A heavy silence hung above the heads of the surviving refugees. No one wanted to talk about the death and horrid destruction the four had witnessed. The number may have been only three-- none of the men were really sure if Cira had watched the chaos through her frightening eyes.

The wizard and two soldiers were far from the food cart that lay in the open plains. A small fire was built to keep hypothermia at bay. Its flames licked upward joyously unknown to the death it could have been exposed to if lit a few minutes before. The fire reminded Li of some people he once knew. Eventually, someone poured water on them.

They didn't have any food. The grumble of hunger was just on the tip of their tongues, but nobody wanted to let the others know his stomach yearned for something to eat. It was a depressing sight to Li.

Trenton's voice sounded like gravel, "What… what was that, wizard?" He didn't even bother to look up at the man.

Li stared downward as well, "I can't say…"

Xander continued staring at the girl.

"What could have… caused something like that to happen?" Trenton was distressed-- he had lost many men to the phenomena.

Xander responded by standing up. His voice cut through the uncertainty as he announced his order, "Let's get going."

The two other men followed, their solemn words kept unspoken as they journeyed on. Hours went by before another sound was even uttered.

"We're almost at the Palace Aryne now."

"I know."

Anger burbled through Xander's voice as he said, "Don’t lie, wizard."

Li just turned his head down and continued walking with the burdensome shackles.

They had been walking all night long. More than once, they found themselves walking in an endless circle, unable to navigate without the stars' help. The moon was barely even a slither and provided little light. Darkness consumed them the entire journey.

Cira's limp and still naked body was held in Xander's muscled arms. A thin blanket had been thrown over her, although it provided no warmth and little covering. The only purpose it actually served was giving the soldiers a sense that they had helped Cira in some twisted way. Maybe they were looking for some way to redeem their hateful sins of the past. Li only wondered how the soldiers who were so cruel to her could now be so kindhearted.

The countryside they had traveled was quite beautiful from what Li could tell. Because of the lack of light, he could not see too far, but from what he was able to view, the world did look a beautiful place. He wished Cira could see it.

***

The Palace of Aryne was in complete chaos. Buildings that once stood tall were now nothing but dust, people were left dead in the streets, decapitated by some evil magic. There were few survivors of the blast, and those who were kept alive went mad with the visions of death they had just witnessed. Not even she had foreseen this mass killing.

Decymber walked slowly around her once standing home. She was a prophet… and she had not known something like this could happen. Or, better put, she did not want to know something like this could happen.

All hell would soon surface.

She was surprised to see some of her items were not destroyed by the terrible gusts of evil. Decymber found a few of her books, journals, and articles, all of which involved prophecy. She was glad to see them intact, but unfortunately, the writings were the only things that survived. Snatching them up in her ashy hands, Decymber walked away from the rubble, never to remember it again.

As she walked down the destroyed streets, Decymber was taken aback by the pitiful sight. Widows with children covered in soot looked at her with their dark, melancholy eyes, asking her, "Why didn't you see this coming? How could you not know?" She had no answer for them and just continued walking.

More often than not, Decymber came across a mother stroking her dead baby's head, somehow thinking it could mollify its spiritual screams. It was the only thing that managed to bring something close to a tear to her eyes.

As she continued to walk out of her life, winds picked up around her and sent her unrecognizable robes flying this way and that. Her white hair whipped around her wrinkled face as she walked. Her mind did not need to know where she was walking, her soul did.

Decymber walked until she reached the end of the destruction, where the border of life and death was. That is where she stopped and that is where she waited.

***

Trenton now regretted not bringing a horse. His feet found the barren ground beneath uncomfortable and his armored boots had already made his toes have an unpleasant stay. In the face of panic he had already forgotten the most important rule in his life, always think ahead. He could imagine what his father would say were he here.

He hadn't yet asked the wizard's name. He imagined it would be something elaborate, something fit for an equal to a king. Something that rolled off your tongue in a pleasant way, through the pronunciation of the name naturally or maybe even some magical spell that changed the way you thought. In any case, when you spoke a wizard's name, its pleasant sound made it almost impossible for you to speak bitterly against the wizard. Or so Trenton was told.

"Lieutenant, did you see what happened to the rest of the men?" Xander concluded that there must have been at least two thousand with them, just enough to get through Varulami's walls.

Trenton replied in a tone of loss, regret, even anger, "They didn't make it." He didn't want to retell what he had seen.

They had all synchronized their suicide.

Xander didn't need to respond. He had already known what Fate had done to the soldiers. He just wanted to fill the silence for a little while. Instead, he brought back some memories none of the men wanted to recall.

Li's voice revealed no emotion but instead, years of wisdom.

"This is what happens when you move in too soon."

Trenton halted abruptly and turned to the man in white, "What do you mean, wizard?"

