It was rare for me to see an angry face on Taryn, and yet it was one of those moments while a pack of Black Wolves encircled the camp. To come face to face with the possibility that your only weapon was nowhere close to you was most likely a fact that he found far too difficult to come to grips with. An attempt at a smile was the only apology I could give toward him, while the thought of how to deal with the current crisis was foremost in my thoughts.

Grasped in my left hand was a lantern that gave out a dull halo of light, one which had helped to illuminate the threat which had arrived in the dead of night. Five Black Wolves had begun a slow circular motion around us, a pattern that continued to tighten as though they followed a slowly inward moving spiral.

"We don't have time for this," Taryn muttered, eyes turned to glare at the dark figures which wanted nothing more than devour their prey. "Whatever you do try to keep your control, anger will especially make things worse."

A desperate need welled up within to ask what he meant, yet I had no time to do that as the wolves leapt into action with howls. The first two that attacked lunged out of the night at a pace which far exceeded the normal mobility of a Human. A snap of the fingers and the Shatterblade formed in my grasp, a long thin handle that extended outward and ended in a large blade.

The glaive was swung around, the hollow interior of the shaft granting it a significant decrease in overall weight, before I brought the blade down on the head of one of the incoming wolves. The animal howled in pain for a split second before the blade sliced into the brain, then there was only silence from the beast.

Already the other three wolves had attacked, their attempt to capitulate the opening created by their suicidal companions a solid strategic choice. The noise had increased to the point where the exhausted Maria could do no more than awaken and start to scream in fear, a distraction that served problematic for Taryn and I.

The second wolf that had charged in with the first was dispatched with a solid punch to the snout, the overall force more than enough to break bones and rend flesh. Taryn stood there with the arm still extended, his gaze shifted over toward Maria who lay upon the ground. "Where did she come from!" Taryn asked of me, though given the situation the answer would have to wait.

As the trio of wolves leapt into action, fangs glistening in the dull light of the lantern, I tore the glaive out of the skull of the deceased foe and brought it about in a defensive position. The Black Wolf crashed into me, enough weight and force to force a step backward in reaction. With a grunt I managed to shove the wolf off, and then resumed to a battle ready stance.

The other two had opted to attack Taryn together, as though they had realized he was the greater threat out of everyone present. One nipped at his flank while the other growled and stepped forward aggressively, drawing his attention to the front as much as it could. Taryn had been forced to step closer to Maria, a look of concern on his face while he hovered nearby the young girl.

When the two wolves attacked the reaction was lightning fast, Taryn lashed out with one boot to knock aside one of the wolves while he caught the open jaws of the other with his hands. He roared into the face of the wolf, then the hands that grasped the jaw pulled apart with the wolf following suit.

The opponent I had been given opted to be far more careful than his friends, a cautious nature that began to grate on the nerves as the fight should have already been over. A bit of time passed, while Taryn finished off his last opponent with a well placed knee, and still the final wolf glared at me from a short distance.

Without warning it turned and then darted away from all three of us, swallowed back up into the darkness from whence it came. The noise of the escaping wolf faded out as the distance between us grew larger and larger. With a curious expression on my face I turned to look toward Taryn.

He looked in the direction of where the wolf had run, gaze never wandered in the slightest while the words came from his mouth. "We should move on, he's probably going to get the main pack," Taryn informed me, hands flicking to remove the bits of blood and wolf fur that still clung to them.

"Come on Maria," I said to the girl while helping her to stand up. Once more the lantern was passed to her, while Taryn stepped over and picked up the knapsack that she had been carrying.

It was with a strange sensation that we walked off to the north, leaving behind a litter and a battlefield that contained dead wolves. The clouds continued to cover the heavens like a heavy blanket, while the noises of the night sounded around us with every step.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

The first thing that happened was the conversation, something which had been a long time coming. "I thought slaves aren't supposed to be stolen," Taryn asked of me as he walked at the back of the group. We had decided to place Maria in the middle with me leading the way, the lantern yet again grasped in hand.

"Shut up," was my response in regard to that. The hypocrisy of the scenario was one that I had comprehended the moment it had happened, and something which had been accepted just as fast. "How about instead you tell me what you did to me?"

A question which resulted in Taryn sighing, a sad sigh that could mean a million things. "I'm really sorry about that, but I didn't want to watch you turn into one of Hers."

A shudder ran across the skin at the mention of the phantom, a memory that one could wish to never keep yet would always be doomed to recall. "I'm...I'm not upset, I want to understand," I said, turning ever so slightly to look back at Taryn.

He looked worried, afraid almost, as though what we were talking about would result in something he never wanted to have happen. He looked at me with those green eyes and for the first time ever I felt sorry for the man, though I couldn't quite understand why.

"Keep walking, I'll explain it and if you want to kill me afterward I'll let you," he stated honestly to me.

One could only blink in surprise at that, so I merely returned to walking in the direction of the road. In the distance the sound of howls rolled across the plains, far off and thus far not a danger. "That merely makes what you did sound worse," I told him.

"Well, putting it simple...what do you think the Plague is?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Everyone knew the answer to that question, I scoffed at it, before answering without an assured tone of voice. "It's a sickness that infects you and turns you into a monster. The Plague hunt and eat the dead without thought."

