As Ariana had headed to the village that would soon come under siege, she got caught up in how strange it was that she was even here. It was a minor miracle that she had been allowed to join the Sacerian army in the first place. She had first approached Springen fort at the age of sixteen, five years prior. After enduring questioning after questioning and waiting for the Sacerians to decide whether to dispose of or accept her, she officially joined their ranks. It was clear that she would never be one of them, but she was permitted to lend them her blade.

She was open in regards to her heritage from the start and received the reactions and treatment she had expected. No assistance was lent on the battlefield; the burden of her life or death was hers alone. Former Ghurian allies greeted her with such vehemence in battle that she almost believed looks could kill, that their hatred would be strong enough to reach out and be rid of her on its own.

All of this was fine with her; all that mattered was that she had made it. Changing her allegiance had been a simple choice. History said that the Sacerians would win, and Ariana wanted to be on the winning side.

She’d known it the second the true, complete fallout of the Wither epidemic and the ensuing contract had been revealed. The Fall family had been lined up and neatly slaughtered, one by one, by the mighty blade of the Creed family. That same night, the Ghurian council had also been executed, apparently a shocking addition to the contract. Punishment, maybe, for the losses of the epidemic. The strongest members of the military, the elected leaders and organizers of Ghurian lands, all dead. Crops extinguished, already rough fertility of the lands dashed by Wither’s coursing through them. It all spelled doom. And then that night, the one Ariana could pinpoint as the one that changed her entire life.

They came through the village Ariana lived in with her parents and younger sister. Citizens from Ghuria’s outer reaches, driven to the brink of starvation. They begged for resources that weren’t there. Sirpo had withdrawn its trade agreement, so there was no one anywhere to give them anything at all. One collapsed right in front of Ariana on the street, twitching and moaning into death despite the protests of the wife and son kneeling beside him. He had whispered their names, Ingrid and Wesley, in apology as his last words. Her sister shrieked and hid behind her, covering her eyes, while Ariana stared, transfixed. The emaciated form, those who continued trudging ahead of it. A pathetic, helpless death. Ghuria was a dead, doomed land, and its people had only the option to sit there and wait to succumb.

But Ariana saw another way out. She could either lay down and die or take fate into her own hands. Seize life and sink her teeth into it, give everything to hold on until the next day and the days, months and years after that. She could join the winning side.

Isolation was something she was used to as a mixed-blood, and she didn’t particularly mind continuing the trend as she joined Sacer. This was her cold way of living life as a stranger in Sacer until Iree Nobelis had stepped in. Rather, Iree had saved Ariana’s life. At one moment, a then nineteen-year-old Ariana had been paralyzed on the ground, waiting for a killing blow from a boy she vaguely remembered (had he been a schoolmate, maybe?). She’d been scared, yes, but also somewhat relieved. The long struggle would be over. However, by burning alive that boy Ariana may or may not have known in a crispy and charred instant, Iree prolonged that struggle.

When Ariana glared up at her with dumb confusion and anger, Iree just grinned. “It’d be a shame to lose someone as good as you, don’tcha think?” she’d chirped before leaping back into the fray.

So Iree Nobelis saw her as someone worth protecting, huh? It was at least worth a begrudging thank you, but Ariana never got the chance to give it. When she approached Iree, of course finding the lost puppy known as Rhys Tamlin with her along with that other boy who’d been their friend but was dead now, Whatshisname, Iree spoke before Ariana could. “Hey, so fight with us,” she said. “What I mean is, we’re gonna turn this shithole upside down and you should come along.”

Ariana laughed at that, the first genuine one she’d had in a while. “Yeah. Right.”

Iree turned upon her the steady gaze she used when she wanted people to know they could have faith in her. The kicker was that it generally worked. “I’m serious. We’re going to change everything. People’s minds. Their perceptions of people like us.”

“Like us,” Ariana scoffed. “You think you understand anything at all.” She hated herself for engaging. The word was that Iree was maybe, just maybe a candidate for commander, but Ariana had written that off as impossible. The odds were too much against her.

