Meera stepped out of the mirror, and she blinked rapidly to get her eyes to adjust to the light after the mirror's darkness. It was like when she stepped in the mirror that brought her to this world. To her side lay the fortress.

By the looks of things everything was as it should be. The soldiers walked the ramparts or stood guard by the gate. Nothing that suggested that the fortress had been attacked. There was no damage to its walls or any soldiers injured, which could only mean one thing—there was an assassin.

Meera took off her level 2 chakram, activated Druvis Power, and launched it towards the window where she had seen Narikas watching her when she left. Her chakram blasted off, and she propelled it using Mirror Wing to make it go as high as it could.

Some soldiers noticed it and called to the others. They threw their weapons, trying to knock it out of the sky. It didn't work.

When the chakram reached its maximum height, Meera teleported to it. The soldiers didn't like that at all. They shouted and must've gotten the whole fortress ready to go after her.

Meera was close enough to the window that she just flew to it, hoping it led to the throne room, though she hadn't seen any windows when she was there. She landed on the railing, and luck was not on her side. A dark metal wall blocked her way inside.

She took off her level 2 chakram and punched the metal wall. The wall dented inwards. She hit the wall several times, but the metal held, even if it was severely dented. In the courtyard below, archers had begun to gather. Meera picked up the pace of her punches. Desperation was starting to set in, and then the metal was sucked into the floor.

She didn't even wait to check what caused it as she jumped inside and dashed through a set of curtains. She was in the throne room, and what she saw was even worse than what she had seen in her call.

There on the floor lay Narikas in a massive puddle of blood. The whole room looked like a hurricane had ransacked it. Drapes and torches lay torn and broken. There was a small fire in the corner of the room. Even Narikas' throne was cut in half.

And there was someone else. A woman in black clothing lay face-down. Thankfully, no blood, but she could be dead.

Meera rushed to the downed warlord. "Narikas?"

She turned him over and gasped. He was alive and breathing, but his leg was severed at the thigh. There was a straight cut that went from his hairline to his jaw. It was gruesome and ripped his face open and taken his eye. The shadows on his armors still screamed their voiceless screams, but some seemed to be laughing as if they couldn't wait for Narikas to die.

“Hey,” Meera shook him. “Narikas!”

“Save…”

"Yes, I'll save you. That's why I'm here." She fished out a Health potion from her Belt and lifted his head as she brought the vial to her lips.

He turned his head away. "Hilnoa first…save her…please."

Meera looked at the woman in black and finally realized who it was. "Are you sure?"

"Yes…"

Meera gently lay his head down and flew to the downed woman. She turned her over, and there was not a single scratch on her, but she wasn't breathing. Meera lay her head on the older woman's chest and heard a faint heartbeat.

She quickly took Hilnoa's head in her lap, opened her mouth, and emptied the potion. She pushed her head up as she closed her mouth, hoping to get most of it down her throat. A few moments and nothing.

"N-No…" Narikas cried—a tear leaked from his lone eye.

Meera was about to give up and go to the prince, but the Scribe gasped as her eyes flew open. She frowned when she looked up at Meera's face.

"You? What are you doing here?"

"Saving you both. Can you sit?" Meera asked.

The woman tried, and Meera helped her to a sitting position as she flew back to Narikas, taking out another Health potion on the way.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Oh no, Narikas!" Hilnoa cried. "My book! Where is my book? Don't you worry, son, I'll heal you right away." She looked frantically all over for her book.

Meera took Narikas' head in her lap. Even though she didn't want his freaky armor touching her, his life was at stake. She brought the vial to his lips, and he drank the potion. Relief spread through his face right away.

Someone pounded on the door. The soldiers were here, trying to protect the prince. For now, the door held, but for how long, and what would they do when they saw their prince in this bloody condition.

"Found it," Hilnoa exclaimed and looked around for her quill. When she couldn't find it, she bit open her finger and wrote desperately with her blood, eyes shifting from her book to Narikas and back again.

When she finished, Narikas gasped, his body twitched, and he nearly fell back into the pool of blood, but Meera held him. Hilnoa rushed to them, picked up his severed leg, and held it to his stump. The wound on his face closed, leaving behind another scar, and his eye regrew. Muscle and bone attached to his leg to his body. Finally, Narikas breathed out in relief.

