Relief

The village Joshua cared deeply had been destroyed. The people he cared about, were dead. Dan who always took care of the village's animals laid headless on the ground. Everyone had a story, but now it did not matter.

Joshua ran straight to Richards's house. Not that he did not care for the others. He did. But Aurora and Richard had a special place in Joshua's heart.

Houses were torn apart, and the place was devoid of any life.

'How this is happening? It's all a nightmare, right?' Joshua fell over a corpse, and could not help but yell.

These were all good people who lived simple life. They did not deserve that.

It did not take long for a big house to appear in front of Joshua. Surprisingly, Richard's house was not as destroyed as the rest of the village. It looked almost undamaged.

Inside the house Joshua found Richard with his back at a wall, bleeding. One could tell that he would not survive.

"Master," Joshua yelled. The pain inside his heart was overwhelming. Falling on his knees, Joshua begged for Richard to still be conscious.

Richard slowly opened up his eyes, looking at the man who arrived inside his house.

"Joshua?" Richard's voice was weak, and Joshua only heard it because he was too close.

Tears streamed down Joshua's face, and he said. "It's me, it's me. Don't move, everything will be okay." That was a lie, but one that could at least give him some sort of comfort.

"You can't die Richard. There's so much you still need to teach me, and," Joshua gasped for air and said. "And our trip together."

"Brat, listen up. I don't have much time and there's a lot to tell you," Richard said. Joshua did not respond.

"Good, good. Now listen carefully. Everyone in the village is dead, except two people. You and Aurora."

Joshua felt relief after he heard that at least Aurora was still alive.

"There's a secret tunnel in our basement. Aurora left using it. She's heading to the capital as we speak," Richard paused for a moment, and then he said. "Joshua. Whoever attacked the village, they were after Aurora. They wanted to capture her."

"What? What would they want if her?" Joshua could not believe someone would destroy an entire village just for one person.

Richard pondered for a moment if he should tell Joshua or not, and in the end, he did.

"I'm not her father. Not biological. I found her when she was a baby and took care of her as she was my own." No one else knew that, and if Richard did not tell Joshua, perhaps Aurora would never know.

As Joshua was processing all of that information, Richard's breath was almost non-existent.

"Tell her that when she's strong enough. Looking for her parents weak as she is, she will certainly die."

Richard took a key from his pocket and gave it to Joshua.

"There's a safe inside my room with some money and a map for you to find your way. There's also a necklace that I found next to Aurora when she was a baby. Take it as well," Richard's life was almost at the end after saying that.

"You had been a good disciple, Joshua. Take care of Aurora for me." These were his last words, and a scream of pain followed after.

~~~~

Joshua knew he did not have much time but still, he had to bury his master. A simple grave behind the house. Joshua paid his respects before leaving.

The safe Richard talked about had all of those things. Joshua grabbed them as he would need it to survive.

A basement with a hidden passage. Joshua only found it due to a note inside the safe he opened. The attacked happened a few hours, so Aurora should be far gone by now. Joshua ran through a dark tunnel, hoping to catch up with her.

Well, he was a lot faster, but there was also a problem to consider. The people that attacked the village would not let her go easily. The capital was an obvious choice, so Aurora would not rush towards that.

'There are a lot of places she could be. She's smart, so any dangerous areas are out of the question.'

Joshua left the tunnel in no time, and was now analyzing the map he got from Richard.

'There are 6 places in the capital's direction that are particularly safe.' Joshua pondered a lot before acting. If he ran in the wrong direction he may not find her.

Joshua came to a conclusion. The sun was almost being replaced by the moon, which meant that Aurora would have to take shelter at night. Aurora's pursuers would assume that she would go towards the closest village or town. Which was understandable. But Aurora was not that dumb to go there, as it was certain they would look. And running non-stop during the night trying to reach her next destination would also be dumb, and she could not make it, probably.

Which left only one possibility. Aurora would camp in the wilderness. The only reason Joshua ever thought about that possibility was because he knew Richard had taught her how to set up a camp and how to survive.

So, the best place to do so would be one with some sort of natural cave, as Joshua was sure Aurora had not brought camping tools with her.

'She's probably near the Misty Canyons. I hope so.'

Joshua hoped that his guess was correct, and that he could find her quickly. She was not strong to survive alone, and the capital was still a long way. The only place she could be safe for now was inside the magic academy, so Joshua would do everything to get her there. After all, he promised Richard he would take care of her.

'I'll also find whatever bastards did that to my village, to my master, to Aurora. They will pay with their lives.' Joshua could not stop his anger.