“I detect four Necrecent approximately two miles away.” Golem said in Jesse’s mind.

  “Two miles? That’s farther than you could scan before.” Jesse responded.

  “My capabilities have increased as you have gained essence.” Golem stated.

  “Why didn’t you mention this before?” Jesse asked.

  “I was not aware.” Golem said. “My increased capabilities do not come with an intuitive understanding of them.”

  “Well keep experimenting and let me know if you notice anything else new.” Jesse said.

  “You get a funny look and stare off into space a lot.” Nira said to him. She had carried the pack, as well as her own, since they left the town. She never seemed to get tired. It was distinctly unfair. Tormund and Jesse had taken off their armor at some point during the two days since they left. It was hot and heavy and didn’t do well for travel on those unused to wearing it.

  Much like Nira, Myra didn’t seem particularly bothered with her large burden. He knew she wasn’t any sort of essence user, so Jesse just attributed it to years of working the forge.

  Jesse still wore his club and on his back with his new shield. His hook hand was still firmly in place. More times than he would like to admit, he had accidentally stabbed himself forgetting that his hand was now gone and replaced with a rather sharp implement. He hoped to soon rectify that.

  “He’s just talking to the voice in his head.” Tormund said with a smile.

  “Poor Rebecca. It’s always hard when parents start to lose themselves.” Nira said grinning at Tormund.

  “It’s really unfair you ganging up on me like that.” Jesse complained. “It was bad enough when it was just Tormund. By the way, there are four Necrecent two miles away. They appear to be tracking us.”

  “What? How do you know that?” Nira asked.

  “The voice in my head told me.” Jesse said with a smirk.

  “Well shit. We need to be moving faster.” Tormund said.

  Jesse pet Aegis as they walked. “Yeah let’s pick up the pace.”

  The five started at a light jog. They hoped to put as much distance between them and the monsters as they could.

  “So Nira, do you know what happened to Rebecca? Like when she arrived?” Jesse asked.

  “She told me about it. When she arrived she was alone.” She started off seriously. “That girl is tough though! She fought off some coyotes basically first thing and awakened her verescent powers. She snuck past the guards and made it to a town. She hid until the resistance heard of someone who didn’t speak our language. They found her and kept her secret until she could learn to blend in. She became a spy for us, never officially joining, but doing jobs for us nonetheless. She eventually realized there was some sort of delay in her teleportation here.”

  “I should have been here.” Jesse said scowling.

  “Teleportation? Time delays? This all sounds insane.” Myra started. “If it’s true though, you didn’t really have much of a choice did you? You are here now.”

  “She didn’t blame you. In fact all she wanted to do was find you and protect you when you got here. Guess the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Though both of your refusal to kill is going to come back to bite you.” Nira added.

  “Yeah it could have fallen a little farther, but not in that regard.” He said with a sigh.

  “She worried about you. She also worried about her mom. She said she didn’t know what happened to her or if…” Nira said.

  “She’s alive. She will arrive in a few months according to our estimates.” Jesse said.

  “Five months and four days.” Golem said in Jesse’s mind. “I’m still refining the model. It is my intent that with time I can refine the hour of arrival and the location based on the data we collected of the quarantine zone.”

  Jesse grunted.

  “Got that far off look again. Those voices must be loud.” Nira said with a grin. “Hey Tormund, do you know any healing magic for the man’s head?”

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  “Uh, no I can only do elemental magic.” He stammered out. “Like, uh fire and stuff.”

  “Oh that’s hot.” Nira said with a laugh and a wink. Tormund’s freckled face lit up to resemble the aforementioned element.

  The group continued walking, making small and light conversation. Jesse thought about how upbeat Nira was and how much like Rebecca she was. It’s no wonder the two had become friends. It seemed she and Tormund got along quite well too. Perhaps something would come of that for the young wizard.

  Watching their interactions made Jesse feel old though. He and Kara used to be like that, but after nearly 30 years together their conversations were effortless. He missed her. She always kept him grounded when he worried. Their long marriage had given him the support he needed to be successful. To be a good father. She made him want to be better. He would find her when all of this was over. He would make sure she was safe.

  Jesse paused for a moment, something in the sky catching his eye. Was that smoke? “Hey what’s that in the distance?”

  “Looks like smoke.” Myra said with a frown.

  Golem, can you tell what’s happening? Jesse asked mentally.

  “There are two dozen individuals in that direction. Some appear to be fighting. I can’t provide more details about them however. There are several wooden structures, most are burning.” Golem responded.

  “There’s fighting up ahead. We need to hurry.” Jesse said, breaking into a run.

  “I’ll run ahead and see if I can help!” Nira said, preparing to take off.

  “No wait!” Jesse yelled before she could run. “We should stay together. For all we know it’s two groups hostile towards us fighting one another. We can’t risk losing any of us.”

  Nira scowled. “Fine.”

  The five ran up the road, Nira clearly holding back despite the weight of the bags she carried. Myra struggled to move quickly with her burden, despite her near effortless bearing of it. The large load causing a shift in her balance that made running difficult.

  They neared the source of the smoke and found the battle was already over. Whoever had attacked was gone. All that remained were corpses and burnt out buildings.

  “No…” Nira whispered. Jesse felt his stomach sink. His heart thudded in his chest, the only sound beside the crackling of the fire. In the road lay dead farmers and their families.

