Blood dripped from Ryan’s blades as he looked at his parents’ corpses, the house burning around him. A terrified boy peeked into the house to see a man drenched in blood, and he ran. He ran away as fast as his tiny feet could carry.

Ryan watched his parents come back to life as he experienced their murder several times, his body not moving as his own. He was merely a puppet to higher forces. His arms shook as he raised his blade, and he trembled as he brought it down.

The moment he regained the ability to move his body Ryan stepped back, horrified at his actions and fell down, tripping on thin air. A shadow appeared before Ryan, in the shape of a human. A tattoo of a dragon over his back glowed a menacing red as he watched it murder his parents as well.

It turned back, only its yellow toothy grin visible on his silhouette.

“We are the same.” It said as it stabbed its sword at Ryan, letting him wake up from the horrible nightmare. He was gasping for breath and seemed to be hungrier than usual. While opening his pouch and throwing a piece of jerky into his mouth, he realized he had a little pain on his shoulder.

He had been injured before, but not quite cut by anything except a kitchen knife. Looking at the bandages, they didn’t seem to be stained. Strange, he thought to himself as he looked around.

Ryan seemed to be in some kind of room, lying on the wooden floor. The complete lack of windows and the occasional bump made it clear that this was some kind of cart. Probably the inside of the boss’s room. With a yawn, he stood up and peeked out the door.

Seeing as it was the front caravan, he jumped down, deciding to search for his companions. Not letting him down, Valerie sitting on the second caravan and the duo on the front. He hopped up to the bench and took a seat at her side.

From the position of the sun, Ryan concluded it was about midday and from the mountainous terrain, that they are already past Ragewell. With a curious look, Ryan asked her.

“What happened yesterday?”

“Well, you took care of the archer and the rest of the fight was a piece of cake. Luckily the enemy mage was a fire element.” She said with a smile.

“No, I mean why did I suddenly fall asleep?” He asked again.

“Oh, you were hit by an arrow with paralysis toxin.” Valerie answered knowingly.

“I thought paralysis wasn’t supposed to make someone sleepy.” Ryan mumbled under his breath, but shrugged it off. Probably a double toxin. It evaded the ears of the girl as he stared at the snowy mountain tips in the far distance.

He took a sip from his canteen and emptied it, drinking whatever little was left.

“I’m gonna get a refill.” Ryan said as he jumped down and entered the third wagon, where George and Vade were chatting merrily. The first barrel was nearly empty, but the other one was still full.

‘These lizards do drink a lot.’ Ryan thought to himself with a curious expression.

He filled his bottle with the water from the emptying bottle and and took a lump of bread. That’d be his share of the dinner he had the misfortune of missing.

Then he took up his previous position at Valerie’s side and filled his stomach, washing the bread in with water when it got stuck on his throat. Elisa sitting on the roof of the first caravan, which Ryan had completely missed after his awakening, threw a strange look at him before looking away. Most likely contemplating if she should shout at him for eating the provisions, but refrained. He hadn’t wasted her money on dinner yesterday, after all. Bread was cheaper than meat.

Time seemed to flow faster than ever as Ryan took in the beauty of nature and the fresh air out in the mountains. The ever shifting gallery filled his vision, giving him a somewhat satisfying feeling. He could understand why nobles had landscape portraits in their home, and desired more realistic ones.

Night soon set, leaving them no choice but to take a rest. The company deemed the plains a worthy place for camping, and so they did. Any trouble would be seen from far away, letting them rest in peace. Aside from the one who would keep watch.

The caravans were arranged in a way similar to the position they had two days back, just one caravan short. And the lizards were freed from their daylong job of manual labor. The first watch would be Ryan, as he had slept until high noon.

The excess firewood from the time the water was restocked was still there, most likely saved for this occasion. Ryan doubted they hadn’t travelled this path before. Today’s dinner was a stew as well, but he didn’t mind in the least. Anything with that amount of spice was good.

The stew was probably the best food he had in years, he realized as he finished his first plate, giving his plate to the one distributing the food: Marcus.

Wrinkles filled his face, and his movements looked to lag behind.

“You should get a wife when you’re still young.” Vade chimed in with a laugh.

“I’m only twenty this year, just so you know.” He countered.

“When you’re a mage, age doesn’t matter, does it?” Vade asked with a raised brow.

“I know that more than you!” Marcus shouted, receiving a snort.

Ryan just shrugged it off as one could always die from an experiment. The delicious stew entered his mouth, filling his stomach to the brim after three servings. Slowly, but surely, they fell asleep all except Ryan.

The fire danced on, evading the firewood the watcher added occasionally. The glass surface of the watch reflected the imagery in deformed ways as Ryan watched it. The shift would last until the short hand reached two. He looked at it with stars in his eyes, noticing the hands move by the second. Truly a masterpiece of the human mind.

It was somewhat frightening, the human mind, that is. It could somehow create a device that could tell the time, requiring no mana, chi or anything for that matter. Just simply turning a knob was required for it to keep working. With a laugh, Ryan returned it to his pocket. One more hour to go.

The view of the landscape was disrupted by the darkness, only the moon keeping the land lit by a gentle blue light. He took a deep breath and sighed. It was ten years since the last great threat: Third Coming of the Dark Lord, leaving a great part of Esterio Empire barren, a great joy for the denizens of the Ruo Empire. The constant wars stopped and humans only had to deal with monsters and bandits nowadays. But the question was, did this world need any more heroes?

The heavy feeling in Ryan’s chest still bothered him, the weight of a human’s life. Was it really worth it to become strong if he ended up killing other humans?

The fact that the fight was a self-defense didn’t help either. That only made him even guiltier. He didn’t want to become someone who kills without batting an eye like those bandits.

A howl sounded out from the mountains, the howl of a wolf. Ryan’s gaze turned to look at the direction of the sound, failing to see anything out of the ordinary. He concluded it was simply a call to their kind, remembering the time his father told him mountain wolves would communicate with their howls from a long distance and prepare for an ambush.

The realization hit Ryan hard, but he contemplated if he should wake up the others or keep an eye out for the wolves. Their black fur wouldn’t easily give them out if they were to appear, the perfect camouflage for nightly attacks.

His more logical side gave in and he decided to wait, vainly hoping it wasn’t them that the wolves were targeting.