The last breath

Arja took the road in the direction of Faranza. That was a long road, a few hours later she opened her bag and she smiled as she saw that Licia gave her good food prepared by her and the kids earlier. Arja ate while walking, it was a stone path. The main road leading to Faranza.

Arja remembered that her father built these roads to ease the life of people and make the capital more accessible for everybody since the war with the other kingdoms ended a century ago. She was walking on it with a bit of sadness to see no other people taking this road, her father imagined thousands of people using it every day. It was the case at some point, unfortunately, not long enough.

On the other hand, thanks to her father she was able to travel easily. She passed a few villages and as she was doing kilometers she could realize that the villages were darker and darker. The villagers were desperate and poor, the buildings were half destroyed while she was still at the border.

After another day of walking, she decided to take a rest in an inn in a village. This one was, even more, darker than the others. She ordered a meal with the money Ulrich and Licia gave her and then she rented a room, at first, she let Hagalaz in the room. She wanted to avoid terrifying them with a huge wolf while she was eating.

During dinner, a man sat at her table, the inn was very small and there were no empty tables anywhere else. The man noticed Arja's armor under her black coat. He raised an eyebrow and asked her.

"Where are you going with this?"

Arja looked up from her meal and covered her body better. She said in a cold, distant voice that was not meant to be engaging.

"Walking there and there. Why do you ask?"

The man was suspicious, for some time there were a lot of travelers that came to Faranza to steal the possessions of the people who died. With a bit of anger in his voice, the man continued.

"You don't look like the usual thieves. There is only death there, none of the thieves survived after going there. We are the last village with humans before the chaos."

Arja was curious about what the man was saying, she didn't expect Faranza to be such a dangerous zone. Seeing her interest he continued.

"After the dead army left, a mist rose. You cannot see what happens there anymore, the ones who came back killed themselves soon after. They were talking about a woman's voice haunting them."

Now Arja was interested. She had to know what would happen in the mist, especially if nobody returned from there. Especially if they heard a woman's voice. She finished her dinner and stood up. She whispered with a hoarse voice as she didn't speak for almost two days.

"Many thanks, I will take care of this."

She went to her room and gave the leftovers she kept to Hagalaz. She sat on her bed, in the direction of the little star, and kept tight the Yshnaa pendant she kept around her neck all these years. Hagalaz joined her and laid next to her.

"Please, tell me it's not her. It cannot be her..."

She went to sleep with a stomach ache. After the night, when the first lights of the day were raised, she ordered Hagalaz to leave in a hurry. She had a very bad feeling about this and she wanted to rush as fast as possible to discover the truth.

She took her backpack and ran outside with the red wolf in the direction of the city. The myst raised as she was going deeper into the region. The capital was only six hours far from the village but Arja discovered that the roads were ravaged.

Very fast, she had to stop to run, she was sliding on the broken stones moistened by the fog. She was walking as fast as possible, she felt a fragrance coming from the capital, a scent brought by the wind that she recognized immediately.

Arja felt tears running from her eyes, her heart was beating extremely fast as she was flying over the kilometers.

Then she saw the first doors of the capital.

Her blood turned cold and she was paralyzed.

She had the memory of the capital still intact. She left before the assault and, even if she knew it, she would never imagine how much the war impacted the kingdom.

The doors were broken and falling on the side. The road at the main entrance of the city was covered with human bones.

She watched the walls of the buildings along and she discovered with horror that they also were covered with corpses. Long wooden spikes were piercing the walls and bodies were impaled on them with extreme brutality. The remains of the soldiers were only bones and rusted armor but she could see all the pain they had at the moment of their death. She was not expecting this image by coming back. She knew war is not pretty, and she was expecting dead bodies everywhere but she would never imagine so many barbaric things.

Hagalaz seemed to feel the danger and pressed her to stand up to continue walking. She followed him, and as she stood up she realized her legs were trembling.

She could not stop herself from watching the cadavers on the walls, after a few meters, she saw that there were not only soldiers but also civilians. She had nausea after realizing that, in front of her, was the skeleton of a child. She would probably see more of them later and she couldn't bear it. She felt dizzy, that was too much for her and the myst was so oppressive. She was seeing nothing except the skeletons, she had no choice but to focus on them. She felt despair, and guilty, she cried for them. She never was supposed to survive, she was supposed to be with them at this moment. Hagalaz was growling. He acted as if something was about to happen but Arja could not understand it at the moment. These people were once her people.

She was too dizzy to think about something else, this was a true nightmare and she couldn't establish what was real or not. In front of her a child's corpse moved his hand, he seemed like he was asking for help. Arja couldn't believe it.

After killing them they also cursed them?! She felt furious, a tremendous rage burned in her heart. All these years this child was impaled? Waiting for someone to take him down?!

How was it even possible? With all the thieves that came there, none of them took the time to help him. These men were too busy stealing to do anything nice. She burst into rage, she jumped close to the child and spoke to him to reassure him.

"Don't worry little one, I will do my best to help you and free you."

Hagalaz was silent, she couldn't see him anymore. Arja felt something liquid falling on her. As she was helping the dead body of the kid that was in the humid air for more than ten years she thought that the fluids which made her dirty came from him and she didn't pay attention to it.

After delivering the dead body from his spike she placed him on the floor and he felt inert. At first, she didn't understand. She saw him moving, he should be able to at least stand. The cadaver was on the floor, immobile.

Suddenly, she realized that during their journey, Hagalaz was not smelling the scent that led them here. The scent, the call, and everything that pushed her there were induced by the shadows. The deep shadows that she knew too well from the North and always tried to fight with all her strength.

Then she saw not far from her that Hagalaz was laying on the floor, she ran to him and understood he was only asleep. The liquid started to annoy her and she wiped it with her hand. After seeing it she realized it was fresh blood.

It was her blood.

It was a lot of blood.

Then she felt, next to her wolf, with the little force she had left she placed her hands around her wolf, trying in vain to protect him. A figure walked towards her, wiping off her mouth from blood, laughing.

Arja closed her eyes.

Arja died.