The first day passed, and I successfully escaped Vadon and his men for now. It made me feel like I could probably make it to Oldwest safely, of course if Oswin continues to travel with me.
I wonder how the other nobles proved their identity to people. And why was it that the Scladris nobles showed a spreading flame covering their wrist.
It was fascinating to watch them do so, but at the same time it raised numerous questions in me.
If I had any of those abilities, maybe I wouldn't have been such a wimp to face Auris nobles.
"Did you always know about the slaughtering in the capital?" Oswin asked me while keeping his sight trained on the path in front of us.
I threw him a glance. "No, father told me about it yesterday."
"So you're going to train to keep your family safe?"
"Yes."
Though I wasn't lying, I couldn't find it in myself to tell him why exactly I was heading to Oldwest town.
He put his arm around my shoulders like the previous day and pulled me closer while grinning from ear to ear. "That's good, that's good. You're doing a great job. I hope you get stronger than ever, and we can go hunt souls together."
"The world is more than just hunting souls." I mumbled, a smile creeping into my face, because his happiness was contagious.
"Trying doesn't hurt, Quinn."
Yes, maybe I looked up to Oswin the most during those days we used to work together and maybe I still do. There were times when I wished I had someone I could rely on and it definitely turned out to be Oswin.
Oswin was a brother I always wanted.
It was getting darker as time passed. I suppose there were few more hours until we reached a huge township as stated by the villagers back in the afternoon.
"The sun's down." I stated out loud to bring in his attention. "Is there any other way to fight these souls without using aura?"
"Not that I know of." One of his hand was already on his blade, watching through the corners of his eyes. "If you feel uncomfortable tell me right away."
"Okay." I nodded, taking a deep breath. I needed to collect myself before anything else happened.
"I've never been to this place, so I don't know how powerful the souls could be our here."
I officially hated it now. I wanted to reach the township as soon as possible. Getting attacked in an unknown place would be troublesome for us right now.
"When do you think we'll get to the Oldwest?" I muttered, and he shrugged in return indicating that he didn't know either.
Maybe for now we should focus on not getting attacked by the ghosts, I mean the souls but ghosts suits better.
I was sticking to taking deep breaths and calming myself down. I had never encountered such beings, let alone fight them. Hell, I can't even see them.
"Everytime I execute a soul, I get mixed emotions about whether I should be happy or sad about it. They were commoners once, they had a life too, just like us." Oswin said, cautious but his voice soothing.
He probably noticed the nervous state I had slipped into and decided to talk?
"You should be happy." I told him. "You're setting them free, aren't you?"
"Convincing." He rubbed his chin dramatically.
I thought everything was going well. If only I knew I was so wrong, because at the end of the pathway, as far as it went, I saw bright light, as if someone was camping in the woods.
I stopped walking, and so did Oswin immediately.
"What are we supposed to do now?" I asked, since he surely had more of 'experience' than I had here.
"It's probably the Scaldris guys." Oswin informed. "No one would dare stop here unless you're sure you hold the flag."
He sighed loudly, running his hands through his hair.
"What's wrong?"
"The souls are crammed up around the fire. As much as I hate to say this, we have a 50 percent chance of survival." He looked at me, "But if the nobles help, we can make it a 100."