Chapter 2 Encounter

William approached Aldrich while he was sitting with his back resting on an apple tree, the setting sun turned it's autumn leaves almost orange, he closed his eyes giving a weary sigh when he noticed the book in Aldrich's hand 'tales of zolda' it read, he wore on a friendly grin and called on to him, Aldrich gave a blank stare and asked in a somewhat punitive tone, "What do you want?" William rested his shoulder on the tree trying to have a peek at what Aldrich was reading but was stopped as Aldrich shut the book close, he looked at Aldrich with a grin on his face and asked, "Since when aren't you delighted to see me?" "Since I met you." They both smiled and burst into laughter, he tapped Aldrich on his knee and said to him, "come on, it's getting late" William was Aldrich's first and only friend, though he wasn't the most skilled or outstanding person, he had a blithe personality which led him to always find himself in trouble, this made him someone Aldrich wanted to avoid. But after almost a year of unnecessary rivalry and juvenile challenges by William during childhood, Aldrich found himself with his one friend who always found a way to cling to him. As they walked together, Aldrich was distracted by a flashing light, he noticed the light was being reflected from a daggers edge which was half tucked in its sheath tied to William's belt, he looked at him with twinge of frustration in his eyes and grumbled, "You still keep that?" William quickly sheathed the blade completely and replied, "Why not?" "When are you going to stop this annoying habit of picking that catches your eye?" "I really have stopped, but I found this on a river bank and something just drew me to it" "Something draws you to everything you see" "No, this is different, it's ..." he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a tall man in a black tunic, William took a look at him and still couldn't fathom his resemblance with his son. One could say the only difference in his appearance and his sons were his eyes hair and skin, while Aldrich had his late mother's black clear eyes, black lustrous hair, and brown caramel skin. His father had rather small and brown eyes brown hair that was all over the place, and light skin. Aside from those, the similarities shown in their physique was uncanny. William greeted Archer and excused himself, when leaving, Archer called on to him and said, "Be careful out there, rumour has it there is a killer on the loose" "Sure" he replied, Archer then looked at his son, Aldrich only gave a naughty grin knowing he had gone past curfew, his father had always been over protective when it came to him since his mother had passed away five years ago and the war that happened two years ago only made things worse. Aldrich never had a problem with it though, "You were out reading again?" "Yes" Aldrich replies in what could be mistaken as a whisper, his father sighed softly and roughened his hair as a gesture of forgiveness. He then smiled and said, "Let us go home" Aldrich was a bit cold to everyone he met, everyone but his father who he showed love and respect. It was a short and silent walk back home, not that anything was wrong though, neither of them were chatty enough to start a conversation, there was no denying that this silence though, was uncomforting. As they arrived in the three chambered house they called home, Aldrich felt a bit of ease, it wasn't anything extravagant, everything about it was simple and moderate, its den was furnished dark brown sofas around wooden table, a fire place made with bricks at the front wall and a lot of books arranged in a shelf right above it, the books were Archer's, but unlike Aldrich Archer spent his time researching and studying. Archer took a seat while Aldrich tried to start a fire, the silence that filled the room became too uncomforting to Archer making him decide to break the ice, "Did you hear about Bridget?" Archer asked, "No?" "Word has it her son 'Arthur' has become a knight," "Poor kid" Archer sighed in weariness and said, "You know most people consider it an honour to serve the king as a knight" "Well I don't think like most people" By now he was done kindling the fire, he opened a small section of the shelf, here there were about seven books all arranged alphabetically, he pulled out his book and placed it in its rightful place in the shelf. He sat down on a chair facing archer and said, "To be honest I don't think becoming a knight is something that suits me," "Aldrich they are people risking their lives to protect us, I don't think they worried if it suited them" the fire reflected the black colour in Aldrich's bored eyes, he yawned and stood up ready to leave when he said to Archer, "if becoming a knight is as rewarding as you say, then I'm sure a lot of young men are just dying to join, they could probably do without me" With that, he finally left for his room, Archer closed his eyes and rested his head against the chair, "What am I going to do about you?" he soliloquized.

