Chapter 3: Chapter Two: The Burning Man
Swiftly across the trees and bushes, one of the fastest quadruped creatures made its way through the dark forest. There was no reason to still remain in a forest that harbored strange beings.
Arthur had concluded when he returned home to the village he would prepare to get off this accursed world.
Why was God so cruel to dump him in a mysterious world like this one after taking his life back on earth.
As he faded away quickly in the darkness of the forest, ahead of him was a bright light twinkling far in the distance. He paid no attention to this surreal phenomenon as he continued driving his horse further and faster.
The light grew brighter as he came in closer until he was so close he was able to deduce the cause of the light. And after getting close enough to the light he found out it was moving.
His horse who was moving at a quick pace went off-balanced and stumbled, causing Arthur to be thrown off its back and landing hard on the forest bed. Right after he heaved himself back up to his feet, he heard a faint call from the light.
Arthur flung his head up only to witness a burning man standing roughly five metres from him.
'Help me..' The man called.
'The hell..' Arthur whispered out of shock.
'Please, help me..'
It was a naked man, stretching out his hands at Arthur who was too overwhelmed by shock.
'Arrghh....!' The man began to scream and contort his body in agony, similar to what a burning man ought to do since the beginning.
Seeing this Arthur ran to him. He removed his cloak and continuously wrap it around the man to extinguish the flames. By the time the fire was out, and Arthur held the man under his arms, he didn't believe anyone would recognize this man after being smitten in such a way.
The man was looking devoid of a human face. His entire body was thick black, his skin was scorched and his head was left void of hair. Arthur kept staring at this man and to his wildest dreams, the man's heart kept beating at a low and steady pace. Like he was only taking a nap.
Things kept getting worse for Arthur, he couldn't give a sound explanation to any of the happenings he had encountered. Was it his reincarnation, or the eerie figure living inside those gates, or this man who was set ablaze and yet having the heartbeat of a sleeping child.
The morning was fast approaching, he needed to return to the carpenter to present to him the gold coin he got from the House. Without any further delay, he heaved the man up and surprisingly his horse waited for him by the corner. With a gentle extend of his lips, he tossed the man over the horse and strapped him, then got unto the horse and resumed his getaway.
..
Back inside the gate was a structure with numerous gargoyles stationed at the top of the building. The inside was filled with lamps at every corner and beside the hallways were frames of abstract paintings in them.
Close to a fire place, a man sat silently on his chair as he waited patiently, and watched. Another tall hooded body shrouded in the darkness slowly approached the man at the fireplace.
'The box, Master Holland.' The visitor introduced the box from inside its cloak.
The man on the chair remained silent. Instead, he rested his elbow and played with his fingers. For a little moment, he kept moving his fingers as he watched the fire before him.
'Is he. Alive?' He finally spoke, in his deep and coarse voice.
'The Elites has manufactured a replica of the 7 days compass. It works just perfectly well as the original used in Vertigo. They have also discovered the location of the first piece, at the same time we might have stumbled upon some setbacks.' Explain the visitor from inside his eerie hood.
The man sitting remained unperturbed, and this choice of reaction made the visitor continue in his explanation.
'The location this piece seems to dwell is not of land, but of inside the body of waters. It might take longer than we have to pinpoint its exact location, considering the availability and access we have to that much distance.'
'Drawbacks upon drawbacks, need I remind you, we are like chaff in the wind compared to those who seek what we already know?'
'Need not.'
'Find him, I do not care how much access we have to the seas, he must be found.'
'Rest assured, he would be found.' the visitor placated him and took his leave.
..
The sun had risen. Birds tweeting, insects were chirping and the voices of mobile people could be heard from almost a mile away.
Inside a wooden house where slim rays of sunlight perforated the tiny holes made from termites and bugs, Arthur sat with his elbows rested on his knees. Beside him lay the burning man from early this morning. He had been sitting close to him the entire morning, wondering if the man was dead. But his deductions were overcome after he noticed the man's chest ascended and descended calmly.
Obviously, the man was alive and breathing.
