Chapter Text
“Hello?! Can anybody hear me?!”
Phenn panted hard as he ran through the smoke and flames of the collapsing Wishvale. Bodies charred and slashed littered the debris, with the aggressors leaving to pursue fleeing quarry. Phenn was only hoping to find survivors. Hasty steps followed by violent coughs stalked the hunter.
“Laurana, please! You have to leave!” Phenn urged, glancing over his shoulder to the orange-haired cleric. She clutched her staff tightly with one hand, while covering her mouth with the other. Sweat beaded down her face as her eyes scrunched with exhaustion. “I can handle myself! Just GO!”
“No, Phenn! I can’t leave you!” Laurana mustered as loud as she could through the chaos. She covered her mouth again, letting loose harsh coughs into her fist. “I’ll be fine! Look for survivors–I’ll be with you!”
“Damn!” Phenn gritted his teeth, not wanting to argue a second longer. “Alright, but if you’re in danger, run the hell out of here! I don’t want to lose you either!”
The hunter and cleric crossed the stone bridge overlooking the river, forging into Wishvale’s main square. Buildings lovingly constructed by Lavore collapsed into debris as the flames consumed them. Phenn tried to not breathe in too hard, but the smoke was starting to get to him. The air smelled of burnt flesh. Phenn had trouble recognizing living bodies among the corpses, until he saw a man desperately crawling from his burning house.
“There! Come on, come on! Let’s go!” Phenn cried, running at full speed with Laurana on his heels. Without hesitation, Phenn hauled the man to his feet, supporting him over his shoulder. When he did, the man groaned with dazed pain.
“Ughh… B-broken legs… broken legs…!” The man mumbled incoherently. Phenn shifted the man’s weight on his back, trying to hold him the best he could.
“Laurana! Help!” Phenn called and the cleric rushed over, holding her staff up. Rapidly blinking the soot out of her eyes, Laurana muttered a swift prayer and a burst of light shot from her oaken staff, swirling around the man’s broken legs. Instantly, Phenn felt the man’s weight stabilize as his legs stood more firmly.
“Alright, there’s another Watch member protecting refugees nearby. Let’s hurry, come on!” Phenn pulled the wounded man as fast he could, adrenaline burning through his body. Laurana followed with hurried steps, her staff hovering nearby. The duo reached the stone bridge when loud footsteps rushed nearby. Phenn saw the blood-red insignias of the Scarlet Wings exit a burning building.
“Lookie here, some stragglers! Don’t let a single one escape, men!” The leader of a Scarlet Wing trio declared, pointing his blade at Phenn and Laurana. The hunter cursed, frantically looking for an escape route as two Scarlet Wing soldiers charged at them.
“Go, Phenn! I’ll handle them!” Laurana urged, her voice etched with steely conviction. She held her staff tightly with both hands in front of her. The Scarlet Wings roared their battle cries as they approached the duo.
“Laurana, no! You can’t take them yourself! Just-”
“No time, Phenn! Please, FLEE!” Laurana begged, her voice on the verge of tears. Phenn cursed loudly, hearing the man on his shoulder groan. Phenn dragged his charge with all his might over the bridge as Laurana faced the approaching soldiers. She quivered in her boots, her heart still bleeding raw from her grandmother’s death. There was an unceasing pounding in her head, whispering to her in hostile tones.
“You are responsible for this. This is your doing.” The voice hissed. Fresh tears poured from Laurana’s eyes as the Scarlet Wing soldiers readied their blades. Their steel, freshly coated in Wishvale blood, was about to meet Laurana’s too. The cleric’s grip on her staff tightened even more, her knuckles going white.
“This is my fault. I deserve to die here with everyone else.” Laurana whispered to herself, dim light gathering at the end of her staff. “But if I can ensure someone escapes alive, then…”
“Stop her!” A Scarlet Wing roared and the soldiers’ swords swung with wild ferocity. Laurana’s light burst from her staff, blinding the soldiers and sending them reeling. Laurana pointed at one soldier, chanting her prayers through exhaustion and a fractured heart.
“Oh, Sacred Flame! Punish the unworthy sinner!” Laurana cried and a bolt of light shot down from the sky, blasting the Scarlet Wing soldier away in a heap. Laurana gasped as the light grazed her, burning her with scorching radiance. The cleric took heavy, tired breaths, but she couldn’t stop now. The second soldier was recovering.
“Miserable wretch! Die!” The second soldier snarled, dashing at Laurana with his shield up. The cleric prepared another light spell, but the soldier reached her first, bashing his kite shield over Laurana’s chin. The cleric saw stars and black spots dance as she tumbled to the ground, her staff nearly slipping away. Laurana heard the soldier’s steps approaching.