Moments before waking up Aldrich was disturbed by the early light of dawn shimmering through his window, he barely opened his eyes before he groaned from displeasure. He tried to cover himself with his blanket and go back to sleep when he heard a woman's doleful wail in the midst of a crowds noisy murmur making him fully open his eyes, he began to wonder what was happening so close to his house. He stood up sluggishly and put on a simple white tunic that covered the lower parts of his chest and half of his arms. He headed downstairs in haste thinking of what may have happened and worse, who it may have happened to. Reaching his den only made things worse now, while he usually found his father by the fire place asleep with a book in his hand, this time he found nothing but an empty armchair with open books on it, Aldrich knew his father had an obsession of closing and arranging his books even when wanting to ease himself, whatever was happening outside was urgent and Aldrich was scared by this. He noticed the main door unlocked and slightly ajar, judging by how close the commotion was he inferred his father couldn't have gone far. As he got out he met a crown a fair distance away from his front door, he tore his way through the people in haste to see what was going on. As he finally reached the point where all eyes were, Aldrich beheld something he wouldn't soon forget. It was a disfigured corpse, the deceased person was a young boy probably just reaching puberty, one could tell by the way his left hand was stretched out that he was trying to escape till his last breath, the bones on his back were broken and scattered in large pieces in his back and the only things holding his head to his body were thin muscles, his right leg was entirely strewn while his left leg barely had any skin left on it, Aldrich didn't even notice his father as he walked towards the corpse, around the corpse were some guards and surprisingly William, beside him was his weeping mother. William was too much in tears to notice Aldrich who looked more confused than appalled now, this confusion in Aldrich soon cleared when he got a closer look at the body, though the body was massacred all over the face stayed intact, and Aldrich knew that face all too well. It was William's younger brother. Aldrich approached William and tried to comfort him but given the situation, he didn't think he could say anything that could ease his pain. He didn't stop trying though, one of the guards called on William to ask him about the incident, he looked at Aldrich gave a forced smile, "Thank you" he said to him with a shaky voice, Aldrich tapped his shoulder gently and said to him, "take care".

Aldrich didn't bother to look at the corpse before he left to meet up with his father. As they get home the clouds started to darken and from it droplets of water started to fall, Aldrich's expression was nothing but gloomy, his father decided not to bother him, so he began to start a fire. Aldrich sat on a chair and placed his head on his palms, "Why?" he muttered, Archer placed a jar of jam and a loaf of bread beside him and returned to his fire, Aldrich looked up at him and asked, "Who could have done this?" "Well, judging by the recent kills it wasn't a random wild animal" "A person couldn't have dismembered a body like that" Archer poured two cups of tea and handed one over to Aldrich. He sat with the other one in his hands, by now the rain was pouring heavily while lightning was shedding a bit of light in the darkened sky, he looked at Aldrich with an insipid face and said, "A normal person wouldn't do that, however the world we live in makes this a painful reality we must bear." "But why would someone do something so inhumane" "Not everyone thinks the way you do son, even though it isn't as noble as some people, you have a sense of what is right and wrong," he leaned towards him and continued, "some people lack that sense" Upon saying this, Archer realized that Aldrich was only getting more depressed seeing his gaze continuously shift towards the ground. A lighting flash shone brightly across the room and thunder roared stridently, Archer sat back and gazed at the rainy sky and said, "you know a certain race now forgotten, believed that when we die, our souls ascend to live in the skies, and so whenever we see rain it means that the deceased are trying to tell us not to forget them" "If only it were that simple" "If only"

