The night stretched long and heavy in the watchtower. The once-crowded gear wagon that carried lioras companions and survivors now stood empty, as members scattered in tight clusters of two's and three's, their gaze fixed on the boy who had emerged from death. Gradually whispering among theirselves.
The boy sat cross-legged on the cold ground, his bare chest streaked with dirt and ashes, his eyes scanning through the crowd fearfully, as his silence only deepened with unease, then his gaze locked on liora and master yeru at a distance as they discussed silently while taking quick glances at him.
Finally, she ended her short chart with yeru and moved towards the boy.
Her boots crunched softly against the frozen earth as she approached him. Her other companions who stood around fell silent, watching everything but not daring to step closer, then liora stopped in front of him as she begins engaging him in a conversation.
"You've given everyone quite a shock tonight," Liora said, her voice casual though she stopd frightened as well, then she tossed a leather shirt into his lap.
The boy caught the shirt, still staring at her, while he said nothing.
"Do you remember anything?" Liora asked.
The boys lips parted slowly as he replies "Yes… I do."
"Then you understand…. That you shouldn't be here? Not after that night?"
"Yes…" he said with a quiet and thin voice, icy smoke slipping through his lips as he spoke.
Liora studied him for a short while, her expression written blank as her eyes pierced through his countenance and composure. "I remember you. When we found you, you were laying in the open field, Most of your body torn with deep cuts. Your legs…" she paused, her jaw tightening. "Your legs were blown off. You clutched herbs and a strip of meat, seems you were returning from an errand?"
The boy didn't answer as she spoke the last words, his eyes drifted past her into the void of the night like he was devoured by memories. His breathing grew shallow, his eyes widening as fragments of memory flashed. Fear washed across his face immediately as his lips quivered, his ears picking up ringing sensations, his heart throbbing, the real world growing silent to him.
And then lioras voice broke through his panic.
"hey!…hey!" Liora called, raising her voice for the first time. She had been calling out to him, but he couldnt respond. He blinked multiple times now, weighing in the reality of the moment as he steadied on lioras voice.
Liora picking up on what had just happened bent slightly adjusting her rifle to the side.
"What's your name? Where are you from? Do you remember any of that?" Her tone tender this time.
"Yes…" He gulped. "My name is Ardyn Althar. From the town of Nareth, in the south-east of Asterra."
Liora's eyes softened even more, compassion filled her heart knowing the destruction and terror he had faced, though she remained cautious. Slowly, she extended her hand, gesturing to lift him up from the ground he sat on.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ardyn," Liora continues. "The boy who does not bow to death."
Immediately, Ardyn clasped her hand, as she pulled him gently to his feet. He stood, lean and lanky, his body still bearing faint scars. Liora's eyes paced swiftly over his bare skin spotting the healed scars.
"Put your shirt on, Ardyn, its cold, and we have a long journey ahead. You will learn of recent events as we travel, and we will learn more of you as well." She says to him as she flicked her fingers, signalling at Ray, master yerus runner's boy, who hurried forward with a heavy fur-lined coat. Liora took the coat and handed it to Ardyn. "We're headed for the cold lands beyond Asterra. You'll need this too"
Ardyn accepts it silently, still lost in the strangeness of his own existence.
Liora turned back to the gathered companions, raising her voice so all could hear.
"The boy's name is Ardyn Althar. He hails from Nareth" she says walking towards them slowly as she continues.
"From this moment, he travels with us. Treat him as one of your own. He is not an alien, nor a demon, he is a companion."
Uneasy glances flickered among the members as liora spoke. Some looked relieved, others tense.
"Remember," Liora added, her tone steady, "he is not the first to return from the dead. If Lady Selene were here, she'd tell you so herself."
Then laughter broke through everyone present in the watchtower, shattering the tension at last.
"Start the wagons," she ordered. "We leave within minutes."
The group disbanded slowly and steadily, climbing into the waiting vehicles, as Ardyn lingered, uncertain where to go, until a towering man with a heavy mustache and beard approached him, extending his broad hand to ardyn, aiming for a handshake.
"I hear your name is Arydyn," the man said. "Mine's Tom. Once a guard, and still a guard, in service to Lady Liora."
Ardyn shook his hand, as Tom pulled him gently toward a wagon where others already sat close together, members stared at him, their eyes not leaving his side, some adjusted as he came close, Tom noticing everything as he taps ardyn on the shoulder.
"You'll sit with me" Tom points to a spot as he spoke to ardyn. "Even after Lady Liora's soothing words, some still find you… alien. But don't worry. They'll come around in time."
The two climbed aboard a wagon as they sat close to each other. Eyes still pressed on ardyn.
The Engines sparks, steam hissing from pipes as the convoy prepared to roll out. Beside the watchtower, Yeru stood with Liora, watching the preparations.
