You had to be kidding me.

Leaping off the cliff, I skidded down the rocky decline and hurried over to the woman.

I knew before even kneeling down next to her that it was too late.

She had cracked her skull. A splatter of blood staining the sharp rocks nearby made it clear that she had fallen off the cliff while running, not able to see properly in her panic in the still dark morning. The sun had started to rise, but not fast enough.

“What the hell,” I groaned as I placed my hand on her neck to feel any hint of a pulse.

There was none. But even if there had been, I wouldn’t have been able to save her. She had genuinely split her head open.

What poor luck. This poor woman.

I hadn’t even been chasing her. Not entirely. Not for real. She had fallen off this cliff before I had even found her. The blood was already cooling.

Though, had it been an accident or something else?

“The other one…?” I glanced around for her companion. The one that had a bag. I didn’t see her anywhere around here, but… well…

The cliff had been a rather high one. If that other bag carrying woman hadn’t pushed this one, and this one genuinely fell on accident, then the other may have ran off another direction. The cliff ran quite a ways either direction, so she may also be searching for a way down.

A rustle of leaves drew my attention behind me, and sure enough I heard the panicked breathing of an exhausted woman.

So she had. She had searched for a place to descend safely. To come down and try to help, or save, her comrade.

“Nory!” the woman worriedly shouted.

Nory…?

Glancing down at the dead woman, I hesitated.

Was this all a dream…? Just what the hell was going on?

“Nory, can you hear me?” the woman continued to search for her friend, and I sighed as I stood up.

“Over here Cat,” I said.

I didn’t know if that was her actual name or not, but it was what this dead woman had called her. It was likely short for Caitlyn or something. Or a nickname.

I heard the woman go still a few dozen feet from me. She was hidden behind a small group of trees, but I now knew where she was.

“Your friend fell. She’s dead,” I said.

A whimper came from the bushes and trees.

“I’ll not harm you. I was not an enemy in the first place. My name is Vim,” I said gently.

Still the woman said nothing, and stayed still.

Taking a small breath, I wondered if I should just go grab her or not.

I really didn’t want to. That other man had died to a heart attack because of what I’d done. I really wasn’t in the mood to have another innocent soul on my hands so quickly.

“Was her name really Nory?” I asked as I glanced at the dead woman.

She looked human. And young. Maybe early twenties. She had likely not been very pretty, even through the blood and pain on her face I could see the weathered exhaustion upon her. She looked too thin, even for a young woman. And her hair, the parts not covered in blood and gunk, looked frayed and rough. Had she been sick?

“Yes.”

I turned and watched Cat walk out from the trees. She looked absolutely terrified, and sobbed at the sight of her friend’s body lying near me.

“Did she fall?” I asked.

Cat nodded as she stepped over towards me. I stepped back a step, to give her some space, and she knelt down next to her friend.

“Oh Nory,” she said with a groan as she reached out, but didn’t touch her friend. Her hands hesitated, as if afraid to wake her. As if she was just sleeping.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Who are you?” she asked without looking at me.

“My name is Vim. I’ve been on the hunt for people I know who had gotten displaced by the fires. I saw your campfire’s smoke from a distance… hoping it was them. I hadn’t planned to bother you after figuring out it wasn’t, but then you all started talking about the fires,” I said.

The woman sniffed as she finally grew the courage to touch her friend’s body. She moved her ever so slightly, so that she was lying on her back and not on her side. She then went to shuffling the woman’s robes a little, but it didn’t seem to be like she was searching for anything… she was just trying to make her friend comfortable, it seemed.

“I really am sorry. This did not go how I had thought it would,” I apologized.

“Are you a demon?” she asked.

“No. I’m a unique man, but just a man all the same,” I said.

She sniffed as she leaned back a little and turned to look at me.

The morning sun was starting to really pierce the forest’s canopy, so she was likely now able to see me better.

“Vim was it?” she asked.

I nodded. Was she actually this calm, or was this just her survival instincts taking over? Some people did get this weird, calm and placid flight or fight response when faced with something unbelievable.

“My name is Cat. I uh… we,” she corrected herself as she gestured to her friend’s body. “We were sent here by our saint to stop the fires. We failed, I think,” she said.

I shifted, and was glad the forest ground I stood on had enough firmness of hard stone to withstand me but also the flexibility of good dirt to not cause a crack to open.

