After blinking his eyes a few times, the floating motes of light in his vision still making it difficult to make out the surroundings, the guard that had been blinded by bright, bursts of light tentatively touched the gaping wound on his head. The slight touch caused him to wince and suck in a hiss of air.
After taking a moment to compose himself, the guard staggered toward the window-like hole as he tried to collect his thoughts.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed up the narrow, stone staircase before two guards emerged with their swords drawn. "What's going on?"
"Don't really know," muttered the first guard, still feeling dizzy. "Something burst through the door and took me out before flying off towards the forest. Then a group that looked like those Mountain Sect folk appeared and gave chase."
The two guards looked each other before one moved towards the shattered door at a brisk pace. "I'll sound the alarm and let everyone know that the beast has escaped the city."
"Be quick, I have the feeling we are going to lose a layer of skin for letting it past us," replied the other as he moved towards the window, joining the first as they watched the four glowing, golden lights shrink into the distance. "From what I heard, you're lucky to be alive."
The guard who had just left, shouted back as he rushed to complete his mission and limit the damage. "Seeing as sect members couldn't stop it, I don't think we will get punished too severely as long as we are quick."
The first guard sighed. "Ha, tell me about it. Still, at least I was able to tell them it had escaped through the window before it got too far away. The first place I would have looked would have been down the stairs."
Behind them, small drips of blood silently fell from the tower's supporting beams, splashing faintly onto the dark, wooden floor at irregular intervals.
The guards would have been horrified to find out that, little less than a few meters away, lying with her back on one of the beams, lay the being that they were talking about.
However, Nyx was in no position to care about the guards as she gasped for air, trying to be as quiet as possible as blood seeped from her nose, eyes and mouth.
Her body intermittently spasmed as the slow pulse emanating from her heat rippled through her flesh causing agonising amounts of pain.
A trace of victory and also, regret flashed across Nyx's eyes.
She had known from the start that she wouldn't be able to outrun the powerful beings that had encircled her, especially with the approaching dawn and so had taken a desperate gambit.
Using the same method that she had used to launch a long-range attack against the mage mercenary earlier, though, on a much larger scale, Nyx had expelled the majority of her dark essence to draw away her opponent so she could return to relative obscurity and escape.
To ensure that the plan had the highest chance of success, she had only left herself with enough energy to conceal her presence when her pursuers passed and, if she were lucky, use shadow step one or two times.
However, Nyx knew that her plan was full of holes, like the question of why she would enter the tower and flee from the window while leaving a survivor if she could have leapt from the wall outside. But luckily for her, at least at the beginning, it seemed like her plan had worked.
What she hadn't anticipated was that her pursuers, including the old woman that she recognised instantly, would use a mysterious technique that not only increased their speed but released a ridiculous amount of blinding light.
This light, hitting her four times in rapid succession, had destroyed Nyx's ghost form and instigated a terrifying backlash, causing server injuries to her internal organ and meridians.
The damage had been so significant that not only did it temporarily render her unconscious, Nyx's body barely balancing on the beam above, but it had utterly dispersed the little remaining essence she saved.
This left Nyx extremely vulnerable, even weaker than the average mortal, yet this seeming disaster did have a silver lining.
The dispersal of all her dark essence, as well as the disruption to her natural energy, had temporarily altered Nyx's presence, stopping her pursuers from instantly discovering her when the backlash occurred.
However, Nyx knew this was only a tempory reprieve.
It wouldn't be long before her plan would be unveiled and her pursuers would start backtracking as they searched for clues.
With great difficulty, Nyx rolled to her side and off of the beam, holding onto it with her hands as she steadily lowered her body before letting go and silently falling to the floor.
While this move was still exceptional, being able to drop onto the wooden floor without making a sound, it had none of the grace of elegance that Nyx had previously displayed. The contrast between the two was as much as night and day.
After ensuring the two guards were still looking out the window, their muted voices trying to guess as what would happen next, Nyx quickly descended the stone stairs and strained her senses to check of any threats.
