Saved

I gently untie the rope that holds the figure underneath me in place. "Soon you will be free.", I whisper. The figure looks up to me, still in shock from the rough fall. I see some open wounds. "Let me help you with that." The figure nods carefully and holds out their hands towards me. I lift them up with no effort at all and soon they are standing right in front of me. I see the fear in their eyes slowly be replaced with hope. Big, blue, hopeful eyes that glimmer in the faint rays of sunlight that shine through the trees above us.

"Yes, that's right, there is no need to be afraid or to despair. You will soon be saved."

Now I see a hint of confusion pass the figure's face. Don't they understand what will soon happen to them? Are they really that clueless about their path? I shake my head and proceed to neatly roll up the rope and put it into my backpack. Then I turn towards the figure again and look them straight into the eyes.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?", I hear a very soft voice say after some while.

"You really don't know?"

The figure shakes their head, hands trembling ever so slightly.

"I will show you.", I say and take their hands. We are moving through the forest, me, with a clear goal in mind, striding purposefully, and the figure, passively following my lead. Soon we reach the edge of the forest. The sun breaks through the clouds. "Soon you will be free.", I promise, using the same words that I used the moment I had laid eyes on the figure. My eyes follow their soul as it flies out of their body and disappears into the heavens. Another one saved from the torments of life. Another night where I can sleep sound with the knowledge of having helped a helpless soul.

~

"They have found you brother."

Alyia stares silently at her aunt who has just entered her small cottage. "Is he-?" Her voice breaks.

"He's dead."

Alyia feels several things in that moment. First unbelievable sadness. It tears through her heart and leaves her breathless and unable to shed a single tear. Then longing. The need to see him, to hold him in her arms. And then the hot breath of anger fulfils her, her sight turning red, every inch of her body aching with the need to rush out, to find the thing who did that to her brother and strangle it with her bare hands. Alyia lets out a scream that travels through the whole village until it reaches the edge of the nearby forest and echoes from the mountains surrounding them. She puts everything into that scream. Her pain, her grief, her longing, her rage. Nothing matters any more. The person who was dearest to her, just gone. Never to return.

"I will find it.", she swears. "The creature that killed my brother. I will find it. And by the heavens, it will regret it. It will."

They set out the following day. It is early in the day, the morning dew has not dried yet. They assembled a whole combat troop. Alyia had gone from door to door the other day and found her brother's friends, acquaintances and anyone really, who was willing to support them in this endeavour. Now they are all assembled, facing her, looking almost as determined as herself. She cries out again but this time it's a battle cry. The others follow suit and soon they can be heard throughout the whole valley. Alyia imagines the creature that killed her brother hearing this cry and hiding inside its hole and the thought brings a smile to her face. "Just hide or run while you still can.", she thinks, "But we will find you anyway. And woe betide you when that moment has come." She raises her fist one last time and then turns around and begins marching towards the forest. She doesn't look back to check that the others are following, she knows they will. They are loyal people. Brave people. And first and foremost, vindictive people. If anyone had a chance of getting revenge on the thing that killed so many of their friends and relatives, it would be them.

~

A couple of hours after the saving, I hear a scream. It's faint but I can make out the violence behind it. It seems to come from the village of the lost souls. "There are so many more to save.", I say to myself and scratch my head in sorrow. No more time to rest. I must build more traps. Determined I grab my tools and head back into the darkness of my forest.

~

The forest is a dangerous place. Every Manki knows that. Most of them don't even venture into it and leave that to the few brave gatherers that search the forest for food. Some of the people in the group have never entered the forest before. They nervously scan the environment for threats and panic with every small noise. Alyia would laugh at that, were it in any other situation. Instead she scolds them, reminds them to be quiet, to try to not make any sound. They look a little embarrassed after that but they seem a bit calmer at least.

Alyia has no time to be afraid. Not that she would be otherwise. She knows the forest as it was a part of her cottage. She is here on every day of her life. As a kid she used to play here, with her brother. They would play a lot of hide and seek and she remembers their mother being quite worried for them because she thought they might get lost. But they always found their way back home. As they got older they became gatherers. Her brother proficient in finding all kinds of berries while she developed an extensive knowledge of edible (and perhaps not so edible but very enjoyable in small amounts) mushrooms. When her brother hadn't come back from a berry picking trip she had known something was wrong. And she had felt a sense of foreboding, of terrible things to come. Her aunt had tried to calm her down but she had known something was wrong, she had had that feeling that her brother would never be coming back home again. And she had been right. Alyia feels tears trickling down her face. "I will revenge you, my brother. I swear to-" To what? What is there to still place faith in? She always had faith in her brother. But he's gone. And her faith in the world, in the heavens, in any divine being... Gone with him.

They hear it before they see it. A cracking sound. A scream full of terror. And then Arjim is gone. "Stick close to me.", Alyia commands in a quiet but stern voice. Her people form a dense cloud around her. There is a deep hole where Arjim used to stand. Alyia approaches it carefully. In it, unconscious, lies Arjim. Like an animal, like prey. Alyia almost lets out another scream of rage at that sight. But she composes herself as she remembers what this means. "The creature, the one that took my brother. This might be how it traps its victims.", she whispers, "If we stay close to the trap we might be able to catch it in surprise." The group members nod in understanding and soon they are hiding in the nearby undergrowth.

After a while of waiting, to Alyia it feels like an eternity, a shadowy, ethereal-looking figure appears. Its ghostly black form is floating towards the trap where Arjim lies. Alyia feels a panic rising in her chest. How can they defeat a being that does not possess a tangible body? But before she can form any strategies in her mind, Maniam, Arjim's closest friend, is running towards the figure, their axe raised above their head. They let out a battle cry mixed with anguish and hack into the creature. The creature turns and has a surprised look on its face, mixed with something else that Alyia cannot quite decipher.

"Friends", it begins and Alyia can no longer hold it in. She lets out her own scream, with all her pain, her sadness and her anger. And then she steps out of the undergrowth, not even paying attention any more to Maniam's reckless attack. She looks the creature straight into the eye, determined not to let any emotion shine through and asks:

~

"What did you do to my brother?" I look questioningly at the figure that just burst out of the dark. They look similar to the figure that I saved just the day before. Brother... They must be associated in some form. I can see a deep sadness in the figure's eyes. Sadness? Why sadness? They often express sadness, the ones I save. They cry and beg. I don't understand them. Don't they understand that there is nothing to be sad about? They transfer to a purer, a more peaceful, more beautiful plane of existence. No more pain, no more sadness, no more resentment, no more fear. They should be grateful! Instead of begging, they should fall on my knees to thank me!

"I can take your sadness away.", I say finally. I smile at the figure, trying to reassure them. The figure cries out again.

"Could you please be more quiet? You are disrupting the calmness of the forest.", I respond.

"You killed him, didn't you?"

"Killed?", I ask. Such a weird word to describe what I did. Killed. I don't kill.

"I saved him."

The figures head turns red.

"Saved?!", they shout. Still so loud. I see a couple of animals fleeing into the distance. I shake my head sorrowfully. Then I extend my hand.

"Shall I save you as well? So that you may be together with your － eh － brother again?"

Instead of taking my hand, the figure hits it. Then they reach into their bag and take out an axe just like the one that is now lying on the ground, to hit me with it as well, I assume. I just smile. They don't know that they already sealed their fate by touching my very being.

"You are being saved.", I whisper, "Whether you like it or not."