7 Are you worthy?

"We need to split up," Serene said in a grave voice. While Kilian couldn't see her face, the flashes coming from the same direction as her voice were pretty chaotic and conflicting.

"I hate to admit it, but that seems to be the case," Katan replied in his coarse voice. Even though Kilian could only rely on his ears to pick up the subtle hues, there were just too many different emotions hidden in his voice for him to single them out.

It was steady, befitting someone who clearly saw their path in life. It was slightly shaky, akin to someone who was lowkey devastated by a recent realization. It was coarse, filled with hate so directional that even Kilian could tell who its recipient was.

"But, there is one thing I need to do before that," Katan suddenly announced. "Here, take the reins," he added in a voice.

'It sounds like he wouldn't accept any refusal,' Kilian thought, trying his utmost to portray what was going on in the cart. But, sadly, with only his ears, the scope of what he could portray was endlessly limited.

"Sure," Serene said before a set of rustling noises made it clear that she took the driving seat of the wagon over.

"Now, we don't have much time, so I will make it short." Katan's voice sounded way closer than it did all the way to this point, indicating that he had changed seats with the woman. 'No, he is even closer. It's like... he is leaning over my face?' Kilian attempted to figure out the spatial situation around him by the small clues his ears could provide him.

"Ever since we picked your lifeless body from that battlefield, I observed you as closely as I could," the man said, breathing his air right against the skin of Kilian's face. Even with his sense of smell dulled by the constant pain, Kilian could feel the distant odor of some kind of pickled good in the man's breath. "And now I'm sure of one thing. Whatever you did on that battlefield wasn't something you did out of your own volition," the man said.

'Right on the money,' Kilian thought, almost making the mistake of twisting his lips in a happy smile. Thankfully, he managed to stop himself from doing so at the very last moment.

After all, there was no use twisting his lips if all that it would achieve would be another burst of merciless pain.

"That's why I need you to answer one question of mine. Just a simple yes or no will suffice," the man said.

"Katan, he..." Serene attempted to intervene, yet before she could say anything else, her partner's voice interjected.

"You shut your mouth!" Katan shouted, not holding back his voice at all. What he didn't realize, though, was that his shout sent a painful ringing straight through Kilian's mind.

"Back to you," Katan said, turning his voice back to its usual crispy yet relatively silent tone. "You need to tell me one thing," he said. A whizzing of air that followed suggested that the man took a deep breath.

"Are you worthy of all our sacrifices?" Katan asked.

For a moment, Kilian was lost.

'What does he mean with that?' he asked himself, trying to make sense of the man's words.

For a moment, Kilian frantically attempted to figure out what was going on. What was this question all about. His heart rate increased, matching the effort of his brain.

'No, I already know it all,' he thought when a sudden ray of relaxation spread throughout his body. 'I just didn't want to accept it,' he thought, gritting his teeth for as much as his broken body allowed.

"..." Kilian opened his mouth. Yet, no word came out from between his lips.

'Am I worthy?' Kilian asked himself.

Like a flash, all the past events since his summoning flashed through his head. But with one major difference.

Right now, he didn't shut himself away from what he believed was happening all around.

The people that he heard talking with Serene when they crossed the border were no more. They likely didn't even know what they died for. But Kilian knew.

For some reason, the same force that summoned him to this world was now expending all effort necessary to catch him. If he were to give faith to Serene's explanations, he somehow managed to strike them right where it hurt. And now, those innocent guards at the border laid down their lives just so that Serene and Katan could help him escape.

'Why me?' Kilian asked himself. 'What do they see in me to willingly sentence others to death over my safety?' he posed another question.

"No." Kilian pushed the air out of his lungs, forcing this simple answer through his lips.

'Whatever they hoped me to be, I'm not,' Kilian thought. 'I'm not some kind of savior. I'm not some kind of hero!' he wanted to scream those words out.

But he couldn't. Just a single 'no' made his throat feel like it was on fire. The pain of his throat alone already threatened Kilian's control over his consciousness. It was clear than a single note more, and he would fall right back into his torturous coma.

"Good," Katan's voice mellowed down. For a moment, Kilian could promise that he saw the man's face, kindly staring down at him.

But his eyes were far from healing up. He didn't see anything at all. It was just a fleeting feeling, most likely created by his exhausted consciousness.

"I'm sorry," Katan suddenly said. "Both for what's about to happen and for the burden that we force on your shoulders," he said. Then, amidst all the constant pain, Kilian felt something on his arm.

As if someone patted his shoulder.

Yet, this tranquil moment didn't last for long.

"Serene, take him on the horse. I will stall them for as long as I can," Katan said as the entire carriage started to violently shake. Without any straps to hold him in place, Kilian's body shook along with the vehicle, inducing more and more pain into every last fiber of his being.

But it was only the beginning.

Someone lifted him up. For a moment, Kil couldn't figure out what was going on at all before his body suddenly split in half.

Or rather, that's how it felt.

"It's been an honor, brother," Serene said. Her voice was breaking from the emotions hidden in it, yet revealed to Kil in the form of strange flashes.

"Likewise," Katan replied before his voice got the company of a blade brushing against the cloth of a scabbard. "Ride well, sister. Telbat is just ahead," he added.

Once again, Kilian could swear that he saw Katan's face flash before his eyes. And it was... smiling?

"We live to serve!" Serene shouted, causing another wave of pain to flush through Kilian's brain.

"We die for ourselves," Katan replied before a sound of a blade cutting through the air and ropes covered his voice.

Kilian's body shook when a horse underneath rushed forward. His mind was overwhelmed by the plethora of flashes coming from right above his head.

"We die so the others may live," Serene whispered.