  “Who did this?” Jesse asked.

  “Must have been bandits. You should have let me come. I could have beaten them!” Nira yelled, tears welling in her eyes. “This is the archons rule! He is wasting the army blocking the quarantine zone. Not patrolling the lands! Not protecting the people!”

  “I… you… what if you couldn’t have beaten them by yourself? Then what? You would have been one of these corpses.” Jesse answered softly. A voice in the back of his mind told him this was his fault.

  “We need to find who did this.” Nira said softly. “We need to make them pay.”

  “We need to get to the capital Nira.” Tormund said. Aegis brushed against her legs. She absently reached down and pet her. Jesse, oddly enough, could feel the pleasant sensation the dog had at the touch. It was… weird.

  “Neither of you understand. You don’t know what it’s like to lose someone like this!” She yelled at them. “You don’t know.” She slumped to the ground.

  “I understand.” Myra said softly. She stared, face hardened at the corpses.

  “Nira, did something happen?” Tormund asked her, stepping forward and putting his hand on her shoulder.

  Jesse walked to the bodies to look them over while she spoke, giving them a small measure of privacy despite being able to hear them through his bond with Aegis.

  “My parents.” She whispered. “This is why I joined the resistance. Bandits killed my family. My brother. My parents. When I look at those bodies all I see is them. That was on the other side of the country. It wasn’t the same group, I know that. It still hurts though.” Tears streamed down her face.

  “If I had been there I could have stopped it.” She continued. “Just like here. What’s the point of this strength I have if I don’t use it to help people.”

  “It’s not your fault. You can’t be everywhere. You can’t stop all violence.” Tormund said, giving her a hug. “If we come across them we will remove the threat. Permanently.”

  Jesse frowned at this. He had no interest in killing these bandits, though he could see that they clearly needed to be dealt with. Looking down at the bodies he noticed something odd. The corpses were… burned? Not with fire though. They appeared to be covered in chemical burns. He looked closer. He could smell an acrid odor. Another corpse was dessicated and half rotted. “What the hell?”

  Myra’s frown deepened as she too noticed the condition of the bodies.

  Jesse heard shifting nearby and his eyes shot up. The building burned and boards fell to the ground.

  “Jesse. I believe there are still people inside that house. It’s hard to detect through the fire and ambient essence. This area is saturated in it. I do not know why.” Golem said in his mind.

  “Nira! Tormund! There are people in there!” Jesse yelled pointing at the building.

  Tormund shot up, but not nearly as fast as Nira. She sped forward, almost too quickly to track. “Wait!” Tormund yelled after her. His hands began glowing blue as he cast a spell. A torrent of water erupted from his palms and sprayed over the building as Nira disappeared inside. She emerged a moment later with two kids, one under each arm. She brought them to Jesse and ran back into the building.

  “Are they alive?” Jesse asked.

  “They are, though they have passed out from the smoke. I believe they will recover with minimal intervention, they are breathing on their own.” Golem answered. The two started coughing heavily and one of them threw up. They remained unconscious. Jesse turned them on their sides into the resting position.

  A moment later Nira appeared with two adults. She stopped, breathing heavily.

  “That was all of them.” Jesse told her. She sighed and sat heavily on the ground. Tormund approached and placed his han on her shoulder in a calming gesture.

  “The man is deceased. The woman still lives.” Golem reported as the woman began coughing heavily. She was conscious, though staring without seeing.

  The children began to stir, which snapped the woman out of her vacant staring. She ran to the kids and checked on each of them. They cried, they embraced, she whispered comforting words into the children’s ears. Jesse watched, his heart breaking but not able to do anything to ease their pain. When they all quieted they looked to Jesse’s group.

  “Thank you for saving us.” The woman said. Her voice was raspy. She still had some of the blank look on her soot covered face. Jesse figured she must be in shock.

  “You should go to the nearest town. Report this to the officials there. Maybe they will help or give you some sort of restitution.” Nira said, grim faced. “Take this bag. It has provisions in it. Enough to last the couple of days travel, or longer if the kids struggle to keep up.”

  Jesse thought for a moment, then retrieved one of his gold coins. Nira’s eyes widened as she saw it. He handed it to the poor woman. “Do not take this to anyone you don’t trust. It is very valuable. Enough to start over. Do not under any circumstances tell anyone else you have this except the one you sell it to.” He closed the woman’s hand around the coin. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more.”

  Tears welled in the woman’s eyes. She thanked them profusely. She took the bag and the kids and left for the town. Jesse watched her go for a time before turning and finding Nira staring at him.

  “Thank you.” She said to him. “I am sorry. It’s not your fault what happened here. Let’s go.” She turned and walked down the road. The three others followed. Tormund placed his hand reassuringly on Jesse’s shoulder and gave him a sad smile. Aegis alternated brushing up against each of them.

  “Why did you give her the coin?” Golem asked on Jesse’s mind. “Wouldn’t it have been more strategic to keep it?”

  Because it was something we could do. The only thing we could do. It won’t make her pain go away but maybe it will help ease her burden. Jesse replied mentally.

  “I see.” Golem said. He did not ask further questions. Part of Jesse hoped they would run into the monsters that did this. That terrified him. Not because they would have to fight them, but because of what he was tempted to do.