While Lilith was in a deep, dreamless sleep, Wispy looked over a large image of her brain. The regions that directly impacted the ground were highlighted in red.

“I’d have to leave again to see how bad it is, but revealing myself any more could change her life irreparably.” He frowned. “Based on where she impacted the ground and the fact that she’s unconscious, she may have trouble with mouth motor functionality and mouth sensation.” He poked a cluster of brain regions with a tendril, making the image turn red there. “He might as well have torn her jaw apart.”

He turned to a black oval flashing images of Blaise, her friends, bandits again, her lunch, and other memories of the day. “But where is she now?” He turned to another image with countless small vertical bars rapidly rising and falling. “She’s clearly alive. I doubt that’d be the case if she was left on the floor.” Wispy nodded. “Hospital then.”

“I can gather more information once I’m sure the others are away. For now, I’ll just have to listen.” He kept his gaze on the image with the rising and falling bars.

---

“She’s stable,” the nurse said, holding a bloodstained white cloth against Lilith’s head. The hat was on a nearby table, so her fox ears were fully visible. “That’s all I can do with my magic, but it’ll keep her until the doctor arrives.”

Jatte breathed a huge sigh of relief. “So she’s gonna be okay?”

The nurse nodded, smiling. “She should be. Well, she’s alive.” Her smile faded. “This is a head injury, so she might take a while to go back to normal.”

“Oh, well, I just met her today,” Jatte laughed nervously. “I don’t really know if I would know what normal is for her.” She raised her hands up as if in surrender and walked back towards the door.

The nurse didn’t say anything.

Jatte turned, hovered her hand over the doorknob for a moment, then opened it and stepped out.

Confused, she walked back through the halls and just stared forward, but as she was about to go back into class, she stopped. Was this how she should be treating someone that was hurt? Dumping them off on some nurse she never met? Would Lilith be mad at her if she left like that? What was she supposed to do here?

She opened the door to class. Maybe someone in there would tell her to go back? At least she’d know then.

But the class was empty. It hadn’t been long enough for the class to end, so it must’ve ended early. All the students and their backpacks were gone, and there were bloodstains on the floor. There was the one from Lilith, but also a large stain by the spear-rack with a long smear and droplets leading to the door.

Whose blood was that? What happened? Did Ethen get injured too? Or was it Blaise’s? She backed into the hall, confused.

What was this school? What was ‘adventure class’? If class was still going, could she have been next on the list of students sent to the hospital?

She shook her head. Blaise was strong, but he still wasn’t a mage. All she would have to do would be to turn gravity sideways and give him a few fatal falls against the classroom walls.

So she was safe, but what about Lilith? If the adventure instructor was this bad, what about the nurse?

Jatte flew back to the hospital room and through the ajar door. When she entered, she saw Malena by Lilith’s side in a chair she pulled up.

---

“Oh you poor thing,” Malena leaned forward and looked over Lilith’s injury. “I told you becoming an adventurer was a bad idea. And now here you are.” She could practically hear Lilith’s protests in her mind, ‘No, the teacher was just mean, they can’t all be like that.’

But there was no response. It’d been several minutes since William came back to his class, dismissed it, and told her to go here. Lilith hadn’t woken up that entire time.

Malena turned to the nurse. “When do you think she’s going to wake back up?”

The nurse frowned. “Uh.” She tried to smile, but failed. “With that injury? I don’t know.”

“Huh?” Malena stared at the nurse. “You don’t know?”

The nurse nodded.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” A bit of anger crept into Malena’s voice.

“It’s a head injury.” The nurse turned and sighed. “It’s hard to say. Some people get through those with just a headache, and some never wake up again.”

Malena’s anger turned to horror. “N— never wake up again?”

The nurse nodded.

She turned back. “You better wake up soon…” She started tearing up. “You idiot!” She grabbed onto Lilith’s arm and squeezed as her throat tightened and her vision blurred with tears, but there was still no response.

She gripped harder, and a few tears fell out, but there was still no response.

The nurse tried to stay out of the way as she sobbed.

---

Jatte hesitated, standing frozen as she watched the scene. Then, she slowly backed out of the room. She wasn’t really Lilith’s friend yet. At least, she definitely wasn’t on that level. She just met her today after all.

Maybe Lilith was safe there too. She was clearly with a close friend. Besides, Jatte didn’t want to be blamed for not bringing her there sooner. But maybe she deserved it. Maybe if she carried Lilith in her gravity magic better, she’d be awake now, and that Malena girl wouldn’t be crying.

