Step, step, another step.
Each left a shoe print on the coarse, burnt-orange sand, with the earlier ones stretching out into the horizon.
Brutus fixed his eyes on the towering orange dunes, then shifted his gaze to his companion, a beautiful brunette girl, whose hair stopped at her bare shoulders, dressed in a stunning, white, off-the-shoulder regal dress, well, what's left of one, under all the dust, dried blood, and frayed hems.
'Why's she even wearing such a thing out here anyway?' Brutus wondered.
"I'm wearing this because I ditched a ceremony I didn't wanna be a part of, simple", Alcia suddenly broke the silence.
Brutus blinked. "Huh? Did I say that out loud or something?"
"No." She shrugged. "But I could tell what you were thinking from all that staring."
"Oh... sorry. Didn't mean to stare." he scratched his neck. "What... type of ceremony...?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, you don't know." She kicked a pebble. "Every direct descendant of the Ironheart family has to undergo a coming-of-age ceremony when they turn nineteen."
"O-oh, is that so?" Brutus exhaled slowly. "So why'd you run away then? What happens in the ceremony?"
"Well... usually you accept some duty or position within the family, but it was different for me..."
"Different how?"
"Marrying me off, different..."
"You... ran away from an arranged marriage...?"
"It wasn't exactly arranged; it was basically a show to tell everyone, 'hey! Alicia Ironheart, up for marriage!' I was pretty much put up for auction..." Alicia looked at the sand.
Brutus looked too. "And... you just ran away...?"
"Yeah..." Her gaze drilling a hole into the sand, jaw tight. "I... didn't want my life to be chosen for me. I... want to choose it for myself."
While Brutus' eyes gazed at the Black, starry sky. 'Choose it... yourself?' His chest tightened, like someone had put words to something he couldn't.
The words echoed deeper than he had expected.
"Do you... not regret it?"
"I did... initially." She turned to Brutus. "But then I met someone who was in the same boat as me." Her eyes softened. "Now I feel like I made the right choice." Then she smiled, not like when she teased Brutus, or like the one she flashed in battle. It was a real, Genuine smile—one that made Brutus' hollow heart flutter quietly in his chest.
"Is that so..." He looked away quickly to hide the heat rising rapidly on his face. "But why run to this place out of all of them?"
"Well... to be honest," she rubbed the back of her neck. "I was headed to the royal swordsmanship academy, and I decided to take a shortcut through the Wild-Lands."
"Pardon my language, but... isn't that insanely stupid?" He said bluntly.
"H-HEY!" She barked. "But yeah, from your perspective, it may seem like that. But near the border, it's usually empty. Hardly any monsters"
"Ahh, I see, and thanks to our scary new friend, the Misaligned were pushed to our position?"
She clicked her tongue. "Pretty much."
...
More time spent walking, and the duo had yet to find solid shelter.
"Hey, about that academy," Brutus began.
"Yeah? What about it?" she looked up.
"Well," he scratched his neck. "What would it take for... someone like me to get into it?"
Alicia blinked. And burst out laughing.
"H-Hey!" Brutus blushed, "What's so funny!?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing", she giggled, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Just answer the damn question," he said, shutting his eyes.
"Well, let's see... you'd need the skills to pass the entrance exam," she counted. "A recommendation letter from at least a sword expert, and... oh! Fifty thousand gold."
Brutus' eyes widened. Mouth a-gape "Fifty... And... I assume a legacy like you would have enough money for that...?"
"Well, I did..." She looked to the side. "But..."
"But what?"
"But I left it all in the carriage..." She fidgeted.
Brutus looked away, toward the dunes. "Well... isn't that just great...? Then what about the recommendation?"
Alicia cleared her throat.
"Right, of course."
"But at least I have the skills!" She hastily added.
"Yeah... at least there's that," He sighed.
"Well, then, how do we go about getting those for ourselves?"
Alicia, looking back, forward. "Well, the gold is only a matter of work in the Wild-Lands. The letter, though..."
"That's the tricky part, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." She kicked a lump of dried sand. "Sword experts don't just hand out recommendations; you need to impress them, or do some type of insane job no one else wants to touch."
Brutus frowned. "Like... killing a group of Misaligned?"
Alicia snorted. "That's nothing compared to what sword experts do"
"Great," Brutus muttered. "Then all we need is a fortune, a miracle, and someone stupid enough to hire two nobodies."
She paused, eyes drifting upwards.
"...Not nobodies."
Brutus looked at her.
Her tone softened. "You managed to kill a misaligned by looking at its shadows, that's not something a nobody could do. Brutus."
His heart skipped a beat. "You think so?"
"I wouldn't say if I didn't." She shrugged.
For a moment, the wind was the only sound, pushing dunes like slow-moving waves.
Alicia continued. "Now we just need to find a sword expert who actually lives near here. And lucky for us..."
"Let me guess," He sighed, "There's one in the Wild-Lands?"
"Yep. Some crazy old hermit. Supposedly a monster hunter who retired from the front lines. People call him the-"
A distant guttural howl split the air.
Not Misaligned.
Deeper.
Bigger.
More predatory.
Alicia froze.
Brutus reached for his sword.
"The Bone Warden." She breathed heavily. "And it seems he just crossed paths with our new friend..."
Brutus looked around. "You don't say..."
"We'd better get moving. Fast." Alicia urged.
"Why? It sounded pretty far away."
"Trust me. Even this far, we can still die."
Brutus swallowed. "Just... how strong are sword experts...?"
"...Those bastards...the word 'strong' doesn't apply to them."
"Well, where are we even supposed to go? We've been walking for ages, and there's nothing in this wasteland."
"Don't worry." She faced forward. "We're close."
"Close?" Brutus looked in the direction she faced. "Close to what?"
But she didn't answer. Instead, Alicia's eyes sharpened, and she shot forward.
Brutus jerked his head. "-Wait!" He bolted to follow her.
'Dammit, she never tells me anything!' He grumbled.
...
After about 20 minutes of running, Brutus saw the titanic dunes part to reveal...
A mountain of bones, at the foot of which stood a little ramshackle cottage.
"What the hell..." Brutus muttered. running toward the cottage, Brutus realised. 'Wait... Bone Warden... a mountain of bones...' his eyes widened, "You crazy!-" He barked. "You brought us to his house?!"
Alicia, in front, turned back, grinning. "What? Didn't you want that recommendation letter?"
"What use do I have a recommendation letter if im dead?!" He retorted.
They reached the door of the cottage, and Brutus shivered while looking up at the gargantuan mound of bones.
Stepping inside, Warm air brushed his face, not the bloody, metallic type he'd expected, but the faint scent of soup, and the sound of boiling broth.
Looking around the cottage, Brutus saw. A bed lined the window to the left, a soft chair was positioned next to a warm fireplace with a large pot in its centre, and the right wall surrounded a basic kitchen set.
"Well, this is... weirdly nice?"
The wind howled, whispering no signs of battle.
Brutus clenched his jaw. "It seems... the fights over..."
"Yeah." Alicia sighed.
"Hey, how did you even know about where the Bone Warden lives?"
"Because..." Alicia frowned. "...He's my-"
"Because im her uncle", a low, raspy voice said behind him.
They both stiffened.
And slowly turned.
And there he stood.
The Bone Warden.