"I'm back, I brought some rabbit," Rowan said as he entered through the opening in the rock.
"Mm, delicious, just what I wanted today," I replied jokingly while shaving a dry branch with my sword.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty, next time I'll bring something better for you," apparently it was a joke, but with his always expressionless face, it felt strange hearing him say something like that.
Serin got up from her 'bed.' "You're being too loud," she said with a sleepy and tired face.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Like shit…" she stretched and yawned, "I'd never used pulsar like that before, it pushed my body to the extreme."
And she wasn't lying. Five days had already passed since we arrived at the cave, and she still couldn't get up. By the third day she had barely been able to drink water and eat without help.
She fixed her hair a little. "Everything alright outside? Any signs of soldiers nearby?" she asked.
"Nothing yet, apparently they're not interested in this area, we're very close to the mountain," he took a seat and grabbed a rabbit to start skinning it, "one way or another, we should keep lighting the fire only at night for now."
Serin nodded. "As soon as I fully recover, we'll leave immediately. We need to reach the wall as quickly as possible, we need to cross to the northern side of the continent."
"I wonder where those soldiers came from… and what they want," I murmured.
"I don't know and I don't care, they destroyed and… massacred our village," she said while clenching her fist tightly.
I thought about her words for a moment. When Serin found Corin, before they… killed him, he told her what had happened.
Dozens of soldiers with dark reddish armor arrived and began burning and killing everything they found. Many rode armored beasts, even… a wyvern.
Besides that, it seemed a small imperial garrison had 'just' arrived at the village, so everything quickly turned into chaos and the village into a battlefield.
"So what's the plan once you recover?" I asked.
"We'll go to the great containment wall, then cross the portal that connects to the northern part of the continent. If this really is an invasion from a foreign country… I highly doubt they've managed to take the north and the capital," she crossed her legs and thought for a moment, "they probably invaded the south and want to seize the wall quickly, we'll have to get there before that happens."
The wall… the great containment wall was a pair of titanic structures, each resembling a city. They were connected to each other by two massive portals.
The continent was divided in two by an impassable mountain range, the problem being that… on the eastern side of the continent there was an extremely dangerous zone. Creatures of all kinds lived there, from 'simple' panlagors to wyverns. It was known as one of the three corrupted zones of the eastern continents.
In theory, those zones had become that way for the same reason the continent was divided into three—they had been the site of apocalyptic-scale battles a little over a thousand years ago.
"What do you know about the corrupted zone?" My knowledge was limited. In Aldefor's library I hadn't had much time to read, and in the village there were no books about it. What little I knew came from what Miles heard foreign travelers talking about in the tavern.
Miles… I hope you're alright. My expression fell slightly, but I recovered quickly when I heard Serin speak.
"I don't know much more than you, only the things I've heard during the times I visited Aldefor. I really haven't gone far beyond the village except for expeditions," she replied quickly.
But after thinking for a moment, she continued. "What I do know is that many groups enter the zone to hunt beasts and sell their parts for outrageous prices," she sighed, "but it doesn't matter, we'll simply go to the wall and cross the portal."
Night soon arrived, and with it my favorite time of these last few days: dinner.
Rowan finished skinning the rabbits and skewered them on a branch before bringing them close to the fire. The fat immediately began to sizzle, filling the cave with a warm smell that contrasted too much with the cold outside.
While waiting for the meat to roast, I looked at the cave entrance, barely an irregular opening covered with branches and the almost nonexistent snow that remained. From outside it looked like just another stone wall; inside… there was barely room for the three of us.
"I hate this," I murmured without thinking.
Serin raised an eyebrow. "The rabbit?"
"No, waiting."
Rowan turned the meat calmly. "Get used to it, surviving is boring."
"And talking to you too, you sound like Uncle Ed," I replied, rolling my eyes.
Serin let out a small nasal laugh, the first in days. Even Rowan took a second to hide a slight expression that might have been a smile. The mood lightened a little.
I settled against the rock and watched the flames dance before us. It felt strange to experience something like calm after everything that had happened… everything felt both so close and so far away at the same time.
"When we leave here," Serin said suddenly, her eyes fixed on the fire, "we won't be able to stop until we reach the wall."
Rowan nodded while continuing to cook.
"And if they got there before us…" I added.
"Then we'll improvise," Rowan said firmly.
I let out a dry laugh. "How reassuring."
Serin shook her head. "There is no better plan than staying alive."
The meat was ready shortly after. We ate in silence, dividing just enough so it would be enough for the three of us. It wasn't much, but after several days any hot meal felt like a luxury.
When I finished, I leaned my back against the stone wall and closed my eyes for a moment. I was completely exhausted; I had barely slept these past few days.
Even so, I couldn't stop thinking about the same thing. We didn't know who those soldiers were, we didn't know how many there were, we didn't know if what destroyed our village was only the beginning.
Shortly after, I fell deeply asleep.