The sun shone brightly outside. Birds chirped and a little gust of wind hit the curtains.
An eerie atmosphere filled the noble looking room. The air reeked. Laced with traces of alcohol.
But the reeking smell was more because of blood. It filled the air like uncontrolled pollution.
A boy got up from under the blankets and clutched at his head. His head rang with a sharp sound, his eyes squinted and he felt his head throb afterwards.
As his blurred vision cleared, he looked around.
His hands. They were covered in blood. The blankets were shredded on the ends at his feet.
His heart began pounding as he looked around.
The blankets were drenched and coated scarlet. The floor and carpets. The clothes leading to the door. Along with the walls and the ends of the white curtains.
All of them were drenched in blood.
He noticed his sword which was still sheathed was in the pool of blood. This pool of blood stretched from the end of the bed.
Rushing, the boy jumped to the side of the bed and immediately caught sight of her.
The woman who was pregnant with his child, just layed there unmoving.
She was dead. Her body bled dry. Her corpse was torn open in the stomach. Her guts spilling out, literally.
But more than that, this woman who was pregnant had the baby ripped out of her womb. The ambilical cord was still attached to the baby that was dead just a short distance from her.
The man felt his world slowly crumble. He kept blinking to clear away this nightmare. It had to be a nightmare, an illusion.
It had to be fake, some sort of dark prank by someone.
He slowly held the woman and turned her face to him. Though her silver hair was now covered in her own blood, the man confirmed without a doubt.
This woman who was to be his wife is undoubtedly.... gone. Her eyes blank, probably a few hours had passed.
He picked up the baby and confirmed it was also dead. Both of them were long gone.
The man trembled and tears welled in his eyes. He accepted that this was reality. This wasn't some sort of deception, illusion or even a dream.
"No..!" He muttered to himself.
He shook them both in his trembling hands. Despite his attempt to wake them up, they remained unmoving. His woman and child were dead.
"No... no... no. No. Nooooooooo! Wake up, you have to wake up! Open your eyes!" He started to raise his voice, shouting with a trembling voice.
Tears began falling from his eyes uncontrollably.
"You can't leave yet, you can...! Open your eyes, Jeanette...! Aaaaahhhhhhhhh....!!" He roared, felling hopeless.
He tried to wipe his tears, only for his bloodied hands to smear blood on his face.
The man broke into tears and screamed his lungs out. He hugged the unmoving body of his partner in his arms. A dead baby in hand. He crumbled in his own partner's pool of blood.
For about twenty minutes, the man remained kneeling unmoving. He just let the tears flood silently. His eyes were blank.
His expression was that of a shattered man. The blood looked as though it was glowing in the light of the sun.
The door which was locked burst open and in came two guards and a face that looked familier.
"Eric, what is this?" They all paused at the gruesome sight before their eyes. One of them asked the man, horrified by what he was seeing.
Slowly, the man -Eric- raised his gaze to them. The man who called to him approched with measured steps.
"Lotn, what is the meaning of this? Why did they do this? Who did this? They were innocent, my baby, and her." Eric said with tears flowing down his cheeks even more.
Lotn, looked around the room. Nothing was destroyed. It appears the chaos occurred in this room silently in the dead of the night, or maybe dawn.
But, Eric's sword was covered in blood. But it being sheathed didn't mean anything since it had fingerprints on it.
Maids and others walked into the room. Members of his adventuring party that were his trusted allies.
Everyone was horrified. Their gazes fell on him as if judging him. Whispers also flew around the room and the corridors.
Lotn closed his eyes and dropped his head. Stilling himself, he gave the guards a direct and siply clear command.
"Guards, remove Eric from here at this moments. He is under arrest for murder. Confiscate his sword and seal away his powers. His majesty will attend to this himself." Lotn added and stood aside for the guards.
Even though they hesitated, the guards followed the orders.
"But Lotn... you can't do that to him. We don't know he did this." One member of his party tried to object but Lotn gestured for her to be silent.
The girl kept silent and walked back.
Eric who could barely care for anything, shattered, was dragged away by the guards. He was still analysing what happened in his mind.
The woman he loved was dead. His baby along with her. His world was shattered and his body had gone numb.
The sight played on repeat endlessly.
Eric was taken into the dungeon cells by the guards. He remained slumped in one spot of the cold cell floors for hours.
He wouldn't be bothered to move or do anything. The only things he felt were the strings of his heart being pulled, shredding it to pieces every passing moment.
Absentmindedly, he could hear people passing by his cell from time to time. Some stayed and talked but he did not pay attention to them.
A week or so passed and he finally came to his senses.
Slowly, he recalled what happened with a clear mind. He noticed everything in a calmer light, and he noticed the kind of trouble he was in.
An accusation that had destroyed his good reputation. A payment to the kindness he had shown to this world and everyone.
.
.
.
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