[Ouroboros' End]
Watching a small group of three mounted soldiers ride toward him, Selis shrank back further into the bush he was in. He might not have anything tying him to the smuggler group on his person anymore, having wisely chosen to discard it right on the spot after recovering from his fall off the wall, but with his now-former colleagues scattering in all directions, he might nonetheless be questioned if they spot him and he didn't want to risk that.
Tense seconds followed, with Selis barely daring to breathe as the rides came within earshot. With the leaves obscuring his sight, he had only the bits of conversation he caught in between the constant clicking of hooves atop the gravel path to gauge whether he had been spotted. When one of them suddenly raised his voice, he almost turned and ran on reflex before he had even processed the words, only to quickly catch on that the man was simply boasting of the battle.
Staying put with his heart now hammering even louder in his chest, Selis thus sat through the agonizing seconds as the riders closed to within a dozen meters of him. Slowly, his hand crept toward the handle of his dagger, though that was a last resort. Unless he managed to bring down all three in the moment of surprise, one would undoubtedly turn his horse around and flee. Even if he enhanced his body with aura, he wouldn't manage to keep up with that, leaving running away and hoping the army won't find him as the only option in that case.
Soon, the three horses reached the bush. In between each beat of the hooves and with each pause in the riders' conversation, Selis tensed, fearing it to be the moment when the riders had noticed him and halted their mounts. But each time, another clack followed, and the conversation flowed on.
When the sounds moved past him, Selis almost couldn't believe it. He still didn't dare to even breathe too loudly, but he felt hopeful for the first time since spotting them almost a minute ago. The feeling only grew as the rides moved further and further away from him, though Selis only dared to breathe the sigh of relief he had been holding in until almost a full minute after the last sound reached him.
Stretching his neck, he peeked out of the bush to confirm that the path was again empty. Only after glancing left and right did he roll out from the bush he was lying in. As he emerged, the distant light of the town's artificial sun broke through the tree canopy and landed on his face. Its warmth made him briefly consider just staying there and closing his eyes to relish in its soothing light after days spent under the cold skies of the realm fragment.
However, he knew better than to risk that. Neither the town nor his former colleagues would look kindly upon him, so if survival meant getting what he needed and escaping back into the lands around the town, he'd do so. If he made it to the cities on the other end of the agricultural district that separated the town from the rest of civilization, he would still have enough time to enjoy the light of artificial suns. Until then, he'd have to do with the distant universes overhead. They might not provide warmth as a sun would, but they at least serve as an even better reference point to navigate the realm fragment.
With that, Selis pushed himself to his feet. Swiping away the leaves and branches entangled in his clothes, he gradually started moving again and continued along the path in the same direction he had been before.
For a quarter hour, he jogged through the small patch of forest that grew barely a few kilometers from the edge of the town. By some miracle, it remained untouched by the battle that had raged until just hours ago, with the front lines ending barely two kilometers away from where he had entered it. Only now that the smugglers were being driven as far away from the town as its soldiers could manage did he see any activity, with some of his former comrades undoubtedly hiding in it and patrols like the one he had come across searching for them.
Luckily for him, he didn't come across another one. Nor did he run into any of his former colleagues, allowing him to reach the forest's edge without any trouble.
As he stepped past the last row of trees, the town revealed itself ahead of him. Thousands of buildings scarred by the fighting, mostly in the course of the early days of the conflict, well before his unit had even taken the section of the wall where he had later been stationed, stood along the outer streets. Only as his gaze wandered further into the town did the state of the buildings improve, though even some of those still carried the marks of spell impacts.
The surroundings of the town didn't look any better. Grasslands and fields still burned with flickering embers left by the battle that had raged until only hours ago, while the farms and warehouses that were scattered in between them were in varying states of disrepair. Some merely had scorch marks on their walls or holes in their roofs. Meanwhile, others had been torn down entirely by the fighting, oftentimes in last stands of soldiers from either side, Selis suspected. In any case, they were reduced to little more than a, often charred, heap of debris that marked the spot where a building had once stood, typically with a few of the town's soldiers nearby to either search or at least guard the area.
The sight brought back memories from the prior days as he had slowly crept along the width of the battlefield, always having stayed hidden during the day and as far back from the fighting as he could without getting close to the smuggler's camps. Sleep had been a rarity in those days, with only a few precious minutes in the dusk after both armies had mostly pulled back to their camps. Though even the scouts and small units that remained still made progress slowly, forcing him to endure watching the battle for three days from far too close for comfort.
