Vistus

Greenglade didn’t look like itself anymore.

Most of the quaint white cottages were in ruins. The marketplace’s banners were ripped, some still crackling with fire. The stalls were overturned, broken, the grass stained with paints, potions and blood. The café’s chairs and tables were in pieces, and the building itself was barely still standing. Smoke and decay tainted the air.

Laerya could not remember ever feeling so dejected as she looked around at what had once been a village bustling with life and colour. Her heart dropped a little more with every injured person she saw. Broken arms, broken legs, torn ears, blind eyes. Shards of ice and gouged out soil littered the ground, leftovers of magic used to protect the village.

In the middle of the debris lay the massive bones of a once mighty dragon. With no magic to animate them they looked bare, yet still powerful; it was not hard to believe these bones had been the cause of so much destruction.

No, Laerya thought. This wasn’t Vacerus’s fault.

The Greengladers that could move were currently helping the wounded, instructing the healers to treat them. No one made a move to clear the dragon bones.

Fericeus waited for his turn with Jinny. He was still coughing blood. She ended up with a fractured arm and was currently pressing against Akorri. Laerya closed her eyes, unable to look at the pain on her friends’ faces.

Eventually one of the healers approached them, a Water user named Yelena. She was a deer girl hailing from the northernmost part of Havran, near the mountains. Another innocent caught in the crossfire, Laerya mused bitterly.

 “Please heal him first,” Jinny said, gesturing to Fericeus with her good arm. “I can wait.”

Yelena nodded and approached Fericeus, who described his pain. “Possibly a rupture of some kind,” was his diagnosis. “I trust you can treat it?”

“Yes,” replied Yelena. “But it will take some time. I’ll get someone else to treat your friend.”

Laerya watched the deer girl work, placing her hand on Fericeus’s chest, soaking his fur with Water magic. The water smelled sweet, like lavender. It was a welcome change from the reek of decay hanging in the air.

Katarina joined them soon after as another healer was treating Jinny’s arm. Thankfully she was not severely injured. She placed her hands on Akorri and Laerya’s shoulders, her soft touch soothing the rabbit girl. “Are you okay?” she asked gently.

“Yes,” they chorused, but neither of them spoke with enthusiasm.

“Why did this happen?” she murmured. “Why did Lorelei want to destroy this village?”

“Revenge,” Fericeus rasped, “and to demonstrate her power. None of us expected her to be this strong, considering what she was once like. I was certainly caught off guard...”

Laerya’s ears drooped in dismay.

“I could have stopped this,” Fericeus went on. “If I had figured it out sooner, I could have...”

Akorri looked away, shutting his eyes tightly.

“But there’s no point thinking about that now.” Fericeus sighed. “What’s done is done.”

“It was a good thing you got here when you did,” Lae said.

Fericeus nodded. “You can thank the Peacekeepers for that.”

“How could anyone be strong enough to control Vacerus?” Katarina asked.

“Lorelei was using gems to amplify her magic. Which was why when we destroyed them, she lost control.” Fericeus glanced at Shady, who had flown down to meet them. He only had a few scratches, nothing serious. “But she had a lot of power to begin with. She would have been able to control a smaller dragon without the aid of the gems.”

Laerya sighed. So much potential gone to waste. Lorelei could have used her magic for greater things, but instead sought to destroy her own home. “Why did she have to turn into such a bad person...?”

“A bad person?”

“Well, yeah. She’s evil, there’s no doubt about it. Only evil people do this.”

Fericeus weakly raised his arm, gently patting Laerya’s hand. “There are no ‘evil people’, Laerya. Only people who do good or evil things.”

What’s the difference? Laerya thought, but she didn’t want to argue with Fericeus now, not when he was hurt. She wondered what he meant, but refused to press the topic. “Where do you think she’s gone now?” she asked instead.

“I don’t know. But once this is over, I’m going to track her. She won’t escape my sight again.”

Laerya wondered what Fericeus would do when he found Lorelei again. She didn’t want to think about it.

-

“Laerya? Can I talk to you?”

A few days had passed since the attack, and Greenglade was slowly coming out of its stasis. Rubble was gradually being cleared as people started to recover, but most of the residents simply spent their days lost in their minds, sitting outside ruined houses. The inn, still standing, was full of Greengladers who had lost their homes.

