NOVA

I watched her from my peripheral view as she pulled one of her arrows out from an elven bandits skull.

She'd been steadily recovering for two days now, only having the ocassional pains every now and again.

Esk pulled on her bowstring,checking its durability.

We stood in a vast sea of elven bodies. A group of marauders attacked us mere minutes ago, demanding our money. They fled in terror at the sight of me, but Esk was able to pick them off with her bow. One by one, they each fell by her hand, and I barely needed to raise a finger.

She'd become formidable, a stark contrast to the first time we'd met.

"You just going to stare at me all day Nove?" She asked,smiling at me.

"No. I wish, I'm just wondering who taught you to shoot so well."

Esk chuckled, "Some dumb Commander I know."

We walked through the woods,keeping our eye's out for any signs of elves. We had been outlawed now for three days, and almost every elf on the continent of Elysium wanted us dead.

"I feel like I should've killed Alisha when I had the chance."

"You're better than that love...I know you are. It's why I stopped you."

"I know Esk, I just..."

My eye's fell on her wound. It had healed up rather nicely, but the pain had barely subsided. I could tell by her subtle grimaces with each step she took, that Eskarina still felt pain.

"I feel guilty...we came here to avenge Elena...and now I'm empty handed. I feel like Elena died for nothing. She was just...killed."

"Hey, what happened wasn't your fault Nova...and Alisha, she's a bitch no doubt,but we need to be better."

I didn't know how to...do better. Killing, fighting...that was all I knew. Esk saw something in me, something I couldn't see in myself.

She saw potential to be better,but I...I had trouble seeing that.

We rested under the cover of night,with the stars as the roof over our heads.

She cuddled beside me, placing her head on my chest.

I kissed her head softly and she snuggled into me.

"Someones cuddly tonight."

"Can I not cuddle with you anymore Nove?"

"I never said that...I love cuddles,they're great...I was just saying."

"Really?" She asked with a smirk. "Sounded like you were expecting something a little more..."

"Don't be ridiculous."

She laughed and gave me a punch on my chest.

"I'll tickle you?"

"Don't even try it." I said,glaring at her.

Esk poked my stomach,making me yelp slightly. "Or what?"

I smirked back and poked her nose bridge gently.

To my suprise,she opened her mouth and tried to bite on my finger. I quickly drew my finger away,her teeth snapping back together.

"I'm going to get you someday."

"Dream on farm girl...dream on."

We lay there together,in silence,staring at the stars above us.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I asked.

"The night sky?"

"Yeah."

Multi colored stars littered the skies above us,some were red, some were purple, some were snow white.

The moon shone brightly, lighting up the darkness as if it were almost day. Creatures of the night all round us, chirping, singing, the joyful atmosphere was intoxicating.

Fireflies carelessly flew round us. I watched Esk's eye's light up in bewilderment. She poked at the fireflies,who darted away from her finger but still hovered round us.

"They're pretty!"

"They are."

She sat up, groaning while she stretched, the sound of her bones clicking as she relaxed rang in my ears.

"Hey Nove? You said you wanted to tell me something."

"I also said I wasn't really...ready to tell you."

"Oh...I mean that's okay."

"What's bothering you?"

She sighed,shrugging as she lay back on my chest.

"Nothing love. I just thought...after what happened...maybe you'd be a little more comfortable around me."

"It's not that I'm not comfortable Esk...I'm just not ready to tell you yet..."

I pushed her chin up so she could look into my eye's and I into hers. "But I promise,as soon as we are both ready,not just me, I will tell you. Okay?"

"Okay...I'm sorry I'm just a little anxious. I don't know what you're going to say so I'm scared,just a little."

I could say the same thing about you...you scare the crap out of me when you do that sometimes.

"Esk,If anything's wrong,I promise I'll tell you. It's not anything bad that I have to say...I just don't think right now is the best time to tell you."

"You promise?"

"I promise." I said,chuckling.

Eskarina and I slept through the night without any issues. The wilds of Elysium were nothing like that of the North. They never held any hostile monsters, or anything that desperately wanted us as food in its belly.

I welcomed the change with open arms.

The next morning,we continued to make our way toward an imperial outpost.

My mission,as I saw it, was complete. I found Alisha...and while I hadn't avenged Elena as I'd hoped, Esk made me realise that revenge would only cause more issues.

"Just a few more miles and we'll be at an outpost." I said.

