1 Prologue

It had been mere hours since Prince Zanac had issued a call to arms, everyone who was deemed able bodied was to be drafted for the upcoming conflict.

Four hundred thousand men, some properly armed and others only with a club. As the battle progressed, the soldiers of the Royal Army that were present to meet the Sorcerer King's forces at this spot. The defenders went from desperate to hysterical, some even throwing themselves into melee as a final option to halt the undead forces.

One hour.

One hour was all it took for the majority of troops to be wiped out once the Sorcerer King's forces had met the Royal Army on the battlefield.

One hour was all it took for any hope of survival to be ripped from the already broken kingdom.

A small squad that had been sent out to conduct recon of the area had returned to the grizzly scene that awaited them.

A thud had been heard as Christoff fell to his knees. Christoff had been no stranger to battles, a former member of Gazef's warrior troop and before that an adventurer. Shock had overcome his face, in an area where there should have been countless corpses there had been none.

"W-what?" One of the members of his Reconnaissance team blurted out, his body shaking profusely as reality had dawned on the team of four.

"There was 400,000 of us-er were." The soldier had corrected himself

"This has to be a joke right?!" Another member, Nate had asked. His eyes meeting the faces of everyone in the party before they trailed back to what once was the battlefield.

Exactly this had to be a dream, Christoff would wake up and everything would be fine.

"Let's move on." Nate had finally said after gripping onto Christoff's shoulder. He was trying to force himself to sound composed but even that was not possible. Terror had oozed out of every syllable that he said.

"Move-Move on? Where?" Christoff had managed to ask, forcing himself to even speak at this point.

"To the Capital, we need to organize with any surviving forces there." Nate stated, extending his hand out to help Christoff up.

Christoff grasped his hand and slowly stood up, what little plate armor that had been on his body creaked as he did so.

"The army may be destroyed, but the heart of our nation is not." Nate stated

Oh, how truly wrong he was.

It took half a day for them to arrive back at the capital, as they weren't far from it to begin with. The site they had seen was one that they wished they hadn't seen.

The whole capital was rubble, minus the palace. Almost everything was gone and lingering smokestacks still trailed in the sky from the devastation that had occurred during the fall of Re-Estize.

The others fled upon seeing the scene, dropping their swords and leaving only Christoff and Nate to idly stare at what had become of the city.

The Re-Lante castle still stood, appearing pristine in condition on the outside but they did not wish to seek the horrors that waited on the inside of it.

Christoff couldn't help but bend over and vomit. He had been in countless battles, but this stench was far too much for him to handle. A whole population dead, the smell of corpses present even on the outskirts of the city was practically making the two who returned to it nauseous.

"Kiss the Re-Estize Kingdom goodbye, boys." Nate had managed to mutter as a tear made its way down his face, dropping to the ground beneath him.

Christoff had noticed the others that were with them ran, he couldn't blame them in the slightest. Their kingdom had been destroyed and as it stood, they were practically going to be on the run if the Sorcerer Kingdom ever learned of their survival.

No not practically, they would be on the run.

Christoff fell to his knees again, but this time used his partisan to pull himself up before turning around from the city where little of its soaring beauty had remained.

"We need to leave." He stated, his voice still low and clearly fighting back tears

"And go where? There is quite literally nowhere else to go."

"Anywhere but here would be a good start.'

The soldiers had made their way back through the dense woodlands that had surrounded the capital, branches cracking and leaves crunching almost with every step they had took. They had no choice but to take the densest route possible, taking the main roads would spell their doom.

The remnant of an archway was standing tall within the woods, seven meters tall and three wide, with knotwork carvings etched upon each cyclopean stone.

The two had lost count for how long they had been walking, the pain in their feet had dulled their thoughts. Two days was how long they had been on the move for, but those two days had felt like years.

"We need to make camp." Nate said, sitting down against the Archway.

Christoff followed suit, quickly sitting down letting out a deep breath

'Agreed, if we walk anymore, I am sure we would die of exhaustion."

