Zalia returned just as Indis finished her conversation, Boreal following closely in her footsteps and giving a wide berth to any moving soldiers.

“All sorted?” she asked.

“The details have been decided, yes,” Indis replied, looking over at her.

“Wonderful, what’s the plan?” Zalia asked.

Indis shrugged,

“We have the rest of the day to ourselves before they can get in contact with the closest other general to organise a meetup, Faian did mention however that there is actually a soldier here who is a survivor of one of the rituals. The man apparently saw it first hand,” Indis replied.

“Oh we definitely need to go talk to that man,” Ember said.

“Agreed,” Zalia said.

She looked around and saw Eztari was still hanging around, keeping an eye on them.

“Hey!” she called out.

The man walked over,

“Yes?” he asked.

“We would like to talk with the man who has seen one of the rituals firsthand,” Zalia said.

“I know of the man and see no issue with that, come along,” he replied.

They followed Eztari for a time as he led them through the camp until they arrived at a stone building that looked a little different from the others. Entering, they discovered the reason for that as they saw that it was some sort of hospital. The men in the building didn't look injured however, many of them staring mindlessly at the walls or rocking back and forth as they sat.

“Oh no…” Ember whispered, trailing off.

Zalia mirrored the sentiment, looking around the room at the mind-scarred people. An unfortunate reality of war, some people suffered such grievous wounds or experienced so much horror that their minds simply broke. It seemed that despite the wonder of magical healing, some parts of war here were the same as Zalia’s own world.

“It is a heart wrenching sight, isn’t it?” Eztari said, looking around the room with sadness in his eyes, “we do as much as we can for them, try to keep them comfortable. A constant source of healing can relax their minds, take away some of the pain for a while but it very rarely sticks. Some have recovered this way but for many we can only hope.”

He led them past rows of beds, many occupied by people in various states of distress. Some few seemed to notice their passing, though none spoke to them. Amongst the scarred soldiers, many healers walked from bed to bed, giving healing or comforting words. They were led to the back of the building where a man sat on a bed in the corner, facing the walls. He was rocking back and forth while idly scratching at the wall with one hand, the quiet scraping sound accompanied by a low whisper as he spoke.

“Fire and death and fire, the lands below where they stir in their torment. Terrible, oh so terrible are the lands below. They speak in whispers and murmurs, murmurs and whispers, always in pain, so much pain. In those lands of fire and death and fire, the lands below where they stir in their torment…” the man whispered as he scratched the wall, repeating the phrases over and over.

Ember looked more and more disturbed as she watched the man, before turning around and leaving. Zen looked at Zalia and Indis before following after.

“I assume he has been like this ever since you found him?” Zalia asked.

“He has, nothing we have done has been able to break him from repeating the same thing, over and over,” Eztari said.

“He must have seen into Cormaine and seen much more than we could through the small distortion we found at the mine. Is the place really so terrible as to break a man so soundly?” Zalia thought.

“Where did you find him?” Indis asked.

“He was found at one of the rituals further east. We have been destroying them as we go but this one we found early on, soon after the ritual itself was completed. The men had all turned mad and we had to kill them but this man just sat there on the floor, covered in the blood of the sacrificed, scratching at the floor and repeating those words, over and over,” Eztari said, shuddering as he recalled the memory.

“You were there?” Zalia asked.

“I was… it is something I never wish to see again. Seeing one of the rituals after it has been cleaned up and abandoned is one thing but when it is fresh… the blood, the pieces of bodies ripped apart… it is no wonder this man is so broken,” Eztari replied.

He had a haunted look in his eyes and Zalia thought maybe Eztari hadn’t come out of the experience fully alright either.

“Why do they do it?” Indis asked.

“Do what?” Eztari asked back.

“Why do they follow through with these rituals if they are just normal soldiers before they take place? No sane person would do such a thing,” Indis said.

“We don't really know,” Eztari admitted.

“There is still something we don't understand about these rituals,” Indis said.

“Corrupted,” Zalia muttered, having thought of something.

“Corrupted?” Indis asked.

“When Tristan and I fought that captain, my Aura observation passive titled the man as corrupted,” Zalia said.

“So?” Eztari asked.

“And yet the crazed soldiers who attacked this place didn't have that,” Indis said, coming to the same realisation Zalia had.

“Exactly. There was also… some kind of aura that the man had. I didn't mention it before because I didn't think it was really important but he had some kind of aura that was affecting everyone around him. My healing aura managed to counter the effects for the most part though,” Zalia explained further.

“You think that has something to do with why the soldiers are going through with these rituals?” Indis asked.

“I don't know, but possibly? I wouldn't rule it out,” Zalia replied.

“I think I know what you are talking about, we have seen a few of those types. They’re much harder to kill than the normal crazy soldiers,” Eztari supplied.

“Another mystery to solve,” Indis said.

Eztari said something in reply but Zalia had stopped listening,

“I wonder,” she thought.