Laerya was sitting by the rock, her eyes unfocused, when Jinny approached her. The rabbit girl looked up, nodding slowly.

“Are you okay?” Jinny asked, sitting down beside her. Gone were her usual purple robes, in need of repair. Now she wore a short blue tunic and dark tights, granting her more mobility than her robe ever did. She did not feel the need to hide in it anymore.

“Fericeus is recovering pretty well,” Laerya said. “But it’s going to be a couple more days before he’s allowed to move around again.”

Jinny sighed. It had been like this ever since the attack. Laerya redirected any questions about her, talking about someone else instead. She would throw herself into helping out with the repairs, avoiding anyone who might wish to speak with her. With her help, the villagers had gotten quite a bit done, but Lae was doing too much. She would not sleep until early morning, working stubbornly through the night, deliberately pushing herself to exhaustion. Bags formed under her eyes and her hair, normally tied up in a ponytail, was loose and dirty.

“I didn’t ask about Fericeus,” Jinny said. Part of her wanted to shrink away from Laerya, but she was too worried about her friend to leave her alone. “Lae, have you been sleeping?”

“Yeah, a couple of hours every so often,” said Lae, “but helping to rebuild Greenglade’s more important. Don’t have time to sleep very long.”

Jinny turned away. “Lae... it’s fine. We’ll get the repairs done while you sleep. You and Akorri don’t have to push yourselves so much.” It wasn’t just Laerya who was deliberately overworking. Akorri was helping out however he could, and as far as Jinny knew, he did not sleep at all. Day and night, whenever she saw him he would be working. Sometimes he would offer her a few brisk words, but more often than not he refused to talk to her at all, too busy to chat.

Jinny helped out as well, of course, but even if she worked with her friends they wouldn’t talk much. It was just like it used to be, before they came. She was alone again. Nobody would talk to her. Her parents would offer her brief greetings whenever she saw them, so at least they weren’t ignoring her, and Shady was there to listen. But that wasn’t enough.

“Lae, I think you need to take a break for a while,” she said slowly. “If you keep this up, you could really hurt yourself.”

“You were so brave.” Laerya ignored her words again, but smiled at her. “When you volunteered to distract Vacerus. You even used your magic, despite being scared. You’re amazing, y’know?”

Jinny’s eyes widened and she felt her cheeks reddening. Where had that come from? “Th-thank you,” she muttered, looking away.

“Akorri, too. Putting himself out there, despite everything.” Laerya sighed deeply, the sigh of a world-weary elder instead of a young girl. “I’m so proud of you both.”

Jinny stared at the grass. Proud of me? she thought, both happiness and melancholy welling up in her chest. It was strange to hear those words and feel these things. She wasn’t sure what to think.

“And don’t worry, I heard you.” Laerya sighed again. “I know I need to sleep. I know I need to get Akorri to sleep too. This isn’t doing either of us any good, is it?”

Jinny rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the original topic. “No, it’s not,” she said.

“Thought so.” Lae yawned. “I just feel I have to help the Greengladers, you know? To make up for what happened. I’m sure Akorri feels the same way.”

Jinny nodded. She was glad Laerya was being sensible.

“Thanks for worrying about me,” Laerya said. “You’re a good friend, Jinny.” She stood up unsteadily, using the rock for support. “Come on, we need to go talk to Akorri.”

-

Akorri shovelled more rubble away, not even aware he was doing it. He worked autonomously now; originally it had been so he could let his mind wander, but after a while it had nowhere to go. It always came back to the same thing: his responsibility. He was the reason everyone was working to clear up this mess. He was the reason people had lost their homes, their possessions, their sense of security. The Greengladers had let him in, let Lorelei in, and they paid for it.

He thought he could hear someone calling his name. He opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them, to see Laerya and Jinny beside him. “Uh,” was all he said.

“Wow, that was the worst hello I’ve ever gotten,” Laerya muttered, “and that includes the time a Wolfbeast greeted me by crunching my leg.”

“Mm,” said Akorri.

“I bet if I nudged you you’d fall right over,” Lae said. “You look terrible. You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

“No,” he replied.

