Ren sat on the remains of a porch, burnt to a crisp but still standing against all odds. Around him stretched nothing but pitch black ruin, the silence heavy as ash. The only contrast was his hair, streaked with white, catching faint glimmers of the fading sun.
He sat cross legged, hands clasped and resting on his knees, chin balanced upon them. His face was the very image of a storm, rage restrained and grief simmering, yet his voice remained silent.
Nox staggered back from the two corpses, horror painted across his young face. His body trembled as he collapsed onto the ashen ground, curling into himself and clutching his knees as though he could hide from the world.
Soren stood motionless, a statue in the midst of ruin, the only proof he still lived the shallow rise and fall of his chest and the occasional blink of his hollow eyes.
"I'm tired." The words slipped out of Nox in a whisper so faint it was almost lost to the dead air.
He was tired, not merely in body though hunger gnawed at him and the weight of carrying someone all day had drained him. No, his exhaustion ran deeper. He was tired of death, tired of sorrow, tired of fighting for his life with no end in sight. He longed to escape, but where was there to go?
His grip on his legs tightened until warmth bloomed in his chest, and his mind wandered to brighter days, sunny days.
He remembered sneaking into the forest with Juro when they were nine, going too far and stumbling into the path of a wild boar. It had charged, and Nox, desperate to protect his timid friend, had swung with all his strength. His fist connected, and the beast dropped in a single blow. That was the day he learned he wasn't like other children.
But he had sprained his ankle, too weak to make it back. Juro, frightened and helpless, could only cry, until Juro's mother came. A tall woman with long black hair, her skin glowing like sunlight itself. Even to a child she was beautiful. She carried Nox home to his mother, and from that day their families became as close as kin.
The warmth of her back. Her kindness. His thoughts drifted to Lara's face, innocent, fragile. But both gone now. His heart cracked again beneath the weight of loss.
Chunk. Chunk.
The sound dragged him from his memory.
He raised his head, arms loosening from the knot around his knees. Soren's neck snapped toward the noise as well.
Ren.
He was digging. A piece of plank in his hands, one end jagged, stabbing into the dirt. His movements were steady, his strength so unnatural the ground parted more easily for him than for a man with a shovel. His face had shifted too, the storm was gone. In its place, that unsettling grin stretched wide, lashes mismatched and catching the dim light in a way that made his expression even stranger.
Creepy.
Nox squinted, watching. Ren was digging in the center of the village, the most open space left. A realization dawned.
A grave. A grave wide enough for them all.
Nox dragged his sleeve across his face, wiping away tears. He searched until he found a plank of his own, rough and half charred, then dropped beside Ren and began digging. His movements were clumsy, his face twisted with sorrow and anger, but he kept at it.
For nearly two hours they dug, the sun sinking lower with every shovelful. At last, a grave yawned before them, forty feet long and six feet wide. It looked less like a resting place and more like a passageway, a corridor carved into the earth leading straight into death.
Soren sat nearby, his injured leg stretched before him, watching every motion. Though he could not help, he forced himself to bear witness.
When the pit was ready, Ren began lifting charred corpses and laying them inside. His strength made it easier, but the act weighed on him more than any burden. Nox tried to help but recoiled each time his eyes landed on the horror, his hands trembling too violently to touch them.
One after another, the dead were lowered in. Men, women, children, all reduced to faceless ash. A single grave for them all.
At the end, only two bodies remained.
Ren stood still,his back turned to the boys.
Nox stepped forward, forcing himself to move, and bent to lift the two corpses. The weight almost broke him, not in his arms but in his heart.
"Leave them."
Ren's voice cut through the silence.
Nox stopped, his voice thin as the wind. "Why?"
Ren walked over slowly and pointed to the back of the charred man who held the girl.
Soren leaned in too.
Scars. Countless scars, slashes, stabs, wounds that looked fresh, carved deep into his flesh.
