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Darkness...
In a narrow place in a hole amidst the mountains and trees
An entity that appears to be a black shadow, independent on a rock, crumbling
It seems I am dying... I hope to find something that fulfills my desire...
In the time of the human renaissance
Semi-Bronze Age
On the Black Continent
In the village of Atlal al-Raqd, at midday
In the Al-Hamsh neighborhood
A nearby market is crowded with travelers and residents wearing faded clothes that tend toward brown, blue, and green
In a simple blacksmith shop
A young man is using a hammer to strike metal for a sword on a metal pole
He is finishing
An elderly man, his clothes dirty from embers, approaches with a serious expression
Boy, you have to hurry up with your work and do your best if you want food and shelter here... And also, don't forget that that gang is still roaming around our neighborhood. Stay out of their sight
The young man quickly returns a look of surprise
In the evening, after finishing his work, he begins to wander around the village
He heads His gaze shifts to a person who doesn't seem to be a resident. His clothes look like those of a noble warrior with gray hair. He's near a tavern. He looks away, then continues on his way. He meets someone he knows. It's a young boy selling posters and newspapers. A child tells him, "It's been a long time, Marioth. That was it." The young man's name seems to be there, and he responds, "Yes, he's busy working." A child gives him a poster on a piece of paper and tells him to take it for free from him. He picks it up. It looks like an official text from the Royal Council requiring joining the organization, and this time there's a chance for those from a poor class. He ignores it and puts it in his pocket.
He walks off into a forest in the middle of the night. He sits under a nearby tree, picks an apple, and contemplates the sky. It seems that the moon is a slightly different color, leaning toward red. He begins to scribble on a piece of paper with a large quill pen and begins writing down his diary. Here I am, every day, living the same moment... and miserably. I was homeless at the age of 13, living on the street. My parents died in the war. Then I found an opportunity and started working for a domineering blacksmith. He suddenly felt pain in his left arm. It was from the tattoo on his forearm, which was a swirling whirlwind. Suddenly, he saw a black crow flying. He always saw it in the same place and it would land there to feed him. But this time, the crow didn't come to him. Marioth tried. He followed him, starting to run and follow him out of curiosity.
That was a crow. After a few minutes, it disappeared as it passed close to one of the crags without noticing its crows lying injured on the ground.
Under a hole in the middle of the darkness.
He started to sigh.. He started to say to himself, this is what I need, damn it....
He heard a nearby rustling sound.. He started to approach forward. He heard whispers saying, "It seems that you finally came." Marioth was surprised and replied, "Does anyone live here?" Then he smelled a strange, foul odor. He glimpsed something like the corpse of an old man with terrifying features and black veins coming out of it before its flesh was eaten away. And the bones slowly approach, trying to figure out what it is...
Suddenly, the hand of the corpse holds his hand, full of long claws, and grabs his arm. Marioth tries to move away and escape, but it injures the place and tattoos it on his arm. Then the hand of the corpse falls.
Marioth is in pain and moves away because his hand is covered in blood, and he is already exhausted from what happened. He climbs into a hole and runs away.
Meanwhile, it seems... somehow. With that injury, he will live a new, dark path... Was what happened to him destined to happen today?