Behind Chres, a very loud and a more subtle bang gave notice of a certain piece of heavy equipment doing its job. Týfurkh had spotted the archer a brief moment before the latter had let go of the arrow, allowing him to raise his elbow as a very makeshift means of additional protection before impact. The first impact on the elbow had changed the arrow’s flight path, the second one had brought the projectile to a complete stop slightly embedded in Týfurkh’s chestpiece. Out from the corner of his eyes he could look down onto it and see the purple color, making it all the more evident that this was no standard arrow.

Chres breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Týfurkh was okay. What in the world happened? Looking back at the archer, the man seemed just as surprised as Chres felt, but not in the same manner. A smile curled on the man’s lips as he drew another arrow.

”Chres, your stuff isn’t gonna work anymore!” was the giant’s comment before he decided on what to do next. They wanted to push the charge forwards? Well, so be it!

Chres would find himself shoved aside not so slightly, but with at least as much comfort as could be provided when doing things as fast as possible. Týfurkh stepped next to him and made a run for the guards, preparing both his fists and his crossbow as melee weapons for what was bound to come.

The archer’s smug look quickly turned to panic as the giant man charged forward. “I need support!” The man cried out as he fumbled with notching his arrow on the bow string. Four soldiers charged forward pikes in hand.

”Damn it!” Ches yelled as he pushed himself to keep up with Týfurkh’s giant strides.

Perhaps his shields wouldn’t be as useful now, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t back Týfurkh up! Chres charged in and shaped a giant lance. It’s tip forming inches away from the nearest soldier’s chest. The man, who was too focused on Týfurkh to notice Chres’ advance, came to a sudden halt as the lance skewered his chest.

Damage done, Chres dismissed the construct immediately. Refocusing his attention on the next soldier. ”You get the two on the right! I’ll take the remaining man on the left! Octavio, Karina, Ferris, support however you can!”

One of Octavio’s throwing knives had left the palm of his hand and found itself embedded in the throat of one of the guards at the right, a moment before Chres had spoken. “Huh? Oh, right. Certainly!” His illusion had been helping as well, though with less effective results from its more defensive movements. It was an intentional strategy employed by Octavio. He was there to throw projectiles, not receive them.

Karina simply nodded as Chres and Octavio told her to conserve her energy, letting him and the others push ahead of her. Her body was gradually heating up but it would take some time until she was actually ready to use her magic again. Listening to Chres as he told that it was their chance to charge towards the gatehouse, Karina simply nodded, silently stating that she would be ready whenever they were. Judging the situation they were in, it would have to be soon as well, especially since the archers were still a threat and Chres' protection wasn't going to stop any additional arrows, as it became well evident with the arrow sticking out of Týfurkh's chestpiece. It was fortunate that he was still fine, but that was still a warning they should move.

"We can't stay here any longer!" she said, looking back towards Týfurkh just to be sure he was fine and then towards Chres.

"I'm ready whenever you guys are." she finished, looking to the group.

Just as she said that though, Týfurkh pushed Chres aside for a moment, rushing towards the archer, with both fist and crossbow ready. Running after him, Chres cursed as he followed the giant's charge, readying a lance with his ability and skewering one of the soldiers as he got closer. Leaving the other soldiers to Týfurkh and going towards the last soldier remaining on his side, Chres asked Octavio, Ferris and Karina to support them in any way they could.

Without being able to use her ability and being too far to use her rapier, Karina simply followed the group, focusing the best she could in conserving energy and resting enough to use her abilities again. Following Chres and Týfurkh she kept her rapier in hand, ready to help in case one of them found themselves in a difficult situation against the remaining guards.

The second guard had turned his attention to Chres, he thrust his pike in Chres’s direction. Quickly, Chres made a thrusting motion himself, followed by a swipe upward. A spear formed in Chres’s hands. It caught the pike and knocked it aside.

Chres dismissed the spear and took out his last throwing knife. Quickly, he flung it into the man’s chest, causing the soldier to stumble. Chres took the stumble to get in close, shaped a blade and stabbed the man in the chest. Twisting the blade to ensure severage of the man’s artery, Chres dismissed the blade, while using his free hand to snatch back his last throwing knife before the man collapsed.

“Support! I need support!” The archer cried again as the giant loomed near. He raised his bow, took aimed-

Chres threw his retrieved throwing knife. It sank its way into the archer’s forearm. The archer cried out and dropped the bow.

”All yours!” Chres exclaimed to Týfurkh.

---

”Move it, bud, or I’ll nip you again!” Sil commanded threateningly to her new ride. It was the soldier who’s shirt she had crawled into earlier. She had done so in order to take cover from the shadow metal arrows the archer had shot at her.

“I’m going as fast as I- OW!”

”Silence, Silly human!” Sil demanded. ”Now look what you made me do! Your chest nub is puddling red! Such a waste of food!”

The soldier, Teb, gulped. “Food? What do you mean food?” Sweat began to bead down the soldier’s head. Did this monstrous familiar drink human blood too?

”Don’t play silly with me, human!” Sil growled -which ended up sounding more like a purr- ”You and I both know you humans eat red puddles to live!”

“We- what?”

”You keep it in bottles! Pour it into cups! Then drink it till you become red in the face and are no longer able to walk straight!”

“I-I think you’re a little confused -Ow! Hey! I’m running! Alright? I’m running!”

”That’s a good human!” Sil replied, before nipping him again.

“Ow- What was that for?”

”That?” Sil asked. ”That was for me to know and for you to stress over!”

Teb groaned, but said no more. Onwards he rushed toward the gatehouse, where Lynx and Akai suspected they would find Chres and the rest. Teb had been a good little human. He had followed Sil’s every instruction thus far… or so he had after receiving the proper motivation that is...

It was Teb who had taken down the archer shooting the shadow metal coated arrows. Teb who had pointed them towards the gatehouse, and now Teb who had so kindly ‘offered’ Sil a lift so she could relax comfortably, safe inside his shirt.

Sil poked her out of the opening of Teb’s shirt. The man had come to a stop. “We're here.” He whispered.

“Teb?” Another soldier called out. “What are you doing here?” The Soldier turned his gaze to Lynx and Akai “Since when did you get familiars... and… is that Crystal Jade attached to them?”

“I-” Teb stuttered.

“Those aren’t his.” A familiar voice, gravelly, female voice said.

“Sightless Syella?” The soldier asked.

“I may not be able to see them,” Sightless Syella began, “but crystal jade and familiars can only mean one thing. This man is colluding with the enemy... Kill him.”

“No!” Teb yelped.”That’s not what this is! They forced me to do it! They-”

Oh no! Sil thought. Not best buddy, Teb!

Sil lept out from the cover of Teb’s shirt. “Surprise attack!” Sil exclaimed.

Wings outstretched, she flew right into the incoming guard’s face and started scratching and biting. It was convenient having teeth and claws. The more she was in this form, the more Sil had been finding uses for it.

“What the-” The soldier exclaimed “Agh! Get off! Get off!”

“Run, Teb! Run!” She cried out. Teb, needing no additional urging, took off. Sil sighed reminiscently. The boy always was a good runner…

”Whatever you do, don’t forget all the wonderful times we shared together!” She called out to Teb. “I will never forget you- you- yoooooo- whatever your name was!”

Sil turned her attention to Lynx and Akai. “Lynx, Akai! Go find Chres and the rest. I’ll join you shortly!”

In the middle of the ensuing chaos Lynx found himself in front of Teb and nearly caused him to topple, later taking a quick leap to allow the man to escape. His gimmick of tripping humans was going to be reserved to the ones who weren’t running for their lives and now in need of intensive therapy. We must have a conversation about ethics at some point, he thought to himself. He dove out of a pair of legs just in time to see her clawing a guard’s face off.

On second thought… this could be beneficial for m-, us. He could forgive unpredictability when it was on his side.

He wasted no time advancing towards the gatehouse. This was a situation in which there were no room for mistakes, one against insurmountable odds. Worries and anxiety creeped through him, almost as if it were a physical affliction. He could never tell if that had been a symptom of not having a true physical body or not. The only way he could make those thoughts vanish was through confronting the danger himself, a bizarre loophole with his emotions he discovered long ago.

"Unorthodox, but effective!" Akai said, hovering as she chased Sil and her new human hostage, laughing. Every now and then, she would be able to hear the poor soldier's yelp of pain as Sil bit him. The scene only became even more amusing as Sil began talking about food, confounding the soldier's blood with the wine humans often drank, which made the soldier terrified of Sil.

It didn't take much for them to reach the Gatehouse with the help of Teb, which was Sil's new means of transportation. Arriving there, they expected to find Chres and the rest but unfortunately, they were intercepted by another guard, who promptly inquired about the familiars carrying jade candles who were with them. Akai wasn't that worried about a single soldier, but with the arrival of a Sightless, things were completely different. She had heard about Chres, Karina and the others about those 'sightless' and she knew that they were absolutely not someone they would like to mess with.

"Oh no..." Akai muttered as the sightles quickly revealed their plans, showing no mercy even towards Teb, who was an 'enemy' soldier, much for the despair of the unlucky soldier.

Quickly jumping into the other soldier's face, Sil began scratching his face while telling Teb to run before she turned towards both Akai and Lynx, telling them to go find Chres and the rest.

"Don't do anything stupid Sil!" Akai said, flying to where the soldier where Sil was, pushing him so he would lose balance and fall to the ground.

"Let's go Sil! Don't do anything stupid, we need to run!" she shouted as she turned towards Lynx, nodding towards him, a clear indication that her advice to run didn't apply just for Sil.

The guard was sent toppling to the ground. Sil leaping off of him at the last minute and flying after Lynx and Akai.

”Ah, Akai you really do care, don’t you?” Sil said as she landed atop Akai’s shoulder. ”You know, Lynx, you could learn a thing or two from our little-big sister Akai. Leaving me there to- Aaaah!”

Sil’s remarks were cut short by the Sightless. Her fingers elongated into razor sharp points, shot straight past Sil and Lynx. She missed the two familiars, but only barely.

Any and all of the protests forming in Lynx’s mind were tossed to the side along with his body, which hit the ground hard in a feeble attempt to avoid what felt like giant needles tearing through the air.

The fright caused Sil to leap off of Akai’s shoulder. She flew ahead in front of the pack.

”Down the stairs! Down the stairs!” Sil panicked as she zipped down the nearby spiraling staircase. Did Sil feel lighter? Did the room appear darker?

Sil didn’t have time to contempt those thoughts, as she flew headfirst into a group of six soldiers.

"J-Just don't get used to it..." Akai said in an annoyed tone as Sil landed on her shoulder.

She was about to do another snarky remark as a reply to what Sil was saying before Sil suddenly screamed as the sigthless' elongated fingers just missed both her and Lynx, making Akai open her eyes wide in surprise.

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Akai shouted, going as fast as she could after Sil. The sightless already gave her the chills, but the close encounter with her razor sharp finger things was enough to make her run without even looking back.

Lynx saved his words for the inside of his mind, in which they were surely put to better use formulating curses. Danger made him quieter, stealthier. They’d run and he’d voice his complaints later, or at least, that was his plan.

Unfortunately, it seemed their bad luck wasn't over yet. The moment they went down the stairs, they were greeted by a group of six soldiers.

---

Sightless Syella frowned. She watched the emptiness in the Insight, the three familiars, flee. A new emptiness had formed in her odd form of ‘vision’ one that enveloped her entirely.

The familiar’s survival was of little concern to Sightless Syella, what two of those familiars carried, however, was not.

In her hands, Sightless Syella held two crystal jade candles. She couldn’t see the candles, but the emptiness in her vision implied that they were there.

Syella breathed a sigh of relief. These candles were dangerous weapons, and in all honesty, she hadn’t been sure if she was even capable of snatching two invisible candles from fleeing targets. She suspected, though, that aim towards the center of the emptiness would be close to her target. Turns out that suspicion had been right on track. In fact, she felt that she could almost feel were there two candles were located. Perhaps there was something to that notion…

Syella sighed, closing her eyes to the Insight. Things didn’t look good here. The Pact makers were nearing the Gate House. If they opened the doors leading into the wall, then she feared it might be over for them.

She could try to fend the door, but she dared not face the Pact Makers alone. Not with weapons like this. She now knew of ways to counteract the crystal jade, yes, but still it was risky. Perhaps it was time to convince Nieffar to abandon this town. Perhaps it was time to tell the clan to retreat. If only the pack makers hadn’t stuck together...

Syella’s head jerked. Wait… one of the pact makers had gone off on his own. Sightless Syella turned her gaze beyond the wall and turns the pact maker she had previously tried to capture.
Yes… Now was the time to advise her clan to retreat. Her retreat, however, could wait just a little while longer.

"There!" Smit shouted. He Passed his spyglass over to the nearby catapult operator and then pointed into the distance. There, beyond the southern side of the wall, an isolated group of soldiers were lagging behind the main charge against the southern wall. The catapult's operator nodded, rotated the catapult and launched it's payload into the air.

The payload landed just ahead the group of soldiers, hitting the ground and releasing a cloud of Dust sand into the air. Immediately three siege ladders surrounded by soldiers with towering shields, vanished into thin air. While soldiers on the wall cheered, Tayla simply click her tongue. Looking on, dissatisfied.

"How much dust sand did we just waste in order to take out three illusions?" She asked disapprovingly.

Smit ignored the question. He'd been ignoring her comments through much of the day. The only time he spoke to her was when he needed to give her orders.

"Seems wasteful, yes," One of the nearby soldiers started, "but far less wasteful than the lives we might lose if we spend our time trying to take out fake siege ladders."

That had been the wall's strategy from the moment they realized General Frost, The Mirage, was loosing his illusions upon them. Sightless Syella had been right about the siege towers. They were all fake. The shadow metal arrows had proven that. However many of the soldiers advancing on the wall were real.

Despite Syella wanting the soldiers to focus their attention on the eastern gate, Sightless Nieffar had decided otherwise. He had come to the southern wall himself to help soldiers pick out the illusions. It worked for a time, however somehow the aggressors seemed to have caught on. Several soldiers had begun to light torches to envelop their illusions and comrades in light and conceal what was real from the all the Sightless.

As the soldiers adjusted their tactics to focus on finding the magician's casting the illusions, Nieffar had taken to trying to identify what had tipped the soldiers off to there being a sightless on the wall. It wasn't long before they discovered that some of the birds flying overhead were familiars.

This had then lead to them pulling aside archers with shadow metal arrows. These archers watched the skies firing their shadow metal arrows at any bird that appeared to be acting unnatural or any familiar that Nieffar had been able to identify. They figured it was best to use these special arrows on spies rather than waste them trying to fire through the gaps in-between the shields protecting the real and fake siege ladders.

Tayla folded her arms beneath her chest. "Why not just wait till they approach and then plunge a shadow metal arrow into every ladder?"

"Because, Tayla," Smit said unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. "if we do that, then the enemy is already here!" He looked back through his spy glass attempting to spot another caster. "Besides, this is the tactic that we were ordered to do. Are you going to help the family, our clan, or are you going to go off doing your own thing again and put all of us at risk?"

Tayla's eye twitched ever so slightly. "Well, well. Look who's become quite the prick."

Smit's back stiffened. Shooting a glance at Tayla, opened his mouth to speak- only to stop himself. Releasing a sigh, he looked back through his spyglass.

"I'm sorry." He said "That was out of line."

His apology caught her off guard. A brief sense of shame washed over her, which she quickly pushed aside.

"Cowering to a subordinate? Pitiful." More shame. It had been a forced retort.

Smit said nothing. Ignoring Tayla as he had done for much of the day. Tayla tsked, stalking off to find some place where she could be alone until they needed her. Unfortunately, being at the top of a wall there wasn't any real location which one could even consider to be private. So instead, Tayla settled for a spot on the wall which was not too far away. One with less people running amok.

Why did you say that? She wondered. Why do you always have to say stupid things like that?!

This had been the reason Tayla had been demoted. It was her rash behavior. Her inability to not have to feel like she came out on top of fight. All she ever wanted was to be in control of her own life, yet how could she ever do that if she wasn't even in control of her own emotions?

"Tayla, oh Tayla. Ever, always so glum." Said a gravelly voice.

Tayla raised her head to find the newly appointed Sightless De'laire standing before her.

"Sightless De'laire." Tayla said, bowwing her head quickly, if only to look away from those newly scratched out eyes of De'laire's. The sight of the orange goop dipping from De'laire's wounds sickened Tayla. She only hoped it wouldn't take much longer for De'laire's transformation to be complete. Perhaps by then her injuries would heal up properly and Tayla would then be able to look De'laire in the face without heaving out her lunch.

De'laire began muttering to herself. "She looks away? She looks away! Why? Oh, she's disturbed. Of what? Me? Oh yes, yes of course its me. Perhaps wiping my wounds now and then wouldn't hurt. Or... well, yes it would but-"

"Sightless De'laire," Tayla interjected, "Did you wish to speak w-"

Tayla never got the words out. Instead, she found herself sprawling on the floor. Her face stinging from a well placed slap.

"DID YOU NOT SEE THAT I WAS SPEAKING?!" De'laire screamed.

Damn, becoming a sightless had not cured her mental instability from being a Crazed. "My apologies, Sightless." Tayla said, picking her self off the ground.

"Sightless? Oh right, right. Yes, once I become sightless I'll be able to think straight again. Oh, what a wonderful day that will be! Wouldn't you agree?"

"-Yes.... Sightless?" Tayla was feeling more confused then ever now, but she decide it was best to go with De'laire's insanity rather than against it. De'laire simply smiled.

A soldier suddenly pushed past them. "Sightless Nieffar! Sightless-"

De'laire caught the man by the throat. "Sightless Nieffar is busy at the moment. Please bring all complaints to me."

She release the poor man, letting him drop to the ground.

"We- we have intruders." The man said in-between coughs. "They wield magic. Tempraision, illusions and ice!"

Tayla felt her blood go cold. Ice? It was her!

"They're heading for the gatehouse! If we don't stop them, they'll open the gate, or worse, let the rioters in!"

Tayla looked towards the Eastern Gatehouse. If she ran there now, then perhaps she could cut little Ms. Perfect off!

"Tayla!" Smit shouted in the distance. "We need you!"

Tayla look back towards Smit. Some of the real soldiers had made it to the wall and set up their ladders.

"Yes, yes..." Sightless De'laire was saying. "Sounds bad. Sounds bad. I should kill them myself, yes?"

No! The white haired woman was hers! Tayla looked back to the gatehouse longingly.

"Tayla, what are you doing?! We need you, now!" Smit cried.

Tayla, took off, ignoring the cries from Smit. He didn't need her right now, and senses knows she didn't need his condescending attitude. She ran like the wind. All the while, a plan of attack began to form in her head.

If Sil would have been where Týfurkh currently was, Sil would probably have been a happy familiar. However only as long as Sil wouldn’t have a firm grasp on the concept of a quite brutal and unhappy death that resulted in a red puddle, too! Týfurkh’s charge had ended with him raising his foot in the last moment in order both to kick the archer very firmly as well as to get rid of some momentum instantaneously. Now very firmly was actually dead as the momentum had been quite a lot and the steel boot unforgivingly hard. Blood poured out of the man’s mouth as his heart was still beating and his body twitching, but the end was inevitably near.

The second guard had drawn his sword and managed to keep Týfurkh at bay with it. The giant lacked the shield he had held in his hands before, but even with it he would not have been an expert at using it. He thought about a plan as his magic wouldn’t do much good at this short a distance and with the spontaneity of a melee either.

Suddenly, Týfurkh turned on his heel until it was his right side that was facing towards the soldier. He knew from experience that his shoulder plates were one of the most sturdy things about his armor and just like everything else about him, they were pretty large. Using them as both a shield and a means of ramming, he rapidly closed the gap between them and kept pushing, thereby taking away a lot of room to play around with the sword. This way the soldier could not pick up a lot of momentum with it and what means of straightforward stabbing remained was not enough to punch through Týfurkh’s chestpiece. In the end there was the wall and the guard pinned against it. Týfurkh now used his right elbow to help with the immobilization while his left fist was busy hitting whatever soft spot on the man’s body he could find.

With the archer down. Chres charged on ahead. He took out his hatchet raised it for a strike-

A winged familiar flew between the six guards. ”Sil?” Sil’s head jerked towards Chres, causing her to fly head first into the nearest guard and collapse onto the ground.

