Acheron turned to Ash, “So, umm, which way is Ultu?”
“Do you really not know?” Ash asked curiously, “considering you caught us on the road from Ultu, I would have thought you would have known where it was.”
The man whose body Acheron was inhabiting probably had known where Ultu was, but he had no clue.
“I, uh, just didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings.” Acheron said unconvincingly.
“Whatever, the path to the main road is this way.” Ash said, pointing to the very opposite direction he had been about to walk out of the clearing from.
Scratching his head sheepishly, Acheron picked up the sword he had dropped earlier and began heading the direction Ash had pointed. The other people who had been freed by Acheron watched him go suspiciously, wondering if Ash and her brother Leo would actually get to Ultu safely.
As they left the clearing, and the gazes of the other people, Ash turned to Acheron, “Will you be okay with those wounds? You’re bleeding quite a bit!”
Acheron looked down, barely having noticed the wounds, he had a fair few mostly shallow cuts around his body that had bled a bit, though more of the blood on his body came from the bandits.
Acheron shook his head, “most of the blood isn’t mine, and what is, isn’t enough to be life threatening.” This was especially true with his new skill [Durable Body] as it didn’t just make his body tougher but also meant he would bleed less. He was happy to get a second defensive skill to help him survive longer but was more glad because of the Rebirth Credits he would get.
Ash looked a bit sick at what he said, which he guessed he could understand. She worshipped a sovereign whose doctrine specifically said everyone should have a second chance, and he had just taken that chance away from thirteen people. Additionally, Ash was quite young, probably a year or two younger than Acheron was when he had first died, so this was likely the first time she had seen such violence and bloodshed.
Hoping to take her mind off of the slaughter Acheron made some idle talk to Ash, “Have you ever been to Ultu or any other cities?”
“Me and Leo have lived in Ultu for our whole lives, we were just about to see one of the other main cities for the first time when… we were attacked.”
Acheron mentally slapped himself, of course if they had captured them on the main road to Ultu then she had either been heading there or been returning from there, which in either case would remind her of being kidnapped.
They walked in silence for a while as Acheron tried to think up a question that wouldn’t remind Ash of what she had just experienced. Ash in turn was nervously observing the man who had easily, almost gladly killed the people who had definitely killed him. She really hoped she had judged correctly when she had decided to walk with him. Leo had also been quiet but being only about 11 this was due to his nervousness around strangers.
Finally, Ash asked a question that she and Leo had both badly wanted to know, “How did you survive being impaled? I watched you die, yet you just pulled the spear out of yourself, and the wound healed! How?” Leo’s ears perked up as she asked him this his eyes watched Acheron attentively.
Acheron grimaced, he had known this question would come up but hadn’t yet prepared an answer for it. Fortunately, before he even had time to answer Ash continued her questioning.
“Was it a skill? Or was it a miracle from one of the sovereigns? Did Kaiya herself decide that your heart had changed enough that you should get a second chance at living?” Ash asked, becoming excited.
“How did you know?”
He felt bad for lying to her, but she had provided him with the perfect alibi that she wouldn’t question so he just had to take it.
“Really?” Ash said, practically glowing from enthusiasm, “That’s amazing! I knew it as soon as it happened! I just got this feeling that you had been given a second chance and knew it had to be Kaiya!”
Acheron didn’t know if she could truly feel when his soul had been inserted into the bandit's body, if Kaiya truly had been the one to give him the power to reincarnate, or if she was just spouting nonsense but was genuinely curious to know the answer.
“What was the feeling like?”
“I can’t explain it, but right before you straightened up and pulled the spear out of yourself, I got this tingle in my mind that became information that I hadn’t known previously. The information told me that this was a second chance being granted to you.”
Acheron’s eyes widened slightly from what she said, it truly sounded like she might have actually sensed his soul entering the bandit's body, which made him think that his reincarnation was likely linked to Kaiya.
As Acheron pondered this Ash asked another question of him, “Is that why you’re heading to Ultu, to go to the church of forgiveness to thank Kaiya for her gift?”