The whole place was enclosed with silence, only small sobs could be heard as they were lowering the casket, the people around were about seven, all dressed in black garments, it was in a grassy field with a small number of trees at a distance. Aldrich and William could be seen sitting by a tree, Aldrich wore on a simple black tunic with a pair of leather trousers and sandals while William on the other hand wore a black leather jacket with silver buttons and a pair of brown trousers, Aldrich looked at him bowing his head on his folded knees. Although he knew it would have been painful to relive the memory, Aldrich couldn't resist the urge to ask him what exactly happened since it was said that it was him who discovered the body, William held his knees tight as he tried to control his shaky voice and all Aldrich could do was wait in anticipation. William calmed himself and began, "It all happened so fast, he had gone missing the night before and my mother sent me to go look for him, I spent the night searching the forest all to no avail" he bowed his head further as Aldrich patted his back to comfort him, he drew out a handkerchief to wipe his tears and sat upright, he then continued, "As I was coming back home I could swear I was hearing his voice, I ran towards it and found him dead" "I'm sorry" "Right now I am the only one my mother has" "Well I'm here now"

William smiled faintly and punched him lightly on his shoulder, Aldrich returned the smile and says, "Besides, someone has to keep your fashion sense in order." The service was short, it wasn't long after that everyone decided to go home, William was escorted by Aldrich while Archer went on home, Aldrich spent some time at their abode before he went home. There was as an apparent gloomy mood in the house until now, he greeted Archer with a smile and archer returned it, Archer then asked, "How are you doing?" "I think I'm okay now." It had been a week since the incident happened, all had seemed to forget it ever happened, even William, Aldrich continued his everyday life of reading under a tree and occasionally meeting up with William, this however didn't stay the same. On a day like every other, Aldrich just finished reading a book and was about to head on home, but something felt odd to him, he felt a strange sensation in his head that made him shut his eyes close continuously. He suddenly started to see a green midst surrounding him, he shook his head and in a second it all disappeared, "Perhaps it was just a trick of the light" he thought to himself, he stretched his arms in the air and stood for a second or two, "maybe I should just go for a walk" he soliloquized. He wandered in various parts of the streets for at least an hour and finally sat down by a tree, the wind caused the leaves on the trees to rustle loudly and it didn't take long for him to notice he was in the woods. The questions on how he got there was already too much, added to the fact that he is not the type to just take walks out of the blue. He stood upright and started pacing trying to make sense out of it, but this new found confusion soon turned to great fear as he noticed something at a distance coming towards him. It looked like a wolf but was barely using its forelimbs to run, the creature was undoubtedly abnormal. As it got close, Aldrich saw it was the size of a bear, it had dull black fur and large fangs stained with blood, its eyes weren't like anything Aldrich had ever seen, there were pure white filled with blood lust. Aldrich couldn't tell what exactly it was but he wasn't waiting to find out, he ran like never before. All he could think of was to escape and all he could feel was his heartbeat, with every few meters he ran he heard the creature's step getting closer, he could now even feel the warmth of its breath on his back, at this pace Aldrich knew the creature would catch him. He didn't relent though, just as it was about to pounce on him, he jumped towards the ground and rolled on it to continue his impetus, this caused the beast to miss him as he pounced over him. Aldrich didn't waste a second as he got back to his feet, he immediately started to run in the opposite direction looking for any where he could escape from. Just ahead he spotted smoke in the sky, he could only hope there were people who could help there, but keeping his gaze high proved to be a bad choice as he tripped on a felled tree, he tried to get back up but the creature was already above him. He stared into its white eyes as it bared its fangs at him, there was no doubt it was a wolf. With its right paw on Aldrich's chest, the creature rose its other paw and tried to slice him with its claws. But just then, as if it were a moment of truth, Aldrich acted solely on instinct as he grabbed a root of the felled tree and swung the entire tree at the creature hitting it on the ribs. The creature tumbled sideways shrieking in pain, Aldrich got to his feet frightened no longer by the creature but by himself. He looked at the tree he was holding by its root, it wasn't too big, but no normal person could carry it alone let alone one-handed. Aldrich