The flame burned in a menacing circle, and he stood in the center of the fire that feasted on his on his agonizing pain. It would not give him the benefit of death, only the pain remained. His arms were hoisted in the air by bulky chains, remaining fixed in place without any strength to break loose. Raising his limp head weakened from the pain, he glimpsed at the source of the flames, the outline of a monster disguised as a human. The darkness of had been spawned, the source overwhelmed him with fear.

"Zilian." The shadow snarled in a coarse disgruntled voice.

"Zilian." It repeated with an approach, shaking the ground with hefty steps.

He. No, the it. It loomed over him from beyond the wall of flames, but Zilian still could not see the appearance of this thing. He had nothing to offer or bargain with the beast, except for the fear in his eyes which it accepted ecstatically.

"Zilian." Zilian blinked his eyes returning to reality as Blade called him back to his senses. They were traveling through a thick mist in the forest in the late morning, so he was meditating on his dream from the night prior.

He returned his attention back to Blade, "Sorry, what was it?"

"I was just saying we are almost at the Estate front gate." Blade pointed aimlessly ahead in the mist.

"Oh, that is good." He replied blandly.

"Zilian, you ok?" Erica asked with worried look.

"Sorry?" He asked confused, his mind was still distracted from his nightmare.

"You sure you are fine?" Erica repeated herself kindly.

"Yeah, I am. Why wouldn't I be?" He grinned.

"It just seems like something is bothering you. At night you don't seem to be getting any sleep, and at day you just look miserable." She explained, clearly noting the black lines growing around his eyes.

Shaking his head defensively, "I don't have a problem. Just hard to sleep on cold ground and I hope we make it to Kenplar in time to sleep in a warm bed.”

"Well guys, seems like we are in luck to find out soon enough." Blade pointed ahead, this time at a break in the mist not too far away.

The mist dropped as the sun rose higher in the sky, clearly revealing a giant metal bar gate with even larger walls that stretched far off into both side in the thick forest. However, the entrance was far from seeming secure. The gate was torn and bent from its place, hanging from a single hinge on a side. Zilian’s stomach churned with nausea from a disgusting smell that hung heavy in the air.

Zilian covered his mouth to blot the taste out, "Something is wrong, my stomach has not felt like this since..."

"Forest Mist." Erica finished his sentence fearfully and ran over and past the fallen gate.

"Erica wait! We do not know if it is safe!" Blade called after her.

He did not wait to see if she heard and returned, and chased after Erica leaving Blade behind. He followed her down the path that led through a dried-out lawn, an odor of death remained dominant everywhere in the air around him. Everywhere he turned his head in this field, he saw patches of blood staining the ground, makeshift barricades torn down and the remains of stained weapons and armor. There had obviously been a big battle here.

He saw Erica stop in her tracks at the top of the small hill, where he could see the outlines of the massive house rooftop up and beyond. However, he understood that was not what had stopped her, and a gasp escaped his mouth as his heart beat harder from the grim sight. He tried to seek for words to say, but his mouth gaped in silence.

Blade had caught up with them both, "Do not go off running like that guys. There is no telling what we will..." His voice trailed off and remained in shock too, "My god."

Neither of them expected to see what they saw, the mansion was the obvious thing to have had expected but the unexpected in front of the mansion is what shocked them. Graves were peppered across the entire front property, and over every dug grave was staked sign over it. Zilian walked with his friends towards the house beyond the graves, he felt as if he were walking through the land of the dead that warned him off.

"There is someone over there." Blade pointed to a person off the distance in the field.

Erica gasped and ran off over to the person.

"What is it with her and running to the first thing she sees?" Blade fussed.

Zilian did not have the energy to argue with him, instead he followed Erica again. Blade was right about that, they could not just run to whoever they saw here, nobody could be trusted and thus everyone was considered as an enemy. As he neared the unknown being, he noticed it was a young woman. Erica was treading closely to the woman who was digging a grave that was knee deep, probably for the corpse that was wrapped in a sheet next to the hole.

"Gienna?" Erica asked precariously, seeming to have recognized her.

The woman remained fixed into digging the grave in a silent mutter and shiver, apparently completely unaware of her surroundings and newcomers.

"Gigi." She placed a hand on her shoulders to get her attention.

She rose her head to see who had interrupted her digging, at first she stared back with a blank look. It took her a short while to recognize who she was seeing, and when she did a tear rolled from her eyes down her cheeks.

"I knew you would come one of these days, I always knew." She wept uncontrollably.

Gienna crawled out of the grave and launched herself into Erica’s arms, they both cried and hugged each other from this heartwarming reunion.

"What happened Gigi?" Erica asked.

Gienna coughed painfully, "Sorry, let me give him peace first."

She walked around the grave to where the corpse was and it into the hole, Zilian took the shovel from her upon seeing she was going to use it and fill the hole up with earth.

