Chapter 1

Karito desperately ran through the forest, weaving through the trees in order to increase the distance between him and the pursuers on horseback that were hot on his trail. The pursuers are relentless and had come close to catching him several times in the past hour since his escape, but it would take more than horses to catch him. He was so focused on the thought of escape and dodging the low branches ahead, he failed to notice one of his pursuers take out her bow and pull out a single arrow from her quiver until it was too late. She let the arrow fly, and it lodges itself in his right shoulder. The arrow lodged itself in his right shoulder, eliciting a grunt of pain from him, pain which he welcomes and uses to remind himself to focus on escaping. He cannot afford to be captured again; he knows that this pain is nothing compared to the horrors he faced in Bismarck's dungeon, and he knows worse awaits him if he gets captured again.

He hears the neighing of horses behind him and spots a low hanging branch, which he uses to pull himself up into the tree. He climbs higher and higher, occasionally taking furtive glances to ensure that he wasn't being watched or followed before he sits on a branch hidden from ground view by the other branches. He hears the sound of hooves and the shouts of his pursuers below him and he holds his breath, scared that someone would hear him. He stays like this for what feels like hours until the sounds move past his hiding spot and fade into the distance.

He keeps still for a while and when he's sure that his pursuers have moved on, he relaxes and begins to tend to his wounds; he pulls the arrow out of his shoulder -thankful that it wasn't poisoned or barbed- and tears off a piece of his shirt to act as a makeshift bandage, he reaches into a small pouch on his hip and pulls out a handful of leaves and chews on them while ignoring the bitter taste before applying the chewed-up paste to the bleeding stump of his left horn. As he treats his wounds, he fails to notice the cloaked figure several trees away from him, watching hm with a predatory gaze. The figure keeps watch until it finds an opening and then it strikes; there is a blur as its hands flick out from its cloak and release several knives which pierce Karito in the chest.

Karito stares at the knives in his chest in shock before coughing up blood and falling off the branch he was resting on. As he falls, he manages to pull out enough magic from his near empty reserves and stretches his hand towards the rapidly approaching forest floor. A greenish swirl appears on the floor which he falls into before it closes behind him. The figure that threw the knives leaps to the branch Karito was on and leaps to the ground in search of Karito's body. After several minutes of looking, it fails to find him or any trace of him and sighs in frustration. "He won't be happy about this" the figure mutters to itself before turning around and heading back to the castle.

On the outskirts of Xerx;

A portal opens and dumps Karito's body in the river that runs past the town. He struggles for a bit, but after realizing that he's too injured to succeed, he places his hand on his chest and activates a rune; "Hagalaz". The rune flares to life on his palm before changing his appearance to that of a random human, before he drifts into unconsciousness having exhausted all his mana and physical strength as well as the injuries he sustained taking a toll on his body.

The river sweeps his unconscious body downstream until it washes up on the river bank. A man pushing a cart of dead bodies spots his body on and after searching him for anything valuable, he finds a small pouch filled with gold coins which he pockets and then throws Karito's unconscious body on the cart and heads off to the cemetery. Once the man gets to the cemetery, he heads towards the mass grave and dumps the bodies and Karito into the pit of bodies and leaves whistling a happy tune as he plans to spend the night partying due to the small fortune he just received. As soon as the man left, a small figure makes its way into the pit and begins to go through the bodies seemingly looking for something or someone. Karito lets out a soft moan which attracts the figures attention. It moves cautiously towards him and after verifying that he is indeed unconscious, it waves its hand in a "come on" motion, soon after more figures appear and pick up Karito and carry him away.

Several days later

Karito woke up feeling sore, hungry and confused. He slowly got up, wincing in pain as his movements caused him pain. As he sat up, he scanned his surroundings, looking for who it what saved him. He runs his hands over his aching body before coming across the bandaged knife wounds on his chest and his folded shirt and jacket at the foot of the bed he was on. He probed the wounds with his finger, only to see pus mixed with blood on his finger when he drew it back "Its infected" he thinks before taking a deep breath and letting it out, grateful that he was still alive and more importantly not in the hands of Bismarck. Steadying himself for the possible backlash, he keeps his hand over the wound while he thinks of the right rune for this situation. It finally comes to him after a while and he speaks "Thurisaz". One of the various runes on his body gives off a soft green light, and pus can be seen pouring out of his wounds and soon the wounds started to close.

Once his wounds were healed, he decided to focus on the second issue at hand; his current location and also the presence in the room.

"You can come out now," he said in a no-nonsense tone, "I already know you're there."

At first, it seemed like he was talking to nothing, but after a while he heard footsteps, before several candles lit up, revealing several hooded figures who had entered the room. The figure in the middle stepped forward and took off the hood to reveal a female face. Her dim yellow eyes ran up and down his body examining each movement he made, like how a predator watches its prey. Her pointed ears twitched at the slightest sound he made, and her face was tense. Her dark skin and black hair combined with the rest of her features told him all that he needed to know; she was a dark elf.

