ZELINDA.
The name was neatly carved into a large boulder half-sunk into the roadside. Its letters were deep and purposeful as dark moss crept towards them. I lumbered over, crouched in its shadow, and brushed my fingers across the surface of the boulder.
I wasn't sure what was going through my mind, only that the weathered grooves of each engraved character brought me tremendous comfort. They felt human. Like art.
If some poor soul had come by at that moment, they would've stumbled across a very unsettling scene of a wiry man in his mid-twenties, massaging an innocuous boulder.
But I wasn't worried. No one in their right mind had any business traveling the Sienzo Road. Not without an army. Not without two. Not after five years of war that'd only just ended.
To the left of the boulder, a cobblestone path stretched into the trees, winding through the dense forest towards no visible end. I was surrounded by forest, and by the distant sound of bickering crows.
I glanced behind me at my companion, who lay sprawled out across the lower end of my tattered robes. After weeks of travel, she'd been just as fatigued as I was, possibly even more.
"Wanna rest here tonight?" I asked, nodding toward the cobblestone path.
Nyra simply chuffed in response, offering not even a nod of acknowledgment.
Nyra was a Blanshi Lion from the Palyuk region. She had once taken the form of a towering lioness, and though her features remained mostly the same, she was now no larger than a house cat. Yet her monstrous pride hadn't shrunk. If anything, it had only grown.
Her deep green eyes demanded surrender, while her shimmering white fur inspired reverence. She was a beast meant to be worshiped but never touched, no matter how tempting it was.
Before saying goodbye to my beloved boulder, I gazed skyward, searching for my other companion. I was expecting to see a glint of bronze, carving ribbons out of the heavens. But the sky was clear. Too clear. Not a cloud to trace, or a star to tell a story.
He was a bronze Haast Eagle named Harold. I hadn't seen him in weeks, which was unusual. But that didn't matter to me. I'd just hoped he was safely perched on a branch, overlooking a lively river with plenty of fish to feast on.
Still crouched, I turned to Nyra, careful not to move her as she'd nested herself into my robes. I dropped to one knee, covered the left side of my chest with my right hand and bowed. I bowed so low that my head almost scraped the dirt.
"We should go now. Care to lead, Your Majesty?"
The proud beast rose slowly from her slumber, gave a quick stretch, then lifted her nose, and marched chest-first down the jagged cobblestone path.
I couldn't help but match her cadence as we marched as one.
***
When I was a child, my mother told me about a sacred town tucked deep in a forested valley. It was a place of pilgrimage where acolytes immersed themselves in the knowledge of divine magic.
Zelinda, meaning Victorious Shield, was renowned for its teachings in barrier magic.
Yet when war came to the north and Evaran invaded without warning, the acolytes and clergy of the region were summoned to the south.
They abandoned their communes, and forsook their northern worshipers in the process.
Five years later, it would be two northerners wandering through the very town that had once condemned them.
After a few minutes of walking the cobblestone path, we reached the town's edge and marched in further.
From what I could tell, the town was relatively small. The layout was unusual as well. The buildings were arranged in an almost perfect circle, as if it had been traced with a compass.
The buildings themselves were rather monotonous. Ivy-choked, grey stone structures. Some were two stories, most were one. But every building I saw lacked doors, windows, and any sign of life.
As we approached the center, a tragically radiant church knelt before us, its slouched frame still looming over the town like a fallen ruler presiding over a kingdom of ruins.
The windows and doors of the church were intact, but they shimmered with a faint sun-gold tint. It was most likely a barrier. At least something had been worth protecting in the eyes of the Aureth Church. A shame it hadn't been the people.
Nyra let out a yawn as her parade came to a halt just before the church stairs.
"Tired, huh?" I said, still standing at attention behind her.
I glanced around for anything that looked remotely livable. We'd slept out in the open before, exposed to wind and rain, so it wasn't like our standards were very high.
That's when I noticed a smaller structure behind the church. It looked like a chapel or a modest dining hall. It was the only other building that had windows.
"Good enough," I said. "Want me to carry you, Nyra?"
She gave me a lazy nod, clearly expecting me to come to her.
I scooped up the weary lioness, wrapped her in my sleeves, and walked toward what I assumed was a chapel. Once there, I tried to nudge the rickety door open with my shoulder, but it didn't budge.
Maybe it was locked. Or maybe something was blocking it.
