Corrin awoke. His body stuck to the bedroll with sweat. The cold drifted into the tent, just enough to give him a shiver.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was not the first time Corrin had experienced a dream like that. He recalled that during his training with the mysterious man, he had tapped into the same kind of dream, though this time it was far more vivid.
Corrin sat and pondered this for quite some time. Eventually, he realized he was not likely to fall asleep again. He stood up and walked sleepily to the ashes of a dead fire. Despite the time, Corrin found that he could see quite well.
The stars exploded through the night sky in brilliant arrays of color, and the moon outshone them all. The night looked more as though it were a blue-tinted day and not a night at all. Corrin delved into his pack and grabbed his cloak.
It was made of a rough cloth material, which was not comfortable. But it surprisingly held back a good bit of the breeze. Corrin fell and lay on his back, and stared up at the night stars.
He wondered what they could be. He recalled an old legend.
"From her power, she bore the stars of the night sky."
It was one of Corrin's favorite verses from a book he would skim through. It was the only reason he knew how to read and write.
The verse spoke about the first Goddess who ruled over all of the universe and created all living things. Corrin had learned from the book that she had given her power to five beings with the aim of protecting the mortals, the gods.
They ruled over all of the races: The Erthari, Oshari, Shem, Mostiis, and Anees. Corrin knew little about them. He was an Anees; the scar glowed bright when he thought about this. His father told him about the endangerment of the Anees when he was little, bearing bright blonde hair and blue eyes, alongside a birthmark-like scar on their left cheek.
He also knew of the Erthari, Shem, and Mostiis. The Shem were smaller in number than that of the Erthari but much larger than the Anees.
The Erthari were the most common race. People of all different shapes, sizes, and colors were Erthari. Lenn, Merri, Forrest, and Edwin were all Erthari. Their history varied the most; they're the most disconnected from the gods.
The Mostiis were of the southern Empire. They had dark skin and bright white hair. Though Vesterii was one of them, he never let his hair grow out.
Corrin soon awoke. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep while his mind wandered. He brought himself up as the others walked around, gathering their belongings.
Vesterii relit the fire and made them breakfast: a dried biscuit known as a hardtack, and a small amount of stew. It was just enough to keep them going.
The journey was no more interesting than the day before. The sun rose and fell all the same. Corrin had expected it to be an exciting, dangerous adventure. He should have been careful what he wished for.
A crimson light baked the grass as the sun disappeared behind a distant hill. They begin to settle down for the night. As Vesterii builds the fire for the night, the wind seems to grow dormant.
Corrin hears a whistling noise. His mind immediately jumps to the day his village burned to the ground; the whistling of the boulders in the air. But when he looked, he did not see boulders. A dozen flaming arrows flew from atop a hill and down to them.
They all dive for cover behind tents. Forrest grabs his shield. The arrows ding off of it and stick into the earth. But there's one sound that was not natural:
"Augh!"
Edwin falls to the ground, an arrow stuck in his right thigh. Merri rushes over and pulls the arrow from the wound quickly. A small fire starts on his clothes. Luckily, it's quickly killed.
Small fires begin to start all around them. The tent burns to the ground, and the horses flee in terror away from the flames. The grass around them burns, and it gets hotter.
"Watch out!"
They all turn to see another volley of a dozen arrows. This time, they all dodge them easily. The flaming arrows luckily made them easy to spot. Vesterii grabs two axes from his pack.
"We'll have to charge, they're too far away!"
Vesterii and Forest run up the hill, dodging arrows as the crimson light of the sunset fades away into the night.
"Lenn, go after the horses!"
"On it!"
Corrin desperately wanted to help. He unsheathed his sword and began to run up the hill.
"Corrin, stop!"
Corrin turned and looked at Merri.
"Don't — you could get yourself killed, you're our ace, remember?"
Corrin had a serious expression; he wasn't going to let Merri stop him.
"You were the one who told me that practice does no good without any real experience."