Acheron had not been heading to Ultu for that reason, but rather to see if he could find a map or person that could tell him where Ninethorn was and to see if he could maybe warn the duke if the bearkin hadn’t already moved. Now that Ash mentioned it though, Acheron thought it might be a good idea to head to the church of forgiveness to see fi any of the priests could tell him information about his situation.
“That’s part of the reason, but I’m also heading to Ultu to warn the duke of an immense threat.” Acheron said, gravely.
Both Ash and Leo looked at Acheron with trepidation and curiosity as they heard what he said.
“W-what’s th-the threat m-mister?” Leo asked, surprising Acheron that he was the one to ask first.
“When I was given a second chance, Kaiya imparted knowledge of a plan to invade our country that is either already happening or will happen soon.” While Kaiya hadn’t told him, he figured it would make more sense for him to know it through her, than for some random bandit to know about the bearkin invasion.
“An invasion? Is it by the empire? I’ve heard that their new emperor seems to like the Free confederation even less than the last one. Do you think we’ll be able to hold them off?” Ash asked worriedly.
‘There’s a new one?’ Acheron asked himself, ‘I didn’t even know the last emperor stopped ruling.’
“It’s actually from the bearkin, and they’re amassing at a place called Ninethorn which is why I wanted to know where it was. I have no clue if we’ll be able to hold them off.” Acheron answered Ash.
While the invasion was not coming from the empire it made sense that Ash would think so, they were their only neighbour, and it was well known that they wanted to take control of all of Eralia. The only reason that the empire hadn’t yet attacked and taken over the empire was because there was a large mountain range going from the East coast of Eralia to its West coast. This range only had a few narrow passes which were incredibly well defended, making it very difficult for armies to cross over.
The bearkin by contrast, lived on an entirely different continent and only really made small raids against one or two districts. Additionally, the Free confederation had not actually fought them but had just threatened them enough to make them leave, so it was understandable to think that the empire would be the ones to invade.
Acheron’s revelation had created a sombre mood that dispelled any further talk, leading to them walking in silence through the forest. Honestly, Acheron was surprised at just how far they had walked so far, he had assumed that the bandits wouldn’t live too far from the main road. It went to show that this was likely not the bandit’s first-time capturing people to sell, as they had chosen to settle further from the main road, knowing that if they were close the duke’s soldiers would find them.
Ash stewed over what Acheron had told her, if it was true then it would truly be a disaster, the dukes hardly got along and would likely not work together to fight off the bearkin. Leo in turn was excited, he hoped to one day become a knight and thought that fighting off the bearkin would be a great way to earn his knighthood.
A rustle in the bushes to Acheron’s left made him stop, moving between Leo and Ash and whatever was in the bushes he raised his sword. Ash and Leo stopped when they saw Acheron with his guard up, they exchanged glances behind him, neither of them seeming too afraid.
“Aren’t you overreacting?” Ash asked from behind him, “it’s probably just a rabbit or something.”
Acheron just shook his head, “Rabbits don’t follow people, this one here has been trailing us for the last ten minutes.”
“10 minutes?” Ash asked shocked, “how do you know?”
“I’ve been watching our surroundings ever since we left that clearing, it actually hasn’t been very stealthy, if you were watching and listening for disturbances you would have noticed it.” Acheron said nonchalantly. His father had taught him how to tell if there was an animal following him when he was younger, and they had often practiced by getting his father to try and sneak up to him in one of the forests around the district.
As Acheron spoke to Ash more rustling came from all around their current position, telling Acheron that there was at least four animals surrounding them. Acheron suspected that he was facing wolves, which would likely only have iron rank skills such as [Biting Proficiency]. At this point he could easily take out a couple wolves with his skills, it became more difficult however when he also had to make sure they didn’t hurt Leo or Ash.
“Both of you, climb that tree there, it’ll be easier for me to fight them if I don’t have to worry about protecting you two. Don’t worry I’ll protect you while you climb up.” Acheron didn’t really think that the wolves would go for Ash or Leo at least not at the start. They had likely been drawn by the smell of blood and Acheron was positively covered in it.