"Let me help." He offered.

She looked into his eyes and nodded appreciatively. Zilian picked into the pile of dirt with the shovel and began burying the body, then Gienna picked up a stake with a sign on it when he had finished burying the corpse. She carved on it with a knife and when she finished, she took the sign and hammered it over the grave.

The sign read, Terdus Mavollente.

He noticed the sign was similar to other ones near this one, all followed in a line, Marias Mavollente; Kento Mavollente; Elisse Mavollente.

"You buried all of them by yourself?" Blade asked. Zilian had not noticed him till now, he had assumed Blade stayed behind.

With eyes welling up in sadness and a hushed reply, "Yes."

"Oh Gigi." Erica grabbed her by the arms, feeling her pain too. Zilian sighed knowing that only Erica could feel the pain of others.

Gienna held her too, however she suddenly starting to give a coughing bout until she had coughed up blood. Losing her grip on Erica, she wiped the blood off of her mouth. Her hands started to tremble before she fell to the ground convulsing violently.

"Gigi!" Erica cried as she dropped to her knees to her friend’s aid, trying to keep her steady and not jerk herself into anything.

Zilian was completely dumbfounded and did not know what to do other than stand and watch hopelessly. Even though this was completely out of Zilian’s experience, Blade shoved him aside and firmly picked up Gienna in his arms.

"We need to get her inside!" He ordered. Blade then ran towards the mansion leaving Zilian with Erica following him into the mansion.

"Where is a nearest bedroom?" Blade asked when both of them made it inside.

"This way." Erica led the way to the left main hallway.

Zilian followed Blade into the second door on the right, which was a decently sized dormitory. It would have seemed even nicer if it were not for someone who came in and ravaged the place, leaving everything tossed around and turned over. Zilian went to lift the mattress back in its place on the bedframe, which Blade then lays Gienna on who was still convulsing.

"Erica, do you know where he keeps medicine around here?" Blade asked her desperately.

"Medications, no. But medicinal herbs, yes." She replied reassuringly.

"Good, show me now." Blade started following her out the room leaving Zilian behind.

"Wait! I will come too." Zilian told them.

"No, you stay here." Blade directed briskly.

"I am going to help you find the medicine." He insisted on helping them in any way he could.

"I need you to keep her safe, call me if she gets worse."

Zilian looked at Gienna laying on the bed in a miserable condition, he saw Blade was right, she needed company to watch over her. "Got it. Go quickly." He nodded.

Blade nodded back and followed Erica to the medicinal herbs storage. Zilian picked up a fallen chair to sit next to the bed on her side, he held her hand to reassure her.

"It will be alright, Erica will be back with medicine." He told her.

The convulsing continued and her eyes rolled back showing nothing but white, leaving him a sick feeling in his gut of what she had to go through. Blade and Erica burst back in the room, both with an armful of herbs. Blade grabs a fern-like plant and a root, then crushed them in a wide pot that was in the room.

Blade turned to Erica and requested, "I need a bucket of water and an extra bowl, but please be quick about it."

Erica ran out of the room leaving Blade rummaging for something in the rubble left in the room.

"Tell me what you’re looking for and I'll find it." Zilian offered.

"I need something to smash the herbs, to get the pulp extracted from them." He gestured over the pot with his fist.

It took Zilian only a second looking through the rubble to find it, he saw a glinting edge of something metallic under a pile of papers and books. He shoved the papers aside and pulled out a metal cup, passing it to Blade who was still looking for something in the rubble.

"Will this do?" He asked him hopefully.

"Yes, perfect." He snatched it from his hand.

Blade became focused into mashing the herbs while Erica returned into the room, clearly successful with her task having a bucket of water with a small bowl floating atop. She dropped it next to Blade at which he took the bowl and poured it into the pot he was using in mashing the herbs, he mixed the herbs with the water and then poured it into the cup. He walked to Gienna and lifted her head to pour the drink into her mouth. She gave another cough after swallowing it, but her body had quit convulsing.

"Hah." She sighed which relieved the group seeing she was doing better.

Blinking her eyes to adjust to her surrounding, "Where am I?" She asked.

Erica stepped in front to answer, "Don't worry, we are taking care of you." She stroked her hair.

Gienna groaned as she lays her head back, her breathing dropped steadily as she drifted to sleep.

Zilian turned his attention to Blade, "What was that just now? And I mean both what happened to her and how you knew what to do."

"How I knew what to do is easy to answer. My father taught me a lot about medicine, so if I were to be an actual battle it would come to use, so that I would not just be limited to fighting. As for what happened to her, I have no idea so we will just have to wait for her to wake up to tell us that herself. I only made a concoction that would stop the convulsions."

He turned to look at Gienna who slumbered as Erica caressed her head. Zilian swore under his breath, whoever caused all the death he saw outside and brought this pain upon Gienna would pay.