"Lisa."

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[Hrozun 02, 0100 A.R]
[Atherion, Cesro]

Current in-game time 5:21 PM

Looking at the scorched buildings once more before they walk off from the ruined city, for a while Yuna kept a steady gaze at the scene. The sky was painted in rich autumn orange as night crept in so did the beasts of the dark prowl in the corners with ravenous eyes. A few low growls can be heard outside the walls of the city as the forest came to life.

"Come on let's go before we get surrounded," carrying a sack with him, Muzui called out to his companion who was occupied but quickly shook her head at his voice and obediently followed.

At the corner of her eye was a burnt building. The structure itself wasn't much of a looker and it wasn't especially large but this was the very same in which the two of them stayed after the incident with the camp. Looking at it right now was a pitiful sight hardly resembling its original design. It used to have a flower bed in front and a constant flow of customers coming in and out of the door.

It wasn't particularly special of a place, the prices were affordable and the food was bland but not terrible. Their first few nights in the city were rough since they had no money to spend but even so, they were given a bed in exchange for their services. The family who ran the place had no qualms about them being Marked Ones and made them work for the bed until a few days later they managed to land on some good money and repaid their debts.

A woman whose name Yuna never bothered remembering ran the place. She was a Tian who Yuna followed, the days were short but she could vaguely remember the times they spent working there, mopping the floors and tables.

"Hey, what's the name of the inn we stayed at again?" She tugged on the hem of Muzui's robe. Her memory was bad when it came to remembering names of places so usually, she had to ask.

Stopping for a moment to inspect the building Yuna was pointing at, he gave it a good look for a moment then turned around, "Swallow's Perch," was his only response before he walked off.

Upon hearing the name Yuna made sure to remember it as a form of honoring it. Yuna jogged her way back to Muzui's side after she was done looking. Silence permeated the air around them as they dare not utter a word, it wasn't like they couldn't it's just that they had nothing to say.

It was a silent walk through the ghost town and they reached the gates and were about to walk through the smashed wooden doors when all of a sudden Yuna's face shot up, "Oi what's up?" Noticing his partner's sudden reaction, he inquired about the matter.

"Did you hear that?" Yuna started looking around her warily as if searching for something. Bewildered Muzui's eyebrows were knitted together as he gave her a weird look, his face said, 'You're kidding me right?' But the girl ignored him.

Bark!

In an instant, Yuna turned back to the city in a mad dash after hearing the noise. Muzui heard the sound but was more than reluctant to follow suit and was in a state of hesitation but after giving it a second thought he had no choice but to follow her.

He hated this side of her, the impulsiveness and the stubbornness of Yuna to head right in without even evaluating the situation, he found it annoying. Since she had a headstart Muzui barely kept track of her as she would sometimes stop at random intervals to listen then start running towards a path.

Through narrow paths, he followed her while Yuna squeezed through the tiniest of gaps and alleys while looking for something. He tried yelling at her to wait but it did not reach her. She was surprisingly agile even when their feet were submerged in a pile of ash she moved without slowing down, meanwhile, the young man struggled to keep up with the pace of Yuna.

At some point in their search, Yuna slipped through a gap where a badly burnt building was standing, thanks to the small frame she passed through without any problem. The same could not be said for Muzui however, thanks to his body being slightly larger and broader, he accidentally knocked a piece of wood that supported the unstable house.

The whole house collapsed on top of Muzui. As he was just about to be turned into mush, a hand reached out in front of him and dragged him forward.

"Haa...haa..." He breathed in and out as he fell on his knees.

"Sorry," a voice said to him, it was Yuna and she was nervously staring at him.

"You know...I could get mad but I'm deciding not to..." A hint of controlled anger in his voice can be heard. He kept a cool head since Yuna did save him but it was also her fault for running off. "This thing you're saying. This better be worth it," he stood up and rid his body of dust.

After that, the two of them spent a few more minutes looking around until they reached a clearing deep inside the maze of houses and alleyways. There, Yuna and Muzui were greeted by a dog near a well.

Woof! Woof!

