- Catch a Glance, Take a Chance

Rian was never an easy sleeper. Growing up in the slums of Neverdark raised by a man who's only care was to see his son in the same miserable position he was in, his nights were often filled with noise. Whether that noise was the kids outside causing a ruckus, or his father and mother arguing around the corner. It was never easy for him to sleep.

Even when he left home and began to live at the mine, working from dawn until dusk in the caves shoveling ores from one place to another. It was hard to determine what time it was down there, even with the small amount of clocks they had on hand. So there were often nights when Rian would sleep, wake up only three hours later and start work again as if it was a full night's rest.

But that never stopped him, for he was strong willed both his strength and in the mind. He knew that so long as he kept going, things would either get better or worse. And if it was the latter, he could die saying he tried.

It was the mentality that he lived by, making it towards tomorrow was all that mattered to him.

"Whether you save a life or a dozen, be happy you were able to save something."

It was this form of mentality that kept him strong even in his darkest moments when he awoke on a doctor's bed with his arm missing. It took him days and the help of Lia and Becka to accept that he had lost his arm.

It had taken him even longer to get over the moment that it was taken from him. Becka was there through many of his rough moments, many of his sleepless nights when he would awake to screaming only to realize it was his own voice penetrating the walls of his mind.

She was patient, she was calm, loving, caring and all the things Rian never thought he would be a part of. It kept him going through those nights when the dreamless lie awake.

Since that day his mentality no longer mattered to him, though it strengthened with his resolve.

"Get to tomorrow, so that you can kill him. Get to tomorrow, so that you have a chance."

Pain had turned to anger, and thus anger turned to acceptance. He never learned to live through something like this, but Becka had made everything better; his life, his love and even the better part of the man he used to be, the man he would strive to become.

But the sleepless nights still haunted him, and so on this fine morning when the sun was just barely peeking above the horizon, past the mountain peaks and forests filled with trees, when the rest were asleep, he was awake.

The other early risers who had been all the much wiser last night when drinking set to work their way back onto the road, pulling sheets and supplies back into their carts, ready to set off.

It was here on the edge of the rock face that he found Lia standing calmly, watching the sun rise as she slowly and meticulously pulled on her hard leather armor. She stood with poise and grace, the look of someone who was not born into the woods nor the darkness that haunted life, but she carried with her the weight of a pain Rian knew he would never begin to understand.

"You're up."

He said, announcing his presence as he slowly approached her, watching as her shadow shifted and morphed before settling down under her feet.

"Were you talking with someone?"

Lia eyed the shadow with a blank face before turning back to the sunrise as it's golden rays hit her face, highlighting the coldness within her eyes.

"Just Kal. He will be leading point on our trip, making sure we're not caught off guard."

"You think they're close?"

"Well, he's been acting up these past few days, it's made me wonder if he sees something we don't."

Rian nodded, agreeing with her as the silence between them enveloped their space, as both sets of eyes watched the sunrise. In the end though, Rian felt the words rising in his chest, despite his efforts to hold them back.

"Thank you."

"...for what?"

"Becka told me what you did last night, and about your decision. You probably hate me for making you say yes to my request, knowing full well that I would go along with this if you rejected me."

Lia eyed him from the side, the wind blowing the warm color of her hair past her face with a breeze full of the earth and its scent.

"I don't hate you. I'm guilty of the same thing. You wanted reassurance, I wanted defiance. Now neither of us is to blame for one or the other's death."

"You really think it will come to that?"

She said nothing, her only voice was the sound of the wind as it hailed along the trees, cutting paths through the air towards the mountain's downfall.

"Lia…if we really are going to die, then can you favor me once more?"

"What is it?"

"...you know, about me and Becka. You know how much care there is in those words, so please, even if we are both to die, I ask that you forgive her."

His voice held some desperation inside it, desperation that hit Lia's heart like a stake hammered in, but whatever effect it had on her heart, she didn't show it.

It was a while before she spoke again, and those she spoke with as much kindness and compassion that she could muster in her soft and frail voice, it only came forth in a chilling cold that flooded Rian's bones.

"Rain, you ask the impossible. They schemed against us, plotted to kill us, and their actions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Asking forgiveness for them is asking the divine to forgive the devils of hell. It's impossible."

But he wasn't about to give up, for if his last moments would be away from Becka, he wanted her to live on with a clear heart.

