Legend of the Empyrean Blacksmith Chapter 148

Chapter 148

CHAPTER 148

YESTERYEAR (IV)

Sitting at the edge of a snowy cliff, with a pair of legs dangling over, was a boy seemingly around twelve . He had relatively long, unruly hair and a pair of jet-black eyes that were currently watching the snowflakes plummet to the ground, adding atop an already sizeable amount . Trees around him were withered, snow already knee-deep, yet he seemed to hardly mind the decadent cold despite somewhat lacking clothes .

He sat with his gloved hands perched back as to sustain him, head angled lightly toward the sky, as though he was wondering when it would stop snowing . He sat so for nearly half an hour, in plete silence, before suddenly sighing and getting up . Leaving behind imprints in the snow, he moved to a nearby forest on a downward decline leading to the small town roofed white .

Moving next to a tall oak tree with a thick trunk, he crouched and shoved his arm into the snow beneath, scattering it away before beginning to dig into a half-frosted earth . It took him awhile but he showed no signs of impatience . Beneath the earth, a glint of silver flashed for a moment as he hastened his movement, unearthing a short dagger, slightly rusted at edges . He looked over it a few times before tucking it into a furred vest and heading further downhill .

He entered the town calmly, with streets mostly deserted . Only occasional kid raced and laughed amidst the horizon's white, their rosy cheeks sticking out like blood . The boy moved until he was out of everyone's view before ducking into an alleyway and stealthily beginning to crawl and sneak through the streets, soon reaching a rather tall and well-endowed building made of stone .

Glancing over a meter tall fence, he saw a couple of rabid dogs chewing on bones just near the main entrance to the building . He ducked back down and moved around till he reached the back end of the courtyard . Pausing, he pressed his hand against the wall and began to seemingly feel something over its surface as he inched forward . Suddenly stopping, he crouched and began to move away snow which was piled beneath . Soon, the muddy brown of earth surfaced, but he didn't stop . Rather, reaching into his vest, he took out a small, hand-sized makeshift shovel and shoved it directly into earth .

He began doing it repeatedly as the cluster of smoke lifting off his lips rumbled into the sky, his eyelashes trembling as the first sign of frost began appearing on them . He dug for nearly half an hour before a hole suddenly opened beneath him, like a pit, just large enough to fit him whole . A faint smile escaped his lips as he jumped in, but didn't crawl further .

He huddled against the earth and brought his legs into his chest, trying to warm up, his eyes veering up, outside the hole, into the sky . He watched the somewhat gray clouds turn darker and darker as the day descended and night arose from its troves . Though he trembled and his jaw crackled and his nose wept and his limbs grew frigid, his expression remained placid, almost akin to the snow itself . Cold . . . distant . . . aloof in a strange, ethereal way .

Seeing the moon crawl out from behind the clouds, round like a circle, casting faint, silver light over the ever expanding landscape of the world, the boy suddenly moved . He got down on all fours and began crawling through a rather narrow tunnel, barely fitting his size . It was pletely dark, as dark as the world without any source of light could get . He didn't close his eyes, choosing to stare at the darkness in a childish sort of defiance .

He crawled for less than a minute before he reached a bump whereupon he took out that same, small shovel and began hitting the earth above him . Over and over, it began slowly crumbling, large chunks of frozen parts squarely hitting him in the face, even opening several gashes . Yet not a wince of pain sounded out in the brewing chaos . Bit by bit, hole opened up and a faint cascade of light managed to pierce through, revealing his frosted face, chilled with scarlet blood all over .

Seeing the first ray of light arrive, he sped up, till a similarly-sized hole to the one he entered during the day opened up, allowing him slowly crawl out . That large fence reaching nearly three meters behind the building was now behind him . He found himself in a somewhat crowded backyard, with firewood scattered amidst the animal bones and unrefined timber .

He didn't pay much attention to it, however, looking at the piled firewood and slowly climbing it, using a extrusion from the wall where the floors broke off to propel himself upward . A low grunt echoed out into the otherwise silent night as he grit his teeth and endured the pain enriching his muscles . He grabbed at a window frame with both his hands quickly and pulled himself up, looking through it .

The room was entirely dark, and it didn't seem as though anyone lived in it . The boy took a deep breath and lowered himself down, suddenly letting go with one of his hands, with pressure increasing greatly on the other . He quickly reached into the vest and took out a small patch of thick, woolen cloth and brought it up to his mouth, holding it with his teeth as he grabbed at the ledge with both hands yet again .

He was forced to take deep breaths through his nose, causing him to close his eyes and force a sneeze back . With teeth tightly gripping at the cloth, he pulled himself up again, placing forearm over the ledge and fumbling over to grab at the piece of cloth from his mouth . He then pressed it against the window and took a deep breath before closing his eyes and striking directly with his head .

The window cracked almost immediately, and though the sound was loud, it was still somewhat contained . He quickly looked around and waited for a moment, but seeing as there was no sound of anyone ing over, he reached through the hole and unlocked the window from the inside, opening it . He used the last ounce of strength to pull himself over and land onto the floorboards, immediately leaning against the wall, panting furiously .