And while the dragons and their fire were the worst of it, the armies were not much better. With far fewer buildings compared to the area around the town, they had nothing to fortify and simply dug their positions in the fields and grasslands. Carefully curated landscapes were torn apart in the process, with small forests being flattened, ditches dug into any flat stretch of land, and at least one small pond having been turned into a towering glacier.
However, the worst of it was the food situation. When they had first taken the wall, their commanders had given them a standing order to burn any field or warehouse with food inside if it looked like the town might recapture it. The plan was to cut off all transport roots and starve its inhabitants out, though it appears that after they lost the walls the order was never rescinded. As such, whenever the smugglers weren't crushed in a single sudden maneuver that didn't give them the time for it, anything that could be used to feed people was torched. And based on the fires he could still see raging far behind their lines, they hadn't stopped doing so even in their retreat.
But while the situation could become troublesome for the nearby city districts depending on whether the town still had enough reserves to export some to them, Selis saw the opportunity it was for him personally. Though he had more often than not accompanied smuggled shipments, the merchant company that served as a front for the smuggler organization had officially employed him as a guard on board starweavers for the past years. If he established himself as a reliable hired hand before the connection became public, he might be able to find new employment in that role, even if he would miss the bonus the smugglers paid for the crew's silence.
Though whether that route would be worth it would only show itself.
With that thought, he turned back toward his destination. Unconsciously reaching for his necklace, he glanced down at the inscription that read 'S + L' once he identified the building he was looking for. The fact that it looked comparatively intact, especially when compared to one a bit to its right that was missing its upper two levels, reassured him slightly, but he'd only truly breathe out in relief when he saw Liarra with his own two eyes.
As he walked toward the town, he was forced to shift his gaze from his destination and toward the patrols marching along the paths. The first glance already told him that he wouldn't be able to completely avoid them anymore. Still, the less interaction he had with them the less chances there were for one of them to get suspicious. He might've gotten rid of everything tying him to the smugglers, but as a mana user he'd warrant heightened vigilance, and even the smallest error in his story would probably prompt an investigation into his identity.
Luckily, the first patrol he couldn't avoid only eyed him cautiously. Nodding courteously and doing his best to hide the tension he felt, Selis passed by them without trouble.
The guardhouse that followed cut it a bit closer than that. As he approached, two aura users stepped out. Though merely first ranks, they were enough to identify him as a mana user and alert their colleagues.
"Second rank or higher, be ready to send a flare." One of them said into the small hut that flanked the street.
Through the window, Selis could see the guards inside tense up. Of the three that he could see, two stepped closer to the weapons rack mounted on the wall, while the third moved his hand to his hips, likely letting it rest on a sword he carried.
Meanwhile, the two aura users separated, with one walking up to Selis while the other moved to flank him as his colleague started his questioning, "Halt. Who are you and what is your intention?"
Doing as he was told, Selis raised his arms to signal his cooperation. "Selis. Second rank, third order, aura user. My girlfriend lives in town, I need to make sure she is fine."
"Third order? Not many reach that far without a job that requires it." The guard noted.
"Mercenary. Mostly working as a guard on starweavers." Selis answered, sticking as close to the truth as he could.
"That would do it." The guard admitted, "Your girlfriend, is she also a mana user?"
To this, Selis shook his head. "No."
"But she is a citizen of our town, right?"
To this, Selis nodded, and the guard visibly relaxed at the answer.
"Based on the fact that you're here to see whether she is fine, you should know the situation so you'll understand that I can't just let you in freely, not now. But I can get you a limited pass. It will notify any nearby guards of your presence, so they'll be watching you closely. Even the smallest of suspicious will see you dragged to an interrogation room right now, so I'd avoid sneaking around or meeting with other visiting mana user. However, it will allow you to look for your girlfriend."
The offer surprised Selis. He'd have expected something along the lines of having a guard assigned to him or even being denied entry with only a guard being sent to notify Liarra. Though as he thought about it, he suspected that they didn't have the manpower to accommodate such options.
On a second thought he also realized that they wouldn't really have to worry about much. If he stayed more than a few days, it was inevitable that someone recognized him as one of the smugglers. He had, after all, often worn their uniform when going to and from his house, and he doubted his neighbors would care to listen if he told them he left the organization. So either he'd leave fast enough that he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble, or he'd be found out.