Distracted, Chres’s strike never came. Instead, the soldier struck first, forcing Chres to have to quickly Weave a wall between him and death. He dismissed the wall immediately and thrust his freehand forward. A blade shaped into his hand, but it only nicked the guard.

Apparently the guard hand judged Chres’s thrust as some sort of awkward punch. He attempted to knock away Chres’ attack with his own arm, earning him a wound in the process. The guard leapt back to give himself some distance.

“Jewl, give us some cover!” The soldier shouted.

A female soldier behind the guard, presumably Jewl, removed a pair of spectacles from her face and let them fall beside a nearby torch. The spectacles appeared to absorb the light, then suddenly four more guards materialized out of nowhere.

Chres cursed. Where they illusions? One of the illusions took a swipe at Chres, which he blocked by Shaping a blade. Chres’ construct made contact. Not illusions. They had substance. Light constructs then. Even worse.

Jewl replaced her spectacles with a new pair and dodged away in order to blend in with the other guards.

”Go for the door!” Chres shouted. He kicked away the nearest construct while blocking the blow from another by throwing up a shield. He quickly stepped back to readjust his positioning. Last thing he needed was to get surrounded.

Even though Karina was still in the back of the group, recovering from the ice attack she used earlier, she still kept her rapier on hands, ready to attack whoever came too close to her or to jump into action if someone else got into a tough situation. Watching as Týfurkh charged towards both the archer, instantly taking him down before being confronted by the second guard. Karina was considering going to help him, but after seeing Týfurkh using his armor and weigth to pin the guard into a wall with a charge and hit him continuously with his heavy fists, she almost felt sorry for the poor man that was on the receiving end.

In the middle of the battle though, a familiar face appeared, flying right between the six guards and going straight towards one of them, hitting him in the face before falling to the ground. Due to that event, Chres, who was getting ready to hit one of the guards, hesitated, which made the guard strike him first. Thankfully, he was able to block the guard's attack by making a heat construct between the two of them before retaliating with a blade made of heat.

Just after Sil, Akai came, quickly going to where Sil was, grabbing her and flying between the soldiers until she was behind the group.

"I don't want... to be the one to bring bad news... but the Sightless knows about everything..." Akai said, out of breath.

"The close encounter with that... thing... wasn't what I would call 'relaxing'!" Akai said, still trying to catch her breath, holding Sil in her arms.

Karina watched as Sil came, followed by Akai and heard her words with a worried expression. Those were really bad news indeed. Before she said anything though, one of the guards shouted towards the female soldier behind him, asking for some cover. The woman used a strange ability, that, at first, made Karina think it was just illusions, but the moment Chres blocked one of the illusion's strike, actually making contact with it, Karina knew it was much worse. With the added information that the Sightless already knew of their little plan, they had to move fast.

"How many ability users they have?!" Karina said, looking at the woman, Jewl, with an annoyed expression.

"Got it! Let's go! We don't have time to waste!" Karina said, nodding towards Chres as he shouted for them to go for the door.

“The door!” The soldier cried in response to Chres and Karina. “Guard the door!”

In response, Jewl tossed a glass marble in Karina’s direction. As the marble began to suck in the light around it, ropes, with the heads of snakes, shot from the marble and towards Karina. They slithered towards her, attempting to coil around her legs.

Three other soldiers headed for the door as well. All three unaware of the hitchhiker, Sil, crawling up the back of one of the soldier’s uniforms.

The bunch of seconds it had taken for Týfurkh to take care of the second guard in his reach he had been unable to see what was going on behind his head. As he was finished and turned himself around he instantly didn’t like what he saw: More guards or at least creations that behaved like guards ? Okay. Darkness around them ? Not so much. Magic ropes with the heads of snakes, probably highly poisonous even ? Highly dangerous. And, last but not least and in spite of the fact that Týfurkh actually felt happy about Sil returning to Chres alive: The news that the Sightless had discovered them and their plan ? Catastrophic!

And yet, as highly reasonable as the idea of running for the door was, it just simply couldn’t be executed with that many hostile obstacles in the way. Or could it if they just took the time to prepare ? Maybe the guards not openly attacking them anymore but staying at the door was not such a bad thing after all…

Týfurkh made a large step to the side, positioning himself rather close to a wall next to the dead and trampled archer. There he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no words could be heard. His jaws moved and his lungs clearly did some heavy duty, but there was silence around him. Hopefully Chres, Karina, Sil, Akai and all the others would understand what he was doing and hopefully the guards would have no idea about the same. He was preparing an acoustic trap, a very small, invisible spot floating in the midst of the air right in front of the soldiers. Once ready all it would take was for some provocation to make them more forward a little.

The guards cried out as they ran straight into Týfurkh’s trap… or rather Sil, the hitchhiker, did. Having climbed atop a very confused guard’s shoulder, she lept ahead of them man

”Door! Door! Door! Door! Door!” Sil shouted happily in quick succession… only to trigger the trap moments later. All three guards were sent sprawling on their backs. Sil, having taken the brunt of the blow and being as tiny as she was, was sent flying.

”No! No! No! No! Noooooooooooooo!” She cried, as her body was launched through the air, only stopping as she made contact with Jewl’s face. Jewl let out a loud “Oooooph”. Her body, falling to the floor unconscious.

Chres shook his head as he fended off an attack from an illusion. ”Leave it to Sil to be only accidentally helpful.” Chres grumbled with a sigh.

Or maybe not becoming a bard was the right choice, thought Octavio, admiring Jewl’s prowess. His light constructs were geared towards more general applications, so it was a bit intimidating to see someone versed in a more military, strategic style of combat. Strategy, or in Octavio’s words, ideas that all fell apart the second the chaos of a battlefield truly manifested itself. The amount of sparring matches or training regimens one went through were no longer important when something like Sil hit your face like a frying pan at top speed. Even the noise Jewl made was ridiculous.

“What on Earth?!” shouted Lynx.

“Great work!” responded Octavio, nearly simultaneously. Both him and his illusion had been guarding each other’s backs, lashing out to strike a weak point whenever it presented itself. There was an abundance of them, given the constant violence erupting all around them, which they took advantage of to the fullest. At the sight of the sprawled guards, however, he had a change of plans. Leaving his illusion to fend for itself, he sprinted towards someone else.

“Would this count as mugging? I don’t care, regardless.”

It took maneuvering past multiple hostile opponents, but he approached her seemingly unresponsive body to take the spectacles.

The moment Karina began running towards the door though, one of the soldiers shouted for the remaining guards to block it, in response to her and Chres' shouts. Jewl immediately acted, throwing a glass marble in Karina's direction. As it got out of her hands, the marble began sucking light around it and after a while, ropes with the heads of snakes began getting out of the marble and going towards Karina, trying to coil around her legs.

Forcing to reduce her pace, Karina continued going as fast as she could, while trying to cut any rope that got too close from her legs. She knew that if they managed to trap her, it would only make the entire situation worse.

"What are those things?!" she said with an annoyed tone as she continued trying to open a way to the door by cutting the snake-headed ropes.

Fortunately, she was paying enough attention on her surroundings to notice when Týfurkh positioned himself close to the wall and opened his mouth, almost as if he was shouting something but with no sound getting out of it. While she didn't know exactly what he was doing, she knew that he was using his ability for something and considering where he was facing towards, he was aiming to where the other soldiers where. Giving a small nod, Karina slowed her pace even more to give Týfurkh both the time and space he needed to use his ability, while focusing on keeping the strange snakes away from her.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, Sil didn't catch on to what Týfurkh was trying to do and simply continued on her way towards the door. Having taken a ride on another soldier, Sil leapt ahead of him just as the trap was set, triggering it and sending the guards sprawling on their backs, which made Akai immediately start laughing, not only at the woman, but at Sil as well, whom, just like Chres said, had a huge talent in being accidentally helpful.

Sil got up in a daze. ”Nnggh....” She groaned, despite being unable to feel pain. ”What happened?”

"Sil! Let's go! Don't make me rescue you again or I'll promise you I'll do so by grabbing you by the legs and dragging you with me!" Akai said after a good laugh, waiting to be sure she was okay before continuing on her way. If Sil took too long to reply, she would fly towards her while the guards were on the ground and try to grab Sil and get away before anything could block them.

Sil shook her head, her appearance transitioning back into her fairy form.

”All yours!!” She exclaimed happily. Going flat as a board, she stretched her legs out in anticipation of Akai dragging her across the room. On the other side of the room Chres groaned in annoyance.

Seeing Jewl on the ground unconscious made Karina much more relieved, seeing how she was one of the most dangerous among the guards. While it was true they had little time, for a moment, Karina stopped, looking towards Jewl's unconscious body. She could be very troublesome for them later and now was a very good time to make sure she wouldn't be able to fight them again... Just as she did so, Octavio, who was already close to her unconscious body, approached Jewl and searched her body, taking her glasses with him.

"Don't delay, Octavio! Just take anything that could be dangerous from her! We need to do something to prevent her from immediately coming after us once she wakes up." Karina said, nodding towards Octavio.

One of the illusions took a swipe at Chres that was far too close for comfort. Chres cursed as he swiveled out of the way. Panting, he threw up a wall between him and the light constructs, effectively blocking a follow up attack.

”Where are we on that door?!” He cried.

Týfurkh grimaced the moment he could only watch and see how probably the least robust member of their party happened to relocate herself right into the trap he was setting up while everyone else appeared to have noticed in time what he was up to. Luckily he had only had little time to charge that thing, otherwise it would have been a lot more lethal and Sil might very well have ended up as a cloud of red fog. That was assuming Sil’s blood was indeed red, of course, and not some color just straight from the other world her fancy mind seemed to be. Someone, anyone, REALLY needed to talk to her!

This was not the time for such, though. Týfurkh hurried to reach the door, using a mixture of jumping and daring maneuvers in order not to trample more people he already had this day. He stopped when reaching Jewl though, the one individual Karina had just told to deprive of anything that could be used against them. A spontaneous thought crossed his mind about how that problem could be solved more efficiently. Why not take Jewl with them as a whole ?

Not breaking a sweat, Týfurkh lifted Jewl and threw her over his shoulders before picking up his pace again. ”Everybody look out for a nice place to dump her!”

A well, perhaps ? Or some dark, tiny chamber whose door happened to have a big lock and a key ? Týfurkh didn’t really care at this point as long as it could serve as an obstacle.

”How about that dark little room over there?” Chres suggested, nodding over to a near by room with its door wide open. If she Jewl waked in there, at least she wouldn’t be able to use her powers… Speaking of which…

The glass marbles Jewl had tossed on the ground when dark. Her illusions vanishing with them. Chres breathed a sigh of relief. Jewl’s remaining companions however began to sweat. One companion rushed up the stairs shouting for help, the others got to their feet and recomposed themselves.

Chres however, took that moment to shoot for the door undoing the lock and throwing it wide open.

”People of Shimmertown!” Chres shouted, ”Come to arms and take back your wall! Join us now so that we can open this gate!”

The nearby people let out a cheer. Some went to spread the word, while others proceeded to rush the wall.

By this point the Jewl’s remaining companions had made a mad dash up the stairs to regroup. Although only a few villagers had managed to make their way in at this point, things were starting to look up. A few of the villagers gave chase to the soldiers charging up the stairs, while others rushed the halls of the lower floors instead.

While these handful of villagers might have given Chres and the other some much needed relief, they were clearly more of an unorganized mob than a unit. And that alone meant that the battle here was not yet won.

Chres sighed. He could feel the wariness beginning to sink in. A loud crash sounded somewhere distantly above. The hell could have that had been? Chres wonder before shaking away the ideal thought. ”Come.” He said while waving the others to the stairs. ”We must make sure the job is done.”

More villagers began to rush into the wall going whichever way they chose. As Chres took his first step up the stairs. Another crash. This one much closer. Cries came from above. Chres hesitated. This he hadn't imagined.

The ceiling made a loud groan shortly followed by several loud cracks that spread through the rock. Chres paused, taking a moment to look at the ruined stone ceiling. Oddly, the ceiling had sunken. Rubble spewing from the crack. Another loud groan followed. The wariness left in an instant followed by alert.

”GET DOWN!” He started to shout. His warning drowned out by the sound of the ceiling caving in on them.

---

Tayla stepped back as the floor beneath her collapsed into the floor below. Casually, she spit out the used bit of sweetened cotton which she had used to drastically increase the weight of the stone floor all the while trying to ignore the chaos ensuring throughout the wall. She had just collapsed three stories off stone floor hoping to catch her target by surprise.

Getting to her knees she peered down into her newly created pit trying to pinpoint the bitch, assuming of course that she was alive. As the dust started to settle, she could make out the slender form of a woman with rapier in hand... There.

Tayla pop two tuffs of cotton into her mouth. One sour. One savory. She leapt through the hole in the floor, the cloud of dust enveloping her. Using the sour cotton tuff, she modulated the linear velocity of her clothes, slowing her fall. Tayla landed next to the figure who she presumed to be her nemesis. Touch the ground beneath the woman, She quickly used the savory cotton to warp the ground beneath the woman's feet.

The ground beneath the two of them lurched upwards through all three newly created holes. Talya stopped her warping effect abruptly. The ground beneath them instantly returned to its normal state. Their momentum, however, continued onwards.

Tayla let the woman fly away into the forth story of the gatehouse, leaving her the the mercy of her velocity. Tayla however, used the sour cotton tuff to again modulate and change the velocity of her clothes allowing her to land comfortably on the ground without hitting any walls or ceiling.

Whipping out one of her twin swords, Tayla popped a bitter cotton tuff into her mouth. Tayla made two alternating kicks, during which, see she decreased the friction of her boots. The boots slide off her feet as if coated in butter, leaving her feet bear and exposes. Tayla had learned the hard way. In order to beat this woman, she would need to pull out all the stops. She would need to using her powers to their fullest, and that meant she would need to make contact with objects in more ways than just through her hands.

Tayla stared down her opponent, raising a fistful of coins into the air. She felt a well of hate and envy fill her as she stared into Little Miss Perfect's cold eyes. Tayla opened her mouths to speak.

"Hello, Princess."

Coins launched from Tayla's hand, sending death Karina's way.

“Your stance is too low and your grip, you need to loosen it up. Being able to change how far up or down your grip is important. I take it you haven’t fought with a weapon like this.” Jen would say to him.

Melkev gave the man a somewhat annoyed glance though he did as Jen said.

”I don’t think that now is probably the best time to give a lesson." Malkev said as the four cultists rushed the two with spears, pikes and swords. However, the fifth cultist, the one who roused their bloodlust, stood back in wait.

”We’ll keep it simple with thrusts and some sweeps. Remember your greatest strength is the reach of this weapon. Use it to trip them up, control their movement, and keep them from reaching you!” The man would say as he rushed to meet the cultists. Jen’s focus would be the opposing polearm users.

”Keeping them from reaching me is what I have you for!" Malkev shot back.

In particular the pikemen were first. Though their pikes had length, they could only thrust. Jen would weave in and out of their strikes. The pikemen would do a coordinated mass stab which ended in their spears stuck in the ground as Jen ran up a pike and struck at the men before jumping behind them.

The cultist standing back, cocked his head at Jen’s odd movement. Reaching for his side, he untied a modest size pouch. Casually tossing the pouch in the air, he quickly kicked the bag with a swipe of his foot. White dust burst from the bag, spreading into the air. No… not dust… Flour.

”What in the name of Senses?" Malkev muttered. This didn’t seem good.

The cultist smiled, as he locked eyes with Jen and threw another kick despite Jen still being several feet away. The flour responded to his kick. It gathered together and shot toward Jen, all the while materializing into the shape of a person. The form of a person about to strike at Jen with a kick.

Jen was too focused on the pikemen to really register the other cultist’s presence. Sure he was a threat, but all of them were and he was going to be methodical about it. It would result in him unceremoniously eating that kick and being sent sliding on his ass backwards. ”What the hell? That felt way harder than flour should be!” He’d say as he quickly arose to his feet and focused on this new threat.

The cultist chuckled while undoing another bag of flour. He turned his gaze away from where the flour copy had formed. The copy had already lost its shape and dispersed back into a cloud of individual particles drifting towards the ground. One of the cultists approached Malkev. He swiped wide at the man causing him to jump back.

”Son! A little help here!" Malkev shouted. He hoped he didn’t sound too panicked.

”Don’t worry I’m coming! I’m coming!” Jen would say as he ran to assist Malkev. He tensed up as he realized his eyes needed to be on the ball right now. His attention was split between two important goals. Keeping Malkev alive, and figuring out how to circumvent the cultist’s power. Of course getting too worried about either would work against him too. He needed to stay limber both in body and mind to win this.

As he was running towards Malkev, Jen would spot a wooden crate on the ground. Thinking quickly, he’d punt the crate towards the cultist with the flour puppet. With the cultist that was attacking Malkev, He’d let out a feinting swipe to the left, which would immediately correct itself into a thrust at the cultist sides.

The cultist’s eyes widened in surprise, indeed Malkev was even surprised. A lot of power must have gone into Jen’s punt. The cultist jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flying crate. As he fell to his side, he released the flour from his second pouch, locked his eyes on Jen and made an awkward kick into the empty air.

Malkev was in the middle of grunting thanks when he spotted the second cloud of flour shooting towards Jen. Yet again its shape morphed, quickly forming a copy of the man kicking as he fell to his side.

”Incoming!" Malkev exclaimed.

”Interesting..” He’d say to himself quietly. He was half-expecting the cultist to have used the flour to intercept the flying crate. It was clear that the cultist could only make the flour act as fast as he could.

Malkev’s warning would direct his attention to the incoming mass of flour that was imitating the cultist’s kick. Jen knew that flour while in its altered state could hit hard. He wondered though how it receives blows, as he only targeted the user and not the construct. Jen swung downwards curious to see what would happen when his staff made contact with the flour.

There was a loud crack as the copy made contact with the stick. Immediately after, the copy lost shape, and the flour gently drifted towards the ground.

”You blocked it?" Malkev said as his spear drove through the cultist Jen had downed. The cultist with the flour cursed audibly in the distance and rubbed his shin.

”Something like that! I think we try and disperse the flour as well as striking it back whenever it changes shape to attack.” Jen would reply. The strike was a success. Jen felt how solid the flour was against the stick. Not only could he strike it, it also seemed to transfer some degree of pain to the user. Perhaps with enough strikes they could wear away at him.

”We?" Malkev asked, eying two of the three remaining non-magical cultists who were drawing in close for an attack. He turned his spear towards them threateningly. ”Lad, I think you may be overestimating my capabilities in the fighting department. Maybe if we can do away with the distractions though, I might be of a little more use."

”Hey, I’m just trying not to underestimate you here. But I know, there’s a bunch of these guys to take care of as well. Yet, we still can’t let that one guy out of our sight!”
Jen would reply.

He’d help out by ko’ing a cultist with a well placed swat of the staff. Not wasting a moment, he’d sweep at the ground at one of the piles with his staff. Such was his force, that he’d produce a gust of air that scattered the pile into the air.

The flour wielding cultist had made it back to his feet. He removed a third back of flour, but instead of dispersing it, he coated his hand with the flour. The remainder of the pouch he poured onto the ground.

He locked eyes with the pile of flour and then slowly traced his gaze along the ground towards Jen. The pile of flour suddenly jerked, following the path of this gaze.

Malkev narrowed his eyes. That seemed different. ”I don’t like the look of that!" He said while thrusting his spear at the nearest cultist. Jen’s attention would suddenly change as Malkev called out for his attention.

“What’s he doing this time?” He’d yell out. He’d then see the cultist giving him a leer as this pile of flour was steadily making its way to him. Jen definitely didn’t like seeing that blob of flour creeping to him. He really didn’t want to find out what would happen if it got to him. He decided that perhaps it would be best to attack that cultist. He’d run in an erratic manner towards him with the reasoning being that it would make it tougher to keep track of with moving that pile towards him.

The cultist frowned. He quickly swept his gaze from the ground and towards Malkev. He blinked. The moving pile of flour, instead of tracing the cultist’s gaze, suddenly made its way straight towards Malkev. Almost as if it had been locked onto his position.

”JEN!" Malkev panicked.