I leaned into it again, then again, and again. Each shove harder than the last.
On the fourth shove, the door burst inward, just as a shadowy figure lunged out, growling with desperation as they thrust a flimsy blade towards my abdomen.
I twisted my body, sidestepping the attack in one short but measured action. The blade missed my mid-section by inches, piercing the air where I'd just been and dragging the figure behind it.
I got a brief glimpse of the figure's face. She was just a child, no older than 12.
The girl turned with a grunt and slashed at me again, this time with an overhead swing as she leapt into the air.
That strike was faster, much faster than the first. I couldn't dodge it. I could barely even see it.
With Nyra still fast asleep, I focused my mana into my right arm. It went fuzzy, like pins and needles, as the skin hardened into an impenetrable layer.
Steel clashed against skin in a brief spark, as the blade shattered into fragments.
The girl stumbled backwards, with bewilderment painted across her face. But she wasn't done. She looked like a cornered beast with nothing left to lose, as she braced to launch herself at me one final time.
But instead of lunging at me, she let out a sharp cough and collapsed. Her shoulder hit the ground first, then the rest of her body.
After a few seconds, I dispelled the mana from my arm and approached the girl with caution. She was thin, painfully thin, and her overalls were in just as rough shape as she was.
"Anka!"
A faint voice echoed from inside the chapel as a small boy with shaggy brown hair dashed toward the collapsed girl he called Anka. His eyes were green, like mine, though his were softer, and gentler.
Another child scrambled out after him. She was a smaller girl with jet black hair and unsettling eyes that looked as if they never blinked, yet struggled to stay open.
Then came another, an older boy with blonde hair. He walked stiffly, feet dragging, and arms trembling as he stood between me and the others. He raised his fists halfway, barely clenched, and split his stance. Still, it looked as if he struggled to keep himself up as his body swayed from side to side.
"Don't… hurt them," the older boy said, his voice shaking with the rest of him.
Instinctively, I took a step forward to get a better look at the girl in distress. At that moment, the boy recoiled, curling his face into his arms as he stumbled backwards.
"Is she okay?" I asked softly.
None of the children answered me, either out of shock or fear. So I brushed past the boy who'd stood squarely in front of me, and I knelt beside Anka.
As I positioned myself near her body, the two smaller children draped themselves over her, with their eyes shut and their hands covering the backs of their heads.
Even up close, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the girl. All I knew was that it was getting dark, and cold, and that she needed to be taken inside. At the very least, she needed food, water, and heat.
But moving her meant prying away the two children who clung to her for dear life.
"I might be able to help, but I need to move your friend. Can I pick her up? Would that be okay?" I asked.
The children hesitated. Their eyes darted between me and the girl, with their bottom lips quivering. It was as if they were desperate for help but weren't sure if they could trust me.
But I had one trick up my sleeve, something that could bring even a tyrant to their knees.
"I'll make you a deal," I said. "If you let me hold your friend, I'll let you hold mine."
I held out Nyra, who was still fast asleep. She wouldn't have agreed to this trade if she were awake. If she knew she was being used as a bartering tool, it could've been the last deal I'd ever made.
The boy with the shaggy brown hair sprang to his knees as his eyes lit up with wonder.
"Can I hold him first?" the boy asked, reaching out his arms as if he were receiving life itself.
"She's actually a her, and of course. Just make sure you're gentle and that you don't wake her up, okay?" I replied, as I settled her into the boy's frail arms.
It was rare for a child to be near a beast. Rarer still to hold one. Even adults weren't afforded this privilege, unless they were beast tamers.
The girl with the jet black hair slowly peeled herself off Anka and plodded over to the boy who was rocking Nyra in his arms, and brushing his cheek against hers.
He did everything you're not supposed to do when holding a beast, but it's not like he knew any better. Still, if she were to wake up...
I briefly put my worry about Nyra aside as I lifted Anka off the ground with little effort. She looked to be in worse condition than I thought. Her eyes were sunken, and her breath was hardly there.
The older boy with blonde hair stared at me with powerless eyes as I walked into the chapel with Anka in my arms.
He tried his best. I wanted to comfort him for that. But in that moment, I didn't know how. I also didn't know if it would help.
If he had claws, fangs, or a tail strong enough to whip a mountain in half, maybe I could've understood him.
But he was a child, far more intimidating and even harder to understand.
What had I gotten myself into?