Archaic Era, Year 1289

Throughout my watch, the temperature had been steadily rising, the cool night air slowly becoming a sweltering heat. Someone a little more ignorant might have mistaken it for the consequences of eating phoenix meat, but I knew better, it wasn’t the first time I had felt this heat in my life. Nightbirds and insects had long since stopped their eerie chirping, instilling an eerie silence across the forest. High above, the dark canopy blotted out the spiral moon and countless stars. Among those stars, I knew there would be two more tiny lights burning in the sky above. Watching me, always watching me.

I knew that she was still there, but I could pretend she couldn’t see me, here. Maybe she really couldn’t. Maybe, if I stayed here forever, I’d completely escape her gaze. But I couldn’t do that--she promised me a choice of two fates, and I couldn’t throw that away now.

But that didn’t mean I had to sleep, either. Fate was a heavy burden, and I just wanted to ignore it tonight.

A sharp gasp drew my attention towards the other side of the campsite, where it was followed by a faltering, unsteady breath. My new companion was curled in on himself, trembling. Carefully, I crawled over to him on my hands and knee, brushing the dark hair away from the back of his neck.

She’d promised that I was fated to become a hero, but there were different kinds of heroes. And I was aiming higher than most. A Priestess, and Angran…would they prove any useful if I chose to fight against her? I hadn’t met an Angran before, but they seemed just the same as anyone else--completely reasonable and predictable, so long as you knew how to talk to them. Humans and animals weren’t so different at all, unlike what the nobility of Gresha believed.

He seemed touched by nightmares too. Had he met her as well, or was he facing different demons? Regardless, maybe it was a good sign. Fate or no, I was sure I couldn’t kill someone like her alone, even if I burnt up entirely in the effort.

“I hope we can be friends. You’ll fight for me if we’re friends, right? Menone said there’s nothing fiercer and stronger than an Angran warrior,” I whispered in his ear. “And you seem fiercer than even the others.”

Even if he hated me for this, that was okay. A monster that hunted other monsters is called a ‘hero’. That was a sacrifice I could accept for myself.