With that, Corrin leaves. He runs up the hill. Atop it, he sees Vesterii and Forrest had already made it to the top, and the battle had begun. Corrin's heart was beating out of his chest.
As Corrin made it to the top, he was immediately discouraged. Their attackers looked like tribespeople of the mountains; their faces were covered in great beards. They wore no shirt, and their hair grew long.
Corrin knew that this was the time to prove himself. He picks a man near Vesterii.
His blade flies downward. The man looked at Corrin in horror; he had been facing the other direction. Blood splatters onto the ground and covers Corrin's sword as the man's neck splits open.
He falls to the ground in a heap, and the blood gushes from his neck, nose, and mouth. Blood seeps through his fingers as he clutches the wound on his neck. He gurgles and screams as he's choked by his own blood.
Corrin's face went pale. He stared at the man's body as it wriggled, and watched it as it fell silent.
"I killed that man. I killed that man. I killed that man."
Corrin dropped to the ground and clutched his chest, coughing. His vision began to blur. He watched the light fade from the man's eyes.
Corrin felt a hand grab his collar, and he was pulled backwards.
"Pull yourself together, Corrin!"
It was a blood-soaked Vesterii. Corrin watched as his split open the head of a man to his left. Merri had taught Corrin how to deal with the mental impact of ending another person's life, but he found the weight of actually killing to be too much for him.
Corrin looked around them. Vesterii and Forrest were dealing with the tribesmen easily enough. Corrin had done nothing to help them. Corrin looked at the bloodied corpses on the ground; it was not unlike the scene of Tenor village.
Corrin felt useless. He was drooping down with Vesterii holding him up. Corrin watched as Forrest slew the last of the tribemen. Blood covered them. Corrin watched the blood drip from the tip of the steel onto the ground.
A man suddenly jumped toward and brought his broadsword down upon Vesterii.
"Vesterii!!"
Without thinking and too far away, Corrin threw his katana, which stabbed the man through his chest. The man dropped his sword, and Vesterii, not so cleanly, ended the man's life.
Corrin watched in horror at what he had done. He fell to his knees with Vesterii letting go of him. Vesterii knelt next to Corrin.
"Take a deep breath, Corrin. You just saved my life."
"Everybody, get down here! It's bad!"
They heard a Merri's voice call from down the hill. They quickly run down the hill and reach the flaming camp. Fire was everywhere, their supplies burning. Away from the flames, Merri was treating Edwin, who was wailing in pain.
Merri kept her attention on Edwin.
"Edwin contracted Arron's sickness. I was worried the arrows were laced, but I couldn't have been sure."
Corrin knelt. Edwin was squirming and awake, but his eyes were laced over with a white liquid, and the color was fading. Corrin looked up at Merri.
"What's Arron's sickness? What's it doing to him!?"
"The arrows were laced with a rare flammable plant, called Arron. It's an incredible healing device when consumed raw, but when it's cooked, it activates a poisonous chemical."
Edwin began to foam at the mouth, and his eyes closed. Merri grabbed a pink tonic from her pack, which she had saved from the fire, and injected the medicine into Edwin's arm.
"That should slow the process, but we need to see a doctor who has the real cure."
"How hard will that be?"
Merri bit her lip.
"Hopefully not too difficult. Most doctors have the plant in their arsenal due to its healing properties, but unfortunately, the doctors back in Oaksjean wouldn't hand any over to me for the journey. Said they needed it for the soldiers who got sick on the battlefield."
Corrin's eyes sparkled with tears.
"Luckily, there's a town known as Henfil half a day's journey away. One of the doctors there will surely have Arron with them."
Corrin wipes his tears away. He had to be strong now; he had trained for a year. Death was something he had to learn to get over, even among a friend.
"Don't worry about it, Corrin. He'll be alright."
Vesterii set his hand on Corrin's shoulder. Just then, Lenn returned with the horses.
"He doesn't have enough time for us to sleep tonight; we must ride now. We should reach them by the morning if we hurry.