Even as Ari tucked his head deep into the wool and fur covers, he could not sound out the noise coming from the forest. His ears were ringing, causing his head to hurt. If it was a demon, it was one Ari never came into contact with before and he did not ever wish to.

Ari rose once the screeching sounds stopped and nothing but silence filled the air. His eyes were heavy and his lips were tightly drawn from the lack of sleep he had gotten for the past few days. Was that Nolan's way of torturing him, Ari wondered before shaking his head. No, that man was many things, but Ari knew he would not do something to make him hate him even more.

Ari pressed a weary hand to his head and sighed.

Instead of trying to go back to sleep, Ari washed his face in the bowl of water sitting atop of a worn table. He sat back down on the bed and put on his black boots littered with dirt. He did not want to go out, but isolation was something Ari always feared as a boy. Out of all the punishments, Nolan had ever given him, that was the worst one and Ari had not the slightest idea as to why.

"Ari!" Ari heard Berit's voice say before he burst through the door. "Quickly, you must go!"

Ari looked at him with wide eyes. Berit had scratch marks going up his arms and a bigger one at the side of his stomach. It was fresh. Ari could tell by the smell of it.

"Go where...?"

"Anywhere but here." Berit grabbed his arm and tugged him forward.

"Why are you trying to help me?" Ari snatched his arm back and looked at him full of distrust. He could trust no one but Freir.

"Help you?" Berit laughed. It was a dark one that caused goosebumps to appear where his hand had just touched. "Do not take me as someone who is charitable. Why else would those things be coming here?"

Berit took his arm again and pulled him out the room Nolan had kept him in. Ari could not help but hope that it was Auovin or Cyrus but something in his gut told him otherwise. It made his stomach turn.

"To hell with this! I am not fighting off those things for you. If they want you, they can have you. What your kind and the others have against each other I do not know and I would like to never come to know either."

"What... What things?" Ari asked, not really wanting to know the answer. He knew there were hierarchies and levels of demons and some of the lesser ones thought of them as delicacies but that was as far as his knowledge went. There was only ever demons and humans and nothing in between.

"Things? As far as I am concerned, you are all demons. I draw no lines or markers," Berit uttered.

Fear was nestling deep in the pits of his stomach. Ari moved his arm away from Berit with ease and took cautious steps away from him.

"Listen, I have nothing against you. I do not. You are young and agile. Freir and Rein had trained you, after all. You will find some way to survive out there, I am sure." Berit's brown eyes bore into him, waiting for his response.

Ari looked around and saw the Sanclii that had been guarding him were laying on the ground. The candles were all blown out save but a single one by Berit's head.

"Is this not what you want?" Ari's heart was beating through his chest. "Even freedom has its price, Ari. Go now and I will make sure Freir is looked after. I swear to you this on Oliya's good name."

Ari looked down the dark, silent hallway before looking back to Berit.

"I swear I will. Just leave now before needless blood is shed. They are getting close now." Berit handed him two blades causing Ari to shake with nerves. He had never gone anywhere without Freir since his training days. But as Einar said, it was time to let go.

Berit's heavy hand gave Ari a push forward causing him to stumble a bit.

"You have been living in a state of dreaming. You know as well as I do, you never will be human. You are not human. It is time to wake up now."

Ari took a couple wary steps forward not bothering to look behind him. When he reached the stairs, he turned back around and did not see even a shadow of Berit. Ari hoped this was not some elaborate scheme put together by Nolan to test if his desire to leave was gone, but Ari had an itching feeling that that was not the case. He ran down the stairs and saw that the candles were lit, but no one was inside. The back door was hitting against the building with a large bang. The wind rattled the shutters making Ari feel uneasy. Still, he approached the door and looked outside it.

There was nothing which caused Ari to release the breath he held.

"Light the fires! Burn their dead! Push them back!" Ari heard an unfamiliar voice say. Men with torches came and lit something on the ground on fire. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness Ari noticed some men being grabbed by their legs and throats. Some were dragged back and others had their throats slit open. Seeres, Ari automatically knew. They sounded so unfamiliar because his hearing was sharper than before.

A tapping sound came from above him, causing Ari to move slowly back inside. As soon as he passed the threshold, Ari ran towards the front door. He stopped in his tracks as one rose on its two legs and let out a screech that made his ears bleed. It was tall and bony with long, extending limbs. It opened its mouth showing him the blood and flesh of someone it had recently eaten. Ari tried to go back to the stairs, but the one from outside had come in and blocked his exit.

Its eyes were a cloudy gray. It could not see well in the light, but it could sense movement. But it was too late for him even if he were to keep still. It smelled him. It knew he was there. As Ari backed away, its pale figure came closer on its hands and feet.

The one in front of him came closed in the distance, taking big steps as it did. Ari reached for one of the blades Berit had given him, but before he could grab the hilt of it, Ari felt it's fingers digging into his flesh as it picked him up. It threw him on his shoulder, which made Ari's eyes grow wide. Was it not going to eat him? Ari could not believe it. He shook and wriggled, but the seere only screeched causing Ari to hold his ears and let out a cry of pain.

