Chapter 83: Camp inside the wilderness

After walking past the massive but broken tree trunks that constituted the external wall, I realized that this camp wasn’t that similar to the one I previously visited. The barricade built in a circular shape with a trench in front of it was certainly the same, but the wooden buildings were more numerous here with even a few made out of more solid materials. The dirt roads between the buildings were also more refined and gave the camp a cleaner appearance.

Evidently, this camp had been around for longer than the previous and also appeared better equipped or should I say simply less discarded which wasn’t surprising considering that it was far closer to the border of the kingdom.

I could easily affirm this because the interior was surprisingly spared compared to what the outside destruction foreshadowed.

Except for a few burned down or collapsed buildings, most of this camp appeared intact. Of course, traces of battle remained, but nothing too extreme which was possibly even more worrying considering the complete silence surrounding us.

Did the soldiers evacuate before the battle?

Another possibility was obviously also in my head, but I suppressed it and concentrated.

Ilan and Jazor led the way, weapons drawn, while I closed the march just behind Paul who had insisted on coming despite the general disapproval. To avoid another conflict, I sided with him but I was starting to regret it.

The bad feeling I had in the back of my mind intensified with each passing minute. I didn’t know what had happened here, but the situation was possibly worse than what I initially thought.

We assumed that the town was overrun by a horde after the external wall was broken, but even if the soldiers ran away before the battle, the camp was in too good a condition for this to be true. Moreover, traces of battles were sparse but still present.

However, none of us could see any bodies, human or not.

“Maybe we should turn back,” suddenly suggested Jazor who once more changed his mind while casting prudent gazes all around.

However, this time I didn’t mock him as I completely agreed.

“No, let’s search a bit first,” objected Paul.

“Yeah, we’re here already so let’s make it quick,” added Ilan who surprisingly agreed with Paul.

Jazor and I both didn’t object partially because we were surprised that these two were in agreement, but also because I confirmed that I didn’t feel any lifeform around even with my eyes closed.

Although my inspection gave the same result as Walmir’s magic, I didn’t relax. I could never forget how I was completely incapable of sensing the presence of the monstrous Durnïel inside this cave all these months ago. The sight of this monster rampaging against the transparent wall of ice with its long horrifying limbs just in front of me, while being totally invisible to my usually foolproof magic sense, still filled my heart with dread.

Being complacent inside the wilderness was suicidal.

I paid dearly to learn this lesson and didn’t intend to do the same.

However, the allure of a safer journey without the need to regularly stop to scavenge or hunt for food was too appealing to easily give up.

“Let’s split up, it will be faster. We will meet here in fifteen minutes,” proposed Ilan in a whisper while going deeper into the heart of the camp by himself.

Jazor entered the closest wooden building while I followed Paul who chose to take the right side of the camp. With prudent steps and bated breath, we entered each intact building one after another. We found the officer’s quarters, the place where they stocked arrows, and even a few empty buildings but nothing of value to us.

For long minutes, we continued our meticulous but too slow search.

Disappointed but aware that the time was almost up, I stopped and motioned for Paul to go back with me. Maybe our companions had more luck than us.

However, he simply ignored me and continued to advance on his own.

“Paul…” I whispered, not willing to speak louder than necessary in our situation.

But he simply continued to walk with long, and not so discreet anymore, strides.

I accelerated as fast as I could with my short legs and caught his arm just before he had the time to open the door just in front of him.

My small hand had trouble properly holding his massive arm, but I put as much strength as I could to make him turn around.

“What are you doing?” I whispered angrily.

“Just this one. Look, it doesn’t seem ordinary like the others,” quickly replied Paul while casting nervous glances all around.

Certainly, the building we were in front of was more imposing than the ones we had previously searched, and also appeared sturdier with rough black stone as its main material.

Unwilling to try to drag Paul away with my lacking physical strength, I nodded and pushed him away to be the first to enter. I forced any distracting thought to the back of my head, including all the interrogations I had toward Paul’s attitude.

With an unwelcome creak, the door opened.

A dozen previous attempts allowed me to quickly scan the room with all the senses at my disposal. Although the place was poorly lit and the air unpleasantly stalled, a rapid glance at all the corners of the vast room was enough to notice that this place was empty of any evident threat.

