As the fog dissipated, people began to come out of hiding.

I also saw Grav and Octavia come out from somewhere, they looked to be unharmed.

My body was sore, which doesn't happen often anymore. But I think I got off easier than Casimir and Hermis.

The armor Casimir was wearing had been charred, when he cast the armor off, parts of him had been lightly burned. But it didn't seem to be too serious.

Hermis had been cut from shrapnel flying out from the explosion, but again, none of the cuts looked to very deep. Still, the both of them looked rough, and needed medical attention sooner rather than later.

The captain stood in the center of the opening by the Fog Ent's body and spoke up.

"Everyone! If you are uninjured, find someone who is, and bring them to safety!" She yelled out to everyone. People began to scramble around, grabbing those who were injured and laying them down on tables to be examined.

After a while, injuries were dealt with, and thankfully, no one was fatally hurt.

But there were still some serious injuries that can't be fully dealt with here, broken bones, lacerations, and even a case of ruptured eardrums. Both Hermis and Casimir were able to get treatment, and are doing fine now.

My hand was more or less back to working order, heavy scars were still visible however.

As I sat down after half an hour of helping the injured, the captain came up to me.

"Gen... I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. As the captain, I shouldn't have tried to hide. I'll make it up to you and the others, I can promise you that." She told me.

"You're right, you should been out there first. But it doesn't matter now, we all have to do better in the future." I reprimanded her, she looked ashamed of herself and her actions. I wasn't completely without fault though. I also ran inside instead of helping immediately.

"But captain, regardless of how things went down, we can't stay here another day. People here need medical help, and we can only give that to them in the city." I tell her, changing the subject.

"Yes I know... I've already begun preparations to leave, it would be a great help if you could pass on the orders to pack up to Grav and Octavia while I discuss it with the other trainees." She said. I nodded and got up to find them.

Octavia was reading over a list, and had a worried look on her face. She saw me walking up and put down the list.

"Oh, Gen, is something the matter?" She asked me.

"No, not really. But, the captain said to start getting ready to leave, we're going to try and get out of here before nightfall." I tell her.

"That's... Probably for the best. But, I'm not sure if everyone is strong enough to make it out yet." She tells me about her concerns.

"We just have to push forwards, taking too long here won't help anyone. But people need treatment that they can't get while we're here." I reassure her. I then walk away, looking for Grav.

After a bit of searching, I see him. He's near the withered remains of the Fog Ent's body. I jog over while calling his name.

"Hey, Grav! The captain said to start packing and to be ready to leave by tonight." I tell him, stopping just short of being beside him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure thing Kid..." Grav told me, he was obviously distracted. I got closer to see what it was he was so fascinated with.

In the center of the corpse, there was a faint glow coming from a large cluster of roots.

"What is that?" I asked Grav.

"Not sure just yet. Ya think ya could get in there and grab it?" He requested of me. I wasn't fond of the idea, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested.

I carefully duck down and crawl inside of the rotting cavity. It smells like... cut grass?

Reaching the root cluster, I pull apart the outer layers, revealing what's inside.

It's a manakyte stone. A big one too, and it looked way brighter than the ones I found in the tunnels.

Grabbing it with my gloved hand, I make my way out and hand it to Grav.

"Well I'll be damned... Kid, this is a pure manakyte stone." He informed me. That was the highest tier in Grav's shop from what I remember.

"Oh wow. You'll be able to make something real nice with that." I tell him.

"Ah no way... If it weren't for you, this thing would still be stomping around. I'd say it's only right if you take it." Grav said, holding the stone out towards me.

"If you really think so Grav, but I want you to hold onto it for right now. I'm not in a very good state to be hauling something so mana-rich around like that." I said, pushing the stone in his hand back towards him.

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"Alright Kid, if you say so. Oh yeah, what were you saying earlier, I weren't listening." He asked.

"The captain said to start getting ready to leave. She wants to be out of here by tonight." I retell the captain's orders to him.

"Ah, right. Well, I guess I can start now. If you're free to, I'd appreciate some help." He acknowledged the orders, asking for my help.

"Yeah I don't have anything else I need to do, sure." I tell him. We began to walk over to the canopy Grav had set up a temporary shop under.

When we arrived, we started the slow process of packing every one of Grav's tools. Once we finished, it was nearly sunset, and the rest of the trainees had packed everything they needed.

After loading the giant bag of tools onto the cart, I went up the the captain.

"Is everyone good to go?" I asked her.

"Almost, I just need to do a roundup of everyone and make sure they're ready to leave." She told me.

"Attention everyone! We are going to be leaving shortly, if you aren't ready, speak up now!" The captain shouted out.

The crowd answered in general silence, indicating they were all ready to leave.

After this, those that were too injured to walk were put into the back of the carts we had. Once everyone was ready, the group began the slow journey back to Esoterion. I had to help a few people walk every now and then. But we made it without incident for the most part.