However, while she could still see accurately in the dark, Nyx's spiritual sense, which relied on dark essence, ultimately failed, forcing her to rely on her natural abilities and for the first time in her life, feel at a disadvantage in the darkness.
Quickly reaching the bottom of the stairs, having used gravity to assist her, Nyx scanned the small, circular room.
To one side was a desk with papers stacked onto of it while along the opposite wall was a weapons rack and a few chairs piled on top of each other.
Scanning the room once more, deciding there was no place to hide, Nyx started staggering towards the door, her left hand placed atop her stomach.
When she had nearly reached it, seeing that it was open a couple of inches, Nyx abruptly halted as her chest violently contracted.
Leaping to the side, towards the place that was covered in the most shadow, Nyx couldn't help but vomit a large amount of congealed blood, feeling slightly better after she had done so.
However, even though she knew it was a good sign, her body already starting to repair at a rate that would stun doctors and healers across the world, Nyx couldn't help but curse realising that she had no way to clean up the visible sign of her passing.
The sound of bells, an alert signifying someone or something had either entered or left the capital perimeter that shouldn't have, started off in the distance, being picked up by other sources and eventually creating a deafening noise.
Feeling a pressure she had never felt before, mainly because she would generally be welcoming death with the amount of pain she was in, Nyx quickly straightened up and moved back to the edge of the door and peered through the crack.
The muddy wagon, around twenty foot in length and wide enough for four men to sit on the driver's stool comfortably, was a couple of dozen meters away. The inert glow stones that it carried had been unloaded into neat stacks nearby giving her a small amount of cover.
Pushing the door open a tiny bit more, Nyx was able to see that the men that had been unpacking earlier were milling around the front of the wagon. One of the men, slightly older and better dressed than the rest, would occasionally glance over at the door while clutching a piece of yellow paper in his hand.
Nyx's eyes returned to the wagon, the cargo bed visible as the tail ramp was still down. Dirty hemp sheets, probably used to protect the stones during transit, were scattered about haphazardly.
With a sigh, Nyx looked around as much as she could through the crack in the door, listening for any sound originating from the stairs behind her.
She really didn't want to try and stow away in the wagon but was aware that in her current state, getting across the road and into a house, even the one she had previously cleared, was beyond her current abilities.
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After a patrol, who were all taking long glances at the top of the wall, rushed past heading towards one of the nearby gates, Nyx's eyes returned to the man with the paper in his hands.
After gazing once more at the door, a sign of irritation on his features, the man's sight returned to his friend, who had seemingly just said something funny as he covered his ears.
The moment he looked away, Nyx burst out from behind the door, hoping that the noise of the alarms would overpower any disturbance she caused, and with all the speed she could muster, launched herself towards the wagon.
With a final leap, Nyx's body twisted in the air, eliciting a wave of pain and nauseousness from her wounded body as a new wave of blood tried to force its way up her throat, before landing soundlessly in the back of the wagon.
Without a moment's pause, despite the protest of her body, Nyx scuttled to the back of the wagon, taking the sheets that she had stained with blood with her before turning them over and covering her body.
While she had landed silently, the hemp sheets were large and heavy and so had created some noise alongside a slight wobble of movement from the wagon.
Noticing the movement, as well as the slight hiss-like noise of the moving sheets above the racket, the man who had been waiting for the guards to return left his friends and started walking to the back of the wagon.
However, after had reached the end, and was about to turn to look inside, the guard that had stayed behind and looked out the window with his injured comrade had returned to his post, calling out to him with a wave of the hand. "Looks like we don't need the stones anymore. Can you wait around for a bit until we get confirmation and, if that's the case, you can load them back up."
Barely able to hear the man's words, Nyx took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself, not wanting to believe what she had just heard.
She was in no condition to run, let alone fight, at the moment, and while she had known she was taking a considerable risk, if Nyx would have thought that her plan would be ruined so quickly, she would have stayed inside the tower.
