Nery followed the alluring smell as it grew ever stronger. It became more of a stench, as she walked on and on, rounding corners, dodging the occasional patrol. The closer she got to the scent's source, the less she thought about anything but it. Her mind completely swallowed by the mixing emotions hidden behind the veil.

Then she suddenly stopped. The scent led behind another corner and she regained her conscious after a single thought had stricken her mind.

*What if this is a trap?*

She realized how blindly she followed her yearning, how easily she forgot about her assigned mission. Shame and fear budded in her heart. What if she just crashed Cormac's full plan? What if they get caught because of her?

On the other hand, the promise of what she had been following was overbearing and she was at the very end of her blind goose chase. There was something behind that corner. What if that *something* was the key to Cormac's plan? An unaccounted variable that she could unleash onto the queen and the enforcers? That was how it felt to her, whatever was behind the wall of stone.

She was too far in now, there was no reason not to at least look.

With careful light steps, Nery moved about the corner.

Behind thick iron bars, behind a massive door, in a simple cell with nothing but a wooden bed, sat Leon La Bor in a corner, weeping into his own hands.

Nery felt the wave of what she followed wash over her once more. It was strong even before, but it had been unclear, until now. The power of shame was truly overwhelming. The regret and self-loathing attacked at Nery's senses. She felt her heart shrink under the weight. She wanted to sit down herself, to weep. But she shook those feelings off.

She saw this man once before and she saw something entirely different then. He reeked of shame even before, but it was shame that was...managed. It was not an end to all that the person before her represented, not like now.

"What-" Nery started. Leon's head quickly turned to her, his emotions disappearing quickly, replaced by a sudden surge of hope.

"You! Erwin's spawn! I saw you before! You have to let me out!" he shouted at her. "They are out there! Melissa and Eamon! She wants to kill them!"

"Cormac is there." Nery replied to the crazed man. He continued to look on her with his desperate expression, but he surprisingly started breathing slower. His eyes shrank into a semi-normal volume and he calmed.

"Cormac...that is good then. I-" Leon looked at her again, surprise clear on his face. "Why does that calm me down? He is just a boy still. Maybe not weak, but not strong enough to fight what is out there. Why...why is he..."

"You may have forsaken him, but he did not forsake you. Against my better judgement." She said, observing the man before her. He had gone through so many emotions the two times she met him, he was intriguing. "I told him not to come here, you know? I thought that this whole thing was a trap. One you were a part of."

"It may be still. Trisna, she is happy. Too much. You need to let me out..."

"Nery."

"You need to let me out Nery. I need to go out there, need to help him. He can't fight the enforcers alone."

"He is not alone." replied Nery, still wary of the man before her. She saw a sparkle of light in him before and it was still there, but this was way too lucky. "Plus what help would you be? Carl and Cormac seemed to handle you well."

"They would not have had I actually fought." the man gazed into her eyes. "I trained the enforcers, I know what they are dealing with. Let me out Nery. Let me out and let me help the boy. As I should have helped his father a long time ago."

She watched his eyes, focusing on what he said. Looking for any signs of deception. She felt none, she did not feel what she usually experienced when someone was blatantly lying.

There was a choice to be made here and Nery never wasted time choosing for long.

She took out the lockpick she had by her. Initially, it was meant to free the princess, but that ship has sailed.

With a *click* the door opened and the cell was a cage no more.

Leon stood up and nodded at Nery, before running out and rounding a corner.

Nery was left alone there. She did not doubt her decision.

But the scent had not disappeared altogether. There was a lesser source, weirdly blurry. As if it was scrambled on purpose. Though this one felt dangerous, Nery already believed her senses once. She decided she would trust them still.

"Darius has told me of what you intend to do, my daughter." Trisna spoke as she looked up at Aviana. "Of the fact that you want to usurp my power, my throne. I would not have thought you such a daring individual."

"Maybe you do not know me as well as you might think, *mother*" Aviana replied, trying to fit into the role Darius molded for her.

