The journey from Kar’anza to the base of the outer ring of the Helena mountains was quiet, contemplative, and uneventful.

Or, it would have been if I was alone. Traveling with Tez as I was, while still uneventful, was anything but quiet and contemplative, the girl chatting up a storm.

“Did you know that Eldentide apparently doesn’t have adventurers? To be fair, from what I’ve heard, they don’t have much there in general. Used to be the home of some ancient civilization, but after the eruption of the Elder, the place was made all but inhospitable. I’d love to go there one day, be the first adventurer to set foot there in who knows how long.”

I let her words drone on like white noise in the background. The only indication of the passage of time was the sun’s path through the sky.

“…. And not just that, they say a Heartstopper lives there! They apparently can take the form of their victims and mimic them, but if you’re strong enough, you can resist and even take the power for yourself. It’s the only known way to gain access to blood magic, aside from being born with blood-based Kin magic.”

As I said, nothing more than white noise in the background that-

“… or in Thlahzae, they have forests that stretch as tall as mountains; apparently, it’s one big jungle.”

“Doesn’t it bother you-” I whirled around to face my compatriot, words coming more harshly than I meant. “-doesn’t it bother you? The massacre that happened within the village? The fact that their people have been taken for labor to do…. Well, whatever. That we are potentially marching to our deaths?”

Tez stopped, scratching her chin as if it were a good question.

“It does.” She finally said as if it were obvious. “But it’s not the first time I’ve seen something terrible.”

“It’s not?”

“Sure, maybe it’s the first time I’ve seen an entire village suffering at the hands of other humans, but even we, as low-ranking adventurers, come across some grisly sights in our time out there-” she waved off vaguely in the distance. “-but we are adventurers, not heroes, not knights in shining armor. We adventure, or that’s what life is supposed to be like. If I were to lose sight of that wonder, I’d grow jaded, and I’m not old enough to want that.”

“What about the fact that we’re on our way to confront a magic knight?”

Tez shrugged as if it were natural. “Adventurers tackle danger all the time. I don’t intend on staying glorified messengers or caravan guards my entire life. Eventually, I’m going to be an adventurer that tackles real adventures. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this.”

“I’m not sure I can relate.” I looked up toward the sun, making its final trek for the day, another two hours until sunset. “I once thought I wanted to see everything this world had to offer, then….” The image of my mom being held up by her throat came back to me, and the frustration of being so powerless alongside it.

Powerless. A reoccurring theme I was beginning to realize.

“I guess I’m not sure what I want anymore. I was just sent out to find what I want in the first place.”

“Hah, you sound so dramatic.” Tez laughed at me.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re younger than me, yet you’re talking about the world like an old man. I don’t know exactly what you’ve gone through, but the world isn’t just mishaps and misfortunes.”

“Even though that’s exactly why we’re on this commission?”

Tez rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a smartass. No one likes one of those.”

Our conversation slowed, turning to idle frivolities as the sun crept nearer and nearer the horizon.

Soon.

--------------------

“I see it.”

“Where?” I whispered before my companion pointed straight ahead.

“Look. I don’t know about you, but a camp doesn’t seem like a natural rock formation.”

“You’re right.” I nodded, noticing what Tez had seen. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than an assortment of odd-shaped boulders. Only when I narrowed my eyes could I make it out for what it was, a collection of tan tents haphazardly strewn around the gaping maw of what looked to be an underground pass.

“I think I know what they needed slave labor for.”

I nodded silently. The large pass carving out underneath the rocky peak was clearly man-made. When I looked up, I saw why climbing the peak from this side was impossible; littered with garish stone spikes like the small mountain was one giant pincushion.

“Wait-” I muttered as something caught my eye. “I think I see some movement.”

“Where?” Tez asked, taking her turn as the one who needed something pointed out.

“There.” I pointed forward toward the entrance of the underground pass. “You can see a few people milling about.”

“Damn.” Tez shook her head. “You’re right.”

“I’m surprised they haven’t seen us.”