"What I mean to say is, there are consequences for attacking too soon. Why did Erole decide to move in now? We were told the attack would be well after winter. The autumn leaves have not even changed color yet."

Confusion surfaced to the soldiers' faces, "What do you mean 'you were told'?"

"I was told, that's what I mean," Li was surprised that the two men even questioned it. Like he had never even thought someone would ask him that question at all. "You see young men, I am a member of the Palace of Aryne myself."

Trenton lost the color in his face as realization washed over him, "Wizard Li, we are terribly sorry. We meant no disrespect to you in any way. Please forgive our ignorant ways." Shaking, he bent down to unlock the shackles that Li was forced in to.

The murky silence became almost too heavy to bear as Xander cursed himself for his own stupidity. Li pulled him up by the chin bringing the gray-eyed soldier face to face with the wizard. Instead of the face of a prisoner, Li now bore the expression of an old grandfather, scolding his grandchildren for foolish choices, "Do not curse anything. Leave that work for Plitus himself," It was Clarice's most commonly used phrase. "I'm not going to report this misunderstanding to any of your superiors so I suggest that you stop your cowardice and move your rumps toward Aryne before we find any more surprises."

"Yes, Wizard Li."

The group trudged onward.

"Do you expect me to call you 'Men' the entire journey? What are your names?" Li's voice still held the tone of impatience, he wasn't ready to give up the anger inside of him towards these men. He wasn't sure if he ever would.

The smaller of the two gave a quick salute and caught the gaze of the wizard, "Trenton Mars, sir. Lieutenant."

Li gave a nod of acknowledgement.

The soldier who held Cira in his arms was unable to salute, but was still able to show respect by bowing his head slightly, "Alexander Bail," he paused, "Xander for short."

Li disregarded the nickname for the soldier. He felt it struck more fear into the heart if you used proper names all of the time, "Thank you Alexander for carrying Cira this long way. I'm quite grateful."

Xander let out a sigh of relief.

What used to be a flat plain was now an arrangement of granite mountains, wreathed with mist from passing rains. Li imagined that even though it was midsummer, the peaks of those monsters would be chilly. The last time he had ventured up into the mountains beside Aryne, such matters of weather were in the background of his thoughts.

Trenton continued staring at the girl in Xander's arms, "Is she… going to be all right?"

Li, now at the head of the three men, did not turn to meet his gaze, "I honestly cannot say. We will see what we can do once we get into Aryne."

Li expected to be able to see the vast buildings that the city housed. Aryne being the capital city of the land Erole housed some of the most important ambassadors and leaders in the entire world. Elaborate palaces were made to hold ambassadors, giving comfort that could be unmatched by any other nation. Not only did Aryne have some of the most persuasive political figures, but it also possessed the only academy made especially for magical abilities.

Endless walls of books could be found in the libraries in Aryne. Thousands were set inside of the book vaults all containing important elements of prophecy and religious beliefs. Access to such valuable information was what kept the millions of people from learning Ribatus's great deeds.

The group was sure to reach the summit of the hill soon, where from there, they could see the entire city, bustling with life and activity. They were almost at their destination.

Trenton was the first to reach the top for he was the only one able enough to walk so steeply without rest. When he finally looked over the edge, the color drained from his face, his eyes widened in shock. Li thought that the sight of such a city, never before imagined by such a soldier, sent him into an unspeakable awe.

He was very wrong.

Destruction, was what the soldier saw, and destruction was an understatement of what was truly beyond the hill. If Death could be contained into one city, Aryne would be the location. Li had never seen anything so vile in his life and, in the distance, he could hear Trenton vomit.

Xander laid Cira on the ground ever so carefully. He gaped at what he saw as Li noticed tears well up in his eyes. Nothing could have made Xander cry until then.

The wind carried the stench of burnt flesh, something so horrible that Li's eyes watered just from the smell. Death lingered around every corner, every door, and every house where a body was cast down in the haste of Death's evil ways. Li couldn't begin to comprehend what might have caused such genocide.

The small outlines of heads fallen between bleeding hands stabbed at Li. The city stood still as if frozen in an arctic coffin. The wind that kicked up from the untouched world behind Li blew his hair upwards leaving his robes flapping carelessly in the wind. It blew the masked expression off of his face as it dissolved into the landscape beyond.

Through the unnatural tears, Xander looked beyond into the city of the dead. Standing there in the middle of the chaos was a woman. She looked as if she was lost in herself, like she had forgotten what life was. Her haunting eyes were fixed upon the lifeless girl lying in the browning grass.

Li turned back to Cira, desperate for some unknown answer as to what to do now. As he turned to her, he noticed a twisted smile curling up on her icicle lips.

Trenton closed his still gaping mouth.