“What do you mean… G-Glenn’s DEAD?!” Iferos would yell, it seems like Viella told him the truth. “B-But how?! WHY?! And Damian too?!”
“A Deimos ambushed us, and before we knew it… It was too late… I’m sorry, Iferos.” Viella would avoid eye contact with him, looking ahead as she coldly said so.
Iferos would break down into tears, this was his first time ever losing a friend that was around the same age as him. And for a young boy like him, it was all too much to bear, I’m afraid he might lose his way and take on a dark path if not properly cared for.
It’s been two days since we managed to get out of the shithole that was Thunder’s Call, and the entire time no one uttered a single word as we made our way through the plains going to Altrae’s Passing. The mood was dreary, and just being here made me want to separate from them and go someplace else, if Glenn was here…
As much as we wanted to avoid entering another forest out of fear that we might encounter a Deimos, we had no choice but to if we wanted to get to our destination. We all had our guards up with each step we took inside the forest, it wasn’t as dense as the one we were in previously, but the trauma of seeing Glenn die settled into our hearts like a stake that was driven through us.
The rustling of bushes always had us on edge, and we were always ready to get into a fight, only for it to be either just a rabbit or another small and relatively docile creature. And each time it was, we hunted them so we could satiate our hunger, albeit temporarily. Reanne was in charge of cooking whatever we had at the time, Viella and Iferos were the ones tasked with searching the land around where we camped for berries and such, while I was the one doing all the hunting for the much wanted meat.
We were camped out for the night, Viella and Reanne were fast asleep after eating their fill of food, and it was just me and Iferos still awake. “Say… Talis?” He’d come sit closer next to me right by the fire, “Do you think… That Glenn’s in a better place now?”
It took me a while to respond to him… We were both just seated staring at the embers of the fire, it was a hard question to answer. “Yeah… He is.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that anywhere would’ve been better than to live in a world like this.
“And what about Damian…” He’d ask as he got closer to me, resting his head on my shoulder.
“He’ll make it out alive.” I’d put my hand over his shoulder to give him the comfort of home; of an older brother just as Damian did, “You know Damian, he’s a fighter.”
He’d chuckle softly and so sweetly at the thought of him, “Yeah… You’re right.” We’d share a rather warm night of silence together until he fell asleep, I carried him and laid him down next to Viella and Reanne. It was a miracle how fast the two women fell asleep so fast considering that there wasn’t any cover or support whatsoever, they were just laying down on the cold, hard ground.
“Talis…” A voice would whisper to me, startling me, it sounded… Familiar, yet so unfamiliar at the same time. It was distant, I couldn’t ask the others if they had heard it since they were all fast asleep, but I’m sure I heard it.
It was probably just the exhaustion catching up to me, so I decided to wake Reanne as it was her turn to keep watch for the night. “Hey, Reanne… Wake up..” I’d softly tell her, her light-green hair was in a mess, but even so, it was still dazzling to look at. “It’s your turn.”
“Mmh…” She’d grunt, taking her time to slowly get up and fixing herself. “Did anything happen while I was asleep?”
“…No, nothing.”
“Oh, alright then. You should go and sleep now, it’s a long day tomorrow after all.” She’d get up and sit next to me by the fire, “Goodnight, Talis.” She’d gently say to me, her soft smile was heartwarming to look at.
“Goodnight, Reanne.” I’d finally head to bed, laying down a bit closer to where Reanne was seated at, and slowly dozed off into sleep.
I opened my eyes and was greeted with a familiar sight, it was Damian. “Y-You’re alive?!” He didn’t respond back, only slowly walking away towards the forest. I examined my surroundings and saw that we were at the place we had made camp at just now, and the others were still asleep. “Wait! Where are you going!” I’d yell at him, but still, nothing.
Before I knew it, he disappeared neck-deep into the forest. I ran into the forest with no hesitation, chasing after him, only to find myself lost once more. “Where’d you go?!” I’d yell.