“Probably because of that.” Tez pointed to the sun setting at our back. “I think we should split up, come at the camp from different angles. Less likely for us to be noticed, with it getting darker out.”

“Right.” I nodded. “There don’t seem to be anyone other than those that just went in the underpass.”

Dropping into a low crouch, Tez and I shared a quick nod before we parted ways, circling around from the sides rather than marching straight into the enemy camp. It was the perfect balance between dark enough that it was difficult to see far ahead while still having the descending sun’s glare on our backs, momentarily blinding any who may look our way. For several minutes, I crept in silence toward the camp, praying that no one would happen to look over for too long and notice our movement, even with the odds in our favor.

Just a little further.

Closer to the camp, I could make out more of the details. I saw several ragged-looking tents, equipment for digging lying about, shovels, pickaxes, and sledgehammers.

Nothing particularly world-shaking.

Creeping silently, I began feeling more confident when I froze, a sound directly to my right.

“Eugh.”

My head slowly turned, but rather than a moaning monstrosity about to lunge at me and tear my throat out, there was a painfully thin man.

“Are you okay?” I rushed to him, kneeling at his side.

The man wore glorified rags, his arms worn down, and blisters covered his hands.

“Hey, hello?”

The man seemed lifeless, but after my continued verbal prodding, I saw a semblance of clarity return to his eyes, turning to face me from where he was lying propped up against a crate.

“W-who-?”

“I’m- we’re here to save you.”

It was apparent who the man was, or rather where he was from, undoubtedly one of the missing villagers from Kar’anza.

“What happened to you?” I questioned, praying the man would be lucid enough to respond.

“Digging. Made us….dig.” The man paused mid-sentence as if it were physically taxing to search for the words.

“Digging for what?”

“Scales….of…earth.”

“What does that me- hey. Hey, wake up!” I whispered energetically at the man as his eyes fluttered and closed. Completely still, I tried to gently shake him awake before I resorted to smacking the man lightly, but nothing seemed to work.

Placing two fingers on his neck, I confirmed what I already knew.

He was dead, with no heartbeat whatsoever. It had been a miracle he had even lived as long as he had, left to his own like a dying animal no one could be bothered to dispose of. I felt bile surging momentarily, but gritting my teeth, I forced it down. The revulsion I felt now differed from when I’d been forced to kill some raiders. Here was an innocent man who had suffered, dehumanized, and left to die on his own like some sort of garbage.

I let a cold fury flow through my veins, washing aside my revulsion.

Whether I know these people or not, for them to die like this, alone and delirious, like nothing more than human refuse…

It was unjust, an affront to everything life was meant to be, something I’d learned even in my short life.

I tore my gaze away from the man’s body, empty of the spark that once made him a person.

Was he funny? Stern? Kind? A baker or a cobbler?

I brushed the thoughts aside, thoughts that would only torment me, letting the feelings of anger and unfairness linger in their place instead. Moving on, I searched for anything of note, deep in thought as I did.

Scales of earth?

Still examining the underground pass, I realized that a tunnel of such size couldn’t have been dug in such a short period of a few weeks, even with slave labor. It was more likely that it had always been there but only recently been expanded by the continual efforts of the enslaved villagers.

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Where are they anyway?

I’d investigated a few tents but found no more signs of life within them.

So where?

Small as the camp was, I soon stood flat against the left lip of the passage carved beneath the heights of Sun-splitter peak. I could make out the sound of labor from where I was, pickaxes cracking rock, and the occasional grunt of effort or pain.

I think I figured out where everyone is.

I waited until I saw a figure creeping forward from the corner of my eye, pressing herself alongside the outer lip of the man-made tunnel opposite of me.

Tez, and it was apparent she was furious.

Wonder if she saw something worse.

I waved to her, and she responded by giving me a single quick nod as she acknowledged me. Holding a hand toward me, she signaled me to wait. Craning her neck forward and around, she investigated the tunnel., something I hadn’t trusted myself to do without being noticed. Nodding once as if satisfied, she raised a hand, five fingers held out, before running one across her neck.