Maria thankfully remained quiet while this conversation started, though she had audibly shivered at the mention of the Plague. It was a common reaction for even a young child as her, everyone knew as soon as they were old enough how dangerous the Plague was.

The response from Taryn was a snort, which caused me to want to turn and punch him for his arrogance. "The Plague isn't a sickness in the slightest."

He paused, as though thinking long on what the best way to put the next line would be. It was almost possible to imagine him shrugging before continuing on. "It is a Goddess."

It was only through a superb sense of balance that I managed to not fall flat on my face, stumbling in response to the severity of what he had stated. There was only one God that was adequately known and communicated with, and that was the God of War Mathias. "Is that who She was?" the question came with a great deal of trepidation from my lips.

"Yes, Nixi, Goddess of Nature, Decay and Death," Taryn calmly said as though this information was commonplace. He sighed another one of those ever so sad sighs. "Basically she split her soul apart and threw it into a bunch of people, and is trying to devour everyone."

"Why would anyone do something that insane, let alone a Goddess?"

"That I can't answer, though it might be that she went insane when Humans stopped acknowledging her," Taryn answered.

A woman scorned, I thought darkly before I probed for more answers. "So how did you manage to chase her out of me?"

"You fight a soul with a soul," was his simple answer.

The next part made me somewhat flustered, as well as thankful for the cover of the night and the fact that Taryn could only see my backside. "Why did you do it that way?" I murmured, barely audible.

Taryn didn't seem to hear me as we continued to walk forward in silence, his feet stepped so lightly that I had thought he had ran off on us. A glance back proved he was still there, with a face darkened with thoughts which one could only guess at.

"What's going on with the red eye?" I finally asked, a question that desperately needed an answer.

Taryn groaned at that question, it was almost possible to hear him audibly shrink away from it. "It's a side effect from something," he finally said, having wrestled mentally with how to approach the inquiry.

"A side effect from what?" I pressed, though the thought that knowing the answer might be too much had crossed my mind.

"A piece of my soul was probably left behind," Taryn admitted. "Any time you get angry or your bloodlust starts to grow it'll manifest."

It was at that point I stopped my forward walking, turned toward Taryn and then glared. "Why would your soul cause weird things like a red eye and silver hair? How could I so easily knock around people like I did back at Maria's house!" I yelled, the lantern shook wildly around and caused the light it cast to swing randomly around the plain nearby. Maria cowered in fright at the outburst, while Taryn weathered it with that dark look.

"I'm the son of Lanius, the God of Blood, Life and Souls."

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

Was it mere coincidence that Taryn had met up with me? For a while I had turned away from Taryn and gone quiet, we no longer walked but rather stayed at a single point in the plains without progress. Maria had become worried for me, though Taryn told her to stay away, that Liliana needed time to come to grips with everything.

It wasn't a coincidence, there was a thing called fate and it was impossible not to believe in it. With so many odd things that could happen the fact that Taryn had managed to be at Fisk at the same time as myself was probably one in a million. Then you add in the fact that Nixi had found us and attacked us outside of Vicna with a small army of Plague...

Normally one could not even find a hundred Plague, but for there to be well over two hundred in a single area was near impossible. That size of a group should have been noticed long before it got that deep into the Empire.

Had Taryn known of who I was? Was it merely a setup from the start? Did he perhaps work with Nixi to try and force this change on me? Suspicion mounted as thoughts continued to fly around, questions which had no proper answer ran wild within my mind.

Fate.

The thought that everything was someone's plan refused to stop, a game for some greater power. The Gods were doing their own little dance and us mortals had to sing and twirl along to the tune. The idea that I was naught more than a puppet in a game caused the anger to swell up.

Once more a glare was directed at Taryn, though as I looked into his worried face there was a softening in my heart. He honestly felt bad, the feeling almost poured out of his very body and washed over the plains.

"Fine," I muttered, before standing up straight and walking over toward Taryn. He did not look like a son of a God, he looked a bit ordinary and his average face would never turn a head in his direction. "Taryn, you told me I can choose to kill you if I so want to for what you've done to me. You admit that you infected me with your soul?"

The response from Taryn was simply a nod, as he knelt onto the ground with both knees. Maria looked on, her face twisted into one of fear at the thought I was about to bring about more killing in front of her.

Perhaps it was with a shock that I wrapped my arms around his head and hugged him tightly. "You saved my life back there, we might have been strangers a week ago but we're companions now," I told him, before releasing him from the hug.

He looked up at me with a confused look, then a smile started to appear. It was at that point I slapped him on the cheek, then slapped him once more before turning away. I rubbed my hand gently, a wince flitting across my face at the pain. "Don't you ever think of offering your life up to someone like that again, I'll get to choose when and where you die," I told him without turning.

"Fine," was the response he gave, before Taryn stood up and brushed off his legs. "I figured you would've either ran away in fear or killed me due to being the son of a God."

The only thing I could do was laugh at that comment, before looking over my shoulder with a twinkle in the eye. "How could I do something like that? After all, my father is the Disciple of Mathias."