"What are you doing!? Don't let them escape!"
"She took out ten of our men before I could even draw my sword! She's fast!"
"What we lack in speed, we more than make up for in our numbers, now after her!"
"She's over here, I hear the baby crying!"
Soldiers of the human nation, Eris, tasked with carrying out the immediate execution of a woman, and to bring back the baby she was protecting. The smell of iron lingering through the forest, the woman's legs and arms covered in the blood of soldiers, as well as her own. While being severely wounded, the baby being carried is completely unharmed. A trail of blood follows the woman, resting on the snowy ground, glistening like a beacon.
"Just follow the blood, the king said we need to bring the child back to him intact so he can identify it."
"She can't go much further with all this blood-loss, it's sure to be slowing her down significantly."
The soldiers pursued with a fiery conviction.
The woman, now barely able to stand, continues pushing forward. Each step becomes increasingly more difficult as she loses more blood. Her lungs feel as if there is a heavy mist around her, her muscles as fatigued as if she just pulled a carriage of 5 full grown men 1000 miles uphill. Despite all this hardship, the woman maintains a look of determination.
She notices the trees start to end, there was no more forest in front of them. Tilled farmland peering at them from beyond the tree line, soldiers no longer being heard. A smile forms on her face, and life began to slowly leave her golden-colored eyes.
"Don't worry little brother, you're going to make it. I will absolutely not let any of them harm you!"
The woman looked down at her baby brother, and continued to repeat those words to him as she wobbled out of the forest. Moonlight now shining on them without the covering of the trees, bouncing off the snow-filled ground, the two were completely illuminated. A cottage was seen on a small hill, right past what seemed like 300 yards of tilled land and crops.
"I'll get you to safety, please live a full li-"
A sound of gushing wind came in from behind the woman, before she could react in any way, she felt a surging pain in her chest. Her vision started to go blurry, as she looked down and saw a spear had pierced through her; this was the least of her worries.
The woman immediately saw that the tip of the spear had also stabbed into the left eye of her baby brother. Crying from the infant began to echo from the tree line. Outraged, she let out a terrifying scream that left many soldiers paralyzed at the tree line. The stronger willed ones continued advancing towards her, while the weaker ones trembled.
"I'm impressed you're still able to scream like that after my spear pierced your heart. You're really something. It's a shame that you couldn't be more use to Eris."
The woman's eyes darted to the one that threw the spear, peering from the side as he walked towards her. Unable to move, all she could do was hold this intense gaze. She saw long flowy blonde hair, spikey at the ends, all the way to his shoulders. A spotless set of armor with the Eris kingdom crest on the torso, and pearls hanging down the left side of his torso, which signified his military ranking was within the top 5 ranks.
Blood vessels began popping out of her eyes as if they were about to explode. She attempted to speak but could not manage to make a single sound; even her breathing had finally stopped.
"Captain Luke, an amazing throw as always," stated Luke's Lieutenant as the two walked out of the forest towards the woman."
Yes, it was a splendid throw, wasn't it?"
Luke approached the woman and then ripped out the spear from her chest. Still unable to move, she only continued to maintain her gaze.
"This night has gone on long enough," Luke said as he circled the woman.
"You had us chase you from Apate, the capital, all the way to... Where are we now?"
"Luke, sir, we are currently in the Siladar nation. Our borders meet just 2000 feet before we reached the tree line."
"It's a good thing we caught her when we did." Luke then put his right hand on the woman's left shoulder and looked into her intense stare.
"Any further and she might have gotten... away," before being able to fully perceive what had happened, Luke became immediately on high alert.
"Captain Luke, your arm!"
Luke's right arm was severed at the bicep, now lying on the ground in front of the woman he was pursuing. He jumped away from her and entered into a fighting stance. His eyes darted around trying to find what caused his injury. The woman continued her blood-lusted staring at Luke while tenderly holding her baby brother.
Luke heard footsteps coming from his right, within a tall field of corn. Turning to it, he thrusted his spear and sent a wave of slashing wind. The corn was obliterated, nothing remained beyond miniscule fragments of kernels. Luke tensed up even more as a stern and deep voice spoke up from behind him.
"What are you doing unannounced in my farm, Eris soldier?"
