Chapter 61: Leaving Oden

Day 1, fifth month of the Vermilion calendar, year 2016.

The wave had finally ended.

It had taken over ten days of nonstop battle. Even archmages had been forced to pull their weight to bring down the undead dragons and the eye in the sky, along with the countless undead on the ground. Adventurers, soldiers and warriors had fought side by side without rest to keep the people safe.

It was the biggest wave Oden had ever faced, and the deadliest. The town had suffered a massive loss in people, property and everything else. Half the streets were still being rebuilt, and the smell of smoke had not fully left the air.

It had become clear to everyone that what was happening could no longer be contained or overlooked.

In the days that followed, the emperor sent word to every noble leader of every town and city, calling them to a conference. It would be held in two months, and the goal was simple: to prepare a means of stopping the waves and to understand what was really happening. The lead mages from the magic towers had brought new information about the pillars, and it might finally be enough to stop them, or at least contain them.

On the other side of things, Leon was leaving Oden.

Thirty days after the wave, he had finally decided that it was time to move on and begin his own journey. Sophia was coming with him, as she had said she would. Kira was coming too. She had woken up a few days after the battle, scared and confused, but she had survived the whole ordeal and was fine now.

Mark was coming as well.

He had lost an arm, and no healing mage had been close enough in time to regrow it or reattach it. The arm was gone for good, and a metallic prosthetic had taken its place. It clicked softly whenever he moved it, and he still flexed the fingers sometimes as if he was checking that they were there.

He had not been the same since that day. The spark that used to be in his eyes had gone out. He was dull now, quiet, and slower to laugh, and everyone had noticed it. They had tried to cheer him up in every way they could, with jokes, with food, with long evenings sitting around a fire, but nothing had worked.

When Leon announced he was leaving, Mark had simply shrugged.

"Oden has nothing for me," he had said. "The least I can do with my life now is go see the world instead of rotting away here."

The group had agreed that it was the best choice, so he was coming.

As for Roger, he had buried their tank himself, with his own hands, and stood at the grave for a long time afterward without saying a word. Then he told them that he was staying. He would be linking up with the Church of Light and their bishops to find out what was happening with the pillars. He could not allow what had happened to continue. Even if it was only in his small way, he wanted to be part of stopping them.

So they parted ways.

On this very morning, they stood outside the walls of the town. The walls were more heavily guarded than ever, with soldiers pacing along the top and watching the horizon, as if the fear in the air had never left. The wind was cold, and the road ahead stretched out pale and empty.

A carriage was waiting, and all their things had been packed. Bags were strapped to the back, and a few bundles of food sat tucked under the seat. The horses stamped and snorted, their breath turning to mist.

Leon and Sophia climbed up front, since they were the ones who would control the horses. Leon took the reins, and Sophia settled beside him, adjusting her scythe so that it rested against her shoulder. Kira and Mark climbed in behind, and the door shut with a soft click.

Roger stood a few steps away, his arms crossed, his cloak moving in the wind.

"Take care of yourselves," he said.

"You too," Sophia replied.

"Don’t do anything stupid," Roger said, looking at Leon.

"I make no promises," Leon said.

Roger let out a short breath that was almost a laugh. Kira waved from the window, and Mark gave him a small nod. Then Leon flicked the reins, and the carriage rolled forward.

Their next destination was the forest where Leon’s mother had been born.

The wheels creaked over the stones, and the walls of Oden slowly grew smaller behind them. Leon did not look back. He kept his eyes on the road, and his hands steady on the reins, but his mind was in turmoil.

It had been a few years since the pillars officially began, and it was safe to say that his life had become a different level of shit. And after meeting Dio Larek, everything had only gotten worse.

’A walking body of calamity.’

The words kept coming back to him. The world itself wants to get rid of you. No matter how hard he tried to push them aside, they returned, quiet and heavy, like a stone dropped into a pond. He told himself that Dio Larek was a villain and a liar. But the voice in his head kept asking the same question.

’What if he was right?’

Behind him, through the thin wall of the carriage, he heard Kira trying to start a conversation. Mark gave short answers, and she gave up after a while. Then silence settled again, broken only by the clatter of the wheels.

Leon turned his head slightly and glanced through the small gap by the window. Mark was sitting with his eyes on the floor, his metal hand resting on his knee.

Every time Leon looked at him, the belief grew stronger. It was proof, standing right in front of him, of what had happened because of him. And if he was not careful, if he was not strong enough, the same thing would happen to everyone else. Sophia. Kira. All of them.

Everyone around him might die.

"You are thinking too loudly," Sophia said quietly, without looking at him.

"Sorry."

"Don’t be."

She did not say anything more. She only leaned her shoulder lightly against his, "you’ll be fine", just for a moment, and then straightened again.

Leon swallowed. He turned his eyes back to the road, and his grip on the reins tightened until his knuckles went pale.

He gritted his teeth.

’No.’

Calamity or not, fate or not, he would not let it end that way. No matter what it took, he would defy fate itself.

[End of Volume 1]