Extra Chapter 2 - Ashes

18 months before the main events.

Ashes were slowly flowing between her fingers as she looked around. Everything was peaceful, the wind blowing through the remains of the destroyed village, carrying the smell of old burned wood to the woman.

In the remains of her wrecked house, knees in the washed suet, she tried to stay strong but her tears couldn’t be stopped. Teardrops fell on the ground where once stood their kitchen, and she furiously wiped them away.

She stayed here a while longer, letting her pain drain away through her sobs.

Then a dashing Eaglefolk appeared where their house’s door once stood, his sharp traits tainted by the same tears that his wife was shedding.

“It’s been at least a month… I’m sorry, the track is cold.” He said, more tears overflowing from his eyes as he was trying to remain standing straight. His armor was in tater, his equipment mismatched, and he looked tired.

The woman rose on her feet, her fiery-red massive mane of hair flowing in the wind as her lion ears twitched a bit. She walked to him, and they hugged, crying over each other’s shoulder.

They parted after a while, their tears dry but their heart still heavy.

“What’s your take on this…” She said, waving her hand and pointing at the razed village. The time of tears had passed, for the moment, now was the time for action.

“I would bet on a raid from Karfagos. There are traces of fights and struggles, but not many bodies are present, and the granaries and ore reserves are empty. Most villagers must have been captured and turned into slaves, and the resources pillaged.” He quickly explained, showing evidence through the village as they walked.

“So…” The woman said, a tiny hope igniting in her eyes.

The man nodded. “The children must have been taken prisoners too, and since they’re not 12 yet, they must have been taken to a trainer or sold to a similar group or individual. I-I think they’re still alive…” He finished.

“But the trail is cold…”

“Yes, I can’t find anything useful from here. Wind and rain have washed everything away, the mana trails have disappeared, their are no smells or anything we can track…” He answered her, massaging his forehead.

Suddenly, both of them stopped and turned at the same time. People were coming.

They quickly hide in the ruin of the old smithy, a building mostly in stone to minimize fire hazards, and took a look at who was approaching.

Several men and women on horseback were coming. Most of them seemed like townsguards, with the symbol of their noble on their pauldrons, and a few looked like clerks.

The group quickly dismounted and the clerks scattered through the village, taking notes and talking to each other.

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Once they realized those people were no threat, the wife and husband stopped hiding, and walked toward the group.

“Halt! Identify yourself!” A woman said, most likely the leader of this team of guards.

The couple stopped and showed their hands, away from their weapons, to display their peaceful intention, but before they could even speak, a clerk recognized them.

“By the gods! Leto, Niemile, is that you?!” He said, his eyes round like saucers.

“What?” Another clerk said. “Didn’t they die in a dungeon?” Whispers started to spread through the group of guards and clerks, bewildered.

“Hello Frank,” the woman, Niemile, said with a tired expression.

“So it is you! You look so different from before! Did you mutate, Niemile?” He asked, then shook his head. “No, wrong question. How did you survive? What happened?”

The couple proceeded to explain that one of their party members had fucked up while dungeon diving, and they all ended up swallowed by a pit trap, falling deeper into the dungeon than they had ever been.

For nearly the six next months, they had fought and survived in the dungeon, their status slowly worsening as the remaining members died one after the other.

Leto and Niemile only managed to flee after they killed a floor boss and luckily got an escape stone as a reward, teleporting outside of the dungeon, bypassing the entrance check.

After that, they had single-mindedly rushed here, worried about their kids, only to find the village destroyed as soon as they arrived.

“What happened, Mark.” Niemile then asked with a flat voice, but already sadness was making space for anger, searching for someone to blame. Her bloodlust was already at a point where the guards reached for their weapons.

“I…” Mark said, at a loss for words.

“Why did nobody protect the village?” She asked again, fire starting to appear around her head and on her hair.

“Stand down, ma’am!” the leader said, unsheathing her sword.

“Don’t you dare order me around! Where were you when my family got abducted, guard? Where were you when my village was destroyed?! I was trapped in a dungeon, what’s your excuse?” Niemile said with a gradually stronger voice, until she was screaming.

Fire was pouring out from her being at that point, like a lake of lava roaring around her.

Leto was standing beside her, unharmed, and he would have stopped his wife -he was the calm and reasonable one after all- if he wasn’t just as fucking angry as she was.

“The war with Togante worsened!” Mark suddenly screamed to get the attention of the couple.

Niemile’s molten gaze turned towards him, and he started sweating even more than he already was.

“It’s no longer a skirmish war, it’s a full-blown one.” He explained with a more moderate voice, as the couple was listening to him in silence, not taking any violent action, for now.

“Since the war with Togante has taken a turn for the worst, even our Lady was called to battle. She was against it, since it would leave her territory mostly unprotected, but the High-Lords and Ladies don’t care, they’re afraid our country will be devoured by the corrupted hero country Togante, and we can’t blame them.” He grimaced.

“A bordering lord of Karfagos saw that as a sign of weakness. He burned and pillage multiple villages before what remains of our Lady’s force could mount and counterattack and chase them away. We lost many lives that month…” He finished, looking away from them both as sorrow engulfed him.

Recognizing herself in Mark’s feelings, Niemile cooled off, her flame brought back into her body.

“You lost someone too…” Leto said, his face softening.

“We all lost someone.” The guard leader suddenly said, her sword back in her scabbard, her teeth clenched to hide her emotional wounds.

“How many other villages were hit?” The fire Lionfolk asked.

“Four. We lost more than two thousand people.” Mark answered with sadness. “Just let us finish our work here, and I promise you, we’ll tell you everything we know. It’s not much, but I hope it’ll help you track down your kids.”

Leto and Niemile looked at each other, then nodded at Mark.

There was no way they would abandon Lana and Kael.