The two Marked walked out of the river. Drops of water dripped down their bodies. Each of their figures were worthy of a top athlete. Their chiseled muscles, and smooth movements would steal anyone's gaze, but what stood out most, were the numerous scars covering each of their bodies.

Despite that, Edward refused to look to the side, trying to keep his head straight and focus on one of the pine trees in front of him. The cold air was stinging their wet skin, and the duo hurriedly dressed themselves.

“Alright, let’s go.” Edward took the lead, walking towards where he believed fort Tiberius to be.

The river pulled them off course a bit, but they quickly returned onto the right path. Although ‘path’ wasn’t exactly the right word to call it. There was no visible ‘path’ in the rows of trees spreading in all directions. The silent wooden guardians watched over them, as if protecting their territories, despite there being nothing to protect no matter where one looked. Maybe he was going crazy from the constant wandering, but the feeling of being observed constantly tingled Edward’s scalp.

***

Just like there was nothing interesting in the forest, not much has happened during their journey. Until now that is…

They were about a day away from the fortress. At least that’s what they guessed, since there was no way to exactly confirm their position. Worst case scenario, they were walking in the wrong direction all along, and would soon find themselves lost in the middle of this seemingly infinite forest.

The concerning thought started weighing on Edward’s mind, when he heard a voice talking somewhere in the distance. He looked at Layla, who fortunately also seemed to take notice.

‘So I haven’t lost my mind from the mindless wandering. Good. Or is it…? We don’t know if it’s friend or foe yet…’

He nodded to Layla, and hid behind a nearby tree. She mimicked his actions, taking cover on the opposite side. For a while they simply listened, but the voice seemed to be too far away to make out any words.

Signaling with her head, Layla moved forward. With careful steps, she avoided making any noise, moving from one hiding spot to another. Edward followed after her, keeping all his senses on high alert.

“Reconnaissance… reconnaissance… What the hell did I do…?”

When they finally got closer to the source of the voice, Edward and Layla stopped in their tracks. Remembering how he dealt with earlier patrols, Ed gestured upwards to his friend.

A glint of understanding appeared on her face, and the duo climbed the trees, being very careful to avoid breaking any branches, or rustling the leaves too much. They moved from one branch to the other, nimbly traversing the difficult terrain like monkeys.

They followed whoever it was talking to themselves in the middle of the forest. Since they only heard a single person, they concluded they were either speaking through comms or to themselves.

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“Ehh… it must be because of that one prank, but come on it was really funny!” Finally a man revealed himself, stomping his leather shoes on the snow, and kicking any nearby rocks he saw. He showed no signs of noticing the two warriors stalking him from above.

“Whatever… Let's get this over with.” The stranger used a spear to support himself while walking. A curious looking hat, with two flaps covering his ears, protected him from the falling snowflakes. An ‘ushanka’ Ed believed it was called.

Either way, the man seemed to be going somewhere. ‘Reconnaissance’ is what he said.

“Psst… Layla. Do you think the reconnaissance has something to do with Fort Tiberius?”

“Possibly… Let’s keep following him for now,” she whispered back.

It took much longer than any of them anticipated, before the man finally did something unexpected. He stopped blabbering, and reached into one of the pockets of his white winter jacket. The mysterious man took out a pair of high end binoculars and started moving carefully from now on. At this point Edward and Layla were following him for hours, but the stranger showed no signs of getting tired.

‘A Marked possibly… The spear would also suggest this. Layla didn’t seem to recognize him, and his actions are suspicious. Almost certainly an enemy…’ Ed looked at his friend, but her eyes were still glued to the man below.

A couple minutes later, the area seemed to become brighter. A soft glow came from where the man was traveling toward. This phenomenon usually coincided with the end of the treeline. Since there was much less light in the forest than in the outside world, the contrast often resulted in this blooming light.

As expected, the man led them out of the forest. A wide open plain spread out before them. The stranger didn’t go any further, clinging to one of the trees, as if he was afraid of getting spotted.

Edward moved his gaze from the man to the view in front of him. And when he did he couldn’t pull it away for a while…

In the middle of the open field stood an impressive structure. The tall tower in the center watched over the surroundings like a watchful eye of an all seeing deity. Around it other buildings cascaded down, at some point disappearing behind a tall fortress wall. The barricade might have actually been the most interesting part of the architecture. It blended modern white marble with metal supports, but most importantly, it was interrupted here and there by much older darker bricks. It looked like the modern structure was built upon something much more ancient.

‘Fortress Tiberius… Just as described.’

He finally turned his head to the side, locking eyes with Layla. They could read their thoughts from their expressions. Their goal was finally right around the corner. Actually not even around a corner, technically it was right in front of them, but who cares about semantics.

“We have to eliminate him…” Layla whispered.

“Should I try the aura technique? If it doesn’t work we’ll jump him together.”

The woman considered the idea for a moment, before nodding. “Ready whenever you are.”

Edward took a deep breath, changing his position on the branch to allow him to swing his hand. He practiced the attack at different times throughout the journey, and by now felt rather confident in releasing it with good accuracy.

The enemy Marked kept busy, observing the fortress through his binoculars. Completely unaware that somebody was about to try and cleave him in half.

In the meanwhile, Ed was already drawing the aura to his hand. He patiently pulled back his straightened hand, and when he felt the time was right, sliced it across the air in one swift movement. The energy separated as planned, and a golden arc flew straight towards the target…