There was something wafting through the canopy of the forest like a spirit. Something grey, only perceptible because of the sun's rays filtering through the leaves. "I guess our pile is still burning." I suggested. We all looked behind us to see the stone ruin we'd entered in the distance. But the pile was now only ashes.

  "No..." Trindus answered hesitantly, as he gauged the sun's position. "This is coming from the west."

  "You don't mean-"

  "Come on, we won't find out by standing here." Trindus interrupted me before breaking into a run towards the smoke. Liselle and I followed, barely keeping up until we made it to the forest's edge.

  I could see Trindus tensing as we approached, and Liselle dropped to her knees when she saw our town. There were fires. In fact, most of the town had been caught in an inferno, as black smoke billowed high into the air towards us. Surrounding the town was what could only be described as a shambling legion of undead. In the fields I could see limp bodies, undead or otherwise. I stood there frozen. "My father is more than capable of deterring even an army of this size" I thought. Which meant that he'd either died or left the town to die.

  Trindus stepped forward upon shaky legs, with his axe in raised in a one handed stance "I... I have to protect this place."

  "Don't be a fool." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. Though it was more of a gesture than anything else. I was not capable of actually holding him back if he tried. "Face it, we can't save our home. It's already lost."

  "So what? You want us to run with our tails between our legs?" He retorted.

  "Actually yes. If we leave, we can warn the next town over about this " I said.

  Liselle stood herself like a shaky fence post, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "He's right. Merton is only a day away on foot. We need to warn them before it's too late!" She said with a suddenly found determination, her light hazel eyes glistening like stars.

  Trindus looked at the burning town, then back at us. He started running westwards, in a direction that would avoid the town. "Come on!" He turned to beckon us. "You say it's a day away? I say it's half a day!" We ran after him, but not before I cursed quietly at myself for wearing robes, and for not going outside more often.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ...

  It was the dead of night, as Trindus and Liselle slept beneath a tree, illuminated by the warm glow of our campfire. Trindus rested his back on the tree as he hugged his knee, and Liselle was sprawled out on the ground, hugging the grass for the meager comfort it could provide. I looked out across the vast grassland. About 30 feet away from us the grassland turned into a sandy beach, and on the western horizon there was the faintest amount of light, probably from our destination, the city of Merton. We had made excellent time, at the cost of my lungs and legs burning like hell. Though It was highly unlikely that the gates would be open at this hour, so we tried to get what little rest we could. Liselle and I helped Trindus prepare a meager meal of berries and pheasant. Liselle made a campfire, while I shot a flash of crackling, freezing air from my hands at unsuspecting birds. It hadn't killed them, but experiencing such freezing temperatures in their brains had rendered them unconscious for a few seconds, enough for Trindus to... well I'll just say it wasn't pretty.

  It took every inch of my willpower to stay on alert for signs that the undead army was coming this way. I could barely see anything outside the glow our campfire provided, but so many undead in one place would give off a decent amount of magical energy. To most people, magical energy is imperceptible, but for a mage, learning to detect it is one of the most basic of lessons.

  "Is this what the world is like? I hadn't known it to be so full of... death." Mused Eeuna. She sounded just a curious as she was when I met her, as if she was unfazed from all that had happened. I wondered if there was anything that could get under her skin. Not something superficial, like calling her a part of my imagination, but something that could make her truly angry.

  "From what I read, things like this happen all the time across the world. I just never would have thought it could happen here." I said dryly.

  "You don't sound like someone who just watched your home burn." Eeuna stated.

  "It isn't my home I care about. If father and Soleil are still alive, then I don't think I have anything to fret over."

  "You think they're alive after seeing that? Do you have that much faith in them?" She asked.

  "Not faith, It's logic. I don't believe a mage of my father's caliber couldn't have known about the encroaching undead. Even if he couldn't, he's more than capable of defending himself." I said. Then I felt a smile creep around my lips as I continued. "Oh, and as for the house maid surviving, there's no way my father would want to do his own chores. That I do believe."