A group of boys raced through an open field, trying to hide themselves with the help of the sparse amount of bushes available. They breathed heavily both from exhaustion and excitement as they got closer to their objectives.

“Come on, Edhard! Faster!” the oldest boy shouted as he noticed that the littlest of the group was lagging behind.

“B-But Vill, Mama said not to get too close to… them!” Little Edhard argued once he managed to catch up.

“Edhard, if you’re chickening out, you can go home right now. But we won’t tell you what we saw!” one of the boys chided.

“I’m not chickening out! A Sea’axfeared never backs down!” Edhard declared with renewed confidence. “Are we near yet?”

Vill scouted the surroundings then spotted a dirt road. He cracked a smile then rubbed his hands together as he mischievously patched a plan together in his mind. “Hoggard, Eoforwic, Stenbruh, see that bush over there? Run towards there and see if the coast is clear.”

Three boys dashed out of the bush they were hiding in, then made it without being spotted. They peeked their heads out in case of any patrolling guards, then signalled that all was okay.

The rest of the boys followed suit, then eyed their prize.

Just on the horizon, they could see a strange-looking fort which they surmised to be of foreign origin. Each of the boys gulped nervously as they were about to enter a world beyond that of Sea’ax.

“Come on!” Vill ordered and the group of boys started to run towards the fortress.

At last, the boys managed to reach a large shrub just a few steps away from the outpost of the rumored ‘northmen’.

“V-Vill, I’m getting nervous. I heard the northmen eats children who are naughty…” Edhard murmured.

“Edhard, that’s what your mother tells you so that you wouldn’t come here. Besides, we’re here to gather firewood so we’re not doing anything naughty, right, fellows?” Vill assured which garnered a few laughs from the foolhardy teenagers.

“Alright, alright, Vill. What’s our next move? Do we just approach the gate?” one of the boys asked.

“Let me see… I guess we could try to climb the walls. We’ve climbed the old lord’s watchtower so this should be easy!” Vill suggested.

“W-Wait! Have you not seen the guards?! We’ll be caught if we-” Edhard’s hands were cut short as he felt something leathery, cold, and blocky wrapped around his neck. He started to scream as he was lifted out of the bush and into the face of a masked northman.

The other boys screamed as well as they scrambled out of the bush. When they noticed the northman holding Edhard up, they started to panic.

“Bring out your bells! The northmen only talk in bells!” Vill shouted which snapped the boys into action. Together, they started ringing small bells obnoxiously, though it didn’t seem to faze the northman.

The northman spoke in a deep tone, “What are you tiny people doing here?”

“M-M-M-Mister, we- ah…” Edhard started to stutter and lost track of what he wanted to say.

“Hey, northman!” Edhard felt as if a wave of assurance washed over him as he heard a loud Vyssian voice, though he couldn’t see who the owner of the voice was since the northman had a tight grip on him.

“Man named Lord Otto. You called for me or someone else?” the northman turned his head mechanically towards the owner of the voice.

“Of course! Who else would I be calling to?”

“Perhaps the units up on the walls,” the northman suggested as he pointed at the outpost wall. Just as he said, there were a few other northman staring down at the commotion.

“Well, I’m talking to you, my good man! I see there’s some meddlesome Sea’ax boys causing you and your people trouble, my friend. Is it fine if you hand that boy to me? I’ll handle this, I assure you,” Otto requested.

What seemed to be seconds of silence felt like eternity to Edhard as he nervously tried to hold his pee in. Finally, he felt the grip around his neck loosen and he was tossed to Otto like a sack of grain. Edhard was quickly placed down as the boys gathered around Otto.

“Thank you, northman! I’ll give proper punishment to these undisciplined Sea’axfeared!” Otto assured, though the northman ignored him and left without saying a word.

When the northman returned to his post at the gates, Otto immediately fumed at the boys, “You Humanos-forsaken children! What in the name of Saint Sallus are you doing here?! Are you not aware of the northmen here?!”

“We’re aware of them, that’s why we came here, Lord Otto!” Vill explained.

