The night’s cool and chilling breeze pricked at Dall’s skin as he carefully moved through the pitch black forest. It was so silent that even the quietest of squeaks from the tiniest of rats would sound like a roar from a tiger. The branches beneath his feet crunched without noise, and the animals that roamed the forest kept silent.
“O-Okay, I’m finally this far in. Let’s turn this shit on.” He took out a small orb from his pocket and tensed his muscles. A small flicker of light swirled inside of it, and it gradually grew into an intense beam that lit the blackness of the forest. “It’s not even that strong… Dammit Dad.” Dall grumbled as he continued slowly. He swung the sword in his right hand slowly, twirling it and stabbing the air blindly. “’Oooh. Something’s happened in the Black Forest. Go check it ouuut.’” He mocked, his breath ragged. “I already checked the fucking Forest during the day… Why the fuck…?” He sighed.
He could’ve sworn to himself that he constantly showed his father that he was doing his job properly: patrolling the cities and taking care of whatever happens in the Forest. Of course, Dall wasn’t the only soldier to be roaming Lupin’s Realm, but he was certainly the only soldier to even dare step foot in this infamous hell-hole. “If only Simon wouldn’t have pussied out and came with me…” He grumbled.
Dall tried to court one of his very few friends to join him on this epic journey into hell earlier. However, that expedition ended in failure. In reality, even if his destination wasn’t the Black Forest, no one would’ve joined him. He stepped slowly and steadily and shook his head.
A howl forced Dall to freeze and stand still.
“Oh shit!”
A wolf-like beast emerged from the darkness and bared its fangs at him. Its fur was pure white, and its eyes were a nasty, glowing blue. It snarled as it stood ready to pounce on him. It jumped towards him, saliva and spit trailing behind it. He avoided it and readied his blade. It spun around mid-air and landed, positioning itself. The wolf charged once again, but a sword penetrating its heart stopped it in its tracks.
It fell to the ground dead, and the beasts’ curious companions sprung from their hiding spaces to see what had happened . “Whoa. That’s a lot.” Dall gasped for air. His heart raced and sweat slowly trickled down his brow. They snarled and barked at him, and they all would’ve jumped him if it weren’t for a loud explosion booming in the distance. The wolf beasts chased after it, leaving him behind. Dall glared at it too and decided to go as well before he stumbled and tripped over something.
He looked back to see what it was and his mouth dropped. His blood boiled and he eyed it up and down and grunted. Dall tripped over the body of a man adorned in armor faced down in the earth. A small rose with a blade for its stem was painted on his back. “The Eldreds…?” He flipped it over to discover that he was still breathing. Dall’s eyes widened to see that blood dripped from the man’s mouth. “Who the hell…?”
The ground shook again, and a roaring fire erupted above the trees, painting the night sky with a brilliant red and orange. Dall ran after it, his mind and heart racing. He quivered at the thoughts going through his head, and focused his attention on the bright flames that were his beacon.
“Get the fuck away from me!”
“Shit, grab her! Go for her ankles!”
“James, keep those fucking monsters away from us.”
A girl was surrounded by three men, all wearing similar attire to the man Dall discovered previously. Bright, orange flames roared around them, and many wolf-beasts, too, circled the men.
“Just give it up, girly. We’re all dead if you don’t come with us.” One of the men jeered.
“I’d rather die than let you bastards get near me.” Her eyes shone with nearly the same fervor as the fire. She raised her fists and stared at the man who spoke to her with a cold, piercing glare.
“We won’t have that.” He smiled wickedly, and swiftly approached her, ready to sweep at her legs. The older man who gave orders to James took out a small orb and began speaking incoherently and quickly.
The girl backed away from the incoming attack, but fell as she tried to avoid it. She tried to get back up, but he straddled her and held the blade against her throat. “Cancel the spell, captain. The Boss’ll like this one.” He cackled.