It barked at them while wagging its tail. Muzui clicked his tongue in irritation as he had expected a person at least. His partner, however, was overjoyed and quickly helped the dog stuck under the ash. Its fur was covered in a thick layer of soot and was severely malnourished. There were only minor burns along its body, with the right amount of food, rest, and treatment it should be saved.

Yuna knelt in front of it so she could dig out half of its submerged body. Its legs were deep in the ground which hindered its movements. When she tried to reach for it with a hand, Yuna was met with a low growl, "Shhh, calm down calm down, we're here to help." She tried calming it down.

It did not take long for the dog to wag its tail obediently to Yuna. She unburied the dog from the ground and was able to move its body after being freed. Yuna sighed in relief after seeing the dog moving again, "Good, we made it in time." She said while falling into a sitting position on the ground.

While remaining seated, Yuna received licks from the dog who was grateful to her. Watching the scene in front of him, Muzui wondered how a dog was able to survive for three days without food or water but after also receiving some playful licks from it, he no longer bothered thinking about such things, "You're a tough pooch, got that?" He patted it on its head as the dog replied with a woof!

"So this is the thing that got you so startled?" Muzui shot a glance at the one sitting on the ground.

"Yeah, I heard his barks," she chuckled as her face was licked. Yuna turned to Muzui with wide pleading eyes, she then said, "Can we—" she was not allowed to finish as the young man cut her off.

"Yeah I'm keeping that dog, I don't trust you around animals," he placed a hand over the dog's head as he rubbed it.

"I figured that much," chuckled the girl as she stood up from the ground. Right after they saved the dog they gave it a name and called it 'Soyu' an improvised name that Muzui came up with. Yuna was against it and wanted to name it 'Tristan' but Muzui was adamant and his word became final.

"It's time to go, we've already spent too much time looking for this guy," he announced as they walked back to the entrance, to their surprise, Soyu never followed them and stayed put. "What's the matter with this guy?" Muzui attempted to bring the dog by carrying it but every time he did, Soyu would struggle against him, knowing that the dog was weak enough to die against a mosquito bite, they decided to not force it.

There must be something keeping it from going. Going by that thought, Muzui ran down through the possibilities. No one in the city was alive aside from them, so the possibility of its owner being alive is nigh. While he was deep in thought, Soyu nudged him by the leg while whimpering.

"I think he wants to tell you something," Yuna pointed out.

"What is it, boy? What do you want to tell us?" Muzui decided to play along so that they could understand what was up with the dog. Hearing Muzui's question, Soyu lightly bit him at the hem of his robe while tugging weakly, telling him to follow it.

Sending a look at each other, Yuna and Muzui followed the dog as it walked next to the well. It pointed its nose at the mouth of the well which was covered with a circular wooden lid. Finally coming into an understanding with the dog's motives, the two of them push the lid off which plopped on the ashen ground.

Yuna peered inside the well and there she saw a silhouette of something inside the bottom of the well. "Hello!?" She yelled below to see if it was a person.

"Help..." It was faint but Yuna's ears were able to pick up the words. There was a person stuck in the bottom. They might've jumped inside when the fire started. "Muzui drop the bucket, there's a person stuck in there."

At the sound of her voice, Muzui tossed a bucket into the well as Yuna told the person at the bottom to grab on so they could pull them up. No voice came to reply after that but Yuna could see movement below so she waited, waited until the rope was tugged lightly, that was when she told Muzui to reel the bucket up.

Originally the bucket weighed close to nothing but when they pulled it up after throwing it, some weight that was not there earlier can be felt. Little by little Yuna could make out a small frame seated inside the bucket itself, looking at it closely she assumed it was the body of a child. A little girl about as old as 10 years-old was fished out of the well.

Yuna lent her hand which the child took with a weak grip. She jumped onto Yuna as the swordswoman took a step back. Once outside the well, they had a clear look of the little girl in Yuna's arms. Her face and hair were covered in soot but thankfully she had no wounds to speak off. While Yuna was carrying the child she took notice of how light her body was, it was way too light for a child.

