We ran. We ran as fast as we could and as far as our legs could take us. There was so much death all around us, and it was as if we were in a battlefield again. The harrowing roars of the Deimos echoed across the area, ringing through everyone’s ears, instilling a sense of fear and dread that was enough for a grown man to wet his damn pants.

“We need to get the fuck out of here! NOW!” Damian would yell as he once again led the way towards the hole in the wall; our one-way ticket to freedom.

Screech! Crrrackle! We’d all look up at the skies, wondering why it had suddenly gone dark, only to see a Deimos looming over us. It was a humanoid-like figure with large wings made of razor-sharp swords and daggers, and a crescent-shaped head like that of a battle-axe, with a singular emerald-green eye in the middle of its head. “T-Talis… W-What’s that?!” Glenn would scream in horror, closing his eyes and muttering to himself a prayer.

Crash! Cling! Clang! The sound of the Deimos landing made the ground tremor, enough for everyone to lose their balance as we all ended up falling due to the shock. Of all the places it could’ve landed at, it had to land right in front us, blocking the only way out. While the others were busy trying to get themselves together, I immediately lunged at a sword on the ground by the corpse of a dead guard. “Shit.” I’d mutter to myself; I didn’t know if I could even take a Deimos like that head on.

“Don’t worry! We’re with you!” The others would immediately get up, the only one with a weapon was me, so the others focused on firing their Numen at it from a distance to support me. I had no choice but to charge forward at the beast to clear a path for all of us to get out of here in one piece.

Javelins made of frost would suddenly be hurled right above me and towards the beast, it was from Viella. Alongside the javelins would be blades of wind from Reanne and Glenn, and even a rain of fiery arrows and blades of water conjured from Iferos and Damian. With them behind me, I had the much-needed confidence to be able to clear the way for us to get the fuck out of here.

I got close enough to strike, but it was futile. The beast would simply block my attacks using its wings of steel, making it near-impossible to break through it.

“We’ll surround it, Talis! Leave the rest to us!” Reanne would shout as they made their way to fully surround it, blasting and hurling their Numen at it as they ran around it, giving me a small window of opportunity to make a narrow slice at its abdomen. Screech!!! It would roar at us in anger and frustration, recklessly swinging at me all while it flung some daggers from its wings at the others. Luckily, they were all able to shield themselves or dodged before they got hit.

“Take this!” Iferos would scream, using up a majority of his Numen to conjure a pillar of flames and cinder below the Deimos’ feet, dazing it long enough for me to get the opportunity to cleanse its soul once and for all.

The beast would fall to its knees, it’s heart pierced by my sword, and body in tatters from the Numen of the others. “Thank you…” It would whisper to me in its dying breaths.

“May your once lost soul find its way back to the tree of beginnings.” I’d gently say to it, before it fell to the ground and dissipated into nothingness. My mother had once taught me to not hate the Deimos, but to pity them, which I never really understood as a child, she would tell me that they were merely lambs lost and adrift, consumed by rage, regret, and obsession. Now I truly understand what she meant by taking pity on them as I heard its soft voice whispering to me- thanking me for setting it free.

“We did it guys! We did i-“ Iferos suddenly collapsed, that final attack must’ve exhausted him of all his Numen, which most likely wasn’t a lot, considering how young he still was.

Damian would grab Iferos and carry him on his back, “Let’s go! We have no time to waste!” He’d yell, we were about halfway there, right in the middle of the courtyard where the most chaos was happening.

Huff… Huff… Huff… Everyone could hear Damian’s heavy breathing and panting, despite his fatigue he pressed forth as we hurried our way to the exit, only a few breaths away from getting out and into the forest that surrounded Thunder’s Call. “Halt!” A guard would try and stop us, but would immediately get whacked at the back of his head by another inmate, who in turn, got mauled by a Deimos.

“We made it! We have to leave before we become prey to the other Deimos!” Viella would say, as we steadily hopped over the debris of the now ruined wall and ran neck deep into the forest.

