A yowl wakes me and my instincts scream at me to roll, drawing my sword as I roll. Before me stands a white and black striped cat, now cat doesn't do this justice, this "cat" is two meters long, and fangs like daggers. It immediately launches itself at me, throwing a flurry of blows at me as it advances, each of which I barely defended against. Each of the strikes could easily end my life, as if sensing that it lunged towards me, I cover my neck and face with my shield. Pouring as much mana into my right arm as it can handle, I stab towards the cat with all my strength. My sword sticks in its neck, the cat struggles but its movements only hastened its death. After a few more seconds its movements started to slow down, then it stopped completely. Now I'm trapped under three-hundred kilograms of dead cat. Great. Does the next chapter of my life really have to start with a near-death experience? Especially after yesterday. On the bright side this cat is worth a quite a bit, wait, I don't have time to it, and it's basically right next to Emeral, and the pelt alone weighs a few dozen kilograms so I can't take it with me. Damn. Why does this shit always happen to me? Or maybe the cave I'm in was its home, and when it returned it found an intruder,... me.

Looking outside I see the sun rising, definitely didn't get enough sleep. I clean myself as best I can, I still regret not being able to take the cat's body back with me. At least I can fill up my rations, al least the meat came to me on its own.

...

It's been a week since I left Emeral, it hasn't been going so hot lately. I stayed off the main road to avoid any pursuers. I was pretty short on food for a while, a hare here, fox there. On the second week it picked up a little, a pack of wolves decided to be a small snack for me, twice. Didn't come out unharmed this time though, too many of them this time. Fucked up my right hand, and my left foot, can't attack and can barely walk, great. As I got farther and farther south, the less snow was on the ground, yeah it was still freezing cold, but at least the walk should be easier now, or at least it should have been. A broken leg isn't an issue, but if I have to keep walking on it as it regenerates, that's when it becomes a problem. Of course those mutts had to rip a tendon out, should've anticipated that the alpha would attack from behind. Sigh.

The small issue with my foot, and the time restriction, encourages me to take a small risk and travel on the main road. I've covered enough distance, that even if there is a pursuit team there's close to no chance of running into them. Now the question is, in which direction is the goddamned road? I know that I need to go south, is the main road east or west? Shit, just fuck my life over why don't we? And so the walk continues.

...

So, the results so far, no more snow, it's getting a bit warmer, I have enough food and wildlife has been mercifully sparse since the last incident, and my leg and hand have healed a bit that took a bit too much out of me though. I found the main road, it was quite close to my position. Even better I came to a small village, but for some reason the chief and locals look strange, wrong.

"Greetings traveler, I am Ntar, the village chief. Sam here tells me that you are a hunter."

He said while pointing towards a guard, looking about thirty. The man spoke little the whole time I was with him, a big burly muscle-head which you can meet anywhere. The chief is about one point seven meters tall, greying beard, dressed quite nicely for a village as remote as this one. His rectangular hat with red and green symbols on top of it reminds of something, something I can't quite place.

"Greetings. I am a hunter, my name is...Alan."

He smiled brightly, but I knew it was fake, the important question, which type of fake? The merchant one or...

"It looks like you are a really good hunter Alan. Not many are brave enough to hunt during winter, and even less come back. So what can our humble village do for such a formidable hunter such as yourself?"

Acknowledgment of the danger, and flattery, typical merchant behaviour.

"I'm low on some supplies and wondered if you have anything up for trade."

He smiled again with a barely distinguishable fake smile.

"Of course, of course. Sam, take our guest to Kala, she will help with you everything."

Kala is a girl with long, light brown hair, and a face full of freckles. She's barely twenty, but she's already a village's main trader. Her shop wasn't to far from the village center and looked off, more like a warehouse rather than a shop, but it had quite an interesting list of items for sale. I picked up a few salves, and quite a bit of dried meat. Even with my healing, a few extra poison, or burn salves are never really extra, and I'm really tired of eating raw shit. I've collected a few coins on my way here so payment isn't an issue, additionally the price is good.

After the transaction Kala invites me to have a meal with them. I shouldn't stay here too long,...but hot food. I always laughed at people who were easily manipulated with nice food,

"Thank you very much, I would appreciate it greatly."

Fuck, here I am doing the same thing as those idiots.

...

About a dozen people gathered in a house close to Kala's shop. The chief and Sam were here as well. We all sat around a big table.

"Do you have any problems with mushrooms?" asked the chief.

