After events from the previous night, Chrestos packed his belongings and essentials before setting foot outside of his father's home. He thought about telling his older brother, but he felt doing so would only anger him or put him in danger. With that thought in mind, he stepped past his bedroom door and set forth into the night. The family's residence was located right at the entry of the village, so the young warrior did not have to risk catching attention for the time being.
It was quite strange for Chrestos to leave the safety of his home without accompanying someone else. Despite being trained for combat against attackers, human or inhuman, he knew that even the strongest of warriors were unable to handle threats alone. Yet, he was not new to the sight of the world outside his home. The most dangerous thing Chrestos saw so far was the occasional wolf, where the he could fend the beast off by firing a warning shot with his bow to scare it off. He did not have to worry however, because the trail was quite silent for the time being. The only noise he heard that disturbed the silence was the call of a raven. It was not long before Chrestos saw that same body of water, where he met Amaya and saw Acacius kill her mother. He hoped that he could see her again to deliver a proper apology.
As Chrestos pressed forward, he heard the sound of a twig snapping. He turned to see what made the noise, yet nothing was visible. He then proceeded to move with slower movement, not knowing that there was a vine moving behind him. When Chrestos least expected it, he felt the fine ensnaring him from his ankle. He shouted as he was pulled upwards. "Hey! What the!?" He kept his armored hand against the hilt of the Sovereign Blade as he saw something from beneath him. It looked like a plant, but it bore jaws lined with jagged teeth and a blue tongue that illuminated. Before he could be lowered into its maw, Chrestos pulled his blade and cut the vine of the carnivore off. He got up to face the creature, only to see its vine regrow quickly.
The warrior was pondering what to do next before he saw a wave of energy flowing from the left, which cut through the surrounding vegetation. The beam cut two more of the plant's tendrils before going straight for the stem that connected the maw to the soil. The head rolled off its stump, the tongue's bioluminescent glow fading to blend with the darkness. Chrestos gathered his breath as he tried to find who vanquished the creature. "Who's there!?" he shouted. As if to respond, a cloaked woman approached him and slowly removed her hood to reveal a familiar face. "Amaya?" She approached him and pointed her finger to his chin. She hissed, "Don't think that I saved you because I wanted to." Confused, Chrestos decided to speak. "W-What do you mean?"
Amaya pulled her hood over her head before continuing to speak. "I know you wanted to spare my mother, but that didn't stop your brother from murdering her..." Somewhat annoyed, yet understanding of her anguish, Chrestos decided to follow her as she walked deeper into the woods. "Listen, my father reprimanded him for what he did! He'll be spending some time under his watch for quite a while." The half-human scoffed at the warrior's remark. "Will discipline bring her back?" While he again understood the young woman for her annoyance, the sight of her being blunt seemed to get on the nerves of Chrestos. He remembered encountering people during his childhood, who held grudges for even the most passive of mistakes. "Listen," he said while trying to be more level-headed. "I never conspired to killing your mother. My father warned us not to do so unless she struck first. Upon hearing that she was the partner of Kallisto, I knew that she could have been a force to ally ourselves with." Despite speaking as truthfully as he could, Amaya did not seem to trust him. "Okay, but it happened," she said without turning her head to face him.
Agitated, Chrestos responded in concern for her safety. "Look, I just can't let you walk out here by yourself! It's dangerous out here and I don't think getting hurt is something you'd want!" Amaya turned and made a snide remark, "Says the one who got captured by a freaking plant." Before Chrestos could respond, however, he noticed a dense fog ahead of her, which caused him to walk past her. Amaya, confused, turned to where he was walking. "Hey! You hear me, hero!?"
Chrestos, used a piece of chert to ignite a torch he kept in his bag. Upon illuminating the surrounding area, he found a tombstone right in front of him. It already was succumbing to the overgrowth of the forest, but yet it was still visible. He moved his torch around to find a few more within his vicinity. Amaya walked up from behind him and asked, "D-Did we walk into a burial?" Chrestos responded without facing her, "Well... Giant stones etched with writing couldn't mean anything else, now would it?" Irritated, she spoke back. "Oh, so now you're the one giving me sarcasm!?" The hunter placed his finger over his mouth, telling the nymph to keep her voice down. He had a feeling that they were not the only ones in this graveyard.
