The Fallens

The environment was crammed with arrows and swords. People were screaming in pain, and the bodies of bandits and mercenaries littered the ground. Harith saw that Hobs had intentionally backstabbed one of their comrades, and a wave of trauma and fear washed over him, paralyzing him for a long moment.

Before Harith could do anything, Hobs tackled him to the ground, making him look like a dead body. "Just stay down if you want to live, do you understand?"

"WHY? WHY DID YOU BETRAY US?!"

"Don't take it personally, kid. It's all about business," Hobs replied, as he continued to fight alongside the bandits and other traitors in the squad.

Hearing Hobs, Harith felt humiliated and pathetic. He couldn't do anything to help. "Why? Why did you betray us?" Harith could only cry, his face pressed against the ground. A flashback came to him. He saw a girl crying, begging for forgiveness from someone in front of her.

[Why? Why did you lie to me?!]

"Is that... me?" Harith thought, the memory foggy yet intense.

[Sergeant, please don't leave me!]

Another flashback hit him.

[NO! I WILL KILL THEM! I WILL KILL THEM ALL!]

Harith's eyes turned red, his face showing nothing but bloodlust. The scene shifted to Natan and other mercenaries fighting off more bandits and renegades.

"You traitor! We trusted you!" one of the mercenaries yelled.

"Enough with this lame drama. Just surrender so we can end this quickly," a bandit sneered.

"Like hell I will surrender to scum like you. I will fight even if it costs me my li—" Before he could finish, his throat was sliced by Natan, another traitor among them.

"You took too long. I was getting bored. Alright, who's next?" Natan taunted.

After a prolonged battle, the bandits won due to their ambush and the traitors among the mercenaries.

"Finally, it's over. Man, I got pretty tired of all this friendship stuff," Natan said.

"Next time, don't kill so many of our comrades, even if you're undercover!" another bandit scolded.

"What? It was just five of them. I needed to make sure I was on their side. Besides, I didn't even know them, so it was easy."

As they chatted about their victory, something stirred from the ground.

"Ah, look. There's still someone alive," one of the bandits said.

"I want to skin this kid alive and take his head as a trophy," another bandit sneered.

"Kid?" Hobs realized it was Harith, the only kid on their journey. Despite betraying him, he still felt some sympathy.

"Whoa, whoa, stay down. Let the kid live," Hobs intervened.

"Are you feeling sorry for him? Even after betraying all of them?" a bandit questioned.

"I know, but he's still a kid."

From a distance, Hobs saw Harith, carrying his gun and walking slowly towards them. Something was wrong.

"You... you..." Harith's voice trembled with rage.

"What?" a bandit asked.

"YOU TRAITOR!!" Harith screamed, pointing his gun at Hobs. The other bandits charged at him.

"Aaarg!" Harith's gaze alone seemed to suffocate them.

"Why is it so hard to breathe?" one bandit gasped.

Harith aimed at the bandit's head and fired.

[BANG]

"What the—"

[BANG]

Harith's shots were precise, all headshots. A bandit tried to attack him from behind, but Harith dodged and shot him too. He reloaded his gun with lightning speed.

[BANG]

In a minute, Harith had killed ten bandits.

"Harith, calm down! We can talk about this," Hobs pleaded, noticing Harith's eyes, once green as mint, now blood-red. Harith looked completely different, not hesitating to pull the trigger.

[KRIK KRIK]

"Aw, fu—"

[BANG]

Harith's gun jammed, having fallen in the mud earlier. He had been lucky it worked before, but now his luck had run out.

"HARITH! Who did that?!" Hobs screamed.

"Relax, you dumbass. He's not dead. Yet," Natan said, lowering his smoking gun. He had shot Harith directly in the right eye, destroying the eyeball but not penetrating his skull, thanks to sheer luck.

"Stay with me, Harith," Hobs said, using his healing magic to reduce the pain. Harith, unconscious, lay still as the chaos around them subsided.