Silence is an unsettling thing, rarely is true silence ever-present. There is always something, there should always be sounds. When there isn’t, nothing is there.

But there is always something.

So as the sun began to set when Sayhas neared the camp and his ears couldn’t catch a single sound of life, he was a little bit on edge.

“Lucia” Dismas called.

“We’re back,” Kirin said.

Then, he heard a sound. A muffled choke followed by a sob. He snapped his head towards the sound, setting a brisk pace, quickly overtaking Dismas who was in front. Sayhas circled a few crates of supplies, brushed flower pot with his finger and rounded a wagon. He heard it, a slow heartbeat, faintly throbbing in desperation.

Weird, it’s Discord wasn’t faint, but it was tame, restricted even.

“Falem, what happened?” Sayhas asked, before turning the corner.

As Hysiedies was thin, Falem was broad; his size only matched by Clive and Oldum. He and Hysidies were two sides of the same coin, oh the irony. Blood caked the ground around Falem, a broken necklace with a red, metal feather lay on the floor. Falem’s robes were in tatters, dozens of surface cuts scored his frame. He choked blood before closing his eyes and smacking his head into the back of the wagon. Was he crying?

“Where’s Lucia?”

“You were supposed to be back days ago; you weren’t supposed to be gone that long.” Falem’s teeth rattled as he spoke. The priest swallowed loudly. “They came under the peak of the sun as if demons wreathed in the Conclaves powers.” He thumped the mushy dirt with a fist. “My Nightmares are weaker in the day, but they’d never lose to a few bandits.” He looked up, eyes boring into Sayhas. Falem’s Discord receded and sunk deep into itself. Never has the big man ever looked so small. “A red blade,” he whispered, “it shone, a malicious glow. My Nightmares were afraid. And—and…” Falem shuddered, trailing off.

Kirin poked his head, “Falem,” Kirin’s mouth froze, mouth halfway open, an unwelcome question forming on his lips.

“I’m sorry. They took Lucia, I’m sorry.”

Everyone was here now. Mizu pushed forwards, a question on her lips. Quickly, Sayhas pulled Falem close. His bracelet grew hot and white bolts of electricity gently skimmed Falem. The priest fainted. “Rest a bit,” Sayhas said.

He got up and summoned Maaier Speal, “I’ll be back.”

“Alone?” Clive asked, arching his eyebrows.”

Sayhas met his gaze, “Just a scouting mission, it’ll be better if I’m not being distracted.” He pointedly looked at Mizu who was inspecting Falem’s slumber.

“That was risky,” she said, not looking away from Falem, “using your bracelet.” She turned and met Sayhas gaze, Discord not betraying anything. “I could’ve done it in a much safer fashion.” To prove her point, she reached into the window of her wagon and pulled out a phial of lunarwing green.

“I didn’t want him to be under so many gazes anymore. Since he was in such a vulnerable state of course.”

“Of course,” she sneered, “Hysiedies, let's make sure this idiot didn’t didn't stop Falem’s heart.” She stomped into her wagon.

“I’m coming too.” Kirin forced his way towards Sayhas, “let me come.”

“No, you’re not. Dismas, watch Kirin, make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”

“But—”

Dismas dragged Kirin away and Sayhas couldn’t hear the rest.

Mizu poked her head out the window. Her red hair was tied up into a pony-tail. She glowered at him, “You better come back safely.”

“Just a scouting mission.”

“You promise?”

But Sayhas was already flying through the air and he pretended not to hear. After all, travelling fast tends to skew how words sound like.

Sayhas wrapped Maaier Speal around the tallest tree in the vicinity. It had blue leaves that drape down like a pine tree and wood akin to that of a birch. A silverwood tree. Mizu would like it as a gift; it might even bring Sayhas back into her good graces. He caught the topmost trunk, dragging it along as his momentum slowed. Because silverwoods had hard thistles, Sayhas had reinforced his body by a mesh of lightning flavoured Discord.

He perched himself close the joint of branch and tree. Sayhas closed his eyes and listened into his own Discord. His Master had called this Soul Dissonance, it involved closing up to everything except Soul Sound and using Discord to sense the differences in ambient Soul Sound. It was a type of listening that surpassed listening itself. Sayhas laid a paper-thin trail of his Discord, encasing an area beyond his eyes could see.

Smoky trails lit up like fires to his ears. Nearby, was a great concentration of powerful flames: Clive, Hysiedies, Mizu and Oldum. Mizu was dealing with soul-spliced materials judging from the moderately shining dots in front of her. She perked up, her Soul Sound wavered. Soul Sound was less volatile than Discord and it was harder to read emotions with. Oops, she noticed me. Sayhas quickly turned his attention elsewhere. That was a drawback of Soul Dissonance, if the target was familiar with you, they could theoretically trace your Discord trails and find you.

Around the camp, was a mess of flames. Small polka-dot-like glows littered the area. Falem’s fallen Nightmares. Sayhas turned his focus away. He was looking for something specific. When Soul Sound spikes—it spikes when the user uses a lot of Discord—it takes a while to recede back to its normal glow. Extremely bright Soul Sound has a lingering effect on the surroundings too.

Then he found it, a glow in a place where the polka-dots were denser. The place where the fear blade was used. He followed the trail to where he found Falem, tracing the faint path into the forest. The Bandit Lord must have spent a while in front of Falem as the trial was a lot fainter than desired. But Sayhas expected as much, he didn’t think it would last all the way anyways.

Just as Sayhas was about to jump down, an annoyance caught his attention. He Jumped towards it, uncaring of the terror he’d invoke. “If you don't keep up, I’ll tie you to a tree.” Kirin jumped back, only just processing Sayhas’ arrival.

“We were just inspecting the crime—” Taed began.

“Save it,” Sayhas snapped. He set a brisk pace down the glowing trail. It was an effort to maintain Soul Dissonance and keep tabs on the three trouble makers.

“You can’t have expected us to actually listen. We were bound to tail you,” Dismas protested, “or at least get lost trying,” he muttered as an afterthought.

“Keep talking and I’ll make sure you get lost.”

They shut up, though Sayhas could feel there pointed gazes prickling his back.

He assiduously followed the trail, hoping that when it died out, there’d be another clue. Should have brought Oldum with me, instead of this bunch.

This was going to be a long walk. Sayhas hoped he found them soon, otherwise, it’d be much more than he’d bargained for.