The two travelers continued to traverse through the cluster of stones, Amaya growing uneasy as the fog made it almost difficult for her to see if it was not for Chrestos's torch. Amaya decided to ask him, "Wh-What exactly made you come out here?" In response, the hunter said, "Well, it's obvious that someone with dark intentions wanted to go as far to murder the spouse of my father's friend. It's likely that this has something to do with Ares." Amaya gasped as he mentioned that name. "Ares!? I thought that he was banished for good!" Chrestos sighed as he continued to move forward. "Just because Sparta's military was smitten along with their new master doesn't mean that there were not others who had the same philosophy. These could be acolytes of some kind."
While putting the pieces together, Amaya heard something shifting in the distance. "Did you hear that?" Chrestos heard it too as he was waving his torch in the direction of the noise. He whispered, "Just stay with me and don't make any noise." Amaya nodded as she started to hear what sounded like shifting dirt, followed by a grotesque moan. She grabbed Chrestos's arm tightly as a humanoid figure was shifting about in the fog. This caught the attention of the hunted as he drew his blade and struck the figure in the torso, where blood seeped from the wound. Once the figure fell, Chrestos shined the light of his torch at what he hit. It looked like a human corpse, emaciated with its eyes and the top of its head bandaged. This made Amaya gasp as she knew something in this graveyard seemed off. She then turned to face Chrestos. "What if there's more?" He only turned his head to try and find more of those zombies, before facing Amaya. "Just remember what I said, stay close. We'll fend them off together."
One by one, Chrestos swung his blade at the horde. Behind him, Amaya cast spells to supress the undead, which have reduced them and their bones to ash. She did not notice one creeping behind her, however, which grabbed her arm and held her up against one of the gravestones. The zombie exhaled its putrid breath against her face, which caused her to shove it away and summon a blade from thin air. "Ugh! Even after death, you humans continue to make me sick!" She shouted as she impaled the zombie upside the mouth, kicking its limp body away. Chrestos added more to her in an effort to solve a potential riddle, "An idiot even knows that human corpses do not move to their own accord once they die! It's likely there's some force controlling them."
As if to respond to his comment, a sphere of green fire flew towards the ground. The shock caused Chrestos and Amaya to fly backwards into the dirt. Once the dust cleared up, they saw a figure. Its form was concealed in cloak of dark blue, with only two green eyes being visible in the hood's shadow. "Did your parents warn you not to disrespect the dead, children?" Amaya grunted as she got up to shout at the mysterious being. She happened to know what it was after looking at his pendant. "Disrespect!? You necromancers disrespect the dead by bringing them back from their final resting place! Who are you to tell us how to treat bodies your dark magic has tainted!" Chrestos got up and raised his sword, pointing it in the direction of the necromancer to question him. "Who are you!? Are you human, a demon!?"
The necromancer unleashed a massive chuckle that seemed to reverberate throughout the graveyard. "Human? What I identify as hardly matters now, Ares shall free our souls from this wretched world as he reforms it in his own image!" Chrestos and Amaya both raised their eyebrows as they heard that name being mentioned. "So the rumors were true. You are planning the return of Ares!" The necromancer let out another vicious laugh before he continued to taunt him. "This was not my plan, this was OUR plan! There are others... Humans and demons who wish to reshape this world by following the almighty god of war! Zeus will fall this time, and we will not let the son of a has-been hero RUIN IT!!!" He screamed as he opened both palms to unleash spheres of dark energy at the two. Chrestos leaped out of the way as Amaya formed a shield, composed entirely of ice.
"Nymphs don't have that type of ability... But neither do humans," Chrestos thought as his travel partner broke the shield to form needles. With one swift motion, the air hurled the needles forward as the Necromancer´s undead army was impaled by the fusillade. He looked back, dumbfounded at what he just witnessed. Before he can face his opponents, Chrestos ran from behind him and impaled him through the chest. "Bother the dead no longer... You'll join them," he said with a grunt as he pulled his blade back. The wizard fell on his knees and then collapsed as he slowly started to dissolve into particles of shadow.
Amaya walked up from behind Chrestos as she inquired to him. "What was the purpose of all this?" He shrugged before saying, " I'm not sure, but it's obvious he didn't want us to reach anything. Maybe we'll get answers if we move forward." The half-human shrugged and pushed him aside with one hand. Chrestos yelped and regained his balance before Amaya walked past him. "Just because you saved my ass doesn't mean we'll play follow the leader," she sneered. "We're in this together now, so there's no going back."