Rosaly and Velmo walked through the dense forest illuminated by bits of beautiful moonlight.
They were a few minutes away from the ravaged clearing and were making their way towards a rendezvous point. There, Rosaly could be escorted back to Rosa safely.
"Are you sure you don't want to rest, Rosaly?" Velmo asked.
"No, the faster I'm safe, the faster you can find those two boys." Rosaly responded.
There was a sudden flash of surprise on Velmo's face. "So, you're not scared of how your sister is going to react when you get back?" Velmo added with a sly smirk.
His words brought Rosaly back to reality and her calm demeanour slowly wilted away.
"…Please don't remind me." Rosaly responded dejectedly.
With a soft chuckle Velmo continued to speak, "Don't worry princess, I vaguely know the direction they went. Once you're safe I'll apprehend them."
Rosaly paused for a moment, accepting Velmo's words and pondering her thoughts for a moment.
"They're around my age, you know. Those two are around my age and they fought back against an awakened warrior way out of their league. If they didn't do what they did, by the time you caught up to me I would've-"
As Rosaly spoke, her tone grew sadder – Realizing she almost died simply because she wanted to wander away from her escorts.
However, Velmo did not allow her to wallow in her sadness.
"We all make mistakes, don't focus on what you've already done. Be grateful that you're alive and be better." Velmo's words calmed Rosaly a bit and seemed to send her deeper in thought.
"You're right, Velmo. I just have to be better." She responded before continuing again.
"I believe those two are very special, Velmo. The concord rarely ever took in disciples from outside its own walls, correct?" Rosaly asked.
"That's correct…Wait, how do you even know that!? I told you to stop snooping through official documents!" Velmo barked in surprise, placing a hand over his face in frustration.
Rosaly flashed an innocent smile before continuing.
"If so, there's definitely something going on that we don't know. I want you to find those boys and bring them back to Rosa, back to Leveness." Rosaly spoke with determination and confidence similar to when she talked about her inventions.
"To think she just experienced such a traumatic event. The Lionheart family is known for birthing brilliant minds and great leaders, but it still amazes me that this brat possesses both those qualities." Velmo thought.
"If I had not sworn an oath to your father I would've taken a knee." Velmo said, mocking Rosaly's sudden serious tone.
His words made her cheeks flush red with embarrassment, "Shut up, Velmo!" Rosaly shouted, slapping and tugging at Velmo's cloak.
Whilst she lashed out at him, he pretended that her strikes affected him and winced in pain, "Ouch, Ouch, I give, I give."
However, he was relieved that she was still able to act in such a manner after what happened.
***
The sun slowly began to rise above a dense forest, its warmth blessing the trees and its rays piercing through the thick canopy.
Xaryus and Zadius had made their way through the forest with no sense of direction.Weakened from their injuries, they didn't think they would be able to escape the Jade Tempest.
However, they knew he would have prioritised saving the young princess over apprehending them.
He was a Vassal of Lionheart after all, an awakened knight sworn under an oath witnessed by Law, a valiant protector and blade of the Lionheart family.
Knowing that, they travelled all night yet they didn't get as far as they would have hoped.
Mainly because of Xaryus' extensive burns.
Zadius had applied some ointments Valon had provided and wrapped them as best he could. But the mental damage Xaryus sustained could not be healed by mere bandages.
It seemed he was affected by the same thing as Zadius. Although it may have seemed trivial, it was a rather large problem for the brothers.
"Andrew wasn't even his real name." Xaryus thought.
He had lied to them for half a decade, he didn't even have the decency to tell them his real name. He forced them into seclusion and moulded them into weapons, yet he couldn't share such a simple facet of his life.
A strange and illogical thought began to swirl itself around Xaryus' mind, "I guess he really didn't love us?"
"But you already knew that, Xaryus." Another voice eerily similar to his own, resounded in Xaryus' head.
Xaryus shook his head in an attempt to get the annoying voice out of his mind.
To his right, Zadius was glancing at him with a worried gaze.
Eventually, their hasty retreat led them to a river about twenty metres across. As they looked upstream, they could see a wide waterfall about fifteen metres tall.
Zadius stared at the river for a moment, thinking deeply about their next move, "Should we go to Castillan?"
Whilst he pondered, Xaryus' figure flew past him in a naked blur and leapt into the river; splashing the cold water into Zadius' face.
"Now we're gonna have to change your bandages again, idiot." Zadius spoke, wiping the water from his face.
"Details, details… Get in the water, it's nice and cold." Xaryus responded, trying his best not to shiver.
Eventually, Zadius made his way into the water and relished as it soothed his sore body.
"What do we do now? Should we just move northwards to Castillan?" Xaryus asked.
Zadius simply shook his head at Xaryus' question, "We don't have enough supplies for such a long journey."
Xaryus had opened his mouth to respond but was quickly cut off.
"I don't intend to steal from others either." Zadius concluded, turning away from Xaryus and submerging himself in the water.
***
With his thoughts still racing, Zadius emerged from the river. His grey hair stuck to his neck and cold water rolled down his sharp, hardened body.
He glanced down at the already healed burns across his hands and torso. If he wasn't awakened, those burns would not have healed as fast.
Zadius removed his sombre gaze from his own wounds and towards Xaryus'. By then, his younger brother had already changed his clothes and was exploring upstream.
"Xaryus wasn't as lucky as I was and he still jumped into the river despite his wounds not being fully healed… He's trying to pretend nothing's wrong." Zadius thought, keeping his gaze on Xaryus.
Walking along the river bank, Xaryus winced in pain.
It wasn't a good idea to jump into the river with such severe burns but he wanted to cheer Zadius up, and that was the best idea he had.
However, Zadius seemed fine, so now Xaryus was just satiating his own curiosity. Now that they were suddenly free from Valon's grasp, he wasn't going to let such an opportunity go to waste.
Xaryus loved the idea of adventuring around the world and exploring things from before the dusk war. He also appreciated the beauty in nature, not that he knew it as yet.
Whilst he approached the base of the wide waterfall, Xaryus stared at the water crashing onto the rocks for a few moments with a soft smile on his face; that was the first time he had seen a waterfall in person.
Turning away he hoped to find some plants that he read about before they left Rosa.
But as his gaze moved, there was something odd about the way the water shimmered.
Shifting his attention back to the waterfall, he moved parallel to it and saw that there was a rock shelter behind the wall of crashing water.
However, what caught his attention was the faint pale blue light that barely made its way out of the rock formation.
"Zadius! You should come take a look at this!" Xaryus shouted out, his eyes stuck to the mysterious blue light.