Leo looked around the small house, and felt a significant sense of sadness. This time tomorrow, the house will be nothing but ashes. It was two weeks since the meeting, and their last night in the village before Leo and Iris left to find the dwarves. The other villagers will be leaving at the same time, and all the houses will be burned down so that any armies looking for them won't find the village, or use it for future expeditions.
As he looked around, Leo thought about the various memories the small hut carried. He had been in this world for less than a year, but had experienced so much that it was a little overwhelming. As he thought about the various memories, a few tears started to trickle down his face. He met Iris here, received lessons on this worlds language from her, sat at the table and ate with elder grandma and the others. He knew however, that these memories won't be the last though. At that moment, Iris opened the door and saw the tear tracks running down Leo's face.
"I didn't realize i married such a crybaby." She said to tease him. Leo only smiled bitterly, and decided not to mention the fact that he woke from the puddle her tears left on the bed a few night back. He knew that to Iris, this house, this village was everything. She had been raised here and only left for hunting trips.
Leo pulled her onto the bed with him, as they both laid back in silence. All that was left was the furniture. Everything else was packed, and what was left would join the house in the blaze. The things that were packed will go with the villagers in carts, and will be stored away so that they were available when Leo and Iris returned.
After leaving, elder grandma would lead the villagers to Asdarge. There they will try to create a small settlement below the floating rock, as it would be inconvenient to have to travel up or down daily. The hope was that after recruiting them, the dwarves would be the ones to help rebuild the city and lay down the foundation for the future kingdom itself.
As for the safety of the journey itself, only those with a death wish would travel the forest this way with so many noncombatants. Leo however managed to guarantee the safety of the people, by having Luna surround them with the wolves under her command. She will be the one in charge of securing their safe arrival, and protection until a real base could be established.
Leo and Iris however, will head south. Thomas will be accompanying them until Lawrence city, then the two will set out on their own while he returned north to rejoin the others. As he had no idea where the dwarves actually were, they would have to travel around and try to find some rumors about their current whereabouts. As he was thinking about their travel plans, Iris suddenly rolled on top of him, and placed her lips onto his before saying,
"I don't want to think about depressing things. Let's make our last night in this place a memorable one." Leo happily complied to her wish for the next several hours.
The next day was somber, as everyone was leaving behind their whole lives, same as Iris. But when the ideas of what they might achieve in the future went through their heads, they found the situation much more bearable. After filling in the cave that housed the garden, they went and torched the houses one by one. They watched as the only place any of them were able to call home went up in flames, before starting the long journey.
Everyone started down the single path that led down from the village. Luna was with elder grandma, and let out a long howl, that was answered by the many that would providing protection. Everyone said their goodbyes, as the caravan turned north, while Leo, Iris, and Thomas turned south. Their long journey began.
***
Thousands of miles away, in the southern jungles of the continent, there was a deep canyon cutting through the jungle floor. It would not be anything strange, if not for the eerie black stoned castle being built in it. In the castle, was a great hall, and in the hall was a throne that was occupied.
"Hehehehehehe, I wonder when I'll be able to taste the sweet taste of my treacherous brothers blood? I'll show him, for leaving me to die, while he went off to play with some bitch that had some pretty eyes." The speaker said, with the face and voice of a sweet sixteen year old girl. She sat on her throne, with a glass of what looked like a deep red wine in it. She drank from it as she looked down at the people assembled below her.
There was a mix of those who served her, some were slaves, some she turned to vampires, the same as her. Then there were the ones who were mainly responsible for building the castle, who would normally be confused for slaves, if not for the obviously deadly injuries they had that none even seemed to register. She continued to drink from her glass, until one of the other vampires stepped forward.
"Lady Emily! Should we not focus on expanding our power? We already control the majority of the villages in these southern jungles. We need to prepare for the oncoming purge, as you will certainly be targeted!" The man spoke out to his master. The girl suddenly had an ugly look, as she looked down at the man who dared question her.
"Oh really? You think I need to jump and do something, just because you said I should?" She asked with a sweet smile. But the sweeter her smile was, the more terrified the man became.
"Of course not lady Emily, I only meant to serve you to the best of my abilities. I mean no disrespect." Though the mans words were polite, he was shaking slightly as he seemed to feel the lord of death over him.
"If what you wish is to serve, then I think a career change is in order." Before the man could react, she slowly lifted her hand, revealing the skull brand on her arm, and as her hand raised higher so did the man. As he struggled in the air, everyone watched in horror as thin streams of red started flowing from his pores. The streams of blood gathered into a single stream, that flowed through the air into the girls open mouth. As the last drop of blood drained from him, the corpse fell to the floor. As the unique existence of undead, all the vampires watched as the mans soul stood from the corpse, until the girl's still raised hand started drawing darkness from the nearby shadows.
The shadows converged on the soul, pushing it back down to the corpse. A moment later, the corpse stood once again, but with a dead look in its eyes as it joined the others in the construction.