Fortunately, it contained something else.

Large wooden crates stacked up to the ceiling with imposing barrels all around made me stop in my tracks.

I cautiously entered with Paul exasperatedly pushing me forward.

I didn’t waste any time and opened one of the closest crates to confirm my initial thought. Then another to make sure, but after the third, there was denying our luck.

We had found the pantry.

Dried meat along with all kinds of fruits and vegetables piled up and stored to sustain the entirety of this camp were waiting for us all around.

Just a few of these large crates would be enough for our consumption during the rest of our journey.

I wasn’t able to pick something so heavy so I turned around to tell Paul to take one before rejoining the others, but my temporary partner was still furiously searching the storehouse.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, not able to truly repress my voice anymore.

“No… nothing,” he mumbled awkwardly before finally stopping.

“It’s not nothing. We found what we came for, so let’s go. It’s not safe here.” I insisted.

“It’s just that I wanted to find some medicinal herbs for Alianelle,” he quickly explained.

“I know, but you make too much noise. It’s obviously not here but maybe the others found it.”

“You’re right,” he said after a few seconds of hesitation. He kept his face lowered while lifting the closest crates filled to the brim with food with apparent ease.

The return in silence was quick as we hadn’t walked very far in this short amount of time.

Jazor was already waiting for us with a more relaxed expression. The disappointment I could see in his eyes immediately changed when he saw us approach with a crate filled with food.

“You found it,” he excitedly told me when we reached him.

“There is a building filled to the brim with all kinds of food. More than we could wish for. Let’s wait for Ilan to come back and we will carry back as many as necessary,” I explained without hiding my enthusiasm.

“Did you find a place stocking on medicinal herbs?” immediately interrupted Paul hopefully.

“Herbs? No, I only found several warehouses for weapons and the half-collapse building where they stored god knows what. Sorry pal,” quickly replied Jazor.

Thankfully, despite Jazor’s answer, Paul didn’t try to go on his own to search other buildings this time and stayed much calmer than when he was just with me.

We patiently waited for Ilan's return, but with each passing minute, the anxiety that had dissipated with our successful search returned in full. Jazor progressively tightened the grip on his axe while I concentrated as hard as possible to detect any possible ambush.

Ilan wasn’t the kind of man to be late.

I also knew how strong he truly was.

I had trouble believing that someone as strong as him would fall without offering any kind of resistance, but another part of me, tempered by the cruelty of these lands, knew that the wilderness always found a way to put even the strongest men back in their place.

Like a thunderbolt in a clear sky, a burst of mana suddenly appeared on the other side of the camp and interrupted my thoughts. It was powerful enough to feel without closing my eyes, but it also disappeared so quickly that it made me wonder for a second if I hadn’t hallucinated.

I couldn’t blindly trust my sensory abilities, but the truth remained that I was leagues ahead compared to Jazor in this field and that our journey had further developed this ability. I couldn’t sense anything anymore, but I was sure of myself. A magic was summoned, and immediately after, disappeared as if the caster was interrupted.

“It’s Ilan!” I immediately called out to Jazor, not bothering to lower my voice anymore.

With a look of mixed confusion and worry, Jazor didn’t question me and followed as I rushed forward with a burst of my wind magic.

Paul was quickly left behind, but Jazor also used one of the aspects of the earth element to accelerate while crushing the stones under his feet.

We used our respective magic at full outburst to rejoin our companion as fast as possible.

Now wasn’t the time to be discreet anymore.

Expecting a fight, I prepared my magic while quickly crossing the distance separating me from him.

It didn’t take me more than half a minute to rejoin him in a vast place apparently used for training and devoid of any significant building, but his opponent remained unseen.

I stopped behind to assist while Jazor stood right next to him with his axe raised threateningly.

However, Ilan’s weapons were not raised which made me wonder if I wasn't wrong after all.

We both casted a surprised glance at our companion and immediately noticed his livid face, graver than I ever saw, with his black eyes fixed in front of him as if he hadn’t noticed our arrival.

