[Year 344, The month of Embers, day 7]

A sudden rustling woke me and it took a moment to adjust to the lack of light as I sat up. Even though I spent most of yesterday sleeping my shoulders and face still felt pretty sore. Nevertheless, I rose to my feet and stretched my hands over my head, the low ceiling remaining just out of reach.

Once I was fully awake and could see I took a look at Geisai. It had been his restless sleeping that had awoken me. While he looked better than he had been a few days ago, he still didn’t look good. The cavity in his right arm, although a bit more filled in was still there. Almost all of his hair was burnt away, the pupil of his right eye was crusted over with a scab that made it impossible for it yo shut, and his body was covered in other bruises and burns of various shapes and colors.

Any other person could have died from all of that damage, but Geisai didn’t. A faint glow had appeared around his body shortly after I carried him back to the cave and it hadn’t gone out yet. Slowly but surely, the light was healing his body, even the scab over his eye was starting to peel off. As long as the light continued to work he should make a full recovery.

However, knowing that didn’t do anything to ease the pain in my stomach. It’d been my plan that had caused him to end up like this. Even though Geisai had been worried about the numbers, I pressed on with it anyway. If I hadn’t rushed things maybe we could have come up with a less risky plan, but I hadn’t done that when the chance was right in front of me.

I shook my head and tried to put those things aside, at least for now. My mother said that mistakes are meant to be learned from, not dwelled upon. Next time, I'd think things through a bit more. In any case, there was a lot of things I needed to prepare before Geisai got better. No one else was gonna look after us anymore and we each needed to do our part to make this work.

Just a casual look at Geisai made it clear that he’d done more this his fair share of the work already, so now it was my turn. I strapped on my dagger, grabbed one of the leather canteens we found back in the village, and picked up the spear Geisai had with him when I found him.

“I’ll be back in a little bit. Stay safe.”

I left the cave after checking on Geisai one last time, but I ended up stumbling over something. The creature was less than half my height and had greenish-brown skin. It was missing a few of its razor-sharp teeth and had its throat slashed open, along with a couple other stab wounds across its unhealthy thin body.

“I really should get rid of this thing.”

I used the spear to nudge the body towards the large rock Geisai had to move away from the cave entrance when we first got here. The thing had been a hassle to deal with, but at least the blood and urine semi-circle I made from it should keep away other pests, at least for a while anyway. Once Geisai wakes up we would have to find some more large rocks and make a barrier around the entrance.

Anyway, I’d better hurry. The edge of lake Talsom was a few hours away from here, if I hurried I could be back before noon.

[Year 344, The month of Embers, day 10]

Seventeen days after Sinedo was decimated by a horde of ogres a nobleman’s caravan arrived at what remained of the village. After a quick investigation revealed what had occurred, the nobleman order his men to search the surrounded area for survivors and to gathering the dead for an impromptu funeral service.

Three days after his arrival the nobleman’s soldiers returned to camp with word of a large group of survivors in dire need of medical treatment and food. After dispatching a unit of soldiers and a few field medics to recover the survivors the nobleman waited with bated breath for their return.

“My lord, perhaps you rest for a while.”

The nobleman glanced down at his personal caretaker. She was a rather slim woman in a light blue summer dress. Although her high cheekbones and shoulder-length platinum blonde hair gave her a rather striking appearance, she carried a kindness in her mint green eyes that few could ever match.

While her lord stood at an impressive six feet, his clothes, whose style and quality was reflective of his status, hung off his frame as if they’d been made for a larger man. The lord’s as pale as a sheet and the deep bags under his dark green eyes also contributed to his gangly appearance. He looked as if he were a man ready to join his ancestries in the Great Beyond, however, his current form was actually an improvement over how he’d been previously.

Several years ago, his worried parents had hired his caretaker to nurse the noble back to health. Back then the neglect of his own health had resulted in him being bedridden. He’d refused to eat and bath himself properly, rarely left his home, and had been caught purposefully hurting himself multiple times by his servants. He’d already been written off as a lost cause by many of his associates, but his caretaker’s ceaseless efforts managed to restore her lord to a functional state.

“My lord!”

“Hmm…”

“I have been calling out to you for a quite some time, but you just stood there watching the sunset. Should I have you placed in a field to scare the crows and wildlife away.”

While she chuckled at her own jesk, her Lord's face remained blank as he intensely studied her face.

“Perhaps we should go for a little stroll while we wait. Where is my cane?” The lord’s suggestion was an unexpected but welcomed one.

“My lord, you’ve been leaning on it this entire time.”

After a quick look, the lord nodded in response to his caretaker’s observation.

“So I have. Thank you, Rania.”

The lord offered his arm to his caretaker before immediately lowering it.

“Sorry, I’m…”

“A taken man, I know. My lord, we’ve been over this before. I’m sure your wife will be pleased with your continuous display loyalty.”

