Holding Leo close to his body, taking care not to jostle him too much, Trenton and Walibeld silently walked, quickly trudging their way over a sprawling expanse of hills, occasionally encountering spots of rampant destruction. As they walked, Trenton took in the outside world in all its glory for the first time. He'd been outside before, sure, but never beyond the walls. It was like a whole new world, one he always knew about, but was never allowed to see, the hills, stretching on and on, not even the slightest hint of infrastructure anywhere for miles. It was weird, almost unnatural, paradoxically. Trees scattered randomly about the landscape taking free root in the ground without having to worry about competing with concrete for space–it was like a grand feast of greens and blues laid out before Trenton that he was too stunned to properly enjoy.
Eventually, the sun sank, dwindling to just a few sparks barely peeking over the horizon. At this point, the pair had been walking for several hours, seeing nothing but rolling hills and trees the whole while. Based on the slight ache in Trenton’s legs, they must have walked about a dozen or so miles out of the city, but despite that, they had yet to see any notable variance in the landscape. It was as if those hills stretched on forever. Although, he was also carrying Leo this entire time, so maybe he was off the mark. It was really hard to tell at this point. With all the events of the day, Trenton found it hard to form coherent thoughts, let alone feel emotions. The sudden burst of negative emotions earlier fried his brain, now only letting sparse feelings through the protective Bulwark.
“It’s almost sundown,” Trenton said, picking up his pace to walk next to Walibeld instead of behind.
“I’m aware. We just need to go a little farther. There's a landmark here that I’m looking for,” Walibeld responded, his voice passive and calm.
With a grunt, Trenton hoisted Leo’s still unconscious body, repositioning him to make him easier to hold. They continued trudging along, darkness soon falling over them, making it impossible to see more than two feet in front of your face. Just as Trenton was about to say something about it, he felt Walibeld’s hand on his shoulder and stopped moving.
“Just a moment. I haven't cast this spell in many years, so I’ll need some time to recall it,” Walibeld said, quietly.
Walibeld closed his eyes and began to mumble words in a tongue foreign to Trenton, likely some incantation meant to direct the flow of magic. Weird, typically that was only something beginner mages did when they were just learning how to control their magic, definitely not something an expert mage like Walibeld would need.
Suddenly, Walibeld’s hands began to glow with arcane energy, his right hand with a brilliant golden glow, and his left with a luminosity similar to the night's darkest shadows. It was a magic which wielded two different kinds of energies at the same time, each one bound to a different hand. Trenton had never seen, or even heard of such a thing before. Typically, each mage only got their one magic type and that was it. Whatever you were born with, you were stuck with. And, that was even if you’re born with magic at all. Some folks were born without the ability to cast a spell, no matter how hard they tried. Some folks like…Walibeld. Walibeld had insisted for years that he had no ability to cast magic, so to suddenly have not just one, but two different types? It was unheard of. Walibeld slowly moved his hands through the air, tracing invisible symbols while muttering to himself. Then, out of nowhere, two motes of light appeared, hovering in the air before Walibeld. Wait. Light motes? That’s a basic light spell, but neither of those energies looked like light magic. What was going on here? Trenton stared dumbfounded at Walibeld, which, with the two lights now hanging in the air, happened to be incredibly visible.
“It’s not magic, if that clarifies anything. Come on. I’ll explain after we’ve settled in for the night. I’d like to make sure we get to the spot soon,” Walibeld said, practically reading Trentons mind. Trenton grabbed one of the light motes, which hovered just inches above his open palm, casting a bright light, banishing some of the darkness surrounding them. They walked for another couple of minutes, now with the aid of the artificial lights, before finally exiting out of the tree line and onto the edge of a cliff. In the darkness, it was impossible to see what it was meant to overlook, but there would be time in the morning to gaze. For now, it was time to rest.
Walibeld pressed his hand against his deep pocket, opening a portal to a special subspace connected to the device designed for storage. Out of it, he pulled three bedrolls, two tightly sealed packages, some wood, a tinderbox, and some more gauze and healing clay. He tossed the packages to Trenton and started setting up the rest of the camp, a campfire in the middle with the bedrolls splayed around it.
“It’s a package of rations. I imagine you haven't eaten anything today, so you can have both of those,” Walibeld took Leo from Trenton, placing him next to his bedroll, and started changing out the clay and gauze, deftly washing out the wounds with a waterskin and placing new bandaging overtop to replace the old ones. As Walibeld changed the bandages, and while Trenton ate, he looked closely at Leo, taking note of the wounds covering his body. The healing clay, infused with some simple magic, did well to close up most of the severe wounds, but it was clear he was far from okay. All across his body were deep cuts oozing with blood and puss. On top of that, several of his limbs were bent in odd directions, something Trenton hadn’t noticed before. Walibeld, using some pieces of wood, stone, and rope, managed to fashion makeshift splints for Leo. They were nothing extraordinary, but it would at least hold his limbs until a more permanent solution could be made. When everything was tended to, Walibeld laid Leo inside of his bedroll, and went to sit on his own.
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“I suppose I should explain what exactly I was doing earlier. it was actually something I-” Walibeld looked over at Trenton, not even fully inside of his bedroll, passed out with the two empty boxes of rations tossed to the side. “Long day…I understand,” Walbeld pushed Trenton fully inside of his sleeping roll, and went to sit on his own, gazing pensively at the surroundings of the camp.