“Get up, get up!” Laurana’s thoughts screamed to herself before the darker, hostile voice interrupted it. “Die. Lay down and accept your fate. You brought this upon yourself, upon Wishvale!”
“Unngh… Aaghh…” With wobbly legs, Laurana pushed herself up, coughing a glob of blood and bile onto the ground. The soldier’s sword swung in a wide arc and Laurana barely raised her staff in time to block. The oaken stick intercepted the steel blade and split in two, half of it rolling onto the dirt. The soldier swung down in a follow up swing.
“Aah!” Laurana yelped, throwing her broken staff into the soldier’s face. The oaken staff head bounced on the soldier’s helmet, stunning him long enough for Laurana to gather light in her hands. “YAH!”
Laurana pushed the gathered light into the soldier’s chest, blasting him away onto the ground. Immediately, the cleric felt scorching pain erupt from her palms. She fell to her knees in silent agony, staring in horror at the blistered flesh gazing at her from her burnt gloves.
“Murderer. Traitor. Selfish witch.” The voice whispered more intently. “An unworthy sinner perverting the light will be reduced to ash.”
“Aagh… Nngh…” Laurana shuffled on her knees, her hands too mangled to get off the ground. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she had to move. Phenn was somewhere–surely he’d come back for her.
“Oh yes. What will he think when he learns of your crime?” The voice cackled in Laurana’s head. “Your little childhood sweetheart, learning YOU destroyed Wishvale.”
“Phenn…” Laurana mumbled, crawling towards the stone bridge. Her knees buckled and she collapsed, feeling scraping pain slice her burnt palms. The agony almost made Laurana blackout. She wanted something–anything–to stop the pain.
“Still standing, wretch? I’ll put you out of your misery!” A rough voice called behind her. Laurana risked a glance over her shoulder–the third Scarlet Wing. He approached her with his sword drawn, ready to end her life.
“Please…” Laurana whispered, inaudible to only herself. The soldier raised his sword over the crippled cleric, poised towards her delicate neck. In the hazy smoke of the burning Wishvale, Laurana saw her grandmother’s face staring at her with abject disapproval.
“I’m sorry, Grandmother. It’s all my…” Laurana blinked back tears, her lips struggling to even say the words. She heard the air sunder with the soldier’s blade and then…
“Get AWAY from her!”
Laurana heard Phenn roar with rapturous rage as an arrow flew over the cleric’s head, striking the soldier dead in the face. The soldier let out a scream of horror before Phenn swept over Laurana’s body in an instant, tackling the Scarlet Wing soldier away. Laurana rose a little higher to watch Phenn draw his hatchet from his belt, slamming it with brutal fury onto the soldier’s chestplate.
“Disgusting Scarlet Wing! You DARE to take away my home?!” Phenn yelled, slamming his hatchet with reckless rage as the soldier’s armor caved in. “I swear, I’ll burn all of you to the ground! Every last one!”
Phenn’s hatchet crashed into the soldier’s chest again. And again. And again. So fast that the rough steel was a blur of violent, reckless swings.
“When I find the monster responsible for this…!” Another axe swing. The armor cracked and splintered. Raw, bloody flesh shone beneath. Phenn did not stop, his eyes clouded by fury. “I will have their head! Do you hear me?!”
Laurana only watched in stunted horror. She never saw Phenn this angry before.
“That’ll be you on the ground.” The voice laughed darkly. “When he finds out you destroyed his home, his friends… Oh, the fury he’ll visit upon you. You’ll wish you were dead.”
“Phenn…” Laurana mumbled. Slowly, the hunter’s rampage quelled and he quietly rose to his feet, his axehead chipped and splintered. He turned away from the mangled corpse and approached Laurana, his expression downcast with guilt.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Phenn muttered, awkwardly putting his hatchet back onto his belt. Laurana gazed up at Phenn with tired, worried eyes.
“Phenn, I…” Laurana began, but the hunter noticed Laurana’s hands first. He scooped the cleric up without a word, supporting her over his shoulder. “Aah…”
“Are you fine? Can you stand?” Phenn asked and Laurana nodded silently. “Okay, let’s get you to safety. You’ve done enough. We have to go.”
Slowly but surely, Phenn carried Laurana out of the burning Wishvale. The cleric slumped into Phenn’s shoulder, too exhausted to even remain conscious. Still, the voice persisted, overriding Laurana’s thoughts and dreams.
“Miserable wretch. You escaped this time.” The voice taunted. “But where will you go? How long can you run away from your sins? How long until you face your deserved judgement?”
The voice tormented Laurana’s thoughts long after Phenn got her to safety–a hastily built shelter in the Wishvale Trail. There were a small handful of survivors, but they all scattered, fearful of Scarlet Wing pursuers. The duo were separated from Zero and Stia, who fled with Nomos.
