(Ryla)

I watched the snow fall through the window of a room that once felt like home, now cold and abandoned. Everything remained just how it had always been. The only thing missing was the one thing that truly mattered.

"Kalan... what am I supposed to do now? You were always my guidance in trying times, but now you're gone. Why did Edwards have to betray us and why did it have to be that monster that found them?" I asked for the hundredth time, expecting no answers.

'No answers yet.' My mana boiled beneath my skin in anticipation at the thought.

'For now, I need to focus like Kalan taught me. Keep it simple. I came for answers then I will return to the girls. They should be adventurers by now if Io was right.'

Despite what I had just said about focusing, I couldn't help but catch myself on Io. He was an existence so far removed from my experiences. Had I never heard of his true nature from Kalan, I would never have believed it. It was more legend than truth at this point.

I shook my head and looked sideways out the window at the snow-covered ground. The capital was as silent as a tomb, grey snow falling like ash.

The click of a door handle drew me from my reverie, and I scolded myself for getting distracted again.

I turned from my place next to Kalan's elevated desk and watched as Edwards and two holy guards entered the room. My blood turned to ice in my veins, fists clenched at my sides, and I resisted the urge to draw my blades. However, I did keep my hand on the hilt.

Edwards paused and attempted to look unsurprised, but the slight dilation of his pupils was all I needed to see that he hadn't known. He covered his expression with a smile and clasped his hands together.

"Ryla, my dear, you survived. You have no idea how much that warms my heart. When I had heard of Kalan's fall, I feared the worst. Come, com-" He cut himself off when shadows began to seethe from my skin.

Instantly, his eyes went from innocence to an icy glare, and the two guards flanking him drew their swords.

"What ar-"

"Shut up!" I snarled. "The only words out of your mouth with be answers to my questions and appreciation for a quick death."

Edwards shook his head and sighed like an exhausted parent. "You have no authority here, child. Without your master, you are nothing. You aren't a paladin; you aren't ranked, you aren't even an actual member of this Church."

I slowly drew Kalan's blade and pointed it at his face. Shadows dripped from the mana-infused blade, burning through the marble floor like acid. When I spoke, my voice was as cold as an arctic tundra.

"By order of the First Paladin, Kalan Indarus, Arch Bishop Edwards is sentenced to death for heresy and conspiracy against the Church and Lady Heaven's chosen."

Edwards laughed and pointed at me. "Take her, alive."

The two holy guards beside him released their withheld auras, and I found myself staring down at three S-class mages. My senses raced to process their strength, and I had to hold back a laugh.

"You think two newly minted S-class matter here?" I shook my head. "You've insulted Kalan for the last time."

My sclera turned black as I embraced shadow. Two shadow arms wielding night-black daggers grew from my sides as I stepped into the shadows, pooling at my feet and disappearing into them.

Edwards pushed the two guards ahead and backed into the door, drawing his blade. As one, the holy guards spun around, looking for any sign of me. Their paltry senses were nowhere near fine enough to detect me.

I shadow-jumped to a spot of darkness on the opposite side of the desk and shot a shadow arm toward the window, cutting the braided silk holding the curtains up. In moments, a third of the room was covered in shadows.

The holy guards shouted in alarm and faced my direction while I was already moving, leaping from shadow to shadow until I was behind them. I noticed Edwards dash away while I locked onto my targets. Two shadow arms came from their very own shadows and made two shallow cuts through the small gaps in their silver plate armor.

The men turned on me instantly, but I had already retreated to the desk. I slowly rose out of the shadows and pointed at them.

"You two are dead, if you can flee out of my mana's range in time you might survive." My tone held no promise of mercy, but I felt duty-bound to offer since they most likely had no clue about Edwards' actions.

The men hesitated for a few seconds, then charged me, their swords flashing with mana.

I avoided their swings and leaped into a shadow on the ceiling, disappearing into it. Immediately, I shadow-jumped to the left one's shadow. A shadow arm flew out and stabbed into the open spot behind his knee, causing him to stagger and cry out. Black-tinged blood trailed behind my dagger as it retreated back into the darkness.

The other guard tried running for the blocked window, but before he could reach it, my shadow arms wrapped around his legs and pulled him back. My daggers flashed as I slit his throat, black blood spilling out onto the marble floor.

The first guard tried to get up, but my shadows had done work in his weakened body. I exited a shadow and watched him die from just out of reach. The only sound I heard was my calmly beating heart.

My eyes flicked to Edwards and found him smiling softly. Anger flared in my heart while I packed mana into my legs until they felt like bursting. I dashed forward with a shockwave, my daggers, and Kalan's blade swinging down to cut the man in half.

