Red washed over Nic as the sun slowly began to disappear behind the mountains not too far from where he was standing. A pungent smell was constantly bombarding his nose, overpowering any other scent that tried to make its way through. If he hadn’t already emptied his stomach numerous times over the past two hours, Nic was sure that he would’ve been heaving at that very moment.

Every other member of the delegation that was with him was in the same situation. Each face that he looked at was gaunt with pain after having thrown up everything they had eaten over the past few days. None of them had an ounce of food or liquid left in their stomachs.

Yuuki looked the worst by far. Not only had she been heaving from the sight and smell in front of them, but her eyes were stained red from tears as well.

They had found their first sign of life in the land that she came from, only to find the entire village decimated.

After first coming upon the pile of bodies in the village’s center, the group had spent the last two hours desperately looking for any survivors in the houses nearby. They only found more corpses.

More and more corpses piled up.

On Yuuki’s suggestion, the pile was transferred to the small dock where two dinghies were tied up. Her plan was to burn the body of the villagers, letting the ashes be spread into the ocean that gave the villagers life.

The dinghies were already geared for a fishing outing, and blood had already been scattered across the small boats. The village had been attacked when they weren’t aware. The village had been getting ready like any other day, but had been ruthlessly slaughtered.

When searching through all the bodies, they only found one beastfolk that had been wearing unique plated armor. They set that body aside from the rest, leaving the mystery of who they were till after respects had been paid for the dead villagers.

“Yuuki, I just double-checked, that’s all the villagers we could find.” Nic spoke as he walked up to Yuuki and Sarman, with the latter comforting the former.

Sarman looked up at Nic and gave him a firm nod.

“Okay.” Yuuki’s voice was quiet. With Sarman’s help, she stood up and took a deep breath in. “Light it up, Sarman.”

Hearing her words, Sarman silently took a step forward. By the time his arm had been lit on fire, the rest of the group had gathered behind Yuuki, watching on as they lamented the inability to save the village.

If only we had descended the mountain faster. Nic thought. It wasn’t an unusual thought, and he knew that every single person next to him thought the same thing.

Everyone watched as a flaming spear appeared in Sarman’s hand. They watched as he raised it over his head.

Aria appeared next to Nic, grabbing and squeezing his hand as they anticipated the spear to be set loose upon the bodies. The rest of the group moved forward, leaving Nic and Aria near the back. Anticipation racked their bodies, keeping them still as their muscles tightened.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

A scream cut through the tension of the air like a knife through butter. Nic turned towards the scream and saw a beastfolk charging at him, a spear in hand ready to pierce through his body. On instinct, Nic shoved Aria away from him, letting the force he exerted push him back as well, out of the spear's trajectory.

While grabbing the shaft of the spear with one hand, Nic drew the sword at his hip with his other hand. He brought the edge of the blade up to the beastfolk’s throat, helping to stop him in his tracks.

“Why-”

Thwak! Thwak!

Nic was cut off by the sound of two arrows being loosed from nearby. Before he could turn his face to look at the source of the noise, Nic felt the wind next to his body grow wild as the arrows were stopped mere cer from him. One arrow was right in front of his face, while the second had been aimed at his heart.

“Are you okay, Nic?” Aria spoke up as she flicked her hand, sending the two arrows to the ground.

“Perfectly fine, thanks for your quick response.”

Fwoosh!

Nic’s sight was filled with orange flames as the spear meant for the pile of bodies flew past his head. It exploded right behind the two archers, sending them tumbling to the ground.

“Now’s not the time for flirting, you two.” Sarman said while shaking his head in disappointment.

“MURDERERS!” The beastfolk holding the spear thrashed against Nic’s weight, throwing him off balance. As Nic tried to wrestle the man to the ground, the spear snapped in two. Using this opportunity, the beastfolk stabbed at Nic’s stomach with the jagged, broken edge.

Nic contorted his body. He threw himself to the ground next to the beastfolk as a warm fire spread through his side. Dropping the half broken spear in his left hand, Nic brought it down to his side and felt a warm, sticky fluid flowing out of his body. The beastfolk had managed to slice him open.

In an instant, Nic flipped the sword in his right hand and slammed the beastfolk’s temple with the pommel. The force was enough to knock him out cold.

“Nic!” Aria called out his name, worry clear in her voice.

“Help me up…” Nic let out the words alongside a long sigh. As Aria did as he asked, Nic winced.

Aria lifted his shirt to look at the gash. It was big enough to be letting out a solid amount of blood, but it wasn’t going to be life-threatening.

“Quick, get me our bandages.” Aria turned to one of the Crystallian delegates and shouted an order at them. While the delegate ran off to search their supplies, Aria got to work cleaning the wound using her wind magic.

“Here you go.” The delegate arrived with the bandages as Aria finished. Taking the cloth being held out to her, Aria quickly began to tightly wrap it around Nic’s stomach. Once she was done, she stood back up and hugged Nic tightly.