“Why?”

“There’s no time to sleep. I have to help fix this.”

He thought he saw Laerya and Jinny exchange glances. “You can help after you had a nap,” said Lae. “I’ll take one too, I also need it. Come on.”

Akorri shook his head. He could see what they were trying to do, and he appreciated it. “I don’t think I’d be able to sleep even if I tried,” he admitted. He lightly touched the dragon amulet around his neck, feeling his senses return to him. It had been easy enough to shut himself out, and was slow to return to full consciousness.

“Why not?” asked Jinny.

“My conscience wouldn’t let me.” Akorri heard a clang and realised he had dropped the shovel. “I feel terrible about this. Like it’s my fault.”

“I feel like that too,” said Laerya.

“You don’t need to. You stopped Lorelei. I helped her.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing,” Jinny said.

“And besides, I realised there’s no point dwelling on what could have happened. I know it’s not as easy as all that, but you have to let this go,” Laerya put in. “I need to do the same.”

Akorri  rubbed his sore eyes. “I don’t know if I can.”

“But will you try?”

Akorri looked at the piles of rubble, the signs of the destruction he helped cause. It would be a long process, trying to ease the heavy weight on his conscience. And while confronting Lorelei helped, it did not bring him the relief he’d hoped for from his previous burden. But this time he would not deal with it alone. He had friends who would help him. He had the support he needed.

“I’ll try.”

-

“I’ve been watching you three lately,” said Alex one day during the repairs. Laerya couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Days blurred together in their monotony, but they were making steady progress.

Alex’s broken arm, unable to be completely treated, hung in a sling, and one of his ears was torn. The eye patch that he needed the first few days was gone, but he had still not completely recovered. “You’re all going above and beyond for us. Laerya, Akorri, do you plan to stay until repairs are finished?”

Laerya thought that was a given. It was only fair she would stay to help out for the whole stretch. She nodded.

“It may take a long time. Most of us are still too ill to work, so things are going slowly. You could be here for months.”

“If that’s what it takes,” Lae said simply.

Alex sighed. “Look, I didn’t think I’d have to actually say it but, eh, may as well.” A hint of his old vigour had returned to him, but Lae caught him looking downcast very often. “I want you guys to go.”

Laerya blinked. “Wh-what?”

“It’s because I’m responsible, isn’t it?” Akorri said, shrugging in defeat. “Fair enough.”

“No! Oh goodness no, no, no!” Alex shook his head vigorously. “What I meant was, I think getting out of here will do you good. You’ve done enough. More than enough, in fact.”

“But we don’t need to leave...” Laerya murmured. “We can keep working.”

“This environment isn’t doing you any good. I’ve seen you guys. I mean, sure you’re sleeping and eating somewhat now, but you’re still not doing enough to help yourselves.” Alex frowned at them. “You can go. We’ll take it from here.”

Before Laerya could open her mouth to protest, Fericeus spoke. She hadn’t even heard him approach. “Alex is right. Laerya, enough is enough. We need to go.”

“What, you too?” she muttered bitterly. She hated being told what to do at the best of times, but this was just painful. She felt like a child being shooed away, as if she was an inconvenience.

“Now that I’m well enough to walk, I have to go back to work,” Fericeus said. “The Peacekeepers sent a ship for me. Kiyake’s probably swamped with work she can’t do. It’s time for me to return to my responsibilities.”

Laerya sighed. “Fine. But why do we have to go?”

“Because you’re hurting yourselves by being here. You can trust the Greengladers, they’ll get back on their feet. They’re strong people.”

“But...” Laerya looked at Jinny. Leaving Greenglade meant leaving her. “But Jinny’s here. We have to stay to help her.”

“Actually...” The Feln cleared her throat. “My parents told me to leave, too.”

“They what?” Laerya barely stopped herself from yelling. “They’re kicking you out?”

“No, no. After I told them about you, they said it would be a good idea for me to try travelling, too.” Jinny looked away. “I’m not sure how much of it is out of concern for me and how much of it is because they don’t want me around, but... I think I’d like to listen to them.”

“So you want to go travelling with us?” Lae asked. For the first time in what felt like months, she felt a hint of excitement bubbling up inside her.