Had any other survivors been around, they would of course be in hiding or dead by now.

The breeze had hit Christoff's now bare face, sending his hair which had been styled in a combover all over the place. He quickly took the time to fix it, returning his hands to his laps once he had finished. He rested his head against the cool stone that had been behind them and began to dose off.

The sounds of footsteps grew ever closer, twigs cracking underneath the pressure of the said footsteps. The two quickly jumped up to their feet and drew their weapons. Nate, who favored a longsword held it at the ready and Christoff who favored a Partisan readied it. Pointing it at the direction of the footsteps that were growing closer with every moment.

"By the gods." A voice called out from behind the brush that surrounded Nate and Christoff.

"I thought I was the only one who made it out alive."

A man, donned in the armor of the Royal Army, had walked into their line of sight. His armor had seen better days, dried blood rested on the white chest plate and there were multiple tears on his arms and legs.

Immediately after seeing this, Nate and Christoff had lowered their weapons and exhaled a sigh of relief.

"I thought we were the only ones to make it out alive." Nate said.

"Well, if you wanted to die you found the right group." Christoff said, making a low whistle "Even the Prince would likely commend us for such an action."

The man was clearly one who deserted the city once the Sorcerer King had reached the kingdom. even if he was a coward, they could not blame him. He was likely drafted once this conflict had kicked off, with this being his first real combat engagement.

"State your name, friend." Nate had said, offering the man a light smile.

"Finlay and yours?" Finlay had asked

"I am Nathan Stutnoch and this cheery fellow here is Christoff." Nathan replied, putting his sword away

"I see, did you lot also run away?" Finlay had asked, feeling more at ease since the tension had died down a bit.

"No, we were conducting area reconnaissance of the plains area and by time we returned the… the army was wiped out." Christoff managed

"What of the Blue Roses, do you know what happened to them?" Nate had asked raising an eyebrow

"I haven't a clue, rumors stated they were still present in the capital but when I had ran I did not see them." Finlay admitted "If anyone was to survive what happened there, it would be them."

Christoff couldn't help but laugh at the comment, clinging onto hope was a good thing. Clinging onto hope when your entire nation was destroyed was almost as foolish as stepping into a pool of lava thinking it was a luxurious hot spring.

"If 400,000 soldiers couldn't survive, there is no way those five women could. I care not for their adventurer ranks, in the face of the Sorcerer King those fancy metal tags are meaningless." Christoff stated, his expression still cold

"Ah, there it is. I was wondering when you would start to gripe and complain again." Nate jested before turning back to Finlay who was clearly not much older than seventeen years of age.

"Well boy, I also want to believe that they are alive. A bit of hope never hurts anyone."

Finlay nodded before looking around at their surroundings, he shivered a bit as the sun had almost completely set now. Barely any light had been visible where the soldiers were resting. It was apparent he wanted a fire, but it was evident that the other two had no intentions of setting one up.

"I-I think I am going to continue walking, see if any of my family members survived by chance."

Finlay said in a low voice before turning around and disappearing into the brush, soon after the night sky had consumed the area.

"If the Blue Roses had survived, I think we should try to find them if they did survive. They are our best hope right now in surviving, unless you would rather flee to the Theocracy." Nate said, as he turned his head toward Christoff.

"If they are alive, and that is possibly one of the biggest "ifs" I have ever stated in my life then I would say that is a good plan. Going to the Theocracy and dealing with those religious nutjobs would only make me wish I had also gotten killed by the Sorcerer King." Christoff said, shrugging slightly.

His gaze looked up towards the stars, even though the past few days had been hectic he found some solace staring at them.

"Does that mean you agree?" Nate had asked, soon after he also found himself gazing upon the stars.

"I do not have much choice in the matter, either we start chasing ghosts, or we die of starvation. I would rather be chasing ghosts." Christoff mused out loud.

"Then let us bed down, we will leave at first light."