~How far, How far~
~Far up to the sky~
Rivienne knew she was not good at singing, and she hated singing the most. Because she never got to perform her talent on a stage or at a family gathering. Whenever she sang, she had to close her eyes, cover them with her palm, hug Jeremy or Leo tightly, and ignore all the melody and the fears.
Her voice trembled when she sang, and her one and only listener was breathing heavily and running somewhere. Rain pitter-pattered on her hood. "Why did you stop?" Still, Jeremy was listening.
~Fly, dear fly~
~Far up to the sky~
She winced every time she heard Jeremy grunting and metal clanking with each other. It was always like this when they lived near the lake last summer. She smelled the copper-like smell as her little heart struggled to keep up with the melody.
~Wolves would cry~
~For the fairy who flew~
~Wave at her- Rivienne felt them falling. She squeezed her eyes and Jeremy's neck. Before his lady hit the ground with him, Jeremy could stop, leaning on his sword. He was on one knee, placing his free hand on Rivienne's back of the head. He panted as the rain washed his bleeding forehead.
"You're the…" Jeremy swallowed. "Worst singer I have ever seen." He felt her thundering pulse that tugged to his neck. She did not reply. "Leo would laugh if he was-"
"I don't like singing!" Rivienne said. Jeremy took a breath, leaning on a huge tree that covered them from the wild eyes. Before his eyes and behind Rivienne, rain pitterpattered on many limbs and heads separated from their bodies. Broken swords stuck to some massive bodies of assassins and the lake of blood he created.
"Jer,"
"… Yes?"
"Are you hurt?"
"… Yes, you are heavy,"
"… I can walk"
"Yes, you will walk," His back had a cut, the length of goddess knows. For now, the pain has gone numb, but the bleeding would not stop. He could feel the oozing blood and the warmth of his lady throughout the cold that was wrapping him. Until the dead bodies were out of her sight, Jeremy carried her. He did not know where they were or where to go. And this little thing should not die even in his dreams.
He wrapped his coat around her when they hid under a vast root system. He wiped her face with his thumb. "Listen, Rivi," He said, looking for the enemy. "You're going to stay hidden here until I come back with help. Is that clear?"
"… You're coming back, right?"
"Yes, I always come back,"
Just as he said, Rivienne's eyes caught the shadow behind Jeremy. A little shriek came and vanished in a split second. The woods did not even flinched.
********
Arwan froze as he raised his sword to enlarge the black blood pool around him when the thunder hit somewhere not far away from where he stood. His ears rang, and his eyes burnt because of the sudden gleaming that emerged through the gloomy darkness.
And then silence coated everywhere.
Screeching of ghouls and curses of half-monsters disappeared as if someone shut them down in a box. He wiped the sword with his palm and unsheathed it, unbothered by all of the mysteries happening around him.
He was hoping for a peaceful ride back to the north since he chose the road that ran through the woods of the temple. They usually were clean and smelled good, according to the rumours.
But as soon as he stepped into the woods, some flesh-eating ghouls who could not speak but screech appeared out of the blue.
Therefore, Arwan was spending one ordinary day of his boring life.
He wiped his bloody cheek with the back of his hand, gazing up at the sky where it burst. Maybe the temple did something to get rid of the monsters that were rumoured to never appear near the temple of the goddesses. Being optimistic, he hoped to reach the northern borders one day earlier until he did not see his horse anymore.
"… Fuck"
He was convincing himself of the worst days he had ever had before when he started walking, and the rain was hitting him. Water dribbled along his black cloak that covered the massive masculine body of a merchant and an assassin. His mood was gloomier than the upcoming storm, yet his legs did not stop until he got used to misfortune.
When he could not see the rain backing down, he crouched down at the feet of a giant tree. Water curtained his vision, drowning him in the thoughts. He planned to stop roaming around the residencies and settle in the north where he was born. He has had enough of bastards and beasts who called themselves noble.
Arwan still could make it to the nearest port in two or three days by foot, and then his vagabond life would end quietly. He could sell the silver ring in his chain around the neck, which brought nothing but bad luck to him, and board the fastest ship to the north.
'I should pick some flowers for the old woman,' He thought and leaned back, making himself comfortable.
Well, as always, his peace did not last long.
BANG!
His instinct was faster than him to draw his sword again, and yet there was nothing to get attacked. Although his vision was limited because of this fulminating of clouds, he saw the lava-like fumes deep in the woods. He did not feel cold up until now, but the heat of the blast touched his scarred face.
'Magic?' He questioned. 'It didn't feel like it,'
And soon, he stopped worrying about what it was and bolted where it was. He was sensing a familiar presence. The same presence he craved and promised himself not to see again. He ran towards the way he came from, which directed to the temple and then again, it was way out of the road. He slashed down the veins, and thorns got in the way. And finally, he stepped into a space that had burnt soil.
The heat was high enough to form beads of sweat on Arwan's forehead as his pace slowed down, seeing the disaster in front of him. Something has exploded, destroying half a mile of a parameter in the forest. Giant trees have turned into ashes, and they have fallen as if a war has taken over the place. Smoke clouded, but the rain did not stop.
What the hell happened?
He was still feeling her.
When he stepped forward, something crushed under his feet, and he stopped to have a look.
A skull.
A burnt skull.
"Izel!" He shouted without thinking twice and prepared to strike at once. "Izel!"
There was no response. Arwan cursed under his breath. The smell of burning flesh and wood was not new to him. But the burner was a new one. A person he has never met before. Maybe it was not a person but a…
"Here! I'm here!" Finally, her voice reached him as he strode there. From several yards away from where he found the skull, the enchantress in a green dress was sitting on the mud and ash, talking to someone.
Someone who was losing his breath.
Arwan rushed there as a figure of a little man lay there.
"Oh! Thank goddess! You are here! He says there's a lady! Please find her!"
Arwan was more concerned about her not being surprised to see him. Did she follow me? And his gaze shifted to the young man on her lap. He was on the brink of death with five stabbings across his body. A dagger was still sticking to his thigh while Izel whispered her healing chants.
He frowned. "On what bastard's order were you going to burn the woods down?" He asked aggressively, only to get her hatred.
"What?! It wasn't me! Oh!... Someone is dying out there!" Izel shouted. Her face was red and covered with sweat. Her brown locks that slipped from the bun stuck to her face.
".... I'm going! I'm going," Arwan did not suspect her since evidently it was an ambush created by the dead burnt ones on the ground. He walked over to find more dead bodies. Whoever the sender was, he must be thinking of killing a giant. Arwan thought, counting the skulls. And there was no one breathing.
Arwan's feet froze. Never in his gruesome life, he has never felt a frost running through his spine.
It happened when he reached another dead body. He squatted down as if he was following someone's orders. His trembling fingers reached the body. It was the body of a well-built assassin of five feet in height and many Ounces in weight.
As soon as his gloved fingers touched the burnt body, it turned into a powder of ashes and fell to the ground. Arwan shuddered when something very pale moved slightly under the load of ashes.
Suddenly, a small hand emerged through the ashes and grabbed Izel's ring that dangled from his neck.