Another day dawned upon the Kingdom of Roama, as its trained guards stood firm, holding the castle hold. Shadowing the castle, was a bustling town adjacent to it, that housed citizens that were saved and lifted out of poverty. The greater part of the population of the town liked the monarch due to his war strategies and rationing schemes. He'd often stoop down from his horse to speak to commoners when he'd take strolls accompanied by the battalion. Quite an anomaly for someone being royalty. 

Both sides of the streets are filled with people going out with their kids or their spouses as it is the first day of the grand festival of the year. Many huts and tents decorated the city showcasing the shiny necklaces, and jewelry that the shop is selling, with each shop's price varying slightly from the previous one. As the citizens stroll through the bustling pavements, the atmosphere is filled with a happy melody of laughs and sounds of their footfall, immersed in the festivities.

Creeping through the unsuspecting crowd, a batch of white hooded figures strolled down the street. Their prominent features are completely hidden underneath the cloth. Some have their sharp jaws showing out of their hood, while others have beards that reach down to their belly button. Their gaze was unwavering and directed towards a singular target : the castle.

A slight gust of wind disturbs the weather, propelling a child's ball from the left side to the street before it hits one of the moving figures in the middle of the street. The innocent child, completely oblivious to the lurking danger, walked towards the ball, stumbling upon the dirt and smashing headfirst into a rigid leg, holding onto it for dear life while making a disgruntled sound. As the child opened her eyes, she raises her head and sees the ominous figure in front of her. His green eyes, an unknown and unsettling sight loomed over the child, almost paralyzing her. Sensing the scary demeanor, and the pain of the stones that got ingrained into her knees from the fall sinking in, she erupts crying. Almost a deafening cry, alerting her mother. The mother, a young maiden apologizes profusely while she picks her child up and coos her. 

"There, there" 

She then turns to the figure and sees the mark on the shoulder of the hood. Having gone through basic training, the sight immediately struck her mind. Zonia.

"Ah. The castle is that way.", the lady said with a neutral tone. The hooded figure nodded with a slight grin, before walking hastily, catching up to his group further down the path.

'Why is someone of Zonia here?' 

This question lingered in the woman's mind as she gazed at the backs of the figures vanish into the bustling crowd. She knew Zonia was an enemy Kingdom. She sucked in a deep breath, thinking about walking down to the one of the guards to tell her about the suspicious figures. 

A slight tug at her gown, however, brought her back to reality.

"Mama, mama", her adorable child pleaded.

She looked down, and the sight of her cute child extending her small hands asking for her to be picked up made her forget about everything.

-

The chamber of Dyso had a calm and peaceful atmosphere in it. It was decorated with books, which was quite unusual for someone of a Royal Guard to the princess. Many of them pertained information about advanced spells that catered specifically to combat. A few of them had inscriptions and sketches drawn showcasing and depicting weapons that many factions used throughout the neighboring kingdom. Faint sunlight made its way through thin slits of the stone walls, casting ethereal beams that revealed suspending particles of dust in its way. A quiet solitude lingered in the room.

As the room basked in the soft glow of the feeble sunlight, its tranquility was shattered unexpectedly: The main door being quite sturdy, was violently blasted open. The forceful impact revealed Dyso being flung across the room, with three figures entering the room momentarily. Their hoods are now down and show their faces. One bore a scar etched from his upper body to his neck, while the two others have distinct tattoos matching each other, a silent testament to their shared allegiance.

"Where is Elena!?", one of the tattooed figures howled with his voice echoing through the room.

"Want me to repeat myself?", Dyso grumbled while having a bunch of stones fall to his sides as he settled on the floor.

"She's already left this province. Probably on a horseback, racing her way through the travesty fields of the west."

"Shut your darn mouth." scoffed the marked guard, his eyes scanning the room with calculating precision. He looked around the room, almost observing it with care.

"I can sense her. Right in this room." 