"But it's not. She's trying to reconcile, she's trying to make up for what she's done. Her being here is proof enough. Can't you see that?"

"...Rian."

And then he saw it, just as she turned to him the sun glistening of her eyes as tears welled and threatened to fall, he saw all the pain of her past in one moment of weakness that threatened the walls around her heart to fall.

"Don't ask me to forgive them. I know what it feels like to be stabbed in the back, I know what it feels like to be betrayed. To be unloved and unjustified, to be called a mistake and plotted against. I know that far too well."

Her voice was cracking and in her throat he could hear the sound of a sob swelling in her chest as it threatened to break fast and shatter the heartless girl he saw before him.

"I can't forgive them, because if I do, then it means I am capable of forgiving. And I am incapable of forgiving them…"

Rian didn't know who this 'them' was, but he could see in her eyes that the fire he once saw many moons ago that raged in her eyes and in her heart like a dragon's blaze reignited with that one word. Hatred sparked and frustration subsided, all that replaced the sobbing child before him was a killer whose eyes were filled with vengeance and fury.

Then it as gone, just as quickly as the fire had been lighted and turned into a flame, a candle to a blaze, it faded into the cold and empty expanse of darkness that flooded the soles of her eyes, hollowed her cheeks and made her look dead inside.

He knew he couldn't say more, he knew that she would not listen and he knew that it would be a mockery to their friendship if he asked her once again to do the impossible. He knew she was not to blame, her past was only putting her to shame and yet he couldn't stop himself from clenching his fists, from lowering his voice into a harsh whisper as he passed.

He hated what he said then, but he couldn't take it back, or it was out of his mouth and in the air like his quickest of attacks.

"He's changing you, and I hope the woman I fought beside isn't dead somewhere in there."

With that he whisked himself away back into the dawn light as it flooded the camp, his heart torn between his love and his friends, his mind and his emotions. They bent him in all the wrong ways and it only brought him pain.

Once he left, Lia stood there in the sun letting its heat warm her skin to the touch, watching the orange and the yellow paint the darkened sky that retreated to the west.

She was alone, yet she wasn't, for beside her sitting on a rock enjoying the sunrise himself was Cain. He watched her with his crimson eyes that matched the sunrise yet said nothing as he thought quietly to himself.

For even he did not recognize the girl before his eyes.

***

The Eastern Transdotia got its name because of its odd formation, a long cluster of mountains that sat along a rift in the ground, a chasm of sorts that gave way to a small winding river at the bottom. The oddity of the mountains was how they formed so close to one another, their steep slopes giving way to rolling hills for a considerable distance before joining back up with another mountain.

In conclusion, the mountain range got its name from its steep slopes, winding roads and rolling hills that made it near impossible to progress through it, at least at the pace Arnold and his team were hoping.

It made it the perfect place for Lia and her team to find and ambush Arnold and his group of Fire Drakes still in the process of progressing through the ridge line.

It was here, as Lia laid on the grassy and cold ground staring through a set of spy glasses, that she spotted the group in the distance led by a large brown bear that tugged and pulled a long rope line used to support the group.

"There they are. They're along the ridge line, and it doesn't look like they're having a good time."

Truth be told, the group was facing off against strong winds, rough terrain and even steeper slopes, She was half surprised that they had even bothered to try going through the ridge line and not around it, but it would be their own downfall.

"How soon do you think we can reach them?"

She asked, turning her head to where total sat beside her, peering through his own set of spy glasses. Only, he wasn't looking anywhere near the group, but towards the distant sky and the sounds of rumbling off in the distance.

"Hard to say. With that storm on the rise I doubt we'll make it too far before we're in the center of it all."

Rian, who sat on the other side of Lia, set down his glasses and turned to them, an idea already forming in his head and he was eager to share.

"What if we used the storm to get closer. Travel on foot, light enough they won't hear us coming while the rain masked out scent."

"Bad idea as well."

Total said, shaking his head as he peered off into the distance with his bare naked eyes, watching the stiff grass blow in the harsh evening wind.

"This place is known for its landslides and muddy tails. Be thankful that that bears us upwind of us, otherwise it would have already caught our scent by now. But if the wind changes because of the rain, you'll be caught red handed before you even get close."

