Chương 104: Equally Insignificant

Xarath stopped before the walls of Olix, a small city nestled within a rocky region. It shared Loxia's ideals, but embodied a faded version of them: less wealthy, less influential and far more fragile. He approached the main gate at an unhurried pace. A toll collector stepped in front of him.

"Fifteen crowns to enter, sir". Xarath regarded him with detached indifference.

"May I come in without paying?" he asked calmly.

"In return, I'll allow you to continue living your empty and meaningless existence". The toll collector frowned.

"Are you threatening me?"

"No", Xarath replied.

"I'm simply predicting what will happen if you keep asking me to pay. Your next action—or your next word—will decide whether you live or die. What will you choose?" The man instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword, his face turning pale. He never had the chance to draw it. An invisible slash cut through the air. The toll collector's head separated from his neck and rolled across the ground.

"Idiot", Xarath muttered as he stepped over the corpse. With a casual wave of his hand, he conjured a black portal behind him. From its depths poured dozens, then hundreds, of goblins.

"You already know what to do", he said without looking back. The goblin chief nodded.

"Of course, my lord". The assault began instantly. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The goblins smashed through the main gate and flooded into the city. Within minutes, Olix was swallowed by chaos. Screams, flames and collapsing buildings filled every street. The goblins crushed skulls with spiked clubs, dragged bodies out of their homes and looted everything they could find.

Xarath walked through the devastation as though he were taking a leisurely stroll. Eventually, he stopped before a gnome with a long black beard. The man stood protectively in front of his wife, a blonde gnome whose body trembled with fear.

"Do you really think you can protect her just by standing in front of her?" Xarath asked, almost curiously.

"You know it's pointless, don't you?"

"Please…" the gnome pleaded.

"Don't hurt her. She's pregnant". Xarath ran a hand through his hair.

"Pregnant?" he repeated.

"And that's supposed to make me feel something?"

"But…what are you?" the gnome cried.

"Of course it should! The child hasn't even been born…it doesn't deserve to die!" Xarath tilted his head slightly and gently patted the gnome's cheek, almost like a father comforting a child.

"Foolish gnome. There is no such thing as deserving to live or deserving to die", he said.

"There is only living or dying. Killing or being killed. It is the only truth shared by every creature in this world. The life of a pregnant gnome is worth no more than that of a worm. Crushing one or the other is exactly the same to me". He took a step forward.

"That is what sets me apart from all of you. In my eyes, every life has the same value because every life is equally insignificant".

"You talk too much, you bas-" Xarath seized him by the head, silencing him instantly. He tightened his fingers ever so slightly. Half a second later, the gnome's skull burst apart like an overripe melon. His wife let out a desperate scream. A cry filled with grief and horror.

"You filthy monster! How could you?! How?!" Xarath sighed. Another invisible slash sliced through the air, severing her neck. Her head rolled to a stop beside her husband's remains, while her body—its swollen belly still unmistakably round—collapsed heavily onto the ground. Without the slightest hesitation, Xarath stepped onto her swollen abdomen, crushing it beneath his heel. Then he resumed walking. Behind him, Olix was slowly being erased from the map. Teresa had stopped alongside her royal guard.

A campfire crackled in the silence of the night.

"You should get some rest, my lady", Naomi said.

"We still have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow".

"I can't sleep", Teresa replied.

"May I ask why?" Teresa lifted her gaze toward the star-filled sky.

"I feel…incomplete", she admitted.

"I need to find that dragon if I'm ever going to feel safe again. Until I do, it'll be like living a life without meaning. I have to find it". Naomi looked at her with unwavering resolve.

"We'll find it. And I'm willing to die if that's what it takes". A faint smile crossed Teresa's face.

"You're right. We'll find it". She met Naomi's eyes.

"But neither of us is going to die to make that happen". The fire continued to crackle in the silence of the night.