We’d run quite the distance away from the fortress, just enough for us to be in the clear. We’d take a short break, taking our time to gather ourselves the energy necessary to make it all the way to a small village located in Altrae’s Passing, where we could hopefully get safe passage across Altrae’s Rest, the largest lake in all of Eden, and into Parthia.

“Holy shit. I can’t believe we made it out of that mess.” Damian would cheerfully say as he sat down by one of the trees. “We need to get to Parthia’s Last Light and get a ship back to Trazia as soon as possible.”

“That could take weeks! Months even!” Viella would exclaim, deeming it impossible to get back to Trazia in just a few days. “What if when we returned Trazia was already in ruins?!”

Reanne would butt in the conversation, “We may be a small, independent nation, but we’re strong enough to fend for ourselves against the empire.”

“As soon as we get to Parthia, I’m leaving.” Viella would cross her arms and start pouting. “I’m tired of the conflict; of fighting. I just… Just want to live a peaceful life now.”

Everyone would suddenly fall silent, and it seemed like we all shared the same thoughts as her, we were all tired of the pointless fighting and countless deaths; having to watch our friends die gruesome deaths at the hands of other people just like us.

The sun was setting, and nightfall was upon us. We made our move and slowly treaded through the dim forest, being wary of our surroundings as we were in unfamiliar territory, and not to mention the fact that were close to the Deimos Caverns, we were always on our toes, never knowing if or when we were going to be ambushed.

We were all still exhausted, and Iferos was still unconscious from overexerting his Numen earlier, but we still made decent progress in getting farther away from the prison-fortress, to the point where it wasn’t visible anymore due to the cover of the trees and night skies. The only light we had under the cover of darkness was Damian’s Numen, giving us just enough light to see what was around us.

“Hello, travelers.” A woman’s voice would echo through the forest, and we’d immediately ready ourselves for battle. “Travelers? Or should I say, inmates, rather?” The voice would echo all around us, and we couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.

“Show yourself!” Damian would yell into the forest, but nothing responded back. It was only the rustling of leaves and the chirping of crickets. We’d look all around us, but there was nothing. Was it our imagination? Were we hallucinating from the exhaustion? We pressed forth, still weary of what was lurking here with us.

“I noticed you broke one of my toys.” The voice would echo once more, “I wonder which of you was it?” The eeriness of the woman’s voice would spook us all, keeping us on guard with each step we took deeper into the forest. “Since you’ve broken one of my toys, I should break one of your toys.” The voice would stop again, and we started running.

We didn’t know what was in here with us, or what toy she was talking about, but we had to make it out of here. We couldn’t afford to stop anymore. The sound of laughter would slowly echo throughout the entire forest, slowly devolving something maniacal.

We ran as fast as we could, and we could see a small clearing without any trees just a bit farther away from us. We hoped that getting out of that part of the forest would clear us away from any possible dangers, and things seemed to be going well aside from the maniacal laughter- things were going too well.

“Wait! I- Huff… Huff… Wait up guys!” Glenn would say, panting as he slowly ran out of breath as I stopped carrying him the moment we entered the forest to conserve my stamina.

Shwing! Thud! There was a sound behind me. The loud footsteps of six people running, suddenly turned into only five. I looked behind me for just a few seconds and saw someone’s lifeless body. It was Glenn. We all stopped to look back in horror, as we see his limbs on the ground, replaced by vines and plants, his head completely detached from his corpse, with a fully-bloomed flower in its place, his corpse was hanging upside down from a tree, forced into a cross-like position by the tendrils that were embedded into his body.

“GLENN! NO!” Damian gently dropped Iferos to the ground before running to Glenn, attempting to get his body back, but nature was resisting. No matter how much force he put into grabbing his body, the plants pulled back twice as hard. Suddenly, as we were all scrambling to retrieve the body, the maniacal laughter would stop, and the woman’s voice would be heard again. This time not all around us, but behind us.