"Bullshit.", Dyso retorted with a determined tone.

Dyso knew without a doubt that the princess was hiding in his room, exactly where he had instructed her to go after hearing the commotion down below. He had taught her a peculiar, yet simple spell to hide her in plain sight.

'But wait!", Elena whimpered.

"What about you?"

Dyso grinned confidently as he strapped on his helmet and readied himself.

"Don't worry about me," he reassured her. "Just stay still and make sure you don't get caught." 

-

A flail figure ran into the room and screamed at the guards with anger in a feminine voice.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!?!"

This person looks quite different from the others, having a black gown and a thin black veil hiding her face. She has a slight green lacing decorating her upper half, making a semicircle as it circled her neck. 

"We haven't found her yet. Dyso isn't giving much information either."

The woman set her sights on the injured knight as she stood in front of him with a firm pose.

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"So. It really is you. In the flesh. The deserter, and the cursed."

Dyso ignores this woman's rambling as he gazes into the ground letting the pain soak in, trying to determine if he's gravely injured or not. Thankfully, he felt only one or two ribs that were broken. Nothing too bad. He focuses his mana into his blood, speeding up the healing process.

Dyso's eyes narrowed, shifting toward another guard, who, nervously pokes a wall with a sheath of his sword. The guard anticipating consequences, gulps and brings his hand close to the wall. With a snap of his fingers, a slight spark emerges, dancing briefly before making contact with the stone surface, canceling out the spell, and revealing a frightened princess in all her glory. Elena is clutching onto a grey rag over her head substituting it as a hood, as to provide her comfort. The room is in a still state moment as everyone's eyes snap onto the beauty. Their main objective: to murder her.

In a split-second, Dyso materializes a light bluish dagger in his hand, and dashes to the tattooed guard closest to him, slicing his heel tendon, making him squirm and wince out in pain. He probably won't ever be able to use that leg ever again. The room, once frozen in anticipation, erupted into chaotic motion as the clash unfolds.

As the guard fell to his knees, Dyso brought his hands up and conjured a trio of three light blue blades that appeared out of thin air above his head. All aiming at the other marked guard in front of the princess. In a split second, they all pierce the guard. One right in his forehead, the other going through his heart, and the final one piercing his right kidney.

" I SAID, ENOUGH!!!", the piercing exclamation cut through the thick air, escaping the veiled figure's lips.

Sensing her emanating power, Dyso tensed himself, channeling all the strength power in his lower body, preparing for a rapid dash to her. Yet, before his heel could even lift from the ground, she unleashes a swift incantation, releasing 4 green-colored cuffs from her fingertips that coil all of his limbs in place. The sudden realization of helplessness gripped Dyso as he stood ensnared, grunting and wriggling out of the shackles, all but in vain.

The scarred guard approached and delivered a ruthless punch to his stomach, leaving Dyso gasping for air.

"Look at what you did, you little swine. Who's gonna replace them, huh? Do you think we can get people easily?!?", the scarred individual screamed while the black-veiled girl excused him, pushing him out of the way.

"Look up", demanded the girl, to which Dyso complied.

"I know what YOU are, Karyk."

Dyso's pupils widened as the girl revealed his old name. It had been 4 whole years since he had anyone from his old battalion call him that name. Especially after that incident.

"Someone like you guarding..., nay, breathing the same air as the princess? Unacceptable."

The veiled woman's brow furrowed with anger, her face taking on a demonic aspect beneath the black veil.

"An offense of such gravity shall grant you a seat in the manors of hell!", She yelled, with violence dripping from her tone.

Her voice held a strange familiarity, yet Dyso couldn't discern who she truly was. The tension in the room is broken as Delacroix, unable to resist curiosity, peeks his head into the room a bit too much. A quick retreat into hiding followed, but this time, he resumed his peeking cautiously, inching forward with deliberate stealth. As Dyso saw a familiar face, he figured out the traitor's identity.

