Reincarnated in Another World as a P. 1000 Ratte

Age of Strife: Phoenix

The smoke, the fires, the destruction. It had happened so soon and so quickly that the girl realized it hadn't even been that long since the last time she had seen something like this. The fortress, crushed to its very core, lay in the distance like a faded memory. 

The castle was all but gone, and every single one of the fortress's walls had openings big enough to build houses in. The garrison was nowhere to be seen, and in the short time she, the angel, and the creature had been there, no other survivors had left the ruins. 

A month ago, the girl would have felt guilty and uneasy at such merciless treatment of people, even if they were her enemies. But now? The sympathy she once held whenever she'd heal soldiers had diminished, especially for those on the opposite side of the battlefield. 

She didn't know why. Was it because all the death she had seen had made her numb? Was it because her enemy's tenacity had made her give up on all hope? Was it because she had finally seen a side to humanity too filled with blood?

It was remarkable to see what people would do just to kill one thing, and it was even more remarkable at how intensely that thing would lash out. No one and everyone seemed to be the aggressor at the same time, and the line between attacker and defender was blurring. 

The brutality, the merciless killing, the unforgiving ferociousness that comes with winning or losing a battle, and by extension, one's life. It was so much to absorb, yet it felt as if the girl had already done so. 

Whose side was she really on?

"Are you sure this is the right way?" the angel asked, peering at the surrounding landscape whilst floating above the creature.

"Y-Yes," the girl said. "T-The path splits into two p-parts. One of them leads to the h-heartland of the Veil Kingdom, b-but it's heavily guarded. The s-second one goes through a mountain pass. I-It's a lot longer than the other one, but it's very f-flat and very wide. Most merchants avoid using that path to c-cut costs."

The angel nodded. "Very well. If you believe you know what you are doing, then we will too." One of the creature's snouts nodded as well in an act to stir confidence within the girl. She appreciated the attempt, but the need to move onwards made her nervousness stay. 

*          *          *

Rock walls towered over the group as mountain peaks reached into the sky like stretched, skinny arms. Outcroppings were few and far between along the mostly smooth mountain faces, and a deep drop on the other side had small bushes on its dimly lit slope. 

The grey clouds lingered from above, just fluffy enough to not make the sky rain and just dense enough to make their shadows blend with the ones on the ground. A blanket of sorts, one that is neither warm nor cold. 

There was nothing living in sight, and even the spider webs in little nooks and corners showed no signs of their occupants. While the path they were on was as the girl had described, it had odd color variations splotched at random points. 

"It would seem that this path has gone unused for quite some time," the angel said as a small breeze failed to make her hair sway. The girl looked around in slight awe. 

"I-It's my first time here too," she admitted. "It l-looks so different from what the maps described." The creature's tracks crushed the only rock sticking out of the ground. "I hope the maps were r-right about how far the path really goes."

"Eyes on the road, child." The angel put her helmet back on. "Not on my hair. There's no need to split your attention on 2 different things." Surprise was written on the girl's face as she looked away.