Holding onto his chest, he rested for a moment before forcing himself to get up . He was already feeling drowsy; he knew he couldn't allow himself to lull away any further . Though the floor beneath creaked ever so often, it wasn't too loud . As he reached the doors to the room, he once again reached into his vest and took out the small, rusty dagger, gripping its handle tightly into his right hand .

Opening the doors as carefully as possible, he tucked his head out into the hallway and looked left and right . There was no light anywhere to be found, causing him to furrow his brows . He took a careful step forward and left the room . His heart suddenly froze as he noticed light flicker from behind him; he quickly tried to turn around and run back into the room, but a flat, wooden pole came diving down, hitting him squarely over his nose .

Lino cried out as he felt the force push him down, rolling backwards several times before stopping . However, just as he was about to get up in an attempt to run away, he felt a stinky, large hand press against his chest and a face heave over his, illuminated darkly by a faint light of the lantern . It was a familiar face, face he had seen numerous times throughout the twelve years of his life in the town .

Old, wrinkled, double-chinned, with yellowed beard and a breath stinking of alcohol . Lino's eyes exploded with unbridled rage, yet there was little his tiny, underfed body could do under such pressure . He tried to wriggle himself out until he felt a knee press against his stomach, nearly suffocating him immediately .

"Ha . . . ha ha ha," the man suddenly burst out into maddened laughter as he finally got a good look of the face beneath a makeshift, thin hood . "I-I thought it might be some assassin, ha ha ha, but look, ha ha, it's a scrawny kid!! Ha ha ha . . . though, gotta admire you for breaking all the way here . You really have some talent, y'know?"

" . . . " Lino couldn't reply due to the hand covering his mouth, but he did his best to convey what he had to say through his eyes .

"He he, look at you . . . it's been four years, y'know?" the man said as he suddenly licked his lips strangely . "Aah . . . I still haven't forgiven you . . . for taking away such pure flower . . . he he . . . she was like a fine ale, boy . Like a fine ale . " Lino once again began thumping furiously to free himself, despite the pain . "Ha ha, look at you, like a little worm . What can you do, eh? Bastard!" the man pressed his knee deeper into Lino's stomach, causing the latter to gag and gargle for a moment as the corners of his eyes turned tearful due to pain . His arms and legs once again turned limp and no matter how much he forced them, they didn't seem to respond to his call .

" . . . "

" . . . eh, now that I look at ya'," the man drew in closer suddenly, merely inches away from Lino's face . "You ain't half-bad yourself . Not bad . Fair . Ah . . . fair . " he stuck his tongue out and lashed it over Lino's cheek, causing the latter to shiver and goosebumps to overrun his body . "Tastes . . . like snow . " the man grumbled as his lips curled up into a smile . "What does the rest of ya' taste like, eh?" Lino suddenly panicked, his eyes turning into eggs as he began wriggling yet again . "Ha ha, you're---AAGGH!!!" he finally managed to angle his right hand which held the dagger properly and stabbed at the man's thigh, doing so repeatedly . "AAAGH!! B-BASTARD!! F-FUCK!!" Barry suddenly rolled over as he grasped at his thigh, releasing Lino in the process and letting go of the lantern . The flames blazed out momentarily, but Lino ignored them .

Taking the opportunity, he leaped over to the cradled man who held onto several holes on his thigh and stabbed again, this time aiming at his arms . Barry cried out as he tried to swat away the stick-thin arm, but to no avail . Lino stabbed like mad, screaming to his fullest . Arm . . . stomach . . . chest . . . face . . . neck . . . soon, Barry bled out of every part of his body . As he lay listless on the floor, staring terrifying at the bloodied face of a crazed boy, he saw Lino squat next to his crotch . Panic assailed him, yet his body wouldn't respond . Lino stabbed forth, desecrating and mutilating the man's genitalia till nothing but gore remained .

Barry was already whimpering, yet Lino ignored silent pleas for mercy; while fire behind him blazed in hellish glory, quickly spreading, he lowered the dagger further down and pressed forth, skewering the hole beneath . Deeper . Rougher . Wider . He shoved it as deep as it could go and slowly got up . Barry was trembling, barely able to keep his eyes open as he stared at Lino in utter terror .

The two pairs of eyes met; one jet-black and one faintly hazel . The latter could not endure it; it felt like staring into the eyes of the devil himself, the creatures of ye old tales of the eons past, who would e from clutches of eternal flames to exact vengeance that was due . Barry truly believed in that moment that Lino wasn't just another child; he believed the boy to be a devil, his fears only further fanned by flames blazing behind Lino . They besieged walls, creating this odd sort of a scenario whereupon they seemed to surround Lino from Barry's point of view, but never stand in his path .

Lino would long be gone, but Barry wouldn't recover from his fear . Not even when flames engulfed him whole and began burning him to a crisp . He didn't weep, he didn't cry or scream in anguish . It felt more like a release, being engulfed in hell's flames, being torn away from the clutches of the devil himself . In his eyes, the fire that melted off his skin like butter was not the enemy - it was his savior .