What in the name of the Thaynes happened! a voice cried out in the back of Hayate’s mind as he started to regain consciousness. Something terrible had just happened, knocking the lone soldier from his horse, and leaving him injured on the side of a wooded Concordian trail. It felt as if a great pressure moved across the land in a vicious torrent. The skies grew black almost instantly and as his vision focused Hayate could see a maelstrom of chaos erupting from the south. Flaming debris began falling from the darkness overhead catching the forest aflame.

I haven’t a clue, but nothing good I can assure you. Hayate answered his partner as he sprung to his feet, grasping his right arm as it hung limp at his side. He figured it was broken from what he could tell, he took a nasty fall from his good for nothing horse, which ran scared the moment the volcano erupted. Soot and ash rained down from the heavens like a blanket of death snuffing out all the color of the forest, obscuring even the slightest semblance of natural order. Even worse the smell of smoke filled his nostrils as his eyes darted left and right searching for the flames.

“Is anyone out there?” The young Akashima yelled, pushing through the pain radiating up his shoulder and down through his core. He grunted as the very action of yelling choked him, the ash was oppressive. With his good arm he tore a piece of his cloak and wrapped it around his face to act as a filter of sorts as he struggled to take even a single breath. “Please!” He tried again, calling out to anyone who could be near.

After a few moments of aimless wandering through the maelstrom Hayate came upon a village carved out of the very trees itself. This had to have been one of the many elven settlements that spotted the forest, and by the looks of things and the lack of screams it had already been abandoned. Hayate cured his luck as he hiked slowly through the now inches of soot layering the forest floor, taking shallow breaths through his mask to keep from choking. There had to be someone around, he couldn’t be the only guy here.

“Anyone please! I was traveling the roads when the storm hit, is there anyone out there!” he shouted at the top of his lungs praying for anyone one to answer him.