Teary night

Bale disappeared into the forest and went towards the direction of the smoke, the closer he got, the more heat he felt, the forest was burning immensely. 

"Now how I'm I supposed to find him in the midst of all this flames" Bale thought. 

Although the rain had already begun, most of the forest was still burning immensely, it would take some time to affect the already burning forest. That is, if the rain would.

Bale walked in the midst of the chaos trying to find any form of life, but most of what he saw were corpses. They were everywhere, the smell of burnt flesh and blood filled the air, but Bale kept on with his search.

After searching for a while, he came across a familiar body, Bale looked at Ija's corpse feeling a bit somber. 

Of course he had known the Princesses personal guard. She was a great and strong soldier. Seeing her in such a manner was sad, but such was the life of a soldier, you don't know when you'll meet your end. 

Bale wondered why her body was untouched by the flames, but the answer came when a familiar glow enveloped her body and a barrier around her suddenly broke, "it seems her patron god protected her body" Bale thought. 

As Bale was observing Ija, he heard sound of crying, followed by a heavy laughter, in the distance. He left Ija's corpse and went to investigate. He approached the direction where he heard the sound and found two kids standing close to each other.

One of them was sitting one the ground holding on to something, crying. After some seconds, the child will burst into a harrowing laughter. The other was lying close to her, not even moving an inch.

"What's going on here?" Bale said.

Gor raised his head to look at the person who spoke.

"Dad?" He called out.

"What are you doing here?" Gor asked.

"I came to save the princess Bale said... and you."

"Well, we're done here" Gor said. 

"I can see that"

What's going on here Bale said as her drew closer to Thia. It was then he realized the child was holding on to a person's head.

Bale looked at the girl behind and for the first time in his life, he felt real fear and Thia stared back at him with a deathly gaze. The girl had a scythe beside her while she held on to Ashlark's head... 

"Who does that belong to?" Bale asked.

"Oh, the head? It belongs to the leader of the Mercenaries."

"Who is she and why is she holding on to it?" Bale asked

"I don't know..." Gor replied "ask her" Gor said

Immediately Bale drew closer to the girl Thia grabbed her scythe and attacked.

Bale was immediately pushed back and Thia dropped her scythe, holding the head closely

"You knew she would attack right?" Bale asked.

"You tried to kill me all my life and now you're pissed I tried to do the same?" Gor asked.

Bale ignored the boy and looked around.

"You killed all the Mercenaries? You didn't even leave one alive" Bale said.

Gor didn't respond, it wasn't his fault that the Mercenaries broke so easily.

"Well you're all coming with me Bale said we'll return to the capital".

"I'm not going anywhere" Thia replied and stood up

She was still holding her scythe and the head, it was as if it was her personal trophy, she held on tight to Ashlark's head.

"It wasn't a request" Bale said.

"I'm not going anywhere" Thia said. 

"You can try to take me by force, but I don't think that will end well for you".

Bale looked at Thia in surprise. It seems she doesn't know who I am or doesn't care, either way, she's a really interesting one.

"There's no need to take her along dad". Gor said

"She's a key witness to whatever happened here and she's coming with us to aid our investigation into the matter."

"I know Dad but, trying to take her by force is a bad idea.

Just let me talk to her." Gor replied

Thia Ignored Bale and Gor, and approached Ija's corpse. She placed Ashlark's severed head besides the corpse and unsummoned her scythe. 

She began sobbing uncontrollably. 

"I'm sorry the girl said, I'm sorry Ija, I'm sorry. It's was my fault, I'm so sorry Ija..." The young girl kept on crying, Gor stood up from where he was lying down and dragged himself to where Thia was.

Bale let the girl mourn for a while and was attempting to do something else he knew they were no survivors, but there were other things that could serve as clues.

As he was investigating, Bale suddenly felt a strong presence in the surrounding, close to where Thia and Gor stood.

I mist suddenly rose beside Thia and a sharp sword threatened to kill Gor.

The boy didn't even notice, or see anything until Bale blocked the attack, preventing the blade from killing the boy.

Bale carried Gor away from the mist, and put Gor behind him. The boy won't be able to deal with this new customer after all.

The mist kept on rising for a while, Thia looked at the mist, tears still filled her eyes, after a while, the mist disappeared and three people emerged from within. 

A tall man wearing a mask and a dark cloak, a sleeping Zillah, sleeping right beside him and Thena.

Bale looked at the man and he recognized him all too well,

"Mystos" Bale said

"Oh, I missed. I'd have loved to kill the boy in one swoop but it seems your instincts Haven't dulled a bit" Bale.

"And you're haven't stopped the habit of stabbing people when they let their guard down." Bale replied with a snarl

"It's not my fault, I witnessed the boys power briefly and he's a massive threat. It's no surprise I tried to nip him from the bud before he grew too strong. We are enemies after all" Mystos replied.

"So are you the one responsible for all, this...?" Bale asked.

"gods no, Our own plan actually failed miserably. I think someone screwed with both of us. But it doesn't matter, we got something even more tangible in return" Mystos said and looked at Thia.

"So you are taking the girl."

"Well she's one of ours. So it's obvious we would take her" Mystos replied.

"Do you think I'll allow that" Bale said.

"You are in enemy territory Mystos, its presumptuous to think you'll be able to leave in one piece."

"Of course I know where I am" Mystos said.

"Do you think I'll appear before you without any hope of escaping. Oh right on time" Mystos said .

Bale suddenly heard Gor collapse.

He looked at his son and saw the boy was in pain breathing heavily, it seems to have been poisoned.

"What did you do?" Bale asked.

"Nothing that doesn't have a remedy, but only if you leave now, you can save him- or stay, either way you lose something" Mystos said.

Bale looked at Gor who was in agonizing pain. He needed to do something fast. Blae turned to Mystos and spoke in anger

"Leave before I changed my mind."

"Gladly" Mystos said.

He turned to Thia and spoke to the girl passively.

"It's time to leave lady Thia, your friends are all safe. I made sure of that myself. So don't worry."

Thia turned to Mystos, she wanted to complain but the Mystos spoke again.

"I know you have a lot of questions, I can't answer them all, someone greater than me would give you all the answers you seek. The queen herself has ordered that I bring you to her" Mystos said.

Feeling satisfied by his answer, Thia stood up and said, "let's go".

Suddenly, a mist rose from Mystos and covered everyone, and in an instant, they all disappeared with the mist.

Bale quickly carried Gor, along with Ija's corpse, and returned to the capital.

End of the Massacre event