Melancholy Wings: Decadence by Matthew Ashworth

entities chose him to purify the world from the filth infesting it.
     It was starting to dawn slowly, but for the most part was still dark. Now that Garridan reached the village, he took it easy, making sure no-one saw him. He knew this was the most recent village Helgott ran away to, but he didn’t know which house to strike. More importantly, it wasn’t in his intentions to harm innocent civilians. He just wanted Helgott’s head, and that was all.
     Little by little, Garridan got to the village streets, but there was hardly anyone around, a handful of people at most. He was starting to get impatient. He did not want to wait till daylight. His way was to strike at night, when he had the cover of darkness. Waiting for the day to pass would take too long, and so Garridan needed to act fast. He decided to stop hiding and came out onto the streets. The few villagers who were out and about at the time didn’t mind him. Since it was still pretty dark, they could not see his frightening burnt face. Garridan knew that walking through the streets and gazing about, however, was not going to get him to find his enemy. He decided to finally risk it by coming up to one of the women, and asked in his rough voice:
-           “Could you please tell me if you know of the location of Helgott?”
    The woman saw his face when she turned around and got terrified. She screamed out loud, alerting everyone nearby. Within seconds the village guards began approaching. Feeling enraged, Garridan picked the woman up and tossed her aside. Then, in a blink of an eye, he drew his sword out and waited for the guards to get closer.
-           “Leave now or we will be forced to kill you.” One of the three guards threatened when he was close enough to Garridan.
-           “You fools! I am already dead.” Garridan responded.
-           “Leave now!” the guard repeated.
-           “I just want to know where Helgott is. Tell me and I’ll leave you alone.” Garridan attempted to reason with them.
-           “You’ve given us no choice.” The guard stubbornly reacted and swung with his blade at Garridan.
    The other two guards initiated an attack as well. Garridan quickly took a step back, and then just as quickly lunged forward whilst slashing. That sudden swift move with the sword decapitated one of the guards. The other two saw what happened and hesitated for a brief moment. That was enough time for Garridan to sharply turn around and to graze their throats with a single slice, putting them both down instantly.
     When he was done with those three guards, there was a panic on the streets of the village already, as the civilians kept screaming, waking up the others. More guards got drawn to Garridan’s location. Garridan, however, knew that this chaos would draw Helgott out of his house as well, meaning he had to be watchful. He could not let Helgott get away again.
     Two of the guards came up to Garridan here, and, without asking questions, attempted to slash at him with their blades. Garridan performed two quick counters and put the two guards down within seconds, the first one by a throat slash, and the second one with a stab through the stomach. Once again, without taking a second glance at the ones he killed, he continued scanning the area for Helgott whilst ignoring all the other guards that were converging on him.
     It was as if he had an unusual gift. Just as he expected, he spotted Helgott appearing on the street at the distance. Helgott was a burly man who wore heavy armor and wielded a halberd. By the looks of it, he didn’t recognize Garridan and was just trying to understand what the shouting was all about. Garridan instantly moved off from his spot and began increasing his speed. Helgott eventually noticed the familiar armor that Garridan wore and realised he was an enemy. Garridan roared as he charged at full speed towards Helgott, who was still a fair distance