With his right hand, the one coated in flour, the cultist reached out and clenched at the empty air. A copy of the cultist’s hand appeared from the pile of flour and grabbed Malkev by the throat, choking him.

The cultist began to run from Jen. With his left hand, he pulled out a fourth and final bag of flour and threw it straight at Jen. The flour puffed around Jen, forming into four copies of the cultist surrounding Jen.

The cultist stopped his retreat, looked at the copy directly behind Jen, and reached out as if to hug the air. The copy moved with him attempting to grapple Jen and hold him in place. The cultist then switched his gaze to the copy in front of Jen and threw a kick.

”Coming!” Jen yelled. However, he’d be unable to reach Malkev. He had already committed to rushing to the cultist. Not only, that he was getting surrounded by these flour copies. This was going to be tricky, he needed to do something. He’d do a sweeping attack on the three in front of him.

Jen’s kick passed through the two copies at his side, both who were still stagnate. Their forms blurred into a puff of flour before reforming. His kick, however, appeared to have made contact with the copy in front of Jen, however. The copy faltered, as if tripped. Its kick thrown off course. The copy fell; its form puffing away. In the distance, the cultist controlling it, fell with the copy. Landing on the ground with a loud ‘Ooofff’.

Jen then felt the oddly powdery yet, extremely solid sensation of the flour copy grabbing on him. Jen would react by jabbing at the copy with the rear of his stick. He’d also try to hip check and trip up the attacker with kicks in an attempt to throw its balance off and break the grapple.

The cultist grunted some more rising back to his feet. Oddly Jen’s attack’s on the copy behind him didn't seem to affect the cultist as much as the attack performed on the copy in front of him. Worse still, that copy’s grip appeared to be holding firm.

The cultist growled. His eyes seemed oddly red as if dried. He rubbed at them before pulling out a knife. He turned his gaze to the copy on Jen’s right. The copy pulled out a knife as well and took a swipe at him. The cultist blinked half way through his swipe, switched his gaze to the copy on Jen’s left. The copy’s pose changed to mimic the cultist’s. Knife in hand, the other cultist took a back handed swipe at Jen with his knife.

”What a pain in the ass. I can’t seem to shake this guy off.” Jen would mutter to himself as he struggled to get that flour clone off of him. Try as he might he could not get it to let go. However it was far from being a statue with its feet bolted into the ground. It was still moving around, although its strength and movements were to counter his own.

However, he didn’t have all day to get this thing off his back. The glimmer of the blade produced from one of the copies gave him a shiver of concern. He had to do something to avoid having that knife go in him real quick. He took as deep of a breath he could, and concentrated on focusing his strength. With great strength he swung his body around, causing the copy to lose its feet on the ground and have its back towards the lunge of the knife wielding copy.

The cultist’s back bled, as a wound appeared as the first knife wielding copy cut into the copy grappling Jen. However the cultist bared through the pain determined to get his killing blow in with the knife wielding copy on Jen’s left side. The cultist grinned, victory near at hand-

Blood spurted from the cultist’s right hand, the knife dropping from his grip. The cultist cried out. He fell to his knees, grabbing the wrist of his wounded hand. His hand… it appeared to have been impaled.

His focus lost, the flour copies surrounding Jen puffed away, no longer a threat.

“Wha-?” The cultist sputtered, His eyes then widened as his attention turned towards Malkev. The man was no longer being strangled. He had managed to escape the hold by stabbing the hand of flour with his spear.

”I-I don’t think I’m ever going to look at flour the same way." Malkev said, in-between coughs.

It was over. Their flour wielding foe had fallen from Malkevs blow. The once firm flour had fallen into its soft powdery form. ”Yeah I heard of battery, but this is ridiculous’” Jen said without missing a beat as he dusted himself off.

”Hm… Battery..." Malkev said with uncertainty. He had clearly not picked up on the joke.

The bleeding cultist picked up the knife with his good hand. His bad hand he held against the folds of his shirt.

“You bastards.” The man cursed. With effort he rose to his feet.

Jen would notice the cultist struggling to rise and doing so with a knife brandished. “I got to admire your tenacity, but I’m not letting you throw your life away like this.” He’d move closer to the cultist as he spoke. Continuing he’d say, “Sorry, but I ain’t got no shining words to act as solace for whatever drove you to seek the cult or really what to do next. But they sure as hell don’t have your interest at heart.”

Jen’s staff had the reach advantage compared to the cultist’s knife. With a couple of motions, the knife was knocked out of his hand. The cultist would be subdued with a palm thrust. Alright, let’s go” He’d say to Malkev.

Malkev raised an eyebrow as he paid a glance to the down cultist. ”You just going to let that bastard live?" Malkev asked, as he fell into step with Jen.

”Yes, he didn’t look as far gone by the insight like those sightless. Maybe he’ll regain his senses once we destroy that heart. I got no intention of mowing down half your villagers, whose only crime was to fall for the cult’s honeyed words and whatever effects that distortion brings.” Jen would reply.

”That man was not one of mine!" Malkev said angrily, though he had no evidence to back the claim up.

”Regardless he won’t be a problem for a while. Anyway, how are you holding up? Ideally we should get you to safety before being anything else.” Jen replied.

”I told you, I’m not going anywh-"

Black tendrils wrapped around Malkev’s torso before he could finish his sentence. Suddenly he was lifted off his feet and tossed aside as if he were nothing. Slamming into a wall, Malkev fell unconscious.

”Why hello again, Pactmaker. It’s a pleasure to see you here still alive.“ The raspy voice of Sightless Syella said. ”Now, if you don’t mind, I’m here to talk.”

Karina watched as Jewl's unconscious body was thrown into a small, dark room. It would be a good deterrent in case she woke up later. At least she would take a while to be able to get out of there. With Jewl's illusions disappearing and her out of combat, her companions quickly realised that they were now in a very disadvantageous position, with one of them running up the stairs, screaming for help while the rest of them tried to recompose themselves.

Using that brief moment of respite, Chres immediately opened the door wide, speaking to the people of Shimmertown and pleading for their help. The inflamed shouts of cheer of the population made it clear that they also had enough of the cult. Good news for their group, since the cult would have to deal with that on top of their little plan.

While the people of Shimmertown were more of an angry mob than an organized force, the confusion they would make would buy them some time.

Despite the strange crashing noise coming from above them, much like Chres, Karina's mind was focused on completing their task as she nodded to him when he mentioned they should go. Before they could do anything though, another strange noise came from above them, a second crash. For some reason, it was closer to them this time. Close enough to make Karina stop and look up. The moment she did so, the ceiling just above them began to groan, with several loud cracks just after that. When Karina realized what was going on, it was already too late. A moment after Chres shouted for them to get down, the ceiling above them came down. Karina was lucky to avoid any wounds other than a small bruise due to having thrown herself to the ground, but the dust and the rubble made it difficult for her to see and understand what had just happened, other than the obvious fact that the roof had collapsed over them.

Unsheathing her rapier, Karina quickly got up, looking around in complete silence, waiting for the dust to settle. That wasn't just an accident. The way the roof had collapsed... Karina was almost certain that the cult was behind that.

Almost immediately proving her suspicions to be right though, she heard the sound of someone getting down and landing just next to her. Before she could swing her rapier though, the ground suddenly rose beneath her, throwing her and presumably, whoever was that landed near her, several feet into the air. Away from the dust caused by the collapsed roof, Karina could now see herself flying through the air as the ground approached quickly. She was thrown to the fourth story of the gatehouse, away from Chres and the others. Thankfully, she had rested enough to use her powers again and was able to break her fall by making a small ramp of ice as she fell.
Getting up after sliding through the ramp, Karina quickly looked around, still a bit disoriented due to the ceiling collapsing and her having been thrown in the air, she quickly recompose herself, trying to find whoever was responsible for all that. The moment she turned her face however, she was met with a familiar face...

The moment Tayla called her by the same nickname she hated so much, Karina looked at the woman with a cold expression. Just after Tayla said that though, she threw a handful of coins towards Karina, flying through the air with a deadly velocity.

Seeing her hands the moment Tayla threw the coins, Karina knew she wouldn't have time to dodge properly or block them with ice, so instead, she immediately threw herself towards where the ramp was, using her ability to extend the ice from it just enough so it would be able to intercept or at least change the coins' trajectory enough so they wouldn't hit her. While it wasn't a gracious or elegant movement, the fall wouldn't be enough to give her anything other than a small bruise, which was much better than being pierced by Tayla's coins.

Karina's body fell to the ground with a thud as she rolled behind the ramp.

"It appears you won't ever leave me alone unless I kill you..." Karina said with a cold, grim tone.

"Or I’ll kill you!" Tayla raged back.

"You are blinded by envy and rage... So much that you can't see what your precious cult is doing." Karina continued.

"Listen to the voices of the people of Shimmertown! Can you still say you're doing the right thing?" she asked.

"Fuck Shimmertown! All Seeing knows these people wouldn’t give a damn about me!"

Tayla began circling the ice ramp in a jog. Mindful to keep her distance. As her bare feet touched the floor, she used her magic to lay traps with each step. Modifying the stone’s friction to become comparable to ice.

"Open your eyes and stop blaming others for what you don't have, for your mistakes or your own weaknesses!" Karina shouted, touching the ice ramp in front of her and making it explode, sending hundreds of sharp shards of ice towards Tayla, using that distraction to close the distance between them.

"SHUT UP! YOU DON’T KNO-"

Tayla’s voice cut off. The woman’s eventual attack had finally occurred. By this point Tayla had come to expect such attacks. This woman was fast. Tayla needed to be faster.

Tayla stopped laying traps, Instead she modulated the floor’s friction to create a shorter lasting effect.

"Fuck Shimmertown! Fuck you!" Tayla shouted.

While the ground beneath Tayla still became as slippery as ice, she used this to pick up speed and to skate across the stone floor. Gliding swiftly, she reached into her pouch of coins, avoided the ice shards while also firing back a spread of coins of her own.

"FOR ONCE EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE WASN’T GOING TO SHIT! THEN YOU FUCKING CAME ALONG!" Tayla screamed, while blinking back the tears.

Tayla popped a salty cotton tuff into her mouth. The woman’s ability to break off shards of ice and send them flying was nifty… but perhaps Tayla could do something similar with stone.

Karina dashed towards the woman with her rapier on hands as Tayla tried to dodge all the shards of ice Karina had sent towards her. While Karina didn't expect them to do much damage, it was still surprising that Tayla not only managed to dodge them, but also had time to throw some of her coins as well towards Karina, forcing her to halt her advance for a moment in order to dodge them with a sidestep before continuing to close her distance once more. Unfortunately, the very moment she resumed running towards Tayla, the moment she stepped forward, the ground below her feet made her slip, forcing her to stop her advance and kneel down in order to regain her balance. It was a neat trick Tayla had used... But it wouldn't work on Karina.

"You're just a hypocrite, Tayla. A foolish child throwing a tantrum... Do you believe that having a tough life gives you the reason to ruin innocent people's lives? To make them suffer? Everything you conquered in the cult was by trampling on the lives of innocent people. You spilled innocent blood for your own, selfish desires, for your own benefit." Karina continued as she stood up.

Instead of advancing towards Tayla though, she swung her rapier in front of her, with a frigid cold wind emanating from her, quickly covering the ground in a layer of ice. By using her own ice and her ability to effortlessly move on it, she would deny whatever little surprise Tayla had put on the ground.

Tayla cursed. She hadn’t planned for the woman to trigger her traps quickly. Tayla adjusted to the now icy ground. Ignoring the cold on her feet. Instead of slippery traps, she began laying traps to drastically increase the friction of the ice. Tayla readied her weapon in preparation this time.

"What makes you different from the people who made you suffer when you were younger? Maybe you're even worse... After all, the cult does things way worse than just killing someone..." Karina said, with a cold tone in a very cruel remark to the already emotional Tayla as two ice blades appeared from the ice layer on the ground around her, floating and hovering above her.

"We are not a cult!" Tayla shouted back instinctively.

"Don't feel like you're someone special though, Tayla... Do you think I came here specifically to ruin the lie you call 'life'? You're nothing but an obstacle to me. You threw your honor and dignity away, selling yourself as a tool to the cult, trampling over innocent lives for your own benefit... You are undeserving of respect, mercy or even my time." Karina finished as she sent one of the ice blades flying towards Tayla, skating through the ice layer on the ground as she approached her faster than she was when she was running.

Should the ice blade miss Tayla, Karina would simply make it turn around and continue chasing Tayla while keeping one of the blades near her in order to defend herself in case Tayla somehow found enough time to throw more coins at her despite having to focus on evading the ice blade.

Tayla stood her ground, turning to face her opponent. This time she would be ready when little miss perfect triggered her traps.

"My honor? MY DIGNITY?!" Tayla trembled as she spoke. She would fight back those tears! She refused to fall again before this woman! ”No, little princess, never did I throw those away. My honor, my dignity... Those two things were stolen from me…”

Tayla warped the ground beneath her bare right foot, attempting to intercept the blade shooting straight for her. Unbeknownst to Tayla, the icy blade changed course to avoid the wall as it obstructed her vision. Tayla’s eyes widened as the blade avoided the wall, coming for her from her left.

Using her left bare foot to quickly warp the floor beneath the blade and catch it from underneath. Tayla continued warping the floor until it met the ceiling above. She had learned the hard way that shattering the woman’s constructs only allowed her to use the shards as weapons. Unfortunately, this meant that Tayla was left at mercy of whatever the woman had planned after lowering her shields.

Focusing on her bitter cotton tuff, Tayla weakened the floor beneath her feet, making it as brittle as a thin sheet of glass. A single stomp with her left foot caused the floor beneath her to crack into shards of ice and stone. Tayla lowered her ‘shields’ while sweeping the shards of stone and ice with her bare foot. The stones launched into the air after the white haired woman, Tayla had made sure to apply velocity only to the shards of stone and not the ice.

As the stone launched towards her opponent, Tayla then warped the remaining ground beneath her feet. Tayla shot up in the air, arching over the white haired woman. She launched coins from above and landed a good distance behind the woman.

"My honor and dignity were stripped from me!” Tayla spoke. She quickly laid a new friction trap on the icy floor. ”Stripped away before I could even understand what that dignity was!

"Don’t speak of honor. Don’t talk to me about dignity! I had to fight just to maintain whatever scrape of those things that I have left! While you breezed your way through life, I’ve had to struggle and fight to avoid getting swallowed!

“Tell me princess. What have you ever had to fight for? You, little miss perfect, sit atop a cold, cool pedestal of privilege from which you judge.”

I am giving you an opportunity. Don't throw it away. The white haired woman’s words echoed in her head.

Damn it, Tayla! YOU WILL NOT CRY! Tayla thought to herself.

”You see me not as a person to understand, but as a problem to solve. I’m not a child whose hand you need to hold! I’m not your damn puzzle to solve! I’m a fucking person! Not an object, but a goddamn person!” And now the tears flowed. Damn it!

”You’re just like everyone else in this fucked up world! Nobody fucking cares! You talk of me trampling over the lives of innocence but the only person I’ve ever tried to trample over, in this stupid town, is you! And let’s be honest, princess. You are not among the innocent.

“I can see it in those eyes of yours. If you ever deemed it necessary, you would trample over the lives of these people in an instant. Faster than the clan ever would! So who’s the real hypocrite here? Who is the real one undeserving of respect?”

Karina continued skating through the ice, towards Tayla, closing their distance while making use of the distraction the ice blade could give her. While Karina didn't expect the ice blade to last forever, she still expected it to buy some time and was surprised when Tayla dealt with it sooner than what she had expected, using her power to warp the ground and catch it. Instead of shattering it, she continued warping the ground until it reached the ceiling. Apparently, Tayla was indeed paying attention to how Karina fought and wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Hmpf... Troublesome." Karina muttered as she made another blade of ice after Tayla dealt with the one she had sent towards her.

When Tayla stomped the ground, making shards of stone fly towards Karina in the same way Karina used her ice, she couldn't help but let out a twisted grin. Was that girl copying her moves? Just as she did so though, Tayla warped the ground to jump over Karina, shooting coins towards her as she did so.

"Smart, but no enough!" Karina said as she continued skating through the ice, using the added mobility to dodge the stone fragments, jumping and weaving through them almost like a professional ice skater would while she fused the two ice blades, making two sheets of ice and fusing them in a triangular shape above her, in order to deflect the coins to the ground, instead of trying to block them.

While she was dodging the stone spikes though, just the moment one of her feet touched the ice again after a jump, she felt her feet slide way more than it normally would in the ice, which made her lose her balance for a brief second. While she did not fall to the ground like before, that moment of distraction was enough for one of the shards of stone to almost hit her, grazing her side and leaving a long, but superficial cut.

Even though the cut did sting, Karina seemed to be unfazed by the pain, instead looking more irritated by that than anything else. The look she gave to Tayla after she felt the blood slowly trickling down on her side was incredibly cold and frightening, a look that truly made others understand that judging Karina for her delicate appearance was a deadly mistake.

"As long as one keeps their head up, do not give up and continue walking the path they believe is the right one, no one can take their dignity and honor away, Tayla. You gave up yours the moment you started trampling over others, judging your own struggle, your own fight and yourself to be more important than anyone else." Karina said, getting up as she separated the ice sheets into two ice blades once more.

"Don't think you're special, Tayla. Don't think you're the only one who has to fight, because you are not. Everyone has their own struggles that they need to fight for. Have you thought about the thousands of people who live in Shimmertown or the ones that either died or became insane thanks to your little cult? About their struggles? Do you know what difficulties they had to face? What do they need to do to feed their families and keep their loved ones safe? How many people died or lost their loved ones directly or indirectly thanks to your actions? Can you judge your own difficulties to be worse than theirs or your own needs to be more important than theirs?" Karina asked in a cold, harsh tone.

"Such irony... Aren't you the one standing over a pedestal made of your own self-righteousness? Believing that everyone is trash and your well being is more important than anyone else's?" Karina said in a cold tone.

"Do you think I was born being who I am today, Tayla? All the respect I have in the military, my position, everything was conquered by my own effort and talent." Karina continued.

Tayla cocked her head. The military?

"Because I was the daughter of the general, every single achievement I made was justified by others, saying I was only able to do so because the general was my father. Every single promotion I got, conquered by my own effort, was always discredited by others. Even though I had to face more hardships than anyone else, with the general being stricted and asking more of me than anyone else in the military specifically because I'm his daughter, many still refused to recognize my talent, effort and competence." Karina said.

General Frost’s daughter?! Tayla’s eyes widened with realization and, perhaps, a little fear.

"Even now, they refuse to take me seriously. Even after I said that the cult was something dangerous, they ridicularized me." she continued as she sent one of her ice blades flying towards Tayla, making it follow her the same way as it was doing before, but making it explode in a million small sharp shards of ice the very moment Tayla tried to catch it like she did with the other one.

"Do you know the difference between me and you, Tayla? I did not give up my honor and my dignity. I didn't try to justify my weakness by throwing the blame on someone else, like you did nor I tried to use it as an excuse to do whatever I wanted." she said as she finally got close to Tayla once more. Paying extra attention to any change in how slippery the ice was, Karina was able to adjust her body in order to counteract Tayla's traps, which was much easier now that she was skating on the ice she made instead of running.

Push the fear aside, Tayla prepared her blade as the murderous woman approached one her traps. She warped her blade, striking at the woman. However, her opponent didn’t not trip up like Tayla expected her to. Instead she adjusted her movement accordingly and effortlessly dodged Tayla’s attack.

"Stop being such an entitled brat! Do you think I came here specifically to solve your problems or to make them worse? You are not special, Tayla! The world isn't against you. The only one against you is yourself! Stop trying to make excuses and accept your weakness and your failure and learn with them!" Karina said as she lunged towards Tayla with her rapier, sending the remaining ice blade around Tayla to aim towards her back and prevent her from escaping.

Tayla cursed, her extruded blade made her incapable of using the weapon to parry the woman’s attack. She pulled out her second blade, intending to parry the incoming lunge with that.

Whoosh. The remaining ice blade shot past Tayla… Oh no...

"I am a soldier, Tayla. I have a reason to fight. If I am really that guilty, then ask yourself Why am I trying so hard to make the people of Shimmertown to stand up for themselves instead of just calling the army to raze everything to the ground? More importantly... Why didn't I kill you before, when I had the chance?" Karina finished as she lunged towards Tayla.

