Before the Battle

Reckoning 13/20

--Taira--

On our way up the river, we came across an abandoned shrine.

It was an ancient structure and all that was left of it were massive columns, a few stone walls, cascading stairs and the remains of a collapsed gate.

I tried to picture what this sacred place must have looked like centuries ago.

From the gate with two posts and two crossbeams, to the stone and wood structure, surrounded by smaller altars where the worshippers brought their floral offerings and wrote their wishes on little cards.

It was just like my grandmother used to tell me. But the beliefs and rituals, like many other traditions, gradually faded from this land.

The loud roar of the river was barely a murmur here, and a strange quiet energy and peace emanated from the place.

I entered the main building between stone walls, some damaged, some still standing. Only parts of the sloping roof remained, most of it already collapsed, so instead of a ceiling, the overcast sky peered over our heads.

I ran my fingers along one of the remaining lichen-covered walls, feeling the symbols carved into the stone beneath my fingers.

"Can you read them?" I asked Shira, who was close behind me.

He looked at the indistinct symbols, hundreds of years old.

"I think it's a prayer for fallen warriors," he said after studying the inscription for a while. "For their souls to find peace."

I looked at the symbols again and a strange, indescribable sensation washed over me.

"Do you believe in the immortality of the soul?"

"This is not the time for a theological debate."

"No, probably not. I just..." I turned to him and, driven by an inexplicable urge, took his hand and pressed it to my heart. "I'd like to think that there's something more, something beyond human understanding. That our meeting was fate, that no matter what happened, the force that brought us together would not allow something as trivial as death to tear us apart."

He looked at me for a moment, clearly taken aback by my words.

"Why are you saying such things? Why do you even think about it?" He asked. "Don't worry, Taira, I won't let anything happen to you."

Maybe it was this place. Maybe it was the tiredness, the fighting for life and all the killing and dying around us. Maybe that was why I had these thoughts.

"We only narrowly escaped from that ship, I almost got hit by the river today. We've been lucky so far, but anything can happen, it just..."

"No," he interrupted, hugging me tightly. "No one will take you from me," he whispered, hot breath tickling my cheek. "Nothing will come between us. Remember that."

We stayed like that for a while, in a tight embrace, drawing strength from each other.

And because fate loved irony, a few minutes later, right there, we found ourselves caught in their trap.

*

Only through his sixth sense and intuition did Shira realise that something was wrong.

"Wait," he stopped me before I could leave the stone walls of the shrine.

Then he looked out carefully.

"They're everywhere," he said darkly. "They are surrounding us on all sides."

"What?" I gasped, my stomach tightening.

Really. It looked bad. Very bad. They were coming at us from everywhere, from the river in the south, from the forest in the north, there were many of them.