There was nothing else but to pray and wait.
…
“Ugh… Nngh…” Phenn woke up to the sound of raindrops pattering against the ground. He and Laurana hid out in a large tree hollow for a day to escape the Scarlet Wings pursuers. Once Phenn’s adrenaline wore off, he collapsed in a heap, exhaustion and muscle ache enveloping his body. He and Laurana slept next to each other, passing a night alight by orange skies.
Now Phenn was alone, his residual wounds mysteriously healed. The hunter stood up in the damp tree hollow, his clothes in tatters.
“Laurana? Laurana, where are you?” Phenn called through the thundering rainstorm. The harsh rain cut through the thick canopy with ease, striking the ground in cold sheets. At least the fires at Wishvale were being extinguished, though that hardly mattered now.
“Hahh…” Phenn sat back down, watching the rainfall pummel the Wishvale Trail. There was no point in leaving now–he’d get drenched. Phenn listened, but all he could hear was rainfall amidst the silence. No drunken drawl of Tyme. No sensible tone of Jasper. No gruff, but supportive words from Fried. No cheering encouragement from Stia, or the silent affirmation from Zero.
“Hm? What’s that…?” Phenn spotted an arrow embedded on the tree bark nearby–one of his arrows. Pierced on the shaft was a handwritten note. Phenn pulled the arrow out of the damp bark, the note falling to the ground. Phenn recognized the handwriting anywhere.
“I will never return to that town.”
Phenn closed his eyes, trying not to cry. Among the voices he missed, the most important one was lost. The sweet, gentle tone of Laurana.
Phenn was alone, utterly alone. Wishvale was gone, and so were his friends.
…
Laurana hiked silently through the chilly Frostlands in a complete daze. She had no idea where she was going, but it had to be anywhere but Wishvale. Everytime the cleric closed her eyes, she heard the agonized screams of the townsfolk, smelled the putrid smoke and saw the all-consuming blaze around her. Replaying over and over was the man in red cutting down Laurana’s grandmother in a single stroke.
At that moment, everything in Laurana’s world collapsed around her. She remembered cradling her grandmother’s broken body like it was yesterday, desperately crying for her to wake up. She remembered Fried ordering everyone to escape, with Phenn grabbing Laurana’s hand to haul her away. The feeling of her grandmother’s warm body against her hands still felt fresh and raw.
“What did you think would happen, selfish, little girl?” The voice asked. Laurana recognized it after she left Phenn behind in the dead of night. It was Laurana’s benefactor, the one buying the expensive medicine. “I always collect in due time. I warned you.”
Laurana gripped a nearby snow-covered banister. She was pretty sure she was close to Flamesgrace. The benefactor introduced herself as Herminia, the leader of Valore. When Laurana met her, she sensed an aura of malice and evil that set her senses on fire.
The cleric should’ve heeded her intuition. But a show of the Witch’s wealth swayed her like all the others.
“Curse the gods for your misfortune.” Herminia’s voice encouraged. “They have abandoned you and Wishvale. Power, wealth and fame are the only forces of control in the world.”
Laurana’s steps slowed. She was getting tired. Her wounds from Wishvale’s attack weren’t fully healed. Her jaw still ached from the soldier. Her hands still pulsed with sharp pains. She expended her remaining energy on healing Phenn–without a staff, it was much more taxing on her body.
“Lie down and die, girl. No matter where you run, your sins will always catch you.” Herminia echoed in the shadowy recesses. “Whether it is here, cold, broken and alone in the snow, or at your sweetheart’s vengeful hands… It matters not.”
Laurana fell to her knees, her strength failing. The snow stung her exposed skin with a biting chill that latched ceaselessly. She wanted to cry, but she didn’t even know if she had it in her anymore. She was tired of pain, of despair. Tired of the vivid scenes of Wishvale’s destruction, the witch’s voice and the heavy guilt gripping her heart. She just wanted to give up and accept her failure.
“Grandma… Phenn…” Laurana mumbled, darkness clouding her vision. She collapsed head first into the ground, her face hitting frigid cold snow. Laurana found it appropriate, being buried and forgotten so far from home after causing its destruction. When Laurana finally closed her eyes, surrendering herself to despair once and for all, three more disapproving faces joined Priestess Yaya.
Stia, Zero and Phenn.
…
“Lianna, look over there! Do you see that?” A voice echoed from the darkness. So far away, Laurana could barely make it out.
“My gods! It’s a woman! She looks terribly injured.” Another voice replied, getting closer. “Help me carry her, Ophilia. We need to get her treated immediately.”
“Of course, Lianna. Allow me.” The first voice affirmed. “May the Sacred Flame deliver this soul to safety…”
And that was the last thing Laurana heard before she blacked out.