It was Miyu's first step in Era. She was standing by the gate, looking up while covering the top of her eyes to prevent eye contact wth the sun. Rumors are going around the town and the officers are panicking a bit. The rumors where about zombies, which made Miyu laugh at them for believing something that isn't true. The elder knight, Marwin Awedin, is one of the people being troubled by this news. Marwin was standing by the gate as well. He had the report in his hands and shaking a lil' bit.

"You are a mage, aren't you?" He stood up and startled himself, holding out the letter. "Please, help us. The city is going to be deserted if we don't do anything about this!" He added. Miyu wasn't really showing off any emotions, it made the Lieutenant lose hope a little bit. His face shows caring for the younger and future generations, it reminded Miyu of herself when she was little. She nodded and took the letter; the Lieutenant was very happy about Miyu's acceptance for the quest.


She started off stretching her arms and legs because she knows for herself that she gets cramps easily. After a few 32's, she inhaled and ran off to finish this quest as fast as possible. In Miyu's identifications, zombies had pale green or blue skin. Ripped clothes and really skinny. She was expecting "Uhh" sounds to be coming from the woods, but she couldn't hear any. She was thinking that it was day, that those 'zombies' have burned themselves and went back underground for their rest. She waited until sunset, until the night was awake.

The moon was full and was shining brightly in the night sky. But there were no sound nor foul smell. In fact, the forest was quiet. She walked slowly and quietly that only herself can hear her footsteps. The grass and the dead leaves on the ground made some rustling noise. The night was cold, it made her spine chill and gives herself goosebumps. She knew it was fear, but she did not give into that. She continued walking, and walking. But she was not successful. She knew that those zombies weren't real, she walked back to the city to proclaim that the rumors aren't real.

Unlike earlier, she ran. Unlike that slow, scaredy-cat she was earlier, she ran, not wasting any more time. However, she was lost and couldn't find her way back to Era. The forest was so big, she thought that she was running the opposite direction where she walked the path to Crocus yesterday. And indeed, she was 15 kilometers away from East Fiore. She did not know how to levitate, nor teleport. She did not know how to go back. She ran to her west and started sprinting. The wind was cold, but she passed by a spot where the wind isn't cold, but warm. From running to jogging to walking to stop. She went closer to the warmth. Warmer, warmer... says her mind. And then hot. She saw light inside a stone bigger than her. It was a hidden passage.

People creepily doing their ritual in a circle, and in the middle was a pagan god. She peaked into the rock and saw people in coats and worshiping the god, praying through their magic. The air started giving out colors and the sands they threw up in the air started taking form. The rumors we're true, but had fake headlines. It was true that the undead were rising, but it was fake that they were zombies that crawl out to eat humans.

Miyu knew that she had to stop the ritual or else everyone would be in grave danger. She stepped back to open the rock, but it was too heavy. Another step, it made a loud noise. It distracted the ritual and everything flying and taking form went back to the grounds. The colorful, gloomy, colored wind faded away. "What happened?" Someone asked, followed by another. Miyu did not know what they wanted to accomplish, but there was panic inside the rock.

Miyu thought that she was an idiot for not seeing the light, or the fire, or the warmth of the air that was oozing from that place. Until she realized that the whole place was invisible, that no one can see the place until they entered the force field. There were forms moving already, as if they were reborn as an evil being. They were too many for Miyu to fight, she ran away, back to Era to report back.

The sun was already rising. She had lost her time and date awareness and her body started to become weak the moment she was getting closer to Era. It was all an illusion. Being lost in a large forest and seeing Magnolia a few kilometers away was an illusion. Her mind was controlled by the evil forces back in the forest there is.

And then she took a first step in Era, and fainted due to fatigue. "Mage? Mage!" A knight shouted. "There's a mage in here!" The other knight said. The Lieutenant run towards the exhausted Miyu and took her to a nearby Inn. She was so tired that it took her two days to wake up. Until she opened her eyes for her to finally wake up. She did not have anything in her mind but what she saw, and what happened to her. She ran off quickly, ignoring everyone and everything in her path to fine the Lieutenant.

"Oh, you're awake!" The Lieutenant surprisingly greeted. "Of course I'm awake." Miyu glared into him. She did not know where to start, it was quite late already. "How did the investigation went?" He asked, and Miyu explained how there was a god and people bringing the dead back to life. The Lieutenant was scared no more, and brought up troops to their destination.

Word Count: 1022/1000