This time, the one who appeared in front of me was Reanne. She looked at me with a gentle smile on her face, before walking deeper into the forest too. What was going on?! This felt too real to be just a dream, I had to find everyone. “Hello? Reanne? Damian?” I’d scream as loud as I could, but nothing. Not even the slightest echo of my own voice would reach, it was just the silence of the trees.
I walked in the direction Reanne headed to, and suddenly a thick fog would encompass the entire area, I couldn’t tell where I was going anymore, and just blindly trusted my instincts. I saw a bright light just a bit ahead of me, I think I was nearing the end of this damned forest. I stepped into the light and found myself in a village.
There were three windmills by the eastside of the village, small and medium sized houses all around the open area, and a large manor where the lord lived in, and in the middle was a fountain and a statue of Skiiva, with four majestic wings and cladded in white and gold royal clothing. It was a familiar sight; this was my hometown.
“Oh, Talis!” Mr. Calhoun would say to me, he was an old man with three grandchildren who took care of me whenever my mother and father weren’t around, “Everyone! The prodigal son has returned!” He’d shout, and the other villagers would come to the entrance of the village where we were, and I’d soon be surrounded by other people.
Even among the crowd of people surrounding me and congratulating me for my safe return, all I was desperately searching for was my mother and father. It seems like they weren’t here again. “Looking for yer’ mother and old man? You just missed them!” Mrs. Inari would say, she was my mother’s older sister, and she took care of me whenever they were gone too.
“Have you all seen my friends? I think they passed by here!” I’d exclaim to them, “One of them was a large muscular man with short hair, and the other was a beautiful woman with light-green hair!”
“Nobody passed by here, Talis… Sorry.” Mrs. Inari would say to me, before grabbing my hand and dragging me back home. “Come now! It’s almost time for lunch, Talis.”
I hadn’t been home since I left for the academy, which was around the time I was fourteen, so… Four years? I think. It’s been so long that I had almost forgotten what home felt like, it was a feeling I had been longing for and missing.
I stopped walking to admire the statue of Skiiva, shining in all her glory. She was the first God I’ve ever prayed to, and the one I still pray to the most nowadays. I can still recall the fond memories I had with my mother when she would tell me stories of the many Gods and Goddesses, and how thankful she was to have been blessed by them.
We kept walking, and I couldn’t help but reminisce about memories of my childhood and growing up here and walking the streets with the other children. Some of them moved out of the village to start new lives wherever the wind took them, and many of them unfortunately lost their lives in the war against the empire. I remember seeing soldiers coming back to the homes of the fallen in our village, and telling the parents of the deceased the news, I didn’t understand what was happening back then, but looking back now, it was heartbreaking.
After a bit more walking, we made it back home. It was still as tidy as ever with Mrs. Inari looking after it whenever my parents were away, and the smell of the wooden floors and stone walls brought me back to a much simpler time. “I missed this.” I muttered to myself, as Mrs. Inari smiled at me and told me to sit down by the dining table as she prepared food for me.
I looked around and… It felt unreal. I waited for the food to be prepared, and waited… and waited… What was taking so long? It usually never took this long for food to be brought to the table and served. I went to the kitchen just in the other room by the corner and found no one. “Mrs. Inari?” I’d yell, going around the house in search of her, but there was nobody.
I went outside the house and… I was back in the forest? I took a step out of the house and noticed that there was nothing there behind me. I looked around and saw a fox, slowly approaching me. I got close to pet the cute little thing, before it too, disappeared neck deep into the great misty forest. “You too, huh?” I’d mutter to myself, walking in the direction it ran off to.
“…Talis.” A little boy’s voice coming from behind would startle me, I looked back and saw a figure of a young boy, “…Talis.” It would repeat itself; I realized it was Glenn’s voice.
