Meera tried touching the oval purple energy field, and her hand sparked. She yanked it back, wincing and quickly assessing the damage. There was no visible damage, but it hurt as all hell.

“I told you to walk,” Tamas barked again.

Meera threw him an annoyed look and followed the Shadow Scribe. Her heart pumped so loud that she feared it would soon be audible to everyone. It certainly was to her.

The Bloodstone Captain was a spindly man with oily hair that was slicked back, making his forehead look bigger than it was. The Scribe was an unimposing woman. If Meera hadn’t scanned her, she would’ve passed her off as a secretary who was only there to take notes.

The captain waved the town guard off, who joined his men. “Now, who do we have here?”

“A prisoner, sir.” Tamas tried his best to make his voice deeper, but truth be told, it wasn’t working. “She attacked me as I was surveying an inn and tried to run off into the night, but I caught her.”

The captain leaned in as he tilted his head to get a better look at Meera. “Hmm, is this the girl we’re looking for, Perilla?”

Perilla, the Scribe, flipped a couple of pages in her journal. Meera could not see what the woman was looking at. She looked up at Meera for a second, then back down on her book.

“Clothing is wrong, but the description matches,” Perilla said in her monotone voice. “Woman of average height and build, with darker skin tone like those of Varshans, wearing a black and gold armor, and relying on mirrors to attack, namely mirror circlets on her arms.”

Meera shut her eyes. They had her.

“Yes, she was described as a Varshan, and here we have a living, breathing Varshan before us,” the captain said, sitting back in his chair with a smug smile. “So, are you a Varshan spy?”

Why does everyone always think that? Meera hid her annoyance and flashed a brilliant smile. “Not a Varshan, and I’m sure as hell not the person you’re looking for.”

“Oh, then why did you attack my man?”

“He tried to come on to me,” Meera lied.

“W-What?” Tamas sputtered. “You’re lying.”

“Am not. So, I gave him a nice little mark to remember me by and ran off as I didn’t want to start a fight with the Watchmen.”

The captain nodded. “I see. If that’s the case, I guess the Watchman is the real culprit. Perilla cut off his arms.”

Tamas hid his arms behind his back and backed away. “But, sir, she is lying. I have never in my life tried to touch a woman inappropriately.”

The captain ignored him. “Perilla, I gave you an order.”

“Captain Vimpus, I must remind you that though I am assigned to your squad, I am not under your command. I am here to record all the events of this investigation and report them to Commander Dorian.”

Meera bit her lower lip to stop herself from laughing at his name. She wasn’t the only one who had difficulty controlling their laughter. Some of the town guards were snickering or elbowing their friends to stop.

“Whose laughing at my name?” Vimpus barked, half getting out of his chair.

The guards shut up immediately. While he was glaring at the guards, an idea came to Meera.

“Um, if you believe I am innocent, then why am I still in this cage? Meera asked. “Also, if she is only here to record stuff, why is she holding me prisoner in this cave?”

He slowly turned back to Meera. “Because if you are who we are looking for or not. The fact is you still assaulted one of my guards. That makes you a criminal.”

“Captain!” Someone shouted from down the street. A moment later, a Watchman sprinted towards them. “Captain, someone killed Tarkus. We found his body…” He trailed off as he noted Meera.

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They all must’ve been told my description. If they don’t drop this cage, then I need to get out of here, somehow.

“Go on,” Vimpus ordered.

“Yes, sir. We also found two more of our own unconscious and tied up in the bushes, and they didn’t have their uniforms on,” the Watchman finished.

“Ah, it seems you’ve been particularly busy today, Varshan,” Vimpus said. He turned to Tamas and squinted. “And you, how did a level 28 cook capture someone almost seven times their level.”

Tamas shared a glance with Meera. They were undone. Meera had to act now. Instead of making the mistake of touching her cage with her hands, she tried her divine weapons. The cage sparked, and it resisted her chakrams. It was like someone strong was pushing back against her.

All eyes turned on her.

Vimpus laughed. “Try as you might, you’re not getting through that.”

Meera finally gave up, huffing. Then she reached around, took off her Level 2 chakram, and activated Druvis Power. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”

As soon as her chakram touched the cage, the Scribe looked up from her book. Sparks flew as if Meera were trying to weld something with her chakram. The cage pushed back, but her chakram was stronger, and it pushed through the cage until the purple force field around Meera shattered and withered away.

