Zalia quietly crept through the woods, bow in hand and Boreal by her side. She had left the desert behind some two days ago and had encountered the first of the demons that roamed Endaria. Similar to the winged ones she had fought back in Cormaine yet smaller, much smaller.

They had been easy to kill, only Tin and Iron ranked, the strength of her Healing presence aura enough to counter their own weak corrupting ones, rendering them helpless. Unfortunately, killing them had brought attention from something not so easy to kill.

A Silver ranked winged demon much like the one that had… that had killed Delphi. Seeing it had brought that memory back from the vault where she kept it stored.

They had fled, vanishing into a patch of woods. There, Zalia and Boreal had the home ground advantage. There, they had been able to lose their enemy, disappearing further into the kingdom.

Things were bad but… not as bad as she expected. The little news she had received from the woman, Sazcha, in the desert had made it seem like everything was on fire, destroyed by demons and humans warring.

There was some of that, patches of land withered and dead, towns with chunks missing from their centres where an explosion had gone off. Or worse yet, towns where a group of the roaming demons had appeared and slaughtered everyone. Signs of battles having taken place, entire swaths of land trampled, burnt and broken.

It was at one such ritual site that she first discovered land corrupt. What was once perhaps a beautiful bubbling brook was now the scene of a dried up riverbed, withered trees and soundless, still, noxious air. The stark comparison of the corrupt land which formed an almost visible border between life and death served to increase how bad the corruption looked, but to Zalia it was nothing compared to Cormaine. Her healing aura swept over the patch of land, trees shifting and cracking, their twisted shapes returning to ones of health and vigor. Dead, grey grass grew green again, sprouting upwards as flowers shot from between once dead blades. The toxic air was blown away in a fresh breeze smelling of earth and green growth. The land was alive once more, thrumming with the energy of life. It felt... right.

She continued onwards, doing what she could, using her healing to wipe away the patches of corrupted land, burying the dead where she was able if their numbers weren't too great.

Despite all the bad she found, there were still large chunks of land unaffected by the battles being fought. Green forests, endless plains, rushing rivers and still lakes. She had missed all of it so, so much. The sky above was blue and the air fresh. Her time in Cormaine had made her forget these things but the beauty of the world brought joy back to her mind.

Too bad it was overshadowed by the sights she saw and that… memory.

She was focusing on making her way to the north. By her best guess she was in the south east of Endaria, which was a shame since she wanted to get north west. Fortunately, she could first travel north and see if the rebellion was still camped up where she had last seen them.

She highly doubted that. Last she had spoken to them they had plans to launch an assault on the centre of Endaria, the capital and home of the king. Still, it was as good a destination for now as any. Until she found some other trace of life, that was.

So far all of the towns she had come across had been empty, devoid of life. Whether they had been unoccupied due to the occupants fleeing or the death of the entire population, empty they were. She was still on the outskirts of the kingdom though so she had hopes that some bigger towns would have survived.

"Ready to keep moving?" Zalia whispered to Boreal.

They were currently sitting in the boughs of a large tree, hidden amongst the higher up branches and leaves. She'd decided that flying wasn't worth the risk of drawing the attention of another Silver ranked demon, or worse. They were quick enough on foot that it wouldn't make a huge difference.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Boreal looked up from where she rested, head on paws, tail dangling down.

"Sleep?" Boreal asked, blinking her eyes slowly.

"Not here, we have to keep moving," Zalia said.

Boreal breathed out a slow breath.

"You don't even have to sleep more than once a week or so," Zalia added.

Boreal looked at her as if to say, "not having to doesn't stop wanting to."

Zalia lithely stepped over and poked Boreal in the nose. Boreal promptly covered her face with a paw.

"Come on, let's go. You can sleep a whole day when we find some semblance of a resistance to this whole demon invasion if you want to," Zalia promised, knowing full well Boreal would be too excited to sleep when they saw the others again.

It worked though and Boreal finally got up.

They travelled for a few hours before finally finding the first signs of human life. It looked to be a group of refugees, maybe two dozen with four guards in armour that looked a little worse for wear.

She quickly moved back and stepped out onto the game path they were travelling single file down.

"Hey there!" She called out, somewhat quietly.

The lead guard froze and looked around, searching for the voice whilst the few behind him looked at him in confusion like they hadn't heard her.

"Who's out there?" The first guard called.

In a manner quite unlike when meeting Sazcha, they couldn't see her despite being maybe ten metres down the narrow track. Maybe they had no perception abilities?

Remembering some of her early testing with passives, she willed the Stealth passive to stop.

It still took a second before the first guard's eyes caught on her and she quickly removed her helmet just in case.

"Stop right there. You with the 'king' or the rebellion?" He called out, disdain entering his voice at the word "king."

He now had his beaten down wooden heater shield held up, hand on his side sword. The soldiers behind him were similarly on guard, the civilians beginning to murmur.

"The rebellion, I've spoken with General Faian and General Ballast, if you know them. You?" Zalia asked, though she hardly needed to.

"Aye, the rebellion. What are you doing out here by yourself?" He asked, more relaxed but still somewhat on guard.

"Trying to find the army, I've been out of Endaria on a little bit of a mission for quite some time. Since the day the glowing beams hit the sky really," Zalia explained.

The first guard was Bronze rank and she could tell by the way he stood, despite the worn down armour, that he was an experienced soldier.

"Well you're close, they're four days walk north and west. If you'd like to come back down south so we can deliver this group of refugees, you can come back with us north. Groups are better than alone these days," the guard suggested.

"I'll be alright, I need to get what I know to the Generals, might help with the war," Zalia explained, "hh, and I saw one of the Silver ranked flying ones some two hours back, might be worth taking a detour around east ways."

"Thanks and that we will, a little lost time is better than losing all of it," he said.

"Good luck on your journey, what's your name? So I can tell the generals you're alive," Zalia asked

"Hendrik, and you?" He asked.

"Zalia," she said.

"Good luck on your journey Z-" he cut off, staring at her, "not the Zalia that died stopping the ritual from working?"

"Well I'm not dead and the ritual still worked, but yes that Zalia. Why?" She asked in confusion.

Then, to her surprise, he knelt.

"Thank you for the sacrifice you made," he said solemnly, like he was speaking an oath.

"What?" Zalia said, even further confused.