Lost

Lost marched forward, trampling bushes in his path. The wolf girl, Fen, trailing a few feet behind him. He stopped to look at the side of a moss covered tree. After looking at it for a moment, he moved on.

“Do you know where you're going, Mr. Lost?” Fen quietly asked him, he could barely hear it. Lost looked over his shoulder at the small girl. She was a thin thing, dressed in dirty brown clothes in need of stitching. Her tail limply wagged behind her and the ears on her head were constantly moving around. Listening to the forest.

“Barely a clue. The only thing is that the moss on these trees grows north. I came here from the south. So, just follow the moss north and we should hit the wall sooner or later, right?” Lost said, turning forward again.

They walked on in silence for a while, trampling their way through the brush. Lost was deeply upset. He had used almost all his magic in his stores up. He sure didn't regret using the illusion magic to get away from that beast, but still wished that there was another way. It would be a few days before the magic fully returned, if he didn't meditate. One thing that bothered him was why he felt a lot of it being used up when he did that spell.

“Why… did you save me?” Fen asked Lost timidly, still talking quietly.

“Hm?” Lost turned his head to look at her, “Why wouldn't I?”

“You- you could have left me there, t-to distract the monster.” Now Fen had her gaze downward, plodding along behind him.

“Hahaha! Thats a good point, but it never crossed my mind. Plus, I couldn't leave a little girl like you behind to be eaten,” said Lost, turning back.

“I'm not little, you're not much older than me,” Fen mumbled.

“Wanna bet?” Lost said in a cheery tone.

“Hmph, you're only like, four years older than me.” Fen said, a little attitude in her voice now. She obviously didn't like being called little.

“Hah! Trust me, kid. I'm like, what?” Lost replied, counting on his fingers, then throwing up his hands after a few moments, “Baah! I was never good at math. Lets just say im.... around 1,000 years old.”

He looked back at her, she had a dumbfounded expression on her face, “You’re lying. If y-you are 1,000 years old, then what are you?”

Lost looked down at his pale hands. They were soft, and incredibly white, the callouses from his old body not there. They looked almost like a dead man’s hands. He snorted, they were a dead man's hands, “I wish I knew, kid. I wish I knew what I was. I used to be a human, but now? I don't even feel like this is my body.”

He looked back at Fen. She gave him a weird look, but didn't say anything else, mulling over the idea he out ranked her by 1,000 years. They trudged on in silence for a little more time.

Lost’s stomach growled, he looked around at the forest. He did have the dried food in one of his pouches, even though he couldn't taste it, the thought of fresh berries was more appealing. After moving brush for a minute or so he spotted a berry bush. It was the same type of berry he had eaten the first day of escaping the catacombs.

It was a scrawny bush, covered in small, plump and round orange berries. He grabbed a handful of them and shoved them in his mouth. He looked back at Fen, offering her a handful. Gulping the berries down without a second thought, still flavorless as always, he noticed Fen’s gaze.

Her eyes were wide with horror. Looking between the berries he offered her and himself.

“What?” Lost asked, startled by her reaction.

“Those berries are poisonous! Plus, they taste horrible!” She blurted out, eyes still wide with horror.

Lost immediately dropped the remaining berries in his hand, “WHAT!?”

He was on the ground now, groping at his stomach. His expression of fear and panic unseeable because of his hood.

Was this how it ended? Was this how his second chance at life ended? By a few measly berries? The great, albeit a failure, swordsman died because he ate a bunch of berries?!

“W-what are the side effects?” He asked panicked and looking up at the wolf girl.

She gave him a worried gaze, “They aren't life threatening in small doses. But even small handfuls can cause severe cramping pains and indigestion. A-and you just ate a large dose.”

Lost nearly fell on his face, he knew it. He was going to die. After a few moments, a thought came to him, “But I ate like an entire bush a couple days ago.”

Fen shrugged, the panic lessening from her eyes, “I don't know. If you ate that many a few days ago, you might be fine. I hope so...”

Lost exhaled a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Regaining some of his composure. It looked like he was going to be okay. Hey? Magic was a weird thing, if he had resistance to poison, he wasn't going to complain.

“Well, I got some dried foods, would you like them?” Lost said, getting back up and moving his hand under his cloak to take out the now nearly empty pouch of food. He had lost his appetite. Fen looked at the small bag in his hand like he was an alien asking to be taken to her leader. She tentatively reached out a hand and grabbed the food pouch.

