Six Years Ago

The night before the world ended, Wyn dreamt of fire. It was an all-encompassing, ethereal fire, which consumed whatever it touched and burned a crimson black. He didn’t remember much else about the dream, but the image of that flame was seared into his memory, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever forget the feeling of wrongness it invoked.

The day began like any other, he woke up, ate with his family, played with his younger brother for a bit, and then went to school. When school ended, he and Corrin began to walk towards the edge of town.

Corrin groaned, “How do you memorize all those numbers? You make the rest of us look like idiots when it comes to math.”

“It’s just practice Corrin, if you would come over and practice with me, you’d be good at it too.”

“Math is so boring though, why would I want to practice it?”

Wyn raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t our plan to go to an academy in Taravast?”

Corrin waved a hand dismissively, “That’s different, we’re going to an academy for spirit knights, it’s all about swords and fighting, ya know?”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Wyn said.

“Yeah yeah… Hey should we race to the lake again today?” Corrin changed the subject, walking with his hands on his head.

Wyn kicked a rock down the street, “Nah, it’s so nice out, we should just enjoy the jog over. More swimming will be plenty of training I bet.”

They said the same thing every time, but somehow it always ended up a race anyways.

“Fair enough.”

Wyn paused in the street, remembering something. “Wait crap! I told my dad I’d pick us up some milk from the market after school today.”

“Really?” Corrin groaned, “Hurry up, I don’t wanna waste any more sunlight.”

“Just head to the lake without me, I’ll meet you there after I drop it off at home.”

“Sure sure, I’ll see you in a bit,” Corrin said.

Wyn left at a brisk pace, not wanting to miss out on the swimming. The market wasn’t far from here, but his house was across town, so he had to move quickly.

Ten or so minutes later, Wyn was on his way back home, supplies in hand. He passed two of the boys who used to bully him, and they looked the other way as he passed. It was a reminder of how far he’d come, and he smiled at the thought. Up ahead he noticed a small commotion, as several guards moved through the streets. Such a gathering was rare, maybe a wandering spirit beast had gotten close to the village? He changed course slightly to meet them on their path.

“...dungeon guards didn’t return…” he heard a bystander mumble; a small crowd had gathered. He pushed forwards to catch the rest of the conversation.

“Apparently the night guard went missing as well.”

“Do you think it’s going to be alright?” A woman asked.

“They’re saying to get to the shelters,” another said.

“It’s that bad then?” The buzz of the crowd began to grow louder as more people arrived and the gossip spread.

Wyn grabbed the sleeve of one of the men talking, “Excuse me, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

The man chuckled nervously, “It seems like there’s been some sort of issue at the Founder’s Tomb, everyone is being ordered to go to the shelters at the garrison for now as a precaution, there could be a monster on the loose.”

Interesting, if the tomb guards hadn’t returned, there really could be a problem, but then why were they sending so many of the town guards? Usually, they’d only gather when a wandering spirit beast got too close to the village. Wyn had heard stories of such beasts knocking down buildings before being slain, but he’d never seen it happen, he was pretty sure those were just stories.

There was really no choice but to go to the garrison then. Most likely they would have to take shelter for a few hours while the guards went and dealt with whatever was happening. It’d be a little boring, but he and Corrin could—

Corrin!

Wyn turned and ran, dropping the glass of milk which shattered on the cobblestone behind him.

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Corrin would be at the lake, so there was no way for him to know what was going on. The lake wasn’t directly on the way to the founder’s tomb, but it was close enough to the path that a wandering monster could easily roam there. He’d heard that monsters could be drawn to places where there were more spirits, or lacking that, humans. And other than the spirit glades, the place with the most spirits nearby town was the lake. Even if the odds were low, he had to get there and warn him.

He looped around the trail, avoiding the marching guards on their way to the tomb; they'd only slow him down, or even try to prevent him from making it there. He had to hurry, he had to get Corrin back to town as soon as possible.

The runs to and from the lake had been worth it, and he was able to reach the hill overlooking it, hardly winded. But as the crystalline blue surface of the lake came into view, Wyn realized that his fears had already come to pass.

Near the edge of the lake, a large, bear-like creature had apparently wandered over. It was scarred and dirty, with mangled fur the color of dried blood, and had a savage, sickly look to it, which didn’t match the powerfully confident way it seemed to move. It was pacing around the bottom of a tree, and when he looked up its base, Wyn could see Corrin hiding on a branch just out of its reach.

This was the worst-case scenario. Wyn had planned to just inform Corrin and return to town together, but since the monster was already here, he’d have to get help from the town.

