The first incident, or rather, streak of incidents occurred on the third day of their travels. Heading eastward, Ega and Ella were deep into a forest, possibly another day or two before they’d break through to the other end.


    Autumn leaves were falling like usual, however, there was something off about the forest. Ega’s eyes were sharp enough to spot the discrepancy from far away, bandits sitting in the brushes and behind trees, ready to ambush them.


    It didn’t matter how still they stood nor how well they blended themselves into the forest, his eyes could catch even the tiniest details. Turning over to Ella, he wanted to test her.


    “Do you see them?”


    Confused, Ella looked around.


    “Keep your head still.” Holding it in place, he directed her gaze straight forward. “Move your eyes slowly and focus. Don’t blur your own vision by moving it around so much.”


    Ella began to focus, trying to catch anything strange among the foliage. After a minute, she had finally noticed something.


    “Ah!” Just as she was about to point it out, Ega stopped her.


    “Don’t make it obvious. Don’t let them know that you know.” There was still a decent amount of distance between them, so they couldn’t hear him talking yet. After getting close enough for Ega to use his bow, he pulled on the reins, halting the horses.


    “Let’s set up here for today.” He said, winking at Ella. “Go get the supplies behind the boxes, I’ll go hunting.”


    Understanding his signal, she crawled to the back of the wagon, taking cover behind the boxes. Once she was in a safe space, Ega pulled the bow and quiver of arrows from his soul sack. He fumbled around, trying to make it seem like he was inexperienced with his equipment.


    Sensing that their guard had dropped enough, once he fastened the quiver to his waist, he swiftly drew an arrow and shot it straight toward the bandits. As the arrow pierced through the skull of one of the bandits, the other eleven froze for a few seconds, unsure of what to do.


    Their position had been revealed and just from that one arrow, they could tell that Ega wasn’t just a normal merchant. Still, they couldn’t turn back now, not with their supplies running so thin.


    “All at once!” At their leader’s words, a few of the bandits began to spread out and charge forward to strike at all of his angles. The others stood back, shooting arrows to try and pin Ega down.


    Slipping the bow back into his quiver, he drew his mithril sword for the first time and deflected the flying arrows. Just by the speed of the arrows and the pace that the bandits were charging at him, Ega didn’t even bother to mix any souls.


    Rather than let all the bandits strike him all at the same time, he charged forward, disrupting their formation. Picking off a group to his left, Ega clashed blades with them, and in just a few movements, he had stained his sword red.


    Their blades were shoddy, their teamwork was lacking, and worst of all, their skills were subpar. They had hoped to bring Ega down with sheer numbers, but after seeing three of their comrades fall in just a few seconds, they were beginning to doubt their odds.


    Weaving in between the volley of arrows, Ega started to charge at another group only to be stopped by one of the bandits. Their swords clashed, and just from the way the sound resonated through the air, he could tell that the person before them was their leader.


    “Scatter!” As he held on for dear life to hold Ega’s sword back, he issued another command.


    Although they were hesitant to leave their leader behind, there was nothing else they could do, not in the face of such a monstrous opponent.


    As Ega began to overwhelm their leader with just his pure strength, suddenly, he couldn’t push his blade down any further. The bandit’s eyes had changed, twisting into a more animalistic form.


    ‘Shallow.’ Ega thought, unconcerned by the change.


    Kneeing the bandit in the groin, he swung his sword again, trying to cut him down as he was stunned. Unfortunately, the bandit was used to dirty moves like that and quickly moved out of the way of his blade.


    With just a moment to breathe, the bandit took the opportunity to use the tricks in his bags. Just before Ega could slash at him, he threw an entire bag full of self igniting smoke bombs onto the ground.


    Although Ega could move his blade just before the entire area was enveloped in smoke, his rushed strike was quickly parried.


    ‘Shit.’ Not wanting to let him get away, he quickly mixed the soul of a snake into his own.


    Seeing the bandits heat signature, Ega was just about to chase after him only to stop himself. Swinging his head toward the carriage and Ella, he decided to return back to her. Whether they had actually retreated or faked one to try and strike at the carriage, he didn’t want to take the risk.


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    Returning back to the carriage, Ega scanned the area only to find it empty of bandits. Ella was poking her head over the crates of supplies, having watched the entirety of his fight.


    “What were you looking at so intently?” He asked, seeing the sparkle in her eyes.


    “I was just watching you fight.”


    Strange. For watching bandits getting slaughtered, sparkling eyes was the last thing he had expected from a little girl. Maybe he had trained her a little too much.


    “Look away next time, I don’t want you to see all of that.”


    “But, you were so cool. You took care of them like this, and this.” She copied the way that he had shot an arrow and swung his sword.


    ‘What a strange thing to be excited about.’ He thought. Still, it wasn’t like Ega was any better when he was younger.


    In a way, he understood her excitement. Witnessing strength and power, it was only natural to want to obtain it as well. But that wasn’t everything in this world, far from it. Maybe Ega would have to teach her that some day or maybe she’d figure that all on her own.