This also made him wonder if they would head to the clearing where there was probably an even stronger smell of blood. If they did, he doubted any of the people who hadn’t yet left would survive.
As Ash and Leo started moving to climb up the tree Acheron had pointed to, the wolves finally moved out of the cover and into clear view of all three people.
“Wolves?” Ash exclaimed, “there shouldn’t be any of them this close to the main road! There are soldiers who routinely comb through these forests to make sure that there aren’t any dangerous beasts.”
“Well then it looks like those soldiers have been slacking off”, Acheron muttered “keep climbing as high as you can.”
Turning to the wolves, Acheron put his back to the tree, and held his sword in his right hand. There were four of them, each with grey coats that were speckled with white and brown, they were quite large, bigger than Acheron had imagined them to be.
The wolves bared their teeth at Acheron as they closed the distance between him, circling patiently, looking for any openings that he had. This wasn’t hard as Acheron had quite a fair few openings due to his lack of any real practice using weapons.
Bracing himself, Acheron narrowed down his concentration onto the fight that was coming, this meant that he was startled when Ash yelled to him.
“They’re all iron rankers and they all have the [Biting Proficiency] skill!”
Acheron blinked for a second, not really surprised by what Ash had said but rather just the sudden words amid the silence which had broken his concentration, seeing the pause, the wolves decided to make the most of the opening.
All four Wolves leapt at Acheron almost simultaneously, working in great coordination in an attempt to disable him.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
One wolf leapt for his right arm that held his sword, while another’s teeth dug into his left ankle. These two were the closest two and managed to reach him before he had the time to react. Acheron was fortunate that he didn’t drop his sword when the wolf’s mouth closed around his forearm meaning that he hadn’t lost his best advantage. The other two wolves also tried going for him, but they were further away, meaning Acheron could react in time to their moves.
The third wolf leapt for his throat, but he caught it in the head with his unencumbered left fist back by his [Upper Body Strength], [Frenzied Assault] and [Berserker Rage]. The punch sent the wolf spinning to the side, very disorientated at the least. The last wolf’s teeth tried to bite into his right leg, but he managed to kick it away before it could bite him.
Trying to free his sword arm, Acheron’s fist slammed into the head of the wolf who had his arm gripped in its mouth, it refused to budge, sinking its teeth in tighter, drawing even more blood.
Acheron passe his sword to his left hand and in a single swipe sheared a large portion of the wolf’s body off, this was enough to make it let go and eventually kill it. Now having both arms free and his sword Acheron was now ready to fight the wolves properl-
Ash screamed as she watched a new wolf that appeared and had snuck up behind Acheron, jump at him, slamming into his back and sending him to the ground. Fear gripped her as the wolves piled onto Acheron, trying to rip and tear him to shreds.
Neither Leo nor Ash could look away, though they were revolted by the scene that was unfolding below them. The scene below was almost entirely red, with new strokes being painted onto the canvas every second. It was horrifying to see the struggling man being torn apart even as he lived, his screams were wild, they almost sounded like an animal’s screams and were quite disturbing.
Acheron’s bloody smile once again appeared on his face as his fist closed around the throat of the wolf he had grabbed, it howled in pain before collapsing limply on his body. Focussing on the three remaining wolves that were still attacking him, Acheron grappled one and held its muzzle closed with one hand as he punched it with the other, all the while enduring the attacks from the other two wolves.
Acheron had just gotten ready to fight the wolves in a more careful way when a much bigger and stronger one had slammed into him from behind and knocked him to the ground causing him to lose his grip on his sword. Immediately the four wolves had surged forwards to bite into his flesh, with the biggest one going straight for his throat.
He had managed to avoid it and kill one of the other wolves while ignoring the damage that was being done to his body, but he couldn’t ignore it forever, if they hurt him enough, he would bleed out even with his [Durable Body]. He really needed to finish this fight without being bitten too much, but it was easier said than done.