Vill was lightly bonked on the head as an example, then Otto continued, “What do you think would happen if the northmen imprisoned you, hmm? Have you not heard that the northmen eat naughty kids?!”

“I told you so, Vill!”

“Shut up, Edhard!”

“Shut up, both of you!” Otto shouted.

“But we heard northmen were fierce fighters! They always go around Sea’ax so we were curious!” one of the boys protested weakly.

“You can look everywhere but here. Not in my sight. Not in Vyssian sight. Now, scram back home! Before I tell on your parents… or worse!” Otto threatened.

“Or worse?” Edhard asked.

“I’ll tell on your House Mother!”

The boys panicked then started running back towards the city of Sea’ax as they screamed, “No! Not Nana! Everyone run!”

When the boys disappeared from his sight, Otto sighed then kneaded his forehead.

“Tiny people are very amusing, it seems,” a voice spoke behind the Vyssian Lord, scaring the wit out of him.

“Ah, if it isn’t Sir Weaver. You mean the kids? Frankly, I find them annoying,” Otto spat.

“I see. Anyway, let us talk inside the outpost. I am sure that talking out here on the fields would be… tiresome,” Weaver offered. “You’re here to discuss about plans of the expedition to the south?”

“Of course.”

“Over there, Princess,” a soft voice guided two hooded horsemen riding through a thick forest. They wore tattered clothes, rugged shoes, and had visible messy hair sticking out of their hood, but they seemed to be different from the average peasant.

After all, the average peasant would neither ride a horse nor own a short sword.

“Princess Imma, I think we should turn back,” the other rider cautioned as they got closer to where they were headed to.

“Alleigh, if you are afraid, you didn’t have to come with me. But as for me? I need to see it with my own eyes, ” Imma scoffed.

“I think you’re being unreasonable, Princess Imma. I cannot leave your side as I am your sword-oath,” Alleigh pointed out.

“Oh? What if I’m in my bedchambers with my future husband? Will you also watch over just in case he pulls out a knife on me?” Imma snickered.

“That’s rather vulgar, Princess. At least, not around the little girl,” Alleigh sighed.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Little Agnes. You had to hear such horrifying, damnable foul words from me. I hope you aren’t traumatized for life,” Imma laughed as she rubbed Agnes’ head who was sitting in front of her.

“I don’t get it…” Agnes murmured in confusion.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! Now, are you sure this is the path to Castle Marcoir?” Imma asked.

“Yes, Princess. I tried to take refuge but they barred their gates because there were too many people.”

“That’s absurd! What could they possibly mean by ‘too many people’?”

“I thought you were paying attention to the intercepted messages, Princess Imma,” Alleigh said.

“What messages?”

“About the northmen.”

“Bah, as if I would-”

Imma and Alleigh stopped their horses as men of varying sizes came out of the forest foliage. They looked neither Vyssian nor Rhankish, but they didn’t look hostile. Imma almost felt like she was surrounded by statues rather than armed men.

“You. Why here?” a rather tall armored man pointed his axe towards Imma and asked.

Alleigh was about to pull out her sword, but saw the subtle hand gesture given out by the princess. Imma cleared her throat, then answered, “We are just travelers. We are actually Vyssians!”

“That’s not going to wor-” Alleigh was cut off when the armed men opened the encirclement.

“Vyssian? Ok. Have nice day. Bye.”

As the two Rhankish women casually rode away from the armed men, Alleigh could feel her entire body soaked in sweat. On the other hand, Agnes was fully frozen like a block of ice.

“Bahahaha! By Humanos, that worked!” Imma burst into laughter when they were far enough.

“Princess! What were you going to do if that plan failed?” Alleigh asked in a firm, but moderate tone.

“Well, we have horses. They don’t. We could just ride away, you know?” Imma answered with a shrug.

Alleigh sighed then murmured to herself as the three Rhanks continued their journey.

About an hour later, Imma and Alleigh set up a small camp, then, with the help of Little Agnes, followed a path by foot. It wasn’t long until they found Castle Marcoir… or where it was supposed to be at.