Esk kept a well pace ahead of me, then suddenly stopped in her tracks.

When I approached, I witnessed something I had seen countless times before.

A mass field of corpses. Flies,zipping and whizzing around. Maggots infesting the soil and rotting bodies of the men who lay scattered across the earth. Worms writhing in the mud.

The earth was made muddy,not by water or rain,but rather by the sheer amount of blood which nearly flooded the aftermath of what must have been a bloody battle. Elves and men alike lay strewn across the field of battle, the fog of war hung ominously in the air.

Broken arrows,fallen swords,shattered shields, the tattered banners which bore the emblem of the Northern Empire and The Elven Empire alike, all lay amongst the fields of the dead.

Hundreds of corpses were ahead of us,the inviting smell of the beautiful forests of Elysium were behind us, and the putrid scent of death filled our nostrils.

Esk was pale. She didn't move.

"This...this is what the war is like?"

It occured to me then,that she had never seen a battlefield before. She'd never felt the desperation of a true fight. The adrenaline of battle. And she had never seen the horrors which came after.

She was being hit with the harsh reality of what she had signed up for when joining the army. Not only fighting Revenants. I knew by the look on her face,that she now understood that she was,above all, a soldier of the northern army. Which meant at any time, she could very well participate in one of these skirmishes...and could end up one of the corpses.

"Why does no one bury them?"

"All of these? Esk...no one is going to bury any of the dead who die on the battlefield. No one comes back for them. The soldiers don't want to return to this...horror, and the citizens...how harrowing would it be for someone to see a loved one in this? Dying in piss,secretion? Missing limbs,sometimes barely recognising their own kin because of how disfigured they could be. Maybe they were decapitated in battle and their head is buried beneath all of this? War is nothing like they describe it in the books or bards tales. No generals giving inspiring speeches to men, no happy endings. Rape,pillaging,burning villages,poverty,famine,disease...This is the reality of what being a soldier,what being in the army is."

She didn't move for a few minutes. Eventually,she lost her stomach, throwing up,only adding to the grotesque image before us.

I gave her back some light hits to help her get it all out of her system.

"This smell...it's not even gross it's atrocious!" She cried.

I held her close to me as she walked over the corpses,sometimes stumbling over a dismembered arm or trudging onto a severed head. Their bones crunched beneath our boots.

When we had made it over the corpses, we saw nothing but deforestation,before the woods finally continued on.

"You...you've seen that, that, since you were seven?"

"Yep."

"And you've not gone mad how?"

I felt a bit uncomfortable with that question. I was scared to admit it, why I'd joined the army. The honest truth. Sure I needed the money but,deep down,I knew it was for something else. It was Esk though,she had told me I could trust her several times. And I had. I'd let her in. Trusted her again...especially after the cave.

So with a deep breath in, I spilt it.

"After I killed myself and it didn't work I found myself angry. Pissed. But also...lost in a sense. I told you I wanted to be a bard, a writer, but after all I did...I was left with the question of 'what now?' and becoming a bard just didn't seem right. I needed to get it out,but I couldn't express myself through music or writing anymore. After I stood up to my bullies,I realised fighting,killing was what I was good at. It was my purpose. So long as I had someone to slay, I had a reason to live.  That's how I stayed sane. Battles like the one behind us,became like a second home to me I guess..."

She looked at me with sadness in her eye's. I could tell,she would hate the life I lived.

"Nove...you know...I never admitted this,but I was nearly raped once."

What?

"There were men at Firekeep, and one day while my mother and I tried to get to the market,they stopped us...tried to-"

"I'm sorry...you don't have to go into detail."

Her head fell, and she moved closer to me.

"Mikael tried to do it as well..."

"I remember..."

"I've never really...gotten over it. It didn't happen to me,like it did to you,but it almost did..."

"Doesn't make it any less of a harrowing experience Esk..."

I held her close,trying my best to comfort her.

After awhile,she seemed to be able to walk on her own again,but I can tell she was still deeply bothered by what she had seen.

"Nove...what happened in the cave..."

I admit,my face went red and I had to fight to keep myself calm. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry...if it was awkward? That's one of the reasons why I was so reluctant..."

"No I understand...it's why I was a bit shy too."

"I'm sorry if I've made things awkward now-I didn't mean to."

"No no! It's okay Esk...really. Things aren't awkward."

