Chapter 34 - Ashes

The ground beneath his feet was cold.
He ran before he knew why, breath tearing at his throat as darkness pressed in from every side. His heart pounded as his legs grew heavier with every step. Behind him, something breathed, slow and wet and far too close. If he slowed down, even for a moment, it would catch him. He stumbled again, nearly falling, and only then realized what kept catching his feet.
Bodies.
They covered the ground ahead of him, and among them he recognized his parents. Their faces were untouched despite everything else, their eyes following him as he ran past.
“Don’t leave us!”
He kept running, tears blurring his vision. Terry. Mari. Wod. Dod. Zed. Lisa. One after another, their faces appeared among the dead.
I’m sorry. I can’t help you. You’re dead.
“We are alive,” they called after him. “We live in the Void. Join us. This is your place.”
He kept running.
The darkness slowly receded, and ahead of him, like through a small window, he saw the world. He saw green fields beneath a clear sky, then the sea, distant mountains, and even places he had never visited.
He stumbled again and fell. When he rolled onto his back, he saw himself lying there. An adult version of himself, wearing a wet shirt and elegant trousers. Then something touched his back.
A scream woke him. It took him several seconds to realize it had been his own.
Nessi was leaning over him, her hand frozen mid-air.
“It’s okay, Arien. It was just a dream,” she said calmly, slowly placing a hand on his shoulder. “You were screaming in your sleep. It’s almost noon.”
Arien recognized the temple, and the events of the previous day returned with it. The emotions he had suppressed came crashing back all at once. He closed his eyes and rebuilt the wall in his mind. It was easier than yesterday. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried.
“How is Alia?” he asked, wiping the tears from his face.
Nessi studied him for a moment but asked nothing.
“She’s better. The wound is healing, and the fever has gone down. She woke about an hour ago when I changed her bandages. I gave her some water, and she went back to sleep.”
Arien looked at his sister, who indeed seemed slightly better. Some color had returned to her face, and her breathing was calmer.
“You should eat something with Will. Jaria is serving soup outside for everyone.”
Arien glanced at Will, still asleep beside him. He hated to wake him, but Nessi was right.
“Will, wake up,” he said, gently shaking his shoulder.
“Is it breakfast already? I had such strange dreams,” Will blinked at him, still half asleep. Then his eyes widened and he pushed himself upright. “Any news about my family?”
“Unfortunately, not,” Nessi answered for Arien. “But I’m sure our army will catch those bandits, and everyone will return safely,” Her eyes dropped toward the floor before she added, “I need to get back to work. Can you manage on your own for a while?”
“Yes. Thank you for your help,” Arien replied. “Will, they’re serving hot soup outside. Could you bring a bowl for Alia and me? I’d go myself, but I don’t want her waking up with no one here.”
Once Will was gone, Arien checked the room, then knelt beside his sister and placed a hand on her side. He poured as much Life mana into her as he could. He could only hope that from a distance, it looked like prayer. Before Will returned, he managed to spend almost half of his mana.
The soup was a watery mixture of vegetables and meat, lacking flavor, but it filled their stomachs. He woke Alia and fed her a few spoonfuls.
“I dreamed I was floating in some kind of void,” she said quietly, “and Mom and Dad were calling me.”
“It was just a dream,” he replied. “Mom and Dad would want you to get better quickly.”
“And then what?” she asked, looking at him.
Will also raised his head and watched him closely. Arien fell silent, wishing he knew the answer himself.
If Dod was alive, he would be the eldest. He would inherit the land and, by custom, be responsible for the rest of them. The problem was that nobody knew whether their brother would even want to change Profession again, and even if he did, responsibility had never been his strongest trait. Taking care of two younger siblings might be beyond him.

