“Could there have maybe… been another way?” Keldon thought looking at the corpse of Annos. It made him sick. Every bleeding inch of it. Heroes didn’t kill people… or at least they shouldn’t.

Perhaps it was unavoidable. What were they going to do? Let Annos go lick his wounds just to get stabbed in the back later? Both he and Salem had a mission and letting Annos go could cost them the entire world. So, wasn’t this the only choice? Letting him go would be naïve. Foolhardy. So incomparably idiotic that he might as well have just stuck his neck out onto the chopping block and saved the crazed man some time.

But looking into Annos’ cold dead eyes made Keldon feel like letting him go should’ve been the right move. The heroic thing to do. Why did doing good have to feel so evil?

Keldon pulled his cloak around him tighter, holding close to him any little bit of heat that he’d recovered. After working at the hissings, you learn to clutch to what little bits of comfort you can get.

But things weren’t all bad. Salem was alive, and although the mission hadn’t been a total success, they got through in the end. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t help but wince looking at Salem’s wounds.

Salem was sitting beside Annos’ corpse, giving him what Salem had told Keldon was his final rites. As a peacekeeper, they were expected to give final rites whenever possible. Especially when they were the ones who had taken the life. Although Salem wasn’t a peacekeeper anymore, it seems he still followed their traditions heavily.

And with a final clasp of his hands, Salem closed Annos’ eyes and laid his hand over his chest.

“Valhairre Annos. May you find your way home.”

Salem summoned his skill orb and cast a deep orange flame, engulfing Annos’ rain-drenched body, and reducing it to ash. He leaned back with a deep sigh, wiping his brow.

“Was that a passage from the Ulsalla Codex?” asked Keldon.

Salem gave Keldon a surprised look. “Sort of. It’s a modified version for peacekeeper purposes. Reading the actual passages would take us hours, this one only takes a few minutes. Remarkably captures nearly all of the original meaning. How’d you know that though?” asked Salem

Keldon shrugged his shoulders. “Thought I heard bits of old-graceus in your chants. And since you’re a peacekeeper… well, you should figure the rest out by yourself.”

“What?! How did you learn old-graceus?! I barely stumbled through learning it at the peacekeeper institute myself,” said Salem.

“I’m not fluent, but it’s passable. I read a lot of random old books that would pass through an old friend of mine’s bookshop. One of them was an inquiry into the civilizations and languages predating the continental-reign of Sun-K’aal-Sun. Didn’t go into much detail though so I only recognized some familiar syllables in your chant.”

“Well well, aren’t we a basket of surprises,” said Salem.

“How’s your arm?” asked Keldon.

“Feeling just fantastic. Couldn’t be better.”

“Actually?”

“Of course not.”

Keldon sheepishly smiled, “Sorry, a force of habit.”

Salem let out a chuckle. “I’m just teasing you pup. Don’t be sorry, I know you mean well. Come on, let’s get going.”

Keldon trailed behind him, following along as his coat dragged through the mud. But something seemed off. They bantered like usual but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Whenever something bothered Salem, he would usually grumble about it, complain, or brood. However, Salem walked in silence, hobbling over to Mitch who had leaned Ernie up against a tree and was watching them quietly. Odd.

“Mitch I-“ said Salem

Mitch threw up his hand and looked away. “Stop right there pal, I’m still under contract. While I no longer have to assist our ever-friendly Lunarus pile of dust anymore, I can’t give you any further help knowing you were aiding an illegal magic user,” said Mitch.

Salem nodded graciously. But as he turned to walk away, Mitch called out after him.

“That being said, however, I am in a completely defenseless state. I urge you not to rummage through the cabin of the prison cart and steal several weeks' worth of rations and medical supplies, that would truly put me in a dire situation,” said Mitch.

“My gratitude to you, Pathmaker,” said Salem.

“Don’t thank me, I just wouldn’t want someone to rummage underneath the seats of the prison cart cabin where there is a kit of emergency medical supplies and bedrolls as well,” said Mitch. “But… before you leave and to my knowledge, won’t rummage through the prison cart, did he get you?”

Salem came to a stop as Keldon quizzically shot a look between the two.

“…Goodbye Mitch,” said Salem, walking off towards the campsite.

Mitch sucked in a sharp breath, closing his eyes slowly and looking up towards the sky. “…Goodbye pal. We’ll drink again someday soon.”

Keldon felt a tight squeeze in his chest. Goodbye?? And what did Mitch mean did he get him??

“Salem?” Keldon asked. “Is everything okay?”

“We have to move quickly. Some of the other merchants might start poking around now that the noise has died down and we need to get away before people realize what’s going on,” said Salem.

“You’re dodging the question Salem. What’s going on? Why did Mitch say goodbye to you?” asked Keldon.

Salem kept silent.

“Salem?” said Keldon, grabbing him by the arm. He stopped in place and turned around.

“Remember the bone-knife I told you to not get cut by? Well…” said Salem.

