Root World.

Wynblow had not told the whole truth a few minutes earlier.

At the time, she had smelled more than just death. She had also smelled ashes, and something else.

These smells together were never a good sign, and it was better to stay away from them. But the young hunter had decided otherwise. As soon as he heard those words, he suddenly launched Fusain into a gallop, his eyes panicking and his heart racing.

He had covered the two kilometers separating him from the small village in the blink of an eye, followed closely by a dragoness running at almost the same speed on her four legs.

And the last hundred meters were revealing. He could now smell death, charred flesh, blood, burnt straw...

He feared the worst, and redoubled his speed, hitting Fusain's flanks with his heels.

"Hey! Not so fast! It's dangerous! " shouted Wynblow, who although she managed to keep the distance, began to slow down, approaching the village.

If her warnings all along the two kilometers had been useless, then surely they would have no effect a few meters from the village.

The young man had already reached the edge of the forest, and had stopped dead in his tracks. He looked with fear at what was in front of him.

The dragoness quickly joined him, and could see that her sense of smell had not deceived her.

Bohr, or rather, what was left of it, had appeared before them.

Not a single house was still intact, a few walls still had the audacity to stand amidst the rubble and lifeless bodies. There had probably been no survivors.

With a tightening heart, Ewan got off Fusain's back, and walked through what used to be the streets of a bustling village; and made his way to the threshold of a house, of which all that remained was a stone chimney duct, and a pile of half-burned wood.

The young man's chest tightened a little. Two charred bodies, entangled, were trapped under the rubble. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

At his feet were the bodies of his friend and his wife. Bohen and Eliana Kars were gone. Nothing remained of their house, nor of their shop, which had once held furs, books, scrolls, medicinal plants, equipment, and provisions. It was as if there had never been anything important there.

"I... I'm sorry..." Managed to say Wynblow, who had joined him.

The dragoness, though supposedly a stranger to human affairs, felt the young man's pain.

It broke her heart to see that a destruction of this magnitude could emotionally destroy a human, when the event in question had taken place before their arrival. It was already over, for a long time. But the grief that gripped the young man had no expiration date. It remained to wait, hovering in the air, until someone dear to the victims arrived.

"I don't know who did this, but he better be ready for the day I find him..." Pronounced through his teeth Ewan, enraged.

He had already crouched down, touching the charred wood; his hands turning black from the newly formed coal.

But even with all the fury in him, he wasn't sure he could take down the culprit of this disaster.

"Whatever ravaged this village was not human," Wynblow finally said.

Her words caught the attention of the young man, who straightened up to stare at her.

"What do you mean? Were they the Dwarves? " He asked with a shaky voice.

" No. It wasn't something from this world." She said.

"I... Don't understand what you're getting at..." He said with a confused look.

"This place... It reeks of dark magic," Wynblow said, concerned. "It's really strong, so we shouldn't hang out here. I don't know if this is the work of one man, but one thing is for sure: Something from the root world has been called here to destroy everything."

"From the 'root world'? " Ewan repeated.

He had never heard that word before, so he couldn't understand why the dragoness seemed so agitated and disturbed by the situation that she wanted to leave immediately.

"The root world, where Demons and Shadows rule. " She elaborated quickly to put Ewan in the picture.

"This is the first time I've heard of it..." Said he.

But at least he finally knew what she was talking about, even if she was certainly still hiding things from him. Which meant that a magician was involved in this.

"With time, some things were forgotten," she added hastily, while glancing around nervously. "That's what happens when generations come and go too quickly. "

But he had to be sure. Sure that the culprit was someone tangible. Someone he could at least reach, to avenge the dead.

"But in your opinion, was something from this world called here?" He asked. "By a magician? "

"Yes, without a doubt. Orcs or monsters from this world would have left more traces, and less... Smells," Concluded the dragoness.

The young hunter looked bitterly at the rubble. What looked like a split wooden panel was actually a window shutter with two huge claw marks. He had to face the facts.

Wynblow was right. Nothing human could have caused this. No, probably nothing from this world.

"I didn't think it would happen again..." Wynblow let out.

"Has this ever happened in the past?" Ewan inquired.

"Yes, a couple of months ago. I heard rumors from some travelers passing through the forest, who spoke of a town that had become as black as coal, and where there were no survivors. Of course, the blame was put on a dragon. But being in the area, I knew that no other dragons had recently ventured into the area where the incident took place." Wynblow explained.

"How can you be so sure? There was a dragon terrorizing the village below in the valley for days!" He countered.

"This is different. I went there to find out for sure. And no doubt. I smelled the same smell. But much less strong and unhealthy than here. What happened here is worse. I have a strange feeling. As if the source is not extinguished. "

"I'm the one who has a strange feeling listening to you. It's probably not a coincidence, and the culprit is probably the same," Ewan said.

He then began to walk towards his friends' old house, and lifted a few pieces of charred wood to free the two trapped bodies.

"What are you doing!? "Wynblow exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Can't you tell? I'll give them a proper burial..." He said as he continued to throw the charred pieces of wood to the side, the clash between the pieces echoing in the silence that had fallen over the village.

"I wasn't talking out of turn when I said we'd better not linger! "Wynblow worried.

"We won't linger that much. Just long enough to bury these poor people," the young man justified himself.

But the dragoness was becoming more and more agitated, not stopping to look around them.

"I'm telling you we should leave, quickly," Wynblow insisted heavily. "Now. "

This had the effect of angering Ewan, who took this statement as an obvious lack of thoughtfulness and compassion.

"You want to join your stupid mountain that doesn't exist that badly!?" Ewan got angry, "Well go by yourself if you want!"

"Sorry!? "exclaimed the dragoness. "I wasn't thinking about that when I said-"

"Of course! "Ewan interrupted her, blood rushing to his temples. "All dragons are selfless reptiles; and totally not selfish and only doing what they want to do!"

For all answer, the dragoness emitted a ferocious growl. She had been very upset to hear him say that, but Ewan didn't care anymore. This was all a bad idea from the start.

"All right! Stay here! But don't say I didn't warn you!" she yelled before suddenly taking flight and heading south of the village.

"I can't believe it. To go so far as to refuse to bury the dead, for a stupid mountain!" Ewan said, furious.

In the distance, Fusain was beginning to feel agitated. His eyes were wide open and he was eagerly looking for something, yet couldn't find it. He ended up ruminating and pawing so much that Ewan had no choice but to bring him close to him to calm the animal down. The solution was only temporary, and he thought the dragoness must still be flying around; scaring Fusain like that.

However, if the young hunter had known from the beginning what frightened his mount so much, he would surely have listened to Wynblow...