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Sari was in Ribenne. She was only a waitress and probably had barely enough for herself, but at least they wouldn’t be alone.
“We’ll go to Ribenne, to Sari. I met her during my visit to the city. She misses us a lot. We can stay with her for now and figure out the rest once we know more.”
Before anyone could respond, a girl burst into the temple shouting. “Wagons are coming! And soldiers! From Ribenne!”
For the next several hours, Healers moved between the worst cases while volunteers unloaded bandages, medicine, food, and spare clothes from the wagons. Guards spread through the village, reinforcing what remained of the gate and setting up patrols in case the raiders returned.
Kreft had done it. Somehow, he had reached Ribenne, convinced the right people, and brought help back before another night fell.
Meanwhile, Arien stayed close to his sister. One of the Healers examined her and declared her condition stable, then used a spell that fully sealed the wound. Alia even managed to sit up and eat another bowl of soup, though every movement clearly cost her.
Arien watched the Healer work whenever he could. He understood little of what he was seeing, but even that gave him ideas about what to look for when he experimented with Life magic again.
By the time the work finally slowed, evening had already fallen. Arien stayed beside Alia through another night, waking whenever she stirred and checking her fever each time.
In the morning, the more seriously wounded were loaded onto wagons bound for Ribenne, along with several of the volunteers. Arien and Alia went with them, as did Will and Kreft. Kreft expected any news about the captives to reach the city long before it made its way back to the village.
They traveled in silence, leaning against the sides of a peasant wagon built for crops rather than people. Every bump in the road seemed to jar through their bodies.
Somewhere on the road, Arien finally stopped holding everything back. The first thing he thought was stupid. He thought about Lazy and Fat standing in the burned yard, waiting for people who would never come back.
His father had never told him directly that he liked him. But he would set Arien on his shoulders and point out the stars, and sometimes simply sit beside him in silence, smoking his pipe. Arien had always understood what those small gestures meant. He had never told him so.
Wod’s jaw clicked whenever he chewed. It had annoyed Arien for five years. He would have given anything to sit at that table one more time and hear it again.
His thoughts shifted to his mother and Lisa.
They’re alive, he reminded himself. They were taken alive.
He sat there for a long time without trying to plan what came next.
Familiar fields and hills passed outside the wagon. Arien hated that they looked exactly the same as before.
Kreft joined them when they were close to Ribenne. His grim expression did not promise good news.
“We have new information. A messenger from the army arrived in the city. It turns out the attack was carried out on a much larger scale than we thought. Smaller and larger raids on villages have been reported along the border with the Tyranny of Kroton. Some were defended successfully, but there were too many. No one expected anything like this.”
“What about the prisoners? Will the army try to rescue them?” Will asked hopefully.
“No. The bands have already retreated across the border. They took livestock and tools with them as well. My guess is they intend to put the prisoners to work somewhere rather than kill them outright. Sending a regular army after them now would be an act of war. The King will have to decide what happens next.”
“But that’s dishonorable! Who knows what will happen to the prisoners by then!” the boy shouted.
“I know, Will, but there’s nothing we can do right now.”
“So what happens to me?”
“We need to contact your brother at the Academy. During your family’s absence, he is the head of the house. I see two options: either you stay here under someone’s care, or you go to the capital to your brother.”
“And you? Won’t you stay?” Will asked.
“Until we hear from your brother, I’m not going anywhere.”
Will looked up at him.
“After that…” Kreft rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m a soldier, lad. I can keep you safe, and if Malbek wants you in the capital, I’ll take you there myself. But raising you is something your brother will have to decide.”
“And Arien?”
Kreft glanced at him. “Arien has Sari here in Ribenne. What he does next is his choice.”
“Oh. Maybe I can convince my brother to let him come too? Arien, would you like that?” Will asked hopefully.
Arien looked at him. Will had already lost his father and home, and he still had no idea what had happened to the rest of his family. Now even the two of them might be separated. But Arien couldn’t go to the capital. Malbek had no reason to take in another orphan, and Arien still had his sisters to worry about. Until he knew they were safe, he wasn’t leaving.
“Sorry, Will. I need to stay with my sisters and find Mom and Lisa. But I’ll come to the capital someday.”
Will looked down, and for a moment Arien saw fear in his face before the boy forced it away.
“You’re right. You have to take care of your family,” he said after a long pause. “That is what honor demands.”
 

 
Sari was waiting for them in the city. Her eyes were swollen from crying, but she hugged each of them as soon as they climbed down from the wagon, even a surprised Will.
They settled in Sari’s room at the inn, which Lady Vylda allowed, saying they should all stay together in such times. That night, once the others were asleep, Arien opened his Status.
He had spent the entire day thinking about the four choices. Healer still tempted him after what had happened to Alia, and Elementalist fit almost everything he had learned about magic so far. Even Medium held answers he wanted.
But Mage left the most doors open.
Every path lies open before you, and only you decide what you will find at its end.
He still understood almost nothing about why he had been brought to Erador or what the System really was. And now his mother and Lisa were somewhere beyond the border. Finding them might require tracking magic, knowledge of the Tyranny, or connections he did not yet have.
Profession assigned: Mage.
Mana rushed through him hard enough to catch his breath. When it settled, sensing mana felt different, though he was too exhausted to understand exactly how.
His situation had not changed. His mother and Lisa were still missing. Terry and two of his brothers were dead, and the new life he had spent years building had burned down with the farm.
Alia stirred beside him but did not wake. Outside, rain tapped softly against the shutters.