It was dark still, but given that their window looked out at the wall, it was hard to see much of the skies. But when Meera attached the Gem of Echoes to her armor, she heard several roosters crowing all over the city. She figured it was better to trust the medieval alarm clock.

The others were up, and Zona and Brison had returned and were in deep talks with Melas, some of which she heard. Brison had paid off the guards at the gate to look the other way when they crossed. The soldiers from the capital manned the walls, and jumping over them would invite trouble—trouble they could not afford.

Meera left them to their talks as she went to the washroom to freshen up. She saw a bathtub and how badly she wished she could take a shower. It had been ages since she had cleaned herself properly. But Brison had assured her that whenever he brought them back, or they left one of his worlds, they were automatically cleaned. No matter how seriously he said it, Meera didn't believe him for one second. Alas, with no time on her hands, she had to forgo the bath.

Pallas was handing out everyone their batch of potions from a tray as if getting everyone to try his best cake. He smiled when he saw her. He handed her three potions of each kind—red Health potions, blue Mana potions and yellow Stamina potions. She had never seen a Stamina potion before, so that was surprising, but she stored them all in her Belt.

She went to Dirik, who was looking down the length of his blade. "You're not sharpening it like Tekton over there."

"Don't need to," he replied. "Shadowsteel never dulls, never breaks. It's one of the reasons why the blades are so sought after, and us Shades so hunted. But the fools don't realize that if the master of the sword dies, the blade falls into shadows and returns to its original master."

"The Shadowsteel Warlord."

He nodded. "This clothing that I wear is enchanted to protect me from being Identify'ed by others."

"Oh, and you told me it was because you were covered head to toe." She squinted at him. "Have you ever told me something that is the truth?"

He snorted. His eyes fell. "I told you the truth about my mother, and that thing has…has…"

"I understand. So, let's go kill that thing and free your mother from its grasp."

"Aye." He stood, and together, they walked to where the others gathered around Brison.

"What're they doing?" Meera asked.

"Handing him letters for their loved ones if they don't make it back," Dirik replied.

"Have you given him one?"

He shook his head. "I do not wish to say anything to that bastard who calls himself my father."

Meera didn't know what to say, but thankfully, she was saved by Brison, who came to them and put everyone's letters away in his Belt.

"Any letters for your loved ones?" He asked Meera. Apparently, he had already asked Dirik. The Shade nodded to them and walked to join the others.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to find him," Meera replied.

"You leave that to me," he said. "Just tell me what to say?"

"Tell my brother…I tried, as best as I could…I tried to find and bring him home and loved him with all my heart."

Brison smiled. "I will, but I do not think you will fall this day."

"I heard you saying that to everyone."

He chuckled. "I have to. To keep everyone's spirits up."

"Everyone, ready?" Melas asked, drawing their attention.

Heads nodded.

"Good. This is likely the most challenging hunt of our lives. There may be some that might not return, but we will see it through, nonetheless. There hasn't been a monster that withstood the might of our blows, and neither will this one. Watch each other's backs, and let's finish what Lady Numheia started."

The others roared, and Meera roared along with them.

"Wardens, move out."

Melas was first out the door, followed by everyone else. Once they were out of the house, Brison fell in beside Melas. No one said anything. The street was strangely deserted. No people, city guards, or even soldiers, were out and about. Meera wondered if this was Brison's doing. They reached the gate with no trouble.

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Brison talked to the guard stationed there, who grumbled to them about being late, and his shift was almost over. Brison apologized and threw in another ten silver coins for his trouble. The guard was happy with that. He told them to follow. They walked to the small gate and were stopped by a burly soldier. Meera made it a point to Identify everyone. Not because she cared for their level but to level up her Identify.

The city guard made up an excuse that they were hunters who were going to catch exotic meat for the Crown Prince. The fact that they still called Delkoris the Crown prince meant that Rokibor had yet to announce his demotion to the kingdom.

The soldier was skeptical, but the city guard dropped a couple of silver coins in his palm, and he was more than okay with them leaving. Once they passed through the city gate, it was another story. There were soldiers camped outside the city gates, not unlike when she visited Tearsfall Prison, which, if the prophecy came true, would be destroyed.

Would Draros be the one to do it?

They passed into the forest with little trouble. The soldiers were watchful of them, but they didn't stop them. Once they were some distance in, the group stopped. By now, the sun's light had lit up most of the sky, and Mirithia had faded into the background. Birds chirped all around them while monkeys chittered in the trees. The forest was coming alive in the wake of the morning.