When we arrived at the city gates, the night had passed, and it was mid-morning. People were tired and struggling to keep moving forward.

Eventually, we made it to the city guard headquarters, which consisted of a large barracks, a stable, multiple perimeter towers, a building that looked to be used for meetings and a small stage for speeches.

People were unloaded out of the carts and brought to the barracks to be given appropriate treatment. The captain announced to those not in immediate need of medical attention to gather around the stage. People stationed at the headquarters came to the stage, along with the current trainees. When everyone gathered round, and a large crowd of about two hundred had formed, she called up Hermis, Casimir, and I. We got up on stage confused, and stood behind the captain at attention.

"All of you have only just become fully fledged city guards. But despite that, there have already been a few beacons of light among you. Beacons that shine hope onto the future of this city and the safety we strive to ensure in it." She began.

"These three men: Casimir, Gen, and Hermis. They are exactly what the city guard tries to be. In a moment of crisis, the three of them were the only ones to step up and protect people, while the rest of us, myself included, hid away, scared at the thought of what might happen."

"As your captain, I apologize... I apologize I had to be convinced to step up and do what is expected of me. I hope the lot of us can continue to grow and reach the expectations these three have set for us. I sincerely wish that you will continue to follow me despite my shortcomings." She continued, the crowd burst out into cheers and claps to show their admiration.

"Thank you all. But, I am not the one worthy of your praises. For now, that honor goes to these three that stand behind me. Without them, injuries would be far greater, and I doubt everyone would have made it back from that camp alive. So, for the well being of your peers and the betterment of your city, show these young men exactly how we feel about those who put others before themselves." As she said this, she stepped aside, making the three of us face to face with the crowd.

After a short moment of silence, cheers and clapping began, growing even louder than before. I looked to my sides at Hermis and Casimir, both we equally surprised at the outcome of this. But we all made a silent agreement with each other to just bask in the glory this time.

"Now that that's been addressed, I expect even greater things from all of you. Dismissed!" With that, she finished her speech and we were free to go. But before I could walk off, the captain pulled me aside.

"Gen, I know you're already employed by Grav. Since you never officially enlisted into the city guard, I can give you more leniency regarding your working hours." She told me. Hmm, If I don't need to do anything else, I could probably work at night.

"Well, I don't need to sleep, so can you put me up for any night hours?" I asked her.

"Yes, that should work fine, I'll contact you sometime soon and let you know when exactly you'll be working and where you'll be stationed." She said, nodding and walking off.

I began to walk out of the headquarters, and saw Casimir and Hermis talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, Gen, can you believe that? The captain basically just made us legends among the ranks. No one has gotten a speech like that before." Hermis said proudly.

"Yeah, well. It feels pretty nice to be treated like that, guess we just have to keep up the good work." I said, continuing to walk by.

"Definitely yeah, though I'm not sure if we can top something like what we did out there... Hey uh, where're you going?" Casimir responds, asking me why I don't stick around.

"Oh uh, I gotta get back to my job. Burning daylight and all, I'll probably be working night shifts as a city guard." I tell him, giving a short wave as he nods in response, before he continues to talk with Hermis.

I'm glad things ended up fine overall. So much has been happening, it's nice to get back into a normal routine. If you can even call this normal.

"I sure know I wouldn't."

You... What do you want?

"Well, you ignored me last time. That hurts you know? I know you better than anyone, so you should show some gratitude I make time for you."

You don't know a damn thing about me.

No... No I done letting you get in my head like that. You can plant all the seeds you want in my head, I'll just rip them all up. You can't control me.

"I never needed to. You've been doing everything I wanted without me having to lift a finger."

What are you talking about?

"You'll see... In time, you'll find out everything you need."

On that ominous note, the voice disappeared from my mindscape once again, leaving me as the sole occupant. I continue down the road, on my way to Grav's workshop.

The cart holding his tools parted ways with the main caravan when we got into the city, so he should be set up by now.

Walking down the stairs, I called out Grav's name to announce myself before walking in.

"Hey Grav, sorry it took me so long to get here, you wouldn't believe it the captain had a speech about-" As I open the door. I'm hit with a mind splitting headache. The pain brings me to my knees.

"Kid, you okay?" I hear Grav's voice but my eyes are forced shut, trying to focus on anything but the pain.

Then, the pain stops. As quickly as it came, I was back to normal. My eyes slowly open, but the surroundings were darker than normal.

"Sorry Grav, I don't know what happened." I said, standing up. But I was shocked by the scene in front of me.

A body, lying of the ground, the room stained in silver colored blood. It looked similar to Grav.

He was face down, and his hand reached out towards my foot.

I stepped back in shock, but I slipped on the blood. After sitting back up, I noticed my hands were covered in the blood, with a light sting coming from my knuckles and heels.

"What... What have I done?"