A cacophony of sounds filled the air as the motley assortment of brave souls marched the long northbound road. Wooden wheels ground against the dirt and gravel, the hollow sound of the hooves stamped rhythmically ahead of them. Mercs swore and laughed and chatted along with the brave men and women of Rivera as they traveled.

Sera smiled as she looked around her at those who she had been traveling amongst for a day and a half, now. These were a people who had left their professions, their homes, their friends, and their families all for the sake of a people whom they had never met. Together, they represented a promise. A promise that despite their differences, mankind would stand together against the forces of Sephra and fight for those who could not, even if it meant their own death. It was a grim promise, Sera knew, but it was a promise that radiated with hope. She felt a twinge of guilt, knowing that she would not be joining them to their destination.

At one point, Akane had fallen back to walk with Sera. “What did you think of your first lesson this morning?”

The Asunese woman whom Sera had befriended had almost always exuded an air of careless regard for her surroundings, absent-minded and aloof. Unless in battle, there never seemed to be a situation that she took seriously, but Sera knew that Akane was an attentive person with an inescapable eye for detail. She had noticed as Sera’s face betrayed her thoughts and was attempting to brighten her mood again. Sera was grateful to have this woman as her friend.

“Akane.” Sera began after considering the woman’s question. “You and Cabrin, you fight with katanas.”

Akane lowered her voice as she answered. “You want to know how Kaburin-kun knows how to train you to fight with your weapon.”

“Do you have weapons like ours in Asu as well?”

Akane’s face grew serious and Sera recalled the situation the previous night when she and Cabrin had been asked about their reasons for leaving their home. Sera looked up the way where Cabrin marched ahead of them by some distance. The woman by her side slowed her pace, drawing Sera to do the same until they had drifted a ways further behind her companion. When they had reached a distance that Akane seemed to be comfortable with, she spoke, being sure to keep her voice down.

“Long ago, before I was born.” She began. “There was a warrior from these lands who traveled to our kingdom, the Shogunate of the Yamaguchi clan. His purpose in his travel was to learn our ways of combat. He was trained by the Shogun himself and during his training, the two became friends. This man intended to learn our ways and take them back to his home, but decided to stay when he fell in love with a woman in our land and married her. That man was Cabrin’s father.”

Sera nodded understandingly. “So what you’re saying is that Cabrin knows your weapons as well as the ones used here in Ereb.”

“Hai.” Akane nodded. “Though he prefers the katana.”

“Are katanas better than our swords?”

“Hmm. They are better in some ways, but the blades used by your people are more durable.” She said, “But his is special, it is forged from steel left behind by the gods. It will not break.”

Sera was impressed to know that such weapons even existed. She had been about to ask more about them when Chilse approached, interrupting the private conversation, followed by John shortly after.

“Hey, Cabrin! Why you keeping so far ahead, buddy?” The man called after the ranger who seemed surprised to find himself so separated.

As John ran off to chat with Cabrin, Sera couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Well he seems to be in a good mood, more than usual I mean.”

Chilse chuckled at that. “He’s actually pretty nervous. He gets like that when he’s on edge.”

“About Volknest.” Sera stated, understandingly.

“Yeah.” Chilse nodded. “Everyone is. Even your women, who won’t be joining in the fighting. We have no idea what we’ll encounter when we reach the city.”

“Even you and the other mercs? Isn’t fighting Chimera your job?” Sera winced when she realized the question had sounded more accusing than she had intended.

“Oh sure it is.” Chilse only laughed. “But this is about something a little more than a payday. This is about what’s right. Usually, we only fight to aid people that pay us. Villages hand over sacks of gold to bands of mercs like mine at the first sight of a single Satyr, but if they are ever faced with a real threat, well…”

Her voice grew serious before continuing. “If a settlement ever faces a real Chimera attack, you never hear about it. You only see what's left when they leave, which isn’t much. The truth is, none of us have ever killed more than two or three Chimera. To think that we are on our way to face a force great enough to overtake a kingdom…Like I said, everyone is nervous.”

As if the very weather had acted of its own accord in order to compliment the downcast mood, a cool breeze blew through the air. As a large cloud stretched out, cutting the view of the sun from the land below, a fork in the road loomed ahead; to the left was Bastion, where Sera would find a moment of safety as the College professors considered her existence, and to the right was Volknest, where her friends marched to an uncertain fate.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Can you really let them go alone? Was the question that sat in her mind, leaving her with that familiar pang of guilt.

As their number began down the way toward Volknest, Sera pressed her lips together grimly as she continued with them.

