Chapter 49

When Arya woke up the next day, she found herself refreshed and alert.

It was light outside and Arya quickly shoved all of her new-founded belongings into the bag and she had something she needed to do first before leaving.

….

Arya gently carried the body of the little girl who she recognized as the one who lost her ball.

Her dead face looked peaceful and calm and she looked like she was just sleeping.

But the deep slash across her throat and her pale and cold skin told otherwise.

Arya had spent the morning collecting the bodies of the dead after a quick breakfast of beef jerky and some water.

She couldn't let the wild animals or decay get to them and the victims should be treated with respect and dignity. So she decided she would burn the bodies and make sure that they get some kind of funeral and to prevent the wild animals from disrespecting them after death.

Rows and rows of dead bodies lined the center of what used to be a bustling and lively camp.

Mothers, fathers, children, the elderly, rich and poor-death treated everyone the same.

Arya cried and cried as she collected the bodies. She found the bodies of fathers trying to protect their children, their bodies covering up the bodies of their children as if they were trying to shield them from the she-demon. Mothers had their little children and babies hugged close to their bodies as if they spent the last moments of their lives trying to comfort them. Children found with silted throats of gaping holes in their chests. It was all too much for Arya as she had to move the bodies to the center of the camp so she could host a make-shift funeral for them.

Using her telekinesis, she carried 5 bodies that she unearthed from a pile of rubble.

The youngest was a little boy around 7 years old and the oldest looked to be a grandfather.

She gently placed the bodies of all six people next to the ones she already found.

 As if to reflect her sadness and mourning, the sky was a gloomy shade of gray.

That's the last of them, Arya thought, thankful that she finally got this over with.

Now, the hard part.

It had taken Arya a few tries and many failed attempts before she finally got a fire going.

A small flame was burning away at a small pile of wood from the remains of houses, some sticks she found and scraps of clothing and any burnable material she could find.

She found a good sized tree branch that she broke off from the same oak tree she punched the piggy boy at.

She dipped the tree branch into the fire and the fire leaped onto the tree branch and started to consume it.

Wait, Arya thought, forgot something.

She used her telekinesis to dump piles and piles of wood and tree branches over the bodies of the dead. Some straw she found inside a barn was also placed over the bodies. Rags and cloth also went on there as well.

Now Arya could send the dead off to the afterlife.

She took a deep breath and lit the bodies on fire. The fire grew in size and started to eat away at the dead. Smoke and ashes soon filled the air.

"Rest in peace now."

…..

Arya walked down the dirt path, the sack of her belongings slung over her shoulder, her knife ready in her hand in case she needed it.

She didn't have a plan but she knew she couldn't stay in the camp anymore after she set fire to it.

She chewed on some beef jerky and she wished she could eat some real food like food that was actually made by hand and freshly made. The beef jerky tasted hard and tough and could use some seasoning, Arya thought.

But beggars can't be choosers, Arya thought, and she knew that all too well.

Her mind flashed back to the numerous bodies she collected before burning and she knew that she didn't find Ezekiel, Freya, Granite, Assyrian, Lily, the other Lily or Owen among the dead. And she looked everywhere around what was left of the camp to collect the bodies of the dead.

Maybe they managed to survive and escape the massacre?

Or maybe she didn't find their bodies despite the fact that she carefully combed through the rubble and destruction to find the dead?

No, Arya thought, let's not think about that for now. Right now, I need to keep myself alive.

The air was getting colder and chillier as winter approached and Arya pulled the hood over her face and felt glad that she had the cloak. It wasn't that cold, nothing more than an icy breeze that reddened her cheeks, but soon winter will appear and she would need thicker and warmer clothing.

The trees were starting to lose their leaves and the leaves turned into such beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow and brown, each one different and unique, like an artist had painstakingly painted each leaf with such pretty and pleasing colors and designs.

But the air was quiet and cold as Arya walked down the dirt path, eyes peeled and alert for danger.

She glanced over her shoulders to see the smoke from the burning camp and she silently bid farewell to the dead before she never looked back again.

…

"Man, I must have walked for hours now, My feet ached and I'm tired."

Arya threw down her sack and slumped down against a tree. The tree was stripped bare of its leaves and its branches looked like bones, the tree a skeleton and dead. 

Arya pushed back a few strands of hair that got into her eyes and noted that her hair was growing out, getting even longer now, maybe 3 inches longer now.

She looked at the knife in her hands and then rummaged around the sack to find the other knife she took from the camp that may have once belonged to someone else.

Arya toyed with the idea of using aura on the knives.

Normally, aura was used on larger weapons like spears or swords but Arya only had two knives at her disposal right now. Besides, weren't knives just little swords you could hide in your pocket?

Speaking of aura, Arya knew she was out of shape. At least when she fought with the monsters and beasts that tried to kill her she was getting in some real practice with her telekinesis and close combat skills. And she hadn't used her aura in a while now.

She grabbed a knife with each hand. 

"Okay, concentrate, focus, channel your mana and aura."

Arya felt a warm feeling overtake her and she felt her mana responding to her will and wishes.

Channeling her aura was almost second nature to Arya but it took her some time to manifest it as she was out of practice.

Bright green aura coated her hands and she manipulated it to cover her knives.

Bright green aura covered up her knives and formed a sort of glowing armor around them, extending the blade of the knives to almost a foot and a half long.

Arya channeled her aura to cover up her body as a sort of armor.

"Success but I'm too slow. Need to work on that."

Her eyes wandered towards a boulder the size of a two story house.

She slashed and sliced away at it with her experimental aura knives.

The huge boulder was reduced to pebbles in a matter of seconds.

The aura covering her knives slicing through the boulder like a hot knife through butter.

"YES!!"

 Arya flashed back to everything Elijah-she missed him and Catalina so much and she didn't know how she was going to inform him of Baron Pax's death-taught her about swordsmanship and she started to apply her swordsmanship techniques to knives.

Slashing, stabbing, parrying, blocking, footwork. Everything. She slashed away at invisible monsters and weaved and dodged pretend projectiles and weapons thrown at her.

Arya dodged an imaginary opponent before her sword could slice off her head and she countered by aiming the knife at her unprotected left side, aiming to land a damaging blow. The blade of the knife went right through and sliced open a small cut on her side.

Arya was starting to sweat a little despite the chilly weather.

Her imaginary opponent didn't give up the fight and charged at her once again, sword raised above her head, ready to bring it down on her.

Arya side-stepped and the sword swung down just seconds where she was before and Arya attacked back with a powerful sidekick that sent her opponent flying a few feet away from her. She didn't get up again.

Then an arrow went flying out of the forest and Arya's cheek was sliced open. The arrow zoomed past her and embedded itself into the bare and leafless tree behind her.

Arya whipped her head around, knives ready and prepared to fight, to find some figures emerging from the forest.