"This is probably far enough." Zilian stopped in the middle of a forest after running for over an hour.

After they had exited Greyus that morning, they bolted for the woods and then followed the main path up to the present. He did not allow any deviance from the stride the entire way, even though their pace had faltered a lot in the end.

They both slumped tiredly against a tree, their clothes clung on to them in a sticky sweaty mess. He felt like he was burning, and would have given just about anything so he could jump into a cool lake right now. But instead he was left heaving in an attempt to catch his breath, he felt like that he was going to faint any moment. After having sat for awhile, his blood flow dropped back to normal and his body cooled down.

Erica broke the silence after a short while of rest, "So now what?" Her tone was challenging.

He raised a brow curiously, "Now what 'what'?"

"I mean why are we here now, as in where are we going now? Ferry didn't meet us at Greyus, which you decided to leave before he came. We have nowhere to go and know no one else to help us. Are we going to just wander around aimlessly?" Her hands gestured furiously all over the place, demonstrating her growing frustration in delaying the meet with Farame.

He rested his head back and replied coolly, "No, we are not going to wander."

Her eyes locked on him and challenged him again, "Ok, then what are we going to do?"

Lifting his head back up to face her intimidating glare, "We will go to this guy Kenplar. You know him, we were going to go there either way. That is if you know where he is at."

She sat there pondering for a minute with an occasional thoughtful scratch at the back of her head, "Yeah, I think I know."

He nodded reassuringly, "That is good enough for me."

"But what about Ferry?" She asked hopefully.

He stared back at her and tried to hold back the sweat building up around his neck, "I am guessing he is held up at Swamp, he wouldn't want us waiting around for him. He'd much rather we be safe at Kenplar." He doubted that was the case, but he could not give up on Farame without conclusive evidence.

"I guess you are right." She at least agreed with him. "One other thing, who was that girl?" She was referring to the one who was asking for him back in the inn lobby.

"I have no idea, but she is no family of mine, I am sure of that. I had a strange and eerie sensation about her."

"And that was?" This time referring to his sensation.

He answered with a chill coursing down his spine, "Death. Cold. Heartless. And death again." She remained silent, clearly finding nothing more to say in response.

"So what do we have for lunch?" He asked so as to cheerfully change the subject, even though he was not really hungry at the moment.

Erica pulled open her sack and peered inside, then stretched out a marilla apple over to him. He took a bite into the sweet and glossy fruit, which had become his favorite snack. Even though he was not hungry, at least you could never go wrong with this apple and the silence gave him a moment to think.

He did not know the girl, but she knew him. She had an unique blade which he remembered from what he had read about swords, it was a blade used by extremely skilled swordsmen. Swords-girl, he laughed in his mind at that thought. Where would I have met her? Maybe she did know me, but something was definitely dangerous about her. How> did she get my name? Where? Then it dawned upon him, the greatest shock in his short life and the mistake that he was going to have to live with. He had given his name.

That was the only way she could have known his name and as for how she tracked him, he did not know but that did not matter. She must be with the Mountain Empire and now they were hunting for him, both him and anyone he was with.

"You ok Zilian?" Erica gave him a worried look, noticing his sudden pace of heavy breathing and his wide scared eyes.

"I... I think. I did something wrong. We are not safe anymore."

"What do you mean?" She gave him an opportunity to explain himself.

"Best I explain what I understand so far." He started his story from the day he was separated from his father. Explaining how he gave him the sword in the turmoil that was going on, how he saw the urgency in his father’s last wish before parting with him. That those who took him were the Mountain Empire, they feared his name. Also making sure to not leave of how Shavo had used his name to scare off those from the farm.

"I believe she is with the Mountain. That is the only way she could have gotten my name, and now they’re looking for me." He concluded.

"Why would they being looking for you?" She further inquired, nothing gets by her.

He raised his blade that was buckled to his belt, "Because of this."

"Why? What is so special about it?" She looked truly baffled, he did not blame her since the blade seemed no more special than any other fancy sword.

"I do not know." He lied since it was pointless into explaining something he himself had yet to understand. A quick glance at Erica showed that she knew he was lying, but she did not inquire anymore from him.

"Then that leaves us one choice then." She said determinedly.

"And that is?"

"No wandering. We are heading to Kenplar."

He grunted in agreement. Since they could not afford to wander and bump into the Mountain without protection, Kenplar was their best hope. In fact, at the moment it was their only hope.

"How far away are we from the Estate?" He asked her, she was the one who read the map after all.

"I am not sure, but if we can take the road, we should be there in a week." She stated confidently, remembering her previous trips.

He shook his head, disagreeing of traveling by road, "It is probably best if we stay away from the road, there is no telling who we will bump into."

"Without a map, it just can not be done." She argued.

