NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The End of the Chase
(This chapter was uploaded, as a special case, on Wednesday 10/April/2024 9:30 AM, timezone GMT+3)
Special thanks to RikuKage for helping me with this story.
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('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the notes at the end of the chapter.
"..." small moment of silence
"Talking"
[Dialogue] (What language it is: Accent if necessary)
"He-" Someone was interrupted.
'Thinking'
{Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names}
(PoV)
(Flashback)
Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.
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(3rd person PoV)
"GUARDS OF PREBLICA! CLOSE THE GATES BEHIND ME!" Henryk screamed at the top of his lungs as soon as Shane or whoever else was on guard duty could hear it. Although Shane was off duty for the next hour or so, he warned the other guards stationed at the entrance of the danger of monsters or animals possibly following the new prospective hunter to the village.
"PREPARE TO CLOSE THE GATES!" The guardsmen shouted. They repositioned themselves, with some hands on the gate levers, ready to close them at any time.
Emergency bells were rung.
The people who arrived at the gates were led inside and were arranged a location where they would be questioned about their reason for visiting later, when their safety had been ensured.
The guards were nervous as they saw Henryk, injured and bleeding an unhealthy amount of blood, sprint. Some were astounded by the comically ludicrous sight of him hauling a wolf on his shoulders and, presumably, its cub under his arm.
Fey was flying above him, following his path.
Henryk's face went sour as he noticed the loup garou approaching him.
'I might not make it!' Henryk understood that he could make it on his own, but there was always the potential that he wouldn't.
Futura struggled on his shoulder and eventually broke free from his grip. She then used the momentum that should have propelled her forward to get a jump start on her sprint to the gate. She barked at Henryk to give her son to her, keeping her mouth open so she could carry him by the back of his neck. She then fled all the way on her own, not glancing back to check on Henryk; any delay means that they would be caught and consequently killed by the loup garou.
As Henryk approached the gates, he was still being pursued by four bloodthirsty loup garou, with others following after them and closing in on him, their current prey.
His legs ached from running as quickly as he could for such an extended amount of time. The wounds all over burned with pain. His lungs were choking him, crying for him to take at least a short rest, a breather. He couldn't keep himself together anymore.
He abused his legs. His muscles were crying in pure agony as he pushed them to run at full speed. That, along with the adrenaline rush he was experiencing, meant he was currently running on fumes.
Henryk relied on his numbed senses to avoid feeling the pain of most of his muscles as they were either ruptured or nearly so. If his adrenaline surge expires, he drops to the ground, fully immobilised by the pain that will shoot through his entire being at that point.
Henryk noticed the wolf on his shoulder struggling, so he started to resist on his end. He failed, though, and the wolf was released. His heart dropped to his stomach when he watched the wolf drop to the ground.
'Sorry. I don't have time to go back and pick you up. We will die like that' He felt some loss. That only lasted until Futura rolled to her feet. Then, without stopping, used the forward momentum that wouldn't leave her body to propel herself ahead.
He was relieved to see that the wolf was not wasting its life or making a useless sacrifice that would have no effect in that situation. He passed the cub to Futura, who carried him by the back of the neck in the same way that cats and other mammalian predators do. ('1)
While correcting his posture, he looked up at Fey in the sky. As a result, he failed to notice the small stone he was going to trip on.
"LET THE WOLVES IN!!" 'Just this last stretch!' Henryk attempted to push himself even quicker towards the safety of the gates. The sooner he reaches the safety of the walls, the sooner he can call Fey and check on her.
"HENRYK!" Shane shouted.
When Shane was notified, being the highest-ranking guardsman, their captain, he rushed to the scene. He stood there, ready to assist when needed. From his spot, he saw Henryk tripping during the final stretch before the gate.
'No! I ain't allowing myself to fall here!' Henryk was skilled at parkour and acrobatics. As a result, he barely managed to catch himself, despite his panic and tiredness, before collapsing into the earth below.
He cartwheeled with his less weary arms, expecting to land on his knees. While doing so, he noticed the foot of a loup garou, which were perilously close, just as he began the cartwheel.
'I'll teach you your last lesson in life! You bastard!' Henryk developed a spark of rage within him. He channeled everything into his actions. While he was still lifting his legs in the air, he retracted them in anticipation of the loup garou approaching near enough to strike. When it was time, he slammed both legs into the loup's chest, knocking the breath out of him and throwing him on his back.
Henryk was not doing any better. By the time he fell on the ground, his legs had lost all sensation. He sat there, unsheathing both blades and braced himself for what lay ahead, ready to fight for his life.
His drive was so evident in his actions, with little desperation and so much confidence, that he startled one of the loup garou, who stood at the back.
'My legs will definitely kill me after this. This will suck the next morning, if not today. Let's hope to stay conscious today, for starters' Henryk's actions did not reveal any signs of his uncertainty. One wrong move and he was dead.