Melas turned to Meera and Dirik, who were walking towards the group's rear. "Now, lead the way."

Dirik looked to Meera expectantly. She sighed. "Give me a moment." She shot up using Mirror Wing but stayed close to the trees' crowns. She traced a direct line eastward from the Gateway Mirror, but all she saw was green foliage. Meera rose higher and higher until she found the clearing where she and Dirik had killed the werewolf.

She dropped back down. "Found it. It's that way." She pointed in the clearing's direction.

"Let's move on," Melas said and began walking.

"Uh, wouldn't it be faster to fly?" Meera asked. They all turned towards her. "I can fly you all there much faster."

"How?" Pallas asked.

"Oh no, you almost took my arm off last time," Dirik complained.

"You mean how I saved your life," Meera countered.

"Can we get back to the flying bit, please?" Pallas said impatiently.

"It's simple. Grab hold of one of my chakrams, and I can have us there in a minute."

Melas rubbed his chin in consideration. "We'll lose the moment of surprise…"

"But we'll save time," Tekton said. "Those bastards were going to figure us out anyways."

Lexa pointed to him. "He's got a point, and besides, I've always wished to fly."

"We don't have to go all the way," Meera said. "We can go to this clearing where Dirik and I fought this werewolf and then on foot from there."

"Fine. Do your thing." Melas held out a hand.

Meera handed each one of them one of her regular chakrams. "Hold on tight."

Everyone gripped the chakrams tightly. Meera flicked two fingers up, and everyone shot off the ground, with Meera close behind. Once they cleared the trees, they shot off toward the clearing. Pallas and Tekton howled in amazement. Lexa joined them soon, and Melas laughed while the rest were more reserved.

It took them a few minutes to reach the clearing. Meera landed them in the treeline instead of the clearing. She quickly checked her Mana reserve and found she had lost more than she had thought. Who knew flying seven fully armored people would take a chunk of Mana?

"That was the best," Pallas exclaimed. "Let's do it on the way back."

"Oh man, if I knew you could do that, I wouldn't have wanted to kill you," Tekton added.

"Okay, fun's over," Melas cut in. "Everyone eyes out and stay sharp. We have undead to hunt."

They all tossed the chakrams back to Meera and readied their weapons. The corpses of the undead werewolf and wolves were gone, though the smell of rot and death still lingered in the air.

"They've gotten rid of the bodies," Dirik commented. "Most likely reanimated them."

If she had come here before her training, she wouldn't have liked the prospect of fighting the werewolf, but now, she couldn't wait to put it in its place for good.

They walked carefully through the clearing. Meera relied on her ears as much as her eyes. She had a level 2 chakram in one hand and a regular one in the other. The others had their weapons ready. Even Melas was in his giant eight-foot Hulk form.

Dirik took the lead this time, taking them through the shrubbery to where the Heart resided. It wasn't long before Meera heard the first wolf howl. To her ears, it sounded like it was coming a few meters ahead of them, but the others were not so alarmed.

"I think—" Meera started before she heard whispers…familiar whispers. The sort she had hoped she had left behind when she entered the kingdom.

"Kill the rotten."

"Save the mistress."

They repeated this over and over. Then, a scream cut through the night. And Meera was not the only one who heard the scream. Dirik's eyes widened, and he ran off without even waiting for a plan.

"Dirik, wait—don't." Melas cursed. "Go after him."

Meera was the first one to take off after him. The others were right behind them. It didn't take them long to get to the battlefield, and it was indeed a battlefield. Mistblades fought against the army of the dead. Limbs were hacked off and strewn all over the small clearing. The undead were not the only ones losing bodies. The Mistblades were also losing their numbers, but more stepped out of the downed queen's bloody hand.

Queen Nisaya looked like she had aged twenty years in the last couple of days. Her hair had turned snow white. She had many wrinkles and had thinned so much that her cheekbones stuck out from underneath.

Beside the queen stood the undead with the staff. His staff had been raised high in the sky, and he was chanting some dark magic spell, which undoubtedly brought all the hacked pieces together to form more undead soldiers for his army.

"What in Mother Mirithia's name are all these Mistblades doing here?" Tekton's eyes were wide open.

"I don't think we should question that," Melas said. "Looks like the kingdom of Azeria came through with some backup, after all."

"It did, indeed," Dirik said. Darkness emanated from his form as he unsheathed his Shadowsteel blade.

Melas cracked his knuckles. "Let the hunt begin."