“Be more careful next time.” Aria quietly said as snuggled her face into Nic’s shoulder

“You know things like this are going to happen.” Nic whispered back as he softly patted her shoulder.

“I don’t like it.”

“I know. I don’t either.”

“Why can’t we just disappear?” Aria let out a soft question, one that had long been in the back of both of their minds. It was a forbidden wish, one that they could never act on.

“I can’t leave the world in this state, you know that.” Nic refused that forbidden wish. He had once thought something similar, back before he had gained magic, but the journal of his ancestor had always kept him on this path.

“I’ve tied him up for now.” Yuuki interrupted their quiet conversation, holding the beastfolk by the now tied hands of his. Nic finally got a good look at the man and realized that he was a Tigerkin.

“Thanks, Yuuki.” Nic thanked his friend as she silently nodded and turned to go join Sarman in interrogating the two archers.

“Oh, Aria,” Yuuki stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Aria. “I need you to remember one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Without Nic, this world will be doomed.” With a cold sentence left behind, Yuuki walked off to join Sarman, the Tigerkin being dragged behind her.

Nic and Aria looked at each other in embarrassment. Yuuki had heard their hushed conversation.

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“She’s right.” Nic was the first one to speak up. “Right now, only I can free this world from the Irradiation.”

Aria nodded in agreement. “I know. I just wish we could run away and live peacefully.”

Nic squeezed her hand tightly. “We just need to free this world sooner rather than later so that we can go live freely in peace.”

Without saying anything else to each other, the two finally joined Sarman, Yuuki, Sara, Kiara, and the two archers.

“So, what’s the deal here?” Nic asked, hoping to be quickly caught up on the info the others had already gotten.

“These three are from the port city north of here that we were planning on going to next. They came down to check on this village since they hadn’t heard from them in a few days. When they saw us, they assumed we killed everyone.” Sara quickly filled the two latecomers in on everything that had been discussed so far.

“We’re so sorry for firing at you. When Oz saw the bodies, he became enraged.” One of the archers bowed on the ground towards Nic.

Oz must be the Tigerkin. Nic thought.

“Since he became much more enraged than either of you, I assume he has a greater connection to this village?” Sarman continued the questioning.

“That’s right. Oz is from this village, actually. He’s only been in Lyuku, our city, for the past few months because he has been instructing our new guard recruits. His wife and daughter still live in this village.”

As Nic listened to the archer’s story, his stomach began to drop. They had found other Tigerkin in this village. Two, to be exact. No more. No less. An adult woman who had been wrapped around a little girl, maybe only eight or nine years old.

“I see,” Sarman looked at Nic, noticing the look on his face. “Did you find them earlier, Nic?”

Eight pairs of eyes locked onto Nic as he slowly nodded his head. “They’re both gone. I found them huddled together in a house near the edge of the village.”

“Oz is all alone then. We’ll have to bring him back to Lyuku then. If he stays here he will only wallow in self-pity.” One of the archer’s, the same one that had spoken up earlier, said these words coldly.

She was clearly the leader between the two archer’s, but Nic wondered what their relationship with Oz was. According to what she had said, Oz was a temporary commander in their port town’s guards. But why had they come with him to this city specifically? Were they his equals? Or were they the new recruits that had been mentioned?

“That pile, is that everyone who died?” The second archer finally spoke up. Unlike the first archer, the second’s voice was quiet and almost kidlike.

“It is. We were planning on burning it and letting the ash be sent into the ocean that gave this village life.” Yuuki was the one who responded to her.

“That’s good. I’m sure they would like that.” The younger archer nodded her head. “Can you wait to burn it till Oz wakes up? I’m sure he would want the chance to properly say goodbye to his wife and daughter.”

“That’s a reasonable request.” Sarman nodded in agreement as he spoke. “In that case, we’ll leave you two to watch over Oz. I’m going to go find a place that doesn’t smell as bad to wait it out.”

As Sarman walked away, Yuuki ran after him. The rest of the group gradually grew apart.

For his part, Nic sat down on a log not too far away from the archers and Oz. Hearing Oz’s story, his mind was flashing to just a few moments earlier when Oz had attacked him. He had only done it because he thought that the delegation had been responsible for killing his only family.

“What are you thinking about?” Aria sat down next to him. Her hand found its way around Nic’s, warming it up in a comforting manner.

“Oz, he attacked us because he thought that we had attacked his family. I was just wondering what I would do if I was in his position.” Nic honestly answered Aria, only to get a light laugh from her in response.

“Haven’t we already gone through something similar, though?” Aria leaned her head on Nic’s shoulder as she whispered in his ear.

Nic thought about everything that they had gone through in the past few months. “Ah. Jack’s attack in Sanum. We did both go at him quite hard when we thought the other was out of commission, didn’t we?”