Rania began walking after brushing off her lord’s apology. She’d grown used to her lord’s eccentricities over the years and could predict his behavior in certain situations. Even without turning around she strutted ahead confidently, knowing that he was following after her. Despite the circumstances that brought them here, Rania knew that this trip was helping her lord in ways that she couldn’t.

“My Lord, you’ve gone rather quiet back there is something wrong?”

However, her lord didn’t answer her like he usually would have by now, so she turned around to check on him, but he wasn’t there. Instead, he’d wandered over to the field where the dead had been gathered. He’d examined a corpse for a moment before moving on to another one as if he were searching for something. After a few deep breaths, Rania placing he dress sleeve over her mouth and followed after her aloft lord.

Even with her mouth covered, the stench of the weeks-old dead bodies was almost too much for Rania to bear and she nearly vomited, but she remained firm and eventually reached her lord's side. He was silently kneeling over the body of another dead woman, whose face had been covered with a dark cloth.

“My lord, perhaps we should leave…”

Rania attempted to sway her lord when she saw him reaching towards the cloth over the woman’s face, however, her efforts where in vain. Her lord pulled off the cloth and revealed the mangled remains of the woman’s head.

The back of her head had been smashed open, one of her eyes hung over her face like a shriveled up plum, and the days of being exposed to the element had greatly damaged her skin. But, it was still possible to make out what the woman had looked like when she was alive.

It was a shame that so many lives had been brought to such a violent end. Even if some of the survivors knew who she'd been, the woman the other dead, and the village itself, would be lost to the aninal of time.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Rania's lord suddenly dropped to his knees in front of the woman's body and began frantically appologizing.

Rania tried to comfort her obviously distressed lord but was interrupted by the approach of an unusual wagon. The wagon had no wheels, was made of a strange silver metal, shaped like a flattened oval, and wasn’t attached to any beast of burden. Yet, the wagon still managed to propel itself forward through the air. It was a project the Ministry of Magic had been working on. It’s driver simply had to infuse the wagon with mana in order to make the wagon move. Rania’s lord used a few of his connections to secure the wagon for this trip. It had mostly been used to carry luggage and supplies, but its current cargo was of the living variety.

The soldier that had been driving the wagon brought it to a halt a few feet away from Rania and her lord before dismounting and bowing his head.

“Lord Kalous, the survivors have been brought to you for inspection as requested.”

The soldier had expected his commander to react in some manner, yet he was ingored. It pained the soldier to see the shadow of a man his commander had been reduced to. The sudden request to see the survivors had sparked a hope within the soldier. A hope, that the man he admired was still there.

The soldier prepared to leave when one of the survivors spoke up.

“Hey, I recognize her.” A man with a freshly bandaged leg suddenly leaped his way forward. His clothes were filthy and even Rania caught a whiff of alcohol coming from him.

“No doubt about it, she’s that beast’s whore of a mother.”

“Ievos, think of where you are and show some respect for the dead.”

An elderly lady tried to calm the man down, but all it seems to have done was urge him on, as he continued to spit venom.

“Respect for the dead, that whore’s spawn broke my damn leg and robbed us. We would have starved if these people hadn’t come along. What happened to that thing, was far too good for her.”

“Enough Ievos!!!” A heavily scarred survivor managed to bring the drunk under control with a loud shout, but it was already too late.

“A whore… You called her a whore…”

Everyones' attention was focused on Lord Kalous, as he rose to his feet and turned towards the drunkard. The fire that had been absent in his eyes for several years was reignited once more.

“Commander? “My Lord…”

Neither the soldier or Rania had even felt such bone-chilling aura before. They remained frozen in place by fear as Kalous slowly approached the wagon.

“What else do you call a woman that spreads her legs to get what she needs.” Either out of bravery of sheer stupidly, the drunkard disrespected the dead woman once more.

“DON’T YOU EVER CALL MY WIFE A WHORE!!”

There wasn’t a cloud in the orange-tinted sky above them, yet no one within ten miles of the village didn't see the breif lightning storm that attacked the area. Certain patches of the field had been set aflame, trees along the plain’s edges were toppled, and the animal had been thrown into a frenzy.

When the lighting settled, Lord Kalous was holding the drunkard over his head in a brutal stranglehold. The children were cowering in fear behind the other adults as they waited for the monster to vanish. The drunkard uselessly struggled as the life was slowly drained from him. Today would have been his last had it not been for Rania’s presence.

“My lord, Erin, please stop!!”

Rania grabbed ahold of her lord's arms a pleaded with him to stop.

“You swore to protect your countrymen from any threat, yet you yourself are attempting to kill them. Killing him won’t bring her back!!”

The drunkard suddenly fell to the ground and began gasping for air, on this day he had barely avoided death. Kalous fell to his knees and began to weep, yet the fire in his eyes hadn't subsided.

“Aislinn, forgive me.”

As the soldiers rushed to put out the flames, general Erin Kalous could only weep over the loss of wife he’d driven away.