In another location, near the gates, the guards watched their captain and two others charge to Henryk's aid as a shadow dive-bombed the loup garou one by one from the skies before flying high again.
She was exhausted. But what kept her moving was her desire to defend the man who gave her a chance at life, her adoptive father.
'Even if my father tells me to stop, I won't!' Fey's thoughts were along those lines as she delivered another hit with her now-sore talons. Fey pushed herself to kill a few more, or at least cripple them for a while. She persevered. Even now, she felt her thoughts becoming clearer and sharper.
She made an amateurish estimate of how many loup garou she could kill to relieve the burden on those who came to Henryk's aid. She knew they were assisting him because the human he had spoken with several times was now leading the way.
"PPIIIIEEEE!!" Fey remained committed to her endeavour.
Henryk was deeply dismayed by what he witnessed. He did not want Fey to throw herself at a pack of wolves when her chances of survival were minimal. He devised a plan to lighten her load and take some of the danger away from her.
"Come at me, you pests. I'll kill every last one of you" Henryk snarled in a gruff voice so low it sent shivers down the spines of those who understood the words. But this was only a cover for his deteriorating vision and shortness of breath.
'I'd lose if a fight broke out. The difference in our muscle strength is too high, and in their favor. The only reasons I even killed any would be my sharp knives and heavier body' Henryk was aware of his disadvantages and had no idea what to do. He knew he would come to regret this.
Henryk was concerned for Fey. He watched her move from one loup garou to the next, making his face twist in concern for her safety. But even that was a luxury he could not afford. The slightest vulnerability would cause the monsters surrounding him to attack.
Henryk kept his focus on the one who appeared to be the strongest, while listening for the footfall of the others. That is, until he heard the thud of the monster behind him crashing to the ground. He ignored it since doing so would allow the leading monster to strike.
When he noticed that even the leading loup garou was looking elsewhere, he turned his attention to what had piqued their interest.
'What the heck?!' Henryk's mind was blown. An elven spearwoman, a muscular one, was approaching him, following Shane, who was also brandishing a spear. The astonishment did not stop with her. A dwarf wielded a bow in the distance. You read that correctly. A 'normal' bow, not a crossbow.
Henryk seized the opportunity and swung the knives in his hands at the nearest loup garou, causing a superficial slash across the creature's chest. It lurched back a few feet, growling and placing a hand over its superficial wound. The wound burned, but it was not severe enough to prevent the monster from moving. It was essentially a warning attack from Henryk.
By the time the duo arrived at the wolf monsters on each side of him, Henryk saw an arrow passing him and landing into the loup garou standing in front of him, landing in one of the legs, notably the right knee.
None of the four monsters had died, but they were now reluctant to attack. Between the throes of death from an existence that was already a threat before then, and three others with the reinforcement that was on its way, the loup garou fell back for the time being.
That was not to mention, they felt suffocated and dizzy, their minds falling to lethargy, around this human settlement. They always did in the past, and would be reluctant to orchestrate an attack without much preparation.
They would arrive at dusk and launch a night attack under the cover of darkness, with what limited countermeasure they have for that dreaded suffocating feeling they get around this area.
They could sense it. Tonight was a moonless night. And humans were not the best in such a gloomy environment, where they could only rely on the moonlight to see.
The loup garou did not surrender. They made a tactical and calculated retreat, intending to regroup their remaining forces and bring down Preblica's fortifications.
"Silia, stay with me here to watch their movement. The rest of you take Henryk inside and treat him" Shane said with a grim face. He held his spear in a ready stance, waiting for the loup garou's next move, or so he hoped they thought. He knew they preferred to attack at night. If the people of Preblica maintained their guard, the loup garou's night raid would be foiled.
Shane looked at Fey, who was strangling the final loup garou on the field, after he had ensured Henryk's safety. He observed that a number of her talons were broken (not the fingers, just the nails).
"Fey!" Shane made many attempts to call her but was unsuccessful. He got close enough to grab her. He wrapped his arms around her wings and torso, one hand keeping her beak from biting him. He didn't let her wings beat once on the trip back. When she was placed near Henryk, she calmly began to observe him.
Fey retaliated against Shane by leaping up to him and biting off his armour after ensuring Henryk's survival. She got lucky with some of the bites and cut the clasps that held the shins in place. She was pleased with merely that, luckily.
The bystanders observed Fey take a long look at Henryk before pecking his forehead and peering into his closed eyes. She quickly collapsed atop Henryk's chest, the mind of the magic stones whirling about her insides and doing its work more efficiently now that her consciousness was no longer present to restrain it.
Shane was already on the move after releasing Fey. He went to the clinic and summoned the doctor, Helix. The doctor would be better able to save certain patients from death much more safely compared to them.
"How are their chances of survival?" Shane asked Helix.