Slowly, I turned my gaze to follow his line of sight and immediately felt my heart skip a beat or two in my chest. The shock was so great that I lost control of my mana for a fleeting second. Now, I understood what I had felt on the other side of the camp. Ilan didn’t summon any magic. For an instant, my heightened senses allowed me to feel his mana react violently to what we were seeing and I certainly couldn’t blame him.

I saw many things while roaming these savage lands, from beautiful to nightmarish landscapes. I encountered more than a hundred different species, each with its own strength and features. I fought many of them while feeling the bloodthirst of these animals and deviants desperate to tear me apart to answer and calm their disrupted instincts.

I always knew what my fate would be if I failed.

I was prepared for it, and although the memories of some of these encounters still kept me awake at night, I survived to tell the tale even when all we could do was run away in front of impossibly strong or numerous opponents.

However, during all these months in these savage lands, I never saw anything like this.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.

I took a few feeble steps forward to stand between my two companions equally disturbed by what they were seeing probably because, just like me, they never imagined that this could also be their fate.

Here, less than fifty meters away from us, we found the soldiers of this camp.

Stacked together on top of one another in a massive and disturbing mass of tangled flesh with many still probably buried under those we were currently seeing. Their torn clothes offered us a glimpse of their blistered skin and dried-up limbs that gave them a disturbing resemblance to mummies with just enough flesh left to not deserve this title.

It was as if they were half-burn alive and that was the heart of our respective shock.

They were all still alive.

Feeble moans escaped their cracked lips while blank eyes apparently turned blind searched all around them for a salvation that will forever be too late. Some were desperately trying to crawl away while others were gathering all their remaining strength to end their life with broken weapons that they could barely hold with their now useless hands.

This hellish scene born from more cruelty than I thought possible had even more to offer.

Just behind these dozens of poor souls, struggling with an agony I didn’t want to imagine, stood another man whose fate was possibly even worse.

This completely naked man had his hands, feet, and nose cut off. His burned skin was darkened at his extremities, proof that special care was taken to forcefully stop the bleeding of these atrocious wounds. Unlike the others, he wasn’t struggling on the ground to extract himself from a mass of flesh but was suspended a few meters above by sharp spikes of earth piercing what was left of his limbs and horribly distorting them under the pull of gravity.

Humiliated with his torment turned into a morbid spectacle.

Who was this man to deserve such a cruel fate?

This question crossed my mind as I watched him fighting for each breath of fresh air while tears of blood were flowing freely from his eyes and screams of agony regularly escaped his lips.

A distant whisper from Ilan, which I barely perceived even though I was right next to him, informed me that this man was indeed the Poison mage he had encountered many years ago. Another familiar noise alerted me that Ilan had taken his sword out. I stayed petrified as the head of this poor man was cleanly cut off by Ilan’s familiar water magic the next second.

After what seemed like an eternity, I turned my eyes away from this disturbing scene that will probably haunt many nights to come.

My companions had already done the same while Ilan’s sword was back into his sheath as if he had never pulled it out. His face was still grave but without the trace of what he had to do for this man as if his sheath had hidden his blade and his emotions at the same time.

For long seconds we looked at each other, unsure of what we had just witnessed.

I was feeling sick to my stomach.

Partially because of the cruel nature of the scene we had just witnessed, but also because all these seasoned soldiers and mages were defeated before being gathered together here to undergo this agony.

If I had any doubt left, now I was sure.

A horde couldn’t possibly have done that.

Only a being with incredible strength could accomplish this, and only something with intelligence could be so meticulously vicious.

Did another true Saint mage do that? Someone who defeated and kept alive the Poison mage and his soldiers inside their own camp before putting them through this unspeakable torment.

Jazor was among the strongest true Saint mage of his Dwarven clan, but I still had trouble believing that even he could overpower this entire camp on his own in such a one-sided confrontation if the rare traces of battle was any indication.

If a single mage was really responsible then only someone standing at the pinnacle of the magical world could possibly create this kind of scene.

The idea that such a ruthless Master mage existed and was around not long ago sent shivers down my spine.

However, there was another point disturbing me.

I always considered Humans as the most dangerous predators and the most wicked, but this time, I had trouble believing that a Human or anyone from the major races was responsible.

Only a single other, possibly worse, alternative came to my mind.

An intelligent magic beast.