However, the older man continued, and raised his hands slowly. “By Ignis’s Power: Angis Flare.” His voice was chilling and unnerving and a small blue string of flame oozed out of his hands and trickled its way towards the girl. She tried to squirm to freedom, but her attacker was too heavy and strong and he continued pinning her down. It slowly made its way towards her hands, and her expression twisted. She continuously tried to push him off and yelled, but nothing changed. Her heart pounded louder than ever.
Once the burning, blue flame touched her finger, her body violently shook and a blood curdling scream escaped her mouth. Tears poured down her face as she begged them to stop, but the younger man only laughed. “T-This is the best! K-K-Keep doing it, Cap.”, but to his disappointment the flame disappeared.
He heaved heavily and said, “Keep her pinned. The damn orb ran out of magic.”
The girl panted and scowled at the both of them. She bit her lip so hard blood trickled down her chin. “S-Shame.” The younger man said, his eyes swirling with temptation. “I can do it myself if I need to.”
As he tightened his grasp on the hilt of his blade, Dall rushed in and swung his sword, catching his eye. The man screamed and threw the girl aside, clutching the place where his eye ought to be.
Behind him were the corpses of some wolf-beasts and the incapacitated James. The other beasts continued to circle them, but Dall kept his gaze on the man seemingly in charge.
“Are you okay?” Dall asked quickly to the girl behind him.
She didn’t respond and stood silently.
He ignored her and spoke to the Captain, “What the hell are you doing here…?”
But the Captain in turn refused to say anything, grasping for the sword at his waist.
“Our agreement was that trespassing was illegal! The Emperor won’t hold back this time.”
“The Emperor?” The Captain scoffed. “No one has claim over this Forest. This is an indiscriminate attack on innocent Eldred soldiers.”
Dall faltered at his words. “It’s still within our domain.”
He was cut short as the Captain rushed at him.
The Captain’s blade swiftly made its way towards Dall’s side, but Dall dodged and backed away. “I’m not killing any of you.” He said. “You’re screwed anyways, so just leave.”
The two stood a distance aways from each other whilst the wolf-beasts increased in number and continued to circle them. “The rumors claimed them to be mindless.” The Captain mumbled. “It seems these beasts are smarter than we’d originally thought.” The Captain grinned and brandished his sword. “If you don’t kill me, boy, then these beasts will. Or…” He pointed it at Dall. “I’ll kill you.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
But before the Captain took his first step towards him, a bright blue flash cut across the sky, followed by a thunderous explosion . The Captain stared at it, befuddled, for a few moments before shutting his eyes and nodding reluctantly. He silently and swiftly approached and gathered his fallen comrades. He shot a glance towards the forest, behind Dall and the girl, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Cam.” And in a bright white flash, the three men disappeared.
The crackling of the flames remained. The wolf-beasts edged closer to them, and Dall readied himself. He took a quick glance at the girl and said, “H-Hey, you can fight right?”
“What…?”
“I mean, that guy back there… In the woods... You knocked him out right? That guy that held you down left behind his sword, so can you help me out?”
She glanced at it, which was a few feet away. “Why should I?” She said in a bitter, empty tone.
Dall stared at her blankly, “What the hell do you mean, ‘why should I?’. Do you want to die?!” She said nothing, anger burning in her eyes. “Listen. Either we make it out of here alive, or these wolves will eat us alive. And that’s not really how I want to die. Come on. Trust me on this. ”
She frowned, but pondered for a moment as Dall anxiously tapped his foot. She reluctantly nodded, grabbed the sword, and approached him.
The wolf-beasts were now within an arm’s reach away from the two. They stood side to side, and Dall said, “Okay listen. I’m gonna try to distract them with this, and we’ll kill the ones behind us and make a run for it.” He said, his smile wavering, the orb he used earlier in the palm of his hand.
She glared at him and said, “There’s more than twenty of those things… How the hell do you think that’ll work?”
“It’ll work! Watch!”
Dall, in the spur of the moment, tossed his orb at the wolf-beasts in front of them and sliced at the ones behind him. He grabbed the girl’s arm and sprinted out of the encirclement. Dall had a bright grin on his face, seemingly proud that his plan had worked, but the wolf-beasts were stunned for only a moment, and were now right on their tails.