"They could live. The chances are high, too, especially for the eagle. But the young man needs to be bedridden for a month" Helix spoke as she was already gathering a few medicines, bandages, and other supplies. She went on to say, "He should not move at all for the first week or two, and then only slowly, while using a walking stick or the help of another, if he wanted to. After that, he should be given the choice between a safe recovery or a fast one" Helix remembered one patient who used potions to treat all of their injuries instantaneously. This resulted in them losing all of their body's nutrition, resulting in a horrific and terrible death.
Helix's face scrunched as she had remembered another patient that had her say, "And absolutely no sudden movements. His bones, cracked and worn out, would suffer permanent injuries if he made sudden movements in the coming month or so during the treatment"
Shane stopped chatting with Helix so that she may concentrate on her work. He also dispersed the crowd that had formed. Later, while he had started with the individuals who were gathered to the side, he assembled the guards to prepare for the night and plan for the next day. That included spreading torches around the grassland surrounding the village. With their generational experience over the centuries, a permanent ring of dirt surrounded Preblica in case they needed to burn the grassland to kill any monsters hiding amidst it.
Shane went to see Henryk in the clinic once everything was over. Helix, as well as the two assistants, were not present. He checked around and discovered that the chief's daughter had personally requested that Henryk be allowed into one of their house's empty rooms.
At the same time, in the chief's house, we could see a young woman looking at Henryk with hopeful yet wary eyes.
"Dear daughter, do you still want to travel to Orario and venture into the dungeon's merciless depths? You could lose more than an arm or a leg down there" Arnold, the village head, was questioning his daughter, certain in his beliefs about her ambitions. She wanted to witness the place that took her older brother's life and overcome it.
"We have been over this for about 3 years now, father. My decision would not change. As long as someone wants to go to the dungeon city, I would accompany them there should they allow it" The chief's daughter spoke as she stood up to go to bed for the night.
Arnold stood there, looking at the empty doorway. His thoughts were churning and shifting. He was plotting ways to prevent her from departing for an untimely death.
"Why must you desire your own doom, my daughter?" Arnold sighed tiredly and went to bed. He felt somewhat reassured. His daughter consented to travel only if she had company, preferably somebody who could protect her and keep her alive long enough for her to be able to stand on her own two feet.
(End of Chapter)
'1:
Cats, in all forms and sizes, carry their kittens/cubs from the back of the neck. Many others do something similar by putting the kitten/cub's neck behind the teeth so the larger canines hold the offspring in place inside the mother's mouth without hurting it. Search for a more accurate answer, as mine was not the result of much research and may include many inaccuracies. I am not sure.
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Let's start by being real and open with each other. I know this sequence is flawed. It is descent enough, but it has its flaws. How do you rate it? Consider the things you see as flaws and mention them in your analysis, if you wanted to share it.
Tell me if you see what happened to Henryk as something possible and your reason to believe why. I want you to share your point with me so I can write better later.
The character's introduction that I changed was the chief's daughter's. Originally, I wanted her to come across as some desperate girl. A girl who has an ambition and cannot fulfill it because of her tyrant of a father. She was going to be portrayed to be desperate enough to even propose on their first meeting as her way to escape the village when Henryk finally leaves. She was going to then try and separate from Henryk at some point, trying to fulfill some sense of independence that she was never meant to have even in the future I planned for her.
I wrote a complete paragraph describing how different her previous person is to her current self, describing her characteristics as I see them. But that's scrapped. I would not like to spoil you here.
A last thing, that part saying when a chapter is uploaded might look pointless to some, but it is a way to reassure me that I uploaded things on time or reminds me when I do it late or a bit earlier than planned. You can always ignore it, as it is meant for me from myself.
Now, how do you see Shane's or Helix's characters? Helix would need a few more chapters to be able to be better known. But what about Shane? What do you think of him as of now?
As told, the next chapter will be ready by the time it should be released. From then, the ones after that, at least two of them chapters, would be the time skip. I want you to know that my time skips are not your usual ones. What I saw in other people's stories was that it simply says, "And after this frame of time:", then goes to show the result. It does not always tell you the process, or any of its details at times. Yes, some show them in flashbacks or in some other way. But that also means that many simply do not. So, what do you say about the time skip to be brief details about what was happening during said time-skip?
Like this (maybe?):
Day x/month y/year z:
This and that happened.
And then I write one or two interactions between the characters, brief parts of their conversations, possibly even.
What do you say about that style of time-skip?
About another thing, I already have a familia that will accept Henryk before Orario, and a very viable reason why they would. It is just that I want to hear (read) your suggestions first. Tell me, what familia should allow Henryk into their ranks in Orario? And why do you think they would? Why would they accept and what would they gain from this? Note that the reason why a person should do something and the reason why they actually accepted doing it could potentially be separate things entirely.
Additionally, to start building things behind the scenes from now, before it is too late to do this, what gods and goddesses do you want me to add into the story? What pantheon do they belong to? What is their character portrayed to be as? Should they stick to their myths or should they deviate? What deviation would you like in that god/goddess's story? And, if possible, why do you want that change?
Have a nice time until then, ladies and gentlemen.