He caught the blades with his mana-imbued sword, our muscles twitching at the exertion. Then we gritted our teeth and pushed. Edwards flew backward, embedding himself a few inches into the solid stone walls. At the same time, I crashed through Kalan's very thick wooden desk, coming to a halt halfway out the main window.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I stared at him, surprised. Even Kalan had believed this man to be not much stronger than those two guards from earlier.

He seemed to read my thoughts and clicked his tongue. "The Paladins always looked down on us clergy. Yet another shortsighted failure of our so-called enforcers."

I narrowed my eyes at him as I reassessed the upcoming battle. I won't be able to take him alive to get answers at this rate.

One of my shadow arms snaked across the ground until it reached another window, and another third of the room fell into darkness.

I didn't wait for Edwards to react as I dashed into the shadows, coming up right behind him. My dagger slashed through the air, generating sparks as it caught on his blade, which was now in my way.

I gritted my teeth and jumped backward, throwing a few shadow projectiles at him to cover my retreat.

I tried again, this time projecting my mana signature through a shadow on the opposite side of him before I slashed at him. Edwards arched his back and carried his attempted block for my feint into a parry of my actual attack, his sword cutting through and dissipating one of my shadow arms.

I stood my ground and exchanged several blows with him while I reconjured my arm. The arms shot back to the dark wall and pulled me into the shadows. I burned a much larger amount of mana than a normal shadow-jumped to maintain my momentum. I came speeding out of the ceiling directly above him.

Edwards' eyes widened as he scrambled to block Kalan's sword aimed for his throat. His blade missed, but so did mine. Our blades slid against each other until the sword guard rammed into his blade, and my momentum was arrested instantly. The marble floor cracked under the force.

Edwards roared as he pushed me away with all his strength. My body slammed into the ceiling, sending spiderweb cracks along its surface.

After both impacts, I struggled for breath but still managed to enter the ceiling shadow and maintain some distance for a chance to recover.

I shook my head to clear the noise and made a decision. With great reluctance, I impaled Kalan's sword into the floor and conjured dual daggers into my hands. He was too skilled for me not to use what I spent two decades training with.

I became a black blur as I jumped from every shadow, attacking from every angle. I maintained my momentum through every jump and grew to a speed far beyond my limits. Edwards was starting to accumulate wounds, but so was I. My body was flying far too fast for my reaction speed, and I was essentially holding out my dagger for it to land.

I hoped my shadow afflictions would win me the fight. Still, after enough wounds, a familiar white light began to radiate from within Edwards. I released my built-up momentum and slowly rose out of a shadow in the center of the room.

We matched glares as we tried to catch our breath. My mana reserves had evaporated with my continuous shadow-jumps.

Edwards studied his arms and frowned. "Your shadows are as disgusting as ever, Ryla. Not even my holy light can totally cleanse it from my body."

"There's nothing holy about your light, traitor."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "I can't believe you've dealt me more damage with words than your little shadows."

I snarled at him, and he laughed.

I could sense shadows still destroying him from the inside. It was a path to victory, but this would be a battle of attrition. I had to overload his ability to resist my shadows with internal light. If I used my shadow jumps continuously, I'd run out of mana long before he fell. I needed to bait him somehow...

My back began to boil with shadows as arm after arm grew until I reached my current limit. Seventeen shadow arms filled the area around me, each one wielding a dagger.

Edwards took one look at that and leaped back. His sword was pointed at me, and for the very first time, holy light left his body and condensed into an orb at the tip of his blade. I readied myself to avoid it, but my blood ran cold when his sword tilted up.

He released the orb, which collided with the weakened ceiling in an instant and erupted into a violent explosion. The fallen ceiling let the sunlight in, wiping away any semblance of darkness.

Edwards smiled as he looked back down, only for it to freeze on his face as my knee crunched into his nose.

The shadow arms on my back were wildly flailing as they dissolved. I could maintain them, but the cost in direct sunlight was much higher than being essentially free in darkness. They had served their purpose, and I wouldn't need them for this.

My hands held the sole dagger I had kept, and I plunged it into Edwards' chest before he had a chance to recover from my knee to the face. He screamed in agony as I pumped as much shadow mana as possible into his body directly.

His chest was glowing like a torch as he attempted to resist. Resist and strike back. The light from his chest distracted me from the solid light forming in his hand until pain erupted from my abdomen.

I yelped and jumped back or tried to. My legs were weak, my vision blurred, and I only managed to crawl away from the man.

"I'll kill you!" Edwards hissed—his voice more animal than man.

I didn't hear him. The sword of light radiated heat into my body, attempting to burn me up. With a cold realization, I knew it was succeeding.

My hands sizzled when I grabbed and tried to remove the blade, but it was no use. This damn thing had branched out into my body, making it impossible. I had to kill him before he killed me.

I had to kill him even if it meant my death.

I crawled toward him slowly.

I had to... My mind and body came to a halt. I was wrong; I had to survive. I had to be there for the girls since Kalan could no longer be.

