11 Chapter 11

Wheels turned and hooves churned the earth, bringing the convoy closer to their destination at a steady speed.

Shielded from view and potential attack by the other caravans, Matias was seated comfortably on a decadent red cushion. Opposite him sat the newest and most mysterious member of the caravan party.

While his hands worked skillfully to deshell a kind of nut that he delightedly threw upwards and crunched in his mouth, Matias made gentle inquiries towards his guest.

"Tell me Konlan of great courage! What tricks to you use to walk these forests without fear?"

The question caused the corners of Konlan's lips to turn up humorously.

'Charecter cards, I wonder if you could consider that a trick.' He mused to himself. 

"I have no tricks. I simply walk and hope that lady fortune smiles upon me." Konlan replied with a smile, finding himself greatly enjoying the charade being played out between him and the caravan leader. 

Flecks of frustration momentarily crossed through Matias' eyes. While his painted on smile and amicable demeanor suggested an upright noble character; there was little coin to be earnt from upright and noble business. 

In fact it was laughable to use the word noble in a positive light. Nobles were cruel, hedonistic beasts driven by lust and profit. Their flesh was human, but their greed was far more horrifying than any monster. 

Following the conjunction of the spheres, countless monster species were left imprisoned on the continent, far from their own worlds. 

The works of several scholars of Oxenfurt Academy detailed the plight of those intelligent races stranded on the continent. Who could imagine the despair and desperation felt by these beings, cruelly ripped away from their homelands and forced to dwell in the shadow of man for the rest of their lives. 

'You wish to discover my secrets don't you? You hide it well but I can smell your maleficence.' 

No matter how kind he pretended to be; Matias viewed Konlan as little more than an opportunity to earn some gold. 

The secrets of a traveller who could wander and navigate the vast Temerian forests alone, held a value that sparkled brighter than any gemstone. 

With every second that passed, Matias' kind act was stripped back layer by layer, until the rotten stench of his soul lay in plain sight. Konlan felt his interest in continuing the charade diminish almost entirely. 

A sigh escaped his red lips, "Do you wish to know the location of the great elven treasure vault?"

Konlan's faint smile fell from his face and words continued to emerge from his lips with increasing severity. 

"Do you wish to know where the gold-gilded chariot of an ancient noble lies covered in vines and thick moss?" 

Matias' eyes grew wide with hunger. His hands tightly gripped his knees and the promise of wealth called out to him like a siren's song. 

"Yes! Yes! Tell me, I will pay you anything you like!" He cried out. 

Konlan abruptly became silent. 

The greed in Matias' heart surged violently and consumed his false amicable demeanor. Leaping from his seat he clutched Konlan's collar in his oily palms and spat as he roared, "Tell me! Tell me now or my men will take your head!" 

A whisper blowing in the wind dripped into Konlan's ears with crystal clarity. 

Emotions flashed like lightning in his eyes and the air in the caravan became bone-chilling. Words laced with venom so noxious that they could make nations shudder emerged coldly from his lips, "Beware the beast that walks on two legs." 

The tangled emotions burning in his eyes gradually coalesced into a single conviction. 

The space between Konlan and the claimed soul in front of him blurred. A pressure like a mountain bearing down on him descended on Matias' throat. 

His eyes bulged desperately from their sockets. Pleadingly he grasped at Konlan's outstretched arm and pitifully attempted to form words as the little oxygen in his blood was rapidly exhausted. 

The choking and spluttering noises and the terror in his eyes had no effect on Konlan. Too many times he had witnessed this scene before. 

Dangling a few inches off the floor, the subconscious miserable kicking of his feet gradually grew weaker. 

That pair of brown and green eyes stared unrelentingly at the fire of life being extinguished in his hands. 

It was not necessary to kill the caravan leader. He could've chosen to leave without violence; the guards outside could not prevent his exit even if they numbered ten times over. 

But this world.

This cruel and wicked world only ever seemed to push him closer towards slaughter. 

"Why. Why must it all end in bloodshed?" Konlan's faint voice scattered into the breeze. 

Surviving in a world that seemed to despise his very existence had forced a young man from earth to become something else. Humanity could not fill his stomach nor line his purse; what use was it to act justly if it meant starving. 

In the back of his mind Konlan knew that something within him had broken a long time ago. 

A blue-faced corpse dropped to the floor with a sickening thud and it's skull cracked against a corner of the carriage. Within seconds a hideous tapestry of red and grey formed on the wooden floor. 

Konlan's thoughts swirled at incredible speed. 

He would not kill any more members of the convoy. The innocent would not meet their end by his blade; this was a vow that he would not break. 

'I have to leave without alarming the guards. Perhaps I can-' 

A whisper in the wind brought his thoughts to an abrupt halt. 

He grinned, "Perhaps this world doesn't dislike me as much as I thought."

In the distance a long and sonorous howl echoed through the woods. This was swiftly followed by dozens of low snarls and rapid pounding footsteps far too fast to be human. 

The convoy was instantly thrown into disarray. On a hill some tens of meters of way a huge wolf stood. Its fur blacker than ink seemed to not absorb all light and its eyes gleamed with murderous intelligence. 

The huge wolf king watched as his pack tore the feeble humans into pieces. Their flesh would fuel a strong and fearsome new generation of cubs and allow his dominion to expand further in the vast forests. 

The wolf king's gaze roamed casually across the fleeing humans. Observing the slaughter of his foes caused it to let out a joyous thundering roar.

Then suddenly it's cry stopped.

The wolf king growled warily and lowered it's body to the ground, coiling it's legs to pounce forwards and rend flesh from bone.

There was a male. Stood on one of the human's ugly wooden beasts. 

Tens of meters separated the two species but the wolf king felt a sense of danger that spoke to the center of his being. 

Danger. 

Konlan observed the proud and striking wolf enter into a state of battle readiness. The dense trees could pose no obstruction to his sight. 

From the winds he heard a gentle but firm whisper. He was not to harm this beast.

The murderous thoughts brewing in his mind vanished in an instant. He had intended to use the wolf king as an experiment to determine the influence that killing native creatures would have on the blue panel's evaluation of his actions. 

This was not worth earning the ire of the forests. 

In the wilderness Konlan felt a sense of completion and the solitude provided him a comfort that soothed his heart. 

His longing for human contact had burned him time and time again. Perhaps one day he would prefer to remain hidden altogether from the treacherous reaches of mankind.

Looking across at the slaughter taking place around him Konlan thought coldly, 'I will not be your hero.' 

Soon his figure became lost from the wolf king's sight in the endless forests. 

His journey to the capital continued.