“Your saint,” I said.

She nodded. “We’re from a village in the north. A few months ago she had a prophecy. That a terrible cataclysm would be born here, and start fires all over the world. We were sent here to try and stop it,” she explained.

I closed my eyes and reached up to rub my head.

This was just getting worse and worse.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but!” The woman mistook my actions, but I calmed her by raising my other hand to hush her.

“I believe you. How were you supposed to stop the fires?” I asked. Even if her saint was real, and had prophesied it… what had they planned to do? How could they have stopped it?

“Oh. Uh… She said the monster would be very weak upon birth. That if we found it within the first few days of its birth, we’d be able to slay it,” she said.

“Damn.”

She flinched, and I realized I had just said that a little too harshly.

“Sorry. Yes. I see what you mean,” I said.

A monarch.

But…

Birth…?

My mind whirled and I had to sit down. I walked over to a nearby rock, one that was far too pointy to comfortable sit on. I sat on it anyway.

“Uh…” she watched me with an awkward look of worry, but I didn’t care for her at the moment.

A monarch had been born? That was impossible.

It had to be.

Yes. They were frail during their first few days of existence. It took time for their hearts to fully connect to their sources. During those moments, yes… even these humans may have been able to slay it. Whether I liked to admit it or not, that Brave man had actually been rather formidable. Not to me, but in the general sense he had likely been a great warrior.

The saint had to have been wrong.

She had to have misunderstood the prophecy, or whatever she had sensed or seen.

There was no way a new monarch had been born.

It was quite literally impossible.

“Sir…?” Cat worriedly drew my attention, and I sighed as I realized I now needed to handle this far differently.

I’m sorry Klamma. Hopefully you will be able to keep your family safe for now.

I now had something far more important to focus upon.

“What was the prophecy? The actual words?” I asked the woman.

She flinched. “I’m… I’m sorry I don’t know. I’m a doctor, I wasn’t told much,” she said.

A doctor…?

I blinked at the title. “You said you were from the north?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Where exactly?” I asked.

The woman went wide-eyed, and then closed her mouth.

“You’ve already told me about your saint, do you really think clamming up now will change anything?” I asked her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She slowly shook her head, but kept her mouth shut.

I sighed at her.

I didn’t want to torture her. I didn’t want to beat the information out of her, or anything like it.

Especially if… well…

“You were sent to kill the monster. That started the fires,” I said.

She nodded.

An honorable task.

Looking at the body that laid next to her, I felt horrible.

I had just killed comrades. Fellows. Brothers in arms.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.

Renn is going to be furious.

“Do you have any relation to the Church of Songs?” I asked.

The woman sat up a little straighter, and I glared at her for a moment since she kept her tongue in check… then she flinched and nodded at me. “The one in Telmik? No,” she answered, finally breaking her silence.

So she’d answer anything other than the location of her saint, likely.

That was enough. For now.

“Is… is that who you belong to? Then… then we really didn’t need to fear anything, did we?” she then asked softly as she looked to her dead friend.

“So it seems.”

She gulped and then sniffed. “Poor Nory…” she whispered as she reached over to touch her friend’s arm.

Was it just a name, or something more…?

Didn’t Renn just ask about fate…?

“Is your name really cat, or is it short for something?”I asked.

“Huh…! Oh. No. It really is. When I was born all the cats in the village came to my family’s house and laid near me, so…” Cat said with a sheepish smile.

Wonderful.

A cat with a friend named Nory.

What the hell.

Studying the woman with tear-stains on her face, reflecting in the morning sunlight… I waited for me to wake up.

This had to be some terrible dream. A nightmare. Surely.

Hadn't I been having strange nightmares lately? How did one go about proving if one was awake or not? I've never had this problem before.

She sniffed and went to wiping her face. I noted beneath her cloak there were small pouches and bags.

She had called herself a doctor. Maybe that was why she had kept those pouches and that bag on her back upon her even while the rest unburdened themselves to eat and relax. They may likely be full of supplies. Medical supplies. To be kept on hand under any emergency.

Cat looked a little younger than her dead fellow, but she looked a little healthier. And not just because she was still alive. She didn’t look as weathered. She had a bit more meat on her bones, and her hair didn’t look frayed.

“The… the others?” Cat then asked.

