They were at the bottom of the cliff, some distance away from the path leading up. He wasn’t entirely sure of how they came here. Or where exactly they were.

  “Bloody hell,” Sarah muttered as she helped Alaric sit against the rock face. “Hey,” she knelt next to him. “Are you alright?”

  “He doesn’t look alright.” Ava clicked her tongue. “We should hurry back to camp.”

  “I don’t know…” he leaned his head against the rock face behind him and took deep breaths. It was dark out – they should have been back at camp by now. Clara was probably panicking, and Charles too… He caught his thoughts before they could trail off too much. “My arm – it feels like it’s burning.” He spoke through gritted teeth, tightly clenching his right forearm.

  Sarah gently pulled his hand away, then rolled up his sleeve to his elbow. “Ava, light.”

  The young girl brought the torch closer. It’s dancing flame captivated his gaze. Sarah’s gasp was the only reason he could pry his gaze off of the beautiful flame and direct it down to his arm.

  The witch’s nails had left some bleeding scratches on his arm. At the middle of them was a reddish blue mark. At first glance, it looked like a bad bruise, but when he raised his arm closer, he spotted the intricate lines forming a broken ring. It almost looked like a tattoo.

  “What the hell is that?” Ava scowled as she leaned in closer. “Does it hurt?”

  “It’s burning.” Alaric poked the bruise. As soon as his finger touched the discoloured section of his skin, he reeled back with pain. “A lot,” he hissed through his gritted teeth.

  “She was a witch – she called herself that, right?” Sarah snapped her fingers in front of his face to draw his attention. Once he nodded, she continued. “Then this must be some form of spell. A curse, a mark… something. Did she say anything at all?”

  Alaric scowled. He did vaguely remember her words. “She said she was going to use the mark of command…?” He shook his head. The constant burning sensation made it difficult to think.

  “Alaric,” Ava suddenly reeled back. “I saw a system window pop up while we were running. You just swiped it away. What was that?”

  He looked at her with confusion. “I did?” He couldn’t remember – everything from the moment he smelled roses and hyacinth until they sat down here was a blur. “Um…” Before he could try to figure out a way to resummon the system, it popped up in front of him.

  You have been marked by a Sigil of Command

  Your actions have drawn the gazes of several gods and demons

  A Goddess of Harvest offers to take away your pain

  Do you accept?

  He stared at the text floating in front of him for a few seconds.

  “Accept it.” Ava’s cold voice startled him. “You’re in no shape to walk, and we can’t carry you. We need to get back to camp. We’ll need to figure out a way to rid you of this sigil of command. You can’t do that in this state.” She waved the torch towards him. “Accept it.”

  Sarah started on her feet. “What? No! We don’t know a thing about this goddess – except that she killed Derek!”

  “He died because he got greedy.” Ava hissed.

  Taken aback by her words, Sarah stared at the young girl for a few seconds. “That’s cold, Ava. He was killed because he picked a couple fruits too much. Is death really a proper punishment for that? You don’t really believe that do you?”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Alaric closed his eyes. This discussion was wholly meaningless. He tried to think, opening his eyes and reading over the system message one more time.

  “What’s the catch?” His voice was barely a whisper and escaped the women’s notice as they continued to argue.

  The Goddess of Harvest offers you a gift

  As he read the changed text, he bit his lips. The burning sensation was ever so slowly spreading up his arm, and down towards his hand. Ava was right – he was in no state to walk back, let alone fight off anything that came their way.

  “I accept.” His hoarse whisper caught Sarah’s attention. She spun around, eyes wide as the text changed on the system window one more time.

  The Goddess of Harvest heals your wounds

  The Mark of Command’s spread has been slowed

  The pain went away in an instant, and so did the bruising and the scratches. Alaric let out a breath of relief, while Sarah drew a sharp breath.

  “Why would you do that? You can’t trust anything the system offers-“ She stopped, holding her breath before snatching the torch from Ava and throwing it on the ground. “Hide!” She whispered as she kicked some dirt on the flame, extinguishing it.

