“Thank you.”

“For what?” I stare in the dark.

“For bringing me with you. Your parents are... quite warm... I think I understand you a little more now... At least why you want to fight...” Ira's whisper reaches me. I hesitate.

“You never did say what happened to...” I stop.

“My mother died early on. I don't even remember her anymore.” A pause. "Father couldn't handle it. He loved her too much and blamed me for her death. He beat me for it. I left home when I was ten and never looked back.”

I sit up in my bed and glare across the room, to the side. He continues.

“I stole. I fought. I worked. I did anything I could to survive... I don't even know why.” I keep staring and listening... “I saw my father once. Years ago. When working at a blacksmith's... They found his body the next day...”

“Tell me you're joking.”

“Sorry, pal, not this time.” I don't say anything. There is nothing I can say to that...

“Tell anyone and I'll slit your throat.” Ira says and turns away, on his side. My shoulders twitch silently...

    “You know, I was sure he'd bring you with him...” Hyra says. So was I... She's been less pained looking ever since Ren's visit.

“I'm sorry for being selfish... I'm a mother... I can't help, but worry about our boy no matter how big or strong I watch him become... I hope all will be alright and he'll come home soon enough...” She says, bowing goodbye as usual... Is that what they call a mother's love? Is this what a parent does? Worry all the time? Can't say I have been feeling easy myself, ever since he left...

    “They can't be serious...” I whisper.

“I was afraid of this...” Ira admits.

“Wait, you knew?” I look at him. He shakes his head.

“Had a hunch. The way they were recruiting...”

“We barely had a year of training and most of it had been chores! The ratio of training and knowledge gained...” I bite my tongue...

“What did you expect. They are getting desperate...”

“This is not going to end well...”

“You can say that again...”

“We move out in three days! Get ready!” The Captain gives the order... How will I tell Mom about this? She'll freak out... I sigh to the thought of hurting her again...

    “So this is the North, huh?” I gaze up into the mountains. Technically, a little bit North-east as the mountain range curves.

“Not what you expected?” Ira mocks me, as per usual.

“No. They are much more.” I grin. “Hey! We arrived at the Northern mountains! I'll need to set up camp now, but just wanted to let you know how beautiful it is!” I try to reach out. But they keep us plenty busy. I cut off and get to work.

"Good luck!" Mom? I stop for a moment only. Thanks. I smile and carry on. It's been a while since I slept outside. I thought I would handle it, but sleeping next to Era spoiled me... I miss her warmth and snuggly fur...

“What's the plan here exactly?” I ask.

“Kill on sight.”

“Would it kill you to phrase it a little bit less gruesome?”

Ira stops and stares for a moment. “Minimize the enemy forces as much as possible. There. Happy now?”

“Yes. Thank you.” We continue on with the tent. Using the woods as a cover was a good idea. I did except to be digging holes in the ground to sleep in, rather than this, but, I don't really know much about war or battle...

“The scouts are back.” Ira's voice snaps me back to reality. I look to the side.

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“Shall we?” We drop the tent and go over to get a better idea of the situation.

“They are advancing steadily. They should be here in a few days.”

“Wouldn't it be better to stop them within the mountains?”

“Too dangerous. We might end up losing more people.” Ira's quick to answer me. I admire his quick-witted thinking. He's clearly more in the know-how than I am.

“Be alert. Rest for now, but stay sharp.” Our Captain tells us.

“They are sure we will be enough?” I ask again.

Ira shrugs his shoulders. “Scouts said it's a small number of them. So, we should be able to handle them. Considering that the main forces have been rotating between the boarder and the Capital... They really haven't got much of a choice other than to send the best out of the worst...”

“Gee, thanks for the confidence...” I roll my eyes. “It's not like this land is being used by us... I fail to see how we can't give them some, if land is all they want?”

“After the deal with Cornutora the Geezers in charge felt like taking a hit below the belt. Especially because it doesn't stop them from launching the occasional attack on us still. Hence the aggressive resistance now. Although, Cornutora's politics have always been internally divided...”

“Ok, how the hell do you know all that!!” I crack.

“I'm a Shadow, remember?” Ira gives me a stupid grin.

“It's times like these that I hate you.” I tell him and pick up my axe and sword.

