I traveled west the whole night before, and for the better part of the day, only making stops for brief rests and to take quick meals under the cool shade of trees. While my magical steed never got tired and could ride at full speed for days on end, riding it was not an easy task for my already tired body.

The road I was following was close to non-existent. There were parts where the stonework was visible and one could tell that this had served as a commercial route sometime in the past, but most of it was filled with grass and had cracked from the expanding roots of surrounding trees.

Regardless of how hidden the road would get though, I knew that it was there, and so all I had to do was follow the path where no trees were growing.

The air was moist through the night and many trees still had water on their leaves well into the day. Not encountering any animals during my ride save from the occasional owl during the night, it seemed to me that the animals were as tired as I was and did not make their way out of their nests. During my rests, I always checked on Kai by going down the chest but he continued to sleep in one of the beds.

I knew that I should have woken him up by now. I had more of the potions I used for the people in the village but I postponed it, always telling myself that the next stop would be better suited.

I knew that I was simply stalling but I could not bring myself to face him. That meant I would need to expose him to what had happened. It might have been selfish of me, but I did not want to do that to him yet.

The sun had set some time ago now and I found a willow tree undergrowth by the river that would serve as good camouflage for me to set up a protective field.

The willow tree branches and some of its roots completely hid me and the chest. There was enough space to stand up straight and even walk a little while still being covered.

I dismissed my magical ride with another note of the flute and pulled out some of the magical stones I had found in the market before leaving that I would need in this situation.

Item : Protective Barrier Link Rocks

Type : Magic Item

Durability : 1241/1550

Rarity : D Grade

Weight : 60st.

Description : A set of ordinary-looking stones that can connect to each other when placed on the ground and raise a protective barrier once their specific word of power is spoken. The barrier would remain there until the speaker of the word retracts it. Nobody else but the user will be able to cross into the barrier though exiting is permitted for everyone and everything.

Lucky for me, the command word was in a small piece of paper right under the rocks when I found them so once I had set them around the opening, I spoke it and a dim flash let me know that we were now protected.

Having taken care of that, I opened the chest and went downstairs to prepare my dinner. Kai was as serene and unmoving as before so I retrieved some bread, cheese, and fruits, having decided to eat upstairs.

I wanted to quench my thirst with the cold water of the river. Having dinner in the cool breeze was exactly what I needed after so many hours of riding in the sun.

I sat on a large rock and tried to focus on my meal. On the occasional beam of moonlight escaping through the clouds, the rustling leaves that were living their last days, and the sound of water making its way southward to join the ocean.

Trying to focus on anything other than what I was running away from and what had happened the past couple of days took a lot of effort and I still could not empty my mind of negative thoughts.

My hands instinctively moved to my long and messy hair and before I knew it, I was pulling with force. Seeing that it was futile to completely block the past from my mind, I decided to try and focus on the future instead so I forced myself to keep my hands on my thighs.

Kai would soon wake up, one way or the other, but I wanted to be the one waking him up. It would be much better for him if he saw a familiar face instead of wondering where he was when he opened his eyes.

I needed to choose a specific time for it and commit to it. I was too emotionally tired to do it today, so he could rest a bit more tonight but after that…

Tomorrow then.

But I wanted to cover more distance tomorrow and I didn’t want to push him into traveling right after he found out that the whole village was decimated. So, I decided that I would do it tomorrow after I stopped to rest.

Then, there was the issue of what I should tell him and how. He may have been quite mature and understanding for his age but he was still a young boy. He’d never had dealings with death before, and now, his parents had been killed.

Everyone in Nara that was not partaking in the liturgy was massacred and many of them were dead because of his new powers going wild. How would he react to that?

It wasn’t his fault of course. It couldn’t have been. But that wouldn’t stop him from thinking that he had murdered them.

I hope he doesn’t remember any of it.

Even if he did, I would simply have to stay by his side and console him.

What if he doesn’t remember anything at all?

He really had looked as if he was possessed. For all I knew he might still have been, seeing that his skin was still golden in color. He might still have been dangerous, but that was a risk that I had to take.

A plan was now beginning to take shape in my mind. I first had to establish how much he remembered about what had happened and then act accordingly.

In the fortunate case that he didn’t remember anything—which would also confirm my suspicions that something else took over his body—I would convince him that we managed to escape the massacre which was initiated by the angels.

But how would I explain all of the things that I picked up from the market?

The chest, the food, the potions. I couldn’t have had enough time to take anything with me if I had just fled. This was tricky. I wasn’t used to telling lies so it was quite hard for me to formulate one that would sound believable, especially if I wanted to prevent him from trying to return to the village.

That would be the hardest part. He didn’t actually have the chance to say goodbye to his parents and I was certain that he'd want to. But I wouldn’t have him witness the spectacle of their dead bodies.

This back and forth with myself lasted throughout my entire meal. I stood up and shook my robes to get rid of any bread and cheese crumbs that had made their way there and when I looked back up, I noticed flickering lights in the distance.

I normally would have run behind my protective barrier, but the lights were far away and the rate at which they were approaching was slow.

I moved toward the undergrowth all the same, but a few seconds later I realized that the lights were moving and turning as the river did, snaking along its path. I gasped as I realized what that procession of lights was, all sense of logic flying away from me.

I walked to the edge of the riverbank as the lights drew closer, registering them for what they really were. Funeral fires. I choked back a sob.