Reminisce

FELIS stood over the creature for a few minutes, pondering the morality of what he just did. He was someone who'd given up war and conquest for a life that he felt was a little more useful than the mere ecstacy of victory. However, when he saw Glit's arm fall to the ground, something snapped in him and he didn't care what function this creature was supposed to serve in the balance of nature, he only wanted it dead.

He shook his head and decided to stop pondering, turning around swiftly he headed back to get Glit. The girl was whimpering in the cold of the forest, her hand clutched against the lump of her severed arm. He didn't say anything, he lifted her up clutching her in his own arms, his face devoid of any emotions.

He glanced around for a while, trying to check if there were any surprises coming for them, but there was none. He decided it was high time he rejoined the rest of the group, hoping all of them survived. He was about to leave the area as planned when he remembered the pregnant woman that's been torn to shreds by the Wendigo.

Felis approached her lifeless form, his gaze heavy with sorrow that cut deeper each time. No matter how often he encountered death, it always left a scar on his heart. He knelt carefully, mindful of Glit trembling in his arms, a fragile reminder of the life he still held onto.

"May the souls of the faithful departed, through God's mercy, find peace," he whispered, gently closing her eyes. His own eyes drifted to her abdomen, where the twisted silhouette of the unborn child lay; corrupted by the Wendigo even before it had a chance to take its first breath.

He began to walk away in sadness as he began to reminisce all he knew about the Wendigo. Those creatures were a result of humanity's immorality, at least that was what he'd read about them. They were born when humans descended so low that they started to feed on other humans for sustenance. "Cannibalistic Shapeshifters," he muttered under his breath. That was how Ages described them as they could shift their shape to appear normal and blend in with the human community.

The last time Felis encountered one of them, he was still in the service of the God King and he'd been investigating a series of disappearances in a certain region. He'd encountered a family of Wendigos that kidnapped and fed on people, funny enough they were prestigious people in the town. He remembered the father, begging him to spare the life of his son and that he'd been looking for a cure and he was close.

Of course, he didn't even heed the man's pleas, he'd ordered the slaughter of every single one of them and he'd burned their house to the ground. When he thinks about it now, maybe he should have been a bit merciful, maybe he should have listened.

He sighed, raising his head up as he discovered that he was already approaching the other group, he could easily detect them due to their place being obviously lit. It seemed as if one of them decided to burn the forest down.

"Captain!" Ash was the first one to spot him and his voice made Felis' lips hint a smile. The boy rushed over to him with a sigh of relief. The other three were crouched over something, and were in a heated debate when Ash spoke his name, they turned around and he could see that they were all relieved he was alive.

"What happened?" Ash asked, the moment he saw Glit in his arms. The others also rushed forward, glancing at the girl in his arms.

Felis didn't say anything, but he placed her on the ground for them to see. "By the God King," Ash muttered as he knelt beside her. He glanced at his captain, his eyes red and close to tears.

The captain just remained stoic and silent. "What about the other woman?" Rowan asked.

"Dead!" Felis replied.

Rowan glanced at him. "What was it?" He inquired with a bit of curiosity.

"A Wendigo!"

Rowan shook his head before signaling the captain to follow him. They both headed away from the kids as they crouched around their friend who seemed to have passed out from the pain. Felis couldn't do much, he wasn't an Apothecary, and neither was the one eyed pirate.

When they were away from the kids, Rowan glanced at him, his face holding a deep concern. "Are you okay?" He demanded.

"Yes…" Felis sighed. "Yes, I am okay! Why did you call me here?"

Rowan then pointed to something on the ground and Felis gazed in the direction. Lying on the floor was a tree vine that seemed to be pulsing with light. "What's that?" Felis demanded, crouching low to examine it.

"That is the Óró," he sighed. "The kids and I were contemplating whether to kill it or not," he explained.

"No… no more killing, let's just get out of this hell," he shook his head and Rowan nodded.

The vice captain turned to the rest of them. "Come on, kids! Let's go." He said. "We need to get the hell out of here!" He yelled trying to incite a sense of emergency.

The children did listen, but all of them seemed to have their energies sapped out so it took a little longer for them to get themselves ready.

Felis carried Glit in his arms and soon enough they were all heading out of the island. The island had affected all of them in different ways but it seemed to have affected Ash psychologically. Most of his life he'd been an introvert, always keeping his thoughts to himself and never doing too much.

But this night, death tried to take him multiple times and he'd seen others die right before his eyes in the most grotesque way possible. He realized he could die at anytime and all that he kept bottled in will never be spoken of, cause no one will ever know his pain, nor his dreams. All he'd been doing all this while was just existing and he decided he was going to start living.

His parents were dead and there was nothing he could do about that now, all he could do was live his best.