Chapter 0: Prologue

A tall and slightly bulky figure slowly staggered out from the broken doors with uneven steps. The katana in its right hand dragged along the ground.

The haunting sound of the metallic screech of the katana being dragged on the ground, leaving a faint trail as the blade scraped against the surface, while the metallic screech echoed through the surroundings, disturbing the uneasy silence.

As the figure stepped into the sunlight, its appearance became clear, it was a man. His clothes were heavily damaged, while a battered leather vest clung to his blood-soaked torso.

From head to toe, he was drenched in blood which still flowed slowly, leaving a bloody trail with each step that had started to become laboured.

His left arm was missing below the elbow, the stump haphazardly bandaged with bloodied cloth strips, blood dripping from it intermittently. A combat knife's hilt jutted from his left shoulder, buried deep, yet no blood flowed from the wound.

His breathing had started to become laboured and somewhat shallow. Reaching the open area, the strength in his legs finally gave out. The man collapsed to his knees while the katana he was holding fell next to him as he let go of the hilt.

Tilting his head back, the man let the sunlight illuminate his battered face, which was bruised and marred with multiple cuts and gashes, both big and small, covered with blood and missing skin.

The man's right eye socket was hollow, while blood still seeped from it, slowly. A bone-deep gash ran dangerously close to his left eye, barely missing it by mere millimetres, if not then he would have been completely blind.

As he stared blankly into the sky with his still-working left eye, a single tear slowly formed and traced a path down his cheek but soon mixed with the blood and disappeared.

Suddenly faint sounds of footsteps could be heard from all around, breaking the silence that had been restored recently. The sounds slowly became louder and within mere moments, over fifty figures emerged from the surroundings.

They were all dressed in similar military-like clothes and wearing similar leather vests. Another similarity was that they were all holding swords, shields, bows, crossbows, daggers, etc., but no firearms of any kind.

They came closer to the leaning man and surrounded him and stood still. But soon running footsteps could be heard coming near, and by the sound, more than one person was running towards them.

Soon the running footsteps came to a halt while the people on the right side of the kneeling man moved and two old men dressed similarly to the ones surrounding the man came forward followed by a teenage girl.

Her big black eyes were brimming with tears, her oval face contorted with grief, and her brown ponytail bounced as she ran.

Without any hesitation, the girl pushed the two old men and ran towards the kneeling man who was still staring at the sky, blankly. His breathing was much shallower than before, barely noticeable.

One of the old men instinctively tried to stop the girl, but the other man placed his hand on his shoulder and said: "Don't."

Then he lowered his voice and spoke with a sad tone:

"This might be the last time that she's able to speak with Rudra."

The man who tried to stop the girl hesitated for a bit, but eventually lowered his hand and sighed, as if giving up.

The young girl ran and hugged the kneeling man, Rudra. She also collapsed to her knees and started to bawl her eyes out while repeating a single word over and over in her choked voice.

"Why?"

Rudra lifted his trembling right hand and gently patted the girl's back, his gaze still staring blankly at the sky.

He opened his mouth to speak and a rough and cracked voice escaped his cracked and bloodied lips.

"Why? Because I had to. Nothing else."

Rudra's chest heaved as each word he spoke felt like a struggle. His hand ached with the slightest movement, but he kept patting the girl's back. He tried his best to console and pacify the girl, but she kept crying and sobbing, without pause.

It was slowly starting to get hard for him to speak but he still spoke:

"Neera… I know what you're thinking. But you don't have to blame yourself for anything."

"B-but… I… I… yo-" Neera tried but couldn't even form a proper sentence.

Rudra gently and slowly rubbed her back, as moving his hand was getting harder with each passing second, while Neera kept on sobbing.

"Shh… don't cry," his voice slowly started to grow fainter.

"Do you… want me to feel… guilty for making you… cry?"

"No!" Neera panicked and shook her head while she sobbed.

"I… I can never… but-but…"

"Shhh…" Rudra's vision had started to become slightly hazy, he knew he didn't have much time left.

"Promise me that… you'll be a good, brave girl… *cough-cough* and won't cry anymore."

Neera sobbed and hugged Rudra even harder as she felt him getting limp. She tried to stop crying, but no matter what she couldn't stop her tears from falling while her voice choked in her throat.

"Promise… me… please…" his voice was almost imperceptible at the end.

"I promise! I promise! I promise…" Neera panicked and started to sob even harder.

Rudra's hand that was gently stroking her back stopped and fell limply as did his body, but a very faint smile could be seen at the corner of his lips. It was as if Neera's promise gave him the peace and closure he needed at the end of his journey.