Luke went to turn towards the voice to retaliate again but was stopped.
"Move even an inch more, any part of your body, and it won't be just another limb you lose. Now, last chance, what are you doing here?"
Luke felt his heart rate increase tremendously as he tried to analyze the situation and think of a plan.
"Is this fear-Could this Siladarian actually be this much stronger than me-I know they're known for their speed but this is-My right arm is gone-About half of my men have either been killed or incapacitated from fear of that woman-I couldn't even sense the Siladarian-" he stopped his racing thoughts and collected himself.
"We've been chasing this traitor on the orders of the king, to execute her and take the child back to his majesty. She wandered into your territory while trying to escape us. We meant no distress for you or your people."
Luke thought it better to not give the detail about the child's immediate execution after returning to the king.
"You're to take the child back to the king? Why would you risk its life by throwing that spear? Surely a dead child is useless to the king."
Luke's eyes started to twitch, his face had dropped, and his body tensed up. He realized he had made an immense error. The Siladarian began to walk towards Luke.
"Unless the child is only deemed useful to the king if it is dead."
Luke went to turn in attempt to fight, but his Lieutenant ran at the Siladarian. With a single slice of his scythe, the Siladarian beheaded the Lieutenant. Luke saw an opportunity and began racing towards the forest as the stranger was slicing through his subordinate. Other soldiers began to flee as well, but those that were stunned with fear and disbelief were immediately killed by the Siladarian. All they saw in their last moments was the contrast between the ash-white hair and the fiery green eyes of the Siladarian stranger.
The woman's intense stare had turned to complete exhaustion after she lost sight of the fleeing Captain. Her body started collapsing unto the ground, but the Siladarian caught her and the child. The woman tensed up one last time, peering up at the stranger as if she intended to fight until the absolute end. She noticed the color of his eyes and hair, but her vision had become too blurry to perceive anything else. Despite this, the colors seen were enough to comfort her, and her body finally allowed death to enter.
"Please, take my brother to Nero."
Her arms began to go limp, and her voice became increasingly soft and raspy.
"I was told... to take my brother to him... I was not told everything... but I wrote down what I-"
Life had left and death had fully taken hold. The Siladarian man lowered her gently to the ground and examined the baby. No life-threatening injury had come upon the baby boy. The only injury received was that from the spear. The man then looked closer at the woman and noticed multiple severe wounds all throughout her body, except in the area she held the baby.
"She managed to avoid all hits on the child except for that thrown spear, and they said they chased her all the way from Apate, which is about 700 miles from here. Truly she was a skilled individual and loved her brother dearly."
After thinking to himself and examining both the woman and the baby, the man took the infant to his cottage. The man's wife was already awake, having heard the cries from the baby and the screams of many others. He explained the situation to her, as he knew it, and she tended to the wound of the infant. Afterwards, the man went back to the body of the infant's sister.
"But I wrote down what I-"
These words remained in his mind. He debated within himself whether or not he should look for and read what she was going to mention; perhaps he would learn why Eris' king wanted the child dead.
The baby's face then flashed into his mind.
"Whatever conflict that child's family had with the king, it is no longer his fight. Should his path still lead to it despite my intervention, so be it, but I will not allow it to be encouraged."
After he came to his conclusion, the man searched the infant's sister's body and found the letter she attempted to mention. He then buried the woman and burned the letter, not looking at even a single word of it.
"The child's life should and will be his own," he spoke to the grave of the sister.
"I will tell him of you and your sacrifice, how your death was given in exchange for his life. I will keep him safe and make him strong. Everything else beyond that will be determined by him."
He then bowed at the grave, turned to another grave and bowed at it. His eyes began to tear up as something inside began to stir around. Going back to his cottage, his wife addressed him with a serious problem.
"What do we call this boy?"
"You truly know me too well. You knew I already decided to raise him, didn't you?"
"Of course. That's just who you are, Nero."
"I do not know the boy's name, or if one has been given to him. Why don't you name him, Fealty?
"How about... Cassius?
"You just love keeping interesting names in the family, don't you?"
Nero then looks at the graves from a window, one grave is labeled 'Sister' and the other has the name 'Agapito'
"I love it."