Saer waited for agony to set in. He wanted it to grow, to intensify and to make him feel pity on himself. He just desired to feel something. Emptiness and numbness were more frightening than pain. Saer desired to lurch and scream. He wanted tears to wash away the sensation of being nothing.

With none of his body parts moving, he got a heavy hit of grief.

In the end, the paralyzed man sobbed. His heart pumped sadness in to his mind but still he did not get tears. There was a bit of moisture on his face. He knew it was sweat.

A chilling wind rustled its path through trees to Saer. Saer thought his immovable body had trembled. He hoped it would happen again but the wind disappointed him. It did not feel cold like before.

For a while, Saer thought he was a decapitated head waiting for his life to flash infront of his eyes. Droplets of water fell on his face from trees, making it difficult for him to keeping his eyes open for long.

Saer's hand shot up to cover his eyes from those hurting droplets. He smiled to get some movement. Saer prepared himself for a turn. He took a deep breath and rolled over.

Pain crippled in his body and Saer laughed. He laughed till his lips could no longer fathom it as happiness. Not surrendering to pain, he pulled himself upright on his knees. Anguish was far from done however.

He bent forwards, clutching his stomach, then vomited.

Blood. Saer looked at what he had had come out of his guts. He wiped his mouth then got on his feet with support of a tree.

Saer's eyes followed the gigantic tree to its top.

He wanted to climb on top of the tree and give himself away. It was like he was meant to serve someone but he couldn’t tell whom he was bowing to. For a moment he reckoned his identity and existence had no purpose.

Soon his thoughts meandered to something else. The ground was red.

He glanced up at the red leaves of trees around him. The colour of leaves gave him a different perspective to his thoughts.

When he began to walk he saw bits of flesh and body parts smothered in mud, he could not hold those trees accountable for them anymore.

The wet ground was full of potholes of blood. There were traces of something wide and heavy being dragged from there. The trial could only be left by heels.

Saer lifted his right foot and saw a strand of squished intestine.

Wutke's effect. Saer stepped over it, Is Gervase safe?

Other than Wutke, Saer could sense Gervase Calajhan. He knew he wasn’t further from Gervase because Nortze had teleported him where Saer had told him. Saer found it difficult to fathom everything.

The family he was meant to protect was surrounded by Wutke's puppets and now Gervase's safety wasn’t sure.

Am I sensing Gervase's dead body? Saer wondered. His mind forced him to think so when he took the teleportation stone given to him by Nortze. One rub and Saer would be back in Winstrova, killing those hypnotized beings.

If I got back there, I would be disobeying his order. Saer covered the stone by his palm and kept walking.

He strolled for an hour in confusion since. Saer could not counter sense if eerie in Deragra. The sensation was altering his ability to know where Gervase was. One moment he thoughtGervase was not here but in another moment he thought the opposite.

Despite of his senses playing tricks on him, he told himself Gervase was near to him. The tingling sensation hooked in his mind tried to distract him. Saer drew his sword for the very reason.

The thoughts he was having received no change but keeping a sharp sword out in Deragra kept him prepared for any unpleasant outcome.Saer felt something squishy under his soles.

It was neither another intestine nor an insect but was the land itself. He gave it a stomp then discovered rain had nothing to do with its texture. Saer stampeded it again.

This time it brought him to a conclusion.

Saer watched a big tree and went behind it. He knelt and grass on soil by his sword. They were loose like they had been planted moments ago. Some of them did not even have roots.

He prayed and thrust his sword in the land.

His sword disappeared to the hilt there. Saer got up and pulled it. The sword was back in his hand again. He was ready for another jab when the land on his feet gave up on his weight.

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Saer tumbled to darkness and landed shortly. Descending mud covered his face. He spat some of it from his mouth and searched for his sword. His hand did not need to go further for finding its hilt.

He rose upright, glancing at the entrance.

The height was not a lot. Maybe twice his height but the way ahead of him was huge. Saer tapped the floor by his sword and this time he discovered the broken trapdoor.

Saer had to lean forwards to make his way in the tunnel. Width of the tunnel made him feel someone lived in there with his belongings. Those walls were stable and the interior was dry too.

"Gervase." Saer called, "Gervase Calajhan."

No answer.

He noticed a movement behind turn of the tunnel. As Saer snuck closer he heard the friction of clothes. He got to hear hopeless sobs when hee got near to the crouched person. Saer, however, kept a distance of safety.

"Don’t worry, old man." Saer said, "I am not a threat."

A balding man dressed in dirty rags looked at him. There was a knife in his hands but the thin man didn’t look like he would be testing its sharpness on Saer.

Saer put his sword back in the sheath after a brief thought. The old man still kept his weapon out.

He took his steps lightly and squatted near the scared man, "I know something terrible has happened here." Saer whispered, "But believe me, I have no part in it."

Saer stretched his hand to the blade of knife then clutched it by his index finger and thumb. The old man did not loosen his grip over it for a while but left eventually.

"Good." Saer said, "You look hungry. I will hunt rabbits for you if you want."

"I don’t need food." Old man muttered, "I want to be safe."

Saer saw three teeth intact on his gums.

"Sure, old man. I will guard you and Gervase." Saer said, "I know he is here. Call him here."

"Gervase."

"Hmm…."

"I called his name." old man looked straight in his eyes, "He doesn’t want rabbits. He wants safety."

Saer's jaw loosened, "You are him?"

Old man nodded. Gervase knew what Saer was about to ask.

"We Calajhans age outside out the house." Gervase said.

Saer wore the disbelief and knelt, "Ser Calajhan, from now on, it is my duty –"

"-to protect you from the evil men of Hilcastle. From this moment to my last breath, my servitude will be always there be for you."

"How do you know this?"

"You will find this oath in every drop of blood up there." Gervase said, "May God give them a place in paradise."

"Aye, may the God."

"Cut – throats don’t pray for those who died doing right thing."

Saer kept his eyes open.

"Who sent you here?" Gervase waited for Saer to be done.

"Your father did."

"I thought Braden had filled my spot."

"You even know his name?"

"Also know he saved my father." Gervase said, "I keep meeting mother once or twice a month. Father is unaware of this. Maybe Rikilda too." there were sparks in Gervase's eyes.

Happiness in his eyes did not remain for long, "How did father know my clan was massacred?"

"Wutke's sensation made him feel so."

"Wutke has reached Logrum?"

"Logrum?" Saer remembered, "Yes, it has."

"Is there someone to guard him there?"

"Yes, a lot of us."

"He keeps plenty of guards with him and sends me one man." Gervase giggled but it had not delight, "What good is one man against a hundred of Wernh'An's soldiers and their living armors?"

"Living armors?"

"Your face tells me you have seen their kind before."

"Haven't seen them in such numbers."

"You are scared like you have."

"I am scared because I might."

"As long as they are in their wagon, you will not see them." Gervase said

"Wagon?"

"Yes, an unbreakable wagon. Wernh'An's people take shelter there." Gervase put his wrinkled hand in his pocket, taking out a small bottle of green liquid. In no time, the bottle was in Saer's hand.

Saer watched him in confusion.

"Drink this if they are about to capture you." Gervase whispered.

"What is in here?"

"Poison."

Saer observed the violent bubbles ready to melt glass.

"Our clan created it for Wernh'An's army." Gervase said, "Never got to poison them. They already have its cure."

Saer slid the bile in his pocket, "Where are they now?"