William sat close to the crackling campfire, cradling a wooden bowl of stew. He inspected the dark broth for a moment before dipping his spoon in to take a bite.
The warmth of it was immediate, it was a rich, elegant comfort that seemed to seep directly into his bones, quieted the restless chatter in his mind, and settled deep into his chest. The meat, though dried and preserved, had softened beautifully in the broth. It retained a pleasant, hearty chew without being tough, carrying a deep, savory flavor.
A wave of unexpected nostalgia washed over him. It was a taste of comfort he hadn't experienced in a very long time, and he savored it in silence.
Setting his gaze across the fire, William let a genuine smile break through as he continued to eat.
"So, you're feeling a bit better now, ay?" Will suddenly said, looking directly at Drenew.
"I guess..." Drenew muttered. Shifting uncomfortably under the gaze, he quickly shut his mouth, practically inhaled the rest of his food in a matter of seconds, and immediately began scooping himself a second portion.
Will chuckled, turning his attention to the rest of the circle. "By the way, new guy! Let me tell you a secret about our friend here. "
Drenew gets irritated at the slightest thing most of the time. But the moment he gets some good food in him, or something goes his way? His head becomes an absolute haven of peace. Did you know that?"
William glanced between Will and Drenew, offering a small, amused smile as he scraped the bottom of his own bowl. "I'll keep that in mind."
Drenew scoffed, his face flushing slightly in the firelight as he ladled a massive second helping of stew into his bowl. "I'm right here, you know. And I wouldn't be so irritable if you didn't make it your life's mission to test my patience."
"See? Still got a bite in him, this folk." Will laughed, setting his empty bowl down on a smooth stone near his feet. He stretched his arms over his head, his joints popping loudly in the quiet night air.
"Man, My back is killing me from that trek. I swear the rocks get harder every time Nester sends us out. Don't y'all with me ya?"
"You're just getting old, Will," one of the other veterans joked from across the fire, throwing a small twig at him. "Next thing you know, you'll be asking for a soft feather mattress out here in the dirt."
"Hey, a feather mattress sounds like heaven right now," Will shot back with a grin.
Just a few yards away, the dark water of the lake lapped gently against the stony shore, a rhythmic, soothing sound that helped drown out the tension of the day's march.
The remaining dozen veterans were scattered around the warmth of the fire, some sharpening daggers out of habit, others just staring blankly into the flames, enjoying the rare moment of doing absolutely nothing.
Tomorrow they would have to figure out how to cure the water, but tonight, the lake was just a peaceful backdrop.
William finally finished his portion, setting his wooden spoon inside the empty bowl. The warm nostalgia of the meal had settled comfortably into his chest. He looked up at the dark, overcast sky.
The wind was picking up, carrying the faint, crisp scent of approaching rain.
"Alright, look at the clouds," Bousthesh said, breaking the comfortable silence. "We should probably wrap this up before we get too comfy and stuffed. Who's taking the first watch?"
"I'll do it," Will volunteered, pushing himself up from the ground with a grunt. "I'm too restless to sleep yet anyway. I'll take the lake side. The water gives me something to look at."
"I'll partner up with you," William offered quickly, eager to show he could pull his weight.
Will patted the rookie on the shoulder. "Good lad. We'll keep it quiet so these old bastards can get their beauty sleep. Drenew, you and Bousthesh take the second shift ay?"
Drenew swallowed his last bite of stew and nodded, already unrolling his heavy cloak near the heat of the logs. "Fine by me.
Just make sure you actually wake me when it's time, Will. Don't go trying to be a hero and pulling a double shift. I want my turn to sit by the fire."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Will smiled.
Within minutes, the casual banter faded away. The dozen seasoned warriors rolled into their blankets, shifting around until they found comfortable grooves in the dirt.
The soft, rhythmic breathing of the sleeping camp blended perfectly with the gentle splashing of the lake against the rocks.
Will sat on a smooth boulder near the water's edge, his hand resting idly on his weapon.
A few paces away stood William, his posture a little too stiff, his eyes scanning the pitch-black tree line with the anxious discipline of a rookie.
"Relax your shoulders, kid," Will said, his voice a low, gravelly murmur that barely carried over the sound of the water. "You keep tensed up like that for a four-hour shift, and you won't be able to swing a blade tomorrow. Get me ya?"