Five enemies.

Lowering two fingers, she pointed a thumb toward her.

Three to the right.

Two fingers held out now; she pointed once toward me, then jerked her head as if signaling something further away.

Two to the right, further in.

Finally, she switched to making an o shape with her thumb and index finger, her remaining fingers stuck straight out. It took me a moment to figure out what she meant by it before I copied the motion, nodding back to her.

Ready.

Holding her hand again, she lowered her fingers, one at a time.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

I took a deep, calming breath, letting mana’s familiar, reassuring feeling wash over me.

Go!

We charged out and forward into the tunnel at the signal. I subconsciously took note of my surroundings, frail men, women, and even children laboring away with the same digging equipment I’d seen outside, digging for… well, whatever the ‘scales of earth’ were. As Tez had relayed, two men and one woman sat around a small table playing cards, their weapons casually leaning against their chairs.

They’re playing cards while these people are working themselves to death!

Emotions boiling over, I roared in anger, a war cry as I charged forward. Unfortunately, that same war cry alerted them to our presence. They sprung out from their chairs, grabbing at nearby weapons.

Well, there goes any hope of a sneak attack.

A moment later, my sword was clashing against a hook-shaped sword, a type I was beginning to suspect was popular in the desert. From the corner of my eye, I saw a whip flash toward my head, only to be intercepted as Tez’s bladed staff sprung forward, whip wrapping around it like a constricting python.

I felt a jolt of pain as I was kicked back and away, a booted foot landing square in my stomach.

Pay attention to yourself first and foremost, Rook.

I drew on the calming rush of mana, my disorientation after being kicked gone an instant later.

The raider with the hooked sword was rushing toward me once more. Still, he either underestimated my ability to recover from being kicked away or failed to realize the mistake of brazenly charging forward with his sword held overhead. I pretended to cradle my gut, luring him in. A single step from me, I shot forward, my sudden acceleration taking the man by surprise. The man stepped back in shock, but it was too late. I’d thrust my sword forward, piercing his gut and out his back. Yanking my sword free, the man stumbled backward before falling flat.

One down.

I looked toward Tez, who was currently playing a game of tug-o-war with the whip-wielding woman. I trusted in her strength, but the issue was the third raider who had charged toward her with a hatchet raised. Thinking quickly, I snagged a rock from the floor before yelling at him.

“Hey, asshole!”

The man reflexively looked over, just in time for the stone I picked up to catch him between the eyes, thrown with my mana-accentuated strength. The man dropped to the ground like a fallen tree and was just as dead as one as well.

I only meant to distract him, but that works as well.

Turning my attention from the fallen raider, I was just in time to see Tez suddenly twist her body, generating momentum from her hips as she flipped through the air, yanking the whip free from the woman and pulling her off balance.

I swear you’d think she was an acrobat.

The last thing the off-balance woman saw was Tez prancing forward gracefully, like a trained dancer, before thrusting with her bladed staff, gutting the woman like a fish.

I rubbed my stomach in sympathy, recoiling at the echoed pain of being kicked in the gut earlier.

I wanted to catch my breath, sudden bursts of violence were far more exhausting than most would assume, but there was no time for catching my breath. The last two raiders ran in from further down the tunnel, dressed differently from any previous raiders I’d seen.

Nearing us, I felt the familiar feeling of mana gathering.

“Watch out!”

I didn’t have time to explain the warning further as a ball of fire shot forward, exploding out between where we had just been standing as we threw ourselves out of the way.

“Magic-user!” Tez shouted as if it weren’t already obvious.

It wasn’t just the fireball; moments later, five thin black needles the length of my forearm were whistling toward us like angry metal hornets.

I ducked out of the way of three of the five large metal needles, the other two aimed toward Tez, who struck them out of the air with her bladed staff.

We exchanged a look, the meaning unmistakable, as we split once more. Tez bolted toward the needle-wielding woman as I charged the magic user, my sword raised.