It was not until they were outside did Ari try and reach for one of his daggers. As soon as he felt its hilt Ari quickly grabbed it and plunged it into the back of its neck. It dropped him as it fell onto the ground, causing Ari to rush to his feet. He ran in the direction of the Sapt forest. If he went any further south, he would run into more demons. Those were demon lands and without Auovin or Cyrus there for guidance, he did not think he would survive there for long.

Before he could make it passed the gate a seere pounced on him from behind. His face hit the ground first along with the rest of his body. It knocked the air out of him. As Ari tried to regain his breath, he felt its cold, bony fingers wrapping around one of his ankles, dragging him back south toward the Tloralst Forest. Ari grabbed onto anything he possibly could, but everything was out of his reach.

There were shouts and screams coming from many of the Khaeo as they went further into the encampment. Swords were raised lodging into any and every seere they could get to. It went unsaid that the Khaeo would win this battle. Fires were being lit everywhere, pushing the seeres back. But that was not their intention at all. No, they sacrificed some of themselves to get to him.

The seere that had his ankle was purposely moving in the darkness behind the buildings and trees, so it could stay out of sight while avoiding what it hated most. Every time Ari would try to shout, it would screech hurting him more than any demon bite had ever done. A tree was coming up. It was his chance. He turned on his side and wrapped both his arms around the trunk of it, causing the seere to pull him harder and harder until Ari's boot slipped off freeing him from its grasp.

It lunged for him just as he grabbed his last dagger and lodged it into the seeres neck. Ari could smell its breath. It made him close his eyes and move it away from on top of him. It was heavier than it looked, but after a couple seconds, Ari was able to move it to the point to where he could crawl out from under it. He grabbed his boot from where it dropped and quickly put it back on before heading back north.

He ran, ignoring the chill of the wind or feel of his feet growing cold and wet. The only time he looked back was to see if any more seeres were following him. They were not. It gave him time to catch his breath.

"Ari! Ari!" The sound of his voice sent a pang through his heart. He closed his eyes as he heard his name being shouted frantically through the ruins of the encampment. Everything filled with fire and the smell of burning flesh in the air with an unforgettable stench. As the smoke cleared, Ari looked back, searching for Freir. It may be the last time he would ever see him again and the very thought of that hurt him the most.

"Ari!" Freir shouted again.

He was only so far in and did not want to risk being caught, but he wanted to put Freir at ease. Somehow, he wanted to tell him that he was fine and not to worry. He would risk that for him, at the very least.

His red-orange hair made Freir stand out the most amongst the others. Ari found him in less than a second. The light of the raging fire helped with that. Freir was looking aimlessly through the Tloralst Forest first before looking forward toward the Sapt Forest. Once their eyes met, Freir looked at him with wide eyes. He shook his head no which made Ari bite down on his bottom lip. Einar had not spoken to Freir in the least, Ari realized.

"Ari, no!"

Ari lowered his eyes and looked back towards the forest. As he looked at Freir one last time, the back of his eyes began to burn.

"Ari!"

He wiped his eyes and put the thoughts of Freir in the back of his mind, hoping Nolan would not do as he threatened to do if he left. Some part of him thought he was being unfilial, but another part of him understood why he had to leave. This was his only chance. He had to take it. In his heart of hearts, Ari knew Freir would find some way to forgive him.

Ari ran deeper and deeper into the forest until his legs throbbed and felt like jelly. His head was pounding and his ears ached. He was beginning to feel the chill of wind now that his flight or fight instincts were dying down. As he looked around the dark forest, he could not say he recognized a thing. Everything was unfamiliar which caused him to hug himself tighter. It was then that he realized he was lost.

He heard a river as he steadied himself. If he followed that he may find a town someplace come morning. For now, he should rest. He was tired and his body ached. There was something warm coming from his side and when he put a hand there to see what it was, it was his own blood. It was no wonder why he was feeling the cold of the night so suddenly.

Ari sighed and looked around trying to find a place suitable enough to stay for the night. A place Freir would not be able to find even if he came looking for him. He did not want him to find him. He wanted to be lost... lost so he could find his own way through all of this.

As he moved further into the forest, he found a small cave. He looked inside of it and saw that it was dry and would do for the night. Like Rein had done many times before, he looked for dry sticks around the forest paying close attention to two sticks that would be used to start the fire. Once his arms were full of sticks, he took them back to the cave and put them in a small pile. He went back out, this time, searching for a small sheet of moss. The cave entrance was only so big.

He found what he was looking for on a large fallen log and began to slowly tear away the moss and gather sap from nearby pine trees. There was only a little, but it would do for now. He applied the sap to the edge of the moss and pressed it around the cave entrance.

Ari eyed it and decided to go back out for more. Freir was not a stupid man. He had to apply more moss around the surrounding rocks to make it look natural. As soon as he gathered enough and placed them all strategically around the rocks, Ari went inside and started a small fire. It was a small entrance, but inside of it was large, so it would hide away the light of the fire, Ari thought as he hugged himself tighter.

His eyes were growing heavy with sleep, but the thought of Freir's upset expression haunted him and kept him awake with guilt. He laid his head on his knee and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the rain hit the ground. It drowned out his thoughts and lulled him to sleep as fresh tears ran down his cheeks.

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