The next morning after breaking camp Mars made her way towards the Landen-Satera border. "Agg! Please kill me now." The exhausted Mars said as she made her way towards Satera. The day was still young, the border could slightly be seen in the distance as Mars marched through the tall grass of the Landen fields. "I DIDN'T ACTUALLY MEAN IT!!" She screamed as a Eindon jumped out of the grass. Its claw ripped through the sleeve of her tunic as it pounced on its prey.
Quickly drawing her sword from its sheath Mars stood in a firm stance, waiting for the monster to make its next move. Hardly able to see due to the tallness of the grass Mars would have to use the little battle skills she had learned from her father in this situation. The beast jumped out of the grass once again, but this time it had friends. "Not good!" Mars said as she dodged one of the Eindons, quickly slashing the other one that attacked with her claw. The Eindons body fell to the ground, motionless it sat as the other attacked Mars from behind.
With a quick sidestep and a strong swing of her sword Mars struck the Eindon, finishing the battle off just as quick as it began. "Heh, I did it." She said. Mars' first battle experience was a good one as well as it was lucky. After swiping the blood off of her bloodstained sword she sheathed her weapon and returned on her way towards the border. One hour would pass before Mars would make it out of the grass fields of Landen and to the border, which to her surprise was guarded by Cille soldiers.
"Did you hear?" One of the guards asked. "About the princess of Landen?" The other guard replied. "No thats old news, I'm talking about the prince Lyle and Queen Lena, I heard their cooperating to take down King Cille." The first guard replied. Mars stood behind the large cement wall, just out of sight and far enough to hear the guards speaking to each other. Slightly turning her head over the wall she listened in on the twos conversation.
"I also heared when we invaded Lena's daughter went missing. I was told she was rescued by a man covered in black armor, but its just a rumor." The second guard said to his ally. The two guards continued to converse between themselves all the while Mars continued to listen to them. "A man in black armor? I remember my fathers ally Wren wearing what appeared to be black armor from a distance, but it couldn't be him." She thought to herself.
At this time there was no way that Mars would be able to pass the border into Satera. King Cille had indeed taken over the land and had already expanded his territory over into Satera. But Mars refused to give up, if she couldn't cross the border into Satera then she would find another way. Mars closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to think of a plan on how she would make her way into Satera. "Far north from here lies the lake, if you go a bit further north you will find a small marsh that connects Satera to Landen. Thats how I got here to help your father so many years ago. But keep this a secret between you and me ok Mars." Mars pictured Lena in her mind as she remembered what she had been told.
The Marsh of Silence, a dreaded place where the air surrounded it would cause the greatest of technique users to fall victim to its powers. Arriving awhile later Mars stepped foot inside the marsh, she could feel her body weaken as the powers of the marsh took over her. "Ugg, I don't like this place. Seems my Res is worthless here, I'll have to be careful." She thought as she walked inwards. The marsh, not only having powers to silence the strongest of technique users, was home to a large number of poisonous monsters. Mars had to use caution while passing through, or she would surely meet her end.
"And that makes twelve of them!" Mars said as another Tsevidon fell to the ground. Everywhere she turned it seemed as if she had already passed by the area once before. Noticing up ahead was a downed tree branch forming a walkway over what appeared to be a huge purple waterbed. "This place is making me sick." Mars said. As she walked across the branch she noticed it kept going upwards and not across, what happened next would shock her.
"A giant tree! But wait its.. Walking?" She said as she felt herself being moved. The giant branch was in fact a giant living breathing tree who's home was deep inside the marsh. The tree let out a loud, deep yell of pain as Mars rode on the branch. "Its hurt, what can I do to help." She said to herself, noticing a slight purple blur appearing then disappearing before her. The giant tree continued to move and a strong force struck Mars in the face, sending her off the branch and towards the ground. Using quick reflexes Mars lunged her claw into the branch and tried to pull herself up as the purple blur began to take shape.
"The tree is mine! Its power now belongs to me!" The blur said as Mars stood to her feet. After a few seconds it took shape, in a manner of speaking. The beast before her was a Secundus, not the strongest of beasts but its possessive powers were more then overwhelming. "So you're the one who's possessed the guardian of the marsh?" She said as she unsheathed her sword, pointing it towards the beast. This would be Mars' first battle against a stronger foe, but she was ready for anything.
Her footing was not so well on the tree so she had to use extreme caution when fighting, if she made one wrong move she would surely fall to her doom. The beast swiped at her, creating a gust of wind known as Zan in its place, knocking Mars' back. "What, how can this thing use techs! No matter." She said as she charged the beast. She swung, her blade piercing through the beast dealing no damage. "No fair! How am I suppose to..." She said as she caught on to what was going on.
"One, two, three, four, five!" She thought as she stared at the beast. As she counted to five the beasts body reappeard before her, swinging again it created another gust of Zan knocking her a few feet back. She was near the edge of the branch, about three feet away exactly. If she didn't act now she would fall to her death, her only chance was to hope her assumption was right. "One, two, three, four, five!!" She thought as the beast reappeared once again. This time she was ready. She quickly charged the beast as it swung, creating another Zan. She pushed through, making her way through the wind she swung her sword with great force, slashing the beast in two.
"Did I get it?" She thought as its body began disappearing. The giant tree began to slow down, eventually coming to a stop. The tree branch slowly lowered to the ground with Mars on it. "Looks like I did." She said as she noticed the first glimpse of sunlight shine through the marsh in so long. Covering her eyes she walked off the branch, turning to take one more glance at the giant tree. As she turned she became shocked as the tree began sinking into the ground, leaving only its branch behind.
The guardian of the forest led Mars through the marsh safely to the other side. Was this how Lena arrived in Landen fifteen years ago, and was this how she returned before the border was re-established? Mars made her way through the final bit of the marsh, finally arriving in the grass fields of Satera. The sun shone brightly over her as she covered her eyes, slightly noticing Satera Castle on the horizon. Mars had finally made it to Satera, but her journey was just only beginning.
