Cury scratched a third line into the carriage wall using a small but surprisingly sharp rock. He had spent two days on this ride and the third day had just begun.

The carriage stopped and shortly after, a gentle knock was heard from the back door.

“Breakfast is ready, you are allowed to come outside if you want to” Charles said in a monotone voice.

Cury clenched his fest and yelled, “I'm not going anywhere, leave me alone!”

He could hear another voice from outside, one that he did not recognize.

“There's no use, the kid seems violent. Good thing he's alone in there!” The voice said full of disdain.

A loud smack was heard, followed by a yelp.

“You idiot” Charles sneered. 

A couple of footsteps left and the door opened, Cury looked towards the opening and saw a tall figure of a man with blonde hair. He immediately recognized the person and rolled up off the floor. He was now standing, staring with a vicious look at Charles.

“Chill, kid.” Charles said with a quiet tone as he put down a plate of food on the wooden floor, along with a waterskin.

“I’m just thinking you gotta eat” He said, as he closed the door and walked away.

Cury stared at the food with contempt. He was hungry, but he really didn’t want to eat anything that this person brought him.

But the chicken on the plate sent waves of appetizing scents. His belly gave away a loud noise and he gulped. That piece of chicken alone could not break his will, but as he stared at  the plate he saw a couple of potatoes, covered in melted butter.

“Butter on potatoes? I never had that before..” Cury said out loud as he imagined the taste of it all combined. 

“Chicken, potatoes and butter.” He slowly said, empathizing the 'and'.

 He could not resist any longer and grabbed the neatly placed fork from beside the plate and dived in.

The food melted away in his mouth before he even realized he had started eating, and the plate was quickly cleaned by his tongue.

His stomach felt full but Cury wasn’t happy.

'If only Sun was with me' he thought to himself as a frown appeared on his face.

Cury missed Sun, she was the best friend he ever had.

He wanted to cry again, but he steeled his mind, struggling to keep control. It was hard. Especially hard because he was alone. He wanted to give up the fight with his emotions and cry his heart out, but he also wanted to be brave.

“Sun wouldn’t want me to be sad” he said, clenching his fist.

“But she can’t want anything anymore” He said with a cold tone and sulked.

Then he started crying once again. He cried louder than he had done before, and every soldier nearby could hear him.

A couple of soldiers sat around a campfire close to Cury's carriage. They had walked for many hours and needed a good rest.

They stared at each other, annoyed by the noise coming from the last carriage.

One of them stood up and exclaimed; “Give me a second, I'll shut him up!”.

One of his cheeks was slightly red, and the poor attempt to cover it with his long black hair made it even more depressing.

He walked towards the carriage, but before he could reach it the crying got louder, and they all felt sorrow in their hearts. 

Charles distanced himself from the others as he swiftly climbed, then sat down on a large rock, though it should be mentioned that these rocks that posed taller than two grown men were common within this forest.

“Let the kid cry, Danton, we all saw what happened that day” said one of the other soldiers.

Danton, who had almost reached the carriage stopped in his tracks. He was overwhelmed with sadness. He was confused.

'Why am I sad?' he thought quietly.

He knew that he wasn’t one of the most sympathetic people, especially not in this band of soldiers. Quite the opposite could be said.

He shook his head and went back to the fire.

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The crying echoed through their minds, draining the colours of the forest and the fire before them. All turned dull and grey, as the joyful mood they had carried throughout the day faded.

Charles stared at the tree tops. If anyone was getting affected by this, it would be him. But he couldn’t let it show, he was their general.

He turned his gaze toward the soldiers and said with a warm, yet serious voice; “Allow yourself this moment of sadness. We've all got baggage with us and it's not good to bottle things up. However, this is a one time only deal, don’t make this a habit. A quiet minute, that's all you're getting!”

The soldiers around the campfire all looked down at their hands, allowing themselves to feel their grief, whether it was a lost wife, husband, child or friend. They didn’t cry, but they were all struggling to feel the warmth from the fire in front of them.

The two women who were on guard duty left their posts and joined the campfire as well.

One of them brought out a large canteen full of spiced liquor. She took a big gulp and passed it on to the person on her left. The canteen took a full circle before not a single drop remained.

Charles sighed and closed his eyes. A tear left his cheek and landed on the stone he sat upon. If Sinon saw this, he would mock him for years. But how could Sinon understand this guilt? It wasn't that Sinon was rid of all emotions, it was because when Sinon killed, he always thought of it as an experience.

