The Witcher: Origins - chapter 2 (Patreon)

The world of the Witcher, an unforgiving cruel harsh and almost impossible to survive kinda place, a place that by no means should be real, and yet here I was, witnessing a Witcher, killing a monster. And let me tell you, the games or the books don’t truly show how different the real thing is, it was something that couldn’t be described with words, the way the man moved was frighteningly good, and even then the monster was always one swing away from killing my savior.

One mistake, and everything would end for either of them, this dance would come to an end abruptly, this was a game to see who made the wrong move first.

“Fuck yeah!” Reinhard chuckled, attacking the monster with such glee one would think he was doing something else.

The Noonwraith on the other hand just continued her assault, showing no emotion but what I can only assume was anger with her shrieks.

The battle continued, with the tides slowly going to the Witcher side, and like in the games the Noonwraith created clones of herself, and while I was doubtful of how things would end for Reinhard, I was deep within happy, just a bit. My knowledge of this world was useful, I knew a lot of things and could use this to avoid being maimed to death.

With my canonical knowledge I could tell right away, the Noonwraith feel threatened by the Witcher, according to the games and the Bestiary, they only resort to creating clones or physical illusions of themselves if they feel threatened by something or someone in this case. Her clones are nothing to be afraid of, they are but a maneuver to distract the threat long enough for the monster to end it all, decoys if you want to call them like that, her doppelgängers are weak and usually burst in one attack; but attacking them means the real one is lurking in the shadows for an attack and you lost precious time on a fake.

“Fucking hate this part of the fight,” Reinhard growled, killing doppelgänger after doppelgänger, “Stop hiding you ugly freak!”

I continued to observe the fight, my eyes fixed on the Witcher and his movements, not that I could understand or comprehend how could a man that big move that fast, I mean I knew about his mutations, every Witcher had to had them, but seeing in person was breathtaking and I wasn’t sure if it was on a good way.

“Die whore!” Reinhard destroying the last doppelgänger, and throwing his axe at the real one too fast for the real one to dodge, “Nothing like a silver coating with some specter oil to fuck you up, rest in fucking peace!”

“Wow,” I muttered, and this got me the attention of the Witcher that had saved my life.

“Huh?” Reinhard chuckled, “Hey kid, what are you still doing here? Not that I would’ve lost, but if I did… you would’ve been next,”

He made a very good point, I was too occupied seeing the fight to fully comprehend the stakes, Witchers are not infallible, in reality most of them die, not all of them are as strong as Geralt, and even if they were, that didn’t guarantee nothing, I should’ve have run just to avoid being the second prey.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Wanna come kid?” Reinhard snorted, “We can always use more kids to mutate, too many monsters to kill, not enough Witchers,” that’s a rude crude way to recruit one, but an honest one nonetheless.

“I…” I wasn’t sure what to answer, on one hand if I went with him I would be safe, well relatively safe, but I would have to become a Witcher if I did that, to the bear school. That was if I survived the very hard to survive process to become one of them, the magical ritual alone to mutate the kids was apparently a one shot kill for most.

“Let’s do something kid, I will take you to the school and if by then you don’t want to, you can walk away,” Reinhard chuckled, “Is no good to have a uncertain Witcher, so don’t worry,”

That was acceptable, “I would like that,”

“So, what’s yer name kid?” Reinhard asked, picking his axe from the ground.

“My name is… my…” I didn’t remember my name, not matter how hard I tried, “I don’t have one,” I answered after a few seconds of trying to find one.

“Most orphans don’t,” Reinhard sighed, “Alright boy, follow me, do what I tell you and we might survive,” what a good pep talker.

“Why make an offer?” I asked, I was genuinely curious, I didn’t do anything, I was before he came scared beyond my control, and yet he offered training.

“Huh, I don’t know, I think is because you stayed,” Reinhard shrugged, “Being afraid is natural, but you still showed some minor interest on my fight, and believe it or not, you have to like this job even a little to do it right, sometimes that’s the only thing keeping your shit together,”

I suppose that’s a good enough answer, “I see, then lead the way,” I nodded.

“In a minute, I have to pick up my weapons, these babies are expensive,” Reinhard chuckled, and I decided to help him.

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Reinhard was a very… expressive guy, saying whatever it came to his mind, however that came, no filters whatsoever, but it was also the best person I had met on this crappy world, I know I shouldn’t generalize, but if the games and books were anything to go by, the normal humans were assholes, sometimes as much as the monsters.

But now, with Reinhard things were taking a better turn, as much as they could, thanks to him I knew more than about my situation, for one, I discovered where I was, an unnamed town within the kingdom of Aedirn.

Two, he wasn’t here on a job, he was merely on a self appointed vacation, and decided to save me, and three, I was in the past, this universe wise, not sure by how much, how did I know that? Well, he didn’t know about Geralt of Rivia, and considering in the games he was around one hundred years old… well.