“Why did you do that?!” The girl yelled as she ran, yanking her arm out of his grasp.
“Now listen here! We would’ve died back there if I didn’t do that!”
“We’re going to die now.” She growled.
“Shut up! Not like you had a better plan!”
Dall swung his blade at a wolf-beast that lunged at them.
The two of them would have most likely perished if it weren’t for the complexity of the forest bogging down the wolf-beasts. Dall and the girl carefully dashed through it, and the narrowness of the forest forced the beasts to chase in a single-file.
The girl recklessly swung her blade at an incoming wolf-beast. The wolf-beast dodged it and bit at her hand. She dropped it and cursed at herself. Dall ran behind her, trying to focus on killing any that tried to approach. Many managed to bite at his fingers, but he pushed through and finished them off.
What felt like hours passed before Dall’s face lit up once again. “F-F-Follow me!” He heaved heavily. She glared at him, but agreed and nervously followed his lead. There were over twenty beasts chasing them, and it seemed like they were going to catch them when Dall and the girl cleared the trees.
The girl continued to run, but Dall called out to her. “Stop, stop.” He said, catching his breath. She turned back to see that the wolf-beasts stopped at the tree-line “I don’t know why, but they don’t leave the forest.” He grinned. “Oh, thank the gods we managed find the exit.”
The girl dropped the sword and collapsed onto her knees. Her eyes were wide open and she breathed unsteadily and kept her mouth open.
Tears started swelling into her eyes, cries escaping her lips. Dall approached her to see what was wrong, but she refused to speak, she wouldn’t even look at him.
The sun rose, and the fire died.
The sun stood at its peak, and the two of them walked at a leisurely pace, the girl just a few feet behind him. Once the girl calmed down, she had remained quiet, so Dall offered to bring her back to his home village, where she would be kept safe. It took more times than he thought before she reluctantly agreed and followed him. Dall was relieved, as the thought of leaving this girl alone felt like a heavy weight on his heart. He tried talking to her, asking where she was from, why she was there, and eventually asking who she was, but she remained silent. Though, if she managed to take out an Eldred soldier, then she might be pretty strong.Dall thought once they began their journey.
She kept rubbing her right arm, but the disgruntled and anxious look on her face discouraged Dall from asking about it. He stared at the sky and sighed. His nostrils flared and his lips pursed. The silence lingered on for minutes, but for Dall, it felt like an eternity.
The sky was now painted orange, and the both of them were breathing heavily.
“Oh, there it is.” Dall panted as the sight of a rough, small gray wall came into view. “Pasia, Lupin’s Capital.” He turned to the girl, whose gaze remained unmoved. He sighed, but forced himself to keep going. He guided the girl onwards, and before they could get close to the roughened wooden gate further down the road, they were greeted by a group of poorly-equipped soldiers. Cheap-looking helmets protected their heads and only their torsos were protected by a simple thin, leather cuirass. One man who was wearing a full and proper set of armor took off his helmet and approached the two.
“Dall.” The man said.
“Simon. What’re you guys doing out here?” Dall’s brows raised.
“The fire from last night. The Lord said that he sent you out there on a mission and he grew worried. We were just about to go out there and look for you.” Simon said sternly. But his expression relaxed, and rolled his eyes. “And now you show up. Do you have any idea how long it took to mobilize these guys to actually go to the Black Forest? Do you know how long it took me to get ready to go?” He paused briefly and sighed. He put a hand on Dall’s shoulder and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Dall awkwardly smiled and laughed. “So the Lord was worried, huh?”
“Of course he was. It would be a problem if his only heir just suddenly died, right?”
The smile on Dall’s face cracked slightly, and he nodded nervously. “Y-Yeah. Of course.”
“Anyways, we don’t have to actually go out there to that hell-hole now, so we might as well pack up. We’re turning around guys.” Simon said to his men, who collectively cheered at his words.