“If y-you’ll have me,” said Jinny, rubbing her arm.

“Of course we’ll have you!” Laerya grinned, and her excitement spilled over. Unable to help herself, she jumped on Jinny and hugged her tightly, snickering at the Feln’s surprised squeak. “Just think! The three of us, travelling together!”

“What, I’m included in this?” Akorri said.

“Four of us,” Jinny amended quickly. “Shady’s coming as well.”

“Oh, wow!” Laerya hopped about, clapping her hands together. “This is going to be great.” She looked at her friends, smiling widely, and realised Fericeus and Alex were right. This was what they needed, to get away from this environment that allowed their guilt to fester and their health to decline. By the look of things Alex would force them out anyway if they did not comply. There was no choice. But at least they would be going together, and perhaps when they recovered they could come back to help again.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun together!”

-

“Please don’t make me ride him again.”

“Aw, come on, Akorri. Don’t you wanna fly by dragon?”

“I’d rather not fly at all, thanks.”

“So you wanna go back on a ship?”

“No.”

“Then you have no choice. Up you go, boy, chop chop. We’ve got places to be.”

They stood by the rock once more, Jinny and Laerya already sitting on Shady. Akorri hung back, his face pale, but he knew he had to join them. Katarina, Alex and Fericeus had come to see them off. It was a pleasant day, perfect for flying. And oh, they would fly.

“You have the supply bags, yes?” Katarina asked. “Plenty of food and water? Money? Make sure to land whenever you feel yourself tiring, Shady. None of you should overdo it.”

“Yes,” Lae said, mum, she thought. “We’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’m an experienced traveller, I’ll whip these guys into shape! No slacking will be tolerated!”

“Yes, sir,” Akorri snorted, finally climbing aboard Shady.

“I’ll do my best,” said Jinny seriously.

Laerya blinked. “Wait! No, I was joking!”

“Laerya the drill sergeant. That would be an interesting look for you.” Katarina smirked.

“No, I don’t want to be a drill sergeant. Those guys shout too much.”

“And you don’t?” Akorri quipped.

“Shut up.”

“We should get going,” Jinny put in as Shady impatiently flicked his tail. “Um... where are we going, anyway?”

“Uh, I dunno.” Laerya scratched her head. “Maybe somewhere up north, like the mountains. Or maybe we can go to Nemon! Yeah, that’d be great for you, Jinny! To see the techy region!”

“Techy region, hm...” Jinny smiled. “I suppose.”

“So are we finally ready to go?” Akorri asked.

Laerya glanced at Jinny, and nodded. “Yeah.” She turned to Alex, Katarina and Fericeus. It was a shame to part ways with them, particularly when she could still help them rebuild the village, but she listened to their wishes. Besides, she would see them all again. “Goodbye, guys.”

“Goodbye, young ones,” Katarina said with her gentle smile. “Take care.”

“See ya,” said Alex, saluting with his good arm.

“Bye for now.” Fericeus nodded. “Be sure to stop by my house soon so Kiyake can see you. I’m sure she would love to meet Shady too.”

With that, Shady unfurled his wings, stretched, and then took off into the air. Laerya turned to see her friends waving, and she waved back, watching them until she flew higher and higher until eventually they disappeared from view. Clouds surrounded her and the cool air chilled her fur, and she grinned with exhilaration.

She knew this would not be the last time she would see Lorelei. She also knew that, no matter how much she tried, she would never be able to use magic. Yet she could not feel disappointment, not up here where the clouds lived and the sun shone and the birds flew. She was an adventurer, and she was with her friends. They could do anything and go anywhere they wanted now.

That was the beauty of an adventurous life. With so many roads to take, opportunities were always open, even with the threat of a necromancer hanging in the air. It was this knowledge that allowed Laerya to throw her hands up and cheer, immediately being told to shut up by Akorri.

“You’re too reckless,” he chided her.

“You’re too boring,” she challenged. “Besides if I fall off, Jinny can always fly back down and catch me, right?”

“Uh...” Jinny trailed off.

Akorri shrugged. “If she can’t, it’s no real loss.”

Laerya stared at him. “Wow.”

And so the adventurers flew on the back of the huge black dragon, the sky alive with their chatter.