The Messenger of Death

I mean my daughter had started to get better, the smile and happiness that was on her face was enough to make me topple the world for her; I couldn't stop the treatment all because I was being cautious or scared of what I had been giving to drink.

I took the potion and drank all of it. The alchemist/runemaster finished the treatment and my daughter was completely healed – it was one of the happiest days in my life, my little Sakura could finally live and play like other kids do, and even cultivate. I was overjoyed.

8 months had passed and the alchemist/runemaster still haven't come to ask for his payment and I started to get worried.

I went ahead and met him one day and asked why he hadn't come to ask for me to fulfill my part of the deal and he said; "I wanted you to enjoy your time with your daughter. Are you sure that you want me to collect the debt that you owe me now?"

Not knowing that his intentions were unorthodox I immediately answered with a 'yes'.

He walked over to where I was standing and placed his hand on my chest, just above where my heart was and chanted some spells. When he was done chanting his spells, he removed his hand from my chest and my heart literally followed after the hand that he removed from my chest.

He had removed my heart from my chest without killing me or making any openings on my body.

I could still clearly feel my heartbeat, but not from my chest, the blood in my veins still flowed. I was shocked and asked why he did that, and he said that from that moment on he owned me. He gave no other explanations and I passed out after that.

['This definitely has something to do with the berserkers.'] Alex thought.

After an unknown amount of time, I woke up in a village in the middle of a forest in the lower plain realm.

There were 137 residents in the village, the residents of the village asked me what my crime was.

At first, I was confused because I hadn't committed any sort of crime.

Turns out that everyone in the village had offended the alchemist/runemaster, both males and females. Either they were his enemies or offenders. They told me that he sent them all here as punishment and that we were bound to the forest, no matter what we do we can't leave the forest.

They told me that his real title was the "Raven Necromancer" a wanted man in the celestial realm.

He sent us here to gather the blood of cultivators for him because he needed to consume a large amount of life force, if he wants to break through to the Halsinge rune mastery level.

Then I asked why he couldn't do it in the ordain plain realm or the celestial plain realm, they said that he would be found out if he did it in those plain realms.

I was skeptical about what they were feeding my head because the necromancer didn't do anything inhumane to me, apart from taking my heart away and I was still alive after he did that.

I asked how they knew his plans and a young cultivator from the celestial realm said that they were from the same sect.

He said that the necromancer committed a crime and took him hostage.

The young cultivator claimed to be the son of the sect master of the same sect that he and the necromancer came from. The necromancer had taken their hearts out of their bodies too.

I later found out that I had lost my cultivation, and when I voiced my concern about it to the residents of the village, the young cultivator from the celestial realm broke my neck and killed me… or should I say that he showed me what I had become, the monster that I had been made into.

A few seconds after he killed me, my neck started to heal at a rapid pace and when I got up my cultivation level had reached the fifth-rank of the elementary realm – I was stunned.

They told me that every time we are killed within a certain constraint of time, we would heal and come back with a bit of our cultivation prowess.

We could continue to kill our selves or commit suicide till our cultivation reaches the stage it was before we had our hearts taken. It takes 2 deaths for us to break through a realm. We had cultivation pills and energy crystals but couldn't use them to cultivate.

While the others resented the necromancer, I didn't because he had helped me fulfill what I wanted most in the world, I was ready to give my life in exchange for stable health for my daughter. And that was what he did.

The young cultivator said that in 10 years he would be back to take the blood that we had gathered, and maybe by that time he would free me. I know that they were only saying that to keep me from being depressed about not being able to see my daughter…

Alex had reached the end of that page, he folded the paper and opened another one.

The 3rd year after I was cursed and sent to the Agelong forest.

Every year since I arrived here, on a certain month, a set of young cultivators come to map out the topography of this forest, from different sects and schools.

They said that it was a mission that they got from school. None of us in the village knew who had been sending them on this particular mission, but they always show up and when they do, so does a thick mist. This mist always worked to our advantage, us the residents in the village.

The thick mist creates illusions that we are able to manipulate with our voices. When these cultivators show up, we kidnap them and drain them of their blood first before we eat them.

I know, inhumane of us right? but we had a hunger that was insatiable and it got worse after every meal we had. We tried to satisfy our hunger with the meat of the beasts and plants in the forest but we couldn't. We always vomited the vegetables, but are able to keep the meat in.

We keep their blood in a white bowl that never seems to get filled...

"Huh, that's all for this paper." He folded the paper and opened another one.

The 5th year after I got cursed and sent here…

I want to die!! We have eaten every beast and animal in the forest, even the birds know to avoid the insides of the forest.

The insatiable hunger got worse with every passing minute and we have been losing our minds due to hunger. I thought that after a few years I would be free from here and be able to meet my daughter. But a year ago my body started to transform-…

['More like deform, mutate.'] Al commented and Alex chose to ignore his comment.

My skin started to harden and my pupils turned into yellow and black split eyes. I had started to look like a reptile. I can't return to my daughter looking like this.

That was all that was written on this paper, he did the same that he had done to the previous papers and opened another one. The handwriting in this one was like that of a kid that was just learning how to write.

The 8th year after I was cursed and sent to this forest…

I have started to lose all reasoning and acting like a true monster. My humanity has almost left me completely. I cannot go on like this, my daughter will never be proud of what I am doing.

To whomever that receives this letter and has taken their time to read it up to this part, I have 2 things for you. The first thing that I have for you is a method of how to kill us monsters. The heart of every one of us have been turned into stone and kept in an open shrine at the middle of the village...

-Ping!

*System has located where the vibration that the creatures were receiving, is coming from.

"No shit Sherlock," Alex whispered. He already had an idea of where it was. He returned his focus back to the letter.

Although it has been turned into stone it still beats like a normal heart. I tried to approach it and I couldn't. No matter what I did, couldn't go close to the hearts. Then I captured a bird and experimented with it.

I had the bird approach our stone hearts and it was successful. All you need to do is to destroy our hearts and we would die for good.

The second thing that I have for you is the gourd and the green-hardcover journal. The gourd is a treasure that I found during an excavation in an ancient remnant in the ordain plain realm.

Although I don't know what its real use is I know that I can store almost anything I want in it. And it has the ability to change its size when it is asked to. Almost everything I own is in it.

All I ask of you is to please help me search for my daughter, a picture of her is in the gourd and a necklace that only the two of us recognize is in there. Please show her this letter and give everything in this gourd to her, and you can keep the gourd for yourself.

She needs to find out what happened to her father, I did not abandon my daughter.

Please let her know that let her know how much I love her, she is my world, my muse and as a father, I am proud of whoever she has become.

If you find out that my daughter is dead, then please take everything in the gourd as payment and kill the necromancer for me...

"That was the last of the folded papers. The end of his letter I guess."

['So are you going to look for his daughter?'] Lex asked.

['No, hell no. that's too much stress.'] Alex answered.

['Then you are going to throw the gourd back into waterfall right? for someone else to find.'] Xander questioned.

['Hell no!!'] Alex and Al chorused.

['That would be foolish of me.'] Alex said.

['I am proud of you rabbit.'] Al faked a sobbing sound. ['More riches to my name!'] Al added.