

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