Nic couldn’t help but chuckle at the words he was saying. Aria was absolutely right. When he thought that Aria was in trouble, what had he done? He had thrown away all thoughts of hiding who he was and used everything he could to save her. And she had done the same for him.

Their relationship was what caused that desire. The same desire that Oz had surely felt when he had seen them in front of a pile of bodies. Nic empathized with the Tigerkin’s plight.

“When Oz wakes up, I’m going to apologize for knocking him out.”

“Looks like you won’t have to wait that long.” Aria motioned with her head towards where the archers were. Oz was in the process of waking up. Both of the archers were on their knees, whispering something to him.

“Stay here.” Nic stood up as he asked Aria to stay here for a bit longer.

“Alri-”

“No! That can’t be!” The Tigerkin’s yell cut Aria off. The Tigerkin sprung to his feet and sprinted off towards the edge of the village, his arms still tied behind his back.

“Shit.” Nic knew where he was going. It wasn’t that hard to guess. Nic began sprinting after the man. Dirt flew behind him as he ran as hard as he could. Nic rounded the only corner he needed to and began to slow down.

Three buildings away there was a small wooden house. Half of the roof had been caved in, and one wall showed the scars of being burnt. The door was left ajar and in the middle of the doorway was the Tigerkin.

Nic watched as he fell to his knees. His hoarse voice was repeating two names as tears threatened to rack his entire body. “Yang. Xiao Mei. Please come out. I’m home.” When no voices answered his plea, Oz’s body convulsed as tears came plentifully and quickly.

The soft crunch of the dirt under Nic’s foot caused the Tigerkin to quickly turn. When he saw Nic, he barred his teeth and let out a low, guttural growl.

“What do you want? Come here to knock me out again?”

“No, I’m not. I actually wanted to apologize for that. I heard about your wife and daughter from those archers. If I was in your position, I would act the exact same way.”

“Hmph. Is that so? Well, your apology isn’t accepted. Now get out of here.”

“Which one was your wife?” Nic took a slow step towards the man.

“What?”

“I was the one who found the two Tigerkin in this house when we got here. They were both already dead. Which one was Yang? Which one was Xiao Mei?”

“You-!” The Tigerkin caught himself before he began shouting. He took a deep breath, calming himself before speaking again. “Yang was my wife, Xiao Mei my daughter.” The Tigerkin looked back in the broken house, his eyes lingering on the blood spread across the floor. “Did they look like they died painlessly?”

Nic walked up behind the Tigerkin as he pondered the question. When he had found them, the mother Yang had been curled around the daughter Xiao Mei as if she had been shielding her. Their wounds didn’t look like the death had been quick.

But was that really the answer that Oz was looking for? Nic knew that if Aria died, he would want to be told that her death had been quick. But would Oz also want that? Nic didn’t know what Tigerkin held importance in with deaths.

“They,” Nic drew out his words. “They died without much pain. And Yang, she died heroically protecting your daughter till the last moment.”

“I see.” Oz’s body spasmed as he let his tears flow freely. “I hope you two are forever running in the fields of the afterlife. I promise you, Yang, I’ll find the ones who did this to you and I will make them pay.”

After a while, Oz stood up and faced Nic. “The bodies on the dock, what were you all planning on doing with them?”

“We are going to burn them and let the ashes be taken into the ocean.”

Hearing the plan, Oz nodded thoughtfully. “The people of this town would want that. The ocean gave us life, it is only right that our lives now nurture the ocean.” Oz strode past Nic, his path clearly heading towards the small dock.

“Ah- Wait one second, Oz.” Nic grabbed Oz by the shoulder and stopped him from walking forward or turning around. “There’s one more thing I have to do real quick.”

Nic quickly unsheathed his sword and nimbly cut the rope tying Oz’s hands together. Oz raised his hands with an incredulous look on his face, like he hadn’t thought Nic would ever let him go.

“Thank you, young man.” Oz’s face scrunched up like he had forgotten something. “Ah, I guess I should ask, but what’s your name?”

“Nic.”

“Nice to meet ya, Nic.”

The two walked back to the dock, where the rest of the group had gathered together again. When Sarman saw Nic, he lit another flaming spear in his hand. Once he got the go ahead, the spear found its new job in burning the deceased corpses. Everyone watched in silence until all that was left was ash spilling into the ocean. With some light help from Aria, the rest was quickly spread out across the ocean.

Once that was done, Sarman showed Oz and the Archers the banner that had been hung up in the village, as well as the dead body that stood out from the rest. Neither of them were recognized by Oz or the archers. Sarman took the banner and placed it in his bag, hoping to find a clue to it later in their journey.

Once everything was packed up, Oz and the archers offered to lead the delegation to Lyuku. Moving at a brisk pace, they eventually reached the port city right as night was beginning to set in.