“How…” Vimpus stood mouth wide open.

“Well, Vimpy, turns out my chakram is stronger than her cage.”

Some Watchmen gasped, and some town guards snickered, but Vimpus had turned red like a tomato. Veins stuck on his forehead and neck. If Meera hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought he was about to burst.

“You dare…you fucking dare call me THAT!” He raged.

The Watchman stepped back, and Perilla quickly jotted all this in her book. The town guards were all on their feet, expecting trouble.

“Tamas, run to the gate,” Meera said.

“But—”

“Just go.”

Tamas gave her a nod and ran for it; as he did, he had the good sense of screaming. “The captain’s mad! Get out of the way.”

Apparently, the Bleeders at the gate knew what that meant, and they got away from there. Tamas opened the gate, and that was Meera’s cue.

She turned and threw her big chakram towards the gate. One fool of a Bleeder thought he could block it and ended up getting chopped right through the middle. His two halves fell in opposite directions, leaking blood and organs.

Tamas screamed, and he was not the only one. She heard some screams from down the street.

Meera cringed, but she didn’t have time to feel bad for him. She Stepped to her chakram and dashed for the gate. But before she and Tamas could make it out, a dark red beam blasted past her. It hit the gate, and instead of blasting it off its hinges, it spread and formed a new gate of solid red stone.

She squinted at the fuming red stone and knew why they were called Bloodstone Watchmen. The stone was made of literal solidified blood. A chill went up Meera’s spine.

“You’re not going anywhere, Varshan.” Vimpus seethed through gritted teeth. “You and that lackey of yours.”

“I would love to stay and fight, but I have things to do.” Meera waved and was about to throw her chakram again when he shot his beam again. She pushed Tamas out of the way and activated a Mirror Shield.

Instead of shattering the shield, the beam engulfed the shield and turned into the same bloodstone as the gate. The heavy shield crashed to the ground and smashed to pieces.

Meera sighed. “You really don’t want to do this.”

“No, I really do.” Vimpus’s hands started to glow red.

“Well, there is one of me, and you have all your men to back you up, not to mention that Scribe who makes you look like a baby.”

Meera didn’t think he could turn any redder. She was wrong. “No one will interfere in our fight. Not even you, Perilla.”

“I must remind you—” Perilla began but was interrupted rather quickly.

“Shut up!” Vimpus roared.

“Are we free to go if I win?” Meera asked.

“You won’t win. Now, prepare to die, bitch.”

Meera breathed out, and small mirrors shot out of her armor and attached themselves to the town wall, houses, and various places on the street, giving her enough maneuverability. She even carried some with Mirror Wing and planted them behind the enraged captain.

She wanted to get this done quickly and leave. She made the first move by vanishing and appeared behind the captain. She slashed at his back, but the town guards gave her position away. Vimpus turned in time and jumped back. As he did, he swung his hand in an arc, and a wave of bloodstone swept towards her.

She Stepped away and launched her chakram towards him, but he raised a bloodstone shield blocking her blow, but barely. Her chakram shattered through his shield, forcing him to dodge, which was his mistake.

Instead of jumping away, he prepared for his next attack, which never came. As Meera used, Mirror Wing and cut the captain down into nicely chopped chunks. She felt horrible when his body fell apart into five pieces.

I have to remember these are people and not constructs or ghosts. One cut is enough.

The Watchmen, the town’s guards, and even the people watched with mouths agape, thinking what a beast she was and reaffirming that Varshans were indeed monsters.

She recalled her chakram and launched it at the bloodstone wall the late captain had erected. Her big chakram broke the wall down like it was nothing. This made everyone get over their shock.

“Tamas, go!” Meera yelled.

He shot out of there like he was on fire. She used a Mirror Blast to deter and slow down anyone foolish enough to come after them. Then she, too, followed Tamas’ example. By the time she got out of the gate, Tamas had already touched the Gateway Mirror and selected his destination.

“Thank you,” Tamas said, “I hope you find your brother…Meera, look out!”

Two cold hands clamped around Meera’s face. Tamas’ face was one of horror.

“Just go. I’ll handle it.”

Tamas nodded and jumped into the Gateway Mirror. Before Meera could do anything else, she fell into darkness.