Yet, just as she was mentally preparing for her last stand, the man that was about to check the back of the wagon span on the spot and angrily yelled. "Like hell I will. They have been delivered and unloaded as 'demanded' by your superior. Now sign this and let me get back home. Its been a long, dangerous night and I want to make sure my family is safe."
Nyx listened intently, her muscles shaking from both pain and the strain of being prepared to move at a moments notice.
After a couple of breaths, the guard's voice sounded out again, this time with a hint of defeat. "Fine, but if the commander asks, you will tell her exactly what you just told me. I tried to stop you, but you wouldn't listen."
The man, who Nyx now assumed to be the wagon owner laughed, yet it was clear there was no humour in its tone. "Don't worry, after this mess, I will tell her where to shove those stones if she doesn't want them. After the government requisitioned all of my stock, I was forced to cart these things around this damn city all night, leaving my family at home without any protection. In fact, I look forward to meeting your commander so I can formally lodge a complaint."
The sound and vibration of the tailboard closing, as well as the shaking as the men got onboard at the front, caused Nyx to release a sigh of relief. -"I guess sometimes even monsters can get lucky."
However, the inaudible noise escaping her mouth soon turned into a hiss of pain as the wagon started to move, its bumpy, uncushioned movements causing excruciating pain.
Needing some way to distract herself or reduce the pain, Nyx attempted to absorb and circulate some essence, only for the pain to intensify significantly.
Realising that her body was in a worse state that she initially thought, her limbs twitching a few times uncontrollably, Nyx immediately stopped circulating essence and took deep, slow breaths.
After what seemed like an eternity, Nyx almost reaching the point where she was prepared to jump out and shout out her name and end her torment, the wagon pulled into a small, wooden fenced yard.
The courtyard, full of stacks and piles of materials, some left out in the elements while overs had been carefully covered, was still covered in darkness. Only the lamp lit beside the back door of what looked like a giant warehouse provided any considerable light.
The men slowly got off the wagon and moved towards the door, quickly passing through as they complained about the inconvenience and suffering they had been subjected to during the night.
After waiting for ten minutes and not hearing any other sounds that might indicate someone was nearby, Nyx pushed herself up, only for her vision to sway as a brief spell of dizziness washed over her.
During the journey here, Nyx's body had stopped bleeding yet, by that time she had already lost a copious amount of blood, which had already started soaking into the wagon's wooden bed.
Gritting her teeth knowing she was about to leave yet another clue for any that wanted to track her, Nyx slid over the tall sides of the wagon, staggering a bit before regaining her balance, and started walking towards the partially closed gate.
Finding it unlocked, though that was already obvious due to the fact it hadn't been closed properly, Nyx pushed it open and quickly walked out of the small construction yard.
Looking both ways down the street, Nyx realised that she was located in what appeared to be a storage district, many large warehouses lined up on each side while parked carriages and wagons had been pilled up around the edges.
Nyx picked a direction randomly, having not found any clues that might cause her to choose one over the other, as the sound of early morning birds tweeted in the distance.
To most, the sound would be pleasant, but to the current Nyx, the bird's tweets sounded more like trumpets heralding her demise, causing her to increase her speed as much as she dared, quickly hobbling down the street.
Turning a corner, Nyx halted as she spotted two people loading a carriage with various goods.
The men wore light leather armour, far inferior to those that she had currently seen, and also wore a sword as their waist. Nyx also noticed, next to the driver's seat, sticking out to the side slightly, was a quiver full of brightly fletched arrows.
Watching the men pack the wagon, binding the boxes and containers securely, checking things off a list as they walked in and out of a nearby warehouse, Nyx was almost sure that they were not going to be making a short journey.
Lifting her shakey right hand and wiping away a trickle of blood that had started flowing from her nose once again, Nyx hesitated for a moment before stalking forward, using the nearby wagons and carriages as cover. -"Fuck it, either it works, or it doesn't."
Moving as stealthily as she could, Nyx waited for the two men to be occupied with storing items inside the carriage before reaching the front of the carriage climbing up.
Taking a cautious glance around, making sure no one was watching, Nyx lifted the driver's seat.
