The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

 Zaos and many other soldiers stayed on some wagons on the back of the group that was running away. They were ready for battle, but they were only lookouts even though they saw the enemies in the distance. They weren't planning to start a fight anytime soon after the first failed attempts.

 Although Zaos was ready for some action, the wound on his arm still was bothering him. Taking the steel arrow from his arm had been even more painful than when he was hit. Still, even though he used Heal several times to close the wound and even prevented a lot of blood from being lost, it seemed that the arrow damaged his circulatory system. That wasn't something that magic could heal as fast as ordinary wounds.

 Fortunately, after a few days of rest, they finally arrived at the northern base, but not before they could pass by some towns and abandoned villages. Those scenes made all the soldiers feel miserable like they had failed in their duty. Regardless, the Northern base was filled with refugees and soldiers. So, the mood was pretty tense there as well. Those who were heavily wounded entered the base first, and then the others went. It didn't take long for Zaos to find Drannor amidst the recruits that were resting near the entrance. Although Zaos wanted to take a bath, he approached him since even Drannor was making a miserable face for a change.

"You look like crap," Drannor said.

"You are one to talk," Zaos said.

"We faced some enemies in the East as well," Drannor said. "We didn't stop them for even two days… I lost half of my squad once again."

"My squad received the order to pass the message to the villages in the area," Zaos said. "So, I assumed that they were fine, but… many other soldiers lost their lives trying to hold that bridge… around fifteen hundred."

"The situation is even worse than the one of last year…" Drannor said. "I fought so hard until I was covered in the enemies' blood, but it looked like I didn't do anything in the grand scale of things."

 Drannor changed quite a lot in the last few days. Although it was only obvious, Zaos couldn't help but feel surprised. He managed to overcome the hard times after losing several squad members, but it looked like things this time were worse than before. Probably because he was feeling guilty since, just like Zaos, he trained his squad, even when a veteran soldier wasn't looking after them.

 While a troubling silence was around them, a redhead girl approached them and then bowed slightly in front of Zaos. It was the Alchemist's granddaughter… Zaos had forgotten about her, but it seems that her complexion improved during the trip. After seeing that many people lost their lives and their homes, she was finally taking the first steps to recover from her losses as well.

"At least it looks like you got popular," Drannor said while showing a tired smile.

"You can still joke about that, huh," Zaos said.

"What is her name?" Drannor asked.

"I don't know, we didn't exactly talk a lot since she was mourning her grandfather's death," Zaos replied. "I just got out of her house when I noticed that she didn't leave because it was thanks to the potions that she gave me that I was able to survive amidst that… hell."

 Drannor nodded. From the very beginning, he knew that the life of a soldier wasn't an easy one. He knew that he would see many friends dying close to him, but he got tired of it much sooner than expected… reality was much harsher. Drannor realized that because of the stories about war heroes, many important things were kept hidden in order not to scare possible new recruits. That seemed like a sad way to fool kids who wanted to give better lives for their families. Still, given that he had been trained since an early age and now was wondering if he would endure that kind of thing for long, Drannor couldn't help but accept it.

"I am going to clean myself and then sleep a little," Zaos said. "I need to be ready for when the next battle starts."

 Drannor noticed the glow in Zaos's eyes before he left. He was tired of seeing allies dying near him as well, but he wasn't even close to giving up. In fact, he looked even more fired up for the battle. That usually would cheer Drannor up, but that only made him feel sad. He didn't dare to tell Zaos about a certain thing…

 Zaos thought he would see his squad members as soon as he approached his room, but the place was completely empty. They probably were working somewhere since the number of people in the base was higher than usual. Regardless, after cleaning his body and doing the same with his clothes during the next hour. After doing that, Zaos laid on his bed, and the fights of the past week happened all over again on his head. Seeing so many people dying vividly in his memories was pretty disturbing, but that only made Zaos think about more ways to get stronger. Still, after a while, he fell asleep and only woke up the next day at noon, and only thanks to the fact that someone knocked on his door.

 Zaos quickly got up since it was evident that he had more than overslept considering how thirsty and hungry he was. Still, he relaxed a little when he saw his captain in front of his door.

"Sir, it is good to see you again," Zaos said.

"Yeah, sit down," Elius said. "We have our new orders."

 Elius' tone seemed a bit off the usual. Another thing that made him frown was the fact that he was avoiding Zaos's eyes. Still, he obeyed his captain, and then Elius said after taking a deep breath.

"Good job on defending the bridge," Elius said. "Your squad members also did an excellent job alerting the villages and escorting the refugees."

"That reminds me, I didn't see them yet," Zaos said.

"… And you won't," Elius said. "They were selected to help with the evacuation once they returned to the base. They helped in the evacuation of the towns on the Western side of the region, but while they were doing that, they were ambushed by some mercenaries and followers of the demon god… they died protecting the villagers."