'"So…it was you all along, huh, Delacroix?", Dyso's scream cut through the room, momentarily ignoring the witch and the guard.

"All those roundtable gatherings, all those concerns you had for the kingdom, ALL OF THEM!"

"That was just an illusion, was it not?"

The scarred guard rushed toward Delacroix, scolding him for even showing up in the first place.

"I...I didn't have a choice...!", Delacroix whimpered, pleading with desperation.

-

"Keep your eyes open, Karyk. This is retribution for your treacherous behavior.", the witch whispered.

Elena is kneeling on the ground in the middle of the chamber, with her tears escaping her eyes, sobbing silently while clutching her body. Her golden hair is glowing even brighter, as the sun spilled into the room. This heart-wrenching scene struck a nerve in Dyso's heart ; he couldn't bear to see Her Majesty in this state. The guard stomped over to her, and unsheathed a long yet thin sword, before casting a spell which coated it with green magic, a trademark of Zonia Kingdom.

"S...STOP!!!", Dyso's desperate pleas echoed through the room, but it fell on deaf ears.

Right before the sword could reach Elena, she thrust her hand into the ground, invoking a now visible vibrant blue symbol covering the floor, which sent a shockwave through the room. The ground trembled, causing the guard and even the witch to feel the force of the magical upheaval. Elena couldn't escape the sword entirely, as it sliced her in the lower back, making her bleed profusely. Undetermined, Elena dashed to Dyso, and placed a vial in his hand, before using her soft yet tender hands to make him hold onto it.

"What's the meaning of th-"

A green sword emerged from her back and pierced both of them, making Elena cough blood from her mouth, and staining Dyso's steel armor. This strike seemed to seal their fate, ensuring death for Elena and Dyso.

The sound of Elena's voice was filled with anguish as she whispered, "When the Seven Moons Align..."

A single tear escaped her blue eyes and trailed down her face, mirroring the gentle stream of light filtering through the window. As the green sword was pulled out with a sharp grunt, both Elena and Dyso winced in unison.

"Bask yourself in moonlight," Elena's soft words barely reached the ears of her captor as he prepared for the final strike.

"AND COME RESCUE ME!!!" Her desperate cry echoed through the room, tears streaming down her face, and a sorrowful expression etched on her features. Her blue mana manifested around her body, emphasizing her vulnerability and pleading for Dyso to save her from this fate.

Dyso, overcome with determination, immediately clutched his hands and stabbed the vial deep into his torso, making his head kickback and making his vision go white, canceling out the pain of the second strike going deep into his face.

-

The steady click-clacking of hooves and the constant jolting of the carriage shook Dyso awake from his slumber, causing his stomach to twist with discomfort. He grunted, trying to shake off the drowsiness that had settled over him. As he remembered Elena, his eyes struck wide open and he snapped out of his hazy state. Blinking in confusion, he realized he was lying in the back of a carriage, covered by a warm blanket. Pushing off the covers, Dyso hurriedly climbed out of the carriage, ready to greet whoever had brought him here. To his surprise and joy, he was met by the familiar face of his long-lost friend, Rukai.

"Rukai?"

Dyso immediately rushed to him, shaking Rukai's flail body with force with both his hands placed on his friend's shoulders

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!?!"

"O-O-f course, you meathead. I'm a-a--alive!", Rukai immediately fired back, still shaking from Dyso.

 Embarrassed by his outburst, Dyso takes a look at himself and notices he has no armor on. Even more intriguing, his once large and muscular frame, honed by his training and battles to death in his time being the Royal Guard, was now thin and weak. He looked up to the group walking in front of the horse of his carriage and saw many others like him.

 Dyso's eye twitched as he reminisced this memory.

 This was the same day right before he started training to become a mercenary after his old hometown was decimated by Greybourne's artillery. Gulping with nervousness, he finally faces reality.

He had traveled 6 years into the past.