After half an hour of lying on the ground, Sera finally collected enough energy to try to stand up. Her eyes gradually opened and as she was about to move, she noticed something soft cuddling her side.
Her head turned and while a headache was splitting her skull, she stared into the golden eyes of a white hippgoryph.
Seeing her friend safe and sound her eyes turned teary. Slowly she tried to reach out her hand, but the excruciating pain stopped her from doing so. Kastral noticed how much suffering she was in, and gently place his head on her hand.
With a bit of chuckle she began scratching his chin, but then suddenly a large amount of essence appeared in her depleted soul. With a gasp and wide eyes she stared at her mount, who was just enjoying the pets with closed eyes.
"What?... Did you think I would let you suffer in pain? Am I that horrible to you?"
This time she actually began to cry, and with slow and methodical movements she placed her head on the hippogryph's.
"You could have done it sooner... You know how painful it is to get hit by five ascended all over your body at the same time?..."
They both laughed, then just stayed in that position for a good while.
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Eventually they separated and when Sera rose to her feet she was very surprised. All around her people were staring with shocked expressions. There was a few hundred of them at least.
With a calm demeanor she looked at each member of the crowd, which seemed to make them uncomfortable. They began looking at each other, then slowly they knelt before her.
As the people went to one knee in subordination Kastral only watched Sera. Something was different about her, instead of looking uncomfortable like she used to, there was a small smile on her face.
It looked strange, but he always suggested for Sera to act more like a leader, so who was he to judge. While she stood all proud, he stepped behind her and spread his massive wings. From the people's position it looked like she had a pair of angel wings.
Her head turned around and with a kind smile she nodded towards him.
"You probably wonder who I am! The answer should be obvious to you, I'm your savior! But you haven't been fully saved yet, we still need to reach Flensburg, an outpost north of here! So everyone loot this camp taking everything you deem necessary! We move out at first light!"
After finishing she stood there waiting for objections, and when non came she just went and climbed onto Kastral's back. He made a loud screech as they took to the skies leaving the people in an awed state.
...
On the eastern horizon the sun had only started to brighten the sky, but on the ground a large group of humans were already marching towards their destination.
Many of them wore the goblin's armor, they looked ridiculous since it wasn't made for beings the size of humans, but every small protection counted in the wild.
'That face, those eyes, that hair... Where had I seen her, maybe back in Castleburg? But that wouldn't make sense, I spent less than a month there and she was captured long before that... But that only leaves Newber, I'm not the only survivor?... That still doesn't explain the familiarity though...'
She was beginning to lose herself in these thoughts, when she noticed the sudden silence around her. The four of them stopped talking and were instead looking at the ground, their faces showing nothing but reverence.
"My Lady, what do you need from this humble servant?" Said Bran without looking up. Sera needed a lot of self control to not roll her eyes. It was truly hard to talk with your followers.
"I just wanted to know how long do you think the journey will be?" She said in a perfect monotone, her voice contained a slight demand inside of it too. It was also full of authority, which gave it another sense of need.
"We are about two or three days away from Flensburg! It will depend on who bad the marshes are in this time of year." He said still not looking up.
For a second or two she stared at him, then just slowly nodded and said, "Good job, Bran!"
Hearing his name from her mouth made Bran's whole existence tremble. It felt like his god had spoken to him.
Without any more word Sera moved on. She went to a bit of stone outcropping and sat down. Watching the plains was peaceful, but deep within her mind she felt that something was off.
The feeling of loss was a permanent companion for her.
'What is happening to me?! Why do I feel this great sorrow?... I should be happy! We are only a few kilometers away from our destination... The others will be waiting for us there! They will find out that me and Kastral are fine, Bea and Vicky must be worried sick...'
The feeling of depression only increased the more she thought. With a bit of shakiness in her hand, she touched her cheek. It came away wet... teary.
'Why am I crying?... Am I forgetting something?...'
Quickly she recalled everything that happened to her in this life, which weirdly enough wasn't much.
She was born to a good family, but she couldn't recall any of it's members. She went to some kind of school, but didn't know it's name or what she was studying. After the destruction of her city, which's name she couldn't remember, she stumbled upon his current friends and family.
The events after that were clearer, but still a bit foggy. It felt like some kind of darkness was creeping in her mind making it harder to remember events of the past.
While Sera was holding her head and struggling to recall who she was, in the large group of humans an old man was staring at her from afar.
He was old, but weirdly enough quite fit. His hair was mostly gone on the top and what remained on the sides was white as snow. The whitish-blue eyes of his, were covered by a pair of welding glasses, and he wore a large lab coat.
While looking at Sera's inner struggle, on the old scientist's face a cruel and satisfied smile appeared.
[End of Part 2 – Angel of Hope]