The village burned beneath the hill.
Reason stood among the wet grass and watched the smoke crawl upward, slow and black, like something alive learning how to breathe.
Reason said, "The sun is yet to wake..." It had long passed the middle of the night, but the bright moon was still shining its silver light.
"Soon it will be all dying behind the trees, turning the sky the color of old blood and ash."
Mercy stood behind him. She couldn't really hear his poetic words.
Her hands were shaking. Seeing the village, their village, like this, she couldn't help but feel anxious.
"Stay here," Reason sighed.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
Mercy looked past him, down toward the village. "Aunti is down there."
"I know."
"Big brother Johs too."
"I know."
"And Linda, and..." She couldn't help but want to say every single name, every single person.
Her hand grasped her heart.
For some reason, Mercy felt pain and anger toward herself, like she had done this herself. No, this was her fault. These people came for them. They came and killed, hurt, and burned everyone because she was here.
At Mercy's silent contemplation, something small moved across Reason's face. Not emotion. Not pain. Something colder...
He sighed again. "Dumb. Like a child..." But then, as his mouth opened, his voice didn't feel as cold, even if the words were.
"They came here for us... they could have just sent search squads to find where we lived, then ambushed our house... yet even as they did, they still went down to the village to kill and plunder..."
Reason stretched his hand toward the burning village. "They would have done it anyway. Maybe not to this village, maybe somewhere else. So now I am only thankful."
"Uh?" Mercy didn't understand his last words. It felt so wrong, but Reason still continued.
"I am thankful they came here so we can save more... maybe they would have killed everyone somewhere else, but here, I am here." His outstretched hand closed, grasping at the heavy air.
Reason's words were simply based on logic and reason. They were emotionless, yet Mercy felt warmth. It felt comforting, even with this monotone voice.
Though she hadn't been with Reason long, she already understood he didn't care or want to save the people. His words were only for her comfort.
Mercy stepped forward. "What are you planning?" Her voice was calm, her shift in tone almost as fast as Temorsth's.
"They are not planning to run... neither am I." Reason took one of the swords Mercy carried.
"The potions? I took all they had." Mercy presented three red, liquid-filled flasks.
"No need." But Reason pushed them away. "You can hide away. I will deal with this."
"But I can help... I want to help..."
"You are scared and will hinder me. Now listen and hide in the trees. Do not come down. Do not make a sound. Do not run unless I tell you to run."
Mercy stared at him.
The wind pushed smoke over the hill. It carried the smell of burned wood, wet earth, and something worse beneath it. The horrible smell gave her chills. She knew what it was, yet she wished she didn't.
Through the shivers, she asked. "What if you don't come back?"
"Then by sunrise, you run anyway." Temorsth began walking.
"Reason." He stopped.
Mercy's voice cracked. "Please..."
He did not look back.
"I am going to bring them back." Then he descended.
...
The path into the village should have been familiar. Reason had all of Liam's memories, and yet the scene was not right...
Children had run up and down the path during spring. Old men sat not far, just by the fence, complaining about the weather, taxes, and bones that hurt when rain came.
Now there was no laughter or complaints. No fence. Only ash.
Most of all, it was dark... whenever Liam walked here, it was bright. Even now, as the fires burned and the moon shone, it should have given more than enough light, yet it was dark, because his eyes only looked at the marks...
The road... footprints, dragged lines, both goods and bodies alike, scattered belongings... dark, it was way too dark...
Liam walked here not long ago, and yet it was not so dark then...
Reason stopped, then sighed. "Why does no one listen to me..." But he did not bother with it further. No, rather, he looked down. A wooden doll lay face down in the mud.
"Humans..." Reason's tone wasn't any different than before, but I am sure anyone who would have heard his one word would think the same: Run away...
The first house he passed still burned from the inside, its windows glowing like sick orange eyes.
Temorsth walked slowly through the village.
Not because he was afraid or that he didn't want to hurry.
Because Reason counted everything.
'Three bodies near the well.' Every villager.
'Two bandits posted on rooftops.' Every bandit.
'Heavy smoke is blocking vision from the eastern lane. It will go on for a while.' Every possibility.
'Captives used as leverage.' Every idea.
'Acceptable...' Then a sound came from the left.
"..?" A whisper.
A burned man lay against the side of a collapsed shed, half-hidden beneath a fallen beam. He was alive, though barely. His breathing came in thin, broken pulls.
Temorsth crouched beside him, his eyes scanning the man for a moment before he took out a dagger.
The man's eyes opened.
"Mercy…" he rasped.
Temorsth went silent, because he knew the man wasn't calling for help or a quick end, but calling a name.
"What are you doing..." Behind him, somewhere in the smoke, her voice was shaking. She was too angry and sad for it not to shake.
"If you didn't listen and follow me, you could have at least stayed hidden."
Mercy stepped out from behind a broken wall.
Her face went white.
"Josh."
Temorsth did not turn. "I told you to hide."
She ran past him and dropped beside the wounded man, grasping his hand. "Big brother, hey—hey, look at me."