William blinked, letting out a slow breath as he dropped his shoulders slightly. "I do… I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss anything."
"Ain't nothin' slippin' by," Will said, flashing a wide, easy grin in the dim firelight. "You got a good, sturdy frame on ya, William. Your body is dense, strong. You should be happy with that. Out here, with us folks, a tough hide is what keeps you breathing."
William stayed quiet for a moment, his gaze drifting from the trees down to his own hands. "A tough hide is good," he admitted softly. "But it's just... physical. It doesn't change who you are."
Will stopped poking the fire. He looked up, his eyes narrowing slightly as he read the unspoken longing plain on the rookie's face with a smirk "So ya one of those folks who want it huh? Well sorry but you ain't born with so nothing we can do."
The thing he was talking about was obviously a soul's interpretation, something that William had grown to admire from all the people he saw.
Will said, shrugging his shoulders with a chuckle, "Hey but I've heard real good thing about you from the instructor, he said yer a great scout and that you'll only need some experience,"
William looked down at his hands, watching the embers dance, "Thanks. But... I've heard stories about people getting actual abilities even if they weren't born with it. I mean you can still get one eventually right?"
Will burst into a short, hearty laugh, shaking his head. "Ah, the grand dreams of the youth! Nah, kid, sorry to burst yer bubble. Most folks just get sturdy bones and live a happy, boring life. You can't get a proper ability but if you really do want it, ya gotta go through a whole Metamorphosis. And that usually means eatin' stones."
William frowned, completely confused. "Eating... stones? Like, rocks off the ground?"
"Nah, special ones," Will said cheerily, leaning back on his hands. "See, occasionally a monster swallows a weird mineral in the deep dark, right? But instead of poopin' it out, the stone starts drinkin' the beast's nutrients like a parasite. The monster's soul warps the stone, turnin' it into this concentrated lump of power that we can harvest and use. Pretty neat, ay?"
"And people eat those?" William asked, his brow furrowing in disgust.
"Well, not like a snack," Will chuckled, kicking his heels against the boulder. "Usually, ya gotta drop the stone in some nasty chemicals, smash it into tiny little bits, and have a medic surgically plant the pieces into different parts of yer body so ya can slowly digest it over time. I mean, technically ya can just swallow it whole, but it messes up yer insides so bad ya can't ever process normal food again. You'd starve to death with a full belly. And man, after that stew tonight? I couldn't live without real food."
William stared at him, fascinated but thoroughly weirded out. "That sounds insane. But it awakens the soul?"
"Sometimes. It can even cure things, blindness, tumors, rotted minds," Will said, waving a hand dismissively with a light, easy smile. "But honestly, kid? For ordinary folks like us, the chance of actually pullin' it off without the stone turnin' ya inside out is basically zero percent."
William blinked. "Turn you inside out?"
"Aye. If yer mind ain't perfectly steady, the stone's alien nature bleeds right into ya. Changes yer hair color, gives ya a nasty mental illness, or just flips yer whole personality upside down. You'd wake up a completely different fellow." Will hopped down from the boulder, walking over to pat William's shoulder with a bright, cheerful grin. "So don't go gettin' any wild ideas about chasin' down monster hearts, ay? Enjoy yer strong body, stay alive, and let the real weirdos handle the soul magic."
As Will said and looked at the river, taking a long breath of the fresh air as he let out a sigh of relief.
He then stood up and walked over to where William was sitting and sat beside him, taking a dry wood from the pile next to the long wooden log they used at a seat and threw it in the fire.
"Often not the stones are just a way for creeps with interpretations to develop their own abilities to even greater length, as the stones affect you less negatively as you have more afterglow. Ya and me Ain't got a good chance ya know? But ay, I believe we are still lucky! We have strong bodies due to our afterglow making us age like wine and heck you'd probably live for 150 or maybe even 200 years if you treat yourself well, ya get me, ay? Well, you'll probably die before that though.."
William shifted uncomfortably on the log. He pulled his cloak a little tighter around himself, his eyes darting down to his boots.
He swallowed his nervousness and looked up, speaking softly but with absolute certainty. "Hey, come on now... don't call them creeps. Or freaks. They're not."