The larger wolf leapt at him, forcing Acheron to release the other so that he could roll out of the way to avoid its attempt to rip out his jugular. He sprang to his feet and glared at the larger wolf, it seemed to be faster and stronger than the other wolves by a noticeable degree which told him that it either had more skills than the other wolves or a bronze level skill. Either way this meant it would be the hardest to take down and would pose the highest threat to him.
Acheron lunged at one of the smaller wolves but was forced to abort when the larger one, which he assumed was likely the alpha, moved to bite into his thigh and immobilise him. Acheron could feel his exhaustion increasing as his stamina diminished, causing him to move more sluggishly and his strength to decrease. It was another ticking timer, reminding him that he didn’t have an unlimited amount of time to fight the wolves.
‘I need to take those other two wolves down so that I can focus on the alpha, but it won’t let me attack them without receiving a counter from it.’ Once again Acheron tried to reach one of the smaller wolves and once again the alpha moved to make use of his opening. Acheron turned, ready for the alpha’s move and his fist caught the side of its head, the force pushed it back slightly, but it just shook its head and then charged Acheron again.
He cursed, his punches were just too weak to hurt the wolf enough to put it down quickly, he really needed his sword, however, all three wolves were between him and it.
The alpha slammed into Acheron’s midsection and sent him tumbling back, it following closely behind. Springing to his feet, Acheron glared at the alpha, before sprinting directly at it, charging as hard and fast as he could.
The alpha bunched its legs as it prepared to pounce on Acheron, the other two wolves also seemed to be prepared to spring forwards at Acheron. He however had no plan of being hit by the alpha as it would most likely spell the end for him, rather he was going to use an advantage he had already noticed.
The alpha was more agile than Acheron and was deadlier than him when he was unarmed, however, once it was in the air it lost much of its manoeuvrability allowing Acheron to dodge it more easily. It would be difficult to pull it off as Acheron ran at the alpha due to how little time he would have to react, but he couldn’t think of a better plan to retrieve his sword so it would have to do.
As he neared the alpha, Acheron watched it intently, waiting for the moment it would spring into the air and try to kill him. The moment came and time seemed to hang in the balance as the wolf’s paws left the ground.
The alpha fought to feed its pack, while Acheron fought for both his sanity and the lives of the two people in the tree nearby. Neither one was going to back down, their stares challenging each other as time inched by.
Then Acheron allowed his feet to come out from under him as he slid along the ground on his back, narrowly sliding underneath the wolf’s claws before coming to a stop with a mostly clear path to his sword.
The two smaller wolves were still there, but Acheron ran right past them as they leapt at him, catching some glancing wounds but allowing himself to reach his sword. Grabbing his sword, Acheron turned in a spin, barely managing to split the head of a wolf that was lunging for him.
There was now only himself, the alpha and one other wolf that was between them both, going on the offensive before the alpha could arrive, Acheron swung at the wolf.
Recognising the danger, it tried to evade his swings but was too slow and caught the blade in its spine, paralysing its back half.
Acheron quickly turned to face the now lone alpha, its eyes showed its predatorial nature, but also a hint of resentment at Acheron for killing its kin. The alpha wolf stood its ground, muscles tensed and ready to strike, a vicious snarl echoing from it.
“Acheron! That wolf is bronze rank in [Biting Proficiency], don’t try to fight it! Run!”
He wasn’t surprised that it was a bronze ranker and nor was he going to run because of the fact, he would prove his superiority or die trying. Acheron tightened his grip on his sword, feeling the blood trickling from his wounds.
With a sudden burst of speed, the alpha lunged at Acheron, he backpedalled allowing himself time to react and swung in a wide arc right at the wolf’s head. To his surprise rather than be split in two, the wolf caught the blade in its teeth and held them tight like a vice, while clawing at him with its front paws.
Acheron kicked at it, trying to use the greater power in his legs to kick in its ribs, realising that it was at more of a disadvantage, the wolf tried to wrench his blade from his grip. He held tight, digging his feet into the ground, and lowering his centre of gravity to help him exert a greater pull.
