Amidst the burned trees, black smoke filled the air, Kayden had been flung away by the forces of Tharros's final attack, he lay dazed on the ground, a little over to his left was Thane, he looked to be burned, wounds surrounded his body but he was still breathing.
Kayden couldn't stop his ears from ringing, and neither could he stand up, he just kept looking at where Tharros once was, the only man who cared enough ever to protect him with his very own life.
"Uuurgh" Thane made a sound as he slowly gained consciousness, Kayden hadn't taken his eyes off where Tharros had been, but what remained there now was just burnt trees, melted sand, and the four places lightning had struck.
"Kayden, are you okay?" Thane asked, he saw his friend mumbling words to his friend and dragged himself closer, "Hey, what are you saying?" He asked him
"Kayden!" He raised his voice a bit as he shook him
"It should have been me," Kayden said turning around to face him, "Why Tharros, why not someone as useless as me?" He asked looking directly into his eyes of Thane, Thane sighed dejectedly
"A life for a life Kayden, don't waste yours," Thane said as he dragged himself to his feet, "Come on, we need to leave here"
"Fast" he continued
Thane lent Kayden a hand as he brought him back to his feet, he began dragging Kayden away from the Chaos, from the sacrifice he had been forced to watch, from the reality of what it meant to be a warrior.
"Where are you taking me?" Kayden asked, looking at his friend Thane, without turning back he responded, "The Water Clan"
"Why are we going there Thane, why not the Thunder Clan, just the two of us won't make it," Kayden said as his voice shook slightly.
Thane tried his best to keep a cool head, deciding to ignore Kayden for now, he had to find the path they needed to the water clan.
"Hey Thane, answer me, we should go back to the clan, we'll die if we go alone... I don't want to die Thane" Kayden continued, without thinking things through Thane slammed Kayden into a nearby tree, his anger evident.
"Well tough shit, you don't want to die, and so did the other men who drank last night, you think we enjoy dying so much? Losing the friends we've made over the years in a couple of mere moments?"
"You want to go back to the clan, and so do I Kayden" he shouted at his friend.
"You think I'm not scared of dying? You think seeing our men getting possessed and chopping our Captain into bits was a happy sight"
"Damnit, I couldn't move or scream, I felt utterly weak before the death of Tharros so yes Kayden, I'm scared as hell but I also have a duty as a warrior"
"Although we fight to live, we die to protect," he said, letting go of Kayden as he walked further into the distance, Kayden blinked away the tears edging around his eyelids.
He looked at his hands while they trembled and realized how wrong he had been, he had thought being a warrior meant glory, Honour, and Status. But it was a constant battle between life and death, the ultimate tag where death itself was inevitable.
And he had brought himself into it, he realized he had no choice but to continue on the path he had chosen, he had no certain determination, neither could he seek revenge for Tharros, but he understood those last words of Thane.
"We die so others may live," he said, slightly pursing his lips, not wanting to be left alone in the forest, he followed after his friend Thane who sauntered ahead of him, he noticed that Thane had been injured by the lightning attack, he checked his own body once more and understood, he had immunity to the lightning element.
"Have this"Kayden handed an elixir to Thane who looked at him for a brief moment before taking it, his wounds slowly began healing, and the cuts and bruises disappeared slowly.
"Have you decided then?" Thane asked him as he threw the bottle of elixir away, Kayden looked ahead into the far distance ahead of them
"How long will it take just the both of us?" He asked they had no food and no water, and leaving this forest was the priority
"Could take us days or weeks to reach the Water clan, but we're almost out of this damned forest, outside here we can find some food and water" he replied
"How did they get possessed?" Kayden suddenly asked, "I also drank the wine so how wasn't I affected," he said
Thane looked thoughtful for a few moments before saying, "It had to be that fog or it wouldn't make sense"
"The fog? Why do you think so?" Kayden asked, sure the fog was thick but that's how fogs are
"Think about it Kayden, whatever that monster was knew that if it attacked us with the fog itself, we would know we were under attack immediately, but if it somehow got into our food, then it would take far more time for us to know we were being possessed" he stated
It undoubtedly made sense to Kayden, if not there's no way they would have wouldn't have noticed, "But my wine?" He asked
"Heat"
"Heat?"
"Yeah, that's the only way it makes sense, your wine was heated till it boiled, but as you like it, the same with the Captain's last attack, lightning is an element that burns as much as it destroys, they all died in that attack which means the only thing that could kill them is heat," he said finally.
Kayden was impressed that Thane had understood so much, especially in a situation like this that had Kayden shaking, he forced himself to calm down, the goal was to keep pushing forward and survive.
"Kayden, we're currently the only two warriors that know of the existence of this monster, we must carry on this message before the realm is plagued with its stench..." Thane stopped mid sentence
Kayden stopped in his tracks and listened, they were sure they heard something move, in this forest no animals lived here, only trees that had adapted to the environment, they heard a sound again, something was being dragged against the ground.
Thane grabbed Kayden and quickly hid behind a tree, "Quiet, something's coming" he said in a hushed tone, moments later what looked like a black serpent dragged itself through the forest, it constantly kept bringing out its forked tongue.
But what surprised Kayden the most, was the size of this monster, it was more than thirteen feet, towering over some of the trees as she slithered around, searching for its prey.
Kayden held his breath, he couldn't make a single sound, he watched in silence as the serpent searched around with his tongue, its scales seemed like black steel, eyes as red as blood.
Immediately it turned in our direction, using its tail to split the tree we hid behind in half, without a second thought Thane bolted off as the tree fell before us, Kayden followed after him as the serpent locked its eyes on both of them
"Shouldn't we fight it?" Kayden asked as they ran as fast as they could
"Sometimes Kayden, surviving is winning"