Aaron and Daniel had been walking down the dirt road for a couple of hours. Danial has been bombarding Aaron with question after question. They were walking towards the closest village that had transportation.

“So what’s the plan again?” Daniel asked Aaron for the fourth time.

“We’re going to walk to Begtuak Village and from there we’re going to get a carriage that’ll take us all the way to Greyspire. That way, we won’t be exhausted walking for 3 days.”

“That’s a good plan. I’m proud to be called your friend. I-“

“Let me stop you right there.” Aaron stops and turns towards Daniel. “As of right now, we are not friends. Just to people who got stuck dealing with each other. I doubt we will ever be friends.”

Daniel looked at him and then down at the ground. He kicked some of the rocks in the dirt around and then looked back up at Aaron.

“You mean we’re not friends yet. I’m sure after a while of being stuck with each other, you’ll accept me as a friend.” He smiles at Aaron.

Aaron sighs and continues walking down the road.

“So what exactly is this job?”

“Didn’t you hear what Eldrian said? We’re going to be protecting Thana Syrax and escort her from one place to another.”

“And those places are Greyspire and where?”

“We won’t know that until we get there and they give us the rest of the details to the job. Once we find that out, we’ll be able to figure a price for our services.”

“Oh. Is that how these jobs work?”

“No. Not usually. We normally have all the info we need and get told the price up front so it’ll be our decision to actually accept the job. But this specific job seems odd. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long one.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The fact that-“

Aaron stops, causing Daniel to do the same, as they both notice a man walking in their direction. He wouldn’t have paid any attention to him, but this man had a strange look to him. He was wearing a orange shirt with a blue tie. He had a blue jacket on over it and blue pants. An orange hat sat on his head and he was walking with a long black cane with a pair of blue gloves on each of his hands. The strange man walked all way until he stopped right in front of them.

“Excuse me, my name is Zaru. Zaru Nati.” He takes off his hat and bows. Then he leans back up and holds out his gloved hand expecting someone to grab it. Daniel started to reach for it and speak, but Aaron held his arm out in front of him to stop him.

Zaru pulled his hand back, “I see you aren’t the trusting type. Well, I guess I could warn you anyways.”

“Warn us about what?” Aaron asked while eyeing Zaru up and down.

“If you’re looking for transportation in Begtuak Village, then you’ll have to look elsewhere. I just came from there and it’s been destroyed.”

Daniel looked at Aaron in shock and back at Zaru, “Destroyed?”

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“Completely. So if I were you, then I’d cut through the forest right here. It’s a straight shot from here to nearest village.” Zaru points his cane towards the wooded area on the side of the road.

“Alright. Thank you for the directions.” Daniel said as he started walking towards the trees. “Let’s go Aaron.”

Aaron stood where he was, “No. We’re going to head to Begtuak. I need to see this myself.” Daniel stopped and looked back.

Zaru looked at Aaron and raised his eyebrow. “I strongly suggest you go this way. Believe me, you don’t want to see any of that. Houses burned down. People ripped to pieces all over the road. Idk what happened but no one survived.”

“I’d still like to see it for myself.” Aaron continues to look at Zaru, keeping eye contact with him with every word.

Zaru holds his gaze for a few minutes and finally sighs. “Alright. Suit yourself. I tried. It’s not my fault if you end up dead.” Zaru smiles and begins to walk past Aaron. “I’d be careful out there, Aaron Fritter. You never know what could happen.”

“You do the same, Mr. Nati.” Daniel said almost sounding too cheerful.

Zaru turns towards Daniel and smiles, “Good luck with him, Daniel. I have a feeling you’ll need it.”

“Thanks, Mr. Nati.” Daniel and Aaron start walking down the road until Daniel stops.

Aaron looks at him, “What is it now?”

“How did he know our names?”

They both turn around to see that the strange man who introduced himself as Zaru Nati was gone.

——

Begtuak Village was a nice little place. It had a local bakery, a small little church, a school for all the local children, and numerous huts and houses for the people to live in. There was even a small stream that went through the center of the village with a small bridge to cross. Nothing could prepare Aaron and Daniel for what they saw when they arrived.

As they walked up to village, they could smell the burning wood. The school building was the only building that wasn’t burnt to the ground. Everything was burnt down and still smoldering. It looked like it happened very recently.

“What happened here?” Daniel asked as the reached the center of the village.

When the got to the center, they could the bodies of the villagers scattered throughout the roads. They could see that the villagers were not only burnt beyond recognition, they were also ripped apart.

“Whatever happened here, it wasn’t good.” Aaron looked at Daniel and could see horror on his face. “It looks like the only building that didn’t come down was the school. You go check that out and I’ll see if the carriages weren’t destroyed.” Daniel looks at Aaron and nods as he starts walking towards the schoolhouse.

The schoolhouse had only a few burn marks on it. Some of the windows were broken out completely while others looked like they were untouched completely. The doors to the school were cracked open.

As Daniel opened the doors even more, an awful smell washed over from the inside. He walked inside and he could see more of the villager’s bodies. It looked like the majority of the villagers were killed outside of the school and were placed in the school. All of the bodies were piled in the center of the school. Daniel immediately runs out and vomits on the steps.

“I found a…” Aaron walks up to Dainel as he wipes the vomit off his mouth with his sleeve. “What happened?”

Daniel motioned to the doors of the school, “Looks like the majority of the villagers are in there.”

Aaron turns towards the the doors and takes a few steps before he smells the inside of the school. He looks through the crack in between the doors and then turned back to Daniel.

“I found a horse and carriage that we can use to get to Greyspire. If we leave now, we could make it by nightfall.”

“Did you not see what was in that building? How does it not phase you?”

“I saw it. It doesn’t phase me because there’s nothing we can do. We have our own business to take care of.” Aaron walks back towards where he found the horse and carriage. Daniel stands up straight and walks with him.

They both climb on the front of the carriage. When Daniel turned around to look back at the village, he noticed a figure waving at them as they leave. The figure looked like it was alternating between a bright blue and a bright orange light. All he could think about was the man that they met on the way to Begtuak Village, but as he turned around, he couldn’t remember his name.