She backed into the hall and flew for a bit to get away more quickly. Once she was outside again, she landed and walked back to her dorm.

She kept her shell shocked expression as she walked through the crowds, continued through the front door, went up the stairs, walked through the hall, and finally stopped once she entered her room with Hana. Then, she sat down on her bed, pulled out a nearby drawer, and methodically took out textbook after textbook.

Hana looked up from one of her own books. “Something’s wrong with you.”

Jatte looked up from her daze and squinted. “What?”

“Yeah, I barely even need telepathy to tell. What’s going on?”

“I, uh…” She gestured to the infirmary, the image of Lilith laying there in her mind, then of Malena by her side.

“What!?” Hana stood up. “What happened? Tell me what happened!”

The images of various scenes flashed in Jatte’s mind. “The instructor, Blaise. He fought Lilith. She wanted advanced classes. And then he pushed her head into the ground. But, the nurse said she’d be okay.” She remembered the thing the nurse said about Lilith taking a while to go back to normal.

Hana looked down and clenched her fists with worry, her eyes darting around rapidly.

Jatte knew that look. Hana was listening to all the thoughts around her for help. Maybe she’d find something?

Hana looked back up. “Wait, Silene’s a bio mage, maybe she could help.”

“She can?” Jatte tilted her head. “But she’s a student, not a teacher or a nurse.”

“There aren’t any teachers or nurses on this floor,” Hana said as she grabbed Jatte’s arm and ran out of the room. “Besides, if there’s anything we can do to help, we should do it.”

“I don’t think I can do anything to help though?” Jatte said as she was dragged along.

“But maybe you can,” Hana said. “I’m not going to feel another person die…”

---

Malena was reading through a textbook by Lilith’s side, or at least trying to. She stopped crying a while ago, but she kept on glancing up at Lilith to see if her eyes would open. Or, when she read through the book, sometimes the voice in her head would sound a bit like Lilith, and she’d glance up, just to be disappointed again.

Then, Silene burst through the door, followed by Jatte and Hana.

“Lilith! I’ll heal you!” Silene ran up. “You’ll be okay!”

“No!” Hana leapt and grabbed Silene’s wrist. “Ask the actual healers before you do anything!”

Silene turned back with an annoyed look, but withered at Hana’s gaze. “R— right. I will.”

Hana let go, then pulled up a chair and sat across from Malena. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Silene ran over to the nurse. “Hey!” She called. “Can I heal Lilith? I have bio magic affinity! A lot of it!”

“No!” The nurse turned and shook her head rapidly. “Not yet. Everything’s just held in place until a good enough telekinetic comes. If she heals now, she might never recover!” She narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute, I’m sorry, but are you a student?”

Silene nodded. “Yes! Top bio magic affinity in my class.”

The nurse pulled out some notes, then cringed. “The telekinetic healer can come tomorrow, but the bio healer is booked.” She looked back up and paused for a moment. “Okay, maybe if you can find a teacher and let her guide you, one from the healer track, then you might be able to help her.”

“Got it!” Silene turned and sprinted to the door, then opened it and sprinted out.

While Jatte and Malena were staring at the door, Hana sighed.

“She’s barely there,” Hana said. “But she is still there.”

“Oh, you can tell?” Malena leaned on the rails to Lilith’s bed.

Hana nodded. “Telepath.”

“Is she saying anything then?” Malena asked.

“No.” Hana shook her head. “She’s unconscious.”

“Oh.” Malena sat back down. “Well I could’ve told that much.”

Hana frowned.

Jatte looked around awkwardly and, seeing Malena’s book, pulled out her own and started working.

---

Dr. Crowe walked towards the front desk of Lagora academy, towards an old man with a beard who was looking through several books.

“Can you tell me which room Lilith is staying in?” He slid a silver badge with a sun emblem onto the desk.

The old man looked at the badge and nodded. “I can. I can also tell you she’s not there. She’s in the infirmary by the mercenary class.” He pulled out a map and slid it on the desk. “It’s been re-labeled ‘adventurer’ since you graduated.”

Dr. Crowe smiled as he studied the map. “I’m glad you remember me. It sounds like she’s had a rough first day…” he paused as he held his finger over the infirmary. Something wasn’t right.

Lilith was a beastgirl. They were trained in fighting practically from birth. On top of that, she was a mage. And on top of that, she had that thing with her!

“What the…?”

“Is something the matter?” The old man asked.

Dr. Crowe shook his head. “Nothing… that I know of.” He pulled his finger off the map, then walked back out the door.