Tayla braced herself. Swinging wildly with her left in hope of deflecting the lunge while warp another wall hoping to catch this blade like she had with the one before. Only… she didn’t expect the blade to splinter.

While the wall blocked some shards of ice, the remainder maneuvered around the wall.

Useless to the end. her dad’s voice whispered in her head.

Tayla shut her eyes expecting death. However… death never came. Tayla opened her eyes. Their fight had taken them to the gate room. Behind Tayla, lay the wheel for opening the inner portcullis. All around Tayla hovered death, but death did not strike. Yet again, Tayla found herself at the woman’s mercy.

Tayla’s eye twitched in annoyance, but rather than striking back in anger like every other time, she let her swords fall to the ground. Tayla couldn’t beat this woman. That much was clear.

The scene around Tayla if she opened her eyes was, somehow, both beautiful and terrifying. With one of the ice blades aimed at Tayla's back, hovering in the air just a few centimeters away from her and Karina's rapier, almost touching Tayla's throat after she stopped the lunge. Surrounding both of them, the many shards of ice that weren't caught by Tayla's wall were hovering around them, pointed towards Tayla. The way they reflected the light made the scene even more beautiful.

"You know what is the difference between you and me, Tayla? Even if our struggles were different, the difference is that I never gave up. Even if things didn't go exactly the way I wanted, I persevered and continued to walk my own path. I succeeded thanks to my own effort, talent and persistence, while you didn't. You simply gave up when things didn't go as you wanted, when things got difficult and when people said you were a failure." Karina said, without moving her blade or the ice blades.

"You were capable of not only putting up a fight with me despite not having any formal training, but you were also capable of analyzing my fighting style and creating tactics to counter it. Do you think anyone can do such a thing? Especially against someone as me? You are not an idiot, Tayla. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to analyze my fighting style like that and you most certainly aren't a cripple or physically inept. Then why are you in the place you are right now? Have you already asked yourself this question?" Karina asked, looking at Tayla.

"You are capable, Tayla. Whether it's due to natural talent, your own effort or a mix between the two, it is undeniable that you have what it takes to brave your own path, to make your own choices. Yet, look at you right now... You are alone, merely a pawn for the cult. Walking someone else's path, simply following orders without even thinking about what you're doing or how much suffering you are causing. Someone who gave up their own dignity, their own honor and ideal. All that just for what? A piece of bread and maybe a place to sleep. Are you truly alive, or do you simply 'exist'? Do you have a purpose, a goal for your life, your actions? " Karina continued.

Tayla stared down towards the ground. Her hands balled into fists. With every word, she felt a well of anger and hatred threatening to spill over the brim.

”A pep talk?” Tayla said quietly. ”You held your blade just give me a damn pep talk?!”

Tayla whipped her head upwards, staring daggers at her adversary.

"You weren't forced to do the things you did, Tayla, nor were you left without options but to take the path you took. There is always another option. Unfortunately for you, you didn't take the chance I gave you back then... and I am not so kind to give you a third chance." Karina said, this time her tone was much colder and more serious.

"It is time for you to make a choice, Tayla. All the wrong choices you made in your life took you where you are right now. Alone, a disposable pawn to spread the cult's suffering, treating others as things for you to step on without even questioning the orders you were given, without thinking about what you do is right or wrong. Someone who has nothing truly theirs, everything you possess is stolen or a result of someone else's suffering." she said, looking straight into Tayla's eyes.

"Choose, Tayla. This is your second and last choice. Accept what you did, learn and grow with your mistakes, making up for the suffering you caused or continue thinking that everything that happens to you and everything wrong you do is thanks to someone else, always fleeing away from your actions, from your mistakes and from yourself." Karina finished as she looked at Tayla.

”And what about everybody who has done harm to me?!” Tayla spat. ”What? They don’t have to make a choice? They just get to go on living their lives hurting others just like me?”

"You should be thankful I am a woman who does not go back on her word! I said I would give you another chance. You should probably listen to me... Lest you want to simply give up... again. After all, that does seem to be something you are rather experienced on doing, right?" Karina suddenly said, raising her voice as Tayla began talking back about giving her a pep talk.

"While I do not believe in destiny nor Karma, everything is a cycle and your actions will always come around to bite you back, Tayla. Nobody is safe from the consequences of their own actions." Karina continued.

"Your choice is yours alone, Tayla. Or at least it should be, but again, your words tell me that your choices were always, always influenced by someone else's. Always being told what to do, always trying to be someone else, copying someone else. Have you ever done any meaningful choice in your life by yourself?" she continued.

"You were harmed. Don't feel special, everyone passes through tough times sooner or later into their lives. That said, you could have chosen to become stronger, not just so you wouldn't be harmed again, but prevent other young girls like yourself to be harmed again. But you didn’t. You became strong, yes, but for what? How many young girls do you think are now left alone in this world to fend off for themselves after what the cult did? How many 'Taylas' you made with your actions, either directly or indirectly? How many of them will suffer as much, if not even more than you did?" she asked, with a cold, judgmental stare towards Tayla.

"If every single one of them makes the same choice as you did, simply making others suffer just like they suffered, becoming as bad as the ones who harmed them, how long do you think it would take for this world of ours to become a living hell? Even worse than it is now?" Karina asked.

Tayla wiped the tears from her eyes, determined to hold her ground. ”Tell me, Princess. Does this make you feel all high and mighty? Standing there. At blade point. Offering me a second chance?”

"Do you think that strength and power gives a person the right to be above everything? Above the law, above any rules? No, Tayla. It's exactly the opposite. Those who stand at the top are the ones who must lead by example. It is our duty to use the privileges that we were given to maintain the order and the wellbeing of those under us. Our actions reflect much farther than those who are below us, Tayla. No matter where did your 'power' came from, from strength, intelect, influence, charisma or even to pure effort, it doesn't matter. It is the universal duty of those with power to lead by example. This is the burden that all those who are above carry. This is the old saying that 'with great power comes great responsibility', this is Noblesse Oblige." Karina said, with a determined and dignified stare.

"Tell me how different the you right now are from the ones that harmed you when you were younger? You obtained power from your strength and instead to use that to prevent others to suffer like you did, to fight against those who use their power without responsibility, like the ones who harmed you, what did you do? You joined an organization that does exactly that. Can you say you, right now, deserves the power you have?" Karina asked, looking Tayla deep in her eyes.

"Where are you leading those less powerful than you, those who look up at you? Do they look at you in disgust and hate or in admiration and respect?" Karina finished as she looked at Tayla.

"Answer me honestly, Tayla. Can you now see your mistakes? You will never stop suffering if all you do is to perpetuate this suffering. There will always be someone more powerful than you who is willing to make the same choices that you did." Karina finished, looking at Tayla as she waited for her reply.

For a moment Tayla said nothing. Intently she stared at the ground, hands balled up into fists. This women… Always acting as if she knew her… Never bothering to actually hear her.

”I’m sorry, princess,-” Tayla began at last. Her apology sounded insincere. ”-but you don’t get to tell me whether my choices were a mistake.”

Tayla shot the woman a glare that almost bled hatred. ”You don’t get it do you? The world doesn’t work that way. Those with power don’t lead the weak. Those with power stomp all over the weak. My choices, my ‘mistakes’, those choices were the best options I had available. My only mistake was that I failed to escape from under privilege’s foot.

"You speak of honor, of dignity. You speak of right and wrong! But what you don’t do is try to understand. You see, princess? You think you care, but the truth is you really don’t. Like I said, you are just like everybody else. Nobody in this damn world cares. Therefore, why the hell should I?”

An itch crawled up the back of Tayla neck. An idea coming to mind. “Perhaps you are right about one thing though. Maybe all I ever was to the Clan was just a pawn. What I won’t be is your pawn, though.”

The ground beneath Tayla suddenly Warped. Two pillars of stone extruded from the ground. One knocking aside the woman’s blade. The other stretching up and around all the shards of ice, and then tightened until the shards of ice were crushed.

As she spoke, Karina could feel Tayla's hatred in her voice. No matter how wrong she was, no matter what she did, in her eyes, her actions were always justified. Blinded by hatred, for Tayla, the world was the one that was wrong.

"Maybe I should have just killed you then, Tayla? Maybe I should just have sent the military to turn this city into a pile of smouldering ashes!? It would definitely be much easier!" Karina shouted, angry at Tayla as she spoke.

"You are blind, foolish girl! Do you really think everything you do is justified? That the whole world is out to get you? You are not special, Tayla! Understand this! Those who have power are not faceless entities, they are people! They can make choices too. Either the right one, to lead by example, or the wrong one... To use their privilege to trample upon the others." Karina said, irritated.

Before she could say anything more though, Tayla suddenly warped the ground beneath her, knocking both her blade aside and the other protecting her from the shards of ice.

"You blinded yourself in your insanity! A puppet? No! I take back my words. You are just an entitled brat! Who refuses to grow up and accept the consequences of your own action! Believing that you are always right and the world is always at fault!" Karina hissed as she jumped back to protect herself against the stone that suddenly warped around Tayla, grabbing her rapier on the ground.

Tayla spun on her heels, making for the winch that controlled the portcullis.

"I may not be able to beat you, but I don’t need to win in a fight! All I need to do is make it so you can’t open this gate!"

As Karina saw Tayla going for the winch, Karina immediately formed an ice blade from the ice below her..

"You forced my hand, Tayla... Again and again... You truly tried and now you finally made it. You left me with no choice. You are beyond help. You are unworthy of wielding the power you have right now!" she hissed as the blade flew towards Tayla’s arm in a frightening speed with Karina following close behind, dashing towards her with a rapier.

Tayla reached out with her hand, intent on destroying the winch. Tayla would die here. She had come to terms with that.

Useless. Her father’s words rang in her head again. Never once did you amount to anything.

Maybe. Tayla thought back. But since nobody else seems to care, then neither will I.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. This. This was the end…

“TAYLA!”

---

Damn that woman! Smit thought. Damn! Damn! Damn!

Against his better judgement, Smit had abandoned his post as well. Tayla was a fool. She was reckless. She was stubborn. She seemed unable to admit when she was in the wrong. And yet… and yet… Smit couldn’t let Tayla face that woman again!

She would die this time! She would die for sure! And yet despite how upset he was with the girl. Despite the fact that she nearly got him killed. Smit knew he would forever blame himself if he let his… friend… die.

Damn! Damn! Damn! Where the hell is she?

Smit had made it all the way to the eastern gate house. The scene here was chaos. The towns folk had made their way in. A few people here and there even intercepted Smit, forcing his hand. Chaos everywhere, but still no Tayla.

Smit opened the door to the Inner Portcullis room.

"You forced my hand, Tayla... Again and again... A familiar voice said.

Smit’s eyes opened wide. The ice woman. She was about to kill Tayla with an icy blade. Smit took off at a run.

“TAYLA!” Smit yelled.

Tayla’s head jerked towards Smit just in time to see him push her out of the way.

Then… then came the pain.

---

Tayla fell to the floor from the force of Smit’s shove.

NO! She panicked. Why?!

Tayla rushed back to her feet, but by that point…

”Smit-” Tayla whispered. Her eyes wide with horror.

Smit collapsed to the ground… bloody… dead…

Anger. Despair. Disbelieve. Hate. Madness. ”SMMIIIIIT!” Tayla cried, screaming at the top of her lungs.

She collapsed to her knees. Hands on the ground. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. All she could do… was hate.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing.

The room seemed to tremble. The walls, the ceiling, the foor… it’s surface began to ripple…

The stone of the room began to warp. Pillars shot from the walls, the floor, the ceiling… Each and every one lunging toward Karina.

Four pillars. Eight Pillars. Ten Pillars. More!

To many pillars, Too many to fight back.

”I hate you!” Tayla screamed. ”I HATE YOU!”

More and more stone pillars warped from the surface of the room. She would kill this woman. It didn’t matter how much of a toll this put on Tayla’s body, she would kill this woman!

Tayla’s eyes began to dry. Her lips became chap. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. Warping was the most taxing of all Tayla’s abilities, and warping an entire room continuously like this was no joke. The feeling of dehydration quickly creeped in.

“T-tayla...” A voice said weakly.

More. More pillars! The woman wasn’t dead yet! How was she not dead yet?!

“Tayla…”

Tayla ignored the voice. She would kill this woman! She would!

“Tayla-” A hand gently touched Tayla’s shoulder. “- you’ll kill yourself...”

Smit. Tayla eyes snapped open. The room immediately returned to normal. All pillars returned back to the stone’s surface.

At her side lay a dying Smit. He had use the little strength he had left to crawl to her from the place where he collapsed. Smit looked into her eyes, trying to give her a comforting smile, despite the pain. He lowered his hand and gently held her own. His hand felt cold. His warmth was leaving him.

”Smit...” Tayla croaked. It was hard to talk. She had over extended herself. Her magic used up too much water in her body. ”Why?”

Smit gave Tayla a sad, weak smile. His hold on her hand weakening.

Smit shook his head. “It… it doesn’t matter anymore...”

No. Tayla thought. No. Please.

“All that matters right now… is that… you’re… okay...”

No… she knew what was implied. She didn’t want it to be the reason... She didn’t want it to be the reason!

Tayla waited. She waited for him to say more… but… nothing more came… Smit, Tayla’s one and only friend, lay dead at her feet.

Feeling broken, Tayla knelt there by Smit’s quiet corpse. Another itch crawled up Tayla’s neck. This… This wasn’t her fault! It couldn’t be her fault! It was the woman’s fault! It was-

No... Tayla thought. This is my fault. The thought surprised her. The itch on her neck even seemed to hesitate. Then slowly, it faded away.

Tayla wanted to cry, but no tears came. She was far too dehydrated and her body couldn't afford to produce tears.

”I’m sorry, Smit…” Tayla whispered. ”I'm so sorry...”

Karina wasn't really expecting someone else to interrupt them at that moment, especially Smit. Much less for that person to suddenly jump in front of Tayla, pushing her aside and out of the way of the ice blades she had sent. There was little time for Karina to react. From the shout Smit gave to the moment he jumped, too little time for Karina to change or even adjust the trajectory of her blades. While she was aiming to just cripple Tayla, she wasn't expecting for that interruption and the moment the ice blade impaled Smit, she knew he was already going to die.

Karina watched as Tayla fell to the ground before looking to Smit and shouting in panic. The moment the room began to tremble, Karina knew something was going on. Having lost control over herself, Tayla began warping the surface of the room, with many pillars rising from the walls, shooting at Karina. With that amount of pillars aiming at Karina, she didn't have time to retaliate and could only try to dodge to the best of her ability. Fortunately, due to the frenzied state Tayla was, she was just using her power haphazardly. Soon enough she wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Either that or she would kill herself. With that in mind, Karina only needed to focus all her efforts in dodging and so she did. With light steps almost as if she was dancing she skated through the icy ground, using ice when necessary to change her own trajectory.

Even if it was a close call a few times, Karina still managed to dodge without suffering any serious wounds, other than a few small bruises and grazing wounds. Just as she was expecting, soon Tayla began loosing steam and after some time, just as suddenly as she had begun warping the room, she stopped.

Slowly, Karina approached the despairing Tayla. While her rapier wasn't directly pointed at Tayla, she was ready to use her ice magic to end Tayla if she tried anything. Fortunately, it didn't seem like she could do anything right now. Not only she seemed exhausted, but she had her attention completely focused on the dying Smit.

Karina watched her in silence. Her face was an icy, cold visage. There was no sympathy in her stare, no kindness. For Karina, she only saw a woman that was suffering the weight of her own actions.

"I intended to cripple you Tayla. To take away the power you aren't worthy of having... But it seems I don't need to do that anymore..." Karina said with a serious, cold tone.

"You lost something far more important than that. You lost someone who cared so much for you that he was ready to throw his life away to amend for your mistakes. Despite your selfish and arrogant actions, despite you not caring about anyone, he still cared about you enough to do what he did." she said.

"Know that this, Tayla, are the consequences of your actions. It seems you already know it, but the only one to blame here for what happened is you." she said, in a harsh tone, her breath visible in the air due to how much ice magic she had used.

"I would normally have already killed you a long time ago... I have given you more chances than I ever gave anyone in my life.... I won't kill you, nor I will cripple you, but I will give you one last warning." she continued.

"Do not show yourself in front of me again until you have learned from your mistakes. Until you have finally understood your duties as someone who holds power, any kind of power and until you have finally learned that if you want the world to care about you... You need to start caring about the world first." Karina finished as she got ready to leave Tayla and complete her mission. Without taking her eyes away from Tayla, in case she ended up trying to retaliate once again, Karina began making her way to the winch that controlled the portcullis.

Tayla stared down at her dead friend. Exhaustion filled her every core. It was near impossible to think. ”If… if I had taken your offer… what… what would you have done? Would you have just let me walk away and live my life, or would you have tried to take me under your wing?” Tayla asked weakly.

"I do not make choices for others nor I try to impose my choice on others, Tayla. It's neither my job nor something that can be imposed into someone. After all, if I did so, I would be no better than the cult." Karina replied, turning as Tayla asked with a weak voice about her previous offer.

"It doesn't matter if you had chosen to join me in the military or live your own life, I wouldn't interfere. Your choice is yours alone. Besides, a soldier isn't a slave nor is something one can be forced to be. A soldier fights for a cause, he fights for a reason. He is there because he wants to be there, not because he was forced to." she continued.

"As I said before, no matter what happens, one's dignity, one's honor and the ability to make their own choices are things that can never be taken away from them... Or at least shouldn't be. That's why the cult's actions are so abominable in my eyes..." she said, with a serious tone.

"Even now, you still have a choice to make, Tayla. You are undeniably a talented person, someone who could do much good for the people if you were trained and learned to be both emotionally and mentally stronger. That said, I will not force you to do anything. Your life is still yours to live as you see fit. I just ask you to remember the words that I said to you today. Remember everything that happened, so you might never make the same mistake again." she finished as she looked to Tayla, still with a serious expression.

Tayla shook her head. She didn’t know if this girl was just naive or stupid.

Fatigue filled every bone of her body. So much so, that her arms began to shake as she struggled to keep herself from collapsing to the ground.

”You… You have a strange idea of what it means... to be a soldier… If those are the kind of ideals your father stuffed in your head… then…”

Tayla’s words cut off into a bout of coughing. Her arm strength gave out, causing her to collapse beside Smit.

”...then it’s a wonder that he became general...” Tayla finished after the coughing subsided.

Everything in Tayla’s body burned. She felt weak. Weak and so very thirsty.

Am I to die here? She wondered. Despite his sacrifice?

So hard to think. So hard to move… She was weak… just like how she had been back then…

”He… he locked me up… my father...” Tayla said weakly, not fully aware that she was speaking aloud. ”Blamed me for my mother’s death...”

Senses! Her mind felt so cloudy...

”Gave me that same cold look… beat me till... till I could no longer move...”

Karina heard Tayla's words as she continued to speak, despite her weakened state. Tayla was... unfortunate. In many ways. Hearing how her father treated her only made Karina understand a bit more of how she ended up where she was. Where her twisted view of the world had came from. If that wasn't enough, she somehow ended up in the worst place a misguided, although powerful person could be... Everything, from the way her father raised her to the unfortunate meetings and the terrible circumstances she found herself in only further steered Tayla into the wrong path...

Weakly, Tayla nudged her hand until it lay on top of Smit’s. Maybe a long rest would make all the pain go away…

”Perhaps… I was never meant to know love...” Tayla said, her voice now barely above a whisper. ”Maybe… I never... deserved it...”

Tayla let out one final breath. Her vision faded. The world went black.

Karina was about to turn away when Tayla said a few last words before going unconscious. Tayla was never able to make a single choice for herself in her entire life. Never knew kindness. Not until Smit died for her. She deserved a second chance.

"Don't waste your new life, Tayla. This time, make the correct choices." Karina said with a heavy sigh as she opened the portcullis before walking back to Tayla, making some snow on her hand and putting it into her mouth so it would melt into drinkable water. After making sure she drank it.

The very moment she was thinking on how to take Tayla to a relatively quiet and safe space, which wouldn't be easy due to the fact that Tayla wasn't exactly light, Akai suddenly appeared looking for her with a distressed look, which quickly turned into a confused one, followed by a smug and for some reason, really irritating one the moment she saw Karina.

