Chapter 5 Celebration for the Champion

"Hmmmm, fascinating. I never heard of Arkshems to behave like that. Are you sure that it behaved like a human when you got rid of the other one?" the village head asked Claudia after seeking his audience. "Yes. That is what I clearly saw earlier. It surprised me as well. That was the first time that I see them behave like that since they are clearly not evolved yet. Do you know what was the reason behind it village head?" the old man just shook his head.

"I have lived in this world for a very long time but this is the first time that I am hearing that kind of behavior from something that should be hunting us humans down. No matter how I look or think about it, that is indeed something that a human would do when we lost someone important to us." He turns to Claudia and tells her that the Arkshem must have developed their head first.

"They are evolving so they might have evolved in the mind first before the other aspects of their being." He suggested. "I think that I the case village head. In any case, I need to report that to the higher ups so that they can investigate it properly. That is why I can't stay here longer village head. Please understand."

"Are you going to leave first thing in the morning?" Claudia nods her head and the village head understands. "Thank you very much for the service and saving the life of one of our young ones. Please enjoy the celebration before you leave. It is dedicated for you after all." The champion flashes a smile and slowly walks back to the crowd.

She is walking towards the crowd when she feels a presence that is out of this world. She breathes deeply to get a proper idea of things but what she learned made her tremble in fear. "What is a god doing here?" she thinks to herself and almost faint but since she is in front of so many people, she control herself and turns to the direction where she found the enigmatic presence. "I will excuse myself for a moment village head." She says after meeting the village head who is wondering why she is going back.

FWOOSH!

"What is a figure of that stature doing here in this remote village?" she could not get it out of her head and sees the figure with a hood standing at the top of the mountain just outside the village.

"Do not come closer mortal." The voice of the figure alone made her fall to her knees. "I am merely here to watch over someone. I see that you have saved someone from the village, I was about to take action but to think that a champion is there to do the job that was supposed to be mine." The figure turns away from the village and looks at her with his blue smoky eyes. "What are you doing here? Who are you? I thought gods are supposed to stay in their realm and not step on the earth." She retorted.

"Didn't I say my goal clearly? Or are you afraid of me that you did not hear that properly? You want me to repeat myself mortal?" Requiem's eyes burns with a blue flame in the dark but Claudia still has no idea who is the god that is before her until he takes off his hood. "Perhaps this will surely give you an idea."

Her eyes widened when he saw a beautiful man standing before her, the only different think about him is the burning blue eyes and his wavy hair that is dancing along with the wind. "What? Who are you?" Requiem tilt his head in disappointment. "You mortals. Don't you listen to you hearts?" just as he points at her chest, Claudia can feel and even hear her heartbeat out loud.

DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD! DUDUD!

DUDUD!

"What in the world?" this is the first time that she feels that kind of fear to the point that his presence is strangling her to death. "That is the sound of the heart that is near death." He muttered coldly. "But since you are the one that saved this village earlier I will spare your soul." The strangling feeling disappears and she finally feels better as if she was reborn. Then Requiem's signature weapon appear that made Claudia identity the god before her.

"A long and pitch black scythe. No way- you are death. The god of death." No matter how afraid Claudia is, she could not feel herself fainting like she did when she detects his presence. "That is because you are far from death. There is no need for you mortal to come here. I as just watching from afar but since you detected me, it seems like I need to go back and you should as well." Requiem wears his hood back and walks inside a portal back to the nether realm.

"What in the world was that? Why was death staring at the village?" she could not erase what happened a few moments ago before her eyes. Ever since the gods had committed grave mistakes, their god, Arshem had forbidden the gods to make contact with people even with their champions.

"Does that mean that the god of death is breaking some rules?" Claudia looks at the place where he stand and not a single grass has withered. "Is he really the go of death? Ever since I came here in this village, I kept discovering things that I should not discover in the first place." She thinks to herself and failed to come up with a reason. "Should I tell this to my superiors?"

The conflicting feeling that she has in her heart made her think twice if she should tell them about her meeting with death himself. "Doing a job that should have been his? What does he meant by that?" she looks down at the village and see nothing but people celebrating the elimination of the Arkshems and nothing else. "This is driving me crazy."

Failing to make sense out of everything that just happened to her, she came back with a bit of a pale face and excuse herself from the party and went straight to bed.

Next thing in the morning, Claudia prepared her things to leave and Mitcha had to give her something to eat along the way. "You should bring these. Water and some of our harvested fruits from the forest. They taste really great." Herin and Mitcha thank Claudia again fro saving Koren. "Speaking of Koren. That kid is a very brave kid. I never seen someone his age act like an adult in times like that. But sometimes actions like that brings back bad results. Please watch over him carefully." She wants to tell them to beware of a person with a hood but since she still don't know what death really wants with the village, she decided not to tell them.

Unbeknownst to her, Requiem is looking at them from afar. "Wise decision champion. I guess it is time for me to return to the nether realm for good since I took care of the possible threats. There would be not a threat in the next few months. Until I return Koren." He said as he throws away an Arkshem's arm and it immediately turns to dust.

"I have yet broke another rule. I wonder if father will personally come to me and scold me about it." He looks at the numerous number of Arkshem's that turned to dust in front of him. "I just hope that he doesn't make me do things that my brother did. Otherwise, it would be chaotic." He added as he kicks some of them and dissolve.

"Please take care of yourself in your travel. Travel safely." The people of the village gathered together to see her off and they all wave their hands good bye as she ascends to the sky while waving back to the villagers. "I will visit this village again sometime." Claudia said with smile.

"Thank goodness we have a champion here yesterday otherwise, we might have lost Koren." Mitcha said as she embrace her husband. "I know. I feel the same way. If it weren't for her, Koren might be dead right now." The couple is eternally grateful to Claudia for what she had done for them yesterday and prays for her safe trip back to where she came from.

"Is there someone with a hood that came to the village recently?" the village chief thinks about what she said before she left but no one matches up to what she asked him. "What who- is she referring to when she said that I wonder."