As he walked under the stars and across the grass, he wondered what on earth was going on and what it meant. ‘It would take a decent adventurer going all out to injure a mage of her size and skill, I’m sure of it.’ He looked back to the castle. ‘But wait, isn’t this a good thing? If she dies, she’s no longer a threat, and I had nothing to do with it.’ He shook his head and stepped into the hall. ‘No, it was still an adventurer under Solis that did it, and she’s not dead yet.’

Eventually, he found himself by the infirmary door. He opened it and, as silently as possible, stepped inside.

The room was lit by countless floating motes of light, and in the center was Lilith and her friends. Lilith was lying on the bed, motionless but for the rising and falling of her chest. She was surrounded by three girls he didn’t know, and that one black robed foreigner.

“Fuck…” He swore under his breath, then tried to silence his mind as best he could.

He calmed his breathing, closed his eyes, and concentrated, trying to feel Lilith’s dreams while still avoiding the black robed girl. After a while he realized he couldn’t feel anything. Lilith was there, but she wasn’t dreaming.

He felt some relief as he backed out as silently as he could. ‘Is it all over if she stays there forever?’ He walked through the hall and shook his head. ‘No, even if she’s in a coma, that monster could escape like it did before. But… could it survive on its own?’ He grinned. Perhaps that was a question he could figure out now.

The ‘monster’ in question uncurled a tendril into the hall and twisted it into the shape of a large eye, watching as Dr. Crowe left.

---

Dr. Crowe came back a few hours later holding a piece of cloth the size of his palm. It was covered in runes that were smaller than most fine print.

He walked in silently again, then stood by Lilith’s bed and looked around. He calmed his breathing and his mind to not wake anyone up. But calming himself was particularly hard when he realized he’d have to call that thing out.

“Wispy?” He whispered.

“Yes?” Several blue tendrils floated down from the ceiling, some forming a face.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Dr. Crowe grit his teeth and choked back a yelp. Somehow, a spirit the size of a small dragon managed to creep up on him. “Fffh…” He grit his teeth “Th— This isn’t Solis’s doing, just an accident.”

“Really?” Wispy narrowed his ‘eyes’. “It is rather suspicious for such a mistake to happen in this kingdom’s top school. Can you prove it?”

Dr. Crowe shook his head. “No, I just heard about the situation.” He held out the rune covered cloth and pushed it towards Wispy’s tendrils. “ But this is a healing spell from a former S ranked mage. It should stitch things back together as well as they could’ve when they were alive.”

Wispy extended three tendrils into circles below the cloth and one above. Then, the cloth levitated out of Dr. Crowe’s hand.

“Place it on her injury,” Dr. Crowe said. “But fuel it yourself. It takes a lot of mana and could drain her completely. But if you weren’t just bluffing about being a threat, you should be able to handle it.”

Wispy seemed to grin. “And what happens if I don’t have enough mana to fuel it?”

“As a spirit? You might cease to exist.”

Dr. Crowe expected some sort of hesitation, but all he got was a “fascinating”, as Wispy levitated the spell towards Lilith’s head.

“If this is a ruse,” Wispy said, still moving the cloth, “and it kills Lilith without killing me, I will wipe Solis off the map as promised.”

Dr. Crowe gulped.

Wispy placed the cloth over Lilith’s injury and watched it glow, then dim. He pushed a tendril into it, then let the spell suck the rest of the tendril in until the runes glowed a bright purple. The spell kept on pulling until his tendril was torn off, leaving a few motes of light at its base. So, he pushed another tendril in.

Threads started drifting off of the cloth, then stabbed down through Lilith’s red bandages, and continued into her head. They moved in over a specific line, until it looked like there was a tear in space made of countless glowing threads.

Wispy reached a tendril inside Lilith’s head, then nodded, as yet another piece of him was torn off. “This is indeed a healing spell. This greatly lowers the chance of her never being able to talk again.”

Dr. Crowe watched, wide eyed, as Wispy’s tendrils were torn off by the greedy spell one after the other. He lost count as the spell sped up and glowed even brighter. Getting that much mana sucked out should’ve been painful for a person, let alone for a spirit that could get killed by it. Yet this ‘Wispy’ just let its body get torn apart.

And, sooner than he thought it would, the spell’s glow shifted from purple to blue. Despite ‘Wispy’ trying to shove another tendril in, it didn’t do anything else.

Seeing this, Wispy formed his four circles around the cloth, three of them passing through Lilith’s head, and levitated the cloth back to Dr. Crowe. “Thank you.”