"I don't know why you're looking at me like that but it really pisses me off. Stop it." Karina said to Akai, sighing.

"Hey! I haven't said anything yet!" Akai replied with a mischievous smirk and a chuckle.

"So... It seems like that one was a lot of trouble, wasn't she? Care to explain what happened?" Akai asked, hovering closer to the unconscious Tayla.

"She seems pretty beat up... Still, alive. Unlike the other one there." Akai concluded after a short investigation.

"I'll tell you later. Meanwhile, I need your help dragging her so we can hide her somewhere relatively safe." Karina said, sighing as she pressed her temples with the tip of her fingers.

She couldn't believe she was actually not only letting her go but helping her. That woman was proving to be a lot of trouble for Karina, in many different ways.

"Wait... So you're not finishing her off? She is an enemy, isn't she? I am pretty sure she did try to kill you at least a dozen times already from what I've been told." Akai asked, looking to Karina almost as if she went crazy.

"Was an enemy... She deserves a second chance. I believe she won't throw away after what that guy did to save her." Karina said as she grabbed Tayla and with Akai's help, began pulling her as they walked.

"That's unexpected... So you were going to kill her." Akai said, nodding towards the gaping wound in Smit's abdomen.

"No. Just cripple her. The guy's interference... changed my plans. It doesn't matter now. Her life is in her own hands from now on." Karina finished as they began dragging Tayla, as carefully as they could, to hide her somewhere safer, stopping from time to time to put more snow to melt in her mouth.

”Hey, what’s wrong? Old man?! ” Jen would say as he turned around. Behind him lay Malkev, bleeding and unconscious. A familiar, but unpleasant voice would greet Jen. It was that Sightless, again it was Syella. Just him alone against a Sightless, but he wondered how much help Malkev would have been. Seems like he would be at a disadvantage regardless.

“And I take it, what you have to talk about is something secretive, is it?” He’d glance at Malkev. ”Alright, so what did you come here to discuss?” Jen doubted there was anything worthwhile from her. Only some gloating for separating himself from the others and a fight for his life.

Sightless Syella gave a smile that almost seemed sad. ”You and your fellow pact makers have won this battle.“ Syella said. ”My fellow sightless have yet to realize this, but I see the truth. Even now, I see your comrades winning back the wall and opening it to the civilians.“
As if on cue, one of the doors of the gate house slammed open allowing the angry mob to rush into the fortification. Sightless Syella took a seat on a nearby barrel, her sightless gaze turned up towards the sky as she listened to the cheers of the people.

”This mission was doomed from the start. Sightless Vetius told me as much before I set out. Whether doomed due to the Being’s intervention or by the military of Touch, we did not know. Though what we did know was that this town was far too close to enemy lines for us to maintain.“

Syella turned her gaze to the southern wall. ”Sightless Nieffar still thinks he can hold this town. The man is a fool. Always was. Always hungry for power. Never able to quench his appetite. Today, I think those desires will devour him.“

The Sightless sighed and shook her head. ”You know,“ She continued, ”He ranks me only due to seniority. In wisdom, though, I outclass him.“

“And what is this leading to? Surely you didn’t come here just to tell me news over your cult’s internal struggle and the failing attempt to control this town to a vagrant? Although if you really did come to talk I can see why you chose me over the group.”

Jen, while absolutely holding no trust to Syella, was also willing to hold off attacking her on sight. It was a tense moment as he wanted to figure out what she was doing, besides perhaps trying to distract him and take him out. She had already isolated him by knocking out Malkev. Striking now was opportune for her.

In the distance he could hear a crowd. They seemed excited and it made him feel a bit optimistic about the outcome. For it meant one of those gates was breached which should mean it’ll lead to the army storming in. Of course, it also meant he had to hurry up and get to that heart.

Sightless Syella nodded. ”Your friends… they kill my clan with little care or regard for their lives. You however, have not thus far. You’ve had accidents, yes, but for the most part you see us for what we are. People... I… respect that...“

Syella nodded to Jen respectfully. ”Regardless, as I said before, I came here to talk.“

Sightless Syella met Jen’s eyes with her own sightless gaze. ”Tell me. I’m curious. What did the Being tell you about us?“

”Only some very basic information, along with the information on how to remove all the people held thrall in this village. ” His gaze would not avert itself from hers. It was an unpleasant action to do. There was like an odd radiance to her stare. They weren’t like some black hole sucking up the color, but rather like the distorted sun.

”But if it interests you, I didn’t need any convincing to fight your cult. Gotta say it’s awfully convenient getting roped into this. This village was just a place I was passing through. It was only after the attack and making contact with the being that I became aware of your presence.”

So the Being told them how to kill the seed… Syella refocus the Insight on the items held by Jen. He had a pouch at his side… Inside… Salt...

Sightless Syella frowned. She inched away from Jen ever so slightly. ”I take it that we’ve hurt you then… or is it because of what we’ve done to this town?“

Syella looked up upon the battle ridden city. Her frown deepened. The Clan wasn’t the most peaceful of people, but there were reasons for what they did.

Jen was wondering what Syella was up to. Was she planning to attack or was she simply stalling him? He already knew he spoke too much and was aware she knew about his knowledge on destroying the seed. Of course, if she was being truthful about this battle being a loss for the cult, would she simply step aside and cut her losses or would there be some token resistance?

”Your cult is in my way.” He’d answer Syella’s question. It was coy, but truthful.

Sightless Syella chuckled dryly at the irony of his statement. ”Forgive me,“ She said. ”It’s just that we view you and the rest of the Pact Makers in quite the opposite way… Or at least we are supposed to view you that way...“

Sightless Syella looked towards the wall. She expected one of the gates to open shortly. ”My people… we do what we do because we’ve been starved for many years. The Clan… the Insight… it lives and dies on new recruits. For many years we have lived in exile on the Broken Isles... surviving off of scraps our clans members recruited... People no other country wanted. We gave them a home, a family, and what’s more, a purpose.”

Sightless Syella closed her eyes and sighed. Before becoming Sightless, she had help so many. People society had forgotten. People who had been forced to beg for food and sleep on the streets. People... much like herself.

A loud cheer, caused Syella to open her eyes. A portcullis had been opened. It wouldn’t be much longer now.

”When I initially joined The Clan… I joined because they offered me food. Food and a bed to sleep. I figured I’d take advantage of their hospitality until they finally kicked me out back onto the streets like so many others. That, as you might have guessed, never happened. I stayed with The Clan. Grew with The Clan. Became one with The Clan.“

Sightless Syella paused. Why was she tell this man all of this? Sightless Syella shook her head. ”I’ve… become colder as a Sightless...“ Sightless Syella said at last.

”Colder… and far more heartless… Turning Sightless… it changes you… in more ways than one... I used to go out and find homes for those who never had one. Find kids starving on the streets. Gave them food and family to call their own… Now?“

Sightless Syella looked to the ruined town and grimaced. ”Now? I kill and burn towns to the ground.“

It was odd. Jen never had reason or concern to wonder about the background of Syella. But now there was a kinship of sorts due to their shared background. Both were children of the streets. But their similarities would only run so far, as their paths diverged once they got older it seemed. Still he wondered, were she not changed by the insight, if perhaps a similar glimmer might be seen in her eyes.

”And here I thought you were some bigshot from some internal faction.” He’d reply. Her reference to the Cult as “The Clan” was interesting to him as well. So it seemed this organization was originally a group that became this religious group? Or was it always this way but the true nature became revealed to her once she became an elder member? He had questions, but yet he held his tongue as he couldn’t trust her to ask.

”Yeah, it seems that insight isn’t particularly good for your health. One of our group mates seems to have had an encounter with it, and nothing good came out of it. He killed his wife over visions of her cheating on him. Now he suffers with that guilt. Now you can say that even without it, perhaps his jealousy would have driven him had he found it out himself. Sure, I’ll give you that.”

Sightless Syella’s ears perked up at this comment. One of the Pact Makers had already been touched by the Insight? But who? And also why? Surely the Being knew this before choosing this pact maker. So then why put himself at risk like that?

”Still whatever his feelings in heart, there’s no doubt that its presence made it worse. Shit, for all I know there was nothing at all. He was just going crazy, and went off thinking his worst fear was real. You said it yourself, you’ve lost your kindness and now you’ve nearly burnt this village on top of however many others you’ve already burned down. ”
Jen would continue.

They finally had a proper target, Sightless Syella mused. One of the Insight and the Pact. That meant their work was already done. She would have to report this to Sightless Vetius.

Nodding, she said, ”Such reactions are not uncommon after being touched by Insight. We lock new recruits up in their rooms during when first touched just for that reason. Once the initial madness happens we need not fear such outbursts again.”

Syella sighed. ”You see, our magic… It comes from loss. To be Sightless you must discard that which gives you Sight… It is this magic… our magic… that is what the being seeks.”

”That sounds pretty rough.” Jen would reply. Now if only he could learn the reason as to why Chres was exposed to the insight. At the moment he couldn’t recall if he even remembered if Chres ever explained when he saw the visions from the insight. He didn’t seem like he was a rejected cultist so there was some reason for it.

However, he was more intrigued by the mention of The Being wanting the magic of the Sightless. Even if it was going to be of dubious credibility, it sounded interesting enough.

”Is that so? And why does the being seek your magic?”

Sightless Syella shrugged, making sure not to smile. They might already have a pact maker touched by the Insight, but if they could convince another, then perhaps their chances of success improved. ”It’s not the magic that he wants so much as the power behind the magic. The power… of the gods.”

Syella looked to Jen. ”Your being… as his title suggests, goes by many names. One that I think that you might be familiar with… That is… The Lord of Senses.”

She gave Jen a moment to take that in. ”He is the God worshipped by most people throughout this land… but… he is not alone.

”The power of Gods changes from hand to hand.” Syella continued. ”Who knows what he plans to do with it. Though whatever The Being plans, I’ll be damned before I see it go to his hands! We at least keep our own alive. The Trickster of Tricksters plays with people’s lives. Lives… like your own...”

While Jen was aware of The Lord of Senses these other gods were not as familiar to him. He wondered what Gods she was aligned to. Her words about The Lord/Being toying with lives might be a valid complaint. But, its efficacy was blunted by his own feelings of distrust to her and her cult.

Perhaps with this Trickster aspect The Lord of Senses is less benevolent than the devout would believe. On the other hand, whatever they were offering was suspect. The pact and continuing cooperation with their mission was merely convenience. And Jen would prefer the cruelty of happenstance than a kindness that is conditional and using it for its own motives.

”So, are you going to retreat? Or will you put on some token resistance. The army is coming soon and I need to get moving.” Jen would say to Syella. He needed to get Malkev somewhere safe and get to killing the seed.

Sightless Syella frowned. Perhaps she misjudged this man. Did he not care to know more about the Being’s intentions, or did he not trust her enough for intel. The latter seemed likely, but she did think it odd that he didn’t pry at all.

”Our work is done here. We have touched many a people with Insight. They will all join us, be it sooner… or later… I, myself, did plan to leave but not before confronting you… You’ve caught my interest, you see.”

Syella, looked Jen down from head to toe. The action was meaningless. She couldn’t see after all. However, the motion was meant to give an effect.

”You, Jen, are a man of passion. You seek to obstruct The Clan while engaging in actions meant to prevent death of the lower clansmen. While we perform acts of cruelty you are among a few who recognize that such actions does not mean we are all bad. I came here to you to press that point. While we may seem the enemy, we are not.”

Sightless Syella paused. ”And yet… I feel there is a deeper reason for why you find The Being’s intentions for using you to oppose us convenient. Is it… perhaps… because you are in search of something… or better yet… someone?.” A small teasing smile formed across Syella’s black lips.

“Took you long enough to mention it. So what stupid game or deal are wishing for me to do for a crumb of information on her whereabouts?” He had been waiting to see what her deal was with this conversation besides stalling him from beelining to where he wanted to go. Jen was not expecting anything helpful out of her, but he would partially humor her.

So there was a connection. But in what form. Sightless Syella shook her head. Didn’t matter. She could use this.

”Game? No… Deal? Yes… that sounds better...”

Syella looked to the gate. They likely didn’t have much longer. ”At the moment your friend is fine. She is untouched by the Insight. However, my colleagues don’t intend to keep her that way. She has been selected. Selected to become a new Seed of Insight.”

”And say if I decide to pry it out of your lips instead? And even if you don’t speak I’ll leave you as kindling, and move on beating it out of whoever has the loosest lips.” Despite the amount of venom flowing in that statement, he still remained cordial. Or as cordial as he could when someone important was held hostage by a group he had very little desire to cooperate with.

”You could do that.” Sightless Syella said coolly. ”Though it wouldn’t do you much good. My lips and body have a tendency to… regenerate.” Syella smiled with amusement.

Slowly she rose from the barrel she sat upon. She already could tell that this conversation wasn’t going in the right direction.

”The real question is, can you get to her before they give her a taste of Insight? No… Quite unlikely. But I’m here willing to offer you a trade.”

Sightless Syella pointed a finger in Jen’s direction. ”You, in exchange for her. Think about it. We grant you the gift of Insight and we let your little friend go free. You, a man of good heart, could do so much to better our ways. To help change our Clan from the inside.”

”If that’s your offer, I might take my chances and fight my way through.” Jen would reply.

”You would risk the person you remember to the Insight?”

”You’re right. But joining you is risking her to the Insight too. The only way your cult is changing is if I destroy it! Now are you gonna stand aside or object?” He’d say to Syella. He was already willing to fight her, but would be pleasantly surprised if somehow she was to step aside and let him go on about his business.

Sightless Syella frowned. She would have liked to walk away from this conversation without a fight, but this man sought to destroy the Clan.

”I learned two things of value from this talk. One, a man of your group has already been touched by Insight. And two, keeping you alive is no longer a requirement. It’s a shame really, but protecting the Clan comes before your life.”

Sightless Syella’s fingers sharpened and stretched into tendrils. Her aim. Straight for Jen’s chest.

Týfurkh did not spent any significant amount of time to inspect the room Chres had pointed out. It was small, damp, dark, ugly and last but not least had a sturdy door with a lock on it. Not spending much effort on ensuring a soft landing for his cargo, the giant dumped Jewl into the chamber and made her disappear out of everyone’s view quickly.

Not much later however the whole building sounded as if it was either under fire from big catapults or had just become the dwelling place for at least one big dragon, probably more. While he was certain the latter did not exist, the catapults were a scenario he could not rule out entirely. A case of friendly fire from the soldiers outside who could not know ? Before being able to think further he heard Chres’ callout and not a moment too soon. Protecting his face with his hands, Týfurkh fled for the wall whom he supposed was the point of greatest stability.

Both the catapults and the dragon would have been preferable to the one person who ultimately made her appearance: Tayla! And there was the coin trick again, just as if they were still standing on that damn tower. Couldn’t this sweet-toothed woman just leave them alone with their personal affairs ? What the hell was it she and Karina had with one another ?

Anyway. Karina was on their side and since Tayla had not hesitated to attack Týfurkh at the first opportunity either, there was no reason to stay out of this at all. And speaking of sweet-toothed… was Tayla’s obvious desire to consume candy cotton even in a combat situation not a little too absurd for a mere eating habit ? Maybe taking that stuff away from her would have some impact…

Týfurkh reached for a large piece of broken stone that had come down from the ceiling. He aimed for Tayla’s head not really expecting to score a hit, but every distraction would be good right now.

Tayla quickly warped the floor beneath the group, launching both Tayla and Karina into the forth story of the gate house before Týfurkh’s attack had a chance to hit.

”The hell?!” Chres said in-between coughs. ”Who in the senses was that?” Not having met Tayla before, Chres was ignorant of Karina’s previous two encounters with the woman.

”Silly silly, Chres. Everybody knows that was Icie-rina’s love interest. They were dancing in the tower during that day with all the falling puddles.”

”Her… love interest.” Chres said skeptically.

”Yup yup yup! Aren’t they cute together?” Sil asked before leaning in real close. ”Just between you and me though,” she whispered while nudging her head in Týfurkh’s direction. ”I think it's more of a love triangle.”

Chres raised an eyebrow. Okay, now he was sure Sil didn’t have a clue.

”Whatever the case, Karina can take care of herself. In the meantime, I think we should head for the roof and open the portcullis there. Akai, if you would rather go after Karina instead. I wouldn’t blame you.”

Everything had happened so fast that Akai wasn't even able to process it, only watching, confused as the roof suddenly crashed down on them, with a stranger suddenly appearing and taking Karina with them somewhere.

"Karina? What happened?" Akai asked, coughing as the dust began slowly settling down. Luckily, no one from their group was caught by the debris or seemed to be hurt, with only Karina having disappeared together with the strange figure.

When Sil began talking, replying to Chres whom seemed to be just as confused as Akai was, she couldn't help but sigh, putting her hand in her face in disbelief.

"Umm... You probably shouldn't let Karina hear that, Sil..." she said shaking her head.

"Knowing her, the only dance she knows is the one including swords." she said. While she did gave a little chuckle at what Sil had said, Akai was still a bit worried. She trusted Akai and knew that her confidence wasn't for nothing but still, even if she was strong, even a genius would be powerless against an enemy with numeric superiority.

"I... It's not like I'm worried about her or anything... You guys can probably take care of yourselves. I know she is strong and can take care of herself but she is still alone. There are also those weird sightless with strange powers and the crazy cultists..." Akai said, trying to make up an excuse to go to where Karina was without admitting she was worried.

"Anyways! If something bad happens, just scream! I will definitely do the same if things get bad there too!" Akai said, before dashing away to where Karina had gone.

Chres nodded. Now that the townspeople had raided the walls, he suspected that they could make it to the winch for the outer portcullis with relative ease. ”We’re almost there guys. Chres said, looking to the stairs. The only thing that stands between us and the winch is five flights of stairs… Octavio, Týfurkh, Lynx-”

”-Sil” Sil piped in, not wanted to be left out,

Chres gave a rare smile. ”And yes, of course, Sil… Are you all with me?”

”You know I don’t like buildings all twisting and warping around me so they can make my friends disappear, but I guess in order to end all this we will not have any other choice anyway.” was Týfurkh’s reply towards Chres. The disappointment in his voice was quite hard to overhear, as much as he believed in Karina’s competence, too. He hardly knew Akai, but if she rushed to help her it probably was a good thing.

There was one other, tiny, not to be neglected issue though… and Týfurkh started pointing at it -- Sil -- with his index finger. ”I’ve heard rumors that some people of my nation are working on a method on how to bend, twist and warp not only buildings, but space itself. Maybe I should have a talk with them so they can teach me how to catch you without running at you!”

Sil yelped and quickly zipped behind the cover of Chres’ back.

”Scary...” She said as she peeked her head above Chres’ shoulder.

Týfurkh grinned, perfectly knowing that his statement was nothing but creative bullshit. However one thing was right about it: He indeed would have liked to get a hold on Sil, just to give her that cute little slap in her adorable face that she so desperately deserved!

”Shall I go first ?” he now asked in Chres’ direction, gesturing towards the staircase.

Chres smiled and gave Týfurkh a quick nod.

”Go right on ahead.” Chres said. ”Just give a shout if you need me to charge ahead at any attackers.”

Chres then looked to Octavio and raised an eyebrow. Apparently Octavio had somehow found a new pair of spectacles during the fight. When did he have the time to find that?

A sudden bout of banging, from the room where Týfurkh locked Jewl in, answered that question.

“HEY! Let me out of here!” Jewl shouted from her newly found prison.

Chres ignored her cries. ”Got any useful tricks that you can do with those?” Chres asked, an amused smile crossing his lips.

Octavio wore the spectacles with a quiet uncertainty that read across his face, less as if they were an accessory and more as if they were a bizarre tool. Not that the latter was incorrect either. “Hmm…” he hummed.

“Hey! Any convenient way to activate this instrument?!” He cupped a hand around his mouth and shouted at Jewl. He only shrugged at the ensuing silence.

“A shame her surprise incarceration got to her like that. If only we had more time, I’d be able to put Lynx’s interrogation skills up to the test.”

The familiar craned his neck from where he’d been keeping watch. “No.”

