Two sat alone, one fixated on the scenery all around him, the other deep in thought. Down in the valley, massive animals, with bulky, red bark hides. In the middle of their skulls was a horn, some were very long, others shorter, or broken. The white material gleamed in the sun, causing the boy to smile.

The trees surrounding the valley were nothing like he had ever seen before. Their black bark, teal, almost fluffy leaves that danced on every branch. "Hiklen? Why do those creatures have horns?" The boy asked calmly, more relaxed than he had been in a long time.

"To kill other animals Geoffrey. They are the only creatures that eat both meat and greens aside from us." The man said, with something in his voice, like a feeling of worry or despair.

Geoffrey sighed watching a flock of birds fly overhead, their bright, colourful wingspans looking like fireworks in the sky. Beyond the tree line sat a massive castle wall, and beyond the grey stone sat an even more massive castle, its' flags seemed to tickle the clouds as they fluttered about in the wind.

The boy lay back and closed his eyes, thinking of home, where he grew up, how he probably wouldn't see it again. Things in this world of existence didn't go quite as he would have liked them to. He had seen many people die, some people he liked, some he didn't. All of them left a mark, except Hiklen, he managed to stay around and keep him company, long after his trip to the physician.

"Where are you off to next little one?" Hiklen said from his spot, Geoffrey sat up and scratched his head.

"I dunno anymore, no one really gave me directions. Just find some Cunda'Rin artefact or something. I have a feeling no one knows where it is. No point in rushing out to get it." He said heavily.

Hiklen nodded, still wearing his puzzled face. "Don't know much about the Cunda'Rin people, just that they made weapons as fierce as the storms. Other than that, they're all dead. Were wiped out-"

"That seems to happen a lot in this world." Geoffrey said bitterly ripping up a handful of grass.

"Yeah. happens a lot, but who gets to judge when people die and live? Certainly Va'For doesn't." He replied with the same disgust as Geoffrey.

"Va'For? Who's he?"

"Their god, the castle people's lives revolve around mindless worship of Va'For, Holder of Souls. The whole bit is quite ridiculous, those of high status are in his graces, while the rest are borderline fallers."

"What do you mean? Borderline faller?" Geoffrey questioned his companion.

"Means you are close to slipping out of Va'For's grasp, that he no longer holds your soul and lets it fall into a flaming sea. The more you love Va'For the stronger a grip he has on your soul, same thing with money, the more you have to the more he likes you."

"Wonderful." Geoffrey exclaimed, "I'm starting to think this place is my home just a few thousand years in the past." He yanked up two more handfuls of grass and squeezed them as hard he could.

"Don't sweat it little one." Hiklen frowned, patting him on the shoulder. "It can't be as bad, certainly not worse. I'm surprised myself at how organized all this chaos is, millions of people and still there retains order. You should never loose hope in the persons around you, pain is a part of life, and like pleasure we must live through it knowing there will be an end to it all someday."

Geoff shook his head and pounded the ground in anger. "That's a wonderful philosophy! Really it is! Isn't there anyone in this world who doesn't think of death as a trivial thing?! I mean fuck!" He lowered his head, tears running down his face.

Hiklen sighed, he felt a bond with this boy, something he never really had with anyone else. He wanted to help but nothing he said helped any, only made things worse. His eyes pleaded forgiveness, but through salty tears Geoffrey couldn't see.

Hiklen stood slowly and brushed himself off. He began walking, slowly and then down into the valley. Some men had come out and were herding the jork, the bull creatures to the wall.

One man swung a blade towards one of the creatures, it went through its hide, sending the creature howling and bucking. Hiklen watched him back away as another threw a net over it, the jork fell to the ground, huffing and wheezing as blood frothed at its mouth. The jork's lung had been punctured, they only had one, Hiklen could hear the men cheer as the animal convulsed, spewing blood all over itself in horrifying fits of fading life.

"Watch out!" Someone screamed, all of them watched the man retrieve his knife, the jork now dead at his feet.

A roar of anger erupted from beside the man as he turned to see a jork not two feet from him. Its horn speared the man with ease, taking him the remaining two meters towards the wall. The sheer mass of the animal crushed him, the horn broken off in his limp form the animal lay dead beside him, neck broken. The other men cheered again, draping a net over the other jork, hauling them both into the fortress gates. "This'll make a grat fest!"

"Too bad about Pin though!" Another hooted.

"I know! The wife's got a new spice she wanted to try, more for us then!" The others all laughed as the gates shut.

Hiklen made his way to the dying man, he couldn't tell if he was still alive, his shoulder twitched a bit, his eyes moved but he didn't know if it was from the twitching. "Maybe death is too trivial." Hiklen whispered to himself.

He hadn't noticed Geoffrey beside him, he brought down their packs and stared down at the man. "Stupid idiots." The boy snapped, he reached down and took hold of the giant horn piece, the entire horn had just about snapped off in him.

He pulled to no avail; washing his hands in the dirt he went to his pack and retrieved a slender dagger. He cut away flesh and organs, prying apart bones he finally tore out the two and half foot horn and cleaned it with the palm of his hand. "This stuff is worth a fortune in Mezo, don't know why, but a trader said you can get somewhere near seven thousand Curs for it."

Hiklen continued to look at the heap of man in front of him. He turned to see Geoff packing the horn in pack. "Hide that, farmers of any kind will probably kill you if they see you trekking about with that."