She focused Healing presence on the man scratching at the wall and for a moment he stopped, his hand dropping and his speech stopping.

“Oh gods, oh gods please no,” the man said.

He turned to them with a crazed look in his eyes but he did seem to see them at least.

“You have to stop them, you must stop them!” he screamed at them.

Eztari looked at the man with wide eyes, speechless. A few of the healers in the room ran in to see what the commotion was but the man had gone back to his whispers, scratching at the wall once more.

“What was that?” Indis asked.

“I just tried to focus my healing aura on him for a moment…” Zalia said.

“Please, you must leave while we tend to him,” a nearby healer said, motioning for them to leave.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I…” Zalia started.

“Come on,” Indis said, interrupting her and gently pushing her towards the exit.

Eztari followed them, still looking a bit stunned by the whole thing. They finally exited the building to find Zen gently hugging Ember as she cried softly.

“I’ve never heard him say anything else,” Eztari said, looking at Zalia.

“I don't know what I did,” Zalia said helplessly.

“Maybe your type of healing is different?” Eztari said questioningly.

“My classes are different, maybe that has something to do with it,” Zalia said, unsure.

“How so?” Eztari asked.

“I have..” she started saying.

“She has gained them in a strange manner is all,” Indis said, giving Zalia a warning look.

“Yes, that,” Zalia agreed, failing completely at lying.

She could tell Eztari didn't believe the obvious lie Indis had told but he didn't push further. He did look at her with vague suspicion though and she just looked back awkwardly until he turned away. She picked up Boreal, the feline now used to it making no complaint, and walked over to Ember. Ember turned to Zalia as she approached and she pushed Boreal into the woman's arms. Ember hugged the feline closely, holding the very fluffy and very warm Boreal. The feline stared into Zalia’s eyes from under Embers embrace,

“Why?”

Zalia heard the voice project into her mind and she almost jumped with surprise. She looked closer at Boreal,

“Because she needs comfort and you are very fluffy,” Zalia thought back.

She watched Boreal but no more words were forthcoming.

“What the hell?” she thought to herself.

She had no idea if the thought had come from Boreal or something else but it had definitely not been her own. It looked like Boreal had accepted her fate so maybe Zalia’s own thoughts had been heard by her. She shook herself out of her confusion,

“Are you alright?” Zalia asked Ember.

“I will be alright. I’m sorry, the sight just struck a little close to home,” Ember said, trying to regain her composure and putting Boreal down on the ground.

Zalia didn't prod further, she knew that the woman would open up about what that meant if she felt like it, pushing would only cause more harm.

“Maybe we can go talk to some of the soldiers and hear their stories as well,” Indis suggested.

“That's a good idea,” Zalia said.

“Sounds fine to me,” Zen said in agreement.

They spent the last hours of the day walking through the camp asking soldiers why they were fighting, what their stories were and their opinions on the leaders and the entire war in general. There were a wide array of reasons but the main ones to come up were various stories of soldier friends who were turned by one of the rituals, squad leaders or commanders deserting and taking their squads with them and other horror stories of heinous orders being given. Every soldier seemed to know at least one friend or ally who had been turned mad by the ritual and each of them held strong conviction in their voices for the cause they had chosen to follow.

While the stories were varied, the messages were all the same. Each of them believed the king to be some form of usurper or corrupt creature and they wanted the man gone. They seemed to all truly believe that it would be best for the kingdom of Endaria and it's peoples.

The sun was close to setting when Eztari found them again, informing them that a nearby general would be able to join them in this camp within three days. He would be coming with his own contingent of soldiers to reinforce their position and was happy to explain his story to the group. As the sun set they were given their own large tent to sleep in and they settled in, talking about everything they had learnt.

“I had an idea while we were talking to the soldiers earlier,” Indis said.

“Oh?” Zen said questioningly.

“Alright, basically I figured if we want to help the rebellion and assume we are right about Hidey, we can feed false information to him to help make a mission more likely to succeed. If we are short on time like General Faian thinks, an assassination attempt is something we should consider,” Indis explained.

“Assassination?” Zalia thought, a little disturbed.

As much as she disliked the idea, it was probably the track they were going down if they did help the rebellion. They wouldn't be the ones doing it but even helping make it happen didn't quite sit right with her. She would have to think a lot about her feelings in that regard.

“It is a viable option,” she replied.

“We’ll have to work with the rebellion and work out the details but it could be promising,” Ember said.

Ember was still a little red eyed but had managed to get her emotions under control for the moment. Zalia was now sure Boreal had not only heard her but understood her words because the ever growing feline was now curled up next to Ember, purring gently.

“I’m a little unsure, I’ll have to think about it,” Zalia said.

“Of course, we haven't decided on our path just yet. It is only an option I thought worth bringing up,” Indis said.

Zalia nodded, looking at Zen and trying to decipher his expression. He seemed… lost.

“You alright Zen?” she asked.

“Hmm?” he said, breaking out of his thoughts.