“Wait, I’ve never seen that before…” Agnes gasped.

Imma couldn’t exactly put a finger on how to describe what was once Castle Marcoir. She had heard from Duke Villbrod that the castle was on top of a hill, but wasn’t this more like ‘the entire hill is a castle’?

“There’s so many of them...” Agnes murmured as she eyed the soldiers patrolling around Castle Marcoir. There didn’t seemed to be a difference between warriors or workers as they were all armed and armored. Supply caravans went in and out of the castle, as well as a great number of logs cut from the surrounding forest.

Imma couldn’t see what was going on inside the castle so she pulled Agnes back, then began trekking back to her horse. Other than the castle, the Rhanks had another objective.

Princess Imma and Alleigh spent the next few days evading Vyssian patrols, passing through ruins, and travelling through quiet roads. Every once in a while, they would encounter a Rhankish refugee and the princess would attempt to get some information about the goings-on inside former Rhankish territory from them with some success. Most of the information were something the princess already knew, or were just the usual ‘the northmen are all at Marcoir or Norwind’.

With no other choice, they decided to follow Agnes’ lead deeper into the conquered territory. The paths were rugged, the hollow shells of former homes echoed nothing but the hooves of the horses passing by, and foundations of houses were found without the actual houses themselves.

Did Humanos pluck the land clean of life?

Where had everyone gone to?

The two horses stopped in front of an open nothingness. Just light snow, grass, stone floors, and utter emptiness laid bare.

Without Imma’s help, Agnes jumped off her horse and slowly walked towards the field.

“Where?”

Chaos reigned inside the little girl’s heart. Confusion. Sadness. Anger.

Before her tears had even fallen, Agnes was already on her knees. She was pushing the snow and dirt apart, hoping to find something. Faint memories overlapped with the scenery in front of her.

The burning houses. The people being cut down in front of her. The bloody footprints she had left on the snowy floors. Her father.

“I could see the snowgrain fields, but the village, like many others, is missing,” Alleigh told Imma as the princess silently watched the weeping girl.

“Agnes. Come,” Imma ordered.

The little girl didn’t budge for a moment, but the princess patiently waited. It took some time for Agnes to muster the courage to finally leave, but she was still hesitant. Imma scooped the peasant girl up, then slowly rode away.

“I want to know,” Imma said as soon as Alleigh got close.

“Know what, Princess?”

“How far this madness stretches to,” Imma continued. “I want to see how far the hands of Purgatory could reach.”

“And what if we reach all the way to Vyssia?” Alleigh asked.

Imma shrugged then joked, “Then I might as well go complete the Royal Ceremony.”

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for Imma to find the surreal line between total devastation and some semblance of reality - a village filled with people.

Imma wanted to ride out and punch the nearest person just to see if they were real, but she controlled herself in a manner befitting a royal princess. She looked out for Vyssian patrols, then rode up to the nearest person.

Though startled and wary, the stranger still greeted the princess. “Good day, stranger. Welcome to Theithann.”

“Could you tell me where Napens is?” Imma asked.

“Napens? I heard the northmen burnt it down. Thank Humanos the Vyssians arrived before the northmen could burn this village down,” the man answered.

“The northmen are not Vyssians?” Imma asked.

“I don’t think so. Maybe they’re the cousins of Vyssians from the south. No, wait, but then they’ll be called southmen…”

“You said the Vyssians stopped the northmen from burning your village down. How?”

“It was pretty vague, but I remember some Vyssians rode up and told the northmen to leave. The northmen did just that, and they never came back ever since. I saw some small war parties passing by from time to time, but they don’t dare go near the village. Honestly, lady, I’d rather not talk about the northmen right now,” the man answered then took his leave.

“What now, Princess?” Alleigh asked.

Imma closed her eyes, then ran her hands against her forehead. “I think we need to head to the Gates of Purgatory itself.”

“Wait. You don’t mean…”

“Yes. We’re riding to Vyssia.”