Necromancer's Descent

52 - Massacre & Mages

Nao / Rosalin's Point of View

I feel nausea building up at the sight, from the flashbacks to the battlefield where I woke up. The tree-line I never reached. I feel like I'm standing on that tree-line right now.

One of those worms might be there.

Or the rat made out of insects.

Or whatever else massacred an entire army.

I might be able to stop them with words, but that's only if I realize that they're there, and probably only if they can hear me.

"You're finally awake."

I look to Mia. Where once she seemed such a big threat to me, suddenly she looks a lot smaller. We are eight people. Are we going to kill something that so many people couldn't?

Is she?

A creeping feeling of realization hits me, as I look at Mia. The understanding why the knights, soldiers, healers and villagers despise Mia's little luxuries. 

It's because those little 'flaws' make her human.

She's not larger than life, the way you hope a hero of legends to be.

And I don't mean larger than life as in just flamboyant, interesting or charming. I mean as a person so impressive that they take on a mythical personal. Someone whose existence is so large, that it seems impossible for them to just be human.

She's not making them believe that's she's enough to face something that's probably beyond their understanding. If you can't endure healing the wounded soldiers, and demanding your rest, then can you face day-long battles out in that?

She might be able to, but right in this second, after everything that happened in the castle, I doubt it. And that's the problem.

"Lady Mia. Thank you for worrying about me."

I feel like Mia forces a smile, but I look away, back to the desert. Keeping up appearances after realizing something like that is difficult.

I understand that 'larger than life' is mostly just an impossible ideal. However, it's not impossible to appear that way. If it's just the illusion, then it's not something people haven't done before. But Mia doesn't even try. Had it been peace time, that might have been applauded... but this is a war, over the existence of humanity, right? At least to some extent...

"You don't look so well. Is it after effects of the torture illusion?"

"No... the desert reminds me of the battlefield south of Avenfort..."

"South, ah, you mean the meadows?"

Meadows?

I look to Mia, who looks more curious than horrified or disgusted.

"There were meadows there?"

Does it even matter? You can't see the ground from bodies!

"Yes?... ah, I see, since the demons have it, it's a desert like this because the demons suck out all the mana from the land."

She looks like she's gained a realization. While her words explain why there is desert here, I wouldn't have known if there was or wasn't grass on that battlefield.

"You... haven't seen it?"

Mia tilts her head.

"Seen what?"

"That battlefield..."

Mia's blue eyes look at me with seeming ignorance.

"I haven't. We completed the mission and returned to the capital. But a battlefield is a battlefield. I've seen plenty before. No reason to go look at a few strewn about bodies."