Most of their journey went in silence, Adam didn't say anything and neither did Susan, all that she seemed to try and concentrate on was walking faster and trying to ignore the pain she felt by looking around her and keeping herself busy by glancing at the scenery around them.

It was a bit cold at that moment because it was still the first few hours of the morning, dew was covering the grass and a light fog was cast over everything in front of them. It was clear to Adam that everything was new to Susan, she probably never had the chance to enter the forest at this time of day. Adam knew a bit about how villages in locations like this dealt with the places they lived in, they usually only entered the forest at midday, and even then they would never go too deep.

After another hour like that, Adam said when the road opened up into a clearing:

"We truly have to stop now, rest for a bit, we have to eat something too."

Susan seemed as if she wanted to say something, but she changed her mind in the end and just sat.

Putting down the bag he was holding, Adam took a bit of jerky and some fruits he collected while they moved.

"... What are you planning on doing next?" Finally, after they had their fill and after sitting in silence for a while, Susan couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm? Oh, next, I will try to send you to the closest village and leave you there, I mean that's what I want to do, but there's somewhere I wanna go to, and it's a bit close, well, closer than any village, so we will be heading their first." Said Adam after a bit of musing.

"... And when will we reach this place?" She asked again after a bit of silence.

"Around two days I think? Or two and a half with our current pace." Answered Adam.

"Oh..." Said Susan, and fell into her thoughts again.

"No need to think about any of that now, here, take," said Adam as he threw his water bottle to Susan, who was caught unprepared and tried to catch it on a fluster.

Seeing that, a small smile appeared on Adam's face as he shook his head, he knew what Susan was going through, and that he didn't really give a good first impression, so he didn't push her too much.

Throwing that aside, he laid his hand on the ground next to him, before closing his eyes gently.

A minute or so after that, he opened his eyes and looked in surprise at Susan who was facing him, as if he was looking at a ghost.

'What was that? How could something like that happen?' He thought to himself, and then, throwing that out of his mind, he turned his head towards the direction of the village with a frown, a bigger problem was getting closer.

Noticing his weird behaviour, Susan put the water bottle aside as she asked hesitantly:

"What's wrong?"

"The soldiers have entered the forest, there's a group of them close, way too close..." Answered Adam as he stood up, "We have to move."

He was truly surprised, he would have never expected the soldiers to enter the forest after her, he had teased Susan that he wouldn't be surprised if they did just that, but it was just that, a joke, he never expected it to truly happen.

As Adam was collecting his things, Susan stood there with a pale face, widened eyes and trembling lips, it was clear that she was in shock and didn't know what to do, all she did was stand there and stare blankly at Adam.

"Come on!" After he was done, Adam lifted his head and saw Susan just standing there in a daze. With a small shout, he went and held her hand before starting to drag her towards a certain direction.

The soldiers were way too close, there basically was no chance that they would be able to get rid of them, especially with how he felt the existence of an amaryn with them, Adam only had the sole option of choosing their battleground.

The amaryn were some of, if not the best, trackers in Tellor, they were practically designed for that purpose, few races were close to their efficiency regarding pure tracking.

Adam wasn't that worried about the soldiers who were following them, the most he was worried about was them using Susan against him, so what he thought about then, was searching for someplace that would give him the advantage in that, and he knew just the place.

When he did the scan before, he had felt a cliff face close to where they were, the cliff was high and in front of it was a clearing without any trees or thick shrubs, which made it a perfect place for what he needed.

After a not so long journey, they made it there, he had Susan stand behind him and said:

"Just stay behind me and don't worry, this will be over soon."

Then standing calmly as he closed and opened his hand, he turned to the soldiers and waited for what was coming.

***

"It's him, he sensed us," the thin man with the purple skin, the amaryn, said to the people around him who were looking at each other in fear after sensing that huge wave of mana going below their feet just seconds before. At that moment, he was wearing brown leather armour and holding a bow in his hand with a quiver strapped on his back.

"I felt that, that's quite a bit of mana, what a waste," the semigin shook his head before asking, "he's the attacker from before, right?"

For him, the semigin was wearing an iron armour that covered most of his body, he seemed like an impenetrable moving fortress, the earth shook with each step he took.

"Yes, it's the same mana that I felt from where the arrow fell," the amaryn nodded, but there was a bit of hesitation on his face.

"You still can't identify his race?" the semigin asked after noticing that.

"Yes... It's so weird, his mana has some sort of similarities with the livitus' mana, but it's just a hint, it's still different from what I'm used to sensing from them," The amaryn said with clear confusion as he shook his head.

"A hybrid?" The semigin lifted an eyebrow.

"No, it's still different from that, a hybrid would never have such a weird mana," Answered the amaryn.

