Chapter 37: Chapter 36:Red demon of Ellander (5/5)
August turned his head and looked at the sorcerer, with a quick motion he knocked off Vilgefortz's hand, asking, "What do you need here?"
Instead of an answer, Vilgefotz asked, "Isn't it horrible, seeing such a woman burn like a torch? She was innocent, after all, yet she is the one blamed and set on fire".
August reluctantly inquired, "What do you need? I doubt you even have a slight concern about her!"
Vilgefortz replied with a smirk on his face, "Because this is another situation you are failed to solve! If you were to learn magic from someone like me, the most talented and powerful magician in the world, nothing of that kind would have ever taken place".
"Then how some random mage could break your barrier?" Asked August, provoking the sorcerer. "He is the one that broke your creation with quite an ease"
Vilgefortz wanted to smash August, but on the outside showed a smile admiring August "This is a very good question young Witcher" touching his lips with a finger he continued "But I was young and inexperienced, so of course, some magician could break the barrier."
With a frown, August gave a last glance toward the cheering crowd with a giant fire in the middle and turned in the direction to go back to the temple, saying "Geralt, let's go back"
Geralt followed August silently, thinking of something on his own. This display was not something he expected to see from normal folks, he thought of them much more before, but now it is changed.
August heard Vilgefortz saying, "Remember, if you learn from me, you will be able to stop such events from ever taking place. Is it worth being such a stubborn?"
With a frown, August didn't reply and proceeded to go back to the temple, thinking of the way to deal with the lord that became one of his targets from now on.
When they were nearing the temple they were met with Nenneke who had a worrying expression on her face, without waiting for either of Witchers to speak she inquired "I heard what happened, this is horrible. Did you know who this poor woman was?"
August replied without a single emotion, "Albert's mother"
"What?" almost shouted Nenneke, even not knowing the kid's name. It was easy to guess who Albert was.
When August got close, Nenneke was about to say something, but August didn't even bat an eye towards her, leaving behind a slight breeze.
Nenneke, looking at the back of August that was getting further and further from her, said "August, don't make a reckless decision! This won't get his mother back!"
August turned and looked into her eyes, with his eyes dangerously forming a thin line from his pupil like a cat that is ready to fight, with a completely neutral voice he replied "Sometimes words don't work and the only way to express your point, is to bring violence into the play since people of this world never learn from something good. Only something like bloodshed can tell them the consequence of their stupidity ".
Nenneke understood almost immediately that there was no point in speaking with August, he already decided. Seeing no other way, she looked at Geralt who lowered his head avoiding her gaze, without her saying anything Geralt said: "Sorry, I agree with August this time".
With a sigh, Nenneke showed a sad smile. She informed both August and Geralt, "Even if I don't agree with you, I can't stop you. Let me at least give you a bit of information I could gather."
August turned around and looked towards Nenneke with slight interest. "What is it?"
"It's about the lord," with a slight pause she unfolded her cards "Lord is not who he is claiming to be, he must be one of the high ranks in the religion that started in the Novigrad they are cults with a name Eternal Fire, very violent people. They believe in the purity of humans and deem every other race and those that are different to be vile and unholy beings".
August showed a victorious smirk, saying, "It proves to me even more that I have to get rid of this trash"
Everyone made their way inside and planned how they would get rid of the Lord to reduce the number of casualties that could result from the attack. But by the end of the day, they didn't figure out anything that could work well. They decided to discuss this with others tomorrow and went to sleep.
….
As the moon made its way through the night sky, which was decorated with millions of different stars. Nothing promised this night to turn into something horrible. Quiet streets were empty from any presence. Only 2 lonely guards served their duty on gates. But even they fell asleep from the event that took place during the day.
The lone child made his way into the city, carrying a few bottles of different oils that were stolen from the temple. Staying unnoticed by even a single pair of eyes.
Fire is burning in his eyes, his heart bleeds from the news he overheard. The news that forced him to take action, he could not forgive those that were responsible for the death of the only single being that took care of him.
That, despite the hardship they faced, always smiled in his direction. Despite the lack of food and the struggle she had to face during the working days, she stood loyal to the only being she truly loved: her son.
He won't let others take revenge for the person he cherished the most in his brief life. He will have to repay them for what they did to her. There was nothing in this world that would make him stop.
…..