"Or you might be lying, as you are wont to do these days." replied Trisna, as she started walking the steps toward the throne. "You have no need of a throne. You lack the ambition, the yearning. You loathed your birth from the very age you were smart enough to realize it's significance."

"What significance mother? What value does a ruler have for a lonely kingdom? The fight for our home has long ended. Ended in your mother's rein. Your station is hollow now, useless."

"It might have been." The queen nodded with a smile, as she took another step. "If the Mountain Basin really was a *lonely kingdom*."

"What are you talking about?" Aviana asked, as the Queen's shadow reached her ankles.

"There is more than desolate wasteland full of misshapen creatures out there. Much more. We have been fed lies for too long my daughter, our people forgot to look." The Queen moved up once more, engulfing the light reaching Aviana. "There is so much more out there, so many lands, so many powers. My mother had been blind to such a thing and she died for it. *God bless her soul*. But I am blind in no such way my daughter."

Aviana looked at her mother, as she reached the very top of the throne.

"I have a final proposition for you, my daughter. I knew you disliked me for some time, but I never expected you to act against me. That line of thinking deserves merit. I can and will involve you it my affairs, if you place an oath to my name." Trisna's face twisted into a wide smile, one that Aviana never saw before. Her eyes widened and she stretched out her arms in a grandiose gesture. "If you utter an oath to your very soul, to promise to *serve* me and only me, I will tell you. I will let you advice me, let you shape what these lands are about to become. If you **swear**, you can see the world I will create."

"Swear to you? That I disliked you?" Aviana stood up and locked onto her mother's eyes. The anger she held in her heart erupted. "I **loathe** you. I despise what you are, what you always were. What you did to my father, what you did to me. You are nothing but poison. You are rot! You abuse all that are around you, for nothing but personal gain. I would **never** kneel to someone like that."

"Oh, really?" Trisna's smile changed into a smirk. "We will see...**Kneel**."

The command echoed through Aviana's mind, causing her knees to bend. But she channeled all the wrath she held in her heart. Her father's hollowness, the empty husk of a one well-beloved man. The people that suffered due to her intrigue. The people of Inglevies, that died due to her putting their lord into a berserk state. What she did to Aviana, to her own daughter...

Aviana did not kneel.

Her mother's smile soured and her brows deepened.

"**I said, kneel!**"

A harsher wave of the order pushed at Aviana. A weight so incredibly heavy tried to tackle her. But Aviana felt even more. The trial, the assassin Gavin that was to kill Cormac. Cormac...

Aviana stood up, straightening her spine. Though she grinned with the effort and her breaths came quick and harsh. She saw the anger in her mother's eyes. The anger of her defeat.

Trisna smacked Aviana across her face with her scepter, throwing her down the stairs to the throne. She angrily turned around and watched her daughter falling with disdain.

"You are as blind as my mother was! As my sister! You are all just underestimating me! What I can become!" Trisna's words turned to shouting as her face grew red. "But that will come to an end very soon! You all feared all that was against our everyday quo, but I stepped above it! I am stronger than any ruler ever was! And you! You have no right to ignore that! No right not to celebrate me! To worship me!"

She breathed audibly as her face twisted into an ugly expression of hurt pride.

"Darius." The queen looked at her favorite enforcer. "Beat Aviana."

It was starting. The enforcers assembled around the platform, as the speech of the guard slowly came to an end. Only the executioner was left standing there and he was ready to do his work.

There was no signal, no word from Nery and Obscurno did not see her either, but the queen was gone, she must have succeeded. Cormac had to hope she would be alright.

He had nothing but the littlest chance, but he had no other options. He had to grasp it.

Cormac and Carl ran through the crowd, crossing the distance between them and the platform with incredible speed.

Cormac felt Carl's unease start to show, as they ran toward the wooden structure. He focused on the bond and felt Carl doubt himself. Doubt Cormac. Doubt that they could reach the La Bors through the wall of men.

An enforcer locked onto them as they ran.

"Two incoming! South-west!"

"Speed up!" another shouted. "Finish it already!"