Dr. Crowe held out a shaky hand and let the cloth fall onto it, his face grim. Apparently that monster was more than capable of fueling that relic. The mana cost had definitely harmed it, but it didn’t care.

He tore his gaze away from ‘Wispy’ and glanced at Lilith. “D— don’t mention it.” He took a slow breath and turned to the door.

“However,” Wispy said, “I won’t be fully relieved until I hear about that man’s execution.”

Dr. Crowe looked back. He expected hatred, a sneer, anything, but Wispy’s ‘face’ was as cold and clinical as his voice.

“The phobias and speech impediment he might’ve given Lilith could’ve set us back several months. And you shouldn’t risk giving men like him the chance to kill more kids if your goal is protecting Solis.”

Dr. Crowe nodded and took a few steps back. “I’ll— I’ll see what I can do.” He turned and walked out.

He walked through the hall and onto the grass before repeating something strange. “Set us back a few months? Back from what?” He shook his head and made his way back to the front desk, silently opening the door.

There was no one at the desk, but of course there wasn’t. So he stepped around, sat in the chair, and concentrated. Despite his heart pacing, he could still feel someone dreaming nearby. Whoever they were, they would relay the message to speed up Lilith’s treatment.

---

Silene woke up to a loud “Hey!” and looked up to see an older lady in scrubs waving a rainbow colored magicite orb.

“Good morning?” Silene tilted her head, then looked at the bed next to her. “Lilith!”

“Good, you’re up.” The old lady pulled Malena back in her chair to make room for Silene, waking her up.

“Huh?” Malena looked around, startled.

“Now, I want you to get your hands at the ready. Once I get this bandage off, put your hands on the wound and pour in only as much biological magic as her body lets you. You’ve healed mages before, right?”

“Does it count if I healed myself?” Silene held her hands at the ready.

The lady hesitated. “Eh, better than waiting.” She pulled out some scissors and cut the gauze holding the bandage on, then pulled it away. “Now.”

Silene pressed her hands down lightly and, like she did with cuts and bruises, let her magic flow in—

Her breath was knocked out of her as her mana was torn out. Her hands started burning and it felt like her chest was being stomped on. She couldn’t help but tense up.

“No!” The lady yelled. “Keep letting it out. When it starts to slow down, then pull it back. But until then, let it take your mana.”

Silene nodded, gritting her teeth through the pain, and pushed everything she could into making more mana for Lilith.

The others had all woken up, but they could only watch and hope Silene succeeded. Hana hoped that Silene didn’t end up injured too.

But after what felt like her soul being torn apart, Silene got to see Lilith’s eyes open. She was starting to sweat from the pain, but she grinned and poured even more mana in. If it took her last drop of bio magic to save someone, then that’s just what it would have to take!

“Stop,” Hana commanded, and the word resounded in Silene’s mind.

Silene blinked. Her mana stopped flowing out, and now that she felt around with it, it was barely being pulled into Lilith at all. What was once a chain pulling her apart was now a gentle nudge.

“Lilith?” Malena crept forward.

“Oh hi Malena,” Lilith smiled and tried to turn her head, then raised an eyebrow at Silene. “Silene? Why are you holding my heaaaad?” She blinked. “My mouth feels funny.”

“Good morning Lilith.” Malena smiled. “I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Lilith frowned. Then a memory popped up of one of her lessons with Wispy. He was going over what some of the nerves did. Apparently, just like how she could cut a nerve, she could cut part of the brain, and it would… “Remove an ability!” She tried to grit her teeth in rage, but then she felt dizzy.

“Calm down there,” the old lady said. “If you work yourself up you won’t finish healing as fast.”

“Is she not done?” Silene turned.

“Keep your hand there,” the lady said. “And no. Even with your biological magic, her body needs time to adjust.”

“Your bio magic?” Lilith looked at Silene. “Thank you…”

Silene looked around. “Okay, really, what are you saying?”

“She says thank you,” Hana said.

“Oh.” Silene blinked. “Well, yeah. You were injured, so I helped.” She shrugged.

Lilith smiled, then leaned into Silene’s hand for a while.

“Eh heh…” Silene smiled involuntarily.

Then, Lilith stopped, held her finger out, and traced a “c” into the air. Then an “a”, and then an “n”.

“Can?” Malena read.

Lilith traced some more letters.

“I write?” Malena read. “Can I write? Apparently you can!” She said, excited, then sat back. “Well, of course you can. Why can’t you speak?”