August woke up feeling uneasy. He did not know why, but he could not sleep anymore. There is something that was bothering him.
Standing up from his bed, he walked to the window that was in his room and looked at the city that could be seen in full from where he stood.
He inspected the city that was enveloped in the dark with no lights but spotted something out of the ordinary. There was a cloud of smoke rising from the centre of the city. Within a second, everything became clear to him. Without even wearing his armour that could save him from a lot of attacks, with only a bow and a quiver in one arm and a sword in another, he rushed in the city's direction.
It took him only 15 minutes to get closer to the place where raging fire enveloped the entire Lord's mansion. To have a better view, he climbed onto the house's roof nearby and observed how soldiers were running from one side to another, carrying buckets of water and trying to put down the fire that could hardly be taken down without magic means.
It was no doubt that this house, will be just the start of the entire city being set on fire. August continued to look around until he spotted a well-known figure, a child, that was trying to escape from the group of soldiers chasing him. It was Albert. He was the one who created this fire. He was the one guilty, but it was not his fault that those people have driven him into this action.
August, seeing this, dashed towards a child to save him. With every step he made, he was getting closer and closer to Albert, but just about when his hands were about to reach his. An arrow flew right through Albert's stomach.
Almost immediately, the child fell to the ground, groaning in pain with an arrow right through his stomach.
August's eyes suddenly changed, as something clicked inside. His pupils gleamed in red, making them stand out a lot. Like a mad beast, with little effort, he unleashed his sword and with little mind to it dashed at the soldiers, that by the looks of it were not prepared for something like this.
With a fast slash, he beheads the one reckless enough to get close. Without wasting time, he changed his target and dashed at the rest of the group taking 5 soldiers at a time. They were trying to surround him, but all of their attempts failed.
August was dodging and parrying all of their attack attempts, while also delivering critical injuries with his fast slashes that their eyes could barely track. In the end, there were 5 lifeless bodies, it was all that was left after them.
With the last soldier that chased Albert dead, August made his way back to the kid. With every step, his feet made a sound of stepping into something very slimy, like a peeled mango. But those were organs, intestines and blood under his feet.
Kneeling in front of Albert, August asked in a soft voice, "How are you doing, buddy?"
The kid released a caught and smiled, saying "I will soon see mother"
August chuckled and said, "You sure will, she will be happy to see you"
*cough* *cough*
"I hope," spoke Albert, rapidly breathing, seemingly running out of oxygen. "You are not like in books."
August stroked his head, responding, "Of course, we are not. Those books are all fictitious".
Albert forced himself hard to say, "Funny, I was always told to see you like demons, yet the monsters that I fear most are humans"
August calmed down the boy and spoke in a soft tone, "Shhh, don't force yourself, kid. It will be alright, I'm sure once you meet your mother on the other side, you will spend a delightful time together. She won't be harmed any more, and you will have all the time in the world with her".
Albert inquired "Promise?" with hope in his eyes, that awaited a single word from August
August showed a smirk and acknowledged, "I do"
Albert responded, "I hope this ..."
Almost finishing the phrase, he stopped, releasing a long breath that was his last one.
The arrow flew, aiming at the head of August.
August closed his eyes, trying to pray for the small boy, if gods existed they should grant him a good life there on the other side.
With his eyes remaining close, August caught an arrow with his hand and launched it back into the one who fired in the first place.
The arrow flew at fast speed, slicing the air, and giving a faint sound. You could see how the eyes of the one that wanted to kill August with this exact arrow widened and showed fear, but before he could make a move and try to avoid it. It made its way right into his throat, stopping him from breathing for once and forever.
August slowly rose with his eyes remaining close, when he stood at his full height and a massive group of soldiers is rushing in his direction. Arrows flew towards him, but none of them could reach their destination.
Just when the soldiers got very close, his eyes snapped open. No emotions were there, just 2 red dots gleaning in the night. In a calm voice, August said, "Let me show you, who you really imagined Witcher to be, I will turn into a demon that you think I am".
August went on a rampage, killing left and right, not even looking in the eyes of those that he had to fight. More and more soldiers arrived and started to corner August, he was a single man fighting a small army alone.
With every death August claimed, soldiers were more and more vigour wanting to kill him, pushing and cornering him faster and with greater passion.
