“She killed Ash too…” She whispered again as tears rolled down her face. “She killed so many…”

Her words were like a knife to his heart. Blood drained from his face as he felt a lump settle in his throat. He gulped to try and rid himself of it, but it refused to go.

“Ash?” Kira asked with a raised eyebrow. “Golden blonde hair…?” She paused, then shot Victor a glance.

He watched the girl carefully. Ash was a common name, surely she was talking about someone else. Surely, he told himself as a pair of bright blue eyes, and a small hand tugging at his robes resurfaced in his mind. Surely it wasn’t him.

The girl nodded. “He’s gone.” Covered her eyes with her hands, sobbing.

Victor’s heart sank. He took a step back, then another. Almost stumbling over one of the guards, he hurried to the tent, and pulled the cloth covering the entrance closed.

I don’t want to go home, please!

His voice was still fresh in his memory. How he begged to be saved from that small village, how he longed for a better life.

He didn’t even realise he had clenched his fists. Regret filled his heart – he should have taken that child with him, Emperor’s orders be damned…

“Her name is Theresa.” Kira’s voice startled him. “She completely shut down. But yes, she was talking about that student.”

When had she even come into the tent? Victor breathed out in an attempt to calm himself. “I doubt there exists another boy named Ash with golden hair.” He turned to face her. “I have regrets, Kira.” He admitted.

His partner nodded. “I see that.” She replied nonchalantly, crossing her arms, and leaning against the log at the centre of the tent. “There must have been a few more who survived if someone as broken and defenceless as Theresa did. We must save the living before we mourn the dead, and what could have been.”

While her voice was cold and lacked any emotion, she spoke the truth. They didn’t have time to mourn yet, not when clearly something in those burial grounds had been unleashed.

“You’re right.” He sighed. “The girl should be sent to the Northern Gate, to receive proper medical care. It’s not a long journey by horse, send four guards with her, tell them to hurry.” He needed to focus on those who were still alive.

A faint, almost relieved smile touched upon Kira’s lips. She nodded, then left the tent, giving Victor a few more moments to recollect himself before he had to leave the tent and face the world again. His hand instinctively went to his pocket. He clenched a piece of cloth and felt something soft tickle his finger.

His eyes shot wide open.

“Kira!” He shouted as he pulled the cloth out of his pocket, and dumped what it contained on the table. A lock of hair fell on the table, glimmering golden under the torchlight. Without hesitation, Victor embraced his mana.

Pale crimson colour gathered in and around his palm as he held it above the lock of hair neatly tied in a ribbon. While this was Alarien’s specialty, he had seen her cast this spell enough times to have memorised the weaves it required.

His mana formed complex shapes that he couldn’t properly see, but he knew he was doing it correctly. The crimson colour grew brighter as he allowed more of his mana to flow into his hand, then eventually he allowed it to flow towards the hair.

He heard the flap of the tent move as Kira rushed inside. “What happened?” She asked, clearly worried. She then paused as soon as she saw what he was doing. “Is that his hair?” She asked, wide eyed. “Why do you even have his hair?”

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Victor didn’t answer – he couldn’t, the spell required all of his focus. He barely heard her speak, in fact. His mana flowed around the lock of hair, gently touching the golden strands. He needed to be gentle, to make sure he didn’t damage the hair. A bead of sweat rolled down his chin as the spell continued to form. He only realised he had been holding his breath when the spell reached its conclusion, and he breathed in once more.

“I think,” he breathed out as a crimson light floated right above the hair. “I succeeded.” He took the lock of hair, wrapped it in that piece of cloth and put it back in his pocket where he kept a lock of both Maya and Fionna’s hair.

“If he’s dead-“

“Then we will find his body.” Victor cut her off curtly. “He wasn’t in the cave, I didn’t see his body among the others. Wherever he is, it is sure to provide us with answers.”

Kira scowled. “Fair point.” She conceded. “Let us hurry then.”

The crimson orb of light darted off towards the Shimmering Woods as soon as Victor allowed it to move. Once again, they walked through the woods with hasty steps.

Even when the Spire of Kindling was at its brightest as it was now, its light barely penetrated the leafy cover of the ancient trees. Colourful lights illuminated beneath their branches instead. While these magical lights were beautiful, Victor found himself annoyed at them as they made following his spell more difficult than it should be.

The crimson light led them through the woods, towards east, then slightly north. Each step they took only brought them closer to the burial grounds.

“Did we miss him?” Kira asked as they neared the mountains. “I’m sure one of us would have recognised him.”

He had no answer to that.

The sound of water reached his ears, and the scent of wet earth. A faint, cool breeze rustled the plants around him.

“She did say he sank.” Kira pointed out as the crimson light led them towards these sounds and smells.

They passed through the thick layers of foliage the light easily flew through. As they reached the other side, the bright light of the Spire momentarily blinded Victor. He covered his eyes with his hand and waited a moment for his pupils to get used to daylight.

The lake was a deep, dark blue, surrounded by a sea of dark green grass. Birds chirped around them, a deer-like creature sniffed something among the grass a little further away, right at the shore. Ripples formed on the surface of the lake as fishes and other aquatic creatures moved in the water.

The deer froze in place as they stepped out of the woods. It’s large, dark eyes weighted them for a few moments before it leapt away, into the shadows of the forest.

The crimson light floated after it, only to finally stop at the thing it was sniffing a few moments earlier.

Kira’s eyes shot open. She breathed in sharply. “Is that-“ She hissed but stopped herself before she spoke any further.

Victor rushed towards the crimson light. As he approached, the object on the ground became clearer. It was a body, laying curled up on its side, covered with a torn cloak.

He knelt beside it as his heart raced. Reaching for it gently, he grabbed its shoulder and slowly turned it over.

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

“You shouldn’t go.” A voice spoke. The words were odd, he didn’t recognise them. But somehow, he knew what she said – he understood these foreign sounds as if they were his own language.

“I’ll come back, I promise.” A man’s confident voice replied. “This is the best chance we will ever get to learn the truth about it.”

It was dream. It felt like a dream, at least. He saw a man standing on a balcony. The view behind him was breathtaking. Rolling dunes of crimson sands, and the Spire of Kindling shining light on it all beyond that desert.

It seemed to close, so nearby. Like just a few days of travel would be enough to reach it. Ash couldn’t help but feel amazed. It had always been hidden behind one mountain range or another, so he had never properly seen the bottom half of the Spire.

It was stunning. He could see it even from all the way across the desert – The spiralling architecture of it was unlike anything else he had seen. It reminded him of how weaves of mana worked.

“Who cares about that?!” The woman’s voice snapped. “We’ve lived here for our entire lives! Especially you, you belong here. Why do you seek more? Is this not enough? Are we not enough, Father?”

The man leaned on the dark coloured stone parapets of the balcony. His tail moved from one side to the other with unease.

“I know you worry.” He said with a cold voice. “You have lived for so little time, my dear. Our world is dying, the Spire’s light is slowly waning. I must go, so we all live.” He looked up, the jewels hanging from his elegant horns glimmered under the light of the Spire, they rattled as he shook his head. “Trust me, alright? I’ll come back. I always do.”

He turned around to face the woman he was speaking to.

She looked like him, with her long, silver-white hair and a pair of elegant horns. Most of her tail was hidden beneath her long, flowing dress.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep!” She hissed, her face contorted with anger.

“I don’t.” He replied with a faint smile. “So trust me, I’ll come back. And then we’ll go together. All of us.”