Though the phantasmagoria of war made it near impossible to recall events beyond flashes of emotions and imagery, Octavio had a few brief memories in which Jewl was keeping close to light sources during their battle. He saw violence as a spectacle, but that made it all the more easier to not only take part but remember. If the constructs were made of light then all Octavio would have to do is…

A guard materialized in front of him at a speed that made him take a step back. He’d known what was going to happen, but it still shocked him that he was the one in charge. “Incredible. It’s a sort of conduit for my abilities… one that can also amplify them.” His destitute upbringing had led him to harbor a distaste towards people who relied on technology over raw talent. Jewl, in his mind, was that sort of person. The type that didn’t last long in the chaos of war that couldn’t be taught through private lessons or textbooks. He shook his head until his perpetual smirk faded and followed the others, Lynx following suit.

Chres raised his brow slightly concerned. From his perspective, it looked like Octavio was playing with a crossbow that he didn’t even know was loaded. At the very least though, the man knew where the trigger was.

”Alright, lets go then.”

Chres and the rest made their way up the stairs facing off against the little resistance they encountered. After several painful minutes they at last made it to the fourth story of the northern side to the gate house.

The floor here was covered in ice. Karina’s work no doubt. Sure enough, in the next room, where the inner winch resided. Chres could make out Karina. Her blade pointed at that other lady’s through.

”A pep talk?” The woman said. ”You held your blade just give me a damn pep talk?!”

Chres smiled. Karina was fine, and better yet, it appeared that she already had one of the winches under control.

”This way!” Chres said. He waved the others towards the roof. ”It appears Karina’s already got this floor covered!”

Taking care to not slip on the ice, Chres and the climbed the last flight of stairs. There two soldiers guarded the door leading to rooftop access. Chres and the rest dispatched of the two soldiers and opened the door...

Chres looked upon the roof of the gatehouse. The winch lay there with five dead soldiers laying nearby. Hesitating, he looked to the others feeling concerned. The guards were already dead, but who had gotten to them?

Oh great! So Octavio had picked up some kind of fancy, magic thingy he apparently had no real clue how to use yet. That could only mean that it was as much a potential danger as it was a potential benefit, but still that was not Týfurkh’s most immediate concern at all.

Had the others even the slightest idea of how little friction the combination of steel boots on ice provided ? The giant did not even try to walk his way towards the next flight of stairs, but instead picked up some momentum on the little portion of the room’s floor that was not covered in ice, then tightened the muscles in his legs to lock them into place. He just slid his way towards the stairs, rapidly having to switch back to walking and climbing them at the end so not to stumble.

The sight on the roof was strange to say the least. As much as he had reason to believe that both Karina’s abilities and those of her opponent were powerful, just discounting five dead guards as collateral damage that somehow spread through an intact roof would be convenient, but foolish. Something else had killed them, that was for sure. But… what ?

Týfurkh looked around to the left, right and behind him in order to see if any other person was around except them. Then he moved forward towards the second winch as there was no point in just standing around and wondering. They’d have to get that thing moving anyway.

Dark tendrils shot from the rooftop above the door from which Týfurkh exited. Sightless!

”Behind!” Chres shouted, a Compressed ball of Tempraision already at the ready.

Chres launched the ball towards the tendrils, but the tendrils retracted as if expecting Chres’s attack. Chres sad ball of compressed energy flew past the tendrils and instead landed harmlessly in the distance, exploding on impact. Meanwhile the tendrils had changed directions and where now launching towards Chres.

Quickly Chres threw up a wall, but the action proved fruitless. The tendrils simply redirected their advance yet again. Maneuvering around the wall wrapping around Chres’s torso. The next thing he knew Chres found himself getting lifted off the ground and tossed away off the side of the gate house.

”Chres!” Sil cried out. Without a moment’s hesitation. She zipped after him.

And, just like that, Chres was cut out of the equation.

Octavio cursed under his breath. As if trekking through ice hadn’t been irritating enough, their group had now encountered another esoteric magician. One that had tossed Chres aside in mere moments, no less. Under normal circumstances, having dispelled his illusions earlier in order to traverse the ice quicker would have damned him. He now had a new gadget to aid him, however.

---

“Bothersome. Bothersome. Bothersome. Bothersome.” The newly formed Sightless De’laire muttered under her breath. “Enemies on the wall. Enemies at the gate. Soldiers? Useless. Died too easily. Need to tell Sightless Nieffar... recruit better help...”

Sightless De’laire ignored the screams of the man she just tossed off the building. Or had she tossed that one off? Maybe he simply jumped. Seemed silly to jump off a wall, but De’laire had seen crazier. Like herself for example.

“Bothersome. Bothersome. Bothersome. Bothersome!” Sightless De’laire said, her voice getting progressively louder.

De’laire used to be Crazed. But becoming Sightless had fixed that… right? Right??? Yes… yes, of course it had! She had traded in her Crazed magic for new magic. She couldn’t be Crazed anymore… But that man though… He must be Crazed. Jumping off a building? Dangerous that is!

Using her right hand, De’laire wiped away the strange orange goop that collected around her recently scratched out eyes. De’laire was still transitioning into full Sightless. As such, the wounds on her scratched out eyes were still fresh. Her blood and body had begun to change quickly but had not fully changed into a proper Sightless pigment. And her skin, while having already hardened, it had yet to form that bark-like texture other Sightless had.

De’laire launched another set of tendrils at the giant heading for the winch. “You aren’t supposed to be here!” De’laire yelled at the man.

Why did everyone need to talk instead of just doing things? As much as Týfurkh had not expected a sightless or almost-sightless to be here on top of the roof, as much did the latter spoil her advantage by spending moments on talking. As the tendrils were headed on their way, Týfurkh’s hand detached from the bolt on his crossbow and the other pulled the trigger.

The bolt was not aimed for the sightless herself though. Instead of gambling on punching through her bark-like skin and achieving a lethal blow, the giant had opted for the safe route of blasting a hole in the roof. Roof tiles went flying and wood splintered with explosive force as the acoustic energy stored in the bolt was released, sending sort of a shockwave through the gatehouse. Týfurkh didn’t hesitate to jump into the new hole the sightless had disappeared through, hoping that the floor beneath would be sturdy enough to stop his fall. The primary intention behind the move was, of course, to land on the sightless and to just break every bone in her ugly new self. He had his fist at the ready!

De’laire ignored the bolt. She could tell from the Insight that the bolt wouldn’t hit her - the bolt struck the roof tiles - although it did seem like the bolt would explode - the bolt exploded -

Rude... De’laire thought as her footing collapsed beneath her… And was this man about to hit her? Very, very rude...

De’laire’s feet extruded. Elongating until they made contact with a wall. Pushing against the wall, her main body slid backwards and well out of the way of the giant and his fist.

She then retracted her legs back to their normal length while launching a new set of tendrils intended to wrap around the large man’s neck and strangle him... but then she noticed the other person who was not supposed to be here. A scrawny man, with a pricy set of clothes.

De’laire redirected her tendrils towards this new man. “Bothersome! Bothersome! Bothersome! BOTHERSOME!” De’laire screamed. “WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE HERE?!”

Her tendrils shot towards the scrawny man’s legs.

Fueled by panic and instinct, Octavio summoned a guard illusion to take the hit for him at a speed he’d been never able to reach through his more traditional methods. With a pang of discomfort he became aware of the binoculars’ true consequences. They were far faster at summoning illusions, yes, but that didn’t mean they didn’t require any less light. The strain hit him faster and harder, and the instantaneous void of light he could sense within the device provoked a particular sense of despair within him. Would the tendrils even take the illusion in as a sacrifice? There was only one way to find out.

He gritted his teeth. Týfurkh’s plan was good, but they needed to keep her pinned down somehow. Perhaps if her tendrils made it impossible to do so, Octavio could at least distract her like this. He realized Lynx had come to the same conclusion, judging by his careful leaps near him. Those movements were all it took to inform Octavio he was just as unsure how to proceed.

De’laire’s tendrils halted midair.

“What!?” De’laire shouted in surprise.

Clambering to her feet, she cocked her head. If she extended her tendrils any further, then the Insight suggested they would crash into something solid. And yet, being unable to see illusions, nothing appeared to be there.

Confusion. Not the best outcome, but Octavio’s circumstances could have easily gotten worse. It was what fueled the element of surprise, what allowed the weak to trample the strong. Týfurkh and him would have to use every fraction of time this had granted them to their advantage.

Týfurkh performed a quite solid act of lithobraking onto the floor beneath, causing a noticeable rumble to travel well beyond the boundaries of the room. Even through the massive gauntlet and the padding beneath it his fist still hurt significantly, but even more so did the fact that he obviously had missed the target. Or rather… it had managed to evade.

On the plus side however she was on the same, lower level as he was however, which meant she was much further away from the gate apparatus they were all here for and maybe someone else could start using it while the sightless found herself distracted. The giant thought what to do next, seeing that Octavio did a damn good job but still could use some help probably.

The impact had caused some stone beneath Týfurkh’s feet and fist to crumble so there was some small, loose debris lying around. Currently having run out of bolts at the ready he realized that this would be just as good for a magically enhanced projectile that didn’t entirely rely on its own speed to cause damage. It was a costly operation, but Týfurkh charged one of the broken off pieces of stone with acoustic vibration, then just tossed it into De’laire’s direction. She couldn’t just evade each and every shrapnel this would cause while he didn’t need to for he had a lot of armor on him.

Keeping her busy, that was the plan in his mind. Now hopefully one of the others would realize what he was up to and get to work on the portcullis!

“Oh! Silly me! It’s an illusion isn’t i-” De’laire exclaimed happily as Týfurkh’s bit of rubble hit her in her side.

The rubble exploded into a cloud of dust. Octavio scrambled for cover and found none, albeit having at the very least put distance between himself and De’laire.

“I HADN’T FINISHED TALKING YET!” Screamed a distressed De’laire from the cloud of rubble. Her tendrils quickly retracted into the cloud of dust as she shot a second pair of tendrils that wrapped around a nearby shelving unit.

“You!” De’laire growled at Týfurkh, the cloud of rubble clearing. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt when someone is speaking?!”

A portion of De’laire’s gown had been shredded by the explosion. Her body, however, remain mostly intact other than several large cracks. The same orange goop that gathered around De’laires eyes began to seep through the cracks.

De’laire retracted the tendrils wrapped around the shelving, causing it to reel in the shelving unit towards her despite the weight. The unit loudly dragged across the stone flooring as she positioned it between her and Týfurkh.

“NOBODY GETS IT! NOBODY UNDERSTANDS! Am I the only one with proper manners here?! They call me Crazed, but I’m not Crazed! NO! Not me! Not now that I’ve become Sightless! Yes! I gave that magic up! I’m sane now! It’s everybody else who’s Crazed!”

As she spoke, she drew the tendrils upwards lifting the shelving slightly off the ground. Then, she extended her tendrils, sending the shelving towards Týfurkh at a surprising speed.

At first Týfurkh had honestly thought that De’laire would merely use the shelving unit as some sort of a barrier against more projectiles coming from his side. It would have made some sense, but who was he to expect any sensible, yet non-violent action from a sightless ?

“Thank you! I really appreciate the offer but honestly I don’t think I need more edu..” At that point the shelving unit started flying and even more unfortunately so its trajectory led right towards him. The giant tried to jump aside, but the large wooden contraption still hit him partially. Wood shattered as it impacted upon thick steel and Týfurkh was sent onto the stone floor.

When exactly had been the last time one of those and their followers had made his nose bleed a lot ? As he could already taste the iron when the blood leaked into his mouth, his memory kicked in: near the top of the now ruined belltower, right! Why had he even started to talk back to De’laire ? Maybe because it was much less of an absurd idea than he himself had thought at the very first moment: If she was so talkative it could only help to distract her further by throwing back some verbal nonsense at her.

Týfurkh’s view dashed along the walls of the room. He needed to know what other items happened to stand around here, just in case anything was more dangerous than a piece of furniture…

Octavio struggled to think of his next course of action, unable to shake off the way she’d treated his illusion. Her tentacles had halted, wary of it, yet she had most definitely been put off by something. She hadn’t been able to register the illusion in her mind properly. He resisted the urge to curse. Trepidation like that wouldn’t happen twice, and now Týfurkh had taken a heavy blow.

He had a plan, of course. He just knew it would be risky. Summoning a second guard illusion in an instant, he cupped a hand around his mouth. “Throwing furniture that doesn’t even belong to you around, how rude!”

Any direct method of attack from Octavio would have been disastrous, and any throwing knives would have simply been swatted by tentacles. He grit his teeth and sent the two guards to swarm her. But they required a distraction.

“Becoming sightless doesn’t make you ladylike, that much is clear!” he shouted.

She then turned her sightless gaze towards Octavio.

“This one is just like everybody else. He doesn’t listen! I didn’t become Sightless to become more ladylike. I became Sightless to-”

De’laire paused, and then tilted her head to the side in thought.

“Oh wait… that was an insult, wasn’t it?”

De’laire sighed as she wrapped her tendrils around several particularly splintered broken planks of wood that lay scattered around Týfurkh.

“You know, with the city under attack there are so many other places that I should be right now.”

The fingers on De’laire’s free hand began to elongate as well and wrapped around one of the splintered planks that she had gathered with her other set of tendrils.

“So, if you don’t mind, would you please remain still?”

One by one, De’laire launched the splintered planks at Octavio like javelins.

“Augh!” shouted Octavio, wood and debris descending on him in a violent frenzy. Despite her slipping grasp on reality, the woman seemed to have clung on to at least a shred of it, as her attacks carried a sense of momentum to them. In one moment a plank would crash near his legs, then another several palms from his skull. The planks alternated in intensity, speed, location, everything to keep Octavio in a constant dance against death.

“Such a terrible listener.” De’aire muttered with annoyance. “Or maybe he just doesn’t know how to stay still...”

The flat side of a particularly large plank struck him across the shoulder. Rather than resist it he took the hit and transitioned into a roll that kept him from having his feet planted for more than a moment. Counterattacking would be impossible for him, he was realizing. A splintered fragment of a plank cut through his arm during his struggle to evade a larger one that was headed towards his lungs. Within the grimace that seeped across his face was satisfaction. It wasn’t just him in this battle.

Both of the guard illusions that had been bizarrely untargeted by the woman continued their charge. Upon Octavio’s wordless commanding they drew their swords and lunged, aiming for the orange in between the cracks of her body.

De’laire annoyance gradually began to grow.

“You’re doing it all wrong! If you would just stop moving, we would be done here much sooner!” The Sightless shouted.

The dull pain at her sides suddenly spiked as something invisible cut through the cracks in her skin. The pain wasn’t sharp. No, Sightless De’laire had noticed that intensity of pain seemed to have lessened as the transition progressed. Even her scratched out eyes, which just last night had been excruciatingly painful, had become just a dull thud.

This pain, however, was more immediate, as her ability to heal was not quite as quick as a normal Sightless just yet.

Right! De’laire thought. The illusions.

She swatted at her sides blindly with the planks. Then elongated her legs to get her body out of harm’s way. She stretched herself past Octavio, striking at him as she did so. With her free hand, she snatched up one of the swords from the deceased guards. Then, she circled backwards. Surrounding Octavio with the length of her body, as a snake would their prey.

“I believe I said stay still!” De’laire snapped.

She swatted at him with the broken plank, following up with a lunge from the sword.

”Do you realize that we should be somewhere else, too ? So I got an alternative offer that is much more efficient because it will only hurt one individual instead of two: You could just stop living and start dying.”

They really needed to get that portcullis handled if such action had not taken place yet. Therefore, and albeit he hated employing this so early on, Týfurkh prepared the jade candle. He didn’t bother searching for a good spot, just thinking that De’laire’s very head would be good enough for some blinding effect, right ? The thing crashed onto her skull and shattered with so much force that the momentum and glass shards itself could probably be considered a weapon of some kind. Then Týfurkh launched himself forwards, hoping that while being attacked by illusions as well the wannabe-sightless wouldn’t be able to discern his approach as clearly as otherwise. He also didn’t perform the latter using the most straightforward way possible, but rushed towards her along a curved trajectory so her previous knowledge of his position would hopefully be of much less use.

In his hand he held one of the pieces of bookshelf that had not yet been launched at Octavio by De’laire. And last but not least he was a giant and he counted on sheer power working out in order to rip their common foe apart.

The top of the gatehouse exploded in a brilliant light. So bright that even shielding your eye could not keep out the light. The air seem to shimmer as it fought back the distortion.

In this lone area of Shimmertown, the sky returned to its normal blue hue. The sun shifted back to its normal late day position, and shone its normal yellowish light.

The light from the Crystal Jade candle circled De’laire… then… then it attacked.

De’laire gasped. The shock of being cut off from the Insight hit her like a brick. The attack had hit her just in time. Her strike with the blade barely missing Octavio.

“GIVE IT BACK!” She screamed. The shards of crystal jade, imbedded in her skin seemed a minor concern as did the sudden loss of Insight.

“I EARNED THIS!” She cried, tears streaming down her face. “I worked so hard! Gave up everything I knew! Risked losing myself to insanity! AND NOW YOU TAKE IT AWAY!”

Týfurkh’s wooden plank smacked De’laire across the face, causing minor cracks across her right cheek. She swatted blindly at the giant with her own plank.

“I WON’T LET IT HAPPEN! YOU DON’T GET TO TAKE THIS FROM ME!” She screamed.

Dropping the plank she just swung, she launched tendrils from her now free hand. Out over the side of the gatehouse, and then elongating downwards till they dug into the earth at the base of the wall. Deep in the earth she felt a pulse from the Seed of Insight’s roots.

Deeper her tendrils dug, until finally wrapping around the roots. There she connected herself with the seed.

She had been warned about the power held inside crystal jade, and while they had no way to counteract most of the blindness that occurred from being exposed to its light, Sightless Vetius had informed them that by directly connecting to the seed, they could regain some sense of Insight. They regained a sort of sonar. The ability for them to view the life force of others.

The Seed Pulsed again. Its waves spread throughout the earth and buildings located in the Distortion. They spread up the gatehouse walls and wash over those standing atop it. Two figures became ‘visible’ to her. A giant and a scrawny man.

There! She thought.

De’laire angled her sword hand seeing an opening in-between the armor protecting the giant man. She swung her sword victory at hand!

Boom! Something powerful struck De’laire in the face and exploded in a burst of energy. The side of her face shattered from the impact as she was thrown to the floor.

Who? How? Nobody else was here!

”Octavio! Now’s your chance!” Shouted a voice from above.

Above?! That wasn’t fair! The pulses from the seed couldn’t reach things in the air!

It had been the most dangerous waiting game that Octavio had been playing. He had taken the brunt of the plank’s weight, all in an effort to dodge the sweeping blade with full focus. He certainly hadn’t expected Týfurkh’s attacks and their domino effect to keep the woman from drawing blood. Not wanting to push his luck, he had instead been waiting, lurking, and later clamping his eyes shut from the shrapnel.

He drew his short sword mid-sprint, boots pounding against the ground least littered with detritus and melting illusions. The senses he had come to rely on were registering a kaleidoscope of uncomfortable sensations, all competing for his attention and receiving none of it. This was now a matter of instinct, of the muscle memory that a pair of calloused hands triggered as they wrapped tighter around the hilt of a blade. He made out Chres’ voice amidst the madness.

“You heard the man, we can’t exactly sit around here forever!” he shouted. He swung his sword upwards in a tight arc and let it crash at twice the speed into the woman. Whatever bizarre transformation this… creature had now undergone had made even an attack like that nonlethal.

---

”Pow! Right in the face!” Sil cried happily.

Chres smiled, glad that he made it in the nick of time. He had survived the throw by quickly Weaving a heat construct in the shape of a shute. Using the shute as a slide he had angled it back towards the tower and thankfully safety.

After a quick breather, Chres ran his way back to the gatehouse and avoided further combat by weaving heat constructs in the form of steps leading all the way back to the top of the gatehouse. Upon seeing Týfurkh in danger, he quickly tossed a compressed ball of energy which exploded onto the already cracked Sightless’s face.

The attack seemed to have severely wounded the Sightless. The side of her face shattered, having already been cracked. An orange goop poured from the wound as black plant-like shoots shot from the wound and slowly weaved together in a sort of bind.

Chres jumped off his heat construct platform and landed next to Týfurkh.