"Not important, we only have to catch them, damn! Who would have thought that after the destruction of the reception magic's circle, we would be asked to enter the forest to search for... That girl, why do things keep on turning for the worst," the semigin murmured the last part of his words as he massaged his temples.

"No need to worry, we're still in the relatively safe parts of the forest, we will reach them before we make it to the truly dangerous parts of the area," the amaryn consulted him as he patted his shoulder before adding:

"Come on, we have to move, they are on the move again, they changed their direction." 

The semigin nodded before giving the soldiers around him the order to start moving again.

***

Susan was nervous, her heart was beating fast and she was in a horrible state.

That wasn't because she was afraid of what was coming, of what was going to happen to her if Adam wasn't able to defeat the soldiers and stop them from taking her.

No, she was nervous and her heart was beating fast because she was thinking about the faces she was going to see, about the people she was going to face, the soldiers she considered once heroes and protectors. Them standing in front of her after killing her mom, dad, little sister and the rest of her village in cold blood.

She didn't know what kind of expression they would show when they would finally lay their eyes on her, would there be any pain? Guilt? Maybe even an apology? Or would they look at her coldly and remorselessly?

She didn't know, and the wait made her anxious.

She didn't have to wait long, because soon, a group of around 15 soldiers appeared in front of her from where Adam had been looking since the beginning.

As soon as the group appeared and they got close enough for her to see them clearly, her tears started falling uncontrollably and her heart contracted.

She didn't know why, but the group had most of the soldiers with whom she had a good relationship, the soldiers she had laughed, joked and played with the most.

Seeing them there, holding their weapons and heading towards her, she couldn't control herself and started crying as she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

By then, the soldiers were already close enough to see the two before them, and noticing Susan's reaction to seeing them, a heavy feeling filled the group.

No one spoke for a long time, the only sound which was heard was the sound of Susan wailing there on her knees.

The soldiers watched her in silence, some of them averted their eyes, others lowered their faces with red eyes, and others showed expressionless frozen faces, hiding what was going through their minds. 

The semigin, one of the last bunch, took a step forward and said expressionlessly and with a cold deep voice.

"Boy, you better leave, we will let you go, we only want the girl, just leave."

Even before Adam had the chance to say anything, Susan who had been crying just a second ago, lifted her head and looked at the semigin as she shouted shrilly:

"Krusk?! Why did you do that? Why did you kill them? You used to tell us that you would die before letting anything happen to us? That we had no reason to fear any bandit or beasts with you there? Then why? Why did you do that? Why did you kill them? Why? Why? Why..."

The semigin's, krusk, expression finally changed, a hint of guilt and saddens appeared on his face for a split second before he hid it fast and opened his mouth, but one look at Susan's face made him close his mouth and turn his face, he turned his eyes to Adam and asked, ignoring Susan and her stabbing gaze:

"So what's your ch..." 

"Krusk!" Shouted Susan, cutting him off, "Tell me, look at me and tell me, why? You were one of us, you lived with us for years, you played with me while I was little, so why?... Not just you, all of you, Zerto? Jin? Ikrey? All of you... Why? Why? Just why..."

With each word she said, Susan felt as if her heart was being cut open, her mind was a mess of confusion, pain and denial, as if all this was nothing but a horrible surreal nightmare she would wake up of at any moment, but unfortunately, she never did.

Her voice was shrill, to the point where it seemed as if she hurt herself as she shouted those words, as if she had thrown all the pain and heartache she felt into them.

This time, even Krusk couldn't keep the expressionless front he had, he lowered his face and the grip on his greatsword tightened.

Then, most soldiers showed bitter expressions and a few of them even wanted to walk up to say something.

Zerto, the amaryn who was standing next to Krusk, looked at the latter and took a step forward as if trying to say something, but, before he had the chance to even open his mouth, Krusk extended his hand and stopped him. Seeing that, Zerto sighed and fell back, giving some of the soldiers behind him, who had the same idea as him a glance, making them do the same too.

Krusk then lifted his head and looked at Susan and said:

"I'm sorry Susan... I know words mean nothing, but they are all we can give... We couldn't do anything... We had no choice..."

After saying that, he sighed and ignored Susan entirely, turning to Adam he asked seriously:

"Boy, tell me what's your answer, I don't have the whole day to waste here."

Adam who hadn't spoken till that moment, and who was just watching what was happening silently, threw a glance at Susan who was but a shell right then, before looking again at Krusk:

"Do you know who wants her? And why?" He knew that the chances of him knowing that was small, and the chances of him telling him anything even if he knew something was even smaller

"I don't know, we were asked to catch her, that's all. What I can say is that her safety is very important to whomever wants her, originally, none of her family members was meant to die, what happened was just an unfortunate event," answered Krusk, his answer seemed as if it was to Susan more than it was for Adam.