The wait for the military was long and tense, I waited along with Lyra’s mercenaries and Saturio with his subordinates. While Lyra and her mercenaries were mostly calm and happy with the situation, Saturio on the other hand seemed to be pacing around like an animal in a cage. His expression was one of someone stressed and worried about something. His subordinates however were far more level headed than he was and almost looked bored.

I kept my eye on him from a distance which wasn’t hard as the tent I was provided by Lyra was within sight of where Saturio and his subordinates had their camp set up.

Thankfully nothing happened during the wait and the military arrived without much issue on our part. Like I recalled Philto Sorio was the one to arrive leading a platoon of soldiers, he immediately seeked out Lyra to speak regarding the situation, she brought him to her tent and for several minutes the two spoke privately. When they exited the tent the battle mages first words were to his subordinates. “We are departing immediately to the cavern! Ready your touches and prepare for over 100 goblins all ready to fight us!”

The soldiers said nothing and just reached into the small bags they were all carrying and brought out a torch or other light source each, when they were ready Philto Sorio led them past the entrance and into the city of Dom Badaher.

While this was happening we were all packing up our tents and anything else that was brought and loading it onto the wagons that were brought along to carry everything. By around noon we had loaded everything up and started our journey back to the capital city of Antium. By the time the sun started to set we had found a decent place to camp for the night and quickly set up our tents again, Theo quickly had a fire going and we had some good food for our dinner before most of us went to sleep for the night.

I went to bed myself, but I didn’t go to sleep right away. Instead I just laid down and looked up at the ceiling of my tent thinking about everything that happened. ‘It appears that somehow I was sent back in time just before I died. I didn’t get to keep my levels, but I kept all the knowledge and skills I learned along the way. Perhaps I will be able to put up a better fight against that self proclaimed vampire lord Darius this time.’

Eventually exhaustion took hold of me and I dozed off into a dream for the night.

*********

I was dreaming, that I was certain of. Yet I was also in a new place surrounded by many people I didn’t recognize all dressed in the expensive and extravagant clothes that I recalled from my previous dream, I too was wearing the royal quality clothes. The biggest change in this place was that everyone was kneeling to an altar of sorts, I separated from everyone else except the man who was dressed very similarly to myself. We were both kneeling on a pristine and expensive red carpet next to each other.

I wanted to stand and ask everyone what was happening, but some unseen force was keeping me where I was only able to move my head. Soon an old man dressed in impressive red and black robes dressed not unlike the few priests I saw during my time working with the Antium city guard.

The ‘priest’ stepped towards the altar and kneeled down as well before he began a soft chant that was unexpected for his advanced age. It took around a full two minutes for him to finish his chant, but when he did he turned to look at both me and the man next to me and beckoned. “My lord, please approach the altar.” His voice soft like his chant.

Like I was a puppet controlled with strings I slowly stood up and silently made my way towards the altar where I took a kneeling position next to the priest.

“Please extend your hands forwards my lord for the ceremony.” My arms obeyed the priest's request and I extended them both. Suddenly I saw out of the corner of my eye the priest reached for a beautiful ceremonial dagger that was made from gold and decorated with a blood red gemstone on the hilt of the blade.

With the blade in his hands he brought it to my hands and left a small cut in my palm drawing a small amount of blood before he placed the dagger back atop the altar and began chanting softly once again. I didn’t react to the sudden cut on my hands, honestly I barely even felt anything when it happened, likely as this was just a dream.

Yet suddenly I looked up to above the altar and I saw something that I was very certain wasn’t there when I looked before. It was a giant floating eye formed entirely out of blood and it was looking directly at me intently like it was evaluating me for something.

I felt panic in my chest and I wanted no more than to simply run in the opposite direction of this horrible sight, but my body didn’t obey my mind and instead I just looked directly at the eye. As this persisted I swore I was hearing something other than the priest and his soft chanting. It was a voice I was hearing, deep and rough, the voice of the eye.

It was trying to tell me something in a language I didn’t understand and it was very insistent on repeating itself, slowly my vision narrowed and all I could focus on was the eye and its words echoing within my very soul. Then suddenly I had clarity and I understood the voice perfectly like it was in my own language.

“Wake up child. It is time.” The voice spoke one last time far softer than before when it stopped speaking and everything slowly started to fade into darkness and the dream ended.

********

Slowly the tent and all of its interior slowly faded back into my view as I looked up towards the ceiling. I could hear the sounds of the mercenaries walking around outside and food sizzling, signs that breakfast was being cooked and I should be getting up to have some.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As quickly as I could I stepped outside my tent and closed it behind myself, I took a look around for the source of the sizzling food and I found Theo sitting near a central firepit with a pot and a pan that he was using to cook up something good. Stepping close I noticed in the pan were some sliced up potatoes that were cooking, the pot however had an actual soup with a variety of vegetables, a few edible things found in the cavern, and even some meat from a deer that was killed the night before.

There was already a small group waiting nearby for their breakfast before me waiting around the fire, they were all talking about just about anything they could think of and I joined in to help pass the time. Eventually I received a bowl of soup with a potato on the top, I walked over to a log that was chopped down and sat down on it while I dug into my meal.