Lilith traced some more letters.

“P,” Malena read. “A. P.” She facepalmed. “Of course. Jatte, please get her some paper.”

“R— right.” Jatte scrambled to find some, then handed them over along with a pen.

Lilith scribbled some quick text, then handed it to Malena.

“I can’t speak because Blaise damaged the brain region that lets me speak. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m mute,” Malena read.

The old lady shook her head. “You’re not mute. You got the best treatment possible. If that’s what was damaged, you should recover quickly if you just keep trying to speak.”

Lilith nodded. Then, she tried speaking, but slowly. “G… goooot. It. Got it.” She blinked. That was way easier the second time.

Curious, she moved her mana sense to her brain. There was a lot going on! It was normal brain matter, except for one area. The electricity seemed wrong there somehow, but it was slowly getting less wrong, and what felt like ‘not brain’ was slowly turning into ‘brain’. But that was all she could see.

“SSssso,” she sounded out slowly. “What, um. happened? Since… I. was… out?”

Silene turned to Jatte. “Well, you’re the one that knows the most.”

Jatte nodded hesitantly. “Actually I don’t know much. Ethen told me to take you here and held off Blaise, so I just picked you up and ran over here.”

“Oh,” Lilith tried to say. “I hope Ethen’s okay.” It came out as a jumbled mess of noises instead, so she repeated it slowly.

“I heard a fight when I was leaving, but I don’t know how it went.” Jatte shrugged, then looked away.

“William explained a little bit more to me,” Malena said. “Apparently Ethen saved your life.”

“He did!?” Lilith’s eyes widened a bit. “Wait, Why… Why isn’t… he. here. too then?”

“I don’t know,” Malena said. “You’ll have to ask him later.”

Lilith nodded. “Well… I guess. we’ll. meet up… in. class.” She started trying to get up.

“Oh no you don’t!” The old lady rushed over. “You’re not going anywhere until you’re fully healed. You can do your classwork and homework here.”

Lilith frowned.

---

Over the next few days, Lilith laid back in bed while Silene would come by and pour in some bio magic. To Lilith, it just felt like she was being patted on the head, which was nice. Malena would also come by and just chat, Jatte would come in to give Lilith her class work, and Hana would help Lilith practice speaking with her weird telepathy.

At night, Wispy continued Hana’s speech lessons, making Lilith read weird phrases like ‘The beige hue on the free waters of the loch impressed all, including the queen’s new chef, before she heard that symphony again, just as young Arthur wanted’. She’d memorized that one by now, that ‘pangram’, but it still sounded like nonsense.

Even with her friends visiting, Lilith felt more and more depressed and caged as the days went on. She might’ve taken it out on her science assignments, scribbling some rants about how dumb the science was after making sure she thoroughly got the right answer. Sometimes she even made small comics demonstrating exactly how dumb the text was, before trying to cover them up with more ink.

But after a few days stuck on that bed, Lilith longed to get up, move around, and see the sun.

“Doctor…” Lilith held her arm out to the old lady with a pitiful expression. “I can’t live like this…”

The old lady breathed out a large sigh and shook her head. “Alright.”

“Huh?” Lilith blinked and sat up.

“You’re free to go,” the old lady said. “But if you so much as bump that head of yours, you’re going to be in a lot of pain.”

Lilith nodded, then turned and picked up her hat. “I have a cushion though.”

“Good. Also, try not to nod.”

Lilith nodded. “Got it— crap.”

---

It was the middle of the day, so Lilith ran to lunch, rapidly scooped food onto a plate, and sat it down next to Malena and Silene. “Hi!”

But she noticed Jatte was sitting with the group too. She looked up to the ceiling, confused, then looked back down. “Wait, where’s Ethen?” she asked

“I don’t know,” Jatte said, “but William said we’d all meet up here after lunch.”

“So, how are you feeling Lilith?” Malena asked.

“Oh, fine, I guess.” Lilith shrugged. “Mostly I still feel cooped up. Actually, how’s freedom? I think I forgot what it was like after being stuck in that hospital for so many years.”

“It’s only been two days,” Malena said.

“You mean two centuries,” Lilith corrected.

“No, I definitely mean two days.”

“I spent an eternity on that bed,” Lilith said. “All of time and space had passed. I went to the end, found myself back at the beginning, and had to wait until I arrived back in the middle to see you guys again.”

Malena stared at Lilith for a moment. “Well, I’m glad Hana taught you how to speak. It was impossible to understand you ever since you did so poorly on the language part of the entrance exam.”

