8Jakal was no longer in the forest. Instead, he was standing in the middle of a field. A field of purple flowers. A field of burning purple flowers. In one hand was his Halberd, in the other a burning torch. He saw men of Atlas running up the slope towards him. These were not the gentle people like there were in most villages. These were savage killers, people who would do anything for a few coins. Men who kept and sold slaves, both human and dragon. He was running towards them. When he reached the mob he swung and slashed, bathing the field in their blood. He couldn't hear their screams; he had plugged his ears.
He went down into the village, setting it aflame. So many tried to stop him, but they all failed. Families burned in their homes. Children were run down in the streets. Jakal was covered in both his blood and that of these enemies. He could barely continue on, but he had to kill them all. It was a matter of pride; this people had to be wiped out, and he was going to finish the job. A dragon bound by chains fired a blast of flame at him, nearly destroying his shoulder. He threw two daggers, one down the dragon's throat, one into the head of its master. He could no longer move his arm, and dropping the torch he threw himself into an oncoming mass of people.
There was nothing left for him. He had lost all he cared about long ago. He continued to rip through the crowd. Another enslaved dragon, a triple-strike grabbed his leg, flying him high above the burning village. Jakal swung his Halberd and cut off one of its legs. With a screech it dropped him, then he was falling, down into the burning village, knowing he would die without a regret in his heart.
Then he blinked, and once more he was in the forest. Beginning to comprehend what he had seen, he screamed, a blood-curdling scream.
The man would shout things out as he stood there, reliving some kind of terror, yelling things such as "No!" or "I wouldn't kill them!" It went on for quite a while. After he screamed, he ran off deeper into the forest. Putting my arrow back in my quiver, I carefully climbed down from the tree. My ankle wasn't sprained too badly, thankfully. It was a little swollen, but I could still walk on it. Aaron was still knocked out, so I wouldn't be leaving this place for a little while yet.
After checking on him, I looked off in the direction the man had run. I grabbed my bag and began to head in his direction. If I couldn't kill him, then at least I could make sure he wasn't going to tell anyone about me.
I found him after a little while, passed out against a tree. Stepping forward, two small dragons darted in front of him, his speed stinger and his smokebreath. It was clear they weren't going to let me hurt their master. Lucky for them, that wasn't my intention. I turned and went off into the woods. I came back a little later with a rabbit and a squirrel. A few feet away from the man, as close as his dragons would let me get, I started to build a fire.
By and by the sun began to rise, and the small animals were cooking over the fire. It was light enough to see, but still too dark to clearly see the man's form as he slept against the tree. I took off my hood, facing the man with the fire between us.
"I'm not going to move, so you might as well leave." I looked up to see him staring at me. I wondered how long he had been awake, since he hadn't moved an inch.
"You should come eat something." He needed to replenish his strength. He should be starving after being drained by the extract's effects. He didn't answer though, neither did he move.
"What did you remember?" I asked.
He was silent for a moment before he answered. "I saw the monster who burned Atlas to the ground, and why he did it." There was a pause. "He killed everyone. He left nothing but ashes and bones."
Hadn't Atlas been the town he'd asked me about in the great hall? "Why was Atlas destroyed?"
"It was a hothead of criminal activity. The town was a hub of smuggling, thievery, and prostitiution. It was also deeply involved in the slave trade. And, it was the only place folsense lilies could be grown.. at least, I assumed so until you showed up."
All of this was something I knew. I'd been there before. Still, there were families there, and Atlas wasn't the only village so deeply rooted in evil. "But.. why was it burned to the ground?"
"What alternative was there? When human corruption runs so deep, what other solution exists?"
Why is he.. defending this? Is he the person who destroyed it? Every sign seemed to point to him. If he remembered this destruction, and the killer left no one alive.. But why?
"The monster had nothing to lose. Something had driven him to become someone capable of slaughtering so many. There are still a lot of things that I can't remember. One of those things is what exactly was taken from him, and who took it."
I nodded.
He finally scooted closer to the fire, taking off his gloves. He carefully pulled out the shards of glass from his injured hand. They didn't seem to have damaged anything important, but he wouldn't be using it for a while. Carefully putting the glove back over his injured hand, he reached out his good hand towards the fire. Suddenly he winced.
"You.. You have a.." He reached down to his side. There was the arrow I'd shot at him when he first tried to confront me. It seemed to be stuck into his armor. He yanked it out. There was blood on the tip, but he strangely didn't give it mind as he offered me the arrow back. After a couple of seconds I quickly grabbed it, setting it in my lap. "You know, despite you trying to kill me, I never got your name."
"Jakal Atlas." He named himself after the town he destroyed? "So now you know about me, what's your story?"
I sighed. "I was with the hunters, raised by them actually.. but they don't really exist anymore. Now I'm just trying to survive." I pulled my hood back over my head.
"Why didn't you try to kill me?"
What could I say? What should I say? "There is a difference between needing to kill someone, and wanting to kill someone." Hadn't I wanted to kill the girl? I chose to shoot the zippleback down. I hadn't been ordered to.
Jakal stood up. "I'm not hungry. Thank you for the fire." He turned to go.
"W-wait. Can I have assurance that you won't say anything about me?"
He stopped. "People like us have to stick together, do we not?" He left, going back the way we had come, his two dragons following him. I continued to sit in front of the fire for a while. When I saw the sun peek out from between the branches I went back to Aaron. He was awake now, and when he saw me he almost knocked me over with glee to see that I was alright. "Hey buddy, I brought you a rabbit!" We both ate breakfast in silence, then I mounted and we flew off. Finally we were leaving Berk, and if I had my way, we were never going back.