While I was eating I took a look around the camp and I noticed there were far fewer tents than I recalled, it took me a moment to realize but it appeared that Saturio and his subordinates had left already leaving the remainder of us behind. With a touch of worry in my mind I quickly finished my meal and dropped the plate off with Theo before walking over to Lyra’s tent to speak with her regarding the situation.

Pushing open the flap to her tent I stepped inside and I found her face down against her desk asleep and snoring quite loudly. Not wanting to scare her by touching her I gave a fake cough to try and wake her, when that didn’t work I tried once again only a little louder. With that louder cough Lyra suddenly shot up and looked at me with deep bags under her eyes.

“Oh, it's just you Arthur. Is it morning already?” Lyra asked while she rubbed her eyes, the exhaustion was evident in her eyes. She likely stayed up all night doing something.

“Yes, it is. You look tired, did you not sleep last night?” I asked, though I already knew the answer to that question. Lyra just nodded and sat up properly in her chair.

“I'll get you something to eat.” I said seeing that she likely didn’t have the mental energy to get up and walk to the firepit to get breakfast herself.

Walking up to the firepit where Theo was still cooking more food for everyone I stepped up next to him and started talking to him. “Hey, Lyra is exhausted and doesn’t have the energy to get breakfast herself. Mind if I can get some for her?”

Theo looked at me with a bit of suspicion before he turned back to the food and handed me a bowl like the one I received before. But before I could take it he stopped me. “If Lyra comes by again and asks for a bowl I will be telling her of this conversation. Do you understand me?” Theo spoke those words like a threat, instead of acting worried or anything like that I just nodded and took the bowl before walking back to give it to Lyra.

Lyra, who was still half asleep, slowly dug into her meal while I took a seat nearby in a chair. Lyra noticed this but didn’t say anything until she was done eating.

“I assume you have something you want to discuss?” Lyra asked a little wearily.

“Yes, I do.” I answered as I leaned forwards slightly. “Did you know that Saturio and his men aren't in the camp anymore? I just noticed this morning that their tents weren't here anymore.” I noticed that Lyra looked a little surprised by my statement, but she didn’t outright say anything that indicated worry about the sudden change.

“Is that so? I will have to inform the crown about the sudden departure on Saturio’s behalf. Given his status as a noble I would assume this wouldn’t be something he would do casually. Regardless of that, thank you for bringing this to my attention. If we do see them again you have my permission to inform them how unhappy I am with their actions.”

With a small nod I left the tent shortly after to pack up my tent again so the company could get back on the road.

**********

In a place unknown to most Saturio and his men sat around a small campfire just outside of a cave. While his men were calm Saturio was not, he paced around the fire like an animal in a cage. The stress of his failed task was evident on his face to everyone that could see. Yet his men had very little reaction to this behavior, almost like they weren’t thinking at all.

Suddenly Saturio reached into his pocket as quickly as he could and brought out his communication orb, interacting with it a few times while walking towards the cave for privacy. The image of his Lady Alkonost appeared within the orb and she didn’t look very happy.

“Good morning Saturio. How goes your progress in finding and securing the phylacterium? I assume you shouldn’t have much difficulty given it was only guarded by a single demon warlock and its goblin followers.” The venom in Lady Alkonost’s voice was thick, she already knew the answer to her question, she just wanted to hear Saturio say it himself.

“My lady, there is a problem with that. The phylacterium has been secured by the mercenary company Flock of War before we had an opportunity to take it for ourselves.” Saturio answered as he quickly took a seated position on his knees.

“Is that so? Would you mind telling me what exactly happened that might leave you without the phylacterium I tasked you with collecting?” Lady Alkonost wasn’t impressed that Saturio was giving excuses, he had never done so to her before, but she might as well listen to what he has to say before she gets rid of him.

“The leader of the mercenaries basically on her own disabled the demon leaving it for the rest of us to kill. I don’t know how exactly the spell she used worked, but she said it increased the weight of the while it had force behind it to shatter its armor. In case you didn’t know, I and all of the men you gave me to lead are wearing heavy armor that would become worse than useless when fighting her alone. That isn’t even considering the other mercenaries that were there, and the other one that was apparently inside of the city before everyone else while the front doors were still closed.”

The last statement caught Lady Alkonost’s attention very quickly. “Someone was already inside the city? How did that even happen? It was barred from the inside, and nobody who is still alive knows what the inside looks like ruling out conjuration magic.” She leaned forwards in her throne toward the communication orb as she spoke.

“I am sorry my lady but I don’t know how. The mercenaries already had a good relationship with him when we arrived there, so I assume they must have been trading supplies for whatever he found in the city.” As much as Saturio was hoping to avoid a punishment the reality of his failure was basically a non issue to Lady Alkonost at this point. She was more concerned with the possible implications that someone managed to get somewhere nobody should have been able to without leaving a trace.

“Return back here immediately and write down everything you can about this mysterious person you encountered. Do not take your time and get here as fast as you can.” Lady Alkonost almost immediately cut off the line between the communication orbs as she gave her last order.

Saturio was both worried and confused by the situation and his lady's change of tone, he was worried about his own well being and he was confused by her sudden change in tone and demeanor. “I wonder if I am in more trouble or less because of what I said.”