At the closest river, Scythe was washing up, but the blood wouldn't seem to leave. No matter how hard he scrubbed. "Hey, you decent." A voice shouted from behind a rock

  Looking at himself he had pants on, but no shirt. "Yeah, I'm decent." Scythe yelled back.  

  It was Ifera, "I thought you could use this." Ifera tossed a small object.

Catching it, it almost slipped out of Scythe's hands. "What is it?"

"It's soap. I had some in my travel bag. I thought you would rather smell of soap than a goblin. Oh and everyone else is finishing up. So you might want to hurry."

"Thanks," Scythe stood up, seeing Ifera's golden fluffy hair and tail, "Thanks again for the soap."

"No worries. It's the least I can do to thank you." Ifera walked away.

"Looks like someone has a little crush," Phae commented

"Not now."

"If not now, when?"

"Just not now, maybe tonight when we get back."

"I'll hold you to that, well talk to you then." Phae dissipated

  Back in the silence of the stream, Scythe continued to clean. The soap helps scrub the blood off.

  Walking onto the path, everyone was waiting for Scythe. Astela was still angry from the previous night. Everyone walked in silence until they reached the town.

  The group split in two, one was staying in town, the other returning to the city.

Starting the ride back, everyone was already tired. So the riding went slow. Scythe was leading until Ifera joined him at the front. "Since we all have our own story, I was wondering how you got those scars. Do you mind sharing?" Ifera asked

"It's a long story."

"At the pace we are going, it seems we have nothing but time."

"Well…" Scythe started talking. The sun is moving faster than the riders.

  By late afternoon the city only then came into sight. Stopping to give the horses some rest, everyone decided just to camp there for the night. "You have quite the history," Ifrea commented, "I was a slave once too, I managed to buy my freedom."

"I still only sleep a few hours a night," Scythe said while making a campfire, "... does it get better?"

"Eventually. But that road changes for each of us."

Scythe giggled a little.

"What? Did I say something funny?"

"Well it wasn't funny, you just sounded like one of my moms."

"Really. Well, I'm sure I never gave birth to a white-haired kid." Ifera said.

"I… Uhh…" Scythe blushed

"Well, that's new." Ifera sat next to Scythe, "I can't wait to see my daughter. I feel like a failure."

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"Why's that?"

"Well, you shared a bit of your life, Now I kinda think it's my turn. As I said earlier I was a slave, but my master was kind. She never forced me to do anything I didn't want too. Eventually, she became sick. I wanted to help her. So I saved what little money I earned to get her medicine. When I gave her the medicine she grabbed my slave contract and gave it to me. She said my mother wanted a good life for me. She passed away only a few days later. The medicine gave her a few more days." Ifera brought her knees to her face, "I miss her, but I miss my daughter too."

"Thanks for sharing that." Scythe spoke while standing up, "I should help with dinner, could you lend a hand?"

"Oh yeah, for sure." Ifera stood up.

  Ifera and Scythe worked in tandem. Cooking up a meal with a savory aroma, but was light. "Now if I only had some ginger or even lemongrass." Scythe scratched his temple. "But it should stay light."

"Scythe… after you are done. We need to talk." Astela walked up.

"Fine. Ifera, you got it from here?" Scythe asked.

"Hmm, yeah I got it."

  Walking a little distance away, Astela asked, "So why did you burn that fort? That, and how did you kill all of those goblins so fast? I stopped counting after sixty, there were at least a hundred more dead."

"With my sword."

"No shit, smartass." Astela paced, "the one magic I know that could do that, is only a legend. One with a bloody tale."

"Well then, enlighten me," Scythe snarked.

"A demon that wanted to consume the world in black fire, until the twin goddesses came and defeated her. Her power was said to look like black fog, and it collected around her blade. She could reach people behind walls of men, cutting them all in half. Without effort. The bodies of those goblins, give me the same vibes as those stories."

"Well, they are dead. So why does it matter?"

"Hell happened to you. Just yesterday you were a kind kid. Now the only way I know it's you is because of that scar." Astela pointed to his cheek.

"You do know that there are creatures that can copy faces and voices."

"I should add that attitude as well." Astela was borderline livid.

"So are you going to keep complaining about what I did? Or are we going to eat?" Scythe asked

"This isn't over. Not in the slightest." Astela walked away

  After Astela was out of earshot scythe mocked her, "this isn't over. Who fucking cares." Scythe laid down, looking up at the stars.

  After a little time passed, someone walked close. "Hey the rest of us are going to bed. Do you need to sleep or are you good?"

"I'm fine." Scythe jumped to his feet, stumbling slightly.

"You look like shit," Ifera spoke.

"I'll be fine. I just feel like I don't know anything anymore. Too much has happened in the last few days. I'm just lost."

"Well if you need to talk. You need only ask."

"Thanks, and I'll take the first watch." Scythe followed Ifera back to camp.

  Sitting next to the fire, Scythe practiced his magic to pass the time. Getting a floating fire to go between his fingers, weaving back and forth. Then an idea struck spread the aura over his hand. Just like the blade. It took some time to get it to form but the aura behaved differently. Scythe reached the grab a log, the dark aura launched out and grabbed it. Then tossed it onto the fire, causing embers to fly up. "That worked differently." Scythe said to himself.

"It behaves differently depending on what it is asked to do. Put it on a sword, it will slice. A spear, it will pierce. A bow, it will rain arrows. And on your own body, it will extend your reach. Even get used as a weapon. That was what I was going to teach you tonight. But it seems your experimentation was faster than I expected."

"What's your favorite weapon to use?"

"Sword. But I did use martial arts for a while. Ohh that was fun. Punching a dragon and breaking its bones." Phae threw a few punches in the air, "but you seem to want to ask something else."

"Yeah. With what Astela said how much have I changed?"

"For one, you use my power surprisingly well, but you don't seem to have the oomph behind it." Phae said, "it's like something is missing. But back on topic, you did see a lot of women that were abused by goblins. If that didn't change someone, I would be concerned."

"Was what I did right?"

"We all ask ourselves that question. But let me ask you this if a hungry cat kills a mouse, should the cat feel bad."

"No, it's hungry."

"What if the mouse was looking for the food itself?"

"I don't know how to answer."

"Exactly, you can't know the answer. When the question is nature itself. It is hard to answer the question of what is right and wrong. But in my opinion, what you did was right, burning the bodies. That freed their souls."

"I feel a little better. Thanks, Phae."

"Don't worry about it." Phae sat down, watching the embers fly. Flickering in the wind, and dying out. "Freedom can be both, a blessing and a curse." Phae breathed before she disappeared herself.