“Is the Lord in his manor right now?” Dall stopped Simon before he turned around.
“No, he actually left for Central an hour ago. Some meeting between the District Leaders, or something.” Simon’s gaze fell upon the girl behind Dall, who was still anxiously grasping onto her arm tightly. “So, who’s she? Another slave from the Eldreds?”
“She’s actually part of the reason for the fire.” Dall sidled up to Simon’s side and whispered, “Eldreds were in the Forest last night. They were trying to capture her, and then… y’know.”
Simon’s eyes widened and clenched his fists. “That’s a declaration of war… Do you think the Lord knows…?”
“I don’t.” Dall tensed. “I’ll tell him as soon as I can, but we’ll just have to wait.”
He nodded and cracked a smile. “Well… The guys are pretty pumped from sleeping all night, so we’re all gonna be hitting up Aunt Jani’s. You wanna come with after you drop her off?”
Dall turned back to see the girl, to his surprise, worried. But his answer was already set, “No, I’m okay, thanks. I have to make sure she’s okay. Plus, I’m, like, really tired, and you know me.” He said.
“Whatever you say, Mister Lone Warrior.” Simon cackled, leaving the two behind and joining the other guys who were cheering.
Dall turned to the girl and said, “Come on, let’s go. As you heard, my dad’s basically the ruler of this tiny country. I’m kind of a prince.” He laughed. “You could see our home straight from the gate. I can guarantee that you’ll be safe there.”
“How can I trust you?” She said weakly and quietly.
His body chilled at her words. “Didn’t you trust me back there?”
“That was life-or-death. How do I know you won’t try to do the same things as those guys?”
He was at a loss for words, his mouth constantly opening and closing. “I led you all the way here, didn’t I? I could’ve knocked you out hours ago. I could’ve left you to those guys too.” They stared into each other’s’ eyes. Neither of them blinked. “I would never do that though.” A few seconds passed, and Dall’s face lit up, “Listen. Just walk with me through those gates, and you’ll see for yourself whether or not you’ll be safe.”
She, once again, reluctantly agreed.
The soldiers left it open, and the two of them entered the city, and her eyes widened like a child on a holiday.
A wide, cobblestone street led from the gate all the way towards the other end, where a fantastical and beautiful fountain stood. On either side of that street stood countless stalls and many more people manning them, yelling out to passersby, trying to sell whatever they had in store. It was so loud that Avice couldn’t hear herself think. The houses behind those stalls were small, but there were so many of them that the already claustrophobic environment felt even tighter. They were nearly identical with their dark gray stone walls and wooden rooftops. Some stood out and had large signposts above their doors: Tailors, tanners, blacksmiths, bakeries… They littered the area. The streets were also accompanied by tall posts with a bright burning flame at the tops of them. There were children running around giggling, mothers spoke with each other happily, fathers were boisterous and casually drinking, lovers walked arms locked… The sight was everything but depressing.
But what surprised the girl the most was the floating, dancing lights seen nearly everywhere in the city. She spared little attention when she saw a couple of them before, but there was an overabundance of them now. They clouded her view. Various colors flickered and passed, different sizes and shapes, intensity and dimness… She lifted a finger to touch one, and it happily danced around her.
“What are these things?” She said with a smile. Dall held his breath. Whoa.She glanced at him, and the joyousness in her expression disappeared instantly.
“S-Sorry.” He laughed nervously. “What things?”
“These.” She approached him and kept her finger raised, where the light was still dancing. “They’re like little fairies.”
“If there were fairies here, then we’d all be dead. Really, sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know that lying really doesn’t help you, right?”
“Look, I’m serious. Are you okay?”
“You don’t see these pretty lights?” She asked.
“No. I don’t.” He said bluntly. She seemed puzzled, but then an overwhelming rush of nauseousness came over her. She bent down to the ground, and Dall hurriedly tried to help her. “H-Hey, what’s going on?!” He tried asking her, but her vision blurred and she eventually passed out.