The pair were roughly equal, and the wolf eventually released the sword from its teeth, backing away to come at Acheron from a different angle. It came at him again and Acheron sidestepped, trying to jab his sword at the beast’s eyes and keep it away from its mouth. The wolf turned its body in mid-air and barely allowed the blade to graze its side, drawing a thin line of blood that wasn’t enough to slow it down. As it landed the wolf spun around, its eyes burning with fury, and charged again.
This time, Acheron was ready. He feinted to the left, then quickly pivoted to the right, bringing his sword down with all his strength. The blade bit deep into the wolf’s shoulder, causing it to yelp in pain and stagger back. It was far from defeated though. It shook off the pain and launched itself at Acheron once more.
Being off balance, Acheron used his sword to block the wolf’s powerful jaws. He stood there, with the wolf pushing forwards with his sword once again clamped in its mouth, this time however it knew he was off balance and knew that if it pushed hard enough, he would fall.
As it pushed, Acheron could feel his weight moving further and further back, getting closer and closer to falling or at least stumbling. Desperately, Acheron place one hand on either end of the sword and begun turning it inside the wolf’s mouth.
The wolf bit down, trying to hold the blade still, but Acheron was relentless, even allowing the blade to cut his fingers so that he could turn it. Finally, it began turning, until Acheron had now turned the blade from being horizontal in the wolf’s mouth to vertical. The force that the wolf was biting down on the sword with now became a detriment, with its sharp edges easily cutting into the wolf’s gums.
The alpha jerked back in reflex, allowing Acheron to regain his balance. With a grunt of effort, he pushed the wolf back, providing him room to swing his sword.
It practically whistled as it sliced through the air, aiming for the beast’s neck. The alpha dodged, but not quickly enough. The blade sliced into its neck, and with a final, desperate snarl, the wolf collapsed to the ground, its life ebbing away.
Breathing heavily, Acheron looked down at the fallen alpha. He had won, but at a great cost. His body ached, and his vision was starting to blur from the blood loss.
“Uurghh”, Acheron groaned, as he slumped against the tree that Ash and Leo had climbed.
He could vaguely hear frantic scrambling coming from above him but paid it no heed. His mind felt far too tired, and darkness quickly took him, it however, did not disappear and he gained no notification of being transported back to the administrator nucleus. Meaning he hadn’t died, well, that or he had run out of reincarnations already.
…………
Acheron’s conscious stirred, sound finally penetrating the thick cocoon of sleep that he had been wrapped in.
“We can’t just stay here Ash,” came a voice much more confident than when it had spoken to him. “He gave his life to let us live, so we shouldn’t let his death be in vain, we need to go. Besides if the information he told is true then the duke needs to hear about it as soon as possible.”
“But, Lady Kaiya gave him a second chance, we can’t just leave him like this after he used that chance to protect us!” Ash said, sounding quite distressed.
It took Acheron a second to realise that they were talking about him, and another second to realise they thought he was dead. Opening his eyes, Acheron blinked blearily as blinding light shone into his eyes. Blinking to accustom himself to the change in brightness, Acheron looked up at Ash and Leo, arguing above him.
They were quite engrossed in their discussion, to the point that they hadn’t noticed Acheron open his eyes or even turn his head to look at them.
“Maybe if you give him some food and water he won’t die”, Acheron mumbled, his empty stomach motivating him to speak, “then you won’t have to leave him here.”
“Acheron!?”
“How are you alive?”
“I’m more surprised you thought I was dead!” Acheron countered, feeling slightly offended, “didn’t you check my breathing or pulse?”
“We did!” Ash protested, “You weren’t breathing at all! And don’t dodge the question! How did you survive?”
“I don’t know” Acheron said, pulling himself up to sit with his back against a tree. “I just fell asleep after fighting the wolves and woke up now. While we’re on that point, for how long exactly have I been asleep?”
“You’ve been asleep for two days and haven’t moved a muscle, that’s why we were arguing about leaving, we’d already waited a while.” Leo answered, speaking to Acheron with less stammering than normal. “Besides, how could we expect you to be able to fight off a bronze rank wolf? Fighting multiple iron rank bandits is one thing, but this? It’s ridiculous.
