"You sure you want to come along today with us, I mean, it's your first time Kirin," Seth whispered to Kirin who walked beside him. Kirin seemed different, more confident, something that Seth had always found amiss in his dear friend.
"Something happened with Grand Zenin right?" Seth asked, Kirin simply smiled at his dear friend.
"I wouldn't be here if something didn't happen you know," his puffed, eyes brimming with confidence. Seth seemed confused but also increasingly curious.
"So tell me, did you finally break through and heal that unknown sickness of yours?" He said in a hushed tone, other warriors looked towards them for being so chatty, and also because of the outcast.
Kirin wasn't supposed to be here, they saw him as a liability, a risk, but no one could say anything about him. After all, it was The Grandmaster who had approved him being on this mission, it was a covert mission, to investigate and report back.
"First off I'm not sick, and no I didn't heal it or whatever, but I did manage to break through" Kirin responded, he flexed his hands filling them up with soul essence, just enough to give him assurance for his efforts so far.
"Mind showing me a few tricks then?" Seth asked excitedly, but Kirin simply shook his head
"Come on, why not?"
"It's too soon, the time will come, probably when no one expects it and thinks I'm about to die, then boom! All in their faces." he said laughing lightly.
Kirin had never been the type to laugh much at anything, although he was a weird person, hard to understand but easy to work with. Seth looked at his dear friend once again, this was supposed to be his first mission yet here Kirin was, brimming with confidence.
Seth remembered the first time he had gone for his first mission, not too long ago, he had nearly shat himself after he saw a horde of undead bodies from the Blackened lands, he was too ashamed to ever admit that he climbed a tree and waited for the real warriors to slay the monsters, he only came back down moments after and dubbed himself with the blood of the undead to make it seem like he had battled himself.
Banishing the thought from his head, he smiled proudly at his friend, Kirin gave him a weird look, "Stop grinning from teeth to teeth at me, or you lose a few" Kirin balled his fist, showing he meant business.
"Always such an ass, anyways do you know what the mission is about?" Seth asked, Kirin shook his head with regret, The Grandmaster hadn't told him anything.
"The master didn't tell me anything, but what's it about?" He asked Seth.
"Well it's a recon mission, the last group that was sent out to inspect some rumors never came back, they all went missing, every single one," Seth replied.
Kirin swallowed hard, he knew of the dangers that lurked in the cursed lands and monsters but that was only in theory. Seeing one face to face and having it attack you was something entirely different, something he wasn't sure he was ready for.
"Kirin!"
"What?" He replied, bringing himself out of his thoughts, he realized that the voice didn't belong to Seth, Kirin turned around and met the Leader of the group.
Standing taller than all twelve men, Tharros was a Mountain of a man, a Peak martial warrior, he was well known in the clan for simply one good reason, he only took the most uncertain, dangerous missions available.
'Shit'.
'If I had known he would be the leader, I would have opted out' Kirin thought to himself, moments later Kirin craned his head upwards to meet eyes with the leader.
"This is your first time, yes?" His voice resounded, and all the other ten men watched the both of them in silence.
"Yes sir" Kirin replied, he tried his best to stay on his two feet, he could feel the pressure being emitted from Tharros. It was overwhelming, like he was being forced down by some unknown force, but Kirin stood his ground. Compared to The Grandmaster's, this was paltry.
Tharros looked at him for a moment then smiled, immediately the pressure left Kirin giving him the relief he so wanted so badly, although Tharros was much weaker than The Grandmaster, his cultivation was nothing to scoff at either.
"Good, don't die on me, I wouldn't hear the end of it," Tharros said as he turned away from Kirin, Tharros walked a few steps forward where his voice could reach everyone.
"This mission isn't just one to fight off the undead, slay flesh budders, or kill the creatures that lurk in the cursed lands, it's a mission to find our Brothers, they are lost and must be found. At all costs " his voice reached out to the other men.
"Before death, life reigns supreme. Beyond death, life is sought anew."