"Thank you, Meera," he said. As he sat up, Hilnoa threw her arms around him and wept.

"Oh, my boy," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I should have never let them in."

Narikas patted her back. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, even with all my powers."

Meera felt like she was watching something private, and maybe she should excuse herself.

"Ack!" Narikas cried out and flinched badly. "No. Not right now."

The door swayed and burst open, spilling many soldiers inside. There were both Steel Sentinels and Shadow Vanguards. There were even some Shadow Scribes at the forefront as well. It took them a moment to take heed of the carnage in the room, the puddle of blood their prince was sitting in, and Meera beside him. So, it was obvious they came to the natural conclusion that Meera had done it.

"Get away from His Highness, assassin," snapped a burly steel sentinel. Two shadow archers came up beside him. Arrows notched on their bows.

Meera raised her hands.

"Stand down, men," Narikas said. "She's a friend."

Narikas projected an image of confidence, but the hand towards Meera, the one away from his soldiers, shook violently. He was still in pain and lots of it. There are some wounds that Hilnoa didn't get to, or it's that thing again. Is he always in so much pain?

"Now, go away and resume your posts," Hilnoa barked.

"But Matron—"

"Are you questioning my orders?"

"No, ma'am." They gave Meera another sour look and slowly backed out of the room.

Hilnoa scribbled something in her book, and the door slammed shut. Meera sighed in relief, but her troubles were not over. Narikas fell back into the blood puddle, shaking violently and his teeth chattering.

"Girl, quickly hold him and make sure he doesn't bite his tongue off," Hilnoa barked as she flipped her book open again.

Meera quickly picked him up and put his head in her lap. She tried holding his jaw, but he was moving around too much. His eyes had rolled back into his head. Without thinking, she shot a tiny Petrifying Surge around his mouth, finally stopping his chattering.

Hilnoa raised an eyebrow but continued writing, periodically dipping her finger in Narikas' blood.

It took several moments for Narikas to stop shaking after Hilnoa finished writing. He breathed out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes. Meera's first thought was that he was dead, but the gentle rise and fall of his chest told her he was sleeping.

Hilnoa sighed in relief. "Quick, help me put him in his bed." She reached for his feet.

"No need," Meera said. She activated Druvis Power and picked up Narikas as if he weighed as light as a feather. "Where do you want him?"

Hilnoa frowned even more at that. "This way."

She went around the broken throne, and Meera followed. There was a door past the hanging drapes with sigils. Hilnoa opened the door to a lavish bedroom with a bed fit for a prince. The linens were so lovely, Meera didn't even want to put him down and dirty them with so much blood and dirt.

"You can go now and not a word of this to anyone," Hilnoa said. "No one can know what you saw today. You hear me? With this war looming, we cannot let word of what happened here get out."

"What happened here?" Meera asked, but Hilnoa was silent. "Come on, I saved you. Don't you think I need to know? Was it assassins?"

"Two men showed up, bringing a prophecy from an oracle. They weren't assassins, this much I do know. They were after the same thing you are—information about the Champion."

Meera breathed in deep, and her heartbeat quickened.

"Narikas wouldn't tell them, so they did this." Hilnoa motioned towards the sleeping warlord.

"What were their names?" Meera asked.

Hilnoa rubbed her temples. "I just can't remember. I'm sure they told us their names, but I can't remember them now. It was a powerful skill. He would snap his fingers and give a command, and I would have to follow. I have never seen anyone so powerful as those two. Nothing we did worked. Their arrows neutralized all our magic…all our skills."

"Do you remember what they look like?" Meera asked, earning a glare from Hilnoa. "You know, so I can steer clear of them."

"Even their faces are hazy. I know what they sounded like. What they said but I cannot recall their faces or their names. All I remember is that I thought they were brothers at the time. They were archers. Both showed up as Hunters when I scanned them, and their levels were nothing special either."

"I knew a pair of hunters who were brothers and archers," Meera said. "They mentored me for a while, but I'm sure this couldn't be them as one of them died fighting a level 97 ape. So, not nearly powerful enough. Well, I'll take your leave and call tonight. Hopefully, he's up by then."

Hilnoa said nothing and turned from her to sit by Narikas' side. She didn't know Meera had eyes in the back of her head, so she saw how gently Hilnoa took Narikas' hand in hers and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Meera took a last look at the sleeping prince and walked out of the room.