As Wyn turned to leave and return, he was drawn back by a loud crashing sound from the direction of the forest. He looked back and saw the tree shaking from some kind of impact. Then, he watched in horror as the monstrosity slammed into the trunk, causing the tree to shake even more.

Wyn’s blood froze. There was no doubt, in the time it would take him to get to Straetum and back with help, the tree would come down.

What do I do what do I do? He tried to calm down, but his breathing was frantic.

Wyn dumped his small pack onto the ground, hands trembling as he went through the few items he had with him. A knife, some rope, his medical kit…

His eye was immediately drawn to a small silk pouch. He’d forgotten he had it, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to. If anyone found out he and Corrin had “borrowed” one, they’d be in the worst trouble of his life, but he was glad he had it now. He carefully removed the small red crystal from inside, eyes catching on its rough vermillion surface. A firestone.

If he dropped it while it was removed from the pouch, he'd be dead before he knew what happened. Counterintuitively, that made his palms sweat and his hands shake even more. Still, with this, he might actually be able to save them both.

Holding it tightly, he drew closer to the bear, which was beginning to claw at the tree Corrin was perched on. He had to be careful, as he had no idea how large the blast would be. Better to lead the bear away from the tree before hitting it.

A branch snapped underneath him, and the bear’s head jerked towards him, scarred-white eyes filled with hunger. It moved faster than he could believe, and in sheer panic he threw the firestone, yelling a warning to Corrin as it arced towards the bear.

It hit in the grass in front of the beast and for a moment, Wyn thought it had failed to go off. But before he could even finish the thought, there was a blinding flash of light, and then a sudden boom that left his ears ringing. A wave of heat washed over him, uncomfortably hot, followed by a shockwave which rolled out from the point of impact. Even from a distance, it hit an unprepared Wyn like a strong push in the chest, sending him tumbling back through the grass. He barely managed to shield his face as dirt and rocks were flung out in every direction, pelting him.

By the time the dust settled, he was amazed that he was mostly unharmed, and when he looked towards the forest, not a trace of the bear remained. He breathed a sigh of relief before realizing why he’d come.

“Corrin!” He yelled, running towards the edge of the trees. The outer layer had been knocked over, including the tree where Corrin had been, but they weren’t on fire. Thankfully, the fireball itself didn’t seem like it had reached that far.

He found Corrin pinned under a branch of one of the fallen trees, groaning in pain.

“Corrin! Are you alright?” Wyn started pulling the branch off of him, but it was too heavy.

“Do I sound like I’m alright?” Corrin complained, but then he forced a pained grin onto his face, “That explosion was sick.”

Wyn laughed darkly, “It can’t be too bad if you can joke like that. Help me get this off of you.”

With the two of them working together, and help from Wyn’s knife, they were able to get Corrin out from under the branches. Corrin was scratched all over and bleeding from multiple places, and he was having to lean onto Wyn for support, but they were both alive.

Wyn began to laugh, “Hey Corrin, we killed a monster.”

Corrin looked over, his eyes lighting up even through the pain, “Yeah, yeah I guess we did. Well, actually I guess you did most of the work!” He punched Wyn on the shoulder, “Look at you! Freaking monster killer!”

They laughed together, blissfully, for a moment as the tension slowly washed away. They’d killed the wandering monster, and it was likely that the hunting party had killed the rest. All they had to do was play off Corrin’s injuries as an accident, pretend they’d been in the forest the whole time, and they could probably even avoid getting in trouble. They began walking back to Straetum, carefully keeping an eye out for monsters as they made their way back towards the main road.

Then Wyn saw the bodies.

Lying in the blood-stained grass, just a few paces away from the dirt path which led from the tomb to Straetum, was the mangled corpse of one of the town guards. A few feet from that one, was another. The field around it had been turned into a battlefield, with the remains of monsters littering the ground, some oozed blood of several different colors, which mixed together into pools of black sludge, while others had begun to dissolve away entirely.

Wyn’s heart began to hammer in his ears as he stared at the sight, his entire body tensing up as he resisted the urge to vomit.

“What… what happened here?” Was all he could manage.

Besides him, he could hear Corrin push back a whimper, he spoke stiffly and quietly, “Wyn, we have to get back. There’s no telling where or when they might attack again. We should hurry right?”

Wyn nodded in a daze, trying to shake off the dizziness. He jerked back abruptly as the blood trickled closer to him. “Let’s—let’s hurry. Straetum will be safe.”

The two boys began to run, the pain of the previous encounter all but forgotten as only one emotion began to creep into their minds.

Fear.