With those words, Tharros lifted his Odachi blade and made his way into the forest, without a single command word, the rest of the warriors followed after him, one after another, they all picked their weapons and followed after their leader.
Kirin hadn't forged a weapon of his own unlike the rest of the party but he tightly held onto the saber hanging from his waist, it reassured him and made him feel slightly safe, he had practiced with the weapon numerous times. But it was still just a second rate martial weapon.
"Well that was most definitely inspiring, I would almost choose to die willingly," Seth sighed, picking up his weapon, "Shall we? Newbie! I'll be your guide for your first mission," he said smiling.
"As you wish, just don't play pranks on me, I'll kill you" Kirin responded, in truth he could hear his heart beating tremendously, his hands constantly shaking in the fear of anticipation and of death, he had always wanted to be a warrior but now that the time had come, he wasn't so sure.
"Getting cold feet? Took you long enough" Seth said laughing, he seemed to enjoy Kirin's moments of fear and uncertainty.
"Damnation" he cursed and followed after Seth.
'To hell with this, I'll live before I die' he said to himself and thus they began the long journey to the land of the Blackened.
It was nearing nightfall and the group had covered a considerable distance, they were far off from the lands they knew, onwards, the outlay of the land changed drastically, the winds felt musty, and the stench of death hung silently in the air which kept the men on their guards.
"We'll take a break here before venturing deeper, take out your supplies, eat, and fill your bellies, this may be the last time you do," Tharros said, his words hung heavily in the hearts of the men, they all knew, in the blackened lands, anything could kill you. Anything.
Kirin walked tiredly behind the group, he found a soft spot of withering grass and immediately fell on it, he was completely exhausted, never had he ever walked such distance on his two feet, to make it worse, sometimes they ran for hours on end.
He looked at the men setting up camp to his right, he counted them all as was his habit, observing changes and the tiniest of details. While he was looking he felt a man's shadow cover him.
He turned to his left to see a warrior, he slowly walked up to Kirin and then stopped a few meters away, something was weird about the way he walked. Worse off, he looked somewhat familiar, Kirin felt a certain wrongness about the man.
He sat up and turned back to his right and counted the men, all eleven were there, he was the last member which meant this man wasn't amongst them.
Kirin stood up slowly and carefully, the man came closer, his steps were light and almost soundless till Kirin saw his face.
"Greg?"
"Greg! You're alive," Kirin said with excitement, Greg had been one senior he liked, he taught Kirin the basics of swordsmanship some years ago, like the stone stance for defense, the blood stance for murder, the water stance for versatility and so many more.
As Kirin moved forward to meet with Greg, an unnatural smile crept on Greg's face, it was something Kirin had never seen him do, and thus he stopped himself from taking another step.
"Greg, are you okay? Talk to me?" Kirin asked slowly, taking a step backward, fear crept into his heart, he desperately wanted to believe that this was Greg, that the blackened lands weren't tricks on him.
"Greg. Answer me Damn it" Kirin's voice shook, at that moment, Kirin felt true fear for the very first time. He watched as the eyes of Greg, his teacher once who had shared rice cakes with him and ridiculed him for loving hit wine, slowly darkened becoming entirely black.
"T... Tharros" Kirin shouted as loud as he could, at that same moment, Greg's hand shot forward releasing a spike of blood from his palm.
Kirin saw the attack and without thinking he released his energy from his soul core, covering his entire body with lightning, he dodged the attack as it struck where he had been mere moments ago.
Kirin stumbled to the ground and channeled all his energy into his feet, he needed to get away from this thing.
Without looking where he was going, Kirin jumped to the side once again, evading another attack from Greg and slammed headfirst into a tree with the full force of lightning, he stumbled back as blood flowed from his nose.
He thought he had good control over his powers, how foolish of him.
He saw another spike of blood being shot towards him, "Damn it Kirin, you died a fool's death", he said as he slowly lost consciousness.
But before the attack could reach him, a sharp precise swing from a powerful Odachi blade deflected the attack.
"You did well, boy" Tharros stood in front of him as Kirin fell to the ground.