was barely understanding the situation with himself but wasn't at the best place to start pondering it as he heard the creatures growl. He looked into its white eyes and felt its blood lust. Without any signs of warning the creature pounced at him but Aldrich who was no longer in a state of panic, took a stance and held the tree up straight like a staff allowing the creatures teeth and claws sink into it, as the creatures posterior paws reached the ground, Aldrich tried to topple it by pushing it towards the ground. This started to prove effective until the creature strengthened its bite on the tree. This caused the wood to crack and Aldrich who was heedless to this began to push harder to topple it once and for all but things turned grave for him when the tree snapped in two. This caused Aldrich to lose balance for a moment and that was all the creature needed to swipe a paw at his head. Aldrich was sent flying and crashing into a tree causing it to break slightly. As blood began to drip by the side of his head, Aldrich slowly started to lose his cognizance, his sense of hearing was reduced into a mere thud on the ground as the creature ran towards him, body became numb all over and his vision was nothing but a blurry image of the beast. But just as he is about to black out, he saw two other figures not sure what, fighting of the creature, it wasn't long until one of them noticed him and rushed towards him right before he lost all sense of awareness. Aldrich woke up feeling light headed, the whole place looked blurry for about two seconds after he woke up. As everything cleared up, he realized himself on a bed in a small room and judging by the orange light entering its window, he could tell that dusk had reached. He tried to sit up but was hindered as he felt pain in his back and head, he noticed there were bandages wrapped lightly around his torso and head. He forced himself to sit upright despite the stinging pain he felt in his body, "You shouldn't move too much, your injuries aren't completely healed" A slightly gassy feminine voice said from his left, he turned his head to see who it was and saw a young woman his age no doubt, in a light blue long-sleeved tunic and black leather trousers. Her eyes shone ocean blue and her straight hair very bright yellow neatly cut right above her back as it covered her ears, Aldrich was admittedly taken aback by her feature but was more so put on edge as she returned his quizzical gaze with a smile, "Where am I?" Aldrich asked, "Well I found you injured and brought you back here" Aldrich was somewhat impressed at how calm and refined her speech was, it took a moment for him to realize she was the one he saw fighting the creature. She leaned forward to resting her elbows on her knees, Aldrich felt very self-conscious as she refused to break her stare at him, "Tell me, do you live around here?" "Yes" "And what led you to this part of the woods" "I can't remember myself", she sat upright and examined his wounds. "How are you not dead?" "What do you mean?" "When I found you, you were crashed into a tree which caused it to break only to discover that the demon wolf was injured its ribs, tell me, how did you do it?" "It happened so fast and..." Aldrich stopped mid-sentence when something dawned upon him, he looked at her with worry in his eyes and said, "Wait, wasn't there two of you, don't tell me the beast..." she cut him off with a light giggle, "For someone who was losing blood you sure are perceptive, my partner is currently trying to track the beast" "I see" "I must thank you though" "For what?" "Even though it was unintentional, you helped us a lot by leading the beast to us" "You were actually going after that thing?" "Yes" "Why would you try to confront it with such few numbers?" "Didn't you try to fight it alone?" "Yes but I ..." "You see that's what interests me about you, somehow you fended of a creature the size of a bear with no combat experience whatsoever and survived what a crash that is sure to kill anyone. I have to say, it's the first I have seen" she moved her chair closer to him and asked,"What is your name?"   “Aldrich" her furrowed brows made Aldrich feel she was somewhat disappointed to hear that, "Your... full name?" "Aldrich slage"   Her eyes lighted up upon once more, she stretched out her hand and said, "Mine is Evelyn." As Aldrich received her hand, he couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly are you?" just then another woman showed up in a red sleeveless tunic wearing leather armour on both her arms, Aldrich wasn't able to hide his shock when he caught a glimpse of her velvet red hair in the sunlight flowing down her back and her large golden eyes. There was no mistaking it, Aldrich had come face to face with the weapons master.