I crawled toward him faster. I could hear Edwards saying something, though all I heard was pain. I was almost there. I needed to kill him so his mana would lose its shape. It was the only way. I pulled myself closer and then froze.

Someone was standing next to us.

I slowly turned my head and found Sylas standing between us with his ax gripped tightly in his hand. He was staring at me, taking my and Edwards' conditions in. Then his eyes returned to me, bloodlust clear on his face. Fear overtook me.

I opened my mouth to try and explain, though only a moan of pain came out. I started hyperventilating.

Sylas raised his ax, and I closed my eyes. To my surprise, the burning in my torso was extinguished. The relief nearly drew me into unconsciousness. I felt arms pull me up. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Edwards. His severed head was staring up toward the sky.

I turned to the man holding me up. Sylas was fishing through his bag. He didn't notice me looking at him until I whispered.

"Thank you."

He met my eyes and said something, though I still couldn't hear anything. So I just kept going, saying more than I usually would have.

"I thought you'd have killed me instead."

Sylas looked offended for a second. Considered, then gave me a shrug that said, "that's fair". He found what he sought in his pack and pulled out a slightly glowing teal potion with golden flakes spirally within—a miracle potion.

He slowly fed me the potion, then examined me while he waited for it to start working.

"Thanks," I said again, my eyelids getting heavy.

Sylas tried to speak to me but realized I couldn't hear anything. Then he patted me on the head! I was outraged and tried to glare at him, but I fell asleep before I got the chance. The last thing I saw was him laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke in a dark room, with the only light coming in from a barely open window. I was lying against a wall, covered by a blanket. Sylas was staring outside through the small gap in the blinds.

"Sy..." I croaked; my throat felt raw.

His head spun around, and his eyes took in my condition.

"The miracle potion is still working. Rest for now—as much as possible anyway." He looked conflicted.

"Wa-ter?" I asked quietly.

He nodded and brought over a canteen. I noted a pile of canteens in the corner. Sylas helped me drink until my throat felt usable again.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

He looked at me with a raised brow. "The roof was blown off the building you were in."

I mouthed, "oh".

He looked conflicted again, and I inquired.

"No. I mean, it felt good to finally get to kill Edwards but..." He hesitated.

I blinked at him. Who the hell is this, and where is the old Sylas?

"A lot happened while you were unconscious. An attack, from outside and within."

I froze.

He nodded and glared out the window.

"Most of the soldiers stationed here are all satanists, along with most of the paladins. They let him walk right into the city."

"Him?" I asked a feeling of dread building in the pit of my stomach.

In answer, Sylas just pointed out the window.

I tried to get up, but pain erupted from my still-healing stomach. Sylas winced and came over and picked me up. He brought me next to the gap in the window I looked through.

The once beautiful streets were now on fire and littered with dead. Armies of soldiers wearing black and red uniforms were marching through the streets, going house to house and bringing civilians toward the city center. I followed their march, past the hundreds already gathered, past the three Paladins in uniforms wearing masks, to a throne in the center garden. My blood ran cold.

There was a gilded throne covered in skulls and blood pouring down like a fountain. In the lap of the man wearing all black was a single ax adorned with two skulls. He was sickly now; blue glowing cracks covered his body, but it was unmistakably him.

The man's now glowing blue eyes passed by our window; my body jerked back so fast that Sylas nearly fell over.

"Ryla?" He asked

My head was in my hands, and my breath was coming too fast.

Sylas brought me to a chair in the corner of the room and sat me down. He kneeled next to me and waited for me to calm down.

My wild eyes locked onto his, and I gripped his collar so hard that my fingers creaked.

"The girls!" I yelled.

Sylas jumped and covered my mouth with his hand, shaking his head rapidly.

I closed my eyes and tried taking deep breaths to calm down, but I failed. The longer I waited, the more danger they were in.

I shook his hand off my mouth and half hissed, half whispered. "The girls, Sylas. I-no we need to go, now!"

Sylas studied me, my fear building with each passing moment. Then, he nodded.

"First, we need to reach the gate closest to us on the east side. Mara and the new Seventh are waiting for us there with some soldiers. From there, we can send you off with a horse and a few more potions."

I stared at him. "Sylas, no. He killed an Immortal. Not even all the other Paladins together could have defeated Kalan."

Sylas' expression turned cold.

"It is my duty as the strongest Paladin. They burned my city, killed my people, betrayed their oaths." His voice started to rise, but he caught himself.

I gave him a sad smile. His fury had cooled my nerves and, if I were honest with myself, reminded me of someone.

"You won't save this city by sacrificing yourself in an unwinnable situation, Sylas. You'll only raise their hopes merely for them to watch their saviors fail."

Sylas stared at me hard for a long time. Then he nodded. "Where do we start?"

"The Borderlands, we need to go to the Borderlands."