~ The Adventurer Chronicle 27 ~
"... so why exactly didn't you kill them?
- What is the problem with not killing, you should be more worried if I were out there killing without need.
She look directly at him, one eyebrow up, the other down. Clearly annoyed by that.
- You know I didn't mean it as a bad thing. But since we are at it, my problem is that, despite the fact the killing is far more easy than capturing, what worries me is that we were in danger, nearly being killed, just so we didn't kill them. I don't think it is worth all the trouble, but you seem to have a reason. So I'm asking you to share it.
- I promised myself I wouldn't kill anymore. - A silent moment as he look down to his open hand - I've killed my share already, I don't want to kill without need, and as hard as it may have been, we didn't need to kill anyone today.
He made no effort to hide his sorrow. She noticed it, but she wouldn't understand the magnitude of his sorrow, until much latter.
- We've all got our share of deaths hanging on our heads, and from what we've seen, we are headed to more bloodshed. But you of all people shouldn't be so shaken about the deaths you've caused, specially when the matter is putting a loved one's live at risk.
- You wouldn't understand! - He said raising his voice a bit, and making it more deep. - You never had to face every death you've cause in the eyes, and feel their pain.
She leaned backwards, surprised by his distress. This was not as simple as she first thought, but she got more curious now, about the friendly figure, with the uncharted past, showing off anger, as she never seen he do.
He was right. She didn't know about that kind pain, but she had her own torments, and she didn't want to have his torments causing more pain to the group. She had to pry.
- So what happened to you? I'd like to try and understand if you will let me. Last time I saw you, you didn't have this burden on you.
He sighted.
- Well, when I left on my journey I traveled to lots of different places. After sometime I took the role of hunter, both for bounties, and for treasures. This of course leads you everywhere, and you have to face the most dangerous situations. While I was beginning I did not have the power to capture my bounties without facing some deadly fights, of course most of the time my stealth and agility kept me at bay from danger, but sometimes no stealth can avoid a fight against a strong prey. Even when some of the treasures I found were heavily surrounded by animals and monsters of all sorts, it is difficult to raid without notice. Until I got more power, I had to kill most who threatened my life.
- Self defense, it's natural, you have nothing to blame.
He tightened his muscles for a second. At this point he was annoyed to hear that so many times. He relaxed, as her comment was more than innocent, and as he did he wove his hand drawing upon the power of the shadows to project some image.
- Even when self defense takes place, it is still no reason to kill an innocent being. I didn't know it then. And my crimes went unpunished. Until went for the bounty on this man.
An image appeared from the shadows, it was a silhouette of a not too old man. Low beard, darkish hair, blue eyes, and a fairly tanned skin.
- I went on the request of the king, who had accused him of treason, and developing secret arts against the helm. I passed through his minions, never stopping to count the bodies, I wanted to be swift, and take him before more harm could be done. But I ignored that a master of secret arts would have a very strong power.
The image changed to a statue of a lady holding a scale crossed by a sword.
- "Soul balance, call of judgment" is what he called it, possibly one of the most powerful summoning spells I've seen. It called forth the Keeper of souls, as he presented himself. This entity, along with others of it's species, are responsible for guarding the souls of those who died early, until either the planet is ready for them to return, or until they get resurrected. But he is driven by the souls he carries, seeking revenge on those who killed the souls. The spell was designed to bring this Keeper, so that he would give back the pain that one caused, in the case of the summoning, both the caster and the target, my pray and me.
The image in his hands showed a small girl, covered mostly by a blue robe, dragging in the ground. Only her head and right hand were uncovered, she had very dark straight red hair, and black eyes. On her hand a bird cage, were she held the souls she guarded.
- The fact, is that despite the whole distress and danger he had caused, he killed very little people. Differently from me. I had for a second to feel all the pain I had caused. Those who died for a good reason hurt less, but every innocent monster, which I killed while hinting for treasure, and the few people who were innocently killed by my hand, were...
~ End of Part 27 ~

The sleeping corpse.
Just another day at work.
The weather is out of control these days. Currently the air seems cold, from both the chilly night and the winter air the roams around. And following winter tradition, air is very dry, so no clouds in the sky, only the strong, warming sun.
I'd just gotten to the office from lunch. I walk to my desk, thinking about what should I do to solve my problem, when I glance out the window, just inspecting the landscape and the sunny day. Keep in mind that I work at the second floor (also top floor) of a building that sits on one of the highest grounds on the region, my window faces directly the low part, so you can see far away.
Also, I work in a restricted area, inside a complex, so he is not a hobo. And he also wears something that resembles the cleaning staff uniform.
But you don't have to look far away to take things out of the ordinary, because just low out my window, on a path that would seem to lead from the back of my building to some weird other building a about 25 meters away, on ground, next to a rock the size of a big human head, a human lay down on the ground, perfectly still.
Yes, on the ground rock, in the middle of the path, under the hot-ish sun, facing down and very quite.
Well, what to say, I point out the window, call the attention of my coworkers and say, "Hey a dead body.". They laugh, my joke was well taken, no one seems worried. I o the same routine with my boss, he laughs a bit, and I return to my desk.
The joke to me had ended there, I made a witty comment about the man unusually sleeping in the middle of the road and in the sun, so I think of leaving him to his business and try to return to mine.
But interestingly the joke doesn't fade so easily. People seem to turn back to him from moments to moments and keep up the small jokes and fun around the office. And as the guy does not wake up, we start with more jokes, about the end of days, or zombie movies and such, till someone notices, near the other building, behind the tree, there are two more people laying down.
At some point we notice the people in office one floor under us seems to have noticed the guy on the path. They yell something trying to wake him. No apparent effect.
Someone in our office points that he saw the body move a bit. We take the chance to make more jokes.
I'm switching between work and the guy, so eventually I notice that he really did move his legs.
So I let the joke die. Until someone starts to walk on a higher level path, as to get closer to the body and start to call for his attention.
Of course eventually the flips over his head, looking to his inquisitor, and they talk for some time.
We knew the guy was just sleeping.
But come on, it is pretty weird to see a guy, sleeping in the ground, under the sun, near a rock bigger than his head. Good laughs.

Maintenance.
Yeah, I've been neglecting the blog.
I had some troubles getting my hours straight since I had a new computer to install.
So today I'm doing full scale maintenance. Deleting doubled mp3, mp3 that I don't like, filing every song into it's appropriate folder. I'll be doing this this weekend.
It is fun to see some old and forgotten things.
I hope I can do it all in two days.

When I finish I'll probably have more time, so I can resume a more regular posting.
Until then...