"Uuoohhh..." Before the two of them even realized it, tears were dripping from the child's eyes and Yuna felt a tight grip on her shoulder. Two eyes were directed at her, both of which were puffy and had become pale. "P-pleash d-don't...leave me..." She whispered while stuttering.

For a moment the two of them paused and looked at one another. Muzui and Yuna shared the same confused stare in their eyes, both of them had no idea how to deal with this sort of situation. Here they were after scouring the entire kingdom, found a single survivor and that survivor was a child no less.

Their train of thoughts came to an abrupt halt to their surprise as Soyu let out a low growl.

Grrrrrr...

The dog showed its fangs not towards them but behind Yuna, it let out a bark as if warning them about something, "What is it boy?" Muzui didn't understand the sudden behavior change and knelt to check on the dog.

Hairs on Yuna's neck began standing sensing a threat somewhere around them.

"...!" Yuna jumped out of the way in the nick of time as something fast and hard collided with the ground she was just standing on earlier. In front of them stood something, what it was was something the two of them knew very well. Standing on two feet with a body of a man but covered in thick fur, its head resembled that of a fierce wolf while it showed its teeth at them, a feral.

Growl...

The timing could have never been so bad for the two of them. Yuna tried to reach for the rapier on her waist but both her hands were full with the child she was holding and resulted in dodging the attacks instead.

With sharp razors on the tip of its fingers, the feral hacked and slashed towards Yuna while she hopped and sidestepped, keeping the girl out of harm's way. In the middle of the feral's attack, it swings its arm recklessly like a bear, making use of the narrow opportunity Yuna kicked at the feral's arm and deflected it. Provided with an opening, she shot at her partner a shout, "Now!"

Behind the feral was Muzui with his sack firmly gripped by him, he swung at the back of its skull with a clean hit. Its skull let out a grotesque sound before it fell on the ground, dead on the spot. The two of them breathed as the adrenaline was still circulating in their systems.

It was a close call and luckily Yuna's senses were sharp enough to notice the attack. But the two of them weren't celebrating just yet, "A feral, here? I thought we killed them all!?" Yuna panicked as she clutched the girl tightly.

"That doesn't seem to be the case, let's get out of here, the stench of the corpses is luring creatures here," Muzui lifted the pooch beside him and under his arm like a sack of potatoes then joined Yuna as the two made a run for it.

Due to the number of deceased corpses laying around several beasts were being lured in by the stench. Atop the roofs were shadows zooming at incredible speeds, other ferals had started swarming the place as the four of them made a run for it. Yuna held the girl tightly as she jumped high enough to avoid a slash attack then ducked beneath another before kicking against a wall to propel herself onto the roof.

Behind her were five other silhouettes, running at her quickly on four feet. Down below was Muzui, he too was being chased by several ferals and resorted to some methods to get away from harm. He kicked some ash into his opponent's face then knocked them out using his sack. So far it had been working and the two of them would barely make it to the gates but even then they had no intention of stopping.

Using his own experiences, Muzui kicked at a wooden post until it broke. A building came crashing down in front of them and crushed the ferals following them as Muzui slipped through the collapsing structure. It was hard to run on the thick ash while also carrying two things at the same time.

Yuna heard a building collapsing but made no effort thinking about it as she was still being chased. She leaped from roof to roof with amazing agility but so did her pursuers. As she was running, her focus was being challenged, and her awareness sharply rose, at a certain gap between the roofs, a hand emerged to snatch her leg. As a reaction, the swordswoman jumped and kicked the feral at the head causing its face to turn 180 degrees killing it.

However, the ferals behind her started picking up the pace and the gap between them was only an arm's length. The ferals raised their claws, ready for an attack st her open back but the girl suddenly fell before they could even notice. The ferals looked down at the alley below but to their surprise, the girl was gone. She just vanished into thin air.

Not saying that she vanished, but Yuna merely slipped through the gap and broke into a window of a second-floor which she used to escape their sights.

