A Sorcerer’s Journey

Six months later.

Fear and panic had become the epitome of the Acraepoids’ minds.

“Mother, stop hesitating! Those evil sorcerers have reached Pandoraga City, they’ve slain all the Acraepoids! They’re a bunch of monsters from hell, we must quickly escape!”

A young Acraepoid, extravagantly dressed, called out. Behind him was his young, beautiful, newly-wed wife.

In front of the young Acraepoid was his mother. Though she had aged, the grace of her face could not hide her once beautiful face.

“Leave, Engelbert. I will stay by your father’s side.”

Engelbert was stunned, rage then followed. He turned toward his father, whom he was so proud of once and screamed. His voice was so hysterical, so wrathful, like a wolf that had been put on a leash.

In his eyes, his father was just a baffling, stubborn old man!

“Father, why are you doing this? Why! If you’re gonna die, then die alone! Why would you drag mother down with you?”

His eyes were red. Engelbert was on the brink of madness.

He pulled his father aside to a window in the Flame Burrow. They lived on the highest part of the Flame Burrow, which symbolized his father’s prestige. It all came from his grandfather, who was a Noble.

Here, they could admire the best view of the prosperous Darkglow Kingdom. Every day, they were able to enjoy the first rising of the sun and the last light before the sun had set.

But now, Engelbert was pointing at the six ominous blood moons hanging high up in the sky.

“Do you see that! Those are sorcerers! Even the great Infernal Gods were no match for their powers. They breed an endless amount of terrifying monsters, they’ve destroyed all Acraepoid civilizations in their path! The Dark Destroyer Kingdom and the Darkborne Kingdom have fallen under their hands. Now, they’re heading toward us in the Darkglow Kingdom! Then, they’ll head toward Lightglow Kingdom and the First Acraepoid Kingdom!”

As he had finished saying so, Engelbert pointed at the Acraepoids who were fleeing in the sky.

“See that? Everyone’s running away! Everybody’s fleeing. All the Acraepoids in the Kingdom know, nobody can go against those terrifying sorcerers! They will destroy the Darkglow Kingdom and all the Flame Burrows, their monsters will slaughter all the Acraepoids in the city to fill their stomachs, they might even spread those terrible Sorcerer’s Shadows…”

His father remained motionless. Tears were flowing from his eyes.

“There’s no longer any hope for the Darkglow Kingdom, the great Acraepoids… no longer have hope.”

Smack!

Suddenly, the old Acraepoid raised his hand and struck Engelbert’s cheek. His wife and mother could not help but let out a scream while covering their mouths.

The old Acraepoid had thought of Engelbert as his whole world since he was young. He was the extension of his life, and he had never had the heart to even scold him.

But now…

Engelbert touched his face, stuttering in disbelief. “You… you hit me?”

The old Acraepoid’s eyes turned red as if he regretted his actions. Yet, he could not help himself. He furiously admonished, “Hmph! Bastard, if you’re gonna flee like those cowards, then flee! Don’t take me along with you. I will fight until the last drop of my blood, the great lineage of the U’tootz ends with me. If you leave the Kingdom, you will no longer be a Noble. You will be a commoner!”

“You…”

Engelbert pointed at his “foolish” father. He shed some tears in disbelief. He was having trouble breathing.

“The great U’tootz? Can the pride of grandfather stop those ruthless sorcerers from destroying the kingdom? Can the pride of grandfather return the great Acraepoid World to peace? Can the pride of grandfather chase the evil sorcerers out of this world! The great pride of the U’tootz? Hmph, since you’re so stubborn, you should be buried alongside grandfather’s pride in this kingdom…”

The memories of his father could no longer be compared to what had become of him right now. He screamed, “Go! Let’s go!”

Engelbert pulled his newly-wed wife away with him. Behind him was his father’s painful wails.

“Even if the Dark Destroyer Kingdom has been destroyed, even if all Acraepoids were to be wiped out, you will be the one to blame! It would be because there were millions of Acraepoids like you, who had forgotten the glory of the Acraepoids, cowering in fear, that had made the Acraepoid World fail to form any kind of resistance after just losing once. Otherwise, the sorcerers wouldn’t have dared to barge in so recklessly, you sinner…”

Engelbert did not listen to even a single word his father was saying. He was filled with his youthful, naive anger.

He clutched his wife’s hand tightly. As tears began to fall, he yelled out,” Only by staying alive will the Acraepoids have any chance of surviving. It’s your fault, your fault…”

***

Engelbert pulled his wife into his good friend’s room.

He howled in anger as he saw the empty room.

“Dammit, he didn’t wait for me and has run away, that bastard! Salaidin, if I ever see you again I’ll beat you up!”

Engelbert then pulled his wife into the rooms of his other good friends.

Since he was delayed by his father, all of his friends had already gone ahead without him.

“Engelbert, maybe… maybe we should go back. Looking at you now, I am scared, so scared that we may never return home again. Look, this is our home, the Darkglow Kingdom, it is so beautiful…”

The sun shone across Portia’s face. She looked so innocent as she said those gentle words.

Engelbert looked back at his beautiful wife. He embraced her from behind. He whispered into her ear,” We’ll be back, we’ll surely be back! When the time comes, we’ll live happily like before, okay?”

Portia gave a sweet smile.

“Umm.”

Engelbert took his wife and followed a group of Acraepoids that were fleeing from the Darkglow Kingdom into unknown territories. Anywhere was fine as long as they could get away from those blood moons.

Engelbert gradually left the Darkglow Kingdom’s territories. Lush vegetations and mountain ranges began to appear around him. It all seemed so wonderful.

How long had it been since Engelbert had truly felt the beauty outside of the Darkglow Kingdom?

Hopefully, somewhere in the future, he may…

“Heeheeheehee, finally some entertainment.”

Suddenly, a twenty-over-meter tall monster howled, causing some trees on the ground to fall with ease. It swung its huge body and leaped into the sky at the hundreds of Acraepoids.

It unleashed its jaw to reveal its ferocious teeth. There was a huge roar from the depths of its throat as it unleashed a huge cloud of poisonous dark-purple gas.

“Sorcerers! It’s the sorcerers…”

Amidst the chaos, wails consumed the fleeing crowd. The Acraepoids who had been drowned by the poisonous dark-purple gas were sucked into the monster’s huge mouth.

“No! Portia…”

As he screamed, Engelbert could only look on as his wife was consumed by the hideous, huge mouth.

The monster was gigantic. Cold scales covered its body. A dark aura surrounded the monster. It was not something that could be fought off by the average Acraepoids. They were like sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Within the dark aura, a small figure on top of the monster was laughing ruthlessly. Heeheeheehee…

“That… that’s the sorcerer?”

Roar!

The monster growled and grabbed Engelbert with the curl of its tongue. The sky was once again empty. The monster let out a belch.

Amidst the darkness and the sweet scent of death was a mix of the surrounding heat and the stench of digestive juices.

“If only I’d known, I would never have left…”