Charles slightly admired that, although he didn’t completely agree with it.

After some time, Cury's crying died down. The soldiers were putting out the fire and gathering their belongings, Charles had returned to his position at the front to lead this caravan back to the capital alongside Arkin.

All the carriages started moving, but the mood was still rather lifeless.

Arkin rode a black stallion at the very front, right next to Charles. He didn’t have time to take the well needed rest that he had given his small army. Some documents about this, some letters about that.. there were always things of utmost importance that he, the commanding general, needed to read, sign and send on their way. 

While reading a document earlier, he noticed that the aura in this forest fell on a grey path. He only knew of one thing that could cause such drowning feeling, and that was the forest people. 

Few knew about them, but in his youth he and a couple of other scouts had discovered something so extraordinary, yet foul and dark. A great clash had occurred, a bloody, brutal fight between all of the five kingdoms on a single battlefield.

This was some thirty years ago, but he remembered it as if it happened yesterday.

After countless of men and women had fell on the battlefield, after the winds had blown away the wailing voices of dying soldiers, a bloody mist rose from the ground. The mist entered through the noses of the fallen, and left through their ears. Some sort of energy was taken from the victims, and anyone who was taking their last breath when the mist emerged would have heard death's bell toll. Some rumours said that the mist claimed the very souls that remained, but not even the great library could confirm or deny such speculations.

The mist parted from the battlefield, and scouts from each of the five kingdoms were sent to follow it. Arkin and the other scouts followed the mist for days and nights, until they came upon a sight that the librarian scholars could only read about.

The red mist stopped moving once it had entered the Somber forest. It was a forest known for its dark setting, because  light had some struggle to enter through the tree tops and all the leaves seemed either grey or white.

The entire forest was almost rid of colours, save from the brown tree trunks. 

As the mist settled on the ground, wordless singing could be heard closing in from all directions. The scouts were frightened, but as they turned around to leave they all stopped. People, or rather the shape of people submerged from the tree crowns, floating towards the red mist. The voices sang, and as the sound reached the ears of the scouts they all felt as if their bodies gained double their weights. Sadness, and colourless memories of their past filled their minds as they saw the semi-transparent bodies in front of them swim through the mist.

They were the forest people. They didn't touch the scouts, they simply floated through the mist until the mist had subsided.

Then the forest people retreated back to the tree crowns never to be seen again.

They all lost something that day, and although they managed to report their findings to their respective king or queen, most of the scouts committed suicide shortly after. Maybe Arkin had a tougher mind, or he hadn’t seen enough to be affected as bad as the others. He didn't know.

Arkin woke from his daze and shook his head. This shouldn't be the forest people, there was no singing, no red mist and they were far from the Somber forest, but what if it was? Too little was known.

He turned his head to Charles, and saw the large frown on his face.

Arkin raised his eyebrow and asked, “Did anything happen back there?”

Charles's face twitched, and although he tried to cover it, he couldn’t hide it from Arkin and he knew it.

Charles raised his hands in defeat and said “I’ll be honest with you. I let it get to me, that girl back in Poz.”

Arkin nodded. He figured as much.

“And we've all been under a lot of stress lately, searching after Ros..” 

Charles abruptly stopped his sentence and coughed.

“Anyway, I think the incident in Poz was the final straw.”

Arkin scratched his cheek while he thought.

“You are probably right about our men being depressed, Charles. But hear me when I say this. Whatever happened today was not something as simple as low morale. I'm not allowed to tell you more about it, but if you ever visit the great library you should try learning about the forest people.” He finally said.

Charles looked at Arkin with a confused expression. “The forest people?” He asked.

“It's something that happened in my youth. Those things have a way to drain away the very essence of our being, the colours that we all take for granted.” Arkin answered.

“But don't think about it too much, force some men to play some joyful music, and promise them more booze than they can drink for when we arrive in Arden!” Arkin continued as he patted Charles shoulder.

“Now.” He added.

Charles turned around, on his way to deliver the orders. As he left, Sinon rode up to Arkin.

“Anything troubling you?” Arkin asked him.

Sinon's facial expression was serious and stern, but his voice was almost that of a child. He shook as he spoke, “I am sad, I don't know why but I miss Rosalee” he said.

Arkin spat on the ground and said “feel what you want but don’t say such foul words in front of me.”

Sinon immediately retreated with a pathetic look.

“Though I feel it too.” Arkin said with a sad voice.