The young man tried to speak, but only coughed.
Mercy looked at Temorsth, desperate. "Help him."
Temorsth's silence answered first.
But he still said, "He cannot be saved."
"No." Mercy shook her head. "No, don't say that."
"It's too much damage."
"We have potions." She let go of Josh's hand, about to reach for a potion, but she felt it. Even as she let go, something was still touching her.
She looked at her hand and couldn't help but gag at the burnt skin on her hand. She gagged, not from disgust, but from the pain that twisted her stomach at the moment she realized there was no way to help.
"We must..." Her face contorted with rage, yet her eyes welled with tears.
"Li... am..." Josh couldn't help but ask. He, too, knew. He felt it too. It was too much. His words couldn't express it, but his eyes told his wish to Reason.
Reason was silent for a moment, then he looked at Mercy. Again, something cold and heavy passed over him, a memory...
Temorsth looked down at Josh.
Wasteful.
Risky.
Unnecessary.
A dying man could not help the plan. A girl's grief was not a tactical concern. The villagers were still alive, and every second and energy spent here increased uncertainty.
There was only one reason: memory.
Temorsth placed his hand over Josh's chest.
Mercy grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?"
"Do not touch me." Reason's voice changed enough that Mercy obeyed.
The air around his fingers darkened, not like shadow falling over them, but like the world itself had forgotten how to hold light.
Josh's body arched, his teeth clenched, and Reason's silver and gold eyes flickered for the first time.
Pain moved through him.
Not borrowed pain.
Paid pain.
Mercy did not understand what she saw. To her, it looked like magic, but...
Even as magic can only be perceived by those who possess energy, she, an elf, an inherently magical being who could see all magic, could not see anything.
Not the flow of mana or the energy being used. Even if it was magic, it was something she had no right to see.
To Reason, to Temorsth, it was just a blade pressed to his own throat.
Enough to close what must close.
Enough to wake the body.
He released Josh. "You can give him the potion now."
Mercy saw no change. Josh looked the same, burned and bruised all around, but for some reason, he seemed much more alive. At the same time, Reason was paler than before.
But she had no time to contemplate. She immediately pulled a small vial from her back pouch. The potion was dark red and thick. She forced it between the man's lips.
Josh coughed again.
Then breathed. His chest rose and fell as it should, then his skin and flesh all around fused and patched up in mere moments. In a blink, not even the marks of fire were left behind.
Mercy covered her mouth. A potion simply couldn't have an effect like this. Even more, this was a low-grade one. This was utterly impossible.
"He can move now," Reason said. "Barely... Take him to the trees."
"But—"
"Now."
Josh's eyes opened wider, confused and still feverish.
A contemplative look passed over Mercy's face, then she leaned closer to Josh.
"..." Quiet words were exchanged.
The man gave the smallest nod.
Then Mercy helped him up. She looked back once.
"..."
Neither one said anything.
Because from the rooftops, someone had started laughing.
A voice called through the smoke. "The Vice is waiting for you."
The man jumped down, tossing his torch into the house he had just stood on.
As the fire took hold of the house, Reason looked at the man, his eyes piercing like blades.
"Don't stare like that. I might just kill you. Now follow me."
Reason did not move. Instead, he asked. "Have you ever been burnt alive?"
"What..!?" The man's words were cut short as the world answered.
For some reason, a strong gust passed over them, and the house he had just lit went up in flames.
For some reason, the old wood drank the flame too quickly.
Its flames and light were intense. The wood creaked and screamed under it, making the man unable to stop himself from turning back to look.
For some reason, maybe it was confusion or fear, but he stood still for a moment, just long enough for the burning home to collapse on him.
"A-g aaaaaa!!!" Under the burning rubble, the man was alive, his skin and flesh being consumed by the fire. His ear-piercing screams were so loud that the bandits at the entrance to the village all heard them. A small rustle passed over them.
But for the man burning alive, he did not hear his own scream. No, he heard these few words.
"Now you have." Without a second glance, Reason began to walk down the road again.
...
Not much time passed, and Reason was already there.
"So the monster came home." A man standing on the left rooftop called out.
Temorsth stood.
At the end of the main road, the bandits waited.
Thirty-nine of them.
Maybe fewer now, if the rooftops were counted separately. Maybe more hidden in alleys, he could not count for. The villagers knelt in the square, bound and terrified, guarded by blades held close to their throats.
Above them, on the roof of the old grain house, stood the vice leader.
He was not the largest man there.
He didn't seem the strongest either.
But his eyes were sharp.
And full of hate.
Temorsth walked toward them without hurrying.
The vice leader smiled.
"Stop there."
Temorsth stopped.
A bandit pressed a knife closer to an old woman's neck. Temorsth knew her... but even if he had memories of these people, Reason seemed indifferent.
The square went silent except for the fire.
The vice leader spread his arms.
"Good. So you can listen."
Temorsth looked at the villagers.
Then at the bandits.
Then up at the man on the roof.
"You are standing too high for someone planning to die tonight."
The smile faded.