Issue #2-Chapter 4, Part 2

"So they visited the witch in the forest and provided her with a wrapped baby boy.

"'There you are, woman. We appreciate what you've done for us,' the queen said.

"'Yes, absolutely,' the king agreed, 'We wouldn't have done this without you.'

"The witch looked inside the baby wrap and saw the baby smiling at her, touching his nose a bit. 'Why, of course, of course, my dear king and queen. And I also thank you for your offer. I appreciate your gratitude and accept your payment gift. I hope you two have a good day and wish you both a prosperous kingdom.'

"'We wish you to have a nice day and great longevity,' the rulers said as they waved at the witch and left the forest. After the witch waved back at them, she looked down at the laughing baby and licked her lips. 'Ah, yes, yes. You're all mine now and I'm just starving.'

"Nine days after the witch ate the baby boy, she was enjoying her day in the forest until a couple of women passed by her. She hid behind the bushes to avoid being detected, while their laughter echoed throughout the forest.

"'Did you hear that the prince of Shalom is getting a holy cleansing provided by the gods this morning?' One of them asked as the witch became confused.

"'The prince of Shalom is getting a holy cleansing?' the witch asked herself in a lower voice, 'But I just ate the ruler's heir. I don't understand at all. How could he survive being eaten by the witch?'

"'Why, yes, of course I have,' another woman answered. 'He's just so cute, I bet he's even cuter when he was cleansed.'

"'I know right,' one of the women said as she and the other one laughed. The witch came out of hiding and her face became even more confused, walking back and forth until she finally figured it all out which made her very angry. 'Oh, they tricked me! They gave me the wrong baby to eat! Oh, I'll get them for that! They shall see my wrath.'

"After the prince was cleansed, the rulers threw a celebratory party for his cleansing. The king and queen were having a good time in their kingdom and gaining respect from society again, until the witch arrived and pointed her finger at the rulers, right after she found out that the baby was indeed alive after all.

"'You tricked me! You said you would give me your heir as payment for making the queen fertile, yes? And yet you tricked me into eating the wrong baby boy! Did you want me to die young? Now you will face punishment for breaking your promise to me!' The witch roared. She cast her spells on the king and turned him into a lycan, the queen into a vampiress, and their four daughters into other monsters alongside the aristocrats, staff and soldiers there.

"The monsters there terrorized and killed the townsfolk there. The witch killed the heir with her fingernails and watched the kingdom of Shalom in ruin with joy, preparing to feast on the heir, becoming ruler of the kingdom. With some of the townsfolk having died ever since the incident, some of them survived and asked the kingdoms for help to rescue Shalom from the witch.

"Before help arrived however, the witch used her magic to seal off the kingdom and prevented other kingdoms from saving Shalom, never mind finding it. Shalom was never found and thus the survivors were never taken seriously ever again because of this. It became the kingdom of never returning.

"As the years went by and the majority of the people were killed there, the witch decided to unseal Shalom as a peaceful town without the castle being present there. Changing the kingdom's name to Pagis, she tricked travelers into attending there through her good deeds and got them killed for her to feast on. And the cycle repeats with no one to save the kingdom from her and it remains like this for years to come."

Remaining standing there with my arms crossed, my eyes still darted at the old man and I asked him while wandering my eyes around, "Ah, so this place used to be called Shalom before the witch became ruler of the kingdom, eh?"

"Yes, it was," the old man responded while he stood up from the chair. "I think it's safe for us to go find Silverus and Aleke while we're at it."

"And who are they exactly? Are they friends of yours or something?"

"Why, of course, yes. They are," the old man walked around the table past me with the crossbow and the candle in his hand. "We have to find them to help us save Shalom and get out of this kingdom. Then we shall have to destroy all the monsters and the witch-the first one being Alpha, the lycan king. It's the only way out."

You've gotta be kiddin' me…like, is there no other way besides that?! Seriously?!

I raised my eyebrow at him. "And I'm guessin' this lycan king is the king of Shalom, yes?"

"Yes, that's right," the old man said before he widened his eyes and grabbed onto his chest, which led him to stop moving and collapsed to the ground. "Argh!"

The candle and the crossbow landed on the ground, nowhere to be seen. There was smoke ascending towards the ceiling, as I assumed the candle was blown out already. The sound of the crossbow sliding on the floor revibrated until it hit the stairway.

"Huh?! Hey, are you alright?!" I dashed towards the old man and kneeled down on the floor, shaking the old man. I didn't expect him to collapse, but here we are regardless. I heard no response from him as his eyes were closed. "Hey, are you okay, old man?"

There was still no response from him, so I said, "Hello?!" to him and shook him a couple more times. Still no answer from him.

I frowned at the old man and moved my eyes sideways. I was quizzical about whether he was dead or not.

Oh, please don't tell me you're dead. Please don't tell me you're dead.

I turned to the stairway and the old man back and forth, struggling to decide whether I should leave the old man dyin' alone or save him. After a while though, I was more likely about to leave the old man and get the hell out of here, yet I couldn't sit by and see him die like that. So I remained with him and hoped that he would remain alive.