"No problem at all."

The bowls were placed around and quickly filled with a greyish soup filled with pieces of mushrooms and meat. The people started to eat as soon as the bowl was filled. I took a spoonful, and put it into my mouth, when the spoon is half-way back to the bowl, I freeze.

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Magonite.

My mind kicks into overdrive trying to figure out how the FUCK this poison is in the North Kingdom. I look up and see everyone looking at me. The moment the chief's hat comes into my vision everything comes into place. The symbol on it.

"Qaes."

The eyes of the older ones didn't change, but the younger ones did. That's bad, really bad.

"I've no issues with the Sarshi Caliphate. I will leave this village and tell no one of its existence."

Everyone is silent, but the eyes of the chief became sharp with determination. This is MUCH worse than the spirit activity up north or the oncoming war with Qing. A Caliphate assassin village in the heart of the north. This isn't just a village of spies, this is a major invasion node, do they even understand what they're doing? No, only the chief knows the part-truth. They always use fanatics, I've lost count of the fanatics I killed personally. More than several thousand of the ones belonging to the Caliphate Quartet God Sect, and the uncountable number of constantly appearing Dark Churches. During that whole period I became nearly immune to all poisons and internal curses.

I shouldn't have come to this village. Someone performs a horizontal slash at the place where my head and neck should have been, his sword shines with a blue energy. Kala takes an elderly woman by the neck and slits here throat, the blood flowing out into a small blood sphere, some start to run to take out hidden weapons. The chief starts to chant, shit, Wizard, Warlock, Enforcer, and a group of equipped assassins. And all in one nice enclosed space. I take out a small yellow orb and throw it at the table, never expected to use it here, it hits the table and explodes into a yellow-red gas. Now it's a bit more fair. The blood ball starts deforming and falls down, the sword stops shining, the chief looks at me baffled. Kill of be killed, huh.

...

I started to collect anything of value in the village, there was a lot of stuff, but I didn't have time to order it nor space to take it with me. They had two horses so travel will be easier. I continue walking around the village as the bodies of the elderly, adults, and kids continue to burn in the village square. Their dead eyes looking lifelessly into the endless sky. The smell of burning human flesh is indescribable, but you will never forget it, or confuse it with anything, even if it's mixed in with a thousand different smells.

Words cannot describe the hate and powerlessness I feel right now. They always use the young, the ones easily influenced and controlled. I remember when I was younger, how I argued with the superiors and believed we could save them, help them, fix them.

But they did not want to be saved.

They couldn't be saved.

The child cannot be held responsible for the actions of the parent, nor can they be held accountable for the things they have been told. They don't understand what is right nor what is wrong, nor can you blame their zealous belief into something they do not even understand.

When you see a child less than ten, running at you with a sword she can barely hold, with eyes full of contempt, and hatred. With their pure, innocent eyes they believe you are the bad one, the monster, that all the atrocities that she has been told to do are good, justified. Something in you breaks, and will never be fixed no matter what you do. After that you can't stop trying to save them, because maybe, just maybe, you can save yourself if you save them.

I will never forget the time we, I, tried to save the children from a newly formed Dark Church, we killed everyone except the children. We truly believed we saved them, we ignored the hateful eyes, we believed that after we got to base we could explain to them, teach them what was actually happening, they would understand. Maybe they would even join the Legion, and become our brothers.

We were naive.

They had timed devil pills inside them, more than likely made to swallow them the moment we attacked. They turned in the night, the ones we wanted to protect, became the killers of many of my brothers. We killed them. The morning was worse, the cold realization that we lost more that night than in the actual mission. They could be alive, breathing, laughing with us.

A part of us died that night.

You could try to save them,

But they don't understand that,

They do not want to be saved.

Or maybe these are words I tell myself so I can sleep better at night.

It wasn't the main road I came to, but a hidden path, no one was ever meant to find this village. I finished preparing the horses, and started towards the south.

War.

Qing with the Northen Kingdom, and the Sun Empire.

Now the Sarshi Caliphate with the Northern Kingdom.

The Desert Alliance will be involved, one way or another.

I need to cross the Dead Desert before that. This all means that soon more than half the continent will be at war. Am I running out of a burning house? No, the events will still catch me. I need to reach Toaan as soon as I can, and the amount of time left is decreasing by the second. I'm not sure how much it will take to reach my goal, and everyday lately feels like it could be my last. But please, if there is someone up there...

Please, just one more day, just one more fucking day.