"Whoever he was," Ren said, his tone low but steady, "he wasn't a villager. More likely one of the bastards who razed this place. But look closer. Even when the fire came, even in death, he never let go of this child. I think his death was a result of protecting her. And even now, he still holds her." His eyes softened. "There's no better final resting place than his arms."
Nox's eyes widened. The corpse didn't match what he remembered of Solar, Lara's father. This was someone else entirely. A stranger who had chosen to die a protector.
Soren glanced at Nox, and Nox lowered his head. Wordlessly, they returned to the grave and began filling it with soil.
When it was done, the mound stretched across the village like a scar.
Ren stood, brushing ash from his hands. His grin had vanished. His voice was firm, sharp enough to break through their exhaustion.
"We move now. This carnage was carried out, likely last night. By now, they're further south. Where there's another village, like this one. For a large group, the journey would take two days. But there's another faster route to get there, If we run without stopping, we'll get there in half a day."
He turned, eyes fixed south. "im sure he's there already."
"Who?" Nox asked.
Ren's grin flickered back. "Kirian."
They bowed to the mound in silence, Nox, his eyes red, and Soren, his leg and shoulders aching but his head lowered in respect. Then, without another word, Nox hoisted Soren onto his back. The two of them bolted after Ren, their feet hammering the earth.
They ran for hours, their speed unbroken, a blur across the wasted land. Five hours later, the trail opened to a cliff. The other side stretched fifty feet away, a sheer gap yawning between them, its bottom swallowed in black.
Ren stopped, calm and composed, while Nox staggered, lungs heaving from carrying Soren all this way.
"This way," Ren said, turning down a narrow trail. "There's a bridge."
Soren burned with guilt, weighing heavily on Nox's back, helpless as a burden.
The bridge revealed itself at the cliff's edge, a skeleton of wood and rope. The planks were warped and splintering, the ropes frayed to threads. It swayed in the night air like something long abandoned.
"This?" Nox's voice cracked through the silence, sharp and bitter. "We'd be safer with a noose around our necks. This is suicide."
Ren only grinned. Without another word, he lifted Soren off Nox's back. Before Soren could protest
Zoom.
Ren blurred across the fifty foot span. Four seconds, maybe less. Too quick to hear his steps. The bridge groaned in his wake, several planks tumbling loose, but they reached the far side unharmed. Ren set Soren down gently, as if nothing had happened.
Soren's breath caught. His eyes darted to the broken steps behind them.
Nox froze at the edge, staring in disbelief.
On the other side, Ren casually sat beside Soren, stretching his arms like he'd come to watch a play.
"Hey!" Nox's voice rang across the chasm. "Aren't you coming back for me?"
Ren cupped his hands, shouting back, "Umm… no. I'm tired. But we're waiting. Come on, hurry."
"That bastard," Nox muttered, rage seething. "He's trying to kill me isn't he?"
Soren's jaw clenched. "Aren't you going to get him?" he demanded, glaring at Ren.
"Nope." Ren's grin didn't falter. "He needs his blood pumping. Ever since the girl… he's been too calm. Too quiet, I know what that feels like. He needs this."
Soren swallowed hard, torn between anger and reluctant understanding. "…Maybe you're right," he muttered, turning away.
At the edge, Nox placed one foot on the bridge, testing it like a child bracing for cold water. His muttering carried faintly across the gap. "Ren, when I get there… I'm killing you."
He stepped on, gripping the ropes like lifelines. One cautious step at a time.
Ten feet in
Crack.
The board splintered beneath him. He plunged, catching the next plank with both hands. It groaned under his weight, breaking apart even as he clung.
"I'm going to die," Nox thought, dread flooding him.
Soren held his breath. Ren leaned back, almost entertained.
With a burst of strength, Nox swung himself up, the board shattered. Boards collapsed beneath him. He seized a hanging rope, bouncing hard until it flung him upward again.
But he saw it, the rope strands barely holding. If he landed too hard, the whole bridge would collapse.
He inhaled sharply, gathering iora at his feet. When he landed, he bolted forward, faster than the boards could fall, faster than the rope could unravel.