It was pretty obvious she had trust issues. It also seemed she had been abused as well, from several bruises on her arms. Her arms and legs were as thin as twigs, hinting at starvation.

Fen undid the cord on it and looked inside. There was one strip of dried meat left and a few slices of what Lost thought were dried apples. But he couldn't taste anything, so he wasn't exactly sure what they were.

She plunged her tiny hand into the back, redrawing the solitary slice of dried meat. Fen looked at it, holding it up between her eyes. It was so comical looking, with the happy swishing of her tail, that Lost stifled a laugh with his hand.

Fen took a tentative bite into the ‘jerky’, her tiny fangs easily cutting through the thick meat. Her eyes light up in happy glee, her tail swishing back and forth even more.

Lost knew that the jerky was seasoned, but since he couldn't taste anything, he had know idea it was so good. It also was probably because she hadn't eaten in awhile too, but Lost felt a little jealous. He hadn’t known how much he could miss taste, till it was gone. He would probably kill an army to have even a moment of tasting something.

He turned back, heading to the direction he had dubbed ‘north’. Fen happily walked behind him, munching away at the dried food.

********

After about another hour, they reached the massive wall that acted as the border between the elve’s forests and the human lands. Lost picked the direction he thought that the border keep was in. He and Fen followed alongside the wall for a long time, not stopping for breaks. A large amount of vines and other plants grew on this side of the wall, clinging to it like a baby to it’s mother.

Fen was the first to notice it, sniffing at the air, “Do you smell smoke?”

“Smoke?” Lost asked, sniffing the air as well. Sure enough, there was the light scent of burning wood on the breeze. He looked up at the sky, but it was obscured by the thick canopy brushing up against the border wall.

Lost picked up his pace a little bit, Fen matching his new pace quickly. After a few minutes they came upon the keep.

Lost’s suspicions about the attack from the monster was confirmed. The entire keep lay in smoldering ruins, bodies strewn about at odd angles. They were brutishly dismembered, metal armor ripped apart like tissue paper. There was a large hole where the gate for this side should have been, the walls were covered in scratches and dents. The road leading from the keep was scorched and muddied with blood.

Lost looked at the wolf girl next to him. She was frozen in place like at the carriage. Eyes opened in horror and shock. It was probably shocking to see such a heavily defended keep utterly decimated as it was now.

Lost was shocked by the sight, but not in the way Fen was. It was worrying that this many elven guards were so easily defeated. Elfs were renowned for their long range skills. Not to be racist or anything, but even a six year old elf could shoot a crossbow with ease. Anything that was approaching from the human lands should have been easily shot down. Lost was only able to get so close because he was traveling alone.

Lost looked down at the trembling wolf girl, “Hey, i'm gonna go check to see if there are any survivors. How about you stay here and I will come back to get you?”

She snapped out of her fear induced trance, panic twisting her face. She was obviously scared of being left behind.

“Hey, hey. It's alright, I promise I will only take a few minutes. Then I will come back to get you,” said Lost, trying to calm the girl who was on the verge of tears.

Lost didn't think of himself as a kind person, not even a good person. But he wasn't cruel and anyone with a heart looking down at this wolf girl, would have immediately hugged her.

Fen nodded slowly, unsure if Lost was lying. Lost grabbed her by her shoulders and led her over to a tree, facing away from the carnage. He sat her down, tears now silently streaming down her face.

‘God, I have to find something to distract her quick.’ Lost thought, looking around. Then it clicked in his head. He rummaged through his many pockets looking for something. Once his hand felt the familiar shape, he grasped it and pulled it out.

He held it out to Fen, “Hear take this, it will help protect you.”

It was a small glass orb, looking a lot like a marble. But it was about the size of a toddler’s fist, with a bright yellow wave frozen in the center. This was a magical item. Imbued by a magic user long ago, it had its own source of mana. The object was designed to help awaken magical powers that were long since suppressed. It was called a Mana Core. It wasn't anything special before Lost died, but now it was. It was still rather rare, Lost had used it to unlock his magical powers. And drew on some of it’s mana from time to time.