Many hours later, Trenton awoke from his slumber to the dull shine of the sun's early morning rays. He stretched, working the weariness out of his sore muscles. Sluggishly, still recalling the events some days prior, Trenton raised to a seated position, looking around at the sparsely decorated camp. Off to the side, Leo still slept, cocooned within his sleeping roll. Oddly enough, though, Trenton saw no signs of the splints and bandages, which adorned his body the day prior. it was a little hard to tell through the thick cloth of the bedroll, but it almost looked like they'd been removed entirely. In front of him, Walibeld sat, slowly turning the corpse of some unrecognizable beast over a makeshift spit. His eyes, or rather his eye, drooped slightly, a small purple crease clearly visible just beneath it.
“Did you sleep last night?” Trenton asked, legs curled up against his chest.
“No,” Walibeld responded, never looking up from the spit.
Trenton thought to respond, to say something, to say anything, but he couldn’t muster up the energy. Walibeld wasn’t one particularly suited for conversation. Even when Trenton trained with him back in the mansion, they never really made much more than idle chat if they saw each other. Before, Trenton got the impression that Walibeld didn’t want to talk, that he rather preferred the silence and solitude of his own mind to chatter with another. But now, Trenton got something of a different impression, although he was not entirely sure what it is. Something about the tone of his voice almost sounded like sorrow resonating deep within his core.
Trenton sank back into his bag, thinking better of poking any difficult thoughts, instead deciding to go with the much more enticing option of doing absolutely nothing and trying not to think about anything. He sat like this for some time, straining his eyes closed, trying desperately to distract himself from the dark recesses of his own mind. Even though it happened not to be working, it was surely worth a try. Eventually, it had to work. Otherwise, he’d have to come face to face with the cruel reality that everyone was -suddenly, Trenton felt a tap on his shoulder. it was not Walibeld’s hard, calloused hands, no. it was much softer, much gentler. Trenton rolled over, opening his eyes, once again, to the world outside. Standing there, freshly clothed and fully healed, was Leo.
Trenton sat up, rubbing his eyes. He was certain that, just last night, several of Leo’s limbs wern’t even pointing the right direction, not to mention the various infected, diseased cuts all across his body. But now, Leo looked just as fresh as Trenton the day he woke up. Well, except for the far away look in his eyes, and the distinct red puffiness.
“Foods ready,” Leo said, his voice hoarse.
Trenton peeled the sleeping roll off of himself, squirming his way over to the fire where Walibeld handed him a hunk of unknowable, unseasoned meat on a spike of wood.
“Eat, you’ll need the energy. We can talk as we move,” Walibeld said, his eye keeping close watch on the two of them.
Trenton sat there, staring at the food, unwilling to move. It had nothing to do with the quality of the meal before him, Trenton had never been particularly picky, instead having everything to do with the state of mind he was in. How could he eat after what happened? How could he do anything after what happened? He wanted nothing more than for this moment to cease and to perceive nothing ever again. He waited, for a moment, hoping for some god’s passing whim to engulf him, but nothing happened. No matter how much he wished it so, he couldn’t manifest instantaneous sensory death.
Across from him, Leo stared at his meat, the same expression from before plastered on his face. Now, looking at Leo, instead of feeling the emptiness inside of him, Trenton felt sorrow. Trenton’s own pain tugged at his heart and world as if it were a grand puppeteer, and he the marionette. But seeing Leo sitting there, helpless as a newborn baby, caused something to click. Suddenly, he felt that same feeling from yesterday, the sudden vigor in spite of the odds, the circumstances. Trenton scooted over to sit next to Leo, wrapping his arm around Leo’s shoulder and slowly beginning to gnaw away at his hunk of meat. it was bland and flavorless, dry, too. It must have been overcooked. No matter. It was not a problem.
Leo laid his head on Trentons shoulder, tears streaming freely down his face without the slightest sound and began to eat his own piece of meat. Together, the both of them took solace in each other's company, carving out not their own little haven in the world, but just a spot where they could be alone. it was all they had, and it was enough.
When everyone was done eating, Walibeld doused the fire and stood, walking to the edge of the cliff with Trenton and Leo just behind. Splayed before them, in all its natural wonders, was the world outside. Below them, a grand river bustled along in a gorge between two massive cliffs, carrying along whatever detritus it happened to find along the way to wherever its destination happened to be. All around the river, and truthfully all around them, were great trees of every shape, size, color, and type. The trees stretch far up, granting whatever creatures that lay within the gorge pleasant respite from the sun’s concentrated rays. In front of them, great cliffs and crags, towering both far below and far above them, sat stalwart against the rest of the world, unrelenting, unmoving. What a marvelous site this was, unlike anything Trenton had ever seen. Despite the hundreds of different textures and colors all cleaved together, it worked. The random jumble of it all, the sharp contrasts and contours, only highlighted the already pristine features of nature's splendor. It’d be enough to bring any man to tears, if he had any to shed. Trenton looked over at Leo, whose eyes were lit up with childlike wonder at the sight before them, much like his own. It didn’t fix what was broken within them, by any means, but it did assuage the immediate crushing sense of guilt and pain.