My shoulders felt heavy all of a sudden. “Likely dead.”

“I see…”

“Were you five the only ones sent?” I asked.

She nodded. “Brave would have known the most. He is… was… the saint’s knight,” she said.

Wonderful. “Thus his name,” I said, understanding.

She nodded. “It’s tradition the saint’s knight is called that. They abandon their name, and other attachments like family and stuff,” she said.

Right. There were a few other religious sects that were like that. Basically cults.

Shifting, I stood up. The woman flinched and stared at me, but didn’t seem to be trembling or about to run off.

“Your saint. She send you off on missions a lot?” I asked.

“Huh…? No. Not at all! Usually her prophecies are not as important. Stuff like foretelling that the crops will wither, or a terrible flood will come, stuff like that,” she said quickly.

Hm… “Yet she’s done this before. Sent you out to handle monsters?” I asked.

“Well… not that I know of. I know her ancestors did. Her mother and such, though I’ve only heard the stories,” Cat said.

Wonderful. A whole damned village of cultist following the orders of a saint bloodline.

Though…

If they were keeping to themselves, and in fact only interfered in the world when it was because of a dangerous event or calamity…

I suppose I could live with that, and let them be, if that was the case.

“Um…” Cat hesitated as I stepped over to her and held my hand out.

She at first didn’t take it… but then she did. I felt her small thin hand, and her nonexistent weight as I helped her up.

She was as dainty as Renn it seemed.

“Cat. As I mentioned my name is Vim,” I said.

Cat shifted, and her hand went stiff in my own. I hadn’t released it. “Right…” she mumbled wearily.

“You’re going to take me to your village,” I told her.

“Am I…?” she worriedly groaned.

I nodded. “But don’t worry. I only wish to hear more about her prophecy. I promise you, as long as you really were sent to stop the fires… and only that, then I’ll not harm you or your village,” I said.

“And what of our saint?” she asked stiffly.

Ah. Smart woman. Even under the stress of terror.

I nodded. “I vow it. If you really were sent only to stop terror, and nothing more, than I will not threaten or harm any of you,” I said.

“If I don’t believe you…?” she whispered.

“I’m believing you,” I told her.

She blinked and stood up straighter, and then smirked. “I suppose you are.”

I nodded. I was. She didn’t know, nor ever could, how much I knew about saints and monarchs… so there was no way for her to know that I’d already completely believed her. There was no doubt of what she was telling me.

Only a saint, a real one, could have known of a monarch’s weakness during birth.

Or well…

A saint and a god, I guess.

“Now let’s go. I’ll carry your friend. We’ll go back to your camp and bury them, unless you’d prefer to leave them as they are,” I said.

“Oh… no. Please. Let me at least send them off properly,” she said with a quick nod.

I nodded back and released her hand finally. I stepped around her and knelt down to pick up her friend’s body.

The limp body was cold, and I was glad nothing leaked or fell from her cracked skull as I picked her up.

Cat sniffed again. “Poor Nory. She was doomed anyway, but what a terrible fate,” she said.

“Doomed?” I asked as I glanced at Cat.

“She was sick. Dying. I… we don’t know what was wrong with her. Saint Elaine said her insides were failing, and nothing could be done. It was why she was chosen for this task,” she said.

I see… that explained her sickly and weathered appearance.

I stepped away, and led the woman away from the area. To where I knew of a place where we could ascend the cliff and then head back to the campsite where the rest of her fellows laid.

“A sickly woman seems a bad companion for such a dangerous journey,” I said.

“The Saint didn’t think we’d succeed. But we had to try. She sent those who had nothing to lose. No family. No future. It was a mercy,” Cat said.

I frowned at that. To some it was likely a mercy, as she said, but to me it was just another symptom of a cult.

“Yet you’ll not just tell me where your village is, will you?” I asked her.

“No.”

“A lot of loyalty for someone sent to die,” I said.

“I’m not dead yet,” she said.

That was true.

Reaching the spot where we could ascend the cliff, I made sure to let the woman do so ahead of me. So in case she fell or tripped I’d be able to catch and save her. Didn’t need another deadly mistake. Not so soon.

Once on top of the cliff we returned to walking upon flat ground, and through dense forest. It was starting to get a tad noisy. There were birds chirping, and the leaves were rustling since the wind had picked up.

