CHAPTER 5: THE RUINS

The two of them were laughing at the top of their lungs like a drunkard in the alleyway who intoxicated in the influence of the alcohol that made them look like an insane bystander making out the fun of everything they could see. But, as the messenger's overreacting laughter gets intense, the General slowly ceases his laugh, till it turns into a giggle while looking at the messenger in front of him with an unknown intention.

"But little one. Did you know what I hate the most? " as the General was holding his stomach, he asked the messenger a question with a controlled chuckle behind his voice

But the delicate ears of the messenger catch the weird intention behind his question, along with the playful sound as he speaks at him, so he slowly halted his laugh as he looked toward the General with a pounding heart and sweaty hands inside of his metal gloves.

"Fai.. fa... failure sir... "

His voice gets stuttered at the sudden changes in the atmosphere inside the tent, and as seconds pass by, the temperatures get colder at an unexplainable fast pace as his whole body is uncontrollably shaking out of his violation with his hair was standing out of goosebumps.

(SNAP)

"correct! You are quite fast to uptake." with the snap of his finger, the general mysterious presence from before when he was in the middle of the meeting changed like a lie instantly and turned into something ferocious like a beast hungry for blood.

"But.. si..r I'm just... I'm ju..just... Relying upon a report to you!!" the messenger could clearly feel the burden of menacing presence emitted by the General- slowly swallowing the silent atmosphere inside the tent until it was enough to press his knees to fall on the floor. At this moment, the clear verdict on his life was truly visible as the blood lust of the General was growing stronger, a sign of his inevitable end.

In the face of true terror, some people might lose their rationality and do all kinds of means to survive.

the messenger was in this kind of situation now, as he lost his sense of hierarchy to start a plan to fight back for his life that might save his life from his insane lord that starting to become unreasonable

But before he created some distance, a red line appeared on his neck that made his senses numb, and blood gushed out into his neck while his expression remained shocked behind his cavalry helmet.

"What did you do?"

These were his last words before his head bounced off the floor with open eyes like a bowling ball rolling on the floor, leaving traces of blood as his helmet ejected all along.

The flickers of the fire give shadow to the headless body of the messenger, accompanied by the shadow of the General with grown tentacles at his back as those tentacles move and lift the messenger's dead body to rip it apart.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The laugh of euphoria gives another level of eeriness to the air that may be hard for anyone to breathe if they were present at the scene.

afterward, when the General's laughter died down as the floor turned into a bloody mess, he used his towel to wipe the blood that spilled on his face and threw the handkerchief on the floor that full of guts

"Clean the mess,"

He ordered before the General took his leave as nothing had happened, but it was clear that there weren't any people inside the tent except for the corpse of the messenger.

When he had gone into the room completely, the table that previously stayed still changed its form into a big ball of slime, to jump towards the corpse and devour it until there were no traces of killing left even though it was so messy a while ago.

The messenger's blood was erased utterly without traces and flaws as if the horrible scene happened in the first place and were all just a dream. No, it was clearly a nightmare that needs to forget.

At the outside of the tent. The general act in his usual self and talk casually to his guards that waiting at the entrance

"The first plan is a failure. "

With just a simple statement from the general, even without anyone asking it, they already know what happens to the previous arrogant messenger that walks past them.

"Pass my order to colonel. make a willing team that can investigate what happened."

"Yes, sir, "one of the guards immediately saluted before leaving.

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(In the ruins)

"What happens here? It's like they massacred them in the most brutal way… Wait, why do they have swords, arrows, spears, and other odd weapons. did I come back in the ancient era?... or we've got some mistakes in the calculation?"

'I don't know what was happening right now. If I recall correctly, the last thing that I'd remember is we are currently on the final trial of the experiment and I think we succeeded because this was not my laboratory, and it feels so real to become a dream.'

"AHHH!!!"

In the midst of my deep thoughts, a sudden agonizing pain as it rushes into my head without any sign almost making my head burst.

"What this?"

While I'm in pain, some of the foreign memories that I'm not familiar with emerge in my mind like a wild flow of water that is let loose in a broken dam.

My mind feels like it was splitting into two, and maybe it will become true if it continues like this, it was hard to bear, and I'm already pissing in extreme pain and sweating like crazy.

"ARGHHH!!! DAMN, WHAT HAPPEN?!!!"

The memories of the man plowing the field that wears a bright smile are comparable to the brilliant sun above him during the noontime and still working diligently, enjoying the simple life brought by the peaceful days.

But suddenly, it changes when the soldiers come to their land and ravage everything they have, killing their precious ones, stealing all their possessions, abusing the woman.

A bright smile turns to a calm face of fury that holds an immeasurable grudge and thirst for vengeance, enough reason for him to throw his plow and pick up the sword, hoping that someday he can attain the revenge that he wanted to, however, as he was lacking some privilege to raise his status because of his lowly background as a commoner, he was tied down as an ordinary soldier even though his skills as a top-notch that can be comparable to any geniuses in the continent, simply because he didn't hold much political influence to rise in ranking inside the military, but he didn't give up, and he never gives up until the end still hoping for the revenge that wanted to

"Huff huff"

After the extreme pain in my head faded and as the flashback of memories ceased inside my head, I was truly convinced that it was a reality. The proof was already right in front of me to prove to myself that it was a reality, and as I further assessed my current condition, I found out that wasn't my real body in the first place.

I look at my hands and other parts of my body to confirm it.

"Pewee (whistle) How many squats did my Calix boy do to achieve this perfect sturdy ass?"

The perfection of his body was like a sculpture crafted by a famous sculptor that put all his life worth effort to finish this work beyond perfection.

When I turned my head to my lower part to see my other head down there, it left me speechless when I finally saw it, and the trumpet sound made by an elephant overlaps in my ears.

" Woo! It scared me, what a dangerous weapon he has, can this be considered as junior?!"

But all jokes aside, I'm seriously delighted to inhale such clean air and stand in this firm soil, but I become a lot discouraged when I see these rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.

"For what reason is this too much bloodshed to be necessary."

for a long time, I felt the jealousy that hid within my heart. They've lived and grown in this bountiful land, but they don't cherish it

instead, they take their greed to make unnecessary and foolish actions,

"I think that must be human nature."

The most dangerous thing humans possess that always leads to destruction was not their creations but their intentions

when I think of this kind of nature that humans have

I've got some shiver down my spine because when this kind of greed was directed in the wrong direction, a lot of things may turn into dust.

Although others might think that somehow I'm exaggerating it, it was the truth, and it already happens to our home planet- the planet earth.

In my wondering of thoughts, the sudden gust of wind blows to my face, and before I notice it the sun is already gone.

"Ohhh damn! it's already dawn! I need to leave immediately in this place. "

I look at the piled corpses and scattered limbs, and a sudden idea pops up in my head.

'I must bury properly the people that are close to him.'

"They started to get smell really bad."

Every time that air blows, the smell of rotten flesh lingers on my nose as I search the lifeless bodies of his friends; although I got accustomed to this rugged scenery, it was still hard for me to stare at the faces of the deceased.