Letting out a sigh of relief due to the fact that it was mostly empty, being the one place that was easy to steal from if the drivers left their seats, Nyx quickly contorted her body, nearly screaming out in pain as she did so, and slid into the rectangle shaped box before letting the lid drop.
It was only at this point that Nyx realised that if the carriage wasn't leaving the city as she guessed, she could have well and truly sealed her fate this time.
This type of behaviour was new to Nyx. She usually would die heroically, or like a demon in the eyes of her enemies, while attempting to complete her mission or on her way out. Even for tasks that her survival was critical, she would only find somewhere to lay low and recover, caring just enough about the details so she wouldn't suffer a magical backlash from the soul bond if it judged her to be jeopardising the mission.
Now she had a reason to survive, and knowing that her death could hold such dire consequences, Nyx couldn't help but feel extremely nervous and jumpy, especially as all she could do was wait and second guess all of her actions to this point.
With a slight sigh, Nyx shifted to try and make herself more uncomfortable. Her instincts screamed at her to leave the city as soon as possible, and so she felt that she couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip by. -"I'm already committed now. Whatever will be, will be. Those idiots that tried to force me over the wall will have probably already returned after discovering my ruse and will soon turn this place upside down."
After a while, just as light started to shine through the gap at the edges of the compartment's lid, Nyx felt the carriage wobble as the sound of two horses, their hoofs clipping on the stone street, reached her ears.
After being hooked up, the wagon once again shook as the two men got on and sat down on the seat, trapping Nyx in the tiny, coffin-like box.
Nyx's anxiety continued to grow as a light crack of a whip, followed by a soft neigh, caused the carriage to start moving. However, much to Nyx's delight, the movements were much more comfortable than the earlier wagon, and she finally felt like she could take a breather and slightly relax.
As the minutes passed, Nyx's conscience started to waver yet, with the uncertainty she found herself in, she refused to let herself pass out. If it came to the worst case scenario and she was discovered, Nyx wanted to at least make a token gesture of defiance instead of being killed in her sleep.
Eventually, after a period of time that Nyx couldn't even guess, the wagon came to a stop as a new voice, one that hadn't been discussing the previous day and night's events in hushed tones as they sat above her, resonated from somewhere in front.
"Halt and prepare to be searched."
Nyx's chest tightened, her fuzzy senses snapping back into focus, believing that her luck had finally run out.
"Come on Jack, we sorted this out last time," grumbled one of the two men that were sitting above her.
The guard or soldier, Nyx couldn't tell which, walked closer, alongside the sound of a couple of extra sets of feet.
"Sorry guys, things are going to be a bit tighter for the next few weeks," sighed the man called Jack. "Look, I won't make things too difficult for you, my men will have a quick scan over your goods and make sure that nothing 'too' suspicious is here, and then you can get on your way."
Nyx's hand slowly moved to the knife she had tucked away in her makeshift robe as her body started to coil ready to strike out and stab at the eye or neck of the first person who opened her box. Her mind quieting of all thoughts and emotions.
However, after the wagon shook for a bit, the sound of armoured shoes started to move away, and someone jumped off.
"Thanks, Jack," chuckled one of the men sitting atop, relief evident in his voice.
"Just doing my job," replied Jack in a casual manner. "Now get out of here before anyone else see's you."
The wagon started to move forward and, after a few tense minutes, Nyx began to relax though not enough that she would fall asleep or unconscious.
Even with her reputation, this was the first time Nyx had escaped in a such a weak, pathetic state and she couldn't help but recall the memories of when she had been captured alive, causing a light sheen of sweat to cover her body.
An agonising hour later, the carriage had crested a hill with the walls of the capital city of the Welshmar Republic behind it, as it gently rumbled along a dirt road.
Little did the two men know, as they chatted and bantered back and forth, that they were sitting atop the terrifying, savage existence that had claimed so many lives the previous night — a brutal, bloodthirsty creature that would even cause seasoned veterans, after hearing its deeds, to pale and change the subject.