Thus, it took barely three more minutes before Selis left the small guardhouse with an enchanted metal card in his hands and the thought that he'd have to be even more careful in his mind.
This was made at least marginally easier by the time. Though the sunlight was artificial, it still rose and fell to signal the time of day. While it rarely went out fully, when the sun hung low enough above the tower, all but the innermost areas of the town as well as the main roads were cast in shadow.
As he walked through the shadows, the scars of creeping along the battlefield reared their head. Each person Selis encountered briefly transformed into one of the many close calls he had with patrols. Sudden noises sounded eerily similar to the deafening booms of eruptions that had struck far closer to his hideout than he had been comfortable with. A mage conjuring a small firework show at a street corner was too similar to the dragonfire that had burned just a few dozen from one of his hideouts, forcing him to avert his gaze after just a few moments.
All of this culminated in the moment when he was forced to cross one of the main roads. Practically looking forward to stepping back into the light after the reminder of the past few days the shadows had turned out to be, his feelings turned sour again just as quickly when he glanced to the right and saw the celebrations happening at the center of the town.
A massive crowd had gathered in the open space around the sun tower. Even still, people streamed into its vicinity from all streets that connected to the plaza, their shouts echoing as a disjointed chorus of a hundred different shouts.
There were two epicenters of the crowd. The first was the terrace in front of the town hall where over a dozen people Selis didn't recognize stood together with the mayor. Though he was too far away to see what exactly was happening, the wings extending from the backs of multiple individuals in the group gave him some ideas about who they were, and he liked none of them.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when one of the men in the group turned his head toward him. Quickly, Selis lowered his eyes. He didn't care that there were probably hundreds of people in the man's field of view and that it was bordering on impossible that he was looking at him, he still did it.
After he had seen what the dragons had done to their enemies on the battlefield, he wasn't willing to risk even the slightest chance of drawing their attention. The heat of dragonfire had taught him to dread their kind. Not that he'd have considered antagonizing a dragon before, but the experience still made him even more cautious.
Trying to hide those thoughts, Selis didn't look down for long. Instead, he forced the best neutral expression he could muster onto his face and searched for the second epicenter of the crowd.
Naturally, it didn't take him long to find it. Though when he did, he almost regretted it, with the sight only being marginally less unnerving for him than the previous one. Because, surrounded by a circle of townsfolk, were six captured smugglers, one of whom Selis even recognized. Not by name, but he had encountered the man once while boarding a starweaver.
All six men were bound with heavy chains as they hovered half a meter above the ground, along with a small army of almost fifty guards that surrounded them. The fact that none of the six looked mistreated beyond the frown one would expect from a man in chains only distracted Selis for a moment before he started to piece together the chants the crowd was hurling at them.
He had expected the town to be angry with the smugglers, downright furious even, but to hear it voiced so loud and clear still shook Selis back to his senses. If he were to be discovered, this was undoubtedly the place he wanted to be the least in that moment.
As such, he quickly got back on track. Pushing through the crowd with ease, even needing to focus more on not hurting anyone than on the effort it took him to nudge the manaless people out of his path, he soon escaped back into an adjacent street. Once he was out of sight, he then broke out into a jog.
Despite his hurry, it still took him almost half an hour before he reached his destination. Luckily, none of the neighbors who might recognize him were about, likely either already asleep or taking part in the celebrations. With no one recognizing him, Selis quickly climbed up the stairs and soon reached the door he had been searching for. But it also meant that he had no pressure that forced him to act quickly, causing him to pause for a solid minute with his hand already hovering in front of the wood.
Finally deciding that he wouldn't manage to think of something better to say, he knocked. The first time, there was no reaction. Nor was there when he knocked a second time. Already growing restless with worry by then, his third knock was more forceful, with his fist slamming against the wood.
Only then did the creaking of wooden floors become audible from inside the room. Selis barely had a moment to register this before the door already flew open and Liarra came into view, freezing the moment she laid eyes on him.
"I'm back." Selis said.
The answer came in the form of Liarra practically throwing herself at him, arms opened wide and soon wrapping around his torso.
"You're alive." She exclaimed, "I was so worried when I heard of the war. So when your letters stopped, I feared the worst."
"For you I'll always make it back."
With that, Selis reciprocated Liarra's embrace. Internally, he simultaneously decided to delay bringing up the topic of the need to leave the town until the next day, for now, it was simply the time for their reunion.