Day 1 Evening

[Amaterasu]

“I-Is that an arm?”

Amaterasu looked down at the "weapon" she had strapped to her waist, bit her lip and nodded. "While I was foraging, I... came across a corpse. SIt had no weapons, but out here it's... I don't know, I didn't want to be defenseless. It was severed, it laid a bit off the rest of the body when I buried it, when I found it I already had covered the body, and... well. Plus, the rest of that warrior was skeletal, but this arm just... it stayed preserved, I have no idea why. As if it was infused with magic or something." She shrugged, eyeing Somerled. Her dicomfort and guilt about this having happened made her feel bad, to the point that she didn't even take notice of that Somerled's reaction was not just shocked, that there was more to it.

"Until I can get my hands on something more usable as a weapon I'll need to go with this. Maybe we can... I don't know, find a discarded sword on another body or such. And in the meantime I've spoken prayers over the slain warrior, his lack of a limb shall not be what keeps his spirit from crossing the Great River to the afterlife. He will not return to haunt this world as Hero Teucer did. And I would say that-" She couldn't finish her guilt-driven speech of justifying herself because they both got shaken by a powerful force which made her fall over. It was just one rumble, but it shook the very earth. They looked at each other, then Somerled wordlessly dragged Amaterasu to her feet and pulled her along as he picked up a running pace, away from the forest into the open. Amaterasu quickly caught herself and followed him. "Alright, alright! I got it! I'm okay from here!" the Sun Goddess shouted and ran alongside Somerled as they got away from the forest.

The ground bursted only meters behind them and Amaterasu blinked as she eyed the ground. It was as if a clean line was delimiting the area where the quake happened and where it didn't. "Is this the dark wizard's doing again? But how could he have so much power? To cause storms, earthquakes, floods and summon demons, all just to keep a single spirit from passing to the afterlife... either this Warlock must have an enormous grudge towards Hero Teucer, or he has godlike powers and is doing this for his enjoyment alone." Something felt off about this situation. She reached for what few provisions she had left in the makeshift pouch made with a huge leaf, and began nibbling on them to fill her stomach. After all the hurry with running from the quake she hadn't had much time left to eat everything.

"Well on the plus side we're at least getting close to this city." she remarked and pointed forward. "There might be a Guardian around here, perhaps. Right?"

"There might be." Somerled replied and followed Amaterasu's pointing finger to look at the ruins stretching before them. "Let's hope that we find it first."

"Before it finds us? ... yes, that'd be preferable." She sighed and sat on a rock. "You should treat your injuries while we're here. We can take a break after this running..." She put the severed arm aside and also discarded the now empty pouch where she had previously held her gathered food, then approached Somerled to help bandage his arm, if he allowed for it. Whether he did was of course a different question, and she would respect it if he refused.