Orias could not stop coughing as he leaned up against a nearby tree for support. Only once he coughed up a black tar substance with a horrible stench, was he finally able to catch his breath. Grimacing, he forced himself to stand upright. The veins on his neck had already turned deep red, and his legs trembled as he walked, but even then, he refused to take any Emerald Blight for himself. Instead, he had distributed the small amount we had gathered among the weakest of the civilians.
I watched as he squared his shoulders and put on a brave façade, despite the pain I knew he must be suffering. Not for the first time, I wondered if he really was the horrible traitor my parents painted him as. Sure, he was quick to resort to violence, but after everything I had seen, I could not believe he would be the type to kill his own commander.
Aurielle hadn’t really cared for the reasons. She had seen too many similar things before. A single moment of extreme emotion, leading to a lifetime of regrets. It was a common story, but I could not contain my curiosity.
Our wagon was full of refugees, and with my dad and Charly busy drawing glyphs, it was not difficult to find a moment when my mom was distracted by one of them. I carefully stowed my dagger in one of the containers, so it would not trigger the effects of the mental distortion in Orias. Then, as soon as my mom had her hands full with one of the infected children, I made an excuse about needing to pee before sprinting away from the wagon.
I moved through the shuffling crowd of people, careful not to get in their way. Even walking was difficult for them. I did not want to make things worse by accidentally tripping someone.
Just in case my mom was watching, I made a path towards the tree line. Only once I was sure that I was out of her line of sight did I turn and dash towards Orias.
He walked with slow, determined steps that made him appear confident, but when I looked closer, I could see his legs shaking every time his weight shifted. He had not been infected for more than a day, but he already looked worse than some of the civilians we were escorting.
I knew from Aurielle’s memories that everyone had different levels of tolerance in fighting off the infection of the mist. Some people could go weeks, barely showing any symptoms. Other people could succumb to the mist in just a couple days before transforming into Demonkin. From what I could see, Orias fell into this latter category.
I shuddered, thinking about the type of Demonkin a man like Orias could become. The stronger the person infected, the stronger the Demonkin would be. It was not unusual either for the Demonkin to keep some twisted form of the hosts innate talent. Orias was already the strongest of all the soldiers, possibly even stronger than my parents. Once he fell, he would only become more powerful.
If Aurielle were here, she would want to kill him now. He would never make it out of the mist, and we had yet to find any of the plants and materials needed to treat the corruption, but the idea of killing someone just because they were infected was unthinkable to me. We had not lost all hope yet. Maybe we could find something to cure him in the next few days of time.
Shaking away those horrible thoughts, I ran up to Orias. With my hands behind my back, I leaned forward and smiled.
Orias looked down at me and scowled. “Kid, are you trying to get Renald to kill me before this mist does? What do you want?”
“I want to know how you became a traitor to the Novis Kingdom. What happened?” I asked widening my eyes with the best pleading look I could manage.
“Go away kid,” Orias replied gruffly, “I am not interested in talking about that.”
“Don’t be like that,” I pouted, sticking out my lower lip, “Please!”
“No.”
“I am not going away until you tell me.”
“Kid…”
“So,” I spoke with a mischievous smile, “Unless you want my mom and dad to find me here, I suggest you tell me.”
Orias frowned as he looked towards our family’s wagon. After a long moment of silence his shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Your parent were always such honorable and upstanding people. Where did you learn to be so manipulative?”
I grinned silently as I looked up at him with the most innocent wide-eyed look I could manage.
“Fine,” he said with another sigh, “If it will get you to leave me alone… You already know that my sister died when I was younger. It was so many years ago now. I was just a kid when a group of masked bandits raided my little village. I tried to fight them, but I did not have an innate talent back then,” Orias paused taking a deep breath, “It was only after my sister was tortured and killed in front of me that I awakened my talent. Obsessed with revenge, I joined the Novus military. Thanks to my talent I was able to squire myself under a man named Nothus. He was famous for hunting down bandits and raiders. He was even nicknamed The Bandit’s Bane. For over a decade I served under that man, and even became a knight with a command of my own. However, as time went on, I began to notice something strange about the so-called Bandit slayer. Before many of his most famous achievements, he would disappear with only a small group of his most loyal soldiers for long stretches of time before suddenly finding the bandit camp and slaying them all. Due to his innate talent, it was rare that there was anything left but charred corpses.”
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Orias stopped, and I could see his hands clench into fist as his gaze filled with fury. “Can you guess why?”
I shook my head, scared to answer. I felt that if I said anything his anger would turn towards me.