Each step shattered the boards beneath him, the bridge crumbling in his wake. The far side drew closer.
Snap.
The ropes whipped apart. The bridge gave way flailing down into the black void beneath.
Nox leapt as the bridge fell, but his jump was shallow, desperate. His fingers clawed at empty air, almost over to the other side, but the jump was too short. "I'm not going to make it," he whispered.
Then a hand seized his wrist.
Soren, straining with every ounce of strength left in his body, dragged him upward. Together they collapsed onto the dirt, gasping, then laughing. Wild, breathless laughter, born from the edge of death.
Their laughter stilled when Ren's slow clap echoed in the night.
"Well done," he mocked, smirking. "Ten points, for both of you."
"You bastard," Nox snarled, fury flashing. "I almost died."
"Yeah," Ren replied easily, grin sharp. "But doesn't it make you appreciate living more?"
Nox went quiet. The truth stung. Ever since the village, he'd wondered if death was kinder than life. But now… he realized, his life was not something he wanted to lose that easily.
Soren too clenched his fists. He still carried guilt for failing his mother. But he swore, never again. If someone was within reach, and he could, he would do whatever it took to save save them.
For a moment, their faces burned bright again, like it did, when they left the fig tree that morning.
Ren stretched. "Anyway, let's go. Another wheat village awaits. Hopefully this one still has wheat by the time we get there."
Any respect Soren had felt for him dissolved instantly. Nox shot him a glare.
"Even for you, Ren," Nox muttered, "that joke was in poor taste."
And yet, despite themselves, he and Soren snickered under their breath. It was terrible, it was wrong, but it was funny.
Ren scratched the back of his head, feigning innocence. "What? What did I say this time?"
Then, without waiting, he led the way.
Two hours later, the road opened again. The night sky had deepened, the stars glinting faintly above, but the village ahead glowed quietly in the dark.
But It was untouched. Whole.
Even at night, it was beautiful, rows of wheat fields swaying softly in the breeze, golden under moonlight. The houses lay in silence, all dark except a handful near the village edge, and one large house at the far end. It stood tall on a hill, visible from every corner of the settlement.
The three slowed their pace, senses sharp.
A lone figure was walking toward them from the heart of the village.
Nox stopped first, setting Soren down from his back in case they needed to fight. Ren raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting into the glow.
The man emerged into the lamplight. He was tall, Ren's height, maybe a little taller, looked as old as Ren too. His black hair shimmered in the dim light, his skin was pale but healthy, his lips had the faintest shade of pink. But it was his eyes that caught them, green, sharp, and unnervingly calm.
His clothes pitch black like Ren's, a little loose for his frame. Black boots hugged his legs. But what drew their eyes most were his swords. across his upper back two long swords crossed in an X, their hilts rising just over each shoulder. Below them, strapped along the curve of his lower back, lay another pair set horizontally, one hilt jutting to his left side, the other to his right.
He walked with the steady arrogance of someone who owned the ground he stepped on.
Nox and Soren stared, breathless. Whoever this was, he didn't just look dangerous, he looked cool.
And then—
"Kirian!!!"
Ren bolted forward like a child spotting his father, leaping onto the man with arms and legs clinging tight.
"Ren?!" The man's voice exploded, furious. "You stupid idiot, get off me!" He shook violently, trying to peel Ren off like an insect.
Nox and Soren froze, their jaws nearly unhinged. "Huh?!" they shouted in unison, completely lost.
The bizarre reunion was cut short.
From the distance, lights began to flicker against the dark. Hundreds of them, bobbing and swaying. Torches.
A line of fire moving steadily toward the village.
An army.
Nox and Soren stiffened. Their hearts sank as the truth settled, this was likely the same bastards who had razed Lara's home. They were here, closing in again.
Nox's hands twitched. His breath became heavy, a manic smile stretched across his face, grief and rage sharpening into something darker. His fingers curled, eager for blood.
Revenge pulsed through his veins like fire.