”Hurry!” He said to Octavio while drawing his hatchet. “Open the portcullis! Týfurkh and I will handle this one.”

He took the hatchet and swung for the Sightless. Screaming with rage, the Sightless swung wildly with her sword and somehow managed to deflect the attack towards her face.

Chres followed up with a kick to the head. ”Go!” He shouted again.

As pathetic as she was, he’d be a fool not to recognize her strength, or at least her perseverance. Or was it just plain madness? Whatever it had been that kept her from accepting defeat in battle, he had come to respect it in the detached way a rogue with no sense of honor could.

He sprinted towards the portcullis and gave a sigh of relief as his connection to Lynx felt clear again. Amusingly enough, when it came to direct confrontations neither of them tended to talk much, an opposite approach in comparison to their typical stealth and banter. Even in this mild reprieve the pair was silent. There wasn’t much help a being without opposable thumbs could offer when it came to opening things, and both of them knew it.

Two large winches on either side. Typical.

“However the saying went about broken things not being fixed,” muttered Octavio, summoning two guards to do the heavy lifting for him.

“Next you are going to say, ‘if only you had thumbs, Lynx’, or at least something similar. It is why we would enter through castle windows and crenellations instead.”

Octavio rubbed a temple with his free hand, sword remaining in the other. “Hmph.” His mind was getting split into various directions again. It made responding difficult, but the cat, too, knew this. “Just… be quiet and help me guard the guards.” The irony was not lost on him.

“NO!” The sightless screamed, launching desperate set of tendrils in Octavio’s direction.

Chres took another swing with his hatchet, chopping the Sightless’ tendrils in two.

The Sightless screamed again. Sending another wild swing of the sword at Chres. He avoided the blow easily, and followed up with a final swing of his hatchet. Sending it into her open facial wound, and lodging it in her brain.

“Noo...” the sightless croaked again.

Chres raised his brow curiously, surprised by the resiliency of the creature. Putting his foot on its head as leverage, he prepared to yank out his hatchet for another blow, but then he saw the creature’s tendrils start to retract.

“I can’t… die…”

Chres stepped back, as he noticed the Sightless’ blackened skin start to turn brown and shrivel as if withering.

“Not now… not when I finally became... free...”

The black vine-like shoots that bound her wounds curled back allowing the orange goop, making up her blood, to ooze out.

“Freedom… that’s all I wanted…”

Weakly, the Sightless reached out for Chres’ leg.

“Freedom from... this curse… freedom from... being... Crazed...”

With a thud. De’laire’s arm fell to the ground. With a shake of his head, Chres retrieved his hatchet and wiped the orange ooze from his blade.

While the light from the Crystal Jade candle had begun to recede, off in Octavio’s direction he could hear the sounds of a new ray of light shining. A ray of hope. The sounds of the Portcullis rising.

Chres smiled as he approached the man, and patted him on the back.

”It’s over... We actually did it...” Chres breathed a sigh of relief.

Octavio’s shoulders dropped in a way that seemed to age him several years. It was over.

”We’re all heroes!” Sil exclaimed excitedly.

”We?” Chres said, his brow raised skeptically. ”And what did you do?”

”Emotional support!” She said happily.

Chres smiled and shook his head. Wearily, he took a seat against one of the large winches.

”Emotional support.” He repeated with a chuckle. ”I don’t know... What do you two think? Octavio? Lynx?”

The rogue could only let out a wry smile. The kind only close friends ever got to see. “By the gods… she’s joking, but it really is a nice thing to have.” He looked at the wreckage that surrounded them for a brief moment. “Especially during a mess like this.”

The bruises and scrapes all over his body thrummed in pain as the adrenaline began to fade. It was with a small smirk that he knew the numbness would return faster than he desired. This was only a short reprieve from war, he knew on a visceral level.

Lynx could only turn away in disapproval. “If I criticized anyone for inaction, I would be a hypocrite. My capabilities as a familiar are limited. It is a factor we all are faced with.” He was almost defensive of Sil. Not that he would admit it. The battles were only getting more intense. Octavio was depending on him less now that they weren’t petty thieves that needed a distraction and just enough coin for a place to rest.

”See? Lynx gets it!” She said patting him on head. ”That's a good Lynx. Good Boy!”

Chres did his best to suppress his smile. ”Sil! Don't patronize him. He's a friend. Not a pet.”

”Friend. Pet.” Sil shrugged. ”Same, same.”

Chres rolled his eyes, unable to suppress his smile this time. Getting up from his seat, he looked out past the wall and towards freedom. The army had begun charging towards the gate. He knew it wouldn't be long now.

Chres breathed out a sigh of relief. It finally was coming to an end.

”I guess you don’t care about changing your ‘clan’ that much as you implied.” Jen would reply. He would catch Syella straightening out her hand and wondered if that same attack was going to be used. Indeed they would as the spear shot out aiming for his chest.

Jen would twirl to the side, using the motion to give momentum to a low swing at Syella’s legs hoping to trip her or at least make her stumble. He recalled their first fight and how troublesome that ability was. How wondered now they weren’t amidst a raging fire if he could have the opportunity to probe their limit.

”I do care.” Sightless Syella said ”But you made it clear that you do not.”

She took the blow to her leg, causing a loud crack. She barely stumbled from the blow, but her skin had formed a crack. Black shoots sprouted from the minor wound weaving together in an attempt to heal her.

Meanwhile, she let her tendrils shoot past Jen. She hadn’t intended for that blow to kill Jen. Rather she had hoped he would dodge, allowing her the chance to tangle him up. They then wrapped around backwards, threatening to encircle Jen’s body.

Eyes sharp, he’d catch the motion from the corner of his eyes. Syella’s tendrils were not just limited to linear extension, but also could bend. Jen’s staff would swing at the hand projecting the tendrils. He was hoping it might cause an interruption or cause it to veer off course. He was also moving in a manner to cause Syella to be in the way of her tendrils’ path.

Sightless Syella frowned. She saw the hit coming, but she could not retract her tendrils in time to get them out of the stick’s path.

There was another loud crack. The force of the blow splintered the tendril that made up Sightless Syella’s pinky. The blow knocked the remaining tendrils upwards and at an angle just barely freeing Jen out of the encircling tendrils.

Syella ignored the pain. In the scheme of things, he had just shattered the tip of her finger. It would grow back.

The Sightless cocked her head. Was he trying to redirect the tendrils back at her? Clever, but this one apparently didn’t realize just how much control she had over the growth of her tendrils.

Just how quickly could this man duck? Syella wondered.

The tips of Syella’s tendrils quickly made a tight curl up and backwards. Striking at Jen’s face as quick as a snake.

The strike was a success. It hit and caused some more cracking on the body much like his prior blow did. Not only that, but it also did redirect the tendrils. The problem was, Syella had much more control over them than Jen had previously imagined. It would be yet another complication to fighting Syella and maybe others like her.

The other problem was that her tendrils would not be interrupted by simply having an obstacle like the user in their way. Jen saw how they wove around Syella and continued their path towards him. Jen would flop to the ground, completely avoiding the tendrils as they whizzed high above him as he lay on the floor.

”You play a dangerous game attacking me up close.” Sightless Syella said while retracting the tendrils connected to her right hand. ”Dangerous… yes… though in some ways, perhaps more effective.”

Syella took a step forward while extruding her fingers, on her left hand, hoping to impale him in the stomach.

Jen would keep a still face, although he was pleased by her response. She had gotten closer to him although there was still some space. He’d roll over to the side, then use his hands to push himself off the ground. In doing so, he’d deliver a kick aimed upwards at Syella and also prop himself to his feet.

Again, Syella took the hit. His foot connected with her crotch. Syella grunted, acknowledging the blow. The man had cracked her skin again. It almost seemed as if he were enhancing his blows somehow.

”Come now. Have some dignity. I may be Sightless but I am still a lady.”

Her leftmost tendrils, having missed their target dug into the dirt. Her tendrils felt a pulsing from the ground beneath her feet. A pulsing her body attuned to. The Seed of Insight. It called to her…

Syella shook her head. She had no need of the Seed’s assistance right now. Her tendrils, still underground, curled upwards, finding their way beneath Jen’s footing. She hoped to catch him off guard much like during their last encounter. By attacking him from the ground beneath his feet.

The motion following everything that had happened so far had made something on his body loose. He’d pull out a pouch that was pretty full. Jen would then launch a swift kick aimed at Syella’s face as he remembered it was the salt for the seed of Insight. ”My Apologies.” He’d reply dryly.

A flash of Insight alerted Syella of the kick. She quickly reached up with our right hand and caught his kick with her injured right hand. Her shattered finger was still regenerating, with tiny black vine-like sprouts shooting out of her wound. At the same time she extruded her remaining fingers to wrap around his ankle.

She gave Jen an amused look. She preferred not taking a hit to the face.

”Apology accepted.” She replied as thorns emerged from the tendrils wrapped around Jen’s leg.

Jen would lick his fingers, dip it into the pouch, and pat the wounded part of her hand in mock affection. ”It’s good to know we can mend our differences.” He was hoping the salt might sting enough to loosen up that grip, or at the very the entirety of his action be bizarre enough to cause a momentary distraction to allow him to untangle the leg or do another strike to break free.

Syella’s brows furrowed with confusion at Jen’s actions. Then came the pain. She inhaled deeply, retracting her tendrils which left behind scratches due to the thorns. She removed her hand from Jen’s foot as if it were touching fire.

The black shoots from her shattered finger quickly receding back into the wound, no longer able to clot her greenish-yellow Sightless blood from oozing out. Her tough skin around the wound turned slightly brown as if withering, releasing a tiny amount of brown gas with a hiss.

The Sightless gave Jen a deadly glare and took a few careful steps back. Now, she definitely couldn’t let this man live.

The tendrils from her left hand shot from the ground between Jen’s legs.

”Mind your package.” Sightless Syella growled.

Jen took a breath as he learned of this reaction. The opening he had been waiting for had appeared. There was no longer a need to hold back. There was a literal lightness to his body as he leapt into the air much higher than he had done in this fight. The bag of salt was now the objective in this fight. Syella was now going to do everything to disarm him and scatter the remains. And he in turn would need to protect it and use some of it to either repel or kill her.

He’d lick the salty fingers to stimulate more saliva. With that he’d adjust his grip on the staff as he landed on a wall. Quickly, he daubed the salt on that end of the bamboo rod before tucking the bag into his waist. Another leap, and he would attempt to strike Syella’s legs with the staff. There was a catch, the end being used was the non-salted side.

The leap caught Syella by surprise. She had heard reports about this one’s magic and now was a clear example of its use. What had Smit determined the type of magic to be? Smell? How odd…

Having missed her strike from below, Syella retracted the tendrils on that hand while creating a new set of tendrils on the other hand. She wrapped those tendrils around a not too distant tree and then retracted. The actions reeled her body towards the tree and outside the path of Jen’s attack.

Jen would chase after Syella. He knew it would only be a matter of time before she’d try and disable his power. He needed to keep the pressure up! She can’t reliably deploy the blockers if she’s too busy reacting. She may have evaded his sweep, but he was sure to hit her with the next move.

The man would move faster than she was; his gait was covering a lot of ground with a series of smaller bounds. Jen would make use of his staff as a barrier. He would be trying to clothesline her with his staff. Then if it worked, he’d start his next attack, which would consist of grabbing her and executing a german suplex.

Syella retracted her tendrils. This one did not relent but his next attack would require commitment. She would trade a blow for a blow.

As she was lifted backwards into the air, she extended her legs. Wrapping them around Jen’s legs like vines.

As her body hit the ground, Syella kicked forward. Tossing Jen, by the legs, past her.

Jen didn’t do anything against the vines. It was both too late to really do anything and he was committed to slamming her to the ground like this. Instead he would focus on properly falling so that he might negate most of the impact and recover faster.

It was a clever move, doing that to create some space for her. He also knew she could attack from beneath so being on the ground was already not a favorable position. He’d spring to his feet relatively quickly as if his body was made of rubber.

The impact against the ground lead to a few more cracks along Syella’s back. Tiny vines immediately sprouted from the cracks, slowly mending her bark-like skin back together.

Syella quickly rose back to her feet and swirled to face Jen. She couldn’t be so careless about her wounds this time. Not now that he knew of this weakness.

Distance. She needed to keep her distance.

Syella leaned back and extruded her legs, launching Syella into the air and away from Jen. She then launched a new set of sharpened tendrils at Jen with her left hand. With her right hand, she launched a set of tendrils elsewhere, wrapping them around a barrel on the ground.

Jen was surprised at Syella’s retreat. He expected to go for an attack once he hit the ground. However, given he had discovered her weakness, it was also a good choice for her to avoid getting another hit by him. Given that the salt too also had a deleterious effect on her too.

He wondered if she might be considering a retreat. It was an odd citation as he knew he was a threat with this discovery on top of intentions to get to that seed. However the longer they fought, the more she ran the risk of getting exposed to more salt. He would cautiously pursue her as got closer and braced to dodge that barrel.

Syella swung the barrel at Jen like a club, anticipating his dodge. Meanwhile the sharpened tendrils in her free hand shot towards Jen, hoping to catch him off guard as he dodged.

Syella was using the barrel as a weapon, just like expected. But where was her other hand? He knew she didn’t need to use both arms to lift such a large object. It then occurred to him what was happening. Shit! He’d think to himself. Jen needed to act faster now.

Jen would watch that barrel racing towards. He took breaths in as he empowered his staff and hoped it was enough to keep it from breaking as he swung it sideways into the barrel. That sideways momentum would be used to curve the swing upward as he tried to swerve to the side. The barrel itself was less a concern and more those claws. He was hoping the salt encrusted end would connect with one of the arms and if not to at least throw off the initial claw lunge.

Jen’s blow cracked Syella’s hardened skin. While the blow mostly damaged the tendrils, some of the salt, encrusted on the staff, did make contact with the wound. Pain shot through her tendrils. Like several tiny needles prickling her. The damage wasn’t as significant as before, but specks of brown did litter parts of her wounds.

The sudden pain made Sightless Syella instinctively retract her tendrils. Syella cursed. It had been a long time since she felt pain like this. Her other set of tendrils, however, continued onward. Having released the broken barrel and having a kill in sight, she sharpened the ends of her tendrils and launched them at-

A roar ripped through the air as a nearby building exploded into flames. The light from the fire illuminating Jen and blinding the Insight.

Syella distanced herself from the light. She was no longer able to make out Jen, and that was dangerous. Instead, she wrapped her tendrils around Malkev’s unconscious body and raised him cautiously as a human shield.

The Insight called to Syella. The last portcullis had just been opened.

”It seems… I have run out of time.” Sightless Syella said regretfully. ”Your friends have succeeded in their mission. All that remains is the unbarring the gate.

“However, before I go I would like to leave you with one last proposal. Your companion in exchange for the girl. The one you mentioned who has been touched by the Insight.”

So it seemed he hadn’t exhausted his options to “negotiate” with the Sightless? Nothing good would be coming out of this outside of convenience and a more plausible method of rescuing his target. Syella was tricky to fight, and the only reason this fight didn’t end badly and in her favor was the flame saving his ass.

There was no way he was going toe to toe against more than one. He needed to get stronger for that. Issue was time, the longer he took the more corruption she’d be exposed to. Also, no way he was doing this alone. These sightless were only going to get tougher to fight the higher rank they were presumably. As cathartic as it would be to brute force through it, fighting smarter would be the key here.

“It will be done. Where do you want to drop him off? Also, if you could gently drop the old man please.” Jen would say to Syella.

Syella raised her brow. She had expected more resistance. ”At a place and time of our choosing. But when we call upon you, be sure that he comes alone.”

The Sightless dropped Malkev to the ground. ”Until we meet again…”

With that, the Sightless took off. It wasn’t much longer before a roar of cheering emerged from the direction of the Eastern Gate. Word spreading of the final portcullis having been opened, and a cry to action to fight off the remaining wall guard and to unbar the gate.

“Of course.” Jen would reply to her instructions. Right, all he had to do is wait for some signal from and then drag Chres off. The Sightless would run and drop Malkev. In the distance he heard cheering, he needed to hurry. He would pick up Malkev and carry him to the crowd before running off.

Chres watched as the army entered Shimmertown and quickly mobilized to protect and reinforce their point of entry. He felt an itch crawl up the back of his neck. More strongly than usual.

It's over. He thought. The army can take things from here. I can run now.

It was true. They didn't need him any more. He imagined the army had more than enough people to take out the seed. He could move on. Figure out the truth behind his wife. The thing that she said he didn't understand. What reason did he have to stay?

If he ran now though... Now when the army had flooded the city... That could be seen as suspicious. They could capture him or bring down with an arrow, thinking him a fleeing cult member. No. Running was not a safe option. At least not right now.

A few stray wall guards made their way to the roof of the gate house in a desperate attempt to close the portcullis. With Octavio's help, however, they were able to make quick work of them. Even if the wall guard had been successful at closing the portcullis, Chres figured it probably wouldn't make much of a difference by now. A portion of the troops had already started to flood the wall. It was only a matter of time till they made it up to the top and took control over the winch.

Sure enough, minutes later, the Empire's troops made it to the top of the wall. Chres raised his hands in the air and got on his knees.

"Peace." He said. "We're with you. Talk to Lieutenant Colonel Frost. She'll vouch for us."

The soldiers eyed them suspiciously exchanging more than a few glances. The one in the back, however, gave a nod.

"Go to the Ice Flower." He said. "See if she corroborates their story."

One of the soldier saluted and went back the way he came. The rest of the soldiers carefully approached Chres and Octavio. Stipping them of their weapons.

---

The troops re-enforced the eastern wall, while holding their ground against the connection to the southern wall. Later in the day, the troops had gained footing in the southern part of Shimmertown. It was only then that the troops began to advance on the southern wall.

To the east, some cultists had already begun to abandon the town, the smart ones having left far before the army had entered. Boats had been prepared in advance, it seemed. Coming in from the rivers feeding out northeast of the lake. The boats carried their members away from town and towards safety. Even most of the Sightless had already vanished. Only those loyal to Nieffar having stayed behind.

---

Far south of Shimmertown, beyond the reaches of the Distortion, a trail of well guarded caravans began making camp beside Horizon's Path, a road once well traveled in the Nation of Sight. Well... at least before the war began.

Above the camp soared a silver vulture. It had just flown in from the north and begun circling the caravans as if looking for food. It circled the camp three times, then with a tuck of its wings, it swooped down towards the center of the camp and turned into a fly mid-flight. Traveling all the way from Shimmertown, Talon had arrived to bring news of the battle.

He zipped to and fro across the encampment. Once or twice he was swatted at, but he paid the fools no mind. Getting swatted at was part of being a familiar. He knew his place in the world, and he accepted it with grace. His purpose, solely to serve.

At last, he made it to the Kharu-Natjer's tent. The Kharu-Natjer's presence scraping the back of Talon's mind. Probing Talon as he usually did.

Inside, Talon could make out voices. Landing silently on tent's flap, listened in.

"Gone." The Kharu-Natjer said, speaking in his native language. "You allowed Svephraey to slip away without my permission?"

"Forgive me Kharu-Natjer. I've done wrong."

"Wrong? No... That one is a slippery snake. But has your negligence caused problems? Likely, but I suppose that is yet to be seen."

"Forgive me." The Sqarwn-Enx said again. Sqarwn-Enx. Those bound for life.

For awhile, The Kharu-Natjer said nothing. "I sense... that you are not one of her splinters... Good..." He said at last. "At least she has some sense... Your forgiveness will need to be earned. A month of penance as Twa-qwat." Twa-qwat. One of the punished.

"Yes, Kharu-Natjer." the Sqarwn-Enx, now Twa-qwat said.

There was the sound of ruffling cloth from with-in the tent. No doubt the sounds of the Twa-qwat unrobing and dressing in the rags that signified his place as Twa-qwat. Talon buzzed in annoyance. A month as Twa-qwat? This one got off easy for his folly.

"Come in Talon." The Kharu-Natjer said. "I can hear your buzzing from out there."

Talon silenced himself in shame. While his fly form was convenient, he did wish its movements did not cause so much noise.

Talon zipped through an opening in the tent flap and landed atop his perch. Transforming back to his vulture form, he pointedly ignored the naked Twa-qwat in back of the tent who silently put on his new pair of clothes along with a veil to cover his face.