“One night, when Commander Nothus was dead drunk he tried to recruit me for his most loyal band of soldiers and I learned the truth. Nothus and his men were the bandits. They hid their faces, raided villages, stole and killed. Then, when their notoriety reached a peak, Nothus would dress up a bunch of kidnapped villagers as bandits before burning them to death. He was declared a hero who slew the bandits and gifted bonuses and promotions for his excellent work. Then, a few months later, a new group of bandits would rise up and the process would repeat again. I immediately realized that Nothus was the same bandit that killed my sister. Enraged, I nearly killed the man then and there, but at the last moment I was able to contain myself. Instead, I reported him to Novus military command.”
Orias had started growing in size as his innate talent responded to his rage. “I expected justice, but instead I was betrayed. They demoted me to the lowest grade of foot soldier for attacking a superior and attempting to defame a hero. They took everything from me, while that man walked away without any repercussions. It was then that I knew, if I wanted justice, I would have to take it myself. I charged into Nothus’s camp, killing every single one of them.”
Standing taller than I had ever seen him, Orias’s last word came out as a more of a roar than any proper speech. I took a few steps back as I looked up at the giant with fear. He stomped his foot on the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked me off my feet. The nearby civilians screamed as they panicked.
There was a flash of lightning as my mom appeared next to me, glaring at the giant with a stare that made my blood freeze. “What do you think you are doing?”
“Tia… what…” Orias looked confused for a moment before his gaze hardened. He glared back at my mom, meeting her gaze without flinching. “You… why did you not support me when I needed you most. I thought of you the same as my own sister. We fought together for over a decade, but when everything fell apart you were nowhere to be seen!”
“We tried! You stupid oaf!” my mother shouted back, “Renald and I had gathered the support of over half a dozen high ranking officials when you went on your ridiculous rampage. If you had just waited a couple days, we could have launched an official inquiry, but instead you decided to take everything into your own hands. Because of your impulsiveness, Renald and I were practically ostracized by most military officials for daring to speak on your behalf. Why do you think we ended up protecting a tiny town in the middle of nowhere less than a year later, despite all our achievements?”
Orias froze, his anger fading. “I… I did not know. I always thought…”
My mom put her hand on her hips as she spoke to Orias. “After your demotion, you vanished, probably into some bar. We had no way of contacting you, or telling you our plan. Instead, you acted on your own without even trying to reach out to us. Did you really think we would not believe you? Did you really trust us so little that you could not talk to us first?”
Orias began to shrink as his anger faded and the innate talent stopped working. “I… I knew you would stop me… I just wanted Nothus to pay for what he had done. I wanted revenge. You trust the system too much. Always the perfect knights, you two cannot see what the Novus kingdom has become. It is corrupt and broken, no better than the Immortal Empire that came before it. King Sebastion does not care for his kingdom. It crumbles more and more every day under his watch. The system is broken.”
My mom hesitated, she wanted to say something, but the words were caught in her throat. “You… are right… The kingdom is not what I once thought it was. The king is not the shinning beacon of hope I always thought he was, but that is all the more reason for us to stand together. We have to be that beacon instead. We have to be the guiding light so that others know the way. There will always be darkness in the world, but if everyone stands together, if we lead by example, we can create a brighter world for those who come afterwards.” My mom placed a warm hand on my head. As she ruffled my hair, she smiled down at me. “The past cannot be undone. None of us are perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but the future can still be changed. The question is, will you light the path for others, or let them stumble in the dark?”
Orias sighed as he leaned against a nearby tree. “You are too idealistic. The world is not that kind.”
“I know,” my mom replied, “While serving the Novus military, I saw many horrors. I saw how dark the world can be. That is why I choose to act the way I do. It is why I am here in this horrible twisted mist. It is why we are escorting these people even though we could have fled alone long ago. It is why, despite everything you have done, I am still your friend Orias.”
His body shook as Orias slumped to the ground. He started laughing. His voice echoing through the mist. “If only you had given me this speech fifteen years ago. Everything could have been so much different. Tia… I am sorry. I should never have doubted you. For so many years I have carried this hatred inside of me, hatred of Nothus, hatred of the kingdom, hatred of my own weakness. I thought you had abandoned me. After all I have done, can I really be redeemed?”
“I believe anyone can be a light for others, but I think you already knew this. It is what makes you a great commander. It is why you are not using any of our supply of Emerald Blight, and It is why you decided to help these people rather than going after the army like the Avari ordered. You are their light now. You have to be the one to show them the way forward.”
“Their light…” Orias whispered, “You are right. I will lead these people out of the fog. Thank you, Tia… for believing in me.”
My mom smiled and nodded, her hands still on her hips. “That said, when we get out of the mist, I am still going to make you pay for leaving us chained to those posts.”