"Who are you?" she asked, the question snapping Karito out of his thoughts. He focused his gaze on her and tried to appear as non-threatening as possible before answering her, "My name is Karito, and I'm just lost" he answered her.

"Lost?" She asked with an incredulous look on her face. "I found you in the corpse pit with knives sticking out of your chest, and all you have to say is you're lost?" Her face was practically glowing red with rage, or as red as her skin colour could be. The figures beside sensed her rage and started moving towards Karito, but with a wave from her hand, they stopped moving.

Remembering his current state, Karito decided that it was in his best interest to stop ticking her off, so he decided to use a lightheaded conversation to calm her down. "What is your name?" he asked softly.

"My name is Serana" she responded

"Also, if you don't mind me asking, why did you save me?" Karito asked

The question caught the dark elf off guard. Her face turned red again but not out of anger.... She was blushing.

"It's because I wanted someone to talk to" she muttered under her breath, but Karito's enhanced hearing picked up on what she said.

Karito raised his eyebrow at the reason she gave, and decided to probe a bit further. "What about those guys?" he asked, tilting his head over to the robed figures next to Serana, "Surely they're enough to keep you company."

Rolling her eyes at him, Serana moved to one of the robed figures and pulled down their hood to reveal a decayed male face. The rest of the figures took off their hoods to reveal their faces, each in various stages of decay. Serana turned back at Karito who had an indifferent look on his face, but deep down an idea was being formed.

"These guys aren't really the talking type" she said. "I brought them back, but it seems like they're unable to talk" she said before droning on about something that Karito didn't bother paying attention to as he got up and gathered his things before heading out of the cave.

"Are you leaving?"

The question was filled with sadness and made him turn around, only to see Serana with tears in her eyes as she watched the first living person she had ever talked to prepare to walk out on her.

"Yes" was the only response she got as Karito turned his back on her and walked away.

"Will I ever see you again? Or will you come back to see me?" she asked with hope in her voice and tears in her eyes, maybe he would she hoped to herself. She'd take regular visits over none at this point.

"I don't think so."

Hearing his reply, Serana breaks down into tears as she watches him walk towards the exit of the cave. As she watches him, her sorrow gives way to something else; anger. With a twitch of her, one of the undead figures that had been standing by dropped down on all fours and with speeds that should have been impossible given its current state of decay and charged towards Karito, a silent growl in its throat.

As soon as Karito reached the mouth of the cave, he sensed that something was wrong and dove to the left as something blurred past him, kicking up a dust cloud as it skidded to a stop. As the dust clears, it reveals the zombie in a crouching position, its decayed clawed hand stretched out, its catlike ears twitching.

Getting back up, Karito looks back into the cave and sees a small horde of zombies marching towards him each one radiating pure bloodlust, he looks further back and sees Serana sitting on the shoulder of a beastman zombie with tears in her eyes and a look of rage on her face.

"Serana what's the meaning of this?" he demands, "Why are you attacking me?"

Serana looks at him with hot tears flowing from her eyes, "Your leaving!!!" she yells at him "After I looked after you and helped you, you're leaving and not even going to bother coming back!!" she screeches as the horde moves closer and the zombie behind him lunges, trying to catch him by surprise, but Karito spins out of the way, letting it sail past him and land in the horde.

"I won't be left alone again; you'll stay here with me forever!" she screams out in a crazed voice as the zombies charge towards Karito. "I'll be sure to take off your arms and leg so that you won't go anywhere" she adds in.

Realizing that he was going to have to fight, he faced the horde and lifted his hands, his palms aimed towards them and gathered magic, directing it towards his palms. Channeling as much magic as his body could manage, he was rewarded with two small blue portals appearing in the centers of his palms. Knowing what the portals were connected to, he waited until the horde came within range and released two large, pressurized jets of oil which drenched the entire horde and sliced through those that were too close while pushing the others back, giving him breathing room. Karito kept it up for a while and watched as the zombies struggled to come closer, before speaking "Kuanaz"; a rune on his neck gave off a red glow as a small flame appeared in each hand and ignited the oil jets. The flames burnt the entire horde turning some to ash instantly.

At the back of the horde, Serana watched as her army got swallowed by a torrent of flames which was rapidly coming towards her. With a wave of her hand, several tanky zombies quickly formed a flesh wall to shield her from the flames. From behind the wall, Serana heard the screams of the zombies and watched as several grey orbs flew pat the flesh wall and entered her. Tears slid down her cheeks as she knew her death was imminent.

Watching as the flesh wall got slowly roasted and fell apart, she broke down in tears a she watched her only companions over the years get roasted.

"It's not fair. It's not fair" she thought to herself as she started to lose consciousness due to the smoke choking her as she watched the wall is slowly getting burnt through, "All I ever wanted was a friend and family, I've been good so why did I deserve this? Why, why, whyyyyy!!!!!!"

The flesh wall collapses under the flames and the last thing she sees is the beastman zombie putting her down and shielding her with its body in a final hug and then everything goes black.