From what he could guess, and from her appearance, Fen was a snow wolf. Lost had known a few of these particular people, they were master illusionists and ice manipulators. The shortest way to explain it would be to say that they could use the illusion that Lost had used to escape the beast. They also could do many more things, he had even heard about a few of them being able to solidify their illusions, making them very adept at confusing enemies. Something Lost was very jealous of.

One of the snow wolves’ innate abilities was the use of water and ice magic. Beastmen were a magical people and a large amount of them were adept in at least one form of magic.

Fen looked at the Mana core. Her eyes widened in surprise, but the fear was still in them. She held up her palms and Lost dropped the orb in her hands. It would take a few days for the powers to start to show, if the person even had any. It wasn't meant for protection, but Fen didn't know that.

He just hoped he wasn't making a big mistake by giving this to her. When he had awakened his power, it was very… explosive and nearly killed him.

“Alright, I will be back. Just sit tight here and I will be back in a few minutes.” Lost said, but Fen was now completely entranced by the orb. He backed off quietly, heading towards the keep.

He glanced around the corner into the ruined keep, the smoke was very thick. Visibility was low, making this a very hazardous area. Lost walked over to a dead corpse, pulling a strip off of his bloody shirt. Luckily this piece wasn't too covered in blood. Lost wrapped it around his mouth and nose, making a makeshift mask. The smoke still stung his eyes, but he ignored it.

He grabbed the hilt of his sword on his back, but did not draw it. As he slowly parted through the smoke, he listened for any noises. The only sounds were that of crackling and on fire timber.

Lost heard the frantic whining of a horse. Before he knew it, a brown horse dragging behind a leg of its former rider in its reins, burst through the smoke. Lost barely had time to react, he pivoted on his heel out of the way of the panicking horse, nearly being trampled in the process.

The horse was enveloped again in the heavy smoke, vanishing from sight. Lost exhaled air, regretting it deeply. He inhaled, tho the mask got a large amount of the smoke filtered through it's thick cloth, it didn't get all of it. He coughed a few times, but regained control after a little bit, his throat burning. His eyes were now watering up from all the smoke, he wiped the tears from them, persevering on.

A little bit after the horse galloped by, he heard moaning. This wasn't like any panicking animal, but more like that of a dying one. Lost followed the sound through the smoke, till he came across a low, smashed wall. Half of a dying elf lay there.

It was a gruesome sight, the elf soldier lay there, propping himself up on his elbows. His entire body was gone from below his waist, Lost had no clue how he was still alive. It was obvious the elven soldier was in excruciating pain, slowly bleeding out on the cobbles.

Lost slowly approached him, boots crunching the tiny bitts of shattered wall on the ground, looking around in the smoke. He tried to discern if their were any enemies lying in ambush, using this poor elf as bait. When Lost was within a foot of the elf, he tensed up for a second, expecting to be attacked. But the moment passed, nothing jumped from the smoke to kill Lost.

Lost kneeled down next to the dying elf, “What happened here?”

The soldier turned to look at him, head lolling around. He was obviously close to death, but he croaked out a few words between coughs.

“Human… at-a-attacked… demon-ns!” The man said, head still lolling around.

Lost frowned at this, ‘a human, attacked? Then demons? Could the elf mean that a human attacked with beasts like the one that attacked the supply cart? Or maybe him? They were calling him a demon.’

The dying elf whispered a few more words, “Messenger……. escaped...”

Lost moved slightly closer, the elf hadn’t finished speaking, “Kill…”

The man was begging. Lost understood the message clear enough. He drew his sword, holding it level with the elf soldier's chest. He took a deep breath, looking the elf in the eyes, “You did your duty, I wish you luck in the next life.”

Lost thrusted the amber glowing sword through the man's heart, cutting through the chain mail armor like butter. Stopping the heart instantly and ending his suffering. He took his last breath with a slight smile and looking up into the smoke clouded sky.

Lost brushed the blood from his blade on the half elf’s shirt. Cleaning it of blood, he sheathed it on his back. Lost moved his fingers up to the man’s eyes, closing them gently.

He got up with a sullen expression. This was obviously the work of a magic user. At least someone who could control beasts, it tugged at the back of Lost’s mind. But he couldn't figure out why this seemed familiar.

He had gotten the information he needed, so he headed back to where he had left Fen. The smoke parting around him as his boots crunched the tiny bits of rubble on the ground.