I couldn't believe what I saw before my eyes. The last time I was here the city was in a poor state but what I saw now was beyond belief. The city, when first built hundreds of years ago was meant to house those on great journeys. They were welcomed to stop and restock on goods and they did just that. It was always a busy place where you could find whatever you needed. The crys of merchants selling their wares droned out even the hum of the wind. As time passed the city became more modernized just like the rest of the world and soon fell into a great state of poverty. For the city was cut off from the rest of the world and no longer did merchants travel to the secluded town. They stayed in their big cities in their big corner offices and got the little people to do their dirty work. But even then, those who had chosen to make their home here lived happily and peacfully. They had little to their name but not a care in the world. For they were free. While other countries and cities fought wars for what they believed in they were left alone. A little city filled with poverty forgotten by the world. But they were rich in faith. Now though, years since I had lasted visited this little place, I was shocked. The buildings slowly crumbled in disrepair and rats larger then a baseball scurried about the streets. Broken streetlamps gave off a flickering glow that came and went. There was no one to be seen. And the smell, the smell was beyond putrid. You didn't need an expert sense of smell to become utterly sick to your stomach. I tried in vain to keep from lurching forward, from vomitting up my last meal. The smell had to be the worst thing about the sad state of the city. There were no words to describe it. It was like death loomed over, decay and rot filled every crevice of the senses. It was absolutely horrid. Then one prominent scent reached my nose and I knew instantly what had happened here. To some scents are just smells that identify things. To others, every scent tells a story. I fell into the latter category. The smell of death and blood told me that those who had continued to live here had been mercilessly slaughtered. That also explained the rats. Another chill ran across my spine as my boot sunk into something on the cold pavement. I looked down to see what had gotten in my path. I guess I was right after all. My foot had come in contact with what used to be a small boy. I say used to because there wasn't much left. He was badly beaten, his face swollen and bruised. Blood pooled about his head and body and maggots crawled through his rotting flesh. I turned my head in disgust. Who could be so cruel? I may have had a reputation for being cold hearted and ruthless, but I would never hurt an innocent. Especially not a child. Feeling the need to give something back to the dead I kicked away the rats that hovered about his form, knawing relentlessly at rotting flesh. I knelt down towards his limp form and turned away my head as the rancid smell reached my nose. I silently picked up his small limp form and with a grief I hadn't felt in years, carried him out to the desert. It was there I buried him, a mile or two from that hellish city. It was the least he deserved, some semblance of a normal burial. I marked the grave with a simple stone and then turned back towards the city, a tear in my eye. I would find and destroy whatever did this. Even if it meant I had to risk my own life. Whoever I was dealing with was far worse then the opponent I sought. Everything had changed. And not for the better...