He pulled open his sack and grabbed a rolled-up piece of paper. "A map we have." He waved it in the air.

"I guess that means we will stay off road." She acknowledged in a defeated sigh.

~---~

The trek through the woods was not as easy as sticking to the road, but they had traveled this way for two days even though it was almost too difficult to bear. They had to climb up sharp cliffs, open grasslands, the tops of narrow valleys and the dense forest growth.

"How much further now?" Zilian asked as he pushed branches out of his face.

"A week I think. And you already asked that a minute ago." She sighed in annoyance.

"How do you know we are on the right direction?"

She showed him the map, which she was in control of. She was a better navigator and had a keener sense of direction than him. She had her finger pointing over a landmark. "Remember the monumental statue that resembled one of the lords?" She reminded.

"From when there were Regions and not Empires? Yeah, I remember." He stated as he smacked a fly that buzzed aggressively around his head.

"We passed this valley, which means a week more to the east."

"At this rate, we'll run out of water. I should have bought an extra canteen when we were at Greyus." He reminisced the bed back in the city and running water, he felt like he was going to make a living in staying outdoors.

"We will stop at a river in a couple more days, till then we just ration our water." She had already told him this for a couple days, but he kept on asking her since he had nothing else to do other than walking.

"So this guy Kenplar, what is he like?"

"What do you mean? Like if he is rich? Which he is." She batted a fly away from her.

"No, I already guessed that much, I mean an estate and everything. What is he like, what is he special at and his favorite things to do?"

She paused in her track and thought for a moment, "Well, I guess one could say he is smart. Very smart I would say. He is the one that inspired me to read in the first place. He had tutors and masters all from the Volcanic Empire, which is where all the brightest people come from. Also, he has this strange sense of instinct, he knows when something is out of place. He explained to me one time he doesn't know how is he knows, but he believes it has to do with all his studies being able to subconsciously calculate things in his mind and come up with a solution and resolve a way."

She turned to face him, he smiled and blinked blankly. "Where did I lose you at?" She asked.

"I think it was somewhere around about volcano people and they are the shiniest, or something like that."

She sighed exasperatedly. He sometimes had a hard time following what she said, especially if it was a long sentence. "He is smart, very smart is what you need to know. Also he knows things without knowing them."

"Sounds creepy to me." He remarked.

She grunted her agreement, adding as he helped her over a fallen tree trunk, "It is actually. Besides Ferry, he was like a father to me. Very kind, humble and generous."

"What was his favorite thing to do?"

"Travel, lots of traveling, and that is how we met him. He found us, remember?"

He remained silent, recalling of how they met Kenplar was a vague memory now. He remembered Erica telling him once, but did not remember the details. Erica noticed his dumbfounded look too.

"Don't tell me you forgot." She glared at him.

Wow, it is freaky knowing something you don't know. He thought to himself, not wanting a confrontation with her.

He was saved from having to give an answer from a sudden twig snap, but now he looked around tensely aware. Being hunted by the Mountain Empire by many directions, he did not know what to expect other than danger. Something big was going through the forest, the thing that made the twig snap aloud. A muffled trotting came from the north, then a horse emerged with a young man riding on top.

He seemed surprised to find people in the middle of the forest, but he drew his horse next to them, "Excuse me, mind giving me some directions? I am looking for a town named Falos. Seems to be it was a small town a few people have ever heard of, much to my disdain."

Both Zilian and Erica remained stunned, the huge blade latched on his back gleamed from the rays of sun. His blade is as wide as a man, and the reflection from the edges gave the impression it could cut through two men.

"Isn't that heavy?" Erica asked, completely unaware he had asked them a question.

He glanced at his blade attached to his back, "At first it was, not too much now. Some training helps give you control over it." His face remained unmoved, revealing no emotions to them two.

"Is it for battle?" Zilian asked him.

"Of course it is for battle, what other use is there for a sword?" He scoffed at him, clearly annoyed to have to answer such a stupid question.

"How can you use such a blade at a young age? You can't be more then five years older then me." Zilian remarked. His face was that of a youth, even though he saw clearly he was a young man.

He smiled pridefully, "I have my ways."

"You killed anyone with it?" Erica’s question struck a rough spot on him.

He frowned and returned back to his emotionless face, "That would be for me to know, now

do either of you know where Falos is?"

Zilian pointed to the direction where he and Erica came from, "About two to three weeks that way. Ask around and they'll keep you in the right direction."

The stranger looked at the direction, seeing that he had a long journey that awaited. "Very well. Thank you very much." He kicked his horse and rode off.

After he was out of sight, Zilian ushered Erica through the forest. "Let's go quickly, before he comes back."

"What? Why?" She had no choice but to follow him running, and he was certain she was getting more than just annoyed by these sudden urgent getaways, but that did not matter because he knew they were in immediate danger once again.