Deus Necros

Three days passed.

Redd, still pale but no longer swaying with fever, finally stepped down from the carriage. His footing was shaky at first, like a man waking from a long, fevered dream, but with each hour he seemed to remember how his limbs moved. The feral light behind his eyes hadn’t dulled, it had merely gone quiet.

Along their route, bands of monsters emerged now and again. Packs of goblins, mewling in their high-pitched chatter before being cleaved apart in seconds. Kobolds scrambled out of the underbrush, only to vanish in clouds of crimson mist as Gorak or Robin laid into them. A pair of hungry lizardmen tried their luck along the bend of a dried riverbed, Ludwig downed them both before the second had time to shriek.

The battles were short. Too short. And that, more than anything, made them weary.

And never did Titania even move a muscle. She only watched, but her eyes were focused heavily on Ludwig.

“What?” he asked as he noticed her piercing gaze.

“You… why can’t you use aura yet?” she asked.

Ludwig frowned, “That’s an interesting question, why would you think I should?”

“Your experience, is something that shouldn’t be found in someone your age. You’re far more…confident, and less scared of death than anyone your age is aught to be. You shouldn’t have anything limiting you from reaching aura…”

“Heart,” Ludwig said as he flicked his weapon, “Haven’t found my heart yet.”

“Ah…seems like your heart is something quite interesting, anyone else should have had it by now with all that… brutality and cunningness of yours. Another child your age would have probably linked his ’Heart’ to bravery, or protection or even pure brutality. And have formed their aura, yet you’re still searching. Quite interesting.”

“Many would think it a detriment,” Ludwig said.

“Why so?”

“A couple people have already reached their Aura at my age. While I have like you said, all this experience, but no aura…”

She smiled, “When was the first time you held a sword?” she asked.

Ludwig hesitated in answering.

“I can take a wild guess,” she smiled at him.

“Be my guest, but I doubt you’ll get it right.” Ludwig shrugged.

She laughed, “Let’s see… Six…” she said.

“Six? Six what?”

“Six months… at the most, if not about four… but definably not less than four months. Otherwise you’d be a monster.”

“HAH!” Timur laughed, “Sorry lady Titania, but if you think any human would be at Davon’s level in six months, hell six years, then you need to get those eyes fixed. This kid probably was born with a sword in hand.”

Ludwig’s expression however was deathly. He looked completely shocked.

“That’s not what his face is saying,” Misty said in a smile.

“How… how did you even guess that?” Ludwig asked.

“Experience my lad,” she said.

“No, for real, how?”

“Wait, are you serious?” Timur jumped in, “You really held the sword only six months ago?”

“A bit less than that, but how did she come to that conclusion?” Ludwig asked.

“How you move,” she said. “And how you hold a sword. It’s like you just started learning the basics, but your body is far behind your mind. It’s in the swings, and steps you take, there is a lack of optimality in them that anyone worth their salt can notice.”

Ludwig couldn’t reply to that statement.

“That’s why I wondered why you don’t have aura, sure you don’t have the full experience of veteran warriors, but your heart should be strong enough to have Aura. Unless…”

“Unless?”

“Emotional Detachment,” she said.

“Hit the nail on the head,” Thomas said as he popped next to Ludwig.

“And what does that have to do with Aura?” Ludwig asked.

“I feel like you already know the answer to this. But your emotions are… muted, your reaction to what should kill you is simple disdain, and your fear of death is too weak if not inexistent almost. You are living life too relaxed for your heart to stir…”

’I guess I need more action in my life basically.’

“More than what you already went through? that’s asking to meet the guardian of hell man…’ Thomas replied.

“True…”

They continued their trek through Lamar for days to come.

Their party had grown imbalanced, too strong, too experienced. What should have been threats were now chores. The kind of fights that gave no satisfaction. Only a slow erosion of caution.

“Unfortunate,” Titania said more than once after another mob fell without drama. Each time, she shook her head as if regretting wasted potential.

Robin, ever the whisper behind the group, finally voiced what they all thought. “Shouldn’t it be fortunate?”

Titania only smiled. That same smile, unreadable, half-sincere and half-something-else.

By the time they reached the borders of Astra, the last kingdom before Tulmud, the terrain had changed. The soil grew darker, richer with volcanic ash from long-forgotten eruptions. The air carried a salt-sweet tang from some distant inland sea. And on the horizon, spires of Astra’s border fortifications cut through the haze like the bones of a sleeping god.

It was there, just before the great carved stones that marked imperial territory, that Titania stopped.

“This is the city where I leave you,” she said without turning, her cloak catching the wind as it rose behind her.

Timur furrowed his brow. “Why here? There’s still nearly a couple week’s walk before Tulmud.”

“There’s no need for that,” Titania replied. She gestured toward the stone obelisks ahead, where a gate shimmered faintly between carved runes. “We can take the teleportation gate at Astra’s border city. There’s one that will drop you right into the heart of Tulmud.”

Timur scratched the back of his head. “Right. Except, uh, we can’t really afford something like that.”

Titania gave him a flat look.

“Who said anything about paying?” she said as she handed them a golden insignia of the Order.

Her gaze swept across the group with a strange softness that didn’t suit her sharp edges. “I’m Titania, remember? The Holy Order will cover it. Call it payment for your hospitality.”

“Hospitality?” Robin murmured with dry amusement.

Titania gave a shrug. “It was quite… regrettable that we didn’t meet anything stronger than a few goblins. I had hoped for more.”

“Most people would call that a blessing,” Robin said under his breath.

She didn’t answer. Just smiled again.

Then, more gently than expected, she turned toward Ludwig.

“I’ll be checking in on the tournament participants soon, the ones trying to join the Hero’s Companions. If you find yourself in Tulmud’s capital… perhaps we’ll share a drink or two.”

Ludwig nodded. “Sure. Why not.”

But in his eyes, there was something else. Not caution. Not fear. Just recognition. A flicker of mutual understanding between warriors, one battle-tested, the other still sharpening his edge.

Titania gave a final glance at the party. Her eyes lingered briefly on Celine, who returned her look without blinking, then on Melisande, whose expression remained wary but no longer tense.

She said nothing more.

Then she turned, and without flourish, disappeared into the light mist rolling in from Astra’s hills. Her figure blended into the grey, her steps quiet as if the world itself refused to mark her departure.

And just as Ludwig realized that she left without Misty, he turned to find the woman with the giant suitcase also gone.

The group stood in silence for a while, watching the empty road where she had vanished.

Then, with a low sigh, Gorak broke the stillness.

“Well. That was… something.” He said as he flicked the insignia like a coin. “But this makes our trip take half the time, let’s hurry up to Tulmud.”

“Aye aye captain.”