Songs of War: The 5th Song... Is A Person?!

Sheltered Conversation

"I knew you," Ingressus remarked. "You were the best trainee out of all of us." They were sitting in the middle of the quarters of Ingressus' and Achillean's room back in the city.

"You had a brother named Tygren. He taught you how to fight with a sword. When he taught you all he could, he transferred you to Master Dominus, who introduced you to the dual-wielding style. On the day of the attack against our people, you rode with Tygren after school to move to a safer area in Ataraxia with your siblings. The attack came soon after. I saw an Aggressium song coming toward you, but I was too far away to stop it. I assumed you and Tygren were dead. A champion named Thalleous Sendaris slayed our Master Dominus. He left me as the new clan's Master and gave me his sword before he died. I most likely got hit by a song and drifted here to Nestoria, where Achillean found me, took me to his Master Aegus and healed me. I have been living secretly in Nestoria ever since. Achillean taught me how to fish, and in return I taught him sword fighting after finding you. Master Aegus deemed me worthy of holding my clan's weapons again after finding and saving you a few days ago." Ingressus looked a little more guilty as he said next that he did research on Riza's family: her parents and siblings she was on her way to. Not long after the attack on their home, the champions found the rest of her family and exterminated them too. He didn't know anything about Tygren, only that he thought he had died with her, but now that she's alive, he might be too...

Achillean had been listening the whole time, and was appalled that the champions would do such a thing. Sitting before him was a girl and her family who never did anything but exist, and the clans nearly wiped them out. He was also angry that she had to go through this at such a young age. Both her and Ingressus had never done anything wrong but try to survive, and yet the world has hurt them so much.

"Thank you for telling me. I felt so lost when I woke up," she stood and began to pace. "This is all so unfair..."

She picked up Voltar and hurled it at a dartboard, hitting it with a bullseye, but began to cough immediately after. When she took her hand away from her mouth, she saw there was blood on it.

"I think I'm just tired," she said when she noticed them standing beside her. "I'll be better tomorrow after some rest."

She lay down on a bed and dozed off immediately.