the country of filth

The following morning, Leon wakes up earlier than the sunrise and begins wrapping up everything from the tent to the hammocks, to clearing all the signs of their camp a real hard work…

while he cleaned Alexios slept soundlessly because Lion knew he had not slept so well lately and it was the least he could do for him,

after making sure that all the traces of the camp were wiped clean he turned around to check on Alexios but what he sees troubles him…

His face was drenched in sweat while the expression of stress and worry horrified it, watching him like that made Leon frightened...

"Alexios! Wake up!" he leaned to him and shook his body hard to wake him up and after a hard push he woke up scared.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" as he opened his eyes, he screamed out in pain. The fear in his eyes was real and terrifying. Looking at him would make anyone feel scared of dreams.

"Alexios, it's me, relax, everything's okay ... no one's going to hurt you. " Leon was afraid at first he didn't know what to do, but somehow he managed to console him.

"Here, have a sip, you'll be alright," Leon says as he grabs the water from their bags.

"Are you okay now?"

"I'm fine, it was just a terrible dream, nothing to worry about." Alexios was still uneasy, his hands were still trembling, but for some reason he changed the subject without mentioning a thing about the dream.

"How are we going to go to the west?" "We'll walk to the river, where I have guys who will assist us in getting to the west," Leon stated.

"Are you certain they will assist us?" Alexios was cross-examined.

"Really man....you want to know everything?" Leon walks ahead as he whines in a frustrated tone.

"What? I just want to make sure! I don't want any problems, okay?" Alexios responded.

"Alright fine, we should leave this place quickly, take whatever you need, and make sure you remove every trace of yourself from here, as if you never were here, because I'm damn sure they're looking for you and any trace of you will lead them to us," Leon explained to Alexios, as they were ready to leave in a few moments.

While Alexios and Leon were headed to the west, the white knight and his troops arrived in Yskiu.

Yskiu, once a pleasant village, was now merely a desolate and ruined terrain, as if no one had ever trod here before. Everyone else thought it was a terrifying location haunted by the spirits of the dead, but the white knight saw it as an opportunity to find Alexios.

Eriso was walking along with the white knight when he sensed an unusual behavior in his aura.

"Master, do you sense something?"

The white knight had the ability to sense any form of mana or its source for a specific location, every one of in the world had the ability to sense mana but the white knight's ability was far stronger than anyone as if he was an elven mage.

"There's not even a single sign of life remaining here," responded the white knight.

"Look for evidence," the white knight advised Eriso, as he couldn't sense anything from the village.

As commanded, every warrior began searching in every corner of the burned homes and house wreckages, but White Knight walked throughout the hamlet looking for something else, and after wandering for some moment, he discovered it.

A big circle inscribed on the ground, as big as a pond... it looked like an enchantment of a spell but it was something else.

He was standing right in the middle of the circle when he noticed it. He quickly sat on his knees to examine and his sharp eyes noticed fractures in the ground that were made in a symmetrical manner; and he had just started digging up the circle when a warrior immediately rushed to him,

"SER...HERE, I'VE FOUND GRAVES!"

Those were the tombs of Yskiu people, buried by Alexios before he left the village. Simultaneously everyone gathered at the burial area followed by Eriso and squad leader the white knight…

As they walked toward the graves, Eriso came running to the white knight, huffing as he stood straight and spoke

"Master, there's nothing in the buildings we checked them all-"

"There's no need to look into them anymore I've discovered something. " the white knight interrupted him before he could finish the sentence.

He was in worry because what he had discovered on the ground was unnatural to discover in that time era; remains of a crater made by ancient magic.

"What? Master, tell me?" Eriso inquired.

"Look at this, it's not anything normal or natural, I'm quite sure it happened that day and if you look attentively you notice cracks on the ground, which suggests that something must have landed here with full force," the white knight explains as he scratches his chin in uneasiness and concern.

"So it's some type of enigmatic creature?" Eriso's face grew serious as he looked at the circle. He was young and didn't have enough experience with magic related things so his curiosity was genuine.

"No, that wasn't a beast, it was a person," the white knight said as he examined the facts.

"A HUMAN... how can you be so certain?" Eriso is taken aback when he learns that this catastrophe was made by a human.

"Look at those graves over there, if it was a beast, he would not dig graves for the people, it was a person who did this and he was also from this village, for all these tombs are of Yskiu's people, it's certain he knew these people" he pointed at the graves covered by warriors a little far from them and looked at Eriso with a sigh,

Eriso appeared afraid, and it was terrible since no one anticipated a human to destroy a unit of Yorkan's soldiers.

"It could be a mage? Mages are powerful too... maybe a mage did it. What do you think?" Eriso asked with eyes full of hope because if it was a mage they'd at least have a strategy to deal with it rather than being a completely oblivious of a new enemy.

"No, I don't think so because if it was a mage it would have been known by now... and probably he wouldn't dare to live in a village because the chances of his cover being blown would get higher"

Mages and wizard weren't welcomed in the northern part of the continent and only a few were known to have knowledge about magic and spells, who were mostly the maesters at the castle or immigrants who were allowed on the land.

"So, do you have any clue who he could be?" Eriso again spoke with a new question of his.

"Yes, I don't know who it is, but I know where he would go... there's just one way to avoid being noticed, and that's via this deep and gloomy forest." Eriso stood there with a lot of questions brewing up in his mind as the white knight pointed to the woods ahead of him.

In the meantime, Alexios and Leon made their way through the woodland to the west.

"So who are these people who will take us to the west?" Alexios breaks the quiet after a long walk and continues again with his questions.

"Yeah, like you've told me everything," Leon yelled furiously, as he was nervous. But it was natural for him to act that way after being hunted for so long in his life.

"What do you want to know, Leon?" Alexios replied, amusingly.

"Alright, fine, here you go. What was that dream you saw today?" Leon asked as he made a face.

"You're still on that. I told you it was simply a terrible dream," Alexios spoke in a cheerful tone, attempting to conceal his insecurity.

"Look, Alexios, I'm not an idiot. I saw you alright and I know it wasn't a regular nightmare," Leon faced him again, his eyes wide with annoyance.

"Ah, okay, I'll tell you," Alexios clenched his fist in frustration and took a deep breath and spoke.

"Good, we'll talk while walking now come on, we have a long way to go," Leon said, smiling.

"So it's been a long time that I've been suffering from this dream and..." Leon abruptly stops and signals him to halt his legs from making another step.

"Leon, what..." before he could speak, Leon covered his mouth with his hand and whispered gently.

"Shhh.....we are being followed....."

To be continued…