Is this who they were talking about?

I wanted to believe it was the one behind the scenes, there was no mention of any other mages, but something about it felt off.

No. More like there was no need to show it off.

Another fireball flew toward me; the only indication of the magic being cast was the silently moving lips of the man.

I ducked and spun out of the way of the fireballs, my reflexes supernaturally charged. As the magic caster flung more fireballs toward me, I was ever more convinced that this magic caster wasn’t the main culprit. His usage of magic was elementary at best; I doubted it would be enough to beat an Iron-rank adventurer.

No, he isn’t the one, I’m sure.

Dipping low, I grabbed a handful of small pointy rocks, waiting for the enemy mage to throw another fireball toward me. None the wiser of my plan, I flung the stones forward before rolling to the side, avoiding the fireball entirely.

Vision obscured by his fireball, the mage was treated to a painful surprise as a cloud of sharp stone, now superheated after passing through fire, shredded his face, cauterizing it simultaneously. His left eye was particularly unlucky as a rather large stone flake tore into it, eliciting a painful scream.

That’s what you get. I mentally scolded the man, partly to remind myself not to feel bad for him or his pain. Concentration shattered and partially blinded, the man could not defend himself as I reached him, my sword separating his arms from everything below the elbows.

“Where is your boss?” I shouted at the man, pointing my sword at his head, but his one good eye rolled back before he collapsed.

Oh. I didn’t think that would happen.

My attempts at interrogating the man failed, the shock of his injuries killing him. I looked toward Tez, who was likewise finishing things on her end, the gray-haired woman’s head rolling away from her body after Tez’s bladed staff had taken it from her neck.

I winced once more until I noticed Tez cradling the left side of her mid-section, blood seeping between her fingers.

“Tez!” I shouted, rushing over to her.

“S’okay.” She hoarsely whispered. “Hurts worse than it actually is.”

“Let me see,” I ordered as Tez reluctantly lifted her billowy overshirt to show me.

A hole had been punched through, but luckily, it looked like she was right in her initial wound assessment. As far as I could tell, it hadn’t appeared to have punctured anything vital, a generally ‘harmless’ wound, albeit probably quite painful.

“What happened?”

“She was flinging those needles like crazy. Guess I didn’t manage to avoid them all.”

There was no way to properly clean her wound up, so I offered her a reluctant smile as I gave her the one option I could do.

“I can cauterize it.”

Tez winced, but she nodded. “Do it.”

Closing my eyes, I repeated the same process as when I had cauterized Veronika’s stab wound, drawing thermal mana to my blade before sending a tiny flickering flame to ignite its heat. Offering Tez one last apologetic smile, I pressed the flat of the blade against the wound.

I had to give it to Tez; had it been me, I would have cried out in pain, but the girl grit her teeth, suffering through it in silence until I was done.

“Sorry,” I muttered as I withdrew my already cooling blade.

“S’okay,” Tez repeated, her pale face regaining color. “Hurts, but I’m okay.”

I nodded, taking her at her word, before glancing around us.

“Uhh, Tez?”

The villagers who had been laboring away had stopped, watching us, their eyes bleak, dead on the inside.

“Right.” She whispered before raising her arms. “We’ve come to liberate you. Kar’anza has been freed, and the raiders have been driven away! It’s going to be alright.”

Rather than cheer in joy, they looked down, afraid to look at us.

“Didn’t expect that reaction.” I looked at the villagers, who were returning to work, albeit more slowly now that they weren’t actively monitored. “What’s with them?”

“We’re not free. Not yet.”

Tez and I turned to look behind us, where a single older man stood leaning on a shovel he had stabbed into the ground.

“What do you mean?”

“It was never the raiders that were keeping us here.” The man gestured at the corpses on the ground. “It was the three bosses, but even with two of them dead-” He pointed toward the armless man and the headless woman, “-he is the one we’re terrified of, which shackles us here even without shackles.”

“He?”

