Zalia eyed the kneeling man wearily.
“Please stand up,” she said.
Hearing the conversation, some of the townspeople behind the guard were muttering to each other and giving her looks ranging from confusion to admiration.
The guard stood up at her request.
“It’s an honour to meet you, though I don’t understand how you’re alive,” he said.
“I don’t understand why you think I was dead, or even why you know who I am,” Zalia said.
The guard was starting to look a little confused as well.
“Well, we’ve all heard the story. You, Lady Indis and Ember went to the top of the tower at Endelbyrn and when the kingdom wide ritual took place, you sacrificed yourself to cause a chain reaction that shut down the whole thing. Some of the demons got through and other ritual sites exploded from some type of feedback yet it was stopped. All thanks to you. Except, you’re not dead,” he explained, a frown forming on his face.
“You know of Indis and Ember? Are they alive? What of Zen and Larel, they were on that tower too, are they alright?” Zalia asked, a frown also forming on her face. It seemed there was some sort of misunderstanding.
“They are alive and well, last I heard. Lady Indis has become a great leader but Ember we haven’t seen in a while. She has a tendency to run about on her own anyway. I’m not sure who Zen or Larel are but I heard the story from Lady Indis’ mouth herself, I’m sure she would have mentioned if there was someone else on the tower that day,” the guard replied.
“I’m sure she would have,” Zalia said coldly. Indis would have some explaining to do when Zalia found her.
There was a moment of silence as the two of them regarded each other before Zalia put her helmet back on.
“Best get going again. Safe travels Hendrik,” she said, waving an idle hand, “come Boreal!”
Boreal emerged from the treeline causing quite a few of the people listening to jump in surprise.
Zalia allowed her stealth passive to take effect once more and the two of them stepped back into the woods, moving around the group of refugees.
“Safe travels to you too!” the guard called out, followed by a muttered, “like a forest spirit or something.”
Zalia thought about the odd conversation as she walked. The way the man had knelt and spoken made it seem like he thought of her as some sort of war hero or something. She wasn’t really surprised that Indis and the others had thought she was dead. In all fairness, there were quite a few moments where she would have died but had been saved by luck or the fact that her powers were strongly based around survival.
The part of the conversation that confused her the most was the guard saying he had heard the story from Indis herself. Did he know Indis?
Well, she would get an explanation when she found Lady Indis either way.
The guard had said there was a camp four days walk north and west, which would put them closer to the capital then they had previously been but definitely not as close as they should have been if all had gone to plan. Unless the plan had changed. Or the plan they had told her hadn't really been the plan in the first place.
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It made sense to her that that would be the case. The chances of her group being able to lie with any success to the Hidden was a ridiculous notion to her now. That was an opinion she held now only because of the absolute failure their attempt had yielded. She felt like she had learned a lot in the time she had spent in this new world. A lot of things about dealing with people that she hadn't previously needed in her old life.
The whirlwind of stress and emotion that had been her life previous to Cormaine had been cause of not a small number of bad decisions. Going forwards she just needed to learn from those decisions.
It was two more days of travel, healing corrupted land and killing small groups of demons when necessary. Two more days before she came across the next living person.
She and Boreal were travelling across a plains, keeping to the long grass and low bushes as cover. They had just come from another town that had been empty, though this one had shown no signs of combat or damage. It had simply been empty, evacuated perhaps.
A scream resounded from the treeline to their right. It was shrill, high pitch. Both Zalia and Boreal froze, staring towards the origin of the sound until its source came into view. It was a child, a young girl, running out of the treeline.
They didn't move at first, watching as the girl ran through the long grass across where their path would have led.
Then they saw what the girl was running from. It was a new type of demon from the ones they had seen before. It had four legs and much like Boreal, it blended into the woods and surrounds like it was born into them. It's jaw split much further than looked natural, it's head and body sleek yet covered with a… slimy substance.
The creature was stalking the child, almost toying with her in a manner not unlike a cat with a mouse.
Neither Zalia or Boreal said anything as they moved as one. Boreal ran out to the right, vanishing into the grass as Zalia ran straight towards the demon. She used her teleport to gain as much distance as she could before releasing two arrows in quick succession.
The arrows took it by surprise, both nailing into its torso just behind the front shoulder. Its head jerked to the side, spotting Zalia as a deep growl resounded. Rather than running at her, it slunk back into the woods and vanished.
Zalia stopped, carefully watching the treeline as the child kept running.
"Run to your left child," Zalia said into the girl's mind.
Luckily, the child did as she was told, running closer towards Zalia as she crept carefully forwards.
"Do you see it?" She asked Boreal.
Her question was promptly answered as the demon came flying from the treeline followed soon after by Boreal in her armour. The two thrashed and clawed at each other in a ball of metal and flesh as they rolled through the plains.
The two smashed through the long grass near the fleeing child and Zalia ran forwards to help. The demon was Bronze ranked, an even match for Boreal though the heirloom armour she wore gave a distinct advantage. While the demon bore deep wounds, Boreal was fairly unharmed, only her armour bearing any damage.
Closer now, Zalia could feel the aura of corruption and countered it with her own, pushing her healing presence into Boreal to keep her safe.
The child finally reached her and she pushed the girl behind herself, trying to find a good shot as the other two brawled. Boreal finally disengaged and Zalia shot the demon in the back leg, crippling it. The wounded demon limped back but was frozen to the floor by ice summoned by Boreal.
That spelled the end for the creature as Boreal pounced, slamming the demon to the ground, her jaws grappling onto it's head. A crunch and an unearthly sound resounded before all was silent.
The silence broken only by the crying child behind her.
"You're alright, you're safe now," Zalia said, quickly turning and taking her into a hug.
The girl tried to say something but failed through the sobs.
"Where are your parents?" Zalia asked gently, holding the girl by the shoulders.
The only response was the girl's eyes locking onto the body of the demon behind her.
"Oh you poor child," Zalia said, hugging her once more