Muzui and Yuna met up, both still fleeing, and head straight to the gate. However, when they got to the entrance their blood went cold. A blockade of not just ferals but other hungry beasts stood in their way.

"Crap, let's go back!" As they were spotted by the crowd of beasts, Yuna and Muzui tried to flee the way they came on to be met by a pack of ferals, the same ferals chasing after them. "Tsk," the young man clicked his tongue in irritation as they were surrounded.

"Onee-chan..." Yuna heard the little girl say as she shivered in her arms. Her tiny arms trembled as they clung onto her like a cicada, the genuine fear in her eyes was pitiful to see so Yuna avoided eye contact. "Don't worry, big sister and big brother will find a way out of this," she promised her.

Once she was finished consolidating with the little girl, Yuna glanced in her partner's direction, "Any idea how we can get out of here!?" In a hurried voice, she asked him while countless beasts ran towards them as they were caught in a pincer formation.

"Hold on I'm working on it!" His eyes flew around him as he desperately searched for an escape route. It was then that he saw the large wall. There was no other way but to break through the monsters, other they could fight till they were the last one standing or they could hope that lady luck was in their favor. Muzui already had his answer, "Follow me and don't die."

The two of them jumped above an attack and used it as a platform to reach the roofs, there they started sprinting towards the wall and continued evading everything as best as they can. Claw marks littered their bodies as they pushed through the horde until they finally reached the walls. There they quickly used a spiral staircase which led to one of the watchtowers.

Kicking a couple of ferals in the face as they ran the flight of stairs, the two of them arrived at the top in bated breath, however, they could not waste any second to catch some air. "Quick don't stop following me!" Muzui yelled loud and clear as they continued to run across the top of the walls while at both sides beneath them were a sea of monsters.

They've been running around for a minute and a half at a full sprint yet they could still hear the monsters behind and below them. Yuna's heart rapidly thumped as shocks of pain erupted from her lungs with each breath she took. It was starting to get hard breathing but she persevered.

Then for an abrupt moment, Muzui stopped and so did Yuna, "Get ready to jump," her face was that of shock as she heard him say those words. Below them were trees, if they were to jump here then it was a gamble.

"Tsk, if we die I'm blaming you!" As Yuna said that, Muzui was the first to jump, and without hesitation, Yuna followed him and leaped. She made sure her body was the one facing the earth so that if they do die, at least the girl had a chance to escape. With closed eyes, Yuna placed all of her chips into this one jump.

Crash!

After a while, the monsters reached the place where they had jumped seeing no traces of them. The ferals below, outside the walls, sniffed the ground to find a scent of them but left after losing interest.

"Haa...haa..." With bated breath, Yuna held her knees weakly. Beside her were Muzui, Soyu, and the girl. After jumping from the wall they landed on some trees whose vines stopped their fall, then making a run for it they reached a far enough distance and found a river.

"Still doubting me?" Sending a triumphant grin in her direction, Muzui sat on the ground exhausted.

"Yeah yeah, dumb luck," Yuna rolled her eyes while laughing herself. It was a close call for them, any longer and they would've certainly been caught. If it weren't for Muzui's quick thinking, then they would've been monster chow. "My legs feel so numb right now, hahahaha."

"Yeah, I won't be running for a while," saying that, Muzui seemed to have noticed something and shot a glance at the dog beside him. It wasn't moving and was weakly laying on the ground while looking at Muzui, "Oi oi, what's the matter boy?" He stood up to inspect the dog but it only gave a soft whimper.

"What's wrong? Is he alright?" Picking up the situation, Yuna looked over at the dog's pale complexion, the life from its body was slowly fading as its eyes remained open.

"Dammit...we came to save you because you called out to us," Muzui wore a displeased looked as he stared at the dog's condition. Soyu weakly nudged his arm, it was asking to be petted on the head which he did, as he was patting it, his face had a shadow cast on it. Soyu's head stayed low for a long time as Muzui petted him, "Good boy."

Yuna and the child stare at the dog's body for a while, both had sad expressions. It was thanks to this dog that they found this little girl, and without him, they wouldn't have had found a survivor. Holding the

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