Upon that wind I could smell the fires. They were heading this way.

I should send a letter to Lumen, to tell Brandy to stock up on lumber.

“You really aren’t the demon, right?” Cat asked as she glanced behind her to me.

“No. I did not start the fires. In fact I too am upset over them. A family, my friends, have been displaced and may be in danger because of them. So if this creature you speak of started those fires, then I’d be more than happy to hunt it down,” I said.

“I don’t think it’s possible. Saint Elaine said if we failed then the world will have to suffer under a new calamity,” she said.

I’m sure she did. “Why’d you fail then?” I asked.

Cat flinched, and then sniffed. “We couldn’t find it. We searched all over where she said it would be, but it never showed up. Then the fires popped up the other day, and here we are,” she said.

“Where’d she say it would be?” I asked.

“On top of a mountain. Overlooking a lush forest, with three rivers that connect in the middle of them. We were told to look for a large green stone on the top of the mountain in question. We found it, but the creature must have been born before we got there and left already,” Cat said.

I frowned at the very detailed orders. This saint of hers must be rather strong.

“That’s near here. Over by Hornslo,” I said. I knew the three rivers she spoke of. They intersected oddly, not forming a lake but rather it was two medium rivers that merged to become a single large one. It gave the appearance of three rivers when looked at from above. Like from certain mountain peaks nearby. Likely the very one they had been sent to.

She nodded. “That’s what we figured. We… we really tried, you know? We did,” she said, and I heard her tears and sorrow.

“I believe you,” I said.

“Dying to the creature would have made sense… but this…?” Cat whimpered as she slowed a little.

I wanted to sigh as her pace became almost unbearable. Did she not realize I was carrying a dead body…?

“Cry later. After we bury them,” I said gently, trying not to be rude.

She sniffed. “Right.”

Just great.

This was not going good at all.

The worst part was it wasn’t at its worst yet.

This woman was the perfect storm.

A woman named cat. With a friend named Nory. Who belonged to a cult. Who was sent to face a monarch, to her death, because she had nothing. No family. No future.

And I had, accidentally, killed all her friends and fellows…

By my parents, Renn was going to be insufferable about this.

Sometimes I wish I could be as cruel as I used to be. Killing this woman and just searching the north for the saint would have been so much easier…

Though…

“Um…”

I stopped walking, since the woman had stopped too.

What now?

Cat studied me, and then frowned. Her face was a mess. She had been crying harder than I thought.

“What’s wrong?” I asked after a few moments of silence. Really. I was tired of carrying this body. I didn’t need to worry over diseases, but it was still not something I really wanted to do.

“You really won’t hurt me?” she asked.

“Would a man intent on hurting you be offering to help you bury your comrades?” I asked.

“Well… maybe?”

“No. I’ll not hurt you,” I promised.

“You won’t assault me?”

“What…? No. I’m married.”

She frowned at me.

“Ask questions as we walk,” I said as I returned to walking.

She too went to walking again, but did so closer to me. “You said you were unique,” she said.

“I am.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Figure it out,” I said.

Cat frowned at me, and I realized she was likely not named after such a creature just because of what had happened on her birth.

Maybe I didn’t want her to meet Renn. At all.

“You’re married?” she asked.

“Yes. Her name is Renn. You’ll like her,” I said.

“I will…?” she asked, a little startled.

Flinching, I sighed. “Ask questions later. Let’s deal with this first. Aren’t you religious? Don’t be rude,” I said.

“Ah… right,” Cat nodded softly. “Sorry. I think I’m just scared.”

Right… I calmed down a little as I realized she was likely being very honest, and was still understating the truth.

The poor girl was likely in shock right now.

Nearing the camp, I noticed the… lack of sounds coming from it.

I heard no groans of pain. No huffing. No voices, or moving.

No life.

Feeling bad, I decided to be a little nicer to this woman. As an apology. For what I’d done.

Four people dead. Because of me. Four people who had not been my enemies. They had not been a threat to the Society. In fact… they had been trying to eliminate one, instead.

“We’re allies. You and I. So don’t worry, Cat. I promise you on my wife’s name that you’ll be okay,” I told the woman as we stepped into the camp.

She took a deep breath and sighed as she took in the sight of her other friends. Their bodies hadn’t moved from where I’d left them.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said weakly, about to cry again.