Chapter Text
Cough
Blood drips from the corner of his mouth as he continuously throws a scene, spewing nonsense gibberish touts at the poor bar owner who is praying for Javier’s arrival or at least Lloyd’s departure. His voice is raspy, he needed something to quench his thirst.
Drip
Something wet leaves his mouth, but even so, his throat is still dry, and his tongue feels like sandpaper. He tries to speak but nothing comes out, he looks around trying to make sense of things, but his vision gives up on him as the darkness comes creeping in.
Thump!
♤
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Kim Suho slowly blinks as he tries to keep focus. He is finally in bed now, so he can finally relax, but his mood is a mess. He pulled up his phone, just like it’s second nature, he quickly opened his favorite web novel.
Knight of Blood and Iron
It’s an epic tale of the icy, indomitable leadership of the protagonist, Javier Asrahan. His tale is not a glamorous one, far from it, for wherever Javier goes, misfortune follows. Right from the beginning where he lost his family in the cold unforgiving winter, his second home where he is hopeless to do anything as the baron and baroness that so warmly provide him a home wither away with an enormous amount of debt and so on as he journeyed through the kingdom as a wanted man, a mercenary and knight with a dead master. It’s grim. He can’t catch a break, but even so, he is still so pure, so bright, so determined, a beacon of true justice, a true hero.
All of that is surely admirable, but for Kim Suho his suffering is comforting, a kinship. He can strongly empathize with Javier, for that, he holds his story closely in his heart.
♤
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Lloyd opened his eyes, or at least he thought he did. It’s dark, cold, and kind of damp. Lloyd tries to open his eyes again, but nothing changed.
Fuck! Did I lose my eyesight!?
Lloyd begins to panic again, his breath hitched as he tried to rub his eyes, but instead of meeting his eyes, his fist struck something hard. Lloyd begins to panic, he feels claustrophobic. Where am I? He kicks the hardwood, flailing around as he struggles to break free. Is it adrenaline? Lloyd manages to loosen the hardwood only to be met by something soft and damp.
They buried me
Lloyd wanted to panic, he really did, but a stronger instinct took over, his desire to survive. Lloyd wiggled his finger through the soft and damp soil before he finally managed to feel the tip of the hardwood. He braced himself, taking as much air as he possibly could, and with some struggle, he managed to push the casket door just enough that he managed to squish himself out, just like a mole he continues to dig and dig. He can’t see, he can only feel his nails and fingers separating as dirt accumulates in between, alternating from soft soil to hard pebbles. Lloyd digs in the opposite direction of gravity. Whenever he felt the soil or pebble fall towards him from above, he followed. Eventually, he could see the light, it’s blinding. Lloyd digs with his might, crawling out of his own grave.
The air!
It’s cold, but Lloyd couldn’t care less. He inhaled and exhaled rapidly, he didn’t know that something as simple as air could bring him such immense joy. He huffed, finally outside; the moon is especially bright tonight. He dusts himself off before noticing the tombstone.
[ Here lies the eldest son of Baron Arcos Frontera and his beloved wife Mirabela Frontera
Lloyd Frontera]
Lloyd cringed, hey seeing your own tombstone is not an everyday occurrence, he sighed,
I died?
His eyes widened.
WAIT!!WHATTTT!!! AM I A ZOMBIE? AN UNDEAD??
Lloyd swings his head around like a madman, trying to find something, anything, that allows him to check on himself. Just then, he spotted something
A puddle!
He looks at his own reflection, yikes, he surely has seen better days. He touches his own face, which causes him to frown a little. His fingers, now filled with dirt, aren’t exactly comforting. He washed his hands, dirt and a bit of blood flowed away. He checks his own reflection after washing his face, his teeth are all intact, his skin is elastic with no sign of decay.
I guess I am neither of those, I am still human?
Ding Dong!
Suddenly something akin to a doorbell rings in his ear and a flash of blue screen appeared in front of him.
[==========Congratulations!!!==========
Congratulations, Lloyd Frontera! You have been
chosen to have a random wish granted by the
Great Absolute!!]