Keldon felt a pit drop to his stomach.

“Oh, gods. No… no no no. Can we do something about it? What’s going to happen to you?! I-“ said Keldon, stammering his words.

“Shhh… Not so loud, all the blood loss is giving me a headache. But I’ll be fine Keldon, the knife was an assassination weapon used by the Lunarus. If I was stabbed then I’d be dead in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, but luckily, it was just a simple cut. It’ll take at least two weeks before the poison kills me, even with my condition.”

“Will you be okay? Why did Mitch say goodbye then?” asked Keldon.

“Again, I’ll be fine. Mitch said goodbye because he doesn’t know that I know how to make the antidote,” said Salem.

Keldon breathed a sigh of relief. Right, it’s Salem they were talking about here. He always had things figured out.

"You had me worried there,” said Keldon with a nervous laugh.

That's right, Salem was fine. He was what Keldon considered to be the shining example of a hero after all. Taking on 4 foes at once for the sake of the world and although wounded, came out on top. Triumphant justice. But still, there were pangs of guilt that rippled in his chest. He relied so much on Salem. Would it be okay to rely on him to teach Keldon how to not rely on him so much?

Salem smiled. “See? Nothing to worry about. Now come on, let’s get moving quickly.”

Keldon shook off the feeling, and with a nod, trailed behind Salem as they hurried over back to the campgrounds where they had their first battle. The atmosphere had lightened up considerably despite the plumes of smoke drifting over the campsite as the rain slowly died down. Salem beckoned Keldon to grab the supplies as he checked Pudge’s condition who was still lying unconscious in a heap. Keldon rummaged through the cart, finding exactly what Mitch had described as a few week's worths of rations and medical supplies with a thankful heart. He grabbed the supplies and both of their bags as he dragged them out the cabin, only stopping once to stare at the open metal doors of the prison cart. Eventually, Salem called him back over after making sure that Pudge was okay as the two discussed their plan. Carefully, the two of them tucked Pudge away into the prison cart and after gathering their things, slipped off into the cool evening night.

The two of them snuck through the thickets, as Salem led them away from the campsite, taking care to avoid main roads or areas where they could draw attention. After a few hours of wading through heavy overgrowth and rocky terrain, eventually, the two of them found a site of rest for the evening, protected from the night air by a windswept foothill.

“Let’s set up camp here, plenty of coverage to hide us from predators and bandits,” said Salem, laying their equipment down to rest. “I need to put up warding glyphs to let us know of any intruders in the surrounding area.”

“Seems as good a place as any then I guess,” said Keldon. “Want me to go get some firewood?”

“That’d be much appreciated, thanks.”

Keldon smiled. “Happy to help.”

But... was that all that he could do to help? Shouldn't he learn to stand on his own?

He turned to walk into the thick overgrowth of the forest but slowly came to a stop. “Hey, Salem…”

“Something wrong?”

“I-I’m scared… of messing up I mean. I mentioned it before but my big thing is I’m supposed to return this master of names guy, but I don't even know if he ever existed. What am I supposed to do?”

“Isn’t that a part of your grand quest, hero-boy?” asked Salem.

“I mean yeah but… Iet’s face it. I’m nowhere near the hero I need to be. I mean honestly, you’re a thousand times the hero I can even dream of being. Out here in the wilderness, guided by the prophecy of your former lover. No offense by the way.”

“Some taken.”

“Sorry. Point is, I’m stumbling through this blind. But you? Just look at you, fighting off assassins and saving lives. Saving me,” said Keldon, turning to face Salem.

“I know you already promised to help train me, and I’m so grateful for that already, don’t get me wrong. But I really need your help Salem. I’m fumbling around in the dark here… do you think you can help me try to figure out what I’m supposed to do next? Maybe see if Emily mentioned anything about it in her notes maybe?”

Salem was quiet for a moment as the tension built in the air. Fuck, did he ask Salem for too much?

“I’ll do my best,” said Salem finally.

Keldon beamed. “Really? Do you mean it? I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I know you probably have all this stuff on your mind from your original mission on top of not dying and all.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll do what I can,” said Salem.

“Thank you, Salem. Really… thank you,” said Keldon.

“Okay okay enough already, go get that fire started, I’m freezing out here.”

“On it,” Said Keldon as he quickly rushed into the forest.

Salem watched as he ran off into the night, disappearing into the lush greenery, illuminated in the night by the blue moon as he sat down and leaned his head against the hard stone. After a moment he reached into his bag and pulled out Emily’s journal, and opened it to a random page. The enchanting swirls of archaic scrawls and endless scribbling taunted him as he stared at the notebook. Salem hoped with a new understanding of his fate that he’d be able to break the spell, open up the web of mysteries that his darling had left him to unravel. But no such luck. Not tonight.

With a heavy sigh, he closed the journal and tucked it away, pulling out sheets of warding glyphs to hang around their campsite.

“I wish I was half the man you thought I was Keldon. Maybe then, I’d have something to show for it all.”