Walking, walking, and even more walking.
That's how most of Vigil's days worked ever since entering War Field.
In no way was it exciting but at least he couldn't complain about the fact that his life wasn't on the line.
So, just like almost every other day, Vigil kept walking west in order to find Mercy. At first he thought that the journey wouldn't be all too long, but now... Well he stood corrected that's for sure.
Vigil had lost track of how long he'd been traveling a while ago. All that he knew was that he'd been walking for longer than a month now.
Much, much longer.
But to him that didn't really matter all that much. As long as he made it to his destination that is.
As time had gone by Vigil had become aware that, in this place, it was kill or be killed. So in order not to be killed, he had to take some lives of his own whether directly or indirectly. For example, what he did earlier by leading that giant monster into the middle of that battlefield.
Besides that, Vigil had also learned some other things throughout his travels.
First of all, for some reason, people would scream out the word "dread" whenever they would see him. It didn't take him long to realize what they meant by that.
It was a moniker, his moniker.
Vigil didn't even try to contemplate the reason as to why they called him that.
To him, it was nothing but useless thoughts that wasted precious time.
So instead his thoughts were mostly focused on something else.
Monsters.
At first, Vigil thought that terrifying monsters could only be found in No Man's Lands. But he was wrong, so very wrong.
The reason as to why he thought the way that he originally did was mainly due to his own misjudgment.
Due to the talk that he had with Maltena, however long ago that was, Vigil had confused her words with thinking that horrific monsters pretty much exclusively lived within the No Man's Lands.
Which I guess you could say that he was half right depending on what one might call "horrific".
Long story short, Vigil had found out that not just any old monster could survive within a No Man's Land.
Instead, only the strongest of the strongest could.
Which also made Vigil think more highly of Maltena and her children.
Vigil couldn't help but think about how strong she truly was to be living in a place like that.
Finally, the last important thing that Vigil had come to realize was that his place of birth, Gravolta, was an outdated, backwater country.
Throughout his journeys Vigil had seen so many things that, at first, he could only describe them as wonderous. But also impossible... Well at least by his standards.
Think about it. Vigil grew up in a place where the only form of transportation were horse drawn carriages.
So when Vigil had first seen these hulking metal beasts on wheels, he thought that they were just another form of monster. That or magic.
But when he had first inspected one after finding it abandoned on an old battlefield, he had come to the conclusion that the metal beasts weren't monsters. Not only that but they weren't a form of magic either.
Instead, they were made using different metals that fit nicely with one another in order to make a machine that would be able to do the same thing that a carriage could, but better.
Although he still had no clue how they actually worked, Vigil was still able to appreciate the marvel that was human ingenuity.
However, their modes of transportation weren't the only thing that set Gravolta apart from most other places.
Their weaponry was also vastly different.
Although many people in War Field still used cold steel weapons, there were also many other ones that not only amazed Vigil but also intrigued him.
Take guns for example. After Vigil's first encounter seeing one, he had thought that they were weapons that could cause massive amounts of death and destruction. But then he saw what the amalgamation between a giant gun and a metal carriage could do.
But metal carriages weren't the only things that could wield those overbearing weapons.
Although they were not as common as the ones with giant wheels or those weird long strips of rubber, Vigil had still seen plenty of them.
The giant metal people.
They could wield guns, swords, spears, anything. You name it, they could carry it.
However, that's not the only reason as to why Vigil found them to be so amazing. The real reason behind his awe was because of what some of them could do.
Just like a bird that soars high in the sky, not that Vigil had seen any normal bird in a while, these hulking metal giants could do the same thing as them.
Fly...
Vigil knew that, with magic, one would be able to soar the skies, albeit with a lot of training.
But never in his wildest dreams would he ever have expected to see something so big, so powerful, to be able to seemingly fly with such ease.
Not only were they able to fly, but they were able to fight while doing so, and quite proficiently as well...
...Some of them at least.
Vigil didn't know what these things were, whether they were like the steel carriages, tools made by man, or just a different race altogether.
But this whole journey of his was more than just a learning experience. It was also a learning curve.
Because of that, each day was just another struggle and he had almost died countless times.
To start off, Vigil had to teach himself how to deal with monsters and procure food from them. Based off of his many trials he'd come to the conclusion that when there is no chance of winning a fight with a monster it's better to just run from them.
But when push comes to shove, stealing from them is also an option... Albeit a scary and arduous one.
This had led Vigil to killing plenty of monsters throughout his travels. But, this had also caused him to do what he'd done earlier today, use others as bait.
He didn't feel bad about what he did, not one bit. He already knew that it was a dog eat dog world and that you've got to do whatever it takes just to live for a day longer.
But that didn't stop him from thinking about everyone that he's killed, either personally or inadvertently.
Some of them could've been good people. The operative words being some and could...
This gets us to the second thing the young child has learned.
People just feel a lot of hate for each other... Like a lot of hate.
Vigil had already understood this when he'd first started wandering War Field. Between his first encounter with another person to watching how people refused to keep their words from the first fight that he had witnessed... Yeah, no one was trustworthy and everyone seemed bloodthirsty.
That's why Vigil had not even thought about coming into contact with anyone.
He had known that, according to Maltena, mercenaries as well as Lumartian's could be trusted but Vigil saw no point in taking the risk.
He had seen too much to do so...
Speaking of seeing, as Vigil was walking while taking small sips from one of his water pouches, he had seen the carcass of a dead monster lying in the distance.
However, something about the scene was odd.
'Why is that corpse left unattended? Monsters would never do such a thing and neither would people... It has got to be a trap-'
Breaking Vigil from his thought process was the loud sound of his grumbling stomach.
You see, Vigil had not eaten in days and when he was trying to steal some food from the monster earlier, he was unable to actually attain any due to him waking it and needing to run away.
So the sight of the carcass sitting before him couldn't help but get Vigil salivating at the mere thought of getting a bite out of it.
And even though he knew the risks that were involved with going towards the monster's dead body, he didn't care.
Most people were naturally greedy and he was guilty of being one of those people too.
With the thought of food circulating within his mind, Vigil decided to advance towards the monster corpse.
Because Vigil was being quite cautious with every movement, it had taken him a few minutes to get a couple of meters away from the carcass.
But in the very second that he had reached his destination, he'd felt it.
The same feeling that had kept him alive thus far.
His natural instinct of self preservation.
He didn't understand what it truly was or how it worked. But at the very least, he understood that trusting that feeling of his would keep his head on his shoulders. Even if it was for just a few more seconds.
So with that in mind, Vigil quickly shot back to whence he came and began running without a second thought.
At the moment he didn't care where he was heading, all that he knew was that he needed to leave there at once.
Soon after, he felt the ground shake and along with it, came the sounds of footsteps and ear splitting, guttural roars.
Vigil didn't need to turn around to know that whatever was behind him could end his life.
So he ran and kept running until he had found a scapegoat.
In other words, bait.
Out in the distance, Vigil could see a small convoy with a multitude of different vehicles all surrounding a singular one in the middle.
Vigil couldn't see the convoy all too clearly, but he didn't care.
All that he knew was that he'd found his bait.