Alessia lifted her hands from the bloody wound, thick and sticky. Her hands as crimson as her friends stomach. Her breath was shaky and her heart was pounding in her chest in an erratic fashion. As if her emotions, in a violent turmoil, had an effect much more widespread than her primary motor functions. She grabbed Alexis sword and turned to the siren.

Standing completely still in front of her was Joan, the tip of her blade scraping his throat. It stung rather painfully. A single tear rolled down from his eye. He was so sure he was going to die here too. It was his fault he believed all of this was his fault, and only his. His gun was still pointed at the creature's heart where he had failed to shoot a bullet, the empty chamber's click sound echoing in the air.

The siren moved her blade in an elegant motion, leaving a bloody line against the historian's neck, as she prepared a blow meant to cleanly kill him. With a scream, or a roar, almost like a beast, Alessia plunged her sword through the siren's body. Close to its heart.

They both staggered and Joan stepped back. What else was he supposed to do? Alessia painstakingly pulled the sword out, and then, out of breath already, she raised it again. The blade drew an almost perfect arc in the air before meeting the neck of the creature. It got stuck halfway in and Alessia's hands slipped from the handle as the siren violently moved away from her. She was drenched in the light blue blood of the creature.

The siren in her desperate escape away from the cartographer did not see that she had come closer to Joan, who quickly regained his wits when he saw the handle swing in his direction. The first time he had to crouch to doge it, but when it came back around from the creature panicked movement he was ready.

He grabbed the handle when it had just barely passed him and then with all the strength he was still capable to gather he pulled it to him. With a bone chilling crack, the blade came lose as the siren's head rolled at his feet. Its eyes wide open and staring at him in a mix of hatred and fear.

The eyes seemed to bore holes in his confidence, he couldn't hold the stare any longer. He staggered and hid his eyes with his hands, yet unable to look away. He could still feel that gaze on himself. He could hear the distant sounds of waves crashing against the shore, despite being days away from it. He could smell the salt, almost taste the iodine on his tongue. Her voice boomed all around him, saying words his psyche couldn't hear.

Alessia saw Joan start to convulse after he had killed the siren. Whatever bloodlust, born from her desire of revenge, was left after their violent execution it vanished quickly at the sight of the man being in danger again.

She rushed to his side, jumping over the dead body and grabbed him by the shoulder. She managed to make him let go of the sword and then she tried to keep him still. Blood and dark blue oozed from the corner of his eyes, nose and ears. She called his name she held his face firmly but nothing helped.

The amount of anger, of hostility he felt was making him sick. Whatever that unseen presence was it wanted to erase him from the surface of the planet, to call forth waves strong enough to dismember his body and throw his mangled corpse to depth previously unknown. To dissolve his memory into the dark abyss. To...

"Joan, Joan !" The blurry face of a dark haired woman appeared in his field of vision. An apparition that brought incredible relief to the man.

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"Alessia! Alessia, is that you ? Is it day ?"

"Yes, yes it's me, and the sun has risen, I'm so glad you are awake !"

"What happened ? I...I don't...I don't remember much."

"You..." Alessia hesitated, should she tell him what happened? She didn't really know herself after all. "We won, we killed that thing from the lake...but..."

"I remember now." Joan tried to get up but Alessia stopped him.

"You should stay here."

"I want to see Alexis, let me...I want to see for myself."

"Professor, I'm so sorry, I couldn't..."

"It's my fault not yours, let me see him, I need to."

Alessia helped him get up from the ground. After his convulsions the man had become limp and for a split second Alessia had believed he had died too, since then she had been sitting at his side, waiting for him to wake up. Too scared to move him from his spot. Not that she would have been able to if she had wanted.

She had also been witness to the vanishing of the siren, which, after a long while laying in the soiled grass, slowly dissolved into water before her eyes as the nascent rays on sunlight revealed the scene. Alessia hadn't looked away, half convinced that it would come back to life to finish what she had started.

Alexis was also still laying where he had been killed. She couldn't bring herself to go back to him, so, the first thing Joan did when he arrived was to close the man's eyes. With trembling hands, tear filled eyes.

Later that day they buried the man under a beautiful apple tree. Throwing some stray wheat strands and a handful of flowers down with him Alessia and Joan handed him a coin, one for luck and one for safe passage. Once the grave had been filled they planted a carved piece of wood in lieu of a head stone.

Alessia emptied an Ale bottle in front of it after the two survivor had cheered and drunk their own glass.

"I had bought it to celebrate once at the site. There will not be a more fitting day to drink it than today now."

"I am sure he appreciate the thought."

They left the tree in silence and departed for the road ahead. Deciding that ultimately it was safer to travel at night and sleep during the day for the remaining clear night after the full moon. A decision that brought them comfort, even if it was little, for the next few days.

Two days later Joan would find Alexis letter in his jacket. And upon reading the words inside come to a point where he wouldn't be able to stop blaming himself for the Tragic incident.

The letter went as follow:

Professor Archebus, Joan,

By the time you find and read that letter I might be dead. If I am not already then keep these words secret until they become relevant.

Since we have begun our journey together, I think we have grown to understand each other to a point where we could call one another friends. I guess that surviving the attack of undead soldiers truly bring people together.

But enough of this. If I write you this letter it is because there is something I would like to ask of you. In these uncertain times I figured that it would be a good initiative to find someone trustworthy, you or Lady Alessia, to take care of my affairs once I am gone.

Joined to this letter you will find another letter, addressed to my daughter. I may have never married, I still fell in love once, Lucy is all I have left in this life. Please bring her my letter so she can know that I didn't abandon her. I don't ask you anything more than to make sure the letter goes to her.

It truly was a pleasure, and an honour, to meet and come to know you and Alessia. I hope the journey, after my departure, will not be too harsh on the both of you. I trust that, in time, Alessia will learn how to put to good use all that energy she has, and that you'll reach that strange goal of yours.

Your good friend, Alexis.