Dark King

The knight bent down and pulled out another corpse. It belonged to a middle-aged male. The legs were broken and there were many scars on the body. His eyes were wide open too.

The knight felt suffocated because of the smell emitted from the corpse. As he was near the stairs he felt uncomfortable as he dropped the body and turned to look at the stairs. It was empty but it felt as if there was someone there. Dust floated on air.

He sighed in relief. He thought that he saw someone for a moment.

The knight didn’t dare to delay the situation as he grabbed the corpse of the male and dragged it away. Even though he was a believer of the Holy Church but he still felt that some hidden invisible spirit was staring at himself.

Soon, he removed the second corpse and quickly ran back. He bent down to grab the corpse. This time he didn’t need to drag the body because it belonged to a child who was eight or nine years old. The eyes of the child were gouged out. The kid had gone through a miserable death.

He left the place. Dean appeared at the stairs again.

“Captain, I’ve moved all of them.” A voice echoed from outside.

“Oh… I’m here.” Another voice echoed from outside: “Damn it! Too smelly! ”

“Yes! Ah! God knows how many days it has been that they were killed.” The knight who previously carried the bodies said.

Captain replied: “Don’t be worried about the smell. Put them inside the bags!”

“Captain, why only two of us are working on this case?”

“Your mother! You are asking way too many questions.”

Dean slowly went down the stairs to listen to both of them to speak. Dean’s body was shrouded in the darkness so his face wasn’t seen. He didn’t make the slightest voice as he walked down the stairs. He turned his head and looked at room from where the previous knight who was draggin the bodies.

The room was messy. Blood was splattered all around. The furnitures were knocked over.

Dean’s eyes had turned dark. It seemed that even if your burned flames in front of him their reflection would be swallowed by the darkness in his eyes. He watched the room in silence. He had rich hunting experience so his mind automatically visualized the scene.

He saw three of them struggle…

Even a blind person would see that this wasn’t a suicide but an brutal killing!

He smelled the air. The killings didn’t happen two days ago but at least half a month before…

The temperatures were very low because they were in the middle of the black snow season. That’s why the bodies rotted late.

Who killed them?

Dean’s eyes were dark and empty.

“Damn it! I lost my appetite because of the smell!” The captain’s voice echoed.

Dean slowly turned his head as he looked through the gap in the window towards the two. The previous knight carried the corpses into the back of the carriage stood in front of the captain: “Captain, they were killed so miserably. It seems like a revenge so why did they say that it was a suicide?”

“Shut up you idiot!” Captain snapped: “It’s decided by the people from above! If they say that it’s a suicide then it’s a suicide! Are you some kind of saint or priest? We are just executing the orders and nothing more. You need to learn a lot of things. Don’t forget sometimes you have to open one of your eyes while to close the other one. Otherwise you will end up like one of these that you carried!”

“Open one and close the other? Captain, but isn’t it an injustice?”

“Are you still asking questions?”

“Yes… yes… No questions…”

They left the place as the carriage moved.

Dean looked at them then his body disappeared from the living room.

The next moment he appeared on manor at street no 73. He knocked the door.

The door opened as brawny man looked at Dean: “Who are you?”

“I heard that an accident happened in the next house. Did you see anything?” Dean asked in a hoarse voice.

Brawny man’s face sank: “Screw off!” He tried to close the door but failed.

Dean raised his left hand and held the door. The man’s body shivered as he felt the door cool down.

“Tell me everything that you know.” Dean said.

The man swallowed saliva as he felt that the grim reaper was pointing its scythe at his neck: “I-I don’t know. I know that half a month ago when it was raining a group of people came to the manor. I heard screams all over the night. I haven’t seen the family since then. The passerbies had sensed the smell and reported to the magistrate. The people from the magistrate came over yesterday and that’s how I learned that the family had committed suicide…”

“Half a month ago … ” Dean pondered. He remembered that half a month ago Jura had come to check himself.

He looked at the man: “Don’t tell anyone that I asked for anything. Otherwise your family will make a suicide too!”

The man’s legs trembled. He could see that Dean wasn’t making a joke: “I-I won’t talk…”

Dean looked at the direction where the carriage had left. His body flashed and he disappeared like a ghost.

The man was scared and almost shouted out loud. Hoever he raised his hand to cover his mouth. He didn’t dare to make a sound as he closed the door in hurry. He decided to move from this unlucky and dangerous neighborhood.

It didn’t take long for Dean to trace the carriage.

Perhaps because of the probable smell problem the carriage didn’t enter the main streets but went through the remote suburbs. At the moment black snow was gradually falling from the sky. The carriage went along a desolate and quite trail. A squeky voice echoed from the carriage as it moved.

Dean was far behind but he understood the destination the carriage was heading too.

The carriage came to stop in front of snow-capped mountains after 10 minutes. The black snow covered the mountainside.

This place was the location of the three volcanoes that were in the outer wall area. It was a natural crematorium.

The land prices were very expensive in the commercial district. That’s why vast majority of people couldn’t afford to bury their relatives in the cemeteries. As a result the corpses of the dead were cremated in the Xiwage volcano. According to the rumors the phrase ‘Xi wa ge’ meant ‘heaven’ in the language of the ancient ones.

Both knights carried the bags as they walked towards the volcano.

Both of them seemed tired. The captain looked at the knight who was panting: “We will bury them in the first magma pool that we find.”

The knight looked around and found a magma pool that was close to him.

There were few tombstones by the pool which were crooked.

Captain commanded: “Throw them.”

The knight threw the bags.

Dean clenched his fingers into a fist but he didn’t move. He would be able to effortlessly kill both of them but an investigation would be opened and his identity was bound to be exposed this way.

His heart trembled because of anger but he had to tolerate.

all three corpses were thrown into the slowly flowing magma pool in a blink of an eye. However they didn’t sink. It seemed that the pool was very shallow.

“Let’s go.” Captain gestured as he turned away.

Knight looked once more at the slowly sinking bags then turned to leave.

A figure teleported by the magma pool after both of them left. Dean quickly shot inside the pool and stood by the bags. The bags were burning.

Dean slowly opened the bags. Three faces were revealed. They were staring at the distant sky as if asking for an answer.

Dean’s face was stiff. The nails of his fingers had ripped into palms. The temperature was extremely high but he ignored it. Many pictures emerged in his mind as he remembered the time when his adoptive mother selected him.

In this cold world the only one who smiled at him with warmth was her.

He wanted to cry out but he couldn’t shed tears.

Everything streamed in front of his eyes as if it happened moments ago.

But his heart was frozen… He couldn’t make a sad expression to react to the sight in front of his eyes.

What is this sadness?

He gentle touched the woman’s face.

Dean thought that he would be able to pay them back for their affection if he brought them into the commercial district and gave them a house. He wanted them to stay away from him so that they wouldn’t be affected by his business. However they were still implicated because of him.

He slowly stood up, took the three bags and left the place.

Dean came to stop near a small forest near the Xiwage volcano. He broke of branches and set up fire to cremate the three corpses. After the cremation he took his clothes and wrapped the ashes with them.

“You won’t die just like this.”

“They will pay hundreds of thousands of times more!”

“They will kowtow before being buried!”

Dean walked through the forest as the black snow fell on his shoulders. His eyes were darker than the black snow.