A Familiar Void

Chapter 23

Everything around him was on fire, the scarlet flames burning away everything that he had tried to protect.

Pain, that was all he knew at this moment. The pain that coursed through his body that didn't even let him move.

In front of him, he could see the ones that were responsible for causing the fire. The ones responsible for burning what he was trying to protect. For giving him this pain.

A large group, all of them cheering as they continued to burn away at the precious objects that he was meant to safe guard.

Then after they finished burning the rest of them, they all turned to him, revealing their faces. Red eyes with evil grins truly made them seem demonic.

They marched over towards him, slowly. Crossing over the corpses of that were in their path, some of them even stepping on the heads without a care in the world.

He could only watch as they surrounded him from all sides.

Everywhere he looked he could only see red glowing eyes.

He didn't even manage to beg before they all lunged.

And tore him apart.

[Scene]

Nelson awoke with a gasp.

His heart pounding in his chest as he took gasped breaths before he finally calmed down.

The soldier swallowed the spit in his mouth with a gulp and looked around. He was in the infirmary of the castle, with a few others that had failed in their previous push against the rebel forces.

There were other on beds like his own, some of them were groaning in their sleep while other were silent.

Nelson turned his eyes to the ceiling and simply laid there for a few moments.

He coughed, which made him wince in pain. A hand went to his throat as he realised how dry it was.

"Water," he mumbled, pushing aside the covers. He stared silently as the bandages wrapped around his torso. His lips pulled into a straight line, before he ignored it.

The man sat up, and looked at the table by his bed. There was no water there, and from what he could see in the dark it seemed that there wasn't any nearby.

Nelson grumbled out a curse as he slowly pushed himself off the bed and to his feet. He let out a quiet hiss as he could feel the wounds under the bandages complain.

He made his way through the infirmary, thankful that they hadn't taken off his pants, and went towards the exit.

Albion Castle was rather quiet at night, as oppose to bustle in the morning. Even then, compared months ago, there was much less noise due to how many of the castle occupants had been lost.

The soldier shook his head, he ignored that train of thought and focused on simply getting a drink.

He made his way through the halls of the castle, thankful for the Lumafly Lanterns. Despite the fact that he had seen them numerous times, it was still a marvel to him.