In The End

Section 1: Chapter 5

After a couple of days of travelling, Silvana could feel herself getting stronger. That day, she'd realised that rations were running low. She felt guilty that Naoki was giving her much more than he was leaving for himself. But the rations were only made for one person for about a week.. She'd asked Naoki to hide in the background, stay as quiet as possible, and he'd agreed. She scattered her portion of the rations on the ground and waited. Soon, a big fat bird came and pecked at it. She shot it straight through the heart.
They ate well that night. Silvana had gutted the bird and had set her hands on fire and had Naoki roast it on a spit. Naoki didn't look happy she was using magic, so soon after she'd collapsed, but magical fire had no smoke. Someone could see smoke from above, travelling in one of their metal birds.
Neither of them liked their meal. Sure, to Silvana it was the best food she'd eaten in this world, which wasn't saying much. Yet, this fowl was too tough and tasteless. It wasn't tender and juicy like the diku birds back in her world. She could see Naoki trying to choke the bird down and sighed. Game was a very strong, somewhat acquired taste, especially if you were reared on the tasteless potatoes and spam she'd been served in the tent. Eventually, after they'd finished their meal, and felt almost warm and almost comfortable, she felt like she had to ask him,
"So what happened, that night that I rescued you? What were you doing?"

................

"It should have been just another mission. The higher ups planned it, and it wasn't working. But because we were still close we were told to wait and try again. That backfired in our face. By then, the enemy had shown up with reinforcements. There was about a hundred of us. But the enemy was better prepared and managed to split us up. And four of them found me. Struggling was useless and then... "
He couldn't really get himself to finish the sentence. The memories and flashbacks hit him, feelings of pain and weakness. He was slowly dying, and he could do nothing about it.
" if it weren't for you, I'd be a pile of bones by now. "

...............

Silvana sighed, and placed her arm around his shoulders. That guy had some serious emotional shit going on. A bit like her. "The higher ups really have no perspective from up there," said Silvana gently, "They're so high up that they look down at us and all they see are ants, made to do their work, and they forget that we suffer and feel and die just like them. I'll tell you how I came here. I signed up to join the Rangers. Did a really good job, passed the tests, everything," Then she stopped, and looked at her arms, "They even went through the decorating ceremony. And then, they found this."
Silvana rolled up her trouser, to expose the mark on her ankle. Even looking at it brought back painful memories. When she'd been initiated as a Deathstalker, Argenta had handed her the branding iron.
"Prove that you want this,"
Silvana closed her eyes and pressed the iron onto her skin. The pain was intense beyond belief. She managed not to scream, but a small tear had inadvertently trickled out the corner of her eye. She ignored the pain, and held the iron in place. Eventually, she removed it, trying not to look at her ankle. The pain didn't ease much, and the stench of burning flesh made her feel nauseous. She'd handed the iron back to Argenta, wiping the tears from her face.
Silvana traced her finger across it. The area was a mass of scar tissue, in the shape of a skull with an arrow through it.. Surrounding it was their motto. She had held the iron steady, and the letters were just about discernable.
"Mortarcha an, alennaea Mortacha." she said, putting as much malice into those foreign words as possible, "That was our motto. Once a Deathstalker, always a Deathstalker."
Silvana had taken Argenta's hand and repeated those words to her, before passing out from the pain. Her formal training had began, shortly after that.
"We Deathstalkers kill people. The Rangers couldn't have someone like that. So they let me go, and I drank myself into a stupor and tried to forget about it. I remember walking into that portal, not caring if I died. Then, there was nothing to live for. But now," she said, looking at Naoki, "Back then, when I was dying, I found I didn't want to. I think you saved me then in more ways than you think."