“Yeah, I understand some of what you’re going through,” Iree stated. “Just a little is enough. That’s why I want you to come with me. I want you to be there, and I want to look at your stupid face the moment you realize that the world is becoming less cruel.” She finished with a bright, assured grin.

They’d never even spoken before that day, but Iree’s words gave Ariana the feeling that she had been watched over and cared for from a distance. That said, after taking two days to stew, she agreed. She had very little to lose, after all.

The things they had thought might change when Iree became commander did not change. Ariana was still hated, though Iree’s previously shattered reputation had been stitched back together with her promotion. Still, there was comfort in being able to look at Iree and know she understood a tiny bit, the gradual burn of these everyday hurts. For Ariana, that was enough. To not be completely alone and adrift in Sacer was more than enough, and it made her stronger against her own expectations.

All of these thoughts had come to her when she’d set sight on the village she and Shark were meant to protect. Wasn’t the chance closer than ever to find a place in the world? Losing wasn’t an option, now more than ever.

She and Shark surveyed the scene tensely, with Shark urging villagers to go back inside their homes for the time being. Of course, rather than listening, more and more people were attracted by the excitement and the curiosity of Shark’s claims of an impending attack, and they were swarmed. It didn’t help that both of them were recognized, too, as a turncoat Ghurian rat and a cowardly deserter. By the time Shark managed to get even the slightest hold over the crowd, it was already too late.

When the villagers began to drop, flesh becoming red and swollen, sprouting bulbous sacs of orange pus before decaying into wrinkled and shriveled black strips, Ariana remembered the Frostbite magic of the Spline family instantly. Namina Spline didn’t bother with staying hidden. She, rather uncharacteristically, faced them head-on, emerging from the forest with slow, deliberate steps. Ariana perched with Shark on a pillar they had erected to outrun the magic, and they were safe so long as Namina wasn’t touching the ground.

“Move when I tell you to,” Ariana whispered, and Shark gave a barely perceptible nod.

“I’d like for you to tell me who it was that killed my brother-in-law,” Namina called out. She stood just a few feet away with her fingers curled into claws as if they were itching to tear into something.

So Namina had gotten married at some point, eh? Logic dictated that the brother-in-law she was referring to was the Marley who had been killed. Ariana had known his name at one point, but she’d forgotten. So. Johanna and Namina. News from an old life felt hollow.

How foolish of Namina, to let her emotions put her in such a vulnerable position. Ariana bent and tensed her body, preparing to jump. “Shark!” As she took a flying leap, barreling into Namina in the process, Shark created another pillar. Earth shot up beneath Ariana and Namina, propelling them away from the scene. They were pushed back to the outskirts of the village before the column crumbled.

In Ariana’s humble opinion, talk was cheap in battle. Namina probably wanted to rant and rave to her, but she couldn’t find a single iota of caring within herself for the girl’s grief. They’d both killed a lot of people, and those people had been loved by others too. None of them were special. There were only the ones who were strong enough to live and the ones who were weak and died.

She didn’t hesitate. Once her feet hit the ground, her magical blade sliced through her palm to be unsheathed, and she charged. Namina put her hands up, maybe to block, maybe to try to counter, but it was no use. Ariana’s weapon tore into her stomach, and as she leaped back she drove in a sharp kick aimed directly at the wound, sending her opponent flying.

“You’ll bleed out soon enough,” she commented, flicking the dripping blood from her blade to dash the ground with flecks. “That’ll give you a few minutes to get over any last regrets.”

Ariana turned away but stopped in her tracks. Where were the reinforcements that would have been sent from Sunmer? She hadn’t been there for the order, but she understood that that was the tactical choice Iree would have made. Foreboding washed over her, and she rushed to where she had left Shark but found them gone. There were marks of disturbed earth to follow, though, so she trailed them with quick caution. At the end of the path, roughly a half-mile sprint back into wooded areas, she encountered a sight that made her blood chill.