Lloyd blinks in confusion. What is this? Some kind of ancient magic? And just as quickly as it appeared, it suddenly disappeared right after Lloyd finished reading it. Lloyd lay on his back, staring at the bright moon and finally at his own tombstone. Suddenly, nostalgia rushed into his mind, something familiar from a long time ago, something that he can’t really put his finger on. He stares at his tombstone again, a vision suddenly lands on him, a rough hand slides through a cracked phone screen, as he can feel himself reading it.
The baron and baroness hold hands as they feel the poison taking effect, at the cold, hard floor, at their once warm home, the baron smiles and the baroness reciprocates, closing their eyes together, exhaling their last breath.
The scene suddenly blurred and focused again, like someone had just thrown a stone into a serene lake.
Blood violently spurts out as the once hooligan son of a baron is now nothing more than a lowly bagger, Lloyd Frontera coughs up a litter of blood and dies.
Gasp! Lloyd's breath becomes irregular, he slowly breathes in through tiny gasps, he looks around again, realizing what seems to be amiss. According to his vision, his parents died first, turning him into a beggar before his pathetic death, but there isn’t any other tombstone aside from his. Which could have meant one thing, it had yet to happen.
His mood felt lighter as he smiled.
His title, his responsibility, his connections, and his name no longer hold any meaning as the dead no longer exist.
The debt that his lousy excuse of a father accumulates no longer haunts him.
He is finally FREE
~~
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Scrape.
Phew!
Lloyd looks at his work with twisted satisfaction.
There! Good as new!
Lloyd grabs a handful of leaves and scatters it around his grave.
All this work is making me hungry.
Lloyd sneaks right towards the barony, it’s surprisingly easy, he goes to the kitchen.
Let’s see
It’s barren, it doesn’t really surprise Lloyd. Well, whatever, consider this my farewell gift, old man. Lloyd takes the nearest sack filled with bread.
Nice!
I wonder if there are some sausages or wine here.
Lloyd takes a big bite out of the bread, but his throat is dry.
Water! I need water!
Lloyd takes the nearest basin and starts chugging it.
Phew
Lloyd was about to take another bite when-
“Who are you?”
…
“Speak now, thief, how dare you steal from the Baron?”
fuck
That voice, the voice that Lloyd most dread, Lloyd slowly moves his neck towards the voice that demands his attention.
The small window dimly lit the dark kitchen, Javier widened his eyes, horrified. Right in front of him is a familiar figure, Lloyd, but something is not right, his figure is grotesque, pale skin and red liquid dripping from the corner of his mouth and the way he consumes the bread haphazardly, not only that but the strong stench of wine.
Javier freezes, no, something is more amiss, he was there when they closed the casket and buried his lord’s son. How is he supposed to make sense of this?
A ghoul?
Sensing Javier’s stunned state, Lloyd saw the chance and took it. He grabs the nearest bag of bread and stuffed the remaining bread into his coat.
Ha ha sucker
Lloyd ran towards the dark forest, not stopping, he didn’t want to. His heart raced as he ran and ran, nothing was visible anymore, but he couldn’t stop when suddenly
Ooof
♤
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Javier went pale, under normal circumstances, he would have chased that man to the ends of the earth if he must, how dare he steal from a noble? But how could he? Was that even a man? A ghost? A ghoul? Javier's knees feel weak. He felt lost.
No
Javier pulls himself together, I need to check the baron’s son’s grave, something must have happened there. He quickly sprints towards the graveyard.
~~
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It’s the same as it was, nothing seems out of it. Javier looks at the tombstone with an apathetic glare, he isn’t really someone who can be missed. The type of person who will stab himself and blame everyone for it, even though the knife itself is still held by said person. The wind gently blows, he isn’t sure why Lloyd's ghost decides to appear before him, but it certainly is unexpected. Is the grave really untampered? Javier thought about digging up the casket, but he stopped. He wasn’t a good man, he lived his life selfishly without a single care for others, he certainly was the worst of the worst. Javier sighs, he doesn’t really deserve the life he wasted, but he certainly deserves a peaceful rest in the afterlife.