“What a lovely night for my lovelies to be feasting on such a young and delicious boy!” We’d all look behind us to see another fucking Deimos. Her many eyes glowed a bright red, even under the cover of darkness they were clearly visible, and as she approached us and stepped into the light where we could see her, she’d burst into maniacal laughter.

Her skin seemed as if she was one with nature itself, the vines, flowers, and countless tendrils all seemingly mending and merging with her own flesh. “I’LL KILL YOU!” Damian would charge at her with fists imbued with flame, but it was to no avail. She’d instantaneously lunge at me, but didn’t harm me- as if she was examining me with her countless red eyes.

“…You…” She’d stare into my eyes, “Your fate lies with nature.” I didn’t know what she meant, and I didn’t give a single fuck about what it meant either, I just wanted to make her feel the same pain that she gave to Glenn. He was such a young and innocent boy, and to have his life cut short like that? I know my mother told me to pity the Deimos, but this… I couldn’t.

Damian would charge at her once more, causing her to step away from me and back off from us at quite a distance.

“TALIS!” Damian would scream at me, “TAKE IFEROS AND RUN FOR THE HILLS!”

“But what about you?! Don’t tell me you’re going to fight it alone!” I didn’t want to see another one of my friends die, not again. He’d suddenly push me away close to where he dropped the unconscious Iferos, “HEY! Do-“ He’d cut me off as he used his Numen to conjure a wall of flame around himself and the Deimos,

“I’ll meet you all at Parthia’s Last Light, I promise.” He’d say to me as he looked back at the four of us one last time, before facing the Deimos.

I grabbed Iferos and sprinted away from the forest and into the clearing alongside Viella and Reanne, we didn’t look back, not once.

“I am Damian, the Ashen Tide! I shall hold my ground and-” Those were the last words we heard from him as we went farther and farther away, I took a quick glance behind us and saw large splashes of water coming down from the sky. I hope he makes it back. It’s a long and arduous journey ahead of us, we barely even have any supplies to last us a week, let alone a few days.

“I… didn’t know he could use flame Numen as well.” Viella would say, in an attempt to break the silence, “I always thought that you could only use one temperament of Numen.”

“Did you not learn this in the academy?” Reanne would ask her politely.

“I never went to the academy…” Viella would say in a rather disappointed tone, “I studied under my family.”

“Oh… Well, it really depends on the person, most people tend to use only one temperament to specialize in as a way to conserve their Numen, but in some cases, a person can use up to three temperaments at a time, but at the cost of expending more of their Numen.” The two would continue to educate each other in Numen, with Reanne even offering to teach Viella everything she knew whenever she had the chance to.

We were walking through what seemed like endless hours of plains, with the pitch-black mountain known as the Deimos Caverns looming over us. We all decided to call it a night since we were far enough away from any real dangers and took shifts keeping guard while the others slept.

I was the first to keep watch while everyone else slept and couldn’t help but pray for Damian and Glenn. This was the first time in what felt like ages that I had actually prayed. I never really believed in the Gods and all that nonsense, but for once, I was actually doing it. I sat down, facing the direction of the tree of beginnings which could be seen even halfway across the continent, and I prayed to Skiiva. To watch over Damian, and for her to guide Glenn’s soul back to the tree of beginnings, so that he doesn’t lose his way, and end up a lost lamb.

I knew that my prayers wouldn’t be answered, after all, why would a God heed the requests of a mere mortal; of its own creation? But deep down, a tiny part of me was hoping that they would- that my prayers wouldn’t go unanswered, and that maybe- just maybe, things would get better for all of us, and we could all live long, and happy lives.

Iferos suddenly awoke, his Numen seeming to be somewhat replenished, “T-Talis? How long was I asleep for? A- And where’s Glenn and Damian?” He’d ask me innocently in a worried tone.

“Oh… They just went to get some food. You should get some more shut-eye, you really need it, Iferos.” I couldn’t bear to tell him the truth, it would be too much for a young boy like him.