Cabrin had walked a ways before he realized the sound of her footsteps fading. Turning his head he called out to her. “Sera, that’s the wrong way. Bastion is in this direction.”

Sera stopped and turned. Despite the shakiness of her voice, her eyes held a look of determination. “No, Cabrin. This is the right way.”

_____

Night had fallen by the time they had set up camp about an hour and a half away from Volknest, the besieged walls of which loomed in the distance. Smoke rose from within the city to meet with the thin layer of clouds which had rolled in earlier that evening. In the morning, the mercs along with the men from Rivera would march to the kingdom’s aid while the women prepared food and beds for the wounded.

Those that would fight had gathered to discuss plans and run drills while those that would give care prepared supplies. Cabrin had been in a nervous mood since Sera’s decision to detour from their journey to Bastion. Once they had finished eating earlier that night, he pulled her away from more training.

Sera had been worried that the darkness of night would make training harder. The full moon would have provided enough illumination in the clearing where Cabrin had chosen to bring her but the overcast clouds diffused its light. In the dim pale glow of the clouds above, Sera could see little more than silhouetted shapes and forms which seemed neither of nor apart from the trees surrounding them.

“A warrior does not go by what they can see before they can understand through what they feel.” Cabrin had said to her. Sera heeded his wisdom, and she was surprised at the level of awareness she had felt of her physical self as her training went on.

As Cabrin guided her body through the various exercises of his lesson, Sera found that without the distractions of sight, the motions taught to her that morning came easily as her body flowed through its learned movements. After having demonstrated her stances to an approved level, Cabrin began running her through various drills. Her hands ached as she walked back to the camp, but her mind replayed over and over the lessons she had learned.

She thought back on her encounters with the Satyr and the Centaur in the Heavenfall and simulated in her mind how she would have handled those encounters differently with what she had learned since then. When she had made the decision at the crossroads that day, Sera had feared that she had been foolish to go despite her fledgling experience with combat. Now with the night’s training fresh in her mind, she felt confident and determined.

During that night’s session, Sera had even practiced with the new ability she had unlocked that morning. She had been able to use her power to extend her blade’s short reach to over three feet. With that and everything she had learned, Sera knew that she would have more than sheer dumb luck on her side when she faced Sephra’s Chimera again.

Cabrin had said a few words to Akane where she sat by a fire sharpening her blade before walking off to discuss things with the veterans, planning their march into Volknest. As Sera approached, Akane’s katana sang metallically through the night as she slowly drew her stone across its edge. She was surprisingly sober and solemn, her movements slow and deliberate.

Sera marveled at the woman’s thin blade. Intricate lines decorated its length, their various levels of reflection caught the light of the campfire in a myriad of glowing lines.

“Akane?” Sera asked, recalling the conversation they shared earlier that day. “Is your katana special like Cabrin’s?”

The woman nodded slowly in response. “His was a gift from the Shogun to his father, when he died, it was then left to him.” She answered.

The explanation saddened Sera. “What happened to Cabrin’s father?”

“Chimera threaten the lives of all the world, Sera-san.” Akane began after a moment of silence. “It is no different in Asu. When Kaburin-kun was a boy, his mother was taken and his father lost himself to the rage. That rage led him to his death.”

Sera shared in the extended silence that hung in the air. No wonder Cabrin seemed to evade questions regarding his past. Losing one’s family leaves a mark on the heart that takes years to heal. Sera knew this after having lost her mother all those years ago, but losing both parents in such a way must have been maddening.

“And you?” Sera asked after a long while. She had hoped that changing back to the original subject would brighten the mood. “Where does your katana come from?”

More silence followed.

“Last night, we were asked why we left our home. It is because the Shogun does not look kindly upon thieves.” There was a long pause before she continued. “Kaburin-kun and I both stole something from the Shogun. I stole the blade I now carry, and Kaburin stole me.”

“He stole you…” Sera began. Confused, she put the pieces of Akane’s riddle together as she spoke. “You said Cabrin’s father was friends with the Shogun which means Cabrin had close ties to the Shogun as well…Last night, you said that you and Cabrin had been friends since your childhood…”

She stopped suddenly as the revelation fell into place within her mind. Akane never looked up from her blade as her stone grinded slowly along the blade of her weapon.

“Akane.” She said with profound shock. “You’re the Shogun’s daughter?”

Sera sat in awe at the woman before her. She never would have guessed that the face of this humble ranger was the face of someone with such prestige. Sera would have never guessed that her friend was something akin to a princess.

Akane smiled a sad smile. “Ara ara. I’ve talked too much, it seems.”