● In a small village in the middle of the Hlret Desert.
The sky was completely clear with not a single cloud shielding the sun from casting its hot rays and making the red sand hot.
A small village resided in the middle of the desert and a group of people gathered around as two men threw punches at each other. One of the men was Eryth, the dark brown-haired man, and his punches were precise and calculated, despite the hot sun, he doesn't look exhausted, while the other was a light-skinned bald man who had a black headband tied around his head, he had sweat streaking down the side of his head.
They both only had their pants on as they fought, giving the crowd a vivid show of their well and fine muscular physique and some battle scars that Eryth wore proudly.
Eryth threw a swift straight punch that caught the man cleanly in the jaw, causing him to stagger backwards but he didn't fall. The man lunged forward and threw a punch of his own, but Eryth moved his head, allowing the attack to fly past his head.
They both stood still with the man placing his hands on his knee while breathing heavily, almost uncontrollably. The crowd watched and cheered on, giving the two the much-needed energy to charge on.
They both zipped forward at the same time, looking to finally finish the fight once and for all. Eryth watched carefully as he ran forward. He caught a glimpse of the man's eyes moving down to his legs and immediately figured out what he was planning.
Eryth waited until the man had made a move before swiftly and skillfully stepping to the side. He manoeuvred his way behind the man and wrapped his hands around the man's waist, throwing him over his shoulder to the ground with a heavy thud.
Still on the ground facing the clear sky, the man raised his hands. "Okay, you win, you're better than me at wrestling too,"
Eryth placed his hand on his waist and hummed, a smug lingering on his face. "Are you sure you are convinced? We can keep going if you are not."
The man coughed and shook his head.
The crowd slowly started to disperse with Eryth getting a few taps on the shoulder before the man finally got the strength and energy to lead the dark brown haired man into a small hut where they cleaned up and sat around a small table with a few plates of food and drinks arranged around.
"Phew, I swear I almost fainted out there," the man said while gulping down the cold drink.
Eryth nodded. "Yeah, I still am wondering how you all survive this place. I've only been out here two days and man do I already want to give up on life."
"Wait till you live the nights, you'll wish you were dead."
Eryth arrived at the village which was in the middle of the Hlret desert, like he said, two days ago, seeking the whereabouts of the Inshik mountains, where he was informed to find the hourglass by the Time goddess. Upon his arrival, he asked the village chief, Sven, the man sitting across from him for the location but ended up getting into a fight about who could make the best-roasted meat. Immediately after that, while the testing was ongoing before Eryth could ask about the location, they got into another fight on who was stronger, and on the second day, after his victory, Eryth thought to ask again but then they got into another fight on who would win a wrestling match.
"Yeah, I hope I don't." Eryth had stayed in the village for two days, and throughout his stay, it was always been morning with the sun always staring furiously back at him. He's heard stories that it rarely turns dark in the village, but when it does, creatures known as Phantom appear in the desert and attack any moving object and the said creatures remain till it turns morning again.
The man nodded. "Yes, you have to be away fast to your, Inshik mountain, am I right?"
"Yes, and I don't like the way you say it."
Sven shook his head and took a sip. "How did I say it."
"Like you are not going to tell me where it is located."
"Oh I'm not going to tell you," he revealed, causing Eryth to sigh and set the cup he was holding on the table.
"What is it now?"
"I just found out that you are probably one of the strongest mortals I've ever met, and telling you where the Inshik mountain is will mean you being on your way, I can't do that."
Eryth pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why?"
Sven dropped his cup and leaned forward. "Here's the thing, it's going to be night tomorrow," he revealed.
"So?"
"So… the Phantoms awaken which means I'd have to bury some bodies, but I don't have to because you are powerful, the most powerful person I've ever met even, so I want to use you."
Eryth pushed back his hair and groaned. "You sneaky bastard."
"So say many who have tried and died, at this point, my line should be 'it's what I do'."
"When I get this done, we are finished, you tell me what I asked and we'll go our separate ways."
The man nodded. "Sure, if you get it done and supposing no new problems that I could use you to solve arise." He shoots Eryth a smile. "It's what I do."
"What do I need to do?"
"Well, the Phantoms simply wonder about and take the soul of whomever and whatever… at first we'd be indoors until morning but they seemed to have evolved, so now we select a group that'll fight them till morning, but these reatures are only keep spawning back even if killed."
"Get to it already, what do you want me to do?"
The man sighed. "You are impatient, anyway… there's this woman who lived a while ago in this village called Wendy," he started. "She was quite a unique Life and Death Mage who brought back our dead every night so we could have dinner with them, this always does a toll on her because it took a lot of energy to keep the beings up, especially the amount she brought up, she got overwhelmed by this and could barely have her thoughts."
"One night, some guy asked for her to bring back his dog that had just died, Wendy couldn't because she had already risen a lot other stuff, he got mad and stormed out of the place, we thought it was all over, but this guy went on to kill Wendy and toss her into the well."
"Holy, some really crazy people you have in your village."
He sighed. "Yeah, hold that thought," he continued. "So, get this, instead of dying like everyone else does, this Wendy lady expelled her energy and essence all over the desert, causing the Phantoms to arise every night and haunt everyone."
Eryth furrowed. "Why everyone?"
The man scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. She's tormenting everyone for what one person did to her, she was crazy. You should have seen what she turned to, she lost her sanity, losing it almost always, I pitied her."
"It wasn't till five days ago did we found out that her soul was in the well as we always hear cries from there."
"I mean obviously, her body was thrown into the well."
"Right."
"Well, that's the issue, the entire village is suffering for what a single person did, and he is dead, but she's still going."
Eryth sighed and gulped down his drink. "So you want me to go into the well and exorcise her?"
Sven nodded.
"I've never done exorcism before, I guess this could be the start of my splendid career."
"I'll do it, just stick to your words, brother, you tell me the location to the mountain when I'm done."
"I will."
….
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