“Yes, I just… I just feel so out of my own depth here, in this situation,” he said.

Zalia definitely understood what he meant. Not only were they a bunch of Iron rankers but the situation was growing ever more complicated the further they went and she personally was getting more and more concerned that she might get things wrong and doom many, many people to a horrid fate. Depending on what the large ritual was actually meant to accomplish, supporting the wrong side could possibly spell the end of the kingdom of Endaria and it's people entirely. It was a scary thought.

“Yeah, I get that,” Zalia said, knowing it probably wasn't comforting to him.

“Can we just… can we rest and talk about it tomorrow?” Ember asked.

“Of course, some sleep might be best for us all,” Indis replied.

Zalia looked at the woman and realised that despite her appearance of being in control, the Lady might be feeling just as lost and worried as the rest of them were.

The others all settled in to sleep for the night and Zalia tried to as well. For once, her ability that allowed her to sleep less wasn't as much of a blessing. As the others fell asleep, Zalia was left restless and awake, stuck with her thoughts deep into the night before she too finally fell into slumber.

⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻

Morning came and Zalia awoke to the weight of Boreal sitting on her chest, gently poking her in the face with her paw.

“What th…” she mumbled.

It felt like the feline was getting payback for all the mornings that their positions had been reversed and Zalia had woken Boreal up instead.

“Hunt”

“What?” Zalia thought, confused.

And then she realised Boreal had spoken into her mind again.

“You want to hunt something?” Zalia murmured, still bleary eyed from sleep.

No thoughts popped into her mind but Boreal jumped off of her and walked over to the entrance so Zalia took that as a yes.

She got up and quickly got ready to go for a short hunt. As always her bow was stored in it's space so she didn't need to worry about packing it and she left her bag behind so all she really needed to do was strap her armour on before leaving the tent. All her allies were still asleep and despite having gone to sleep so late, she had awoken quite early in the morning still, thanks to her ability. She went to the gate and quickly explained to the guard what she wanted to do. The man ran off to talk to a superior and came back soon after, allowing her to leave and promising she would be allowed entry once she was back.

She followed Boreal as the feline led her into a thicker section of forest. She watched as Boreal quickly picked up the tracks of a larger beast and began to track it into the woods. Impressed, she followed along but was unsurprised at how much better Boreal was at tracking already. She did forget sometimes but Boreal would grow to be a large and very dangerous predator and had the natural instincts of one.

They moved quickly through the forest as Boreal tracked, Zalia only having to guide the feline once as they followed through. Zalia constantly kept an eye out for any new herbs she could find but was not lucky enough to see anything of note before they found the creature they were hunting. Zalia looked from Boreal to the creature they had found and raised an eyebrow at the feline, hoping she had learnt how to decipher facial expressions with her newfound ability to speak into Zalia’s mind. Boreal now weighed somewhere around twelve to fifteen kilos by Zalia’s reckoning and the creature they had hunted down was a large moose-like animal with two large horns like a bull growing from it's head. The moose creature probably weighed somewhere around seven to eight hundred kilos.

“I think you chose some prey way out of your weight class,” Zalia whispered to Boreal.

Boreal just looked up at Zalia with wide, round eyes, looking innocent and oh so cute.

“You little extortionist,” she whispered.

She couldn't believe she was about to hunt down a giant creature just so Boreal could eat it.

Boreal gave one small, quiet mew and Zalia just gave a heavy sigh before summoning her bow.

She got a little closer and saw that despite the size of the creature it was only Iron rank, much like herself. That was good, though she knew not to underestimate the thing.

Zalia drew her bow as Boreal stalked off into the woods to her right. She let off a shot, a second quickly following and two dull thuds sounded as both arrows impacted the head of the creature. One of the arrows deflected off it's thick skull but the other managed to penetrate through it's lower jaw. The creature let out a strangled but still extremely loud cry of protest before spotting Zalia and charging. It crashed through the undergrowth as Zalia let off another arrow, another dull thud sounding as it impacted the creature's chest, burying in deep. She activated Kill shot as she let off one more arrow, this one managing to bury so far into the creature's chest that even the feathers vanished within it's flesh. Her poison had started it's work and the creature had begun slowing down but it was still charging quite fast towards her and she was forced to stow her bow once more. Just before the creature reached her, she saw a flash of mottled grey fur as Boreal exploded from a patch of thick undergrowth and latched onto the creature's neck. Zalia dodged towards the right as Boreal’s attack caused the creature to stumble a little to her left.

The moose creature was now doomed to die and was alive only because of adrenaline and yet it still fought on. It crashed around trying to shake Boreal free but wasn't able to shake her and Zalia summoned her bow once more, now free to shoot as the creature's attention was elsewhere. Having a good side view and a closer shot, her last arrow fired off from the bow and struck deep into the creature's eye, the tip of the arrow piercing out the other side of it's head. The moose-like creature finally stopped it's struggling as it fell to the ground, twitching as it took its final breath.