Chapter 2: A Warrior's Sin

Angel tossed another log into the fire, which sparked and greedily devoured the log. He sat back against his pack and looked at the sleeping girl on the other side of the fire.

Angel sighed, "After only a day of walking she is completely exhausted. Is this what royalty is?" He looked up at the night sky, blinking at the stars that glimmered at him. He slumped down and laid his head against the bag, putting his hands on behind his head for comfort.

"This is so troublesome. I have to walk across the continent with this pampered girl or I will be on the run from the law," he said disdainfully. He heard the girl mumble something and roll over, he looked over at her, "What?" The girl rustled in her blankets and sleepily mumbled, "Nooo... no more… writing… I just want… another… piece of…" and she trailed off into her sleep. Angel smirked, he stood up and stretched his arms. He grabbed his sword and walked from the campsite and into the forest.

The darkness... The cool hard shade that cloaks those in the night. This is what Angel knows best. That, and battle.
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Amur Province, last year...

"Chief Kryt!" Angel yelled running to his commander. Through the mud and hard ground that has been stamped down through all the soldiers charging, marching and fighting. The land is completely barren. Bodies were on top of bodies, weapons and armor pieces are strewn everywhere. Angel ran as fast as he could, the Rotheran emblem scarf around his neck flew behind him. His eyes darted to the side, spying one of his comrades crawling with only just one arm, over the top of the other fallen. An Amur soldier was over him cackling, adorned with the green light armor of the region. He raised his spear high and thrusted it down, piercing the back of the downed Rotheran soldier.

Angel quickly made a beeline toward the spearman and thrusted toward him. The spearman dodged to the side and whipped the hard stick toward Angel's face. Angel ducked and made a wild horizontal slash at the soldiers lower chest, the soldier's top half fell to the ground while the legs stood standing. Blood spattered all over the ground and Angel himself. Though blood was already all over him by now. Angel began his ascent up a hill toward the chief who was fighting with two green clad soldiers from Amur. Angel thrusted his sword through the heart of one soldier from behind. The soldier fell to the ground lifelessly. Angel looked down at the soldier, noticing that he was quite young.

He heard a scream and swung around to see the Chief on his knees and a sword was in his shoulder. The soldier grabbed the sword and kicked the aged warrior to the ground. The chief laid on top of one his own soldiers, gasping for breath, blood oozing through his fingers that clutched the wound. Angel roared in fury and raised his blade, the soldier faced him and took of his green helm, hair fell down over his shoulders and two long brown ponytails blew in the wind that brought the smell of blood with it. Angel stopped his advance and lowered his blade, his eyes quivered in disbelief and surprise.

"Y… Yaren... but… why… you're with…"Angel stumbled through his words, his breath was uneasy and Yaren stared at him coldly, with a face marked with the Amur Mark, a star by the corner of the eye.

"With Amur? Yes, I am. I believe that Amur should be one with Rotheran! Don't you see, the Archon of the Amur can unite the countries, and doing this we won't have our broken government anymore!" Yaren explained, running his finger along the length of his blade, Luna, as it glimmered in the night. Angel clenched his fist, "But what about family! YOUR country, YOUR home... YOUR BROTHER!" He yelled. Yaren smiled and went into a stance, "Then this is my present to you little brother. One final sparring match to see which one of us is going to marry Fay."

Angel shook his head, "No! You were to be the one to be with her!" Yaren shrugged and pointed his blade at Angel, the Chief's blood dripped off the end of it.

"Then die, like your so-called leader!" and Yaren charged, Angel yelled and drew his blade.

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Angel abruptly woke, shouting "Yaren!" He looked around wildly to see he fell asleep against an encampment of rocks. He rubbed his eyes and stood up. He walked through the trees to a river. He looked up at the dark sky, still in its blanket of stars. He drew his sword and it glowed in the moonlight.

"Yaren…"


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"So how far now?" Lanni asked, tilting her head, as her long hair swayed in the wind. Angel thought for a moment.

"It's not long till we hit the next town. You know this trip won't go any faster if you keep asking, ‘so how far now,’ every minute." he taunted. Lanni shrugged, "I'm just happy that I'm outside to smell the fresh air, see the wildlife and learn of new things." she explained, smiling.

Angel shook his head, "Sometimes things won’t go as smoothly as you think." Lanni looked down, "Was it the same with Yaren?" Angel stopped and stared at Lanni, his eyes shook.

"What? How do you know him?!" he yelled. Lanni stepped back, "You kept saying that last night, you were rolling around and sweating. You were having one nasty nightmare." Angel looked down and closed his eyes. He gripped his sword hard.

"Who’s Yaren?" Lanni asked cautiously. Angel looked up at the clear blue sky, "He was my older brother." He started to walk again, "Did you heard about the war with Rotheran and Amur last year?" he asked.

"Yes, It was called the War of the Bloodcry. I studied it back home. It went on for 2 months. It was said to be the worst battle in Rotheran history," Lanni recalled, walking with her arms crossed. Angel nodded, "Yes, well I was in that war. I was on the Rotheran side, fighting for the honour of my homeland. But Yaren, he believed in politics. He fought for Amur, in hopes of uniting our broken government."

Angel's voice isn’t as hard as it usually is, Lanni thought looking at Angel through the corner of her eye. He has some kind of emotion.

"I met Yaren on the battlefield… I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He charged at me and I... I…" Angel stopped again. He looked down, gripping his sword and clenching his fist. Lanni stood in front of him. "You..?" she wondered aloud. Angel looked up and looked at Lanni dead in the eye.

" I killed him"