The familiar squeak of the wagon wheels and slight shaking of the wood nearly lulled me to sleep as the warm sun shined down on me from overhead. Now that we were finally free of the ever-present blood mist, I wanted to take every moment I could basking in the gentle rays of sunlight. Laying comfortably on top of my family’s wagon, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, savoring the smell of the fresh mountain air.

Nearby, my parents both sat in the driver’s seat on the wagon. My mom leaned her head on my dad’s shoulder as the two of them enjoyed the small moment of peace for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Charly was inside the wagon, turning dozens of pieces of paper into scrap as he worked on a new glyph. Meanwhile, Donte had taken an immediate attraction to Esben’s mercenaries. Donte was completely fascinated by the stories they had to tell, and the mercenaries were all to happy to boast about their fantastical achievements. Most of which, I was convinced were completely made up on the spot with no basis in reality at all. Not that Donte minded, he was fascinated by the tall tales of the mercenaries fighting giant beasts and facing down armies with only their bare fists.

Esben’s mercenaries had bought four run-down wagons and more than a dozen horses for this journey, turning our small group into a well-armed caravan rumbling down the mountain trails. With the mercenaries around, I was not able to push Mordere and Mitis to their full potential, but despite the slower pace with them around, I was thankful for their presence.

More than once this morning I had already spotted the orange eyes of Irene’s undead watching us from behind trees and bushes along the mountain trail. Most of the time, they did not even try to hide as they followed behind our caravan like birds flocking around their prey. Esben had tried to attack them once, but the undead scattered in every direction before he could even get close enough to hit them. A few minutes later they would return to flock around us menacingly. I had no doubt Irene was gathering her forces to stage an attack now that we did not have the Novus army protecting us.

When we first separated from General Arthur this morning there had only been a single undead watching us. Now, there were more than ten nearby.

The constant staring eyes of the silent undead left the mercenaries on edge, but everyone knew there was no reason to worry yet. Everyone had been informed of the weakness in Irene's pitiful imitations. If Irene was half as smart as she thought she was, the undead would only attack when they had the numbers to be a serious threat. Until then, we would simply continue the silent staring contest and wait.

As our caravan continued down the winding mountain path, I heard Donte ask a question that drew my attention.

“I have heard you mention something called the Great Demise a few times now, what is it?” he asked curiously.

“Ah, now that is a good question,” Esben replied as he stroked his chin, “Put simply, the Great Demise is an old legend about the end of the world. The entire epic would take an incredible amount of time to go through. It details everything about the history of our realm and the people that have protected it in the past as well as the stories of the heroes that will protect us in the future. To go through everything would take days, but the short version is that one day our realm with face the threat of total destruction from a great Demon. When that day comes, all the dead of the world will rise up as Vaktare. They will be our saviors as they have been so many times before.”

I could feel Donte’s eyes on me as he listened to Esben speak. “Then you do not hate the Immortal Empress like the rest of the world?” Donte asked without looking away.

“Of course not!” Esben replied with indignation, “I never understood why southerners hated their protector and blamed her for their problems. Of course, her empire never reached as far north as the Kalan tribes, so we did not have to live under her rule as the others did. To us, the empress was simply the guardian of our realm. She was a distant and revered figure that existed only in rumors. The story of the Great Demise speaks heavily of her accomplishments and her return to protect us once again, but she is only a small part of the epic. The entire story details a great many people that will fight alongside the Vaktare. There is the great healer that will mend the broken world, the great explorer that will reconnect our realm to worlds beyond, and the pair of sentinels that will stand guard over the realm forever, just to name a few.”

Donte was completely enraptured by the story as his eyes practically sparkled in excitement. “Does that mean the defenders in the story succeed in protecting the realm? Why is it called the Great Demise if the realm is protected by so many people?”

Esben laughed as he patted Donte’s back. “You caught on quick. The Great Demise is actually not just one story. It is thirteen different accounts of the same event. Each of the thirteen stories gives a different possibility for the future battle against the great Demon. Only one of which leads to the survival of our realm. Five of the stories end with the mutual destruction of both our realm and the Demon, while another seven detail the Demon’s victory and what will happen afterwards. This is the reason for the name. The author of the Great Demise took quite a bit of time to say that the future is always in flux and that nothing is fixed. If we want to save our realm from destruction and achieve the one future that does not end in death, we must all work towards it without holding anything back. Only then will we stand a chance. The people of Kala took that message to heart. For more than three hundred years, we have honed our skills in preparation for the Great Demise, standing guard for the day we will be needed.”

I sat up at this, looking at Esben with confusion as I tried to connect what he said with what I knew. “Three hundred years… not fifty or sixty?”