We saw the garrison in the distance,which loomed ahead,giving us a spur of hope.

We moved faster towards it,our legs working overtime to try and get to the gates. Our progress was brought to a halt as the garrison alarm was sounded. Men,clad in steel plate came out to meet us,halberds in hand, the sun reflecting off of their armours breastplates.

They surrounded us, each directing the blade of their halberd toward Esk and I.

"What the fuck is going on?" I demanded.

"Commander Nova Vi Britannia."

A man appeared,his entire body covered in black steel. He flipped the visor of his helmet,making only his eye's visible.

"You are under arrest for the charges of high treason against the Empire of the North."

"What?!" Esk exclaimed.

The Garrison Commander chuckled as he walked toward me.

A pair of men grabbed Eskarina by her wrists,yanking her away from me.

I leapt to intervene,stopped by the Garrison Commander.

Then, I felt a strong blow against my skull. I saw the floor rising up to meet me as Esk's screams slowly died out in my ears.

I awoke,hours later,in a cell. Esk tapped my cheeks before slapping me with all her might.

I snapped wide awake,a bit too quickly.

I heard the ocean outside. The waves lapping against steel as we floated.

We were on a boat, a holding cell, strong steel doors kept us locked in. Shackles were around my wrist...but not Esk's.

"Nove,Nove you're awake!"

I held my hand up,trying to keep her from yelling. My head burst with pain, and the ache was only being made worse with Esk's yelling.

"Where are we?"

"An Imperial ship,their taking us back to the city."

She shuffled closer to me,placing her forehead against mine. "Nove please...whatever you had to tell me,tell me now."

"I can't Esk it's not-"

"Nova you don't have time anymore okay?!" Esk yelled,pounding her fists into my chest. "We don't have fucking time they're going to execute you!"

She sobbed,hitting me softer with each strike that landed before breaking down against my chest.

"I don't want you to be taken away from me...you're my friend."

Days passed, and Esk stayed with me. Every day she would look for a way out, even going so far as to try and seduce the guards. But they didn't fall for her antics.

Finally,after about two weeks of sailing,the ship came to a halt. I could hear people yelling outside, screaming profanities and hate.

The wardens footsteps were loud in my ears as the key to our cell was inserted and the door slowly creaked open.

"Eskarina Lyria. Come with us."

"Like hell I am!"

Esk stood up, her fists clenched.

The warden stepped back, and let a small child run inside. It was a girl, short, maybe eight,ten years old. She wrapped her arms round Eskarina,hugging her tight.

"Bilquise?"

"Eska! Momma and papa have been worried sick about you! There was a really bad man who tried to hurt us, and-"

"Who tried to hurt you?!" Eskarina demanded.

"If you want to see the rest of your family,you'd better follow us General Lyria."

Esk spied the warden, his long,white beard,frail body and old age made me wonder how he never had both feet in the grave already.

Eskarina looked back at me, and I gave her a nod.

"Go Esk..."

She left her sister and knelt down,placing her palm on my cheek.

"I swear I'll come back for you."

"Don't go making promises you can't keep Esk."

"I'm keeping this one." She said.

Esk left with her sister, and the men entered the room. They placed a gag over my mouth.

"We can't have you killing anyone Commander."

"He ain't no Commander. He's a fuckin monster is what he is. A revenant. An undead monster who deserves what's comin to im."

One of the soldiers pushed me out of my cell. I struggled to walk, my shackled feet making it difficult to walk.

"You know,that little double trick you did almost fucked us all. We all thought you were your brother! Caught him, and it was the Emperor knew right away he wasn't you. Not wearin black clothes,shorter hair,usin a fuckin rapier instead of his legendary blade Nightmare? Disobeyin and lyin to the Emperor of the Northern Empire. High fuckin treason the charge. Execution is what awaits you now."

They all yelled at me as I was led through the mob. They threw rotten food,mud, dirt and glass bottles my way.

"Fucking degenerate! You betrayed the Empire!"

"You got our princess murdered! Elena died because of you!"

I heard this, all the way to the palace,where I was forced into the palace dungeons.

It was dark, and I couldn't see anything,not even with my Revenant eye.

Darkness surrounded me, and I sat alone in the corner. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind,but one forced its way to the surface, to the forefront of my thoughts.

I'm going to be executed...

I'm going to die...

I never told Esk what I wanted to tell her...

And now...

Now I never will be able to.