The Lonely Wanderer

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The last day of #StrangerIsComing has come.

Damn, this month went by quickly. I'll really miss this challenge, since I had quite a lot of fun with it. But alas, all good things must come to an end. And the prompt for the last day is the Stranger. This prompt required some thinking, but I decided on what to write.

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The Lonely Wanderer

Sun was high in the sky, overlooking and warming the motionless corpses lying on the field of battle. The flies were hopping from one dead man to the other, feasting along with the ravens. The lonely wanderer walked through the bloodied grass, ing by the corpses of men and the weapons they dropped.

The wanderer was cloaked in black. His face was hidden by a hood, and most of his body was hidden under his black robes. Only his pale and skinny hand was uncovered, carrying a walking stick. But, even though his face was hidden in shadow, he saw better than any man. He heard better, he smelled better. He was better at everything, for he was not a man. The Stranger was there to reap the harvest

He smelled there were still those who lived. Unconscious men were lying among the corpses, like unripe fruit unready to be picked. Their day will come, but he wasn't there for them. The harvest was rich that day. Hundreds of soldiers, perhaps even thousands, fell in battle the previous day, and the Stranger came for them. He hit the ground with his stick, as the corpses began to rise. If any living man was there at that moment, he would only see motionless dead bodies. The living were blind for the world of the dead. Only some dead could make with the living world, and otherwise, but those were rare.

Souls of dead men left their mortal bodies. They stood there, looking around themselves in shock. The wanderer saw that countless times before. Mortal men would be in shock once they left the mortal plain for the eternal world of the dead. But they would get used to it very quickly. Those whose lives went without sin could remain in the land of mortals, wandering the world as ghost for eternity. The best among those would even get a chance to be reborn. But the sinners needed punishment. The more sinful a man is, the longer he spends in hell, repenting for his crimes. The betrayers, the kinslayers, the power-hungry... All of them would spend many lifetimes in hell before they are washed away from sin and are allowed to return to the mortal world as ghosts.

"Hear me as I speak to you, men. Your time in the mortal plain had ended. Now you have entered the eternal world of where the dead reside." the Stranger spoke in the language the humans could understand.

"You perhaps know me as the Stranger. One of your seven gods that reigns over the dead. I lead the souls to be judged, and I punish the sinful ones. Come forth, eternity awaits you." he raised his skinny hand and the dead souls followed.

The Stranger wasn't only the guide for the lost souls. He was the sower of death, the orchestrator of battles and the writer of destinies. Each living man had a destiny the Stranger wrote down. Not one could avoid the ending the Stranger had written for him or her. Some the Stranger made more important than others. He was a kingmaker, and a kingbreaker. He led battles and he reaped the rewards. Legendary heroes lived and died, led by his cold hands. Mankind prayed to the Seven, to the Old Gods of the forests, the Red God, but there was only him. The Stranger awaited everyone equally.

As the dead paraded through the fields, led by the god of death, more and more ed. Men, women, children, animals. Lives meant nothing to the orchestrators of wars, but to the Stranger they were more valuable than gold. Once dead men were the only things left, only then could the Stranger rule. And their day of reckoning was nigh; death was coming from the north, the freezing lands beyond their Wall. He will give humanity a chance to survive; only a man that defies him will be able to stop the eternal night. He knew not who that man was. From time to time he liked to surprise himself. But if the twice-born is not strong enough, humankind will die with him. In the end, however, everything dies. The only important thing is how hard they try to persist. But the Stranger comes, nontheless.

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Now, before I go, I really want to thank some people. First and foremost, I want to thank the people who made this challenge possible. I had a lot of fun writing for this challenge and it really helped me. I experimented with things I haven't written about before, and I'm thankful for the opportunity I was given.

I also want to thank Howland for being the best teammates I could've hoped to get. They made this challenge so enjoyable for me, and I'm glad I got to work with such great people.

Now, I'm done. Hope you didn't find this cringe, but if you did, eat shit and die lol. Bye.

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#Trial31

#StrangerIsComing