Acheron sighed, “Well, thanks for waiting two days for me, do you have any food or water? I wasn’t completely joking when I said I might die if I don’t get food and water.”
“Sure”, Leo said holding out a handful of dark berried, “It’s not much but hopefully we’ll get to Ultu today so we can get more food there. And Acheron?”
“Yeah?” Acheron said, about to pop a berry into his mouth.
“Thanks for protecting us so far.”
“It’s alright, thanks for leading me to Ultu.”
After a handful of berries and a drink at a small stream, Acheron, Ash, and Leo were once again heading towards the road that would take them to Ultu. They chatted amongst themselves with even Leo joining in, seeming to be less afraid of Acheron after he had saved their lives a second time.
“So how could you tell what rank the wolves’ [Biting proficiency] was?” Acheron asked at one point, not having questioned it at the time due to his mind being on fighting.
“I have a looking glass enchanted to show me the highest rank skill something has so long as it’s iron or bronze rank.” Ash replied earnestly.
“Wow, that sounds expensive, I’m surprised the bandits didn’t take it from you.” Acheron said. He himself had only ever heard of enchanted gear and had never actually seen any himself.
“They did, but I grabbed it before we left.” Ash said proudly.
“Smart, so can you use it on me?” Acheron asked, thinking of a funny was to surprise Ash and Leo, “what does it say?”
“You’re bronze rank in [Weeding]?” Ash exclaimed, looking at him in surprise with Leo also looking confused.
“If you’ve spent so much time farming,” Leo challenged Acheron, “Just how are you so good at fighting?”
“Well”, Acheron said, thinking about what he had been through, “as you can probably tell I lived on a farm with my parents for many years, much longer than I’ve fought for. However, one day… well, that doesn’t matter, what matters is that I started fighting quite recklessly, not really caring about my life. I got close to dying multiple times, a bit like when I was fighting the wolves, but it did help me get a fair few skills to help me in combat. I wouldn’t suggest doing what I did mind you.”
Seeing his expression darken as he spoke of how he used to live on a farm, Ash tried to sheer him up “Well, you’re a really strong fighter, I’m sure you could easily get a position as a lieutenant in any duke’s army.”
Acheron laughed at the absurd sounding compliment, he had never really wanted to fight, while other kids had dreamt of being knights in shining armour, he had just dreamt about expanding his grandfather’s farm. Yet here he was now, being told that he was a strong fighter, “Maybe I’ll become a lieutenant for the fight against the bearkin, although I don’t think I have the training to be a leader.” Acheron joked.
“How many skills do you have?” Leo asked Acheron curiously.
Deciding that it probably wouldn’t matter if he told the truth, Acheron lowered his voice conspiratorially, “you can’t tell anyone what I tell you, ok?”
Leo nodded eagerly.
“I have ten skills, with [Weeding] being my only bronze one.”
“Ten?” Leo asked sceptically, “that’s double the average number, there’s no way you have that many!”
Acheron just shrugged, “I can and I do, but you don’t have to believe me.”
…………
“That took way longer than I thought it would” Ash said, looking at the dirt road before them. After four more hours of walking, they had finally reached the highway that would take them back to Ultu, “At least it should only be a couple more hours before we reach Ultu.”
“Let’s go then,” Leo said resolutely, “the sooner we start the sooner we can get back home.”
Acheron nodded, and then asked “What are you two planning on doing once you get to the city? You’re not exactly very old and don’t have any way to protect yourselves. I’m sorry if this is too intrusive, but do you have any family inside the city to take care of you?”
Ash and Leo shared a look and a silent argument seem to go on between them, Acheron was curious to know what it was about but wouldn’t press.
Finally, Leo seemed to win, and Ash sighed before turning to Acheron, “we do have people to look after us, so you needn’t worry.”
Acheron could clearly tell she wasn’t going to tell him more and didn’t press her, so long as they weren’t going to have to live on the streets, he thought they should be fine.