He passed his spy glasses off to someone behind him, gesturing to the thunderclouds on the distant horizon, ones that turned black and pale with flashes of lightning streaking across their surfaces.

"The best thing now is to wait until the storm passes, hope the winds are in our favor and follow after them come tomorrow. We can't catch them now."

Though his words were absolute and filled with fact and truth, Lia had a hard time accepting this. Right there, before her eyes stood the man she hated, his son walking steadily behind him without any signs of a fire in his heart.

He was right there, just within reach, and she was not about to give up this chance.

***

When night fell and rain splattered against the cloth exterior of Lia's cart, a living space she shared with Lori who had gratefully volunteered to take her in, she was up and ready to leave by the sound of the thunder crashing against the sky.

"...Lia?"

Lori sat up from her bed raising a hand to shield her eyes from the brightness of the outside as Lia pulled back the door flap, turning around at the sound of her name.

"Lori, go back to sleep."

"What are you doing? Totlac said not to go out tonight because of the storm."

She shook her head, pulling her long cloak over her shoulders to guard her blade hilted at her waist along her belt.

"I have to. I won't get another chance like this."

Lori held some look of worry in her eyes, worry that pained Lia to see. She considered the woman before her a friend, yet felt as though after this moment, she would never see her again.

"...you're leaving, aren't you?"

Lia said nothing, her eyes only glowed with some fire inside them that seemed as hollow as her heart.

"Will I see you again?"

Again, nothing. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Lia spoke, half vanishing beyond the flaps of the door as she raised a finger to point towards Lori's drowsy figure.

"Goodbye Lori."

With one word, Cain made her sleep soundly against the soft and smooth bed sheets, warm underneath her blankets that battled off the cold air that penetrated the home through the open door where a girl once stood.

The ground was muddy and slick, the feeling of water soaking into her boots and socks reminded Lia of the dangerous path ahead of her. She would need to travel along the ridge line just to reach the camp, then battle her way through Arnold's team.

It would be hard, it would be difficult, but it would not be without its reasons. If she failed here, she would leave Arnold with a scar, a scar painful enough for Rian and the others to take Lukali back home, safe and sound.

Even if she was to rot within the mud of these mountains.

"Did you think you could just walk away?"

Lia whirled around at the sound of a voice, but her heart soon stopped its rough pounding against her chest as the fear subsided, her eyes landing on a man leaning against one of the carriages.

Though it was raining, he was dry. Though it was cold, he wore loose fitting clothes and a thin shirt. Though it was dark, she could still see the crimson in his eyes as they chased away the dark.

"Are you going to stop me? Now, after everything we've done together?"

Cain just watched her, both surprised but not derailed by her voice, for it was the sound of a changed woman. A woman with purpose and poise, one who would do anything to get what she wanted.

"No. I just thought that you, walking along the ridge line at night, with all this rain and mud would be bad for your health."

"Is that a joke?"

"Nope, no joke. Just help."

As he approached she could feel the heat radiating from his body like a furnace, and it took a moment for her to realize the highlights of his body were not actually highlights caused by the dull light the storm clouds failed to hold back. It was steam, steam from the rain as it evaporated on his skin.

His warmth was welcoming, but intoxicating. She couldn't have any distractions, so she needed to end this quickly.

"What do you want then?"

He nodded with his head towards the distance where Lia could see the faint outline of two large gray stones through the rain.

"That there is a tunnel that leads into a cave system. Bandits up in these parts use those to get around fast enough. This one's old and abandoned."

He turned to face Lia, who started out through the rain, allowing him the close seconds to become mesmerized by her beautiful and determined appearance.

"Take it. It can help you get there fast enough."

She took a step forward, but then, as her boot sloshed around in the mud and puddles of water, she stopped and turned to Cain with the eyes of a lost little child. He realized then that despite the front Lia put up every second of every day, she was still alone in this world at heart, and was still marching off to her supposed death.

"...Will…will you be with me when…"

She couldn't say it. She couldn't mention the sleepless nights she had or the visions that haunted her days of that moment, that one dream where Arnold's spear plunged itself through her neck.

She couldn't relive that moment, and suddenly, as though his heart fluttered for what felt like the first time in a millennia, he hugged her.

"I will. I always will."

She rested her head against his chest for what felt like hours, rain streaming down her face as she whispered against his skin.

"Thank you."

The rain did well to hide her tears.