The Burden of Destiny | Sequel to The Aura Within

08 | Valley of Greed

The whimpers of young children and the terrified faces of the horrified women filled the once vacant space of Arceus Temple. Innocent travelers were simply passing by, hoping to arrive at their destination by the end of the day. How did a mundane trip quickly turn into an attack by barbaric bandits? Why go through all this trouble for some gold coins?

From her place against the concrete wall, a young woman with disheveled braided ginger hair peeked over the jagged hole to see what was going on. Her russet eyes watched as one of the traveling men demanded the bandits to let go of their prisoners, only to be laughed at in return. She wasn't at all surprised to see that the traveling man attacked the nearest bandit out of rage. The poor man was suddenly cut down by a giant axe, causing the ginger woman to look away in dismay.

She knew that man. He was kind enough to allow her to stay with him and his family until they arrived at their next destination. Now, he's gone, leaving behind a widow and a fatherless daughter. She blamed herself, partially because she had the power to prevent it. However, if she were to reveal her powers now, in the sea of terrified prisoners, everything would become chaotic. A sorceress such as herself would receive the same treatment as those barbarians outside.

"S-Sister Soleil?"

The scared voice of the little girl she bonded with over the course of two months called out to her. Soleil pushed back the sadness she felt upon witnessing the murder of an innocent man before looking over at the little girl. It broke her heart seeing her young face stained with tears. As if this whole situation wasn't confusing and scary enough for her, she had yet to learn of her father's fate.

"Mina, where is your mother?" Soleil asked the child.

"Praying to Arceus," Mina answered. "I-I wanna go home. I want those scary men to leave us alone. W-Why can't they leave us alone?"

"We mustn't lose hope, Mina," the ginger woman assured. "Someone will come to help us. Those scary men will pay for what they have done."

"Papa must be worried sick..." Tears welled up in the child's eyes. "I wanna see Papa..."

Mina leaped into Soleil's arms and wept into her shoulder. Soleil rubbed the child's back to soothe her. What could she possibly do in this situation? Her two Pokémon were taken from her by those bandits along with her belongings. Not to mention that her magic would only make things worse. When Mina felt scared or doubtful, Soliel tried her best to keep the child's spirit up. However, knowing that her father was no longer alive, the woman found herself struggling to speak.

It was strange. They were within a temple where devotees of Arceus sent prayers to the mythical creature, and yet, with the situation in hand, many weren't hopeful that their divine protector could save them.

A commotion outside caught Soleil's attention. With Mina still in her arms, she looked through the jagged hole once again to see what was going on. Both bandits and travelers looked toward one direction. At what, she didn't know. It was out of her line of sight. Moments later, she watched as one of the bandits was blown back, a pool of blood suddenly forming under his lifeless body.

It seemed as though the commotion from outside snapped everyone out of their frightened state. Mina's weeps gradually went silent and her mother stopped praying. All eyes were now toward the entrance, where four bandits stood in the way of their freedom. The confused child looked up at Soleil for an explanation, only to be met with similar confused russet eyes.

What could be going on out there? she wondered as she held Mina protectively in her arms.

Shouts of orders were loud enough for everyone to hear. A stern, gruff voice demanded that those bandits release the women and children they're holding captive if they wished to have a lower sentence. It appeared that help came after all, and that voice must belong to the leader of whatever group made their way here. Based on the retaliations from the bandits, it was confirmed that the Rota Knights had come to their aid.