They continued on walking, more and more people the further they went, all were walking in the opposite direction to them, and all looked at them suspiciously as they passed. Acheron couldn’t really blame them as he was dressed in ragged clothes and covered in blood and wounds. Not exactly the image of a trustworthy and safe person.
While Acheron wasn’t bothered by the stares, Ash and Leo were not so uncaring, the pair of them both seemed to become more and more unsettled as they got closer to the city.
Finally, Acheron couldn’t take it anymore, seeing them so worried for no reason just seemed pointless to him. “Don’t be so uptight about a couple stares” Acheron said, holding the gaze of an older man who had been staring at him. “They can’t hurt you.”
“It’s not that,” Leo muttered, “There are far more people leaving the city than normal, we’re worried about what that might mean.”
“Well, you could ask one of these lovely people” Acheron said, pointing to a pair of people scowling at him.
His sheer brazenness of pointing out two people who were clearly antipathetic towards him made both Ash and Leo laugh, helping them relax a little.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Acheron said nonchalantly, “but just in case, how about we head towards the city a bit faster?”
Ash and Leo turned to Acheron gratefully, speeding up their pace without further convincing being required.
The time seemed to stretch by as they continued down the track, with Ash and Leo’s uncertainty rising the closer they came, Acheron tried to be as cheerful as possible.
Acheron stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping as he gazed in awe at the sight before him. The city was absolutely humongous compared to their village and its modest wall. Stretching out before him was a massive stone wall, standing a formidable seven meters tall, encircling the entire city like a protective guardian. The wall was constructed from large, weathered stones, each one bearing the marks of time.
Above the wall, the tops of various buildings and spires could be seen, hinting at the grandeur within. The most prominent were the six towering spires of what appeared to be a grand cathedral, their intricate designs reaching skyward as if trying to touch the heavens. The spires were adorned with gleaming metal that caught the sunlight, making them shine like beacons.
In the distance, Acheron could see the top of a grand castle, its turrets and battlements standing proudly above the rest of the city. The castle’s stone walls were a lighter shade than the city’s outer wall, and banners bearing the city’s crest fluttered in the breeze from its towers. The crest was of a shield on a mountain set upon a red background. Acheron tried to recall the lessons of Mother Agatha about which duke’s crest it was and what district they governed but his lack of attentiveness failed him.
Guards could be seen marching along the top of the wall, looking reminiscent to those he had fought the bearkin alongside, though wearing different colours. Additionally more people could be seen exiting the city from a large gate which was being policed by several groups of soldiers.
“Acheron, are you ok?” Ash asked worriedly, shaking his shoulder to snap him out of his revelry, “are your wounds getting worse?”
“No, its just that I’ve never seen a city before” Acheron replied, still breathless as he looked upon the soaring spires and thought of the sheer amount of manpower that it would have taken just to construct the wall.
“You’ve never seen a city before?” Leo asked in surprise, “surely you would have been to one at some point.”
“Nope, this is my first time.” Acheron muttered. He had a million questions to ask and was just about to begin firing them off when a soldier saw them approaching and motioned them over.
The soldier was a young but serious looking woman, she took one look at Acheron and raised an eyebrow before asking them questions in a tone that told him this wasn’t her first time.
“State your purpose for entering the city.” The soldier asked.
“We’re here to see duke Marquadt.” Ash said, speaking in a confident and clear voice.
Both Acheron and the soldier looked at her confused, Acheron had no clue why she would want to see the duke and the soldier had no clue why she thought she could see the duke.
Her bold statement caused more than a few people to look her way though they looked more amused than curious.
“May I ask if you have a summons from the duke, you could show me? Or maybe something that would prove he would be willing to see you?” The soldier asked disinterestedly, clearly not expecting such evidence.
Ash smiled, “I do believe that father would be interested in seeing his missing children would you not say so?”
The soldier studied Ash and Leo for a second before her eyes widened and she shot to attention, “Lady Ash and Lord Leo please forgive my ignorance! I humbly-”
Acheron’s jaw went slack once again, “you’re the dukes children!?”