Cormac watched as the executioner froze in surprise, before heading quickly to the lever, that would end the lives of the prisoners.

He had to get there and there was no time to waste on the enforcers.

Sending Carl a rough idea, along with a singular command, Cormac jumped into the air.

"**Duck!**"

Carl bent his back in time and Cormac pushed against it and jumped over the enforcer's heads. Twisting himself in the air, he tackled the executioner as he landed, sending him away from the lever.

Carl managed to break through the line of confused enforcers and quickly jump onto the platform himself.

Cormac took the executioner's baton as they laid on the ground, before punching him to the jaw. The executioner's eyes blinked before closing. Cormac sincerely wished the man would not suffer any long term damage, but there was no time to be pulling punches here.

"Get them off the ropes!" He shouted at Carl, as he beelined it to the stairs.

Enforcers were amassing to the stairs, rushing to stop the deviants.

Cormac used the power of surprise once more, as he smacked the first unsuspecting enforcer across his face, sending him tumbling to the fray. But the wave of enforcers was endless and there were more climbing up already. Now aware of the danger before them.

Cormac managed no such hit as before, but kept on defending the entryway, as blades swirled in the air around him.

He quickly turned to Carl, watching his side of the battle.

The enforcers were climbing onto the platform from all sides.

The two of them were surrounded.

A sharp pain in his right shoulder made him step back from the stairs. A knife's hilt protruded from his arm. He wimped with the pain and took the baton in his left hand.

"Obs! Now!" Cormac yelled as he ran to help Carl.

The crow flew above the incoming group of enemies, carrying a heavy sack. He dropped it above the enforcers, releasing the rocks inside it.

They fell onto the enforcer's helmets with a *cling*. And stopped many from running on, though there were way to many to stop them all. Thankfully the limp bodies slowed down the incoming soldiers.

Carl meanwhile cut the prisoner's ropes off and traded blows with different attackers, throwing them at more of the enforcers climbing up.

Cormac heard nothing except his breath and his weapon making contact with steel and iron. The roars of the wild crowd all but disappeared in the heat of battle, though even if Cormac had no chance to notice, the sounds really vanished completely. The people watching were confused, unsure of how to act.

Then the Lion roared.

Cormac quickly twisted back to the stairs, where the enforcers did much the same.

Their ranks were getting decimated from behind and only blood and grime flowed through the air.

The enforcers that were climbing up the platform stood frozen, watching the carnage happening on their fellow mates.

Leon La Bor really was not the man on the platform, but he had culled everyone standing in his way to it.

The enforcers jumped down, running to assemble a formation bellow on the square. Reforming their ranks, because of the power of a single man.

Leon jumped over the stairs in a single graceful motion, swords raised in both hands.

Cormac's heart tightened at the sight, but he did not freeze in the moment. Both him and Carl readied their stolen weapons, preparing to defend themselves.

"Are they alright?" asked Leon quickly, gesturing at the prisoner's.

"Yes. But aren't they-"

"It's Melissa and Eamon." Leon replied quickly. He looked onto the crowd of people around the square. They were all watching with frozen looks. Stuck in their place. The happenings around them enough to stop all instinct.

"**Run you fools!**" Leon shouted at the top of his lungs.

The crowd dispersed along with a number of enforcers.

"You remember our training?" Leon roared with the full power of his throat at the enforcers forming a wall. "Do you **dare**?"

They all took a step back, before turning tail completely. Only a brave few were left, but even their courage was stolen by the deserting of their fellow soldiers.

"Good." Leon said, his breath coming quick. "They will be back and it took a lot out of me, I can't send them away again. Not all of them." he said more to himself than to Cormac.

"What's going on?" Cormac shouted at the man.

"Trisna she...she wanted to kill them, keep me. She has gone absolutely crazy. Evil. I apologize for what I did earlier, but we have to hurry, she will learn of this and there are worse ones than them. We need to go."

Cormac looked at Carl for affirmation. Now that the situation has calmed a little, Cormac noticed the numerous scratches and bruises forming along Carl's body, most were shallow, but some would require treatment afterwards.

"Where