“You'll wear yourself out.”

“It's not like I can sit still either. It'll be good warm up.” I wink at my friend. He slips inside the tent instead. I walk a little bit further off the camp and do a couple of simple exercises. Rotations. Stretches. Swings. Jabs. Hacks. I try to focus on switching between the sword and the axe with each hand. It needs some work still... The height and the elongated Noxian limbs give an advantage for dual wielding. Especially with the smaller sized weapons. Instead of a long sword I have a slightly shorter, wider, double-edge. Great for quick, powerful thrusts. The double-sided, widely curved axe, Primerian-sized, works nicely for wider range, circular attacks. No need for a shield if they can't get close enough. The smaller sizes make for greater speed, even if lacking in power. The thing with power - the heavier the blow, the slower it is. If you can slash through it faster, chances are - you'll live... Of course, one major drawback for smaller weapons is their durability. They can break when countering a powerful blow... Those should be avoided, at best, but... Anything can happen... I'm not as fast Ira... He uses daggers, because he needs the speed and agility to go in and out of the shadows... Big weapons like mine would slow him down... His focus is close range precision... Mine... Mine? Mine is... Tearing through with brute force... My job is to keep them focused elsewhere, so that the Shadow can do what it knows best... I grip the handles of both weapons. They called me a natural... Instinct... I've been practicing with these blades for a few months only... Then why? Why does it feel so comfortable holding them? Almost as if I have been doing this for years...? I look up at the sky... Yet, at the same time still… I don't want to be here... I walk back. Everyone, who isn't on watch, is resting. I step inside the tent, put the weapons down and try to snooze...

    A loud noise and yelling wakes me up.

“It's an ambush! We're on!” Ira tells me, running out. I grab my blades and step out too.

“The hell?”

“Earth Shamans. They are pulling us underground. Watch out!” Ira pushes me. I jump back, so does he. The ground opens up where we were a moment ago.

“BLIND THEM!! KILL THE FIRE SHAMANS!!” An order is given.

“I'm up.” Ira says. “Where there’s Fire, there's a Shadow.” He dives in and disappears. I feel the ground rumble underneath me. I jump back a few steps. A scream and a thud. My axe blocks it. I can barely see anything, yet my body moves on its own. Slash after slash. Spell after spell. I dodge and block them all. I barge my way through. Blades swinging. Blood spilling...

    The fighting has been going on for days now... We have no idea how many of them there are or how many of us we lost already... The silence between the battles is the worst. We never know when the noise will pick up again. Resting is out of the question. Back up is on the way, but can they make it? How do we know they aren't waiting for it too? Worse part, I have no clue where the heck Ira is, right now. We got separated... Scouts reported a small amount... Yeah, right...

    We manage to drive the enemy back a little, but now we are out of the woods and in the open… We try to keep the pressure steady and for that we made ourselves vulnerable too… The sky darkens. The wind picks up. I have a bad feeling about this... It has been getting colder the last few days too... Blood freezing chill smashes through me. Raging white waves hurl at us. Snow. A mad blizzard howls around us. Swallowing everyone whole... I can't see my own hand in front of me...

“DAMN IT!!” I scream out. Can't even hear my own voice... I stumble around. I try to listen... Nothing... It feels like I just got buried alive...

    Hyra calls for me in the dark. I get up and climb out. It's cold and dark. She stands with a torch in hand. Her face frozen... Something is not right.

“Have you heard from him?” She asks. Voice weakened... I shake my head. Her eyes water...

“They say there was a sudden mission to go fight up in the North... Wykren was chosen...” Her body trembles like a leaf in the wind...

“There hasn't been any word from him since...” She clutches the Stone in her hand... “It's been days...” She speaks quietly…

“The Winter is early. The amount of snow here... The North is probably...” Hyra fails to speak clearly... I wait...

“Please.” She holds my gaze... “Find my baby...” She points a direction. North, huh? As long as the sun raises on your right and sets on your left, you can find North! Ren's words echo inside my mind... I watch her. The watering eyes. The shaking body. The pained expression... She is hurting. She doesn't know if Ren is well or even alive. I get up and step closer to her. I lower my head. She touches my fur.

“Please...” A single whisper. I take one more look at Hyra and run off into the woods...