Arthur recalled that he witnessed the fire long before he saw the man, so logically speaking, the man's innards should have been long roasted as of now.
He ran his hands over his face in exhaustion as he rose up. Went towards his cotten and slid it open. He even had to squint at the invasion of the sun rays.
'Arh..'
The man made an interior noise from inside his throat. Arthur turned around and noticed the man was fighting off the intrusion of the sunlight that interrupted his rest. He even went ahead to mumble inexplicable words whilst moving his head about.
As he continued to chant silently, Arthur took light steps back to the bed in the hope to understand the cause of the man's uneasiness.
Getting closer to the man, Arthur could understand some words the man uttered. Out of curiosity, he lowered his head to listen to him. It was then the man grabbed his neck forcefully.
Arthur tried and tried to release himself from the man's confines, but it was to no avail. Instead, the blood flow to his brain was constrained, causing low blood pressure to his brain and one step away for him to lose his consciousness.
The struggle went on for seconds, and by the time Arthur was about giving up, the man released him.
Nevertheless, Arthur did not concede, although, adding to the issue of his incessant coughing out blood couple with this sudden accident, it was almost to say he would cough out his lungs and every other respiratory organ living inside him while gasping for air.
Arthur stumbled and fell to a wall using his back. He caressed his neck as he tried to recover from the unintended attack. Meanwhile, the man remained chill on the bed, like nothing had happened.
Arthur stared at this strange-looking man who looked like an escapade from hell. He wondered if he had taken in the devil to his house. Thoughts upon thoughts kept flooding his mind until he was pulled back by a voice. The voice of the man.
'Thank ... you.'
Arthur repositioned himself without taking his eyes off the man. He appeared to be calm but inside him were numerous fireworks taking place and his internal organs rejoicing to their God, also begging Arthur to run for his dear life, more like, their dear lives.
'What are you?' Asked Arthur.
'What I am ... Who I am ... Careless. For what I say unto thee, shalt thee hacking into it.'
Sensing Arthur's shocked state the man spoke further, 'His Words, his knowledge, his Wisdom. Men of the world seek that which is greater than them. Than the world. Knowledge is power, but Wisdom ... is chaos. Thou should never locate the Wisdom of the King. For once the King's knowledge is acquired by some, many would ... pay.'
'I don't understand, how are you still alive?' said Arthur.
'Destiny.' The man uttered. 'Little have I accomplished since my inception.'
'Destiny kept you alive?' Arthur was now even more confused than before.
'And it would keep you alive. As it has never failed me. You seem to be of losing hope. I was once like you.'
'What are you talking about?' questioned Arthur.
'You have saved me. And I wish to repay the favour.'
'I have done nothing to you, all I did was ... shelter you.'
The man slowly sat up on the bed, Arthur went back a little. It wasn't easy to keep a conversation with a man who looked like ashes.
'And that I wish to repay.'
Arthur still was overwhelmed by the nature of this man to the extent, he forgot how to respond.
'You do not have all the time ... in the world.' the man spoke again.
'Neither do you.'
The man lowered his head, be it out of fatigue or embarrassment none knew. 'All my life I have served in the name of the king. All I've done, both for good and for bad, has been in the name of the king. I have nothing to live for in this world. I have seen the last of my era. But you ...' At this point, the man took up his head as he stared deeply into the soul of Arthur.
'Even as much as you want it, you do not wish to die. The opportunity to be reborn as a whole is what you so crave for. Now relinquish that part of you, answer the call to the king, and death will know you no more.'
Arthur's heart raced up to the extreme. What call is he supposed to answer? What king is he meant to serve? Nevertheless, he succumbed. In as much as he couldn't do anything, he couldn't die twice in two different worlds as a worthless person. Was his destiny that screwed up? After all, he was conversing with a man who should be dead long ago, what choice did he have besides give himself a second chance in this world.
'I ... Would.' Arthur answered.
'Then repeat after me, I.'
'I.'
'Would answer.'
'Would answer.' Arthur repeated.
'In The Name.'
'In The Name.'
'Of The King.'
Arthur was slow to reply, but in the end, he concluded.
'Of The King.'
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