"Hana didn't teach me how to speak," Lilith said. "I already knew. My mouth was just weird for a while."

"Maybe your teacher actually fixed your brain then," Malena joked, but immediately regretted it.

Lilith glared back.

"I'm sorry..." Malena cringed.

"I hope I never see that guy again." Lilith turned away.

"Y— yeah, me neither," Malena said.

Hana scooted over and leaned towards Malena while Lilith was looking away. "Yeah, maybe don't bring up Blaise right now."

Malena frowned. "You think?"

"I think she... has a lot of trust in you," Hana said. "A weird amount actually."

"What does that mean?" Malena tilted her head.

"Hmm." Hana shrugged. "Are you like her older sister or something?"

Malena squinted. "She has—" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "—she has fox ears. How would I be her older sister?"

"Oh yeah." Hana nodded. "Weird."

---

After lunch ended, Silene, Malena, and Hana left with the rest of the students, leaving Jatte and Lilith alone as they waited.

“So…” Jatte began.

“So?” Lilith tilted her head.

“You’re all healed?” Jatte asked.

“Mostly,” Lilith said. “I feel like I’m still worse at speaking, but maybe that’s just a feeling.”

“Ah,” Jatte said.

“Oh yeah, I guess you saved my life too! You brought me to the hospital. Did I ever thank you for that?” Lilith smiled.

“Eh, it’s fine.” Jatte looked around awkwardly. “I’d do it for anyone that needed it.”

“That’s good,” Lilith said.

They sat in silence for a while.

…

Eventually, Willam walked into the cafeteria with Ethen beside him.

“Ethen!” Lilith ran up and hugged him. “You saved my life! Like a hero!”

“Oh uh, yeah.” He awkwardly hugged her back.

Lilith leaned into the hug a bit, then hopped back. “But where were you for the past couple days?”

“Court,” Ethen said. “You were knocked out, so William sued Blaise, but the guy was just crazy. He laughed when they brought up his missing family, and then he laughed at pretty much everything else after that. It was creepy.” Ethen grimaced. ”That was the first day. He was killed in his cell that night, so no one knew what to do the second day.” He shrugged. “The whole thing was crazy.”

Lilith took a while to process that. She almost breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Blaise was dead, but paused. “Wha.. wait, he was just completely crazy? Missing family? What?”

Ethen shrugged again.

“Wait, why did they let a crazy person teach us?” Lilith asked.

“Oh yeah, they let anyone teach adventure class,” Ethen said. “As long as they were a rank C adventurer or above.”

Lilith stared off into space for a while, then shook her head. “Nope. I wanna switch tracks. I don’t want to be an adventurer anymore.”

“Actually, hold on a moment there.” William held his hand up.

“No.” Lilith glared at him.

“I had an idea for your ‘advanced class’, if you’re still interested.”

Lilith squinted, and then said, warily, “I’m still interested…”

---

In a nearby country, in a castle at the base of a volcano, a bronze knight ran up to a king that sat on a throne carved into the shape of flames.

“King Voldis!” The knight knelt on the obsidian floor. “An informant has died.”

The old king with frowns carved into his wrinkles nodded. “Which one?”

“Blaise.” The knight looked up. “From Solis.”

“Solis?” The king leaned forward, his crown tilting forward. Now he was listening. “We already made sure they wouldn’t be able to execute a spy. Are you certain?”

“Yes.” The knight remained kneeling.

“Stand up and explain in detail.”

The knight stood. “He wasn’t caught, nor was he executed in the normal fashion. He’s one of the few that snapped. An infiltrator did a good job shifting the trial, but his ‘fellow adventurers’ cried for his execution. It’s likely one of them snuck into prison and killed him before he could be released.”

“I see.” King Voldis frowned. “So our holdout is strong. But there could be unrest brewing in Solis.” He paused to think. “Did Blaise tell them anything about us?”

“No.” The knight shook his head. “He was silent throughout the trial.”

“Good,” King Voldis said, and, after a moment, shooed the knight away.

“Pardon me your highness,” the knight spoke, “but what should we do with his family?”

“You always ask this.” King Voldis narrowed his eyes. “And my answer remains the same: kill them. They no longer serve as leverage. They’re only a threat to Voldia if they escape now.”

The knight hesitated, but put a fist over his heart. “It will be done, your highness.”

“Thank you,” King Voldis said. “Now leave me.”

King Voldis watched the knight about-face and depart, then muttered under his breath, “Now, how should I quell this unrest?”