“Svephraey is gone?” Talon said, making a clicking sound with his beck. “Should we be concerned?”

"Whenever that one is alone, I am concerned." The Kharu-Natjer said.

“Dangerous, that one is. It may be wise to replace her before she becomes too bolden.”

"Svephraey is a useful tool. Her connections to the underworld of this land, strong... but yes, you might be right... Perhaps it is time to select one a Splinter to take her take her place."

Talon clicked his beak in excitement, taking pleasure at imagining Svephraey dieing to one of her own splinters. It wouldn't be the first time the Kharu-Natjer had done this. Svephraey herself had once been a splinter. Her controller, the previous Marionetteer, once having Svephraey's place by the Kharu-Natjer's side. But that man had grown too bold, much like Svephraey now. So the Kharu-Natjer approached Svephraey and offered her a way to rise above her place as a splinter and enabling her to kill her controller. With the previous Marionetteer dead, Svephraey was able to take control of all his splinters. Usurping his place and becoming the new Marionetteer.

"So, Talon. What news do you have from Shimmertown?"

“The pact makers were successful. The army will soon have control of Shimmertown.”

"And the Distortion?"

“It still covers the city. The pact makers have yet to tackle the seed.”

"Pity." The Kharu-Natjer said with a frown. "Won't be long before the sun sets. I do hope our friends are able to kill the seed before the army of touch goes to sleep... or else... we'll have another massacre on our hands..."

---

Back in Shimmertown, the sun began to dip in the sky. Most of the southern parts of town had been re-captured. However, the northern part of town, the cult still held strong... Particularly at the center of town, where both Mayor O'Kal's manor stood and the Cult's makeshift base of operations. Much of the resistance came from the town's own people, the ones the cult converted, including the rest of the wall guard...

Chres and Octavio, having had their story corroborated, had their weapons returned. Together, they met up with Karina, Jen and Malkev at the base of the wall.

Viktor Frost grimaced as he got his first look at Shimmertown beyond the eastern gate. He could tell right off the bat that this town had taken a toll larger than he would have liked. Once they had finished establishing control, they would need to expend precious resources here just to rebuild. Still, a swift victory here was better than a prolonged siege.... Now… if only they could find a way to rid the town of this gloomy Distortion.

He pondered the oddity of the Distortion as he rode horse onwards. The eerie way the shadows of the living stretched towards the light of the setting sun, or how the sun set in a direction that was most certainly not west. The blackness of the sky despite it seeming to be bright as day... Everything just seemed to be visually off. Like one giant illusion come to life.

Viktor made sure to capture a few odd images he noted with the spectacles he wore. He stored them away for later use. One could never know when a seemingly useless image could make for a useful illusion.

Colonel Raelar’s mount trotted alongside Vicktor all the while. The man cleared his throat, catching Viktor’s attention. He then nodded off towards the gatehouse. There, a familiar face caught the General’s eye. A soldier standing proudly and at attention. She saluted the general without meeting his eye. The girl...

General Frost drew his mouth in a line, steeling himself as he did everytime he looked upon that face. If given the choice, Viktor would have ignored the girl and moved on. Acknowledging the girl, especially now of all times, could be viewed by others as showing favoritism. Something he refused to do. However, due to circumstances now out of his hands, there were matters between him and the girl that required discussing.

His horse coming to a stop, Viktor dismounted and approached the girl. Hands clasped behind his back, he didn’t wink or smile. No. He needed to mask all emotions from her. She had chosen the life of a soldier. And so, he would treat her as one.

Vikor came to a halt a good distance away from the girl and took a moment to take in all the unfamiliar faces standing behind her. They stood together with a sort of familiarity likely having worked together through this whole ordeal. There did not appear to be any order to them, however. Viktor grimaced at that.

As he soaked in her companions, his eyes lingered on the tall, well dressed, dark skinned man. The man stared back at him defiantly, as if daring Viktor to pick a fight.

Frowning, his gaze fell back upon the girl. His daughter. Karina.

"Soldier." He said at last.

"General Frost, Colonel Raelar, Lieutenant Karina Frost reports." Karina replied, saluting the two men as they approached the group in a firm and proud, but at the same time, elegant posture as she waited for General Frost's salute before lowering her arm and assuming an 'at-ease' posture.

While Karina had a deep respect for General Frost, not because he was her father, but due to his skills and his unparalleled intellect and strategic thinking, it wasn't really a secret through the military base that she and Colonel Raelar didn't like each other. Whenever the two met, the only thing that held the sparks from flying every time their gazes crossed was the pride each one had and the position they were in the military.

Despite Colonel Raelar's unpleasant presence, Karina still carried herself with pride and elegance, traits of her personality which, along with her appearance, earned her quite the fame through the military of touch and quite a bit of prejudice as well from those who justifying her position and even her pride as solely because she was the daughter of the general.

Viktor raised his head ever so slightly, his expression unchanged. While he said nothing, his stare indicated that he was waiting for her to continue.

With General Frost's silent permission for her to continue, Karina finally lowered her arm and stood at attention as she began making a brief but detailed report of the current situation, how the group helped her in contacting the Military of Touch, Malkev's promise to aid the military (Which earned her a stare from Malkev), and finally everything that she was able to discover about the Cult, including the strange powers they had, how they could affect a person, the tactics they used and even the aberrations that were called 'the sightless' and their connection with "the seed", which was, apparently the origin of the distortion and the cult's powers. While it would sound like nonsense for anyone else, Karina's tone was dead serious and the fact that they were currently seeing the inexplicable event that was denominated the 'Distortion' made it hard for them to dismiss Karina's words as exaggeration or anything other than the truth. If General Frost paid close attention to Karina's report, he would soon understand that the Cult was a bigger threat than they had initially thought. Much to Colonel Raelar's dismay, Karina was right since the beginning about them.

"That concludes the report, General Frost." Karina said, still standing at attention.

"I recommend for our forces be prepared for the confrontation with the cultists. The full extent of the cultists' powers, especially the beings called the 'sightless' is still unknown. We cannot dismiss the possibility of them being able to affect our soldier's minds like they did with the population." she finished, looking towards General Frost with a serious expression.

Surprisingly enough, even the mischievous and talkative Akai was nervous, feeling the weight of General Frost's gaze, being dead silent as Karina spoke. It was her first time seeing General Frost and while she knew that he was Karina's father (even if Karina haven't told her so, it was obvious they were father and daughter, due to how much they resembled each other), the pressure she felt from the man was unlike anyone else she had seen until now. Getting on his bad side was definitely a bad idea.

Viktor said nothing, instead waiting to see if the girl had anything else to add. After an uncomfortable long moment, he finally spoke.

"Soldier. The Empire thanks you and… your friends… for having completed your mission by opening the gate." Colonel Raelar raised an eyebrow at the choice word ‘mission’, before smoothing his face over. He knew just as well as the General that it was for show more than anything.

Karina made a quick and brief salute as General Frost 'thanked' her and the group for their 'mission'. The hidden meaning behind his words was not lost on Karina, as she, more than anyone else, knew the implications of her actions. Even if she was in fact, correct about the cult, she still went against direct orders from her superiors.

Viktor looked to the unconscious cultist, Tayla according to the girl. "Colonel Raelar. Have the men lock this one up in chains. She’ll need constant doses of taste deterrents. See to it that we have any water given to her treated as well. Have a field medic to treat her wounds."

Again, Raelar raised his brow. The man remained silent. The judgement, however, was ominous. Giving a quick salute, he placed the girl upon his horse and rode off.

While Tayla would probably have a rough time, waking up only to find herself chained, Karina still thought that she could be very helpful for them in the fight against the cult. Especially since she was one of them. While it would be unlikely for her request to be granted at that moment, or even heard to be honest, once things got a bit calmer and Tayla was no longer considered a threat, she would go forward with her request. For now, silence was the best option.

Viktor turned his gaze back to the man, Malkev O’Kal. Just as before, he stared back coldly. They had been in communication with the man’s brother until recently, negotiating a surrender behind the Mayor’s back. This one, however, did not look to be nearly as agreeable.

"Lord O’Kal." Viktor said carefully. "Tell me. What became of your brother?"

Malkev’s frown deepened. ”Dead." He said.

Viktor frowned. "His son?"

”Alive. Though under my care and supervision."

Viktor nodded. "And your wife… Barren, is she not?"

Malkev said nothing. Just the cold stare. Viktor took it as a confirmation.

"Once this town is back under control, we will depose your Cousin seat as Mayor. He will be named traitor to the Lord of Senses and exiled from our lands as a slayer of his own kin. What I would like is for you to take his position. The people will respect one of their own more than anyone we put in his place."

Malkev’s face grew darker with every word. ”Kin slayer?” Malkev repeated. The irony of the title not lost on him. ”My cousin was no kin slayer. Your lies stain the honor of the wrong man."

Viktor raised his brow ever so slightly. "White lies." He said "Lies meant to keep the peace and give legitimacy to your elevated position."

”A position, I did not ask for.”

"You wish to serve. Well, this is how you will serve."

”Except the agreement your daughter claims that I made, were not the terms that I agreed to.”

"Daughter?” Viktor repeated, his voice going cold. "Terms? Agreement?” His gaze slowly shifted back towards the girl. His presence looming.

”What I agreed to, was to support your takeover. But, in return, I asked that my family be kept safe. What I didn’t agree to, was becoming your puppet.”

In silence, Karina heard as Viktor addressed Malkev O'Kal, his words were cold and calculated as he gazed at Malkev, a gaze Karina knew all too well. A cold gaze that seemed to see right through any lie, any mask, any illusion.

Viktor's proposal to Malkev wasn't a bad one in Karina's opinion. The political move of branding his cousin a traitor would solidify Malkev's position and give the military of touch a powerful pawn. Malkev was still showing reluctance and proving himself to be quite a difficult man to deal with though. The moment he mentioned her, not by her name or her position in the military but referring to her simply as 'General Frost's Daughter', the air around Karina started to immediately cool down and freeze, betraying her emotions despite her collected demeanor. Even though General Frost's gaze moved to Karina, she showed herself to be unfazed by it, instead simply gazing back towards Malkev with frightening eyes.

Viktor’s frown deepened ever so slightly as the air frosted around the girl. He didn’t like this one’s small loss of control over her powers when her temper flared.

"Lieutenant Colonel Karina Frost. If I were you, I wouldn't push my luck addressing me like that again." Karina said, looking to Malkev with cold, threatening eyes, the air around her cold enough to make other's breath visible.

"I don't like to play games, lord O'Kal." she said, with an acid tone as she said his title.

"Your family's safety in exchange for your cooperation. That was the deal. It's up to you if you will accept my offer or not." Karina finished, her tone of voice making it clear that there would be no negotiation nor any other 'added terms'.

”With all due respect, this is no game Lieutenant.” Malkev said. He said the title not because he feared retribution, but only because poking a bear does not help when there is little room to escape. ”Words matter in politics. In your report you stated that I would aid the military. Aiding the military is not a term I agreed to. What I agreed to do was to support the military and their take over. My name holds weight in this town, and my support would make your transition here all the easier. What I will not do is lead under your rule. I can not lead in a cause of which I do not believe.”

Viktor turned his gaze away from the girl and back to Lord Malkev. "Lord Malkev. Your concerns are valid and righteous. You’re right. Words do matter. Although, normally, it is not a Lieutenant’s place to speak such words.” Viktor pointedly did not look at the girl as he spoke the last sentence.

”But-”

Viktor held up his hand indicating that he had not finished. "But to go back on an agreement, that would be a stain in the eyes of the Lord of Senses.” The defiance in Malkev’s eyes seemed to cool cautiously at this.

"I will keep your family safe as you so desire. However, it will be done on the Emperor’s own terms. Not on the terms of some... soldier you met out on the field.” This time Viktor did eye the girl.

”And… just what are these terms?” Malkev asked cautiously.
"The same terms your brother had agreed to.” Viktor said, pulling out his trump card.

”My… Just what are you saying?”

"What I’m saying is your brother saw sense. He saw the hopelessness of your position. The betrayal of your cousin Mayor O’Kal. He saw that there was only one way out for your home that involved the least amount of bloodshed. And that way out was through us.”

”My brother… was a traitor?” Malkev said aghast.

"No.” Viktor said. "Your brother was brave. Before he died during whatever chaos happened here, he came to us and negotiated his family’s safety just like you.”

The vision Malkev had seen. The vision that came before the Day of madness… It showed his brother as a traitor… The vision had been real after all… except… it had left out one important detail. The reason behind why his brother had betrayed his country. And now, his brother is dead. Dead by Malkev’s own hands. One of the people his brother had been trying to save.

Malkev took a sudden step back. An itch crawling up the back of his neck. ”No...” He whispered. ”No… It can’t be...”

Viktor eyed the man carefully. Uncertain about the source of Malkev’s distress. "I would have you.” Viktor said carefully. "Just as I would have your brother. As you said, your name holds weight in this town. I need you to lead them. Nobody else can do that but you.”

”I can’t...” Malkev said. He didn’t deserve the position.

The General frowned. "It need not be forever.” He said.

”How long?”

"Until your nephew, Taleb, comes of age.”

Malkev hesitated, and raised his gaze from his feet. ”Taleb...” He repeated, before nodding finally.

”Yes...” He said more to himself. ”It’s the least I can do… I’ll raise the boy properly. He’ll make a fine Mayor.”

Viktor frowned. "My apologies, Lord Malkev. There is one last one last term to this agreement.”

Malkev frowned as he raised his head. A hint of defiance returning to him.

"The boy. He’ll be taken in as a ward until the day he comes of age.”

”What?!” Malkev asked, the itch on his neck returning.

"One of the emperor’s cousins will raise the boy. He’ll be provided a proper home and education.”

”You mean to brainwash him!” Malkev spat.

”What I mean is to give the lad a proper opportunity. To be viewed as an equal, your boy will need to learn the ways of the Empire.”

”You agreed to my family’s safety!”

”That is what I’m agreeing to.” Viktor said in a collective tone.

”A family can no longer be called a family when you go around ripping its members apart! He is my flesh and blood! All that is left of my brother! I will not have you take him from me!” Malkev cried.

Viktor said nothing. He knew this man’s pain. Albeit in a different manner. However, to lead meant making hard decisions and having assurances that one’s allies will cooperate. Taleb was that assurance.

”I. Cannot. Agree. To. These. Terms!”

Malkev stood defiantly, staring face to face with Viktor. His defiance had drawn the attention of a few nearby soldiers, who cautiously stepped up in case their general needed defending. Viktor calmly raised a hand signalling for them to stand down.

”Lord Malkev.” Viktor said respectfully. ”Today has been a long and hard day. Please allow my men here to escort you to a suitable chamber for you to get some rest. We shall speak more on this in the morning.”

Malkev said nothing. He simply stared daggers at the General while the soldiers came up to escort Malkev away. He shook off their attempts to take him by the shoulders and shot one last look not at Viktor, but instead at Karina.

”You spoke as if you could have done better for me.” He said, a look of betrayal on his face. ”I was a fool. I should have known better than to have put faith in you.”

Viktor gave one last look at Malkev as they took him away. They would need to find a proper holding cell for that one. Nothing too bare but not too excessive.

With a shake of his head, he turned a disapproving gaze to the girl, as if to ask if she had anything to say for herself.

Karina was about to reply to Malkev when General Frost began speaking once again, making her go silent. Malkev's insolence was almost insulting for Karina. Not only he was in a terrible situation that he wouldn't be able to get out of by himself, but he was making demands even after her and the Military of Touch offered to help him and let him keep an elevated position in exchange for his cooperation. What would be his next demand? Would he want a seat besides the Emperor as one of his counselors as well?

What maybe made Karina even more angry was how General Frost was, for some reason, taking Malkev's side, agreeing that words do matter in politics and saying that it wasn't a Lieutenant's place to speak about it, even referring to her as a 'soldier that Malkev met in the field'. By now, the air around Karina was so cold it was starting to create a thin layer of ice in the ground around her, as she stared daggers towards both Malkev and General Frost. When Karina had spoken about the threat of the cult, no one believed her. Officers mocked her and dismissed her words, unable to see what was really happening. If it wasn't for her 'insubordination', the Military of Touch would only even consider the cult as a threat when it was already too late. Despite that, despite the dangerous mission she took upon herself to infiltrate behind enemy lines to bring valuable information, her efforts were still being belittled and ignored.

Karina continued silent while General Frost spoke with Malkev, although her presence was still clearly felt by the coldness in the air and the hoarfrost forming in the ground and anything too close to her. Despite all the arguments General Frost gave, making it obvious the situation Malkev was in, he still couldn't afford to throw away his pride and doing what was best not only for him, but for his people as well. Malkev's words spoke of betrayal as he mentioned he shouldn't have trusted her, which could only cause an acid chuckle as a reply from Karina. That fool was still unaware of his position, making such senseless demands.

With Malkev being taken away, General Frost once again looked at her, with a disapproving gaze, which made Karina feel even more angry and frustrated.

"With all due respect, General Frost, I did what was necessary to complete my mission. Punish me for my insubordination if you want, but you know more than anyone else how devastating our losses would be if we proceeded with our plans, without taking the Cult in consideration. Considering their powers, we could have suffered an even worse fate... Becoming their puppets like the rest." Karina said in a defiant tone.

"The threat of the cult is now clear and we have enough information to plan against them and more importantly, to avoid becoming under their control. Puppets, just like the rest of the town and even the king. Thanks to me, who put my own life into danger, going into a dangerous mission behind enemy lines to bring back valuable information to our strategists, even risking my own position by disobeying orders from my superiors." she continued.

"Malkev is nothing but a fool. Unable to realize how dire his own situation is and still making senseless demands. Let him run his mouth any longer and I'm afraid he will demand a seat besides the Emperor of Touch as one of his counselors." Karina finished with a serious expression.

Viktor listened in silence. He frowned at her comments about Malkev. Not only were such words were best said behind closed doors, or better yet not at all, but he also didn’t feel as though Malkev’s reaction was so unreasonable.

Viktor knew compliments were due, but not at the expense of pushing aside the wrong she had done. Choosing his words carefully, he spoke.

”Great soldiers put their own lives in danger on a daily basis, but the best do so without undermining their superiors.”

In truth Viktor was proud of the girl’s accomplishments here. But the costs of her accomplishments were more severe than she realized. While some would buy the story he told about sending her on a mission, many of the higher ranking soldiers knew better. Viktor was their general. He could not be viewed as showing favoritism to anyone, not even his own daughter. Especially his own daughter.

”Now, clean this up.” He continued while nodding downwards towards the ice pooling around the girl’s feet. ”As you know, a soldier without control is no soldier at all.”

With that, Viktor nodded. He turned to his mount and grabbed it by the reins.

”Besides,-” He said, his back turned away from the girl. ”It seems I spoke too soon. It sounds as if your mission is not done yet after all.”

Karina didn't try to hide her reaction to General Frost's words nor her dissatisfaction, despite his subtle complement as she slammed her heels against the ground, making the ice that was forming around her instantly shatter like glass in hundreds of small shards before it melted. Again and again, similar situations have put a dent in Karina’s patience and her discipline. No matter how much of a talented genius she was, no matter how correct her assumptions were, she would always be just an inexperienced child for the other high ranking officers. Even now, after she clearly showed how much of a danger the cult was and after bringing back vital information about them, she was admonished instead of congratulated for her achievements. How much would she have to do in order for her talent and her effort to be recognized? She didn’t need a parade for her efforts, nor a medal. She just wanted the respect she deserved.

"Great soldiers know how to consider the risks and benefits in order to take the correct decisions to complete their mission." Karina said, replying to what General Frost said before.

"That was exactly what I did. The benefits of my actions far outweighed the risks. We now know our enemy, how they fight and how to beat them." she said.

"Means are nothing if no result is achieved in the end." She said with a serious expression just as the ice finished to melt and gave a quick and brief, defiant salute before walking away.

Viktor shook his head, choosing not to respond. How could one have so much discipline yet at the same time show none? She knew better than to make a scene like this, and yet more often than not, he found the girl seemed to do so anyway.

The time for reprimand was not now. That time would come later. After the girl disposed of this Distortion, and hopefully behind closed doors.