“Glenn! Wait!” I’d run off towards the figure with my hands desperately reaching out to it, but it would disappear the moment I touched it. “What…”
“…Talis.” The voice was coming from behind me again, this time a little more distorted than usual. “Wait up…” The distortion in his voice would become more apparent, and louder. I ran even faster than I did earlier, desperately trying to grab onto the figure, but to no avail.
It suddenly went silent. The sounds of footsteps approaching me from all directions kept me on edge, I didn’t know what was happening but I knew it wasn’t good. I scanned the area, hoping that there wasn’t anything there, and luckily there wasn’t.
I continued walking, it was dead silent, not even any birds chirping, the only thing that was audible in the forest was the sound of my footsteps, which was unsettling, to say the least. “Why didn’t you wait for me.” Glenn’s voice again came from behind me, but this time it was concerningly close to me.
I slowly looked behind me and saw his lifeless body, his head slowly bending sideways and falling to the ground, Thud! The sound of his head rolling on the floor would echo through the forest, and a flower would bloom from where it had been cut off. The same happened for his limbs, falling off and being replaced by vines and tendrils, as he lay on the ground, slowly crawling to me as he repeated the same words over and over again to me, “Why didn’t you wait for me…”
I couldn’t run. Before I had noticed it, my legs were wrapped around by tendrils coming off the ground, I couldn’t do anything. Glenn’s corpse slowly crawled to me, repeating those six words. “Talis…” It would say as it got close, and it would start attacking me, his tendrils on his arms would flail at my limbs, bruising and injuring me.
The flower on his head would open up to reveal a closed eye, and suddenly opened to reveal Glenn’s eyes. He were crying blood. “Why didn’t you WAIT FOR ME!” It would scream this time, echoing throughout the forest and ringing in my ears.
“Stop! Please stop! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” I’d scream for help as it lashed away at me, I could even hear my bones breaking from the force of the impact with each hit it would do on me, “Glenn! I’m so sorry! Please!” I couldn’t take anymore, I started crying. This was too much. If only I had waited for him… If only I had carried him… If only I-
“Talis!” Viella and Iferos’ yelling would wake me up, it was just a dream… It was just a dream. “You were screaming in your sleep! What happened?” Reanne would tell me, her face was right above me, I just realized that I was laying down on her lap. I immediately got up, more flustered at the fact that I was sleeping on her lap. And I didn’t even notice!
“I-“ I couldn’t muster up the words to say what happened in the dream… The words just didn’t seem to come out… “It was just a dream. It’s nothing.”
“Okay.” Reanne would look at me, giving me her usual warm smile. “Just tell us if somethings wrong, okay?”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks.” I took a seat by the charcoal and tiny embers left from the fire we had a night ago and took some time to recollect my thoughts and gather myself up. “We should get going now.”
“We’re ready, we were just waiting on you!” Iferos would exclaim, proudly saying that he managed to wake up earlier than I did, and that I didn’t have to carry him in his sleep anymore. I’m glad to see Iferos acting like how he always was again, it calmed my tense nerves down.
We packed our leftover food up in small torn out cloth from my shirt and left, we had around five or so days more of walking until we reached the village by Altrae’s Passing, and we have enough food to last us those five days. Our only real problem now was money. We needed money to pay for an inn, and to get proper clothes, and… Well, everything really.
And just like that we made our way once again, stopping by some places to replenish our stamina. On our way there we encountered an owlbear cub that somehow managed to get itself stuck on a tree, I don’t even want to think about how it got itself there, but we grabbed it and looked for its mother. “We should give him a name! How about… Glenn!” Iferos would exclaim, and we all unanimously agreed to it.
We found the mother of the cub, and almost got into a fight with it, before returning it’s child back to it. She would thank us by bringing us to a small pond hidden between thick trees, where it had made its home and territory. But other than us and the owlbears, there was one more person. It was a small yet fat feline Rahasan, that seemed to be… fishing…? He looked relatively peaceful.
“Oh! Newcomers! Welcome, welcome!” He would say, asking us to come closer to him.
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