Tragedy of Oxlight

After exiting the tunnel, the knights finally let out a collective sigh of relief. Even though they got a good night's rest in the cave, they were still tired. They wanted to go back home to their families quickly. It was not only the knights who felt like this. Even the Commanders and Marshall were in a hurry to return back. They went straight to the place where they stationed their horses, wagons and carriage.

The Sacred Order was very quick to prepare the transportation for departing. The knights saddled up on their horses while the Commanders and Marshall entered the carriage. As for the rogue seekers, they were told to travel in the wagon, with the leaders watching them.

Before entering the carriage, Thorn gave one last glance at the destroyed town. He looked inside the carriage where Buck, Anson and Vine were already sitting comfortably. Vine looked at his brother and smiled. "Come on, what are you waiting for." Smiling back, Thorn entered the carriage and the Sacred Order set off back to Arcturus, after finally finishing their war with the Cult of Mayhem.

Inside a dark and messy room of a particular house in the destroyed town the Sacred Order just left, a person lied in the bed. The dirty white sheet of the bed was now soaked in blood, and the person lying on the bed was tightly clenching his fists and teeth in pain. He had a crescent shaped hole on the left side of his body, which was still bleeding slightly. Looking closer at the wound, it could be seen that his nerves, muscle fibers and skin were slowly growing back, which made healing more painful for him.

His forehead sweating and eyes bloodshot, Zaros heard the rumbling of the horses hooves leave the town and gave a slight smile. Clutching the side of his wound, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Oxlight, the ruined town that he was in right now, this was the town Zaros was originally from.

Zaros' parents were research students from Arcturus who came to Oxlight for their studies of cave formations and minerals. While they stayed in Oxlight, they fell in love and decided to stay there after marrying. Due to events like this happening frequently, Oxlight was slowly becoming a town of scholars.

Zaros was born in Oxlight some years after. Even though he was an only child, he loved studying the books lying on his parent's table and going with them inside the cave formation to study about minerals.

Every night, his mother would tell him amazing stories about people who could harness the powers of Gods and about their awesome feats. "Mother, will I also be able to use the power of Gods if I pray enough?" Zaros would ask his mother. Stroking his head, she would smile and reply, "Of course, but after you become powerful, you must use it to help other people. Promise?" She would hold out her pinky finger.

Interlocking his own pinky with his mother's, Zaros would smile with all his teeth. "Promise!" After the years went by and Zaros grew up, a tragedy struck Oxlight. The Cult of Mayhem attacked the town suddenly, with the Saint at the helm.

After gathering the ones who survived, the Saint gave them two choices, either follow them, or die. Among the survivors were Zaros and his parents. The proud scholars were originally from Arcturus, so they chose to die rather than submit to the cult. While the cult and the Saint were distracting in killing, using the opportunity, Zaros' parents forced him to run away.

His eyes full of tears, Zaros ran until his feet gave out. Collapsing on the ground, Zaros looked up and to his horror, he saw the Saint standing in front of him with a smile. The Saint reached his hand towards Zaros to kill him, but his hand suddenly stopped.

The Saint had a sudden revelation from his God to take Zaros into the cult. Zaros was reluctant at first, but he needed to survive. He became a seeker at a young age and started moving with the cult. Slowly, their God showed favor to him and would gift him occasionally, which helped him become a Transcended Seeker quicker than others in the cult.

This made the Saint and others envy him. The Saint was even fearful of Zaros, he thought he would one day snatch his position in the cult. This was why the Saint first attacked Zaros in his state of lunacy. When the Saint's roar transformed the Seekers who were missing their shadow essence into beasts, Zaros used the distraction to escape. He instinctively went back to his childhood home to heal.

---

The sun was already beginning to set, the skies painted in the vivid colors of dark orange. The Sacred Order were slowly marching through an open path. They had already been traveling for 8 hours straight. Roe sped up his horse and caught up to the carriage.

*Knock Knock* He knocked on the window of the carriage, which opened immediately, revealing Thorn's face inside. "Sir, the knights and the horses are already tired, we should rest for today." He reported to Thorn in his charming but monotone voice.

"Of course." Thorn replied. "Hmm.. Is there any town nearby? Or do we have to camp out in the open?" He asked Roe. Thinking for a moment, Roe answered Thorn. "We're nearing Helmfirth now. It will take an hour at the most." He continued after a pause. "We can get space there for the number of people we have right now."

Thorn nodded. "Alright then, we will be resting at Helmfirth for the night." He looked towards the back. "Are the rogue seekers doing okay? Anything to be concerned about?"

Roe shook his head. "So far they've been very compliant. They're chatting with each other and are acting very normal." Thorn nodded his head. "Be careful and keep an eye on them. I think they're acting too normal." Roe nodded his head and headed back towards the wagons. He went to Lonz's side. "So?" Lonz looked at Roe.

"We'll be staying at Helmfirth for the night." Roe replied. "Then we'll continue tomorrow at dawn."

"Oh? Did you guys hear that?" A seeker on the wagon started to get excited. "We'll be staying at a town today. A real town, with real cozy beds and real food!"

Hearing what he said, the other seekers also joined in on the excitement, chattering amongst themselves. Among the seekers, Zane glanced at Sheils, who was also glancing at him. Zane gave him a knowing smile and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. Sheils gave a small grin and he also started chattering with the other rogue seekers.

At the back, Edana was looking at all of this closely. Her gaze was stuck on Zane, who was now resting soundly on the back of the wagon.