"How is it possible?" Yeru muttered. "The boy was dead for days, even his feet is regrown and he still he bears no wounds, only scars" he says, as his eyes locked on the wagon where ardyn sat.
"In all my years, i have never seen such a miracle."
"Perhaps this is something special," Liora said softly. "But the truth remains… it is definitely beyond reason."
"Certainly" Yeru replied softly. Then He studied lioras face for some time as she gazed at the night sky. Yeru feeling uneasy to speak, finally speaks out. "Many will fear him you know, Would it not be wiser to leave him here? Let him blend in and hopefully blend into another city town or community and spare yourself the burden of more trouble?"
Liora's eyes now flicked to the wagons. Her jaw tightened. "I won't abandon him. He's not just a survivor, that boy is a mystery. And he needs others around him, or the past will consume him."
Yeru's lips curved faintly with joy. "You'll make a fine leader. And one day… a fine mother."
Liora laughed, shaking her head. "A mother? I have too much to shoulder already, Master Yeru."
He chuckled, waving her off.
"It's time," she said at last. "We will write to you, of our well-being and our progress. Do write us back."
"I will," Yeru promised.
Liora climbed into the front seat of her wagon. The engines roared louder, as the wheels grind against the earth. One by one, the vehicles rumbled toward Asterra's northern exit gates, a massive iron gate carved with grace and imprinted with the sigils of the Wardens.
As the gates groaned open, icy winds cut across the convoy blowing violently into the watch tower, liora and her companions gradually exit asterra leaving through the exit gates as they disappeared into the cold mist.
Ray matser yerus boy, hauled a massive lever, and the gates began to close again, steel teeth clanging shut as the stormwinds faded.
Location: Town nareth
The town Nareth still laid in ruins. Days had passed, yet the air still reeked of ash and decay. Morticians in white coats and brass-rimmed goggles moved through the wreckage wearing steam-powered respirators that hissed at intervals, carrying corpse in stretchers.
Some morticians marked their notes with gloved hands, tallying the counts of the dead.
Cockroaches and rodents swarmed over blackened corpses. As their fingers jutted from the scorched ground as if still clawing for life. Empty skulls protruded from beneath the earths surface, their sockets home to mice and worms.
While on a lonely road that spanned into emptiness, a group of people wandered tiredly across the road, walking in search of hope.
Among them where survivors from town nareth, Jori and Tomas led a small group of weary souls outside the destroyed town as they had been travelling for days on foot, seeking shelter and food. An old wagon groaned and rattled behind them as it rolled, carrying their luggages and survived goods.
At last, under the cloak of night, they saw a town ahead, smaller than Nareth, but alive.
They see Warm light spilling from open taverns as country music drifted into the air. For the first time in days, hope stirred faintly in their hollow eyes.
But as they reached the gates, five soldiers marched forward, their armors bearing the sigils of Drakovar and Calvasset. Three calvasset soldiers held rifles while the other two drakovar soldiers gripped the hilts of their sheathed swords, as they made their way to jori, tomas and the other survivors.
"Reveal your branded sigils!" the lead guard barked, aiming his rifle squarely at Jori's head.
The other survivors froze, as Jori lifted his trembling hands in fear. "My name is Jori, and this is Tomas. We are survivors from town Nareth, Our town was destroyed in the blast of Lord Eryndors attack, and we have been travelling for days seeking shelter."
"Show us your registered sigils!" the soldier snapped again.
Tomas scared to his bones immedately shouts back, voice breaking as he speaks. "We barely escaped alive! Our homes, our branded sigils, everything! was consumed by the flames! We have nothing left!"
The guard's finger pressed slowly on the trigger his expression grim his lips bending as he aimed to shoot.
Immediately a hand caught his shoulder, as the guard lifts his fingers from the trigger.
A calvasset captain stepped forward, Short, his armor barely hiding his round-belly, it was Captain Serric of house calvasset. He moved forward leaving the guard behind him as he carried a half-drained bottle of beer. His tone calm and full of authority.
"Stand down, hot blood," Captain Serric said, as all rifles lowered at once.
Serric stepped in front of Jori, Tomas and the remaining survivours, tilting his head, eyes scanning their haggard faces and their creaking gear wagon. He took a long swig from his bottle, then started walking back.
"These people are starved, weak. There is no danger here." Captain serric says as he walks past his soldiers gently, gulping his beer.
"Bring them in" he ordered.
"Make sure they're fed. If they were Valesse members, your instincts would have told you by now." He chuckled, tossing the empty bottle aside.
"The night is far spent for identifications. We'll see to that in the morning."
Jori and Tomas immediately lowered their hands slowly, a great weight dropping from their shoulders, as relief swept across the group. Then the guards ushered them toward the gates.
Captain serric smiled drunk and merrily, walking in a playful swagger back toward the town, his boots crunching against the earth. As the weary survivors followed the guards into the town. The night slowly fading behind them.