The Man

  • Smiling, the Man approached the lone guard on the bridge.

    “Halt!” The guard shouted, hoping his voice didn’t sound quite as frightened as it did to him.

    The guard then shivered, seeing a detached lopsided grin plaster itself over the Man’s features after he spoke.

    “Do you need something?” The Man’s voice was cold, sarcastic, cruel, mocking.

    “You know very well what I am here for! You monster!” The guard ignored his voice crack, and attempted to put on a disgusted face to hide the fear that threatened to break through his flimsy facade.

    Surprisingly, the Man laughed. And laughed. And laughed. The guard shivered at the sound of it, a harsh, delirious laughter echoing hysterically throughout the surrounding mountains and empty city behind him.

    “Oh, oh my,” The Man began after wiping his eyes, “You think you can stop me? I’ll kill you with one swipe of my blade, and after I slaughter Windhelm, I’ll come back to play hide-and-seek in your body! Imagine their faces when they come back to see the city, and I pop out! Ahahaha!” The Man erupted into laughter once more, the guard shivering uncontrollably in front of him.

    “No! You have slaughtered too many innocents! Your mockery of Skyrim ends today, scum!”

    The Man looked at the guard amused. “Monster? Scum? Is that all you have? I guess you’re not the freshest corpse in the grave.” With that last statement, he launched himself at the guard, cackling insanely.

    The guard said nothing, too busy defending himself from the Man’s ruthless onslaught. The Man, however, said enough for both of them.

    “Ahaha! Did you like that corpse reference? How many cities have been buried? I heard that they have started to make one mass-grave for each city. How thoughtful of them!”

    The guard simply grunted in disgust as the Man’s blade almost met his ribs, then winced when a dagger cut shallowly against his shoulder. The sword and dagger style was unusual, and hard to defend against.

    Finally, with an out-of-character burst of rage, the guard went on the offense. The Man’s face was surprised, then delighted. “Yes! Attack! Think about all those that have died because of me!”

    The guard shook with rage as he attacked, his anger spurring on more and more powerful blows, but his style getting progressively more sloppy, his guard getting lower and lower.

    Just when the Man was about to take advantage of the guard’s anger lowering his defense, he found a blade suddenly in his heart. “Oh,” he muttered simply before folding like an empty cloak.

    “Good riddance,” the guard spat before starting to limp past the Man’s body, suddenly feeling his wounds and fatigue crash down on him.

    When he drew even with the corpse of his foe, a hand shot out and grabbed his foot, thankfully not his bad one. Letting out a yell of shock, the guard’s eyes saw the Man’s grinning features looking up at him.

    “Thought you got me, eh? I won’t go down as easily as that! Although I admit, you are far more skillful than I thought you would be.”

    “B-B… But how?!” The guard screamed in horrified shock, before he saw the man’s black eyes, recognizing what they told. Now that he thought about it, he could hear the tinkle of soul gems in the Man’s many cloak pockets. Odd, so many pockets, until you thought about what they could possibly be used to store, and why a person would want them.

    “You’re a… a lich…” The guard whispered, while the Man nodded, amused.

    “Oh, oh, very good! The little Nord finally realizes the truth. Now, where was I?” Suddenly the Man pulled the guard off of his feet. Leaping up, the Man drew his sword back to strike the final blow.

    “This means nothing, corpse!” The guard snarled. “I was a distraction, while the city got away. Your victory is actually your defeat, the first of many!”

    “Oh, really?” The Man asked, amused. “They don’t know my secret though…”

    The guard spat out his next words, which wiped the smug expression off the Man’s face. “Fool! They are leaving Skyrim! And, if our scholars are not mistaken, you are bound here forever!”

    The Man’s face slowly morphed into an expression of rage. “Is that so, you little thug?” He coldly asked. “I won’t catch them, will I?”

    The guard nodded his agreement, smiling despite his death nearing by the second.

    “In that case… We’ll have a bit of fun, now won’t we?” The guard’s heart turned to lead and his blood froze, before hardening his heart into something approaching steel. “Do your worst!”

    “Oh, I will…” The evening echoed with the screams of the guard, as blades slashed and cut in ways known only to master torturers. But when the deed was finally done, deep into the night, the guard’s soul was as light as the wind, knowing that he had saved his city from the evil lich that killed him.

Comments

8 Comments
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  June 10, 2016
    Woah! People! 
    @Wing Whoops! I'll fix it. Thanks for reading! And yeah, the Man did have a bad day there. Poor guard.
    @Lissete Thanks for reading!
    @Sotek I certainly think I'd be a blubbering mess, compared to this guard. Thanks!
    @...  more
  • Tenebrous
    Tenebrous   ·  June 10, 2016
    Hey, quick question that just occurred to me: Is the Man supposed to be a player character? Because if so, this just got even darker.
  • Justiciar Thorien
    Justiciar Thorien   ·  June 10, 2016
    Whoa this is scary and awesome. One liiiittle thing: "lich" is spelled without "t"... Sorry)
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  June 10, 2016
    Dark but very cool. One can hope they meet their fate with the same nerves as the guard.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  June 10, 2016
    I liked this. The good old hold guard, trusty and true. Nice read, Lyall. 
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  June 10, 2016
    Lyall, you never cease to unnerve.  But seeing the Man's smugness drop when he realised he had been outsmarted was just too good, even though it did mean the guard would suffer for it.
    Isn't it spelled 'lich', though? I've never seen the 'litch' spe...  more
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  June 9, 2016
    Thanks Ian! I have to admit, I haven't read your story *Guilty face* I'm catching up right now, I'll probably just leave comments on the latest chapter after catching up, then of course comment as they come. Thanks for reading!
  • Tenebrous
    Tenebrous   ·  June 9, 2016
    *whistle* This was a dark read. Still, I enjoyed it!