Heads flew high in the air and blood rained down forming small rivers. The city turned into a battlefield. More and more man-made their way in an attempt to kill August, but all of them failed, dying one after another.
But they were like an unstoppable force that could not be restrained by a single man such as August. His stamina and strength never were infinite, with the time and effort he had to put into a fight they started to run low forcing him to slowly retreat.
One man rushed at August with an enormous axe trying to slash him, with a shouted "Die Demon!"
August put a block to deflect the attack, but it didn't work. His sword snapped in half, unable to sustain the amount of damage that it received from all clashing and deflecting. The axe made its way down with much less energy to itself and went right into August's shoulder, getting stuck, unable to break a bone.
August looked at the man's eyes, which showed fear. He tossed his broken sword like a piece of garbage to the side and with a single hand, poked the man's eyes, making him scream in agony, losing his sight forever.
Taking out the Axe from his shoulder, he threw it on the ground. More and more people started to surround him, yet there is no weapon in his arms that he could use to defend himself. But right at this moment, a scream came from behind a small army of soldiers.
"Don't you dare to touch one of us" It was Eskel with other witchers alongside
5 Witchers cut their way towards the place where August was cornered and stood around him defending August. He had a huge injury on his shoulder that was heavily bleeding along with other minor ones from swords and arrows that we were able to scratch his skin.
August was in the state that he didn't even notice his friends approaching and tried to attack them, but Eskel easily caught his hand that tried to stab him right in the eye sockets and shouted at August "Idiot! Come to your senses! What have you done?"
August's eyes showed some clearness and he looked around seeing a lot of dead bodies and his friends shielding him with their lives at stake.
Eskel seeing August coming back to his senses said to others "Guys, we need to go back. He was in berserk mode, right now he is too exhausted".
They made their way back towards the city gates, being chased by a group of soldiers and citizens from the nearby houses. They were throwing everything they could to help kill escaping Witchers.
They were throwing stones, spoons, forks and various vegetables shouting at the Witchers.
"Freaks, I hope you die!"
"Burn In hell"
"Cursed monsters, we will never welcome your kind!"
"I hope you die in extreme agony"
"Set you on fire"
They made their way out of the gate and back to the temple where Eskel carried August in the medical wing and left him to Nenneke.
Nenneke seeing August in such a state proceed to apply all she could before leaving him in there alone to sleep.
Before long, a well-known man appeared out of the thin air. In his arms was a breathing child. He created a spell on August to make him compelling, while he is in a weak state and woke him up.
August saw Vilgefortz right in front of him with Albert in his hands, he could hear the child's heart beating and inquired "What do you need and how did you save Albert?"
Vilgefortz showed a nasty smirk, not hiding his real personality from August and inquired "I will save this child if you will learn from me how to use magic"
August having a cloudy head could not comprehend everything, while also being affected by the spell quickly agreed, saying "Only if you save him, will I be your student"
Vilgefortz smiled achieving his goal, he said "Great, this is a deal then"
He healed the boy and placed him on the bed next to August and left silently getting what he wanted. Maybe it was hard to make August study magic, but it was worth it, after all, he is one of the keys to finding a trace of Elder Blood and getting it for himself.
A key to getting a power that others could only dream about.
In his sleep August walked around in the peaceful forest, he could hear how birds were cheering all around and the waterfall in the distance. Having no clue of where he is, he made his way towards the waterfall.
Making his way closer he spotted a horse drinking from the small pound, but before he could walk closer the horse turned around and looked into August's eyes. This in fact was not a horse, but Unicorn.
The Unicorn spoke via telepathy "It's finally time to meet you, the last carrying the talent of an oracle. It is nice to see you August Lotha aep Aevenien
August had no clue of his full name, so it surprised him to be called this way. But what was more surprising it is the talking Unicorn, a mythical being even for August "Who are you? What do you need?"
Unicorn replied with completely unrelated information that August asked for, but with information that will help him in the future. "It's not important who am I. Take my advice.
2 face man shall not reach his goal, upon reaching it, the new sun shall never rise and white chill shall come and destroy the world. Shall you and 2 face man follow the path, the worlds will die, the order will break and the existence will shutter."
August shouted towards the animal "What does this mean? This is some nonsense!"
Unicorn replied "This is all, may your destiny guide you, may luck be by your side. May you never turn to the dark side. Goodbye August Lotha aep Aevenien"
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