Flow of Existence

"Nash, I need you to kill me"

This was the second time today a sentence was pounding through Nash's head. While the previous one had felt extremely euphoric this one was the exact opposite.

His whole being was trying to deny the words he had just heard come out his father's mouth. They weren't real, they couldn't be. 

His father, the man he admired so much, the leader of the hunting party, was standing in front of him. His body was beaten black and blue, blood was gushing out of the multiple wounds littered over his body. Even Nash could see, he was going to die soon.

There were still so many things he wanted to talk to him about. 

He wanted to talk about what had happened earlier that day with Ade. He wanted to ask for more advice, advice about Flow proficiency, advice about life.

But most of all he did not want to lose his father.

He didn't want to lose the father he cared so much about, the man who had raised him, the man that had taught him everything he knew.

He did not want to lose him, especially at his own hands.

He just couldn't do it, he couldn't kill his own father, the man he cared so much about.

Nash's whole body was trembling, shuddering violently as he was unable to stay calm and control his emotions.

Nash had often thought about his first time killing a human. Maybe it would be when he was defending the village against intruders. Or maybe some traveler coming from far to challenge him in a duel to the death.

It had always seemed like a thing that was far in the future, but today that would change.

He had steeled his resolve to kill the attacker he had just been fighting, but his father had stepped in before he even had the opportunity to land a killing blow.

He had often imagined his first kill, but never could he have imagined that his first kill could be his father. The thought filled him with immeasurable grief.

Nash looked at his father who was standing imposingly in front of him. His look was one full of resolve.

Cantor opened his mouth, he spoke with calmness but at the same time urgency in his voice. "Calm down Nash, I need you to do this. If you kill me you will at least inherit my Flow, it would make me the happiest father in the world if you could."

After saying so Cantor's legs slowly started to give. "I'm sorry, I just need to lay down for a moment."

Nash looked at his dying father, tears streamed down his face. His vision was turning blurry from the flood coming out of his eyes. 

When he wiped them away he saw his father crying too.

Tears streamed down Cantor's face, his father, who Nash always saw as a person who would be undeterred by anything that came his way, was sobbing in his final moments.

There, lying defeated, covered in wounds his father simply broke down.

"I'm sorry Nash, I wanted to protect you, I wanted to protect the whole village, but I am just not strong enough. I even wished you just gave up and let yourself get captured, but when I saw you fight against that attacker the feeling of pride I felt was immeasurable. You are the thing I am most proud of in the whole world, please survive, and please live life the way you want to live it."

At the sight of his father breaking down Nash steeled his resolve and took out his knife.

Cantor smiled softly one last time. "Thank you."

Nash slit the throat of his father.

A feeling of immense grief welled up inside Nash, his whole body was screaming in the pain of losing his father.

But at the same he felt an intense euphoric feeling all throughout his body, the Flow that was entering his body made him experience pleasure he had never felt before.

His body was currently a mix of the most intense pleasure and the most intense pain he had ever experienced in his entire life.

He hated it.

He hated having to kill his father, he hated the invaders raiding the village but he hated what he was currently feeling the most. He hated how the conflicting emotions and feelings pounded all throughout his body violently. Unable to even properly process the feeling of having just killed his father.

The maelstrom of emotions became too much for Nash as he let out a loud and violent wail of pain and anger.

…

Meanwhile the village chief and the crimson clad attacker were facing off against each other. The pressure from the battle alone was enough to knock most of the people around out.

The crimson clad attacker had a nasty grin on his face as he formed streams of magma and shot them at the village chief.

The village chief responded by forming gigantic walls of ash, blocking all the attacks being thrown at him.

"To think there was an old monster such as yourself hiding in this village, I guess we got fed wrong information." The crimson clad attacker shouted excitedly.

The village chief snorted. "It's not like you weren't prepared, the attacking force you led is much bigger than the entire village, not to mention you are here."

The crimson clad attacker let out a harsh bellowing laugh. "You are certainly right old man, now what do you say we take this somewhere else? I think it would be preferable for both of us."

The old village chief sighed and muttered softly. "I really don't practice what I preach."

"Alright, I will do as you say, let's change locations."

The two of them moved far above inhuman speeds reaching an open valley where nothing could disturb them.

They were now fighting out of sight of the village. Neither of them could harm the attacking or defending force in any way.

The crimson clad man seemed to be treating this like an honorable duel.

"My name is Romun, the one who will rule over most of Conia in the future. State your name, old village chief of Ashen village."

The village chief responded loudly. "My name is Frax, chief of Ashen village. Prepare to meet your death here for I will defend the village I swore to protect."

The village chief, Frax, tensed his hands and formed two gigantic tornadoes of ash shooting them at Romun.

While forming the gigantic storms of ash the old village chief could only think of one thing. 'To think there would be a day in which I would be putting my life on the line for others, I must have really turned old and senile.'

…

Within the village screams could be heard. People were dying to defend their village, others were being captured as slaves.

Liam was one of the people raiding the village, he had just managed to land a kill on a desperately fighting member of Ashen village.

The monster had somehow managed to kill two of Liam's comrades, but because of that Liam had gained an immense amount of Flow and innate element. This raid was going great for him.

Liam looked at the three people that were still following behind him. The red robes they were wearing were covered in ash and the blood of the villagers.

Even though their mission here wasn't actually to slaughter all the villagers but to capture them as slaves instead they hadn't bothered keeping any of the villagers alive yet.

They were just there to get stronger and maybe even form their innate elements.

Liam took in the grating screams that could be heard all throughout the village and let out a satisfied sigh.

'If I kill a couple more of them I might be able to form an innate element of my own. And if I manage to do that I might even get promoted or secure a good position in the future.'

When Liam closed his eyes and looked at the circle that was about a quarter of the way from completion he got more and more excited. All he needed was the final blow on someone who had already formed an innate element of their own and that would be enough.

Liam sensed someone approaching from his right but saw it was just a fellow raider.

It was a woman, Liam didn't know her name but he had seen her before. She was clothed in the same red robes as the rest of the raiders.

She looked at the group of three with a look of disgust seeing how they had not spared anyone, she herself was tugging multiple children along with her. The children were trembling with fear.

The woman herself was clearly not happy that she had to kidnap a bunch of children from their homes. But in her eyes selling them as slaves was probably better than straight up murdering them.

As the woman passed them and Liam and his group reached a little further within the village one of his group members suddenly asked a question.

"Why do we need to capture them anyways, wouldn't killing them all be much more efficient."

Liam shrugged. "I don't know, they are the boss' orders. But since he can't really see what we are doing here it probably doesn't matter if we kill them anyways."

The man following him nodded. "That makes sense. So we can just kill them all?"

"All of them but one. I need one of them to stay alive and preferably capture him." Liam responded.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and which one is important enough to keep alive."

Liam sighed. "You haven't heard about it? You really don't pay any attention do you. There is one kid that was especially requested to be captured alive. The one who manages to capture him will receive a large cash reward."

"And do you have any idea how this kid looks?" The man responded seemingly very interested now.

"It's a teenage boy, he is around average length for his age, he has deep gray eyes and his hair is a sand brownish color." 

These were the last words that would ever leave Liam's mouth.

Goosebumps raised all over his body as an almost palpable bloodlust assaulted all his senses.

The last thing his eyes could register was a flash of a teenage looking ashen haired boy, his eyes filled with murderous rage, before he felt his throat being violently torn out.