Fading Echo

Chapter 3: The journey begins

It's really difficult to translate this story :D But let's see if it makes sense...

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"Why did you take it with us?", Jerud asked in bewilderment.

"She's interesting!", smiled the other one. "Remember what her family told us about her? Weak, devoid of any magical ability. You saw what she did, too!"

"It is dead." Jerud slowly emphasized each word. "If it cannot be redeemed, which is obviously the case, we have to destroy it."

His partner shook his head with a dismissive gesture.

"She's not a vengeful spirit!"

Jerud groaned. "Well, you've bound a ghost to you, Kelsu, and now what? It wasn't very cooperative or friendly towards you to begin with, so what lets you think it's gonna change its mind, when it finds out you trapped it in your ring? Why would you think it would be a great idea to take an angry ghost, which is in denial about its own death, and take it for a walk?"

Kelsu, with his light grey eyes, looked offended at him.

"Save your sarcasm", he grumbled. "She's special and I'm going to help her find peace."

He untied his braid, then tied his fair hair in the exactly same way again, only to realize that he wasn't happy with the result. Restlessly he repeated the last few hand movements, but he remained unhappy and nervous.

They were silent again and followed the forest path which would lead them to the main street to the city.

Although "forest" was an exaggeration on closer inspection. It was more of an artificial park, where several tombs of the richest families had been built between the trees.

It didn't make sense to him why they planted so many trees at one place. Anybody with even just a little bit of common sense avoided the forest.

During the day and on the paths, everyone was safe. The town's priests came regularly to renew the wards and it was a rare occurrence, that there were...accidents.

Most people were reasonable enough to avoid dangerous places, like this one.

On the other side of the wards were always shadows scurrying over the ground and trunks, and he knew with absolute certainty that they were watching him with their invisible eyes. They waited for a misstep, for a moment he was distracted.

Even small children were taught to avoid the darkness and forests.

There were way more creatures out there which could threaten them, than just shadows. Every child, even the ones with only a hint of magical abilities, learned how to draw a protective circle around themselves and other people. Their survival depended on it in case they were unfortunate enough to be separated from their parents.

Or getting lost in an area with failing protection spells, because they were foolish enough to leave the safe perimeter of the city to play "warrior".

The only good thing about this man-made park was, that it was dead.

Holding up his ring, as if he could see the ghost inside, Kelsu murmured: "She has chosen a task that has nothing to do with her death."

Jerud had already anticipated a continuation of their discussion. Kelsu wouldn't stop reasoning with him until he had given him an absolution. He wasn't in the mood for something like that.