A day would pass. With the conversation over, Azanor had made sure to go to Alice and let her know Damon and Kazius were not possessed, just overwhelmed after seeing the future. Thankfully it seems she accepted the answer and stopped her weariness of the two. Of course, Kazius and Damon would have to do their parts in hiding their feelings about her unfortunate fate.

Still, Kazius had a lot more to think on. Now that their training within the mountains was over, they did need to head out again. The town would be safe, or so he hoped thanks to the barrier, but there were still those after them. The fact The Church knew they had passed the valley yet there seemed to be no sign of them, was concerning. Something was wrong…

Kazius would be deep in thought, finding himself looking over at Alice’s hair as they walked, it is okay, they had time. The length was nowhere near where it had to be…

Alice would turn to look at him with his staring, smiling at him warmly as they walked. Azanor, Eve, and Damon walking along with them.

Kazius would smile at her softly back in return before looking around at the valley. He found that the valley felt like more of a home than Ratier ever did. He had felt nothing with leaving Ratier yet he genuinely felt like he was leaving a piece of himself behind at Vargstam… But it was alright, they would return, all of them. He would make sure of that. Vargstam was in good hands with Caleb.

While Eve was as giddy as ever, seeming to be excited to be on the road again, she could actually not match Damon’s excitement. The werewolf appeared to be looking at everything with a certain wonder in his eyes. This was likely his first time leaving Vargstam. Perhaps Kazius and the others would have been this excited had they left Ratier on their own terms, rather than running for their lives.

To be honest, Kazius was surprised by the lack of heartfelt goodbye from Caleb and Damon. He figured the two would hug or one would look sad, but there was none of that. It had been simple goodbyes like they were saying good night or something mundane. That did not seem to affect Damon at all though.

“So where exactly are we going?” Alice would speak up curiously.

“The map we have is useless… But I have been curious about the cemetery on it… It may be a good direction to go, if there is anyone that would follow us around… They will likely not expect us to go through there either… From there, I want to go to Sakura. It was one of the few settlements on the map. From there, we will see.” Kazius admitted.

To be honest, the main reason he wanted to go to the cemetery was because he discovered his affinity for necromancy, and he wanted to explore it. Of course, some would have issue with disturbing the dead. Kazius perhaps at one point would have hesitated to lean into such a thing. While magic was used in the 3 kingdoms, necromancy was specifically banned by the will of The Oracle, since it involved raising beings that were Monsters, something to be despised.

Kazius didn’t feel like he had any issue with it, not anymore. Of course, he was a former knight, but he no longer followed a code. He needed all the power he could get to protect those he cared about. To make a world safe for them. Not to mention he had come to terms he won’t be the perfect hero, if you could consider himself one. Sure, he didn’t want to be an evil being, but he wouldn’t follow the will of a Church that was his enemy. He would be The Monster King, Kazius, he would decide what that meant.

Alice would grimace, speaking up and snapping him out of his thoughts, “I hope we don’t spend the night there.” She admitted, clearly freaked out by the idea of being in such a place.

Azanor would snicker at her statement, grinning, “Don’t tell me the princess is still afraid of ghosts?” He taunted in amusement.

Alice would huff at his teasing, giving him a grumpy glare, “It isn’t about ghosts! I bet that place is crawling with undead! How can I not be freaked out by the undead? Especially sleeping in a place where they could come out of.”

Kazius at this froze, well that would be an issue… He wasn’t too sure how to change Alice’s mind on the matter… Who knows how she would react once he started practicing.

“Buahaha! Come on, the undead aren’t that frightening. They are pretty weak looking if you ask me. How can you fight without muscle?” Damon questioned proudly, ending up flexing a bit with one arm for emphasis.

“You’ve seen them?! When?” Alice asked in horror, clearly freaked out by the very idea of them.

At this Damon would freeze, looking subtly at Kazius for help.

‘Damon, what did you have to bring that up for?’ Kazius would groan mentally, realizing he had only seen the undead in the vision.

“Wait, if you haven’t even seen them, what makes them so frightening?” Azanor would interject, coming to the rescue it seems. For someone who didn’t lie and hated lying, he sure was good at keeping secrets.

“A friend is a friend, dead or alive.” Eve chirped giddily.

“You too, Eve?” Alice questioned with a grimace, looking at Kazius with a pleading look for backup.

Kazius smiling a bit, chuckling a little, “I do have to agree with Eve. I see no reason to fear the dead. What if it was someone you cared about? Besides, I don’t know what the undead are like, but all we know about them is from The Church.” He reminded her. He felt guilty having to add lies to his words, but he did not want to tell her about her fate. Both to not make her live in fear, but also because if she knew, things may go too differently… At least this way, he had a vague timeline. He couldn’t risk losing that, not if he wanted to save her.

Alice gave an exasperated look at the group before sighing, “I am friends with a bunch of crazy people… But I suppose you have a point, Kazius.” She grumbled out in defeat.

Kazius smiled at her warmly, patting her on the back to reassure her, “Don’t worry, if any come by, I will deal with them if they threaten you. Though we both know you are quite strong yourself.” He reassured, understanding her fears, but he also knew she was quite capable in battle.

Alice blushed a bit, nodding quietly, muttering a thank you before the group would continue.

The road was a long one and Kazius had no idea what the place they were looking for even looked like… But that was nothing new to them.

The group would continue. After days two days they made it to a forest were the valley and mountains of Vargstam were nowhere near by. The forest was massive, thick with trees, but thankfully that meant there was plenty to forage. Unlike before, they were also equipped with proper camping equipment so things were a lot easier than their trip to Vargstam.

While Damon was a stranger to the world beyond his home, he was good at hunting down food. The stags in the area were enormous… And like before, Kazius could sense the concentration of mana in the air was still increasing. It was a real mystery why the mana levels in the East and West were so different.

Kazius supposed that didn’t matter though, what was important was that the group was in high spirits. Eve seems to treat the whole trip like it was a fun endeavor and if Eve was happy, Azanor usually was too. Alice seemed happy enough. Kazius enjoyed the mountains, but it was also nice walking without having to climb in a mountain that was trying to kill you. Perhaps she felt the same. Damon of course was excited, every new landscape was welcomed with enthusiasm.

Things were going well, until they hit the edge of the forest days later. It was like the edge of the forest was covered in a wall of fog, thick with no visibility. Even seeing your own hands would be a shore in such dense fog. The fog had a heavy magical presence to it, clearly not a natural phenomenon. Just where did it come from?