The three ran through the woods, sweat dripping from Raz's face. Eventually, they stopped and set-up an impromptu camp.
"Not long before dawn, get some rest though. We won't be sleeping during the day," Shinsusa advised. Raz lied down and tried to sleep. However, the cold wind struck him like dozens of sewing needles, making it impossible for him to ease up.
"Are you okay?" Reina inquired.
"Yes," Raz answered instinctively.
After a bit of silence, Reina continued, "It's okay to be shaken up. Murder isn't child's play. Even the most veter--"
"Me am not shaken."
Reina looked deep into Raz's eyes. "Very well," she said, "get some rest." Reina walked away.
Raz closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He eventually drifted asleep.
Raz stood in the middle of a gray field; the ground had no texture and Raz couldn't feel it under his feet. Raz looked around, the area was invisible but not a void. Suddenly, Raz hears a loud scream, "Help me!" He turns to find a small town lit ablaze by flames. He watches as people run with lion-like monsters roaming about the town, attacking people. Raz saw as a child, not much younger than Raz, ran towards him with a monster closing in on them. Raz instinctively thrust his arms forth as the monster pounced on them. As the monster's body went limp, it slowly morphed into a human. Raz watched as the man clutched his neck, Raz held a knife which had now been thrust deep into the man's throat. "Why…" Raz heard the man say as his blood flooded the entire surrounding area.
Raz was woken up by Reina. She had a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Fine," Raz responded though his voice was shaky, and his face wet with sweat.
Reina opened her mouth to speak but Shinsusa suddenly commanded, "Great. Get yourself washed up--there's a creek south. We need to go back to our campsite and retrieve what we can."
Raz got up and moved towards the creek. He knelt next to the creek, cupped his hands underneath the creek's cool and clean water, and washed up. As he was about to leave, Raz looked at his own face in the water. Throughout the washing process, Raz hadn't really looked at himself, but now that he had, he noticed something peculiar: Raz had an expression that could only be described by the adjective 'terror'. His eyebrows were bowed, and his eyes wide. The muscles around his mouth twitch as if he was sniveling. No wonder Reina was worried about Raz. Raz took a moment to compose himself and managed to make his expression go away for the most part. However, if inspected closely, one could still see that his eyebrows were bowing. He then returned to Shinsusa.
The three set off towards their original campsite. This time, there was no sense of urgency or fear from Shinsusa. As the got closer and closer to their campsite, Raz's anxiety grew and grew. Suddenly, Raz began smelling something foul. The stench grew stronger as they kept moving forth. Raz covered his nose with his hand, but the stench was far too great to be stopped so easily. Raz looked up at Shinsusa, who was unaffected by it, and wondered if she could smell it.
Reina passed Raz a light-pink handkerchief from behind, "It has been imbued with the smell of the strongest flowers and spices. It doesn't smell great, but it prevents you from smelling anything else." Raz noticed that Reina was holding a handkerchief to her nose as well.
"What about Shinsusa?" Raz asked.
Reina looked at Shinsusa for a few seconds before answering, "I think she prefers it."
Before Raz could make anything of that statement, he tripped over something big and heavy. He looked back and saw it: the corpse of a bandit. But it was not just any bandit, it was the man that Raz had killed. He had a nasty neck wound, which had become infested with maggots. The dried pink flesh smeared with dried blood being devoured by hundreds of maggots coupled with the smell was too much for Raz to handle; he puked.
"Push through it," Shinsusa instructed. "You need to push through; had you not killed him, he would have not only killed us but also raped. He may even have sold you off as a slave. There's no telling how many he's done the same to either. Find peace in the fact that you've removed one stain from humanity."
"Me knows… but… when me look at his face… all me see is mine sin…"
Reina placed her hand atop Raz's head, "I know that it is not easy, Raz… It never is, it never will be. But you need to have faith in yourself, have faith in us. We did what we had to do to survive. And, while both me and Shin are willing to do it again if need be, we don't wish for it. It's okay to be afraid, disgusted, and hurt; it's human to be that way. But we need to continue forward, we need to keep moving."
Raz took Reina's words in. He composed himself the best he could and slowly rose to his feet. He made sure not to look at the corpse again and move forth, trying to not think about his first kill.
Once they reached their campsite, they found that their luggage was untouched, showing that the bandits didn't really explore that area. Not letting their luck go to waste, they hastily gathered their things and set off once again.