“The Kingdom of Kala was created fifty years ago when Svend united the Shattered Tribes, but our doctrine has existed for as long as anyone can remember. We have records dating back centuries. The Great Demise had always been a part of our culture.” Esben said with confidence.

“Who… Who was the author of the Great Demise?” I asked while dreading the answer.

“The author was a great fortune-teller who was said to never be wrong when predicting the future. He was a savior of the tribes that led us to centuries of safety, but not much is actually known about the man. No records exist outside of stories passed down by word of mouth. It is against our laws to write anything down about him. All I can really tell you about the man is his name… Aevus.”

I took a deep breath as I tried to suppress the fire raging in my chest, followed by a familiar cold sweat of fear.

My mom looked over at me with concern in her eyes as she whispered, “Wren, are you ok? You look… pale.”

I nodded as I closed my eyes and tried to get my breathing under control. “I was just reminded of how much I hate my teacher. Do not mind me.”

“By any chance, does your teacher have a talent that can see into the future?” my mom asked quietly, glancing at Esben who continued telling his story of the Great Demise to Donte without seeming to notice my distress.

I waved my hand dismissively as I failed to suppress the seething frustration burning in my chest. “No, he cannot. He is just really good at guessing what will happen and using words to deceive people into thinking he knows everything. Which is why this is so infuriating. Three hundred years ago he already assumed that I would one day fail to protect the realm and manipulated an entire culture of people so they would assist me when it happened. He then sent Svend here to unite those people and make sure the seed he planted all those years ago was still growing. He never once trusted me to handle this realm by myself!”

“Is your teacher really capable of something like that?”

“Manipulating people is what he does,” I growled with increasing irritation, “Every action he takes is always layered with hidden motivations. He is the greatest liar I have ever met. Pretending to be a fortune teller to trick people into preparing for an apocalypse event is hardly anything new to him.”

“But… isn’t this a good thing?” my mom said as she once again glanced at the enthusiastic mercenaries, “He did it to help you if you were ever in trouble, didn’t he?”

“Ha! Help?” I laughed a little too loudly, drawing curious stares from some of the mercenaries. I quickly lowered my voice back down to a whisper as I spoke, “Michael Aevus has never cared about helping anyone once in his miserable life. His one and only concern is and always will be his mission. He will not rest until every single Demon and Demonkin is wiped from existence and he will sacrifice anything or anyone if he thinks it will help him get closer to that goal. Aurielle is no exception. He has proven that countless times. He can only be considered an ally so long as you are useful to his cause. If ever we stray from that path, he will not hesitate to cut us down.”

“Then, why do you trust him enough for us to trek all the way to the Kala kingdom just because he said so?”

“Because for all his faults, my teacher is always consistent in his hatred of Demons. He wants Envy dead more than even I do. If there is even the smallest possibility of us being able to kill or even just hurt Envy, he will remain our most valuable ally. Just… do not trust anything said or written by him. There is no telling what kind of nonsensical lies he has spread among these people. They are all just pawns to him on a game board we cannot even see.”

My mom nodded silently. She grabbed my dad’s hand, holding it tightly in hers. He looked over at her and smiled softly, squeezing her hand back. My dad had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire conversation, and I could tell he looked slightly pale despite the warm temperature of the air.

“Dad, what is wrong? Tell me, please,” I said, moving to the front of the wagon. I looked up at him with eyes as big as I could muster as I tried to get him to talk about what had been bothering him since before we started this trip.

My dad sighed and he hesitated for a few moments before speaking. “It is nothing you need to worry about Wren. I have simply had a lot of confrontations and dealings with the Kala in the past. Their idea of preparing for the Great Demise is… gruesome. These mercenaries are mild compared to the actual citizens of Kala. You have not seen it yet, but they do not see death the same way normal people do. While this makes them fearless fighters, it also makes them untrustworthy. They will happily stab their own family in the back for the sake of their cult, all while praising their place in the Great Demise. Learning that your teacher is partially responsible for such a twisted group of people is… disturbing, to say the least.”

I reached out to hug my dad. I did not know why he was so bothered by the Kala, but I felt it was the right thing to do. “I do not know what you have seen, but you do not have to force yourself to like them because of me. No matter what you choose, I will support you above all else. My teacher’s words are not absolute orders. If you do not want to go to Kala, just say so and we will turn back now. I can always find another way to fight Envy.”

My Dad reached out and ruffled my hair, once again turning it into a tangled mess. “I am supposed to be the one supporting you, not the other way around. Do not worry about me. I put my past with the Kala away a long, long time ago. If you and Tia can face them down with confidence, so can I.”