Will raised an eyebrow, a broad grin returning to his face. "Oh? Touchy, are we?"
"They're not freaks," William repeated, his voice small but steady as he stared back into the fire. "Those folk are... Well…, they're kind of my idols. To have your own soul become something real like that? To have an ability that's uniquely you? It's amazing."
"Aye, and half of 'em got a troubling childhood," Will chuckled easily, his voice still carrying that thick, rhythmic drawl. "But hey those lads grew up so much that they've even become idols for some folks,"
William smiled faintly, his shyness returning for a second before curiosity took over. He glanced sideways at the older warrior. "Hey, Will?"
"Spit it out, kid."
"Why did your accent get so strong just now? Compared to how you were talking earlier, you sound completely different."
The wide, carefree smile on Will's face instantly froze. It shrank down into a small, distinctly nervous grin, and a faint tint of red crept up his neck in the dim firelight. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking thoroughly embarrassed as he stared down at his boots.
"Ah... Shit. Did it?" Will muttered.
The moment the words left his mouth, Will's posture stiffened. The heavy drawl actively retreated as he caught himself, and he heavily restricted the accent, forcing his voice into a completely flat, neutral camp tone.
"Well... you see... that's how I normally talk back home," Will admitted, the heavy drawl actively retreating as he caught himself, and he heavily restricted the accent, forcing his voice into a completely flat, neutral camp tone."I try to keep a tight lid on it around the company. You get into a real fight, a bad emergency where commands need to be shouted fast and if I start barking orders in my pure home dialect, it comes out as complete gibberish to the rest of the squad. Had a close call once because a mate couldn't understand a word I was yelling during an ambush."
He gave a sheepish chuckle, clearly self-conscious about being caught slipping. "So I trained myself to speak plain, well at least to the point it will be understandable in an emergency. Guess I just got a bit too relaxed sitting here with you."
William looked at him, feeling a new sense of respect for how much thought the veteran put into keeping his squad safe. "Makes sense. But... It's a cool accent."
"Don't encourage me," Will said, carefully policing every syllable to make sure not a single slip-up happened again. "If I keep this up, It'll form into a habit. A bit of accent is fine but too much and I'll be slurring my words at that point. Anyway... forget the accent. Point is, don't throw your life away chasing monster hearts or any of the sorts, William. A long life with a cold drink and your mind intact is worth a hell of a lot more than a glowing stone."
"I understand."
"Good" Will smiled again as he stood up, "Well we only got an hour left in our shift anyways."
He said stretching his limbs, "Might as well do some light exercise to make it easier to sleep, I'd recommend you do the same Willi-"
Will suddenly stopped talking as he quickly turned his head, startling William who was now confused at Will's sudden action.
"I heard it…"
"Heard what…?"
"A footstep," Will said, unsheathing a dagger and holding a gun in the other hand, "Not too sure if it's a human's footstep or a monster's but either way, it's bad.
"Should I wake everyone up?" William asked now standing next to Will.
"No, only wake up Drenew and Bousthesh, since I'm not sure if it's a false alarm or not and I don't think they'll mind waking a bit early for their shift if it was nothing much. There's no need to risk everyone losing some sleep over my suspicions."
"Oh, okay, I'll go now then." William said, rushing over to one of the tents to wake them up.
Will, now holding the dagger that he secretly stole from Drenew and the gun given to him by Skiller let out a sigh and slowly approached the direction from where he heard the sound.
It was pitch black around him, as the fire in the campfire was the only source.
As he poked through the woods with a focused expression he saw something faintly move and moved his head away, as it passed his head he could make out what it was, it was an arrow with its head covered in paper and something soaked at its tip and as it landed, an explosion occurred.
"What the f**k!?" Will muttered shocked at the explosion, but as he did he suddenly looked up and saw hundreds of arrows covered in the same paper and its tip soaked with a liquid.
An irritated look appeared in his face as he shouted, "ENEMY FIRE! TAKE COVER."
His voice echoed through and woke everyone up but at the same time the arrows landed and a huge chain of explosions engulfed the camp.
Will who had dashed towards the forest now coughed and looked at his now somewhat torn clothes covered in dust and murmured a swear in his own mother tongue.
The camp was now a battlefield.