  Using their cloaks to hide under, they held their breaths. Shadows passed over them, the sound of beating wings echoed in the silent night. As the sounds they made grew weaker and more distant, Alaric pulled down the cloak. He couldn’t quite see them very well – but the silhouettes that darkened the starry sky reminded him of large bats.

  “The Witch.” Ava’s grasp on his shoulder tightened. “That’s not where camp is, is it?”

  Alaric shook his head. “No, but I’m still worried. Let’s get moving.”

  They walked with only the light of the stars, as a torch’s light would simply be too visible in the sea of grass between them and the camp. The terrain was easy to traverse since it was just flatlands, though the waist-high grass did hide rocks and half-buried roots within it.

  Their fast pace was hindered by the stuff hidden beneath the long grass, and the dim, silver light of the stars. It took them nearly an hour before the hallowed ground and the ruined church entered their field of view.

  Alaric stumbled over something as they hastened their steps. Something crunched under his boot as he fell on his hands and knees. His palm pressed against what felt like damp cloth. Confused, he pushed the tallgrass aside to see what it was.

  Two bodies were laying side by side, covered in blood, mud and what looked like moss that had rapidly grown on them. Their clothes had small holes all over them. He recognised them from just before Aetherfall began. It was the two people who didn’t make it before the fog dome descended over the hallowed ground.

  “Alaric?” Ava whispered.

  “I’m fine,” he lied, quickly stood up and let the tallgrass hide the two unfortunate people’s bodies.

  “Halt before I shoot!” A hoarse voice echoed from atop the boulder as soon as they stepped out of the sea of grass, into the hallowed ground. The hunter kept his rifle aimed at them as they raised their hands.

  “It’s us – Alaric, Sarah and Ava!” he called out.

  “Ava!” Charles’ voice rang in his ears as soon as her name left his lips. The tall man rushed out of the ruined church, brushing past Sarah and Alaric and hugged his little sister. “You’re so damn late, I thought-“ He couldn’t finish his words.

  Alaric couldn’t watch the two siblings any longer though, as he had his own sister rush at him with an almost violent hug. “I thought you died!” Clara cried as she squeezed her arms around him. “Never do this again, never!”

  Another, meeker voice also rang in the not so silent night. “Mum?”

  Sarah’s stern and stoic expression melted immediately as she dropped everything she was holding and fell on her knees to hug her young son. “I’m back, it’s ok now, Arthur.” She raised her wet eyes to meet Alaric’s gaze, showing a vulnerable smile.

  When Charles led them back to the ruined church, Alaric couldn’t help but be impressed. They had used woven long grass sheets to cover the top of the walls, making it into a makeshift tent. The two rooms in the back of the church had similar sheets covering their half-broken doorframes.

  Almost everyone was cuddled around a small fire lit in the central room. The elderly and the youngest had already fallen asleep by now, but the adults and young adults sat worried, their gazes darting around at the faintest sound.

  People whispered as they passed by, their gazes followed Alaric and the others as Cherles led them to one of the rooms in the back.

  “Well?” He said as he pulled the woven grass sheet to give them a little bit of privacy. “Edward and the others came back hours ago. What happened, what took you so long?”

  Alaric sat on the ground as Ava stepped forward to explain. Her voice was low and cracked from time to time as she explained everything that happened. Her brother’s expression turned from confusion to worry, to anger, then to worry once more as he turned his gaze to Alaric once Ava finished her retelling of the events.

  “One more thing that I forgot to mention.” Alaric leaned his head against the wall. “The Empyrean – it’s what caused all this,” he gestured vaguely to everything around them. “Aetherfall, our world changing. The Witch mentioned it.” As soon as he thought of her, he felt a pull westward. Something was beckoning him, and a part of him wanted to blindly follow.

  “Good to know.” Charles said with furrowed brows. “But I’m more worried about you. Your arm – the mark of command is… well, visible.”

  Ava looked at him with a dark, grim expression. “It’s spreading.”