    “Just keep training and you’ll be able to do the same.” Flicking the blood off of his blade, Ega turned back toward bodies of the bandits that he had killed.


    The smoke had cleared, and now it was time to clean up. Keeping himself ready just in case the bandits returned, Ega gathered up the bodies of the four men that he had killed, one with an arrow, and three with his sword. Ella watched, curious at what he was doing.


    Sensing this, he began to explain. “Soul ceremony for all four.”


    “Even though…”


    “Yes, even though they tried to kill us. Everyone deserves a proper ceremony, even if it isn’t very grand.” Ega lived by that rule. It didn’t matter who’s body it was, if it seemed like no one else would do it, he would.


    Of course, he wasn’t some Soul Shaman roaming the world for bodies that needed a ceremony, but if it was convenient, he’d do it. There was also a fear that stemmed from certain outcomes when leaving bodies to rot on its own.


    Parts of the soul still clings to the flesh and bones, giving the opportunity for animals to try and take it for their own. Beasts with a soul realm were tough to deal with, and giving the opportunity for one to be made was not on Ega’s to-do-list.


    There was also another issue with leaving a body with pieces of a soul out in the wild,


    and that was corruption. When souls slowly detach themselves from the material world, especially when it is happening for multiple different souls, they begin to blend and mix in the air.


    A corrupted soul could form, creating a truly monstrous being. Death, when unattended to, could bring great corruption. There was already an entire piece of land which served as a lesson to such laziness; The Valley of Fractured Souls.


    It was an old warzone where dead bodies continued to pile upon each other, each one never receiving a proper parting ceremony. War also meant its soldiers would make desperate attempts for survival, the most common being mixing too many or mixing them too finely into one’s own soul, causing a fracture.


    A valley filled with horrendous monsters and mindless beasts with fractured souls, it had a deadzone, a place where you would only find death. That valley fed off itself. Death feasted upon death as more and more monsters would die and be remade into a different monster.


    Since then, wars would be fought with a crate full of nova burst petals at the ready. In a way, the smell of those petals was closely tied to the smell of war.


    “Do you understand now?” Ega asked as he lit the bodies on fire.


    Ella nodded her head, still trying to process all that he said. He didn’t expect her to understand it all, but at the least, he wanted to expose her to more common knowledge. Internally deciding that he’d tell her more stories, they watched as the four souls departed from their world.


    Returning back to the front seat, Ega shook the reins, signaling the horses forward. Keeping his eyes focused on the road, Ella was catching the falling leaves by his side, trying her best to collect the right combination of leaves.


    They traveled until the sky was stained orange. Setting up camp was simple, just a fire was enough with the carriage acting as their shelter. After eating dinner, Ella quickly fell asleep leaving Ega to watch the night.


    Looking up to the sea of stars, he admired them for a moment. A beautiful, endless sight, but one which hid the greatest threat of all; Outers. Maybe he had jinxed himself, because just as Ega thought of them, a purple streak began to dart across the starry sky.


    His heart began to beat a little faster as he witnessed the sight of Outers descending. This wasn’t the start of the calamity, he knew that, or rather, the piece of Yolu knew that. Those monsters came down to them now and again, but they would be taken care of in due time.


    Usually Yolu would have taken care of them, but with their guardian gone, it was up to them to take care of it on their own.


    Watching them travel, Ega watched it with baited breath, praying that they wouldn’t land near him. As it moved farther and farther, he let out a sigh of relief knowing that they wouldn’t be anywhere near his position.


    Still, he kept his eyes alert for any changes both in the forest around him and the skies above him. It might have been a bit much, afterall, what were the chances that Outers descend so close to them?


    But Ega thanked himself dearly for his cautiousness, for a few hours later, another purple streak began to draw itself across the sky’s canvas, and it was landing close to Ega. Way too close.


    As he watched the black mass enter the atmosphere and crash onto the earth, he could feel his heart racing. The Outers had landed maybe a few hundred kilometers away from him, and although it wasn’t toward the direction they were headed, they had landed parallel to their path.


    They could roam toward his position. A few hundreds of kilometers was nothing to those creatures who knew no pain nor exhaustion. Maybe paranoia was beginning to take an irrational hold onto him, but Ega felt the need to move.


    Waking up the horses, he tied them back to the carriage. Putting out the fire, he quickly kicked the horses into action. Although he wouldn’t be able to scan the road and forest as well moving through the night, it was better than sitting around and dreading the arrival of Outers.


    The sudden movement had woken Ella up, and just as she was about to get up, Ega eased her back to sleep.


    “Don’t worry, just sleep. I figured we’d make some more space between those bandits.”


    Not wanting to worry her, he spoke as calmly as he could. There were a hundred different fears and concerns running through his mind, but he tried to suppress them, to rationalize the entire situation. However, it didn’t matter how much he tried to calm himself down, for there would be much more to deal with very soon.