The man pointed a finger up the ceiling. “He is at the peak. Comes down here to check in on everything once a day, so he won’t be down until tomorrow. As for us, we are expected to mine the scales of earth. If we don’t, not just us but our families will also be slaughtered. We can’t just leave.”

There it is again. ‘Scales of earth.’

“What are these scales?” I questioned, Tez shooting me a questioning look.

“I’ll show you.” The man sighed. “Not that it really matters.”

We followed him through the passage, ignoring all the winding side tunnels as he took us to the very back, where it led once more to the surface.

Looking around now that we were once more in the open air, it occurred to me that we were now inside the natural barrier of peaks surrounding the Helena mountains, which were still far off. Directly to my right was a winding path that made its way up the ridge, and to my left were several crates filled with….

Well, scales.

“Scales of earth.” The man held one of the scales up for us to look at.

As the name suggested, it looked like a large scale, except made entirely of stone.

“Freshly mined ones are sent up, and later they are returned. These are the ones sent back from the last batch.”

Tez grabbed one from the crate, whiter than the rest, but not by much, holding it up to inspect it herself.

“What are they?” She questioned after a moment.

“Dunno.” The man shrugged. “But we don’t know anything. Those three show up one day and ask around our village, raising concerns as people notice the strange markings on their hands. Still, we occasionally get adventures and the like through Kar’anza, so we think nothing of it or try not to. Next thing we know, we are being invaded by some raiders led by those same three. The main one, he makes it really clear what will happen if we fight back. Made a demonstration of burning kids, fucking children, alive right before us. We figure it’s better for us adults to suffer than to watch our children die before our eyes. So, here we are. All we could put together is he wanted something to do with the Emriess family. Poor mother didn’t last; she never was exactly a hardy woman. The girl, tough thing she is, is still up there with him. Unlike her mother, she’s been a fighter since birth, but that only goes so far.”

I glanced toward Tez, the two of us sharing a moment of concern.

“I can read the atmosphere. If you want, try; not like we can stop you. In the best-case scenario, you somehow return alive, and we are finally free. Otherwise-” The man hefted his shovel, turning his back to us. “We’ve been broken already. There isn’t much more to say, is there? Just follow that path. It was the first thing he had us clear out when we were brought here. Will take you right up to the top.”

“Thank you,” I called out, but the man never responded, waving once as he returned to the passage, back to his labors.

He was right about one thing; they had been thoroughly broken, spirits crushed.

Tez watched the man walk away before turning toward me, faking a half-smile.

“Well, what are we waiting for?”

-----------------------

The trek up the path was tame; the villagers who made it had done an excellent job of making it mostly safe.

Unfortunately, a glance off the side would reveal the cost of the laborious effort, broken bodies lying far below after suffering a sudden drop from the jagged ridge.

Even as secure as the path seemed, I glued my eyes to the ground. Whether from a loose pebble or tripping over my own two feet, a single trip would send me tumbling down below to join in the fate of the villagers who had fallen before me.

That’d be something, come all this way just to fall to my death.

Keeping my feet firmly underneath me, I made the ascent with Tez a step behind me, the path too narrow to comfortably walk side by side. We climbed up the winding course for half an hour until the trail began to level out, leading to the peak’s crest. It had been flattened out, with only a few boulders and rocks left over from the demolition job required to flatten the ridge. The view was beautiful, a visa one could see for leagues in any direction; I could barely make out what looked to be Kar’anza from here if I squinted hard enough.

Except, that wasn’t the focus atop the flat-topped peak. Standing opposite us was a man, arms crossed over his chest like a mummy, murmuring under his breath, standing in front of what looked like a stone altar.

Next to the altar was a girl no older than thirteen. She had undergone harsh treatment, beaten and bruised; her eyes glazed over to the point where they didn’t react even as we stepped atop the butte, quietly taking position next to each other.

I raised my sword, but before I could open my mouth, the man finally turned around as if he had been aware we had been here the entire time.

“It appears I have visitors.”