Although magic beasts generally developed some wisdom and intellect after overcoming their frenzied period as a deviant, only a few rare individuals who also had enough time to mature could really be called intelligent.

The last and only intelligent magic beast I encountered on my own was the green-furred beast that lived in a cave I was unfortunate enough to enter. I had just started my journey then, but even now with much more powers and abilities, I couldn’t be sure that our encounter would go any differently.

The memory of the despair I had felt while this giant sloppy monster was toying with me was still fresh. It could have killed me in a heartbeat and I was afraid that the one responsible for this living nightmare had the same kind of overwhelming abilities. This thought was reinforced considering that this man, suspended to suffer until death, was such a famous figure. A true Saint mage who earned the title of Poison mage through the magic he had created himself and used over the years to forge his reputation.

Although according to Ilan, this man was better known for his capacity to overwhelm an almost infinite number of opponents than for his ability to deal with truly strong enemies, this didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t a pushover.

Whoever or whatever did that to him and his men was too dangerous to ignore.

We didn’t exchange a single word between the three of us. A short glance was enough after overcoming our respective shock to make our decision.

We had to leave as fast as possible.

I was thankful that Ilan took the time to do what I was incapable of.

Jazor and I both watched as he took out his axe. The only kind of wind magic I ever saw him manifest was summoned and powered up by the glowing circle on the handle of his weapon. This helped him create a violent gust of wind with a surprisingly elegant movement.

Barely visible to the naked eyes, this slow attack progressively grew in size, and when it finally reached its destination, it was able to encircle the entirety of its target.

A few short screams warned us that his magic had done its work while we were turning around to flee.

We didn’t have the will to check if some of these poor people had survived this attack.

We didn’t have the courage to make a decent burial ground either.

We didn’t have the time for any of that.

I was ashamed to have left them in this state without making sure that all of them had been truly put out of their misery, but the visceral fear I was feeling couldn’t be easily overcome by pity.

Just like the first time I encountered a Krath and would have met my maker without Jazor’s intervention, I was truly feeling outclassed.

Overwhelmed by what I had to overcome.

This journey had tempered me and helped me mature more than any kind of training could have ever done. I found my path as a mage and developed abilities I couldn’t even imagine despite spending four years constantly training under Amanda’s watch. With mages as strong as Jazor, Ilan, and Walmir to accompany me, I was confident that we had done the hardest and that the rest of our journey was just a formality as long as we didn’t take any unnecessary risks.

However, I knew deep in my heart that I wasn’t ready for this.

I had probably already earned the title of true Saint mage by creating new magics after appropriating a part of some of the concepts governing the elements.

However, the world where I imagined true Saint mages as strengths of nature able to overcome difficulties and defeat any obstacle on their way with the power of their magic had suddenly crumbled.

True Saint mages weren’t all-powerful.

They could fall, be defeated, and suffer this kind of fate.

So me and my companions weren’t safe from it either.

It was as if the thin veil separating my reality from a much colder and crueler world had finally been torn apart to reveal what it always had in store for me. The glimpse of this reality where death was the best outcome and where all the efforts and sacrifices I had made meant nothing filled my heart with dread and my mind with a primal fear urging me to leave this cursed place as fast as possible.

That's why Ilan wasn't the only one who lost his cool when we didn't immediately find Paul after returning where we had left him.

Even so, I still objected to Ilan’s proposal to abandon him there, and fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find him inside another house a dozen meters away.

The seemingly sturdy black building was half-collapsed, but that didn't prevent Paul from making his way through to lean over the few barrels that weren't either crushed or spilled on the floor soaking up at the same time piles of papers scattered all around with their oddly colorful contents in an indescribable mess.

I ignored Paul’s objections and took it upon myself to endure another one of his remarks about my relation with slavers to get him back as fast as possible.

The way I spoke to him was probably harsher than what he truly deserved, but the scene continuously flashing in my head and the fate it promised if we delayed our leave was more than enough reason to ignore this fleeting guilt. No words and no amount of explanation could truly do justice to the horror we had just witnessed.

We took with us the lone crate of food we had brought back together with Paul and immediately left this doomed place behind while praying that whatever or whoever caused it was long gone and will never cross our path.