Chapter Song

A simple truth to this world

Zeais turned away from the traveling girl's direction. He jogged over to a small tree he saw before. It wasn’t much for cover, but it was better to apply the wrap without getting it too wet.

He lifted his shirt to see if his cut got any deeper.

It doesn't look that bad... Better safe than sorry.

After applying the small strip of wrap, he could feel a bit of heat from the small crystals reacting to his blood. The faint light it gave off, was only a faint shadow to him.

Good, I shouldn’t have to worry about that now. Now then, only ten more miles to go. There's nowhere to really take a break here, the animals would probably kill me if I tried camping out here. Hopefully, I don’t get a fever or something before I get back, I won’t be able to fight anything like that…

While he searched his brain for a plan, a loud scream rang out in the distance. Immediately, Zeais snapped toward the sound, his heart began to pound from the sudden yell. A man? Someone being attacked? Should I help?

The confines of the road were all he could see. With nothing else to look at other than blurry gray walls, he tried to listen for another scream or animals.

I don’t hear anything, I don't see any eyes either. Where did it come from?

While he faced the direction of where he thought the yell came from, he heard the sound of water splashing behind him. The sound got closer before he could turn fully, along with a pulse of orange light, he assumed that it was the same girl that he saw only moments ago.

Is she running toward the scream?

The sound of her ragged breath rushed toward him. Within a few seconds she flew by him, just barely out of sight on the road, she quickly vanished from his sight.

How does she know where to go? That scream had to at least be 1000 or more meters away… Being able to see farther would really help at times like this. Whatever. I could probably follow the sound of her footsteps, but do I really want to help though?

Another scream echoed distantly from the open plains.

“Ahh! Fine!” He yelled at himself.

Zeais looked down the road and sighed. His shoes weren’t the best fit for running in mud, but it would have to do given the situation.

He started to run after the girl's footsteps.

Speed was something he had confidence in, even if he couldn’t see, his legs would take him somewhere. The rain blinded him even more but her footsteps were a good enough clue to navigate with.

After a while of occasionally losing her footsteps to thunder and rain, he eventually saw her outline. The hood she wore no longer covered her head and bounced around with every step she took. A little more speed was all it took for him to catch up to her side.

The girl looked at him, with the same stoic look she had before. Her hair was soaked and water dripped down her face. She looked into his eyes, customary for children like them.

*I’m sure you heard the scream too, there’s a marker in the distance.* she said to him, her mouth unmoving.

Dang. I didn’t think of that. Not that I would have seen much anyways.

*I didn’t see it, but I heard the scream, how far do you think it is?*

The girl looked into the sky, a pillar of light danced in a circle with colors of purple and green. She looked back at Zeais with an almost irritated look.

*About 1000 meters.*

Zeais felt a sense of accomplishment. Looks like I was right, he gave himself a mental pat on the back. That's a bit far, we might make it. When he gazed into the sky, he saw nothing but a very faint contrast that would have been too difficult to see on his own.

As he looked back at the girl, he couldn’t help but wonder why she didn't speak with her mouth. It was strange to him, considering they had to look at each other while running.

She’s a bit strange but doesn't seem like a bad person.

Another scream rang out from the direction of the marker, but it did not contain the deep shriek of a man's voice. It was instead, the voice of a young child. After hearing the high pitched cry, the girl and Zeais began to pick up their pace.

The girl cut off from the road and ran through the plains, Zeais followed suit. Farther in front of them was a small patch of trees, a brief flash of light pulsed from the direction. The young girl next to him saw the flash and narrowed her gaze to where it appeared.

He wished he could see farther, but her expression was good enough to guess what was going on.

As the children ran through the wet grass and slick mud, Zeais had trouble keeping his footage straight.

I can feel the mud slipping into my shoes…

After running for another minute through the plains, the girl abruptly stopped in front of Zeais, a small patch of trees was straight ahead. Zeais stopped as well and looked at her, confused.

She stooped down into a low crouch and pulled Zeais down to with a tug to his shirt. He got pulled behind a nearby rock, he guessed it was for cover.

After he was forcefully squatted down, a loud crack sound came from ahead.

Has to be something dangerous. What is it?

The only details he could see out was three vague shadows.

The loud crack was a man swinging an ax, which had gotten lodged into a nearby tree. The man tried pulling the Axe free from the tree's bark, but he seemed to have trouble removing it. The male adult had skinny arms and his clothing consisted of plenty of tears and rips. On his pants leg, was a gaping hole that showed signs of char on the ends. Underneath it, his skin was blistered and red.

The cause of the man's damage had to the only dangerous creature.

A silver sheep, shaking its head and grunting at the man, white puffs of smoke blowing from its nostrils.

Zeais could only listen in on the events that happened in front of him.

Hmm too far, with those sounds though it's obviously some type of animal. She should know what's going on...

As he was about to put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and ask for details, a cry from the young boy they heard earlier rang out. It peeled him and the girl toward his direction.

A glow of purplish-green light surrounded the boy’s small body, as he lay on his hands and knees looking at the sheep. One rough crystal sat on the ground next to him, slowly pulsing with colors. It’s light dimmed as time went on.

The silver sheep was pointing in his direction, stamping its feet. His small eyes looked for a way out. The boy's met with the children hidden nearby.

Zeais could see the boy’s yellow pupils looking in his direction. He couldn't make out what the boy was doing.

Is he scared? I can't hear his words.

From the corner of his eye, a finger comes up to the girl's lips and she made a shushing gesture. She was looking in the child’s direction and pulled out a knife from her coat.

Was he about to say something?! Phew, thankfully she caught that. She’s armed too! I’d say I’m lucky I wasn’t alone when this happened. Rushing it wouldn’t go as well as the times before.

The man had finally freed his Axe from the bark of the tree.

“Don’t you touch that boy you damn sheep!” The man yelled as he charged at the sheep. A few inches away, the sheep quickly dodged without even a glance from behind. His ax missed and flew with enough momentum to get lodged into the ground.

Aggravated, the sheep snorted and shook its body. Large amounts of light wool swirled in the wind and stuck to the man. With another angry grunt, the animals wool ignited and set the surrounding area on fire.

A desperate look on his face, the man tried to pat off the pieces of burning wool that stuck to him. The wind only added more and the rain only made them stay much longer.

A bright flash of light lit up the sky. Zeais only saw the quick pulse of gray, that was the man's body, being set on fire from an explosion.