The Shattered God

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Karito desperately runs through the forest, using the trees to increase the distance between him and the pursuers that were hot on his trail. The pursuers are relentless but it would take more than a couple of horses to catch him. Distracted by the thought of escape, he fails to notice the arrow until its too late to dodge. The arrow lodges itself in his right shoulder, eliciting a grunt of pain from him, pain which he welcomes and uses to remind himself to focus on escape. He cannot afford to be captured again; he knows that this pain is nothing compared to the horrors he faced in Bismarcks dungeon.
He hears the neighing of horses behind him and immediately grabs a low hanging branch and pulls himself up into the tree. He climbs higher and occasionally taking furtive glances to ensure that he wasnt being watched before he hears the sound of hooves and the shouts of his pursuers below him. He holds his breath and waits for what feels like hours until the sounds move past his hiding spot and fade into the distance, he keeps still for a while and when hes sure that his pursuers have moved on, he relaxes and begins to tend to his wounds; he pulls the arrow out of his shoulder -thankful that it wasnt poisoned or  barbed- and tears off a piece of his shirt to act as a makeshift bandage, he reaches into a small pouch on his hip and pulls out a handful of leaves and chews on them while ignoring the bitter taste before applying the chewed up paste to the bleeding stump of his left horn.

As he treats his wounds, he fails to notice the cloaked figure several trees away from him which is watching him with a predatory gaze, the figure keeps watch until it finds an opening and then it strikes; there is a blur as its hands flick out from its cloak and release several knives which pierce Karito in the chest.

Karito stares at the knives in his chest in shock before coughing up blood before falling off the branch he was resting on. As he falls, he manages to pull out enough magic from his near empty reserves and stretches his hand towards the forest floor, a greenish swirl appears on the floor he falls into it before it closes behind him. The figure that threw the knives leaps to the branch Karito was on and after searching, it jumps down to the floor and begins to search for Karito's body but fails to find it, Master wont be happy it thinks before vanishes into the darkness.

On the outskirts of Hermes;

A portal opens and dumps Karitos body in the river that runs past the town. He struggles for a bit, but after realizing that hes too injured to succeed, he places his hand on his chest and activates a rune; Hagalaz. The rune flares to life before changing his appearance to that of a random human and having exhausted all his mana and physical strength, he falls unconscious and is carried away by the river.

The river sweeps his unconscious body downstream until it gets caught by several rocks. A man pushing a cart of dead bodies spots his body and after searching him for valuables, throws him on the cart and heads off to the cemetery. Once the man gets to the cemetery, he heads towards the mass grave and dumps the bodies and Karito into the pit of bodies. As soon as the man leaves, a small figure makes its way into the pit and begins to go through the bodies seemingly looking for something or someone. Karito lets out a soft moan which attracts the figures attention. It moves cautiously towards him and after verifying that he is indeed unconscious, it waves its hand in a come on motion, soon after more figures appear and pick up Karito and carry him away.

Several days later

Karito wakes up sore, hungry and confused in a cave, he takes in his surroundings before talking to himself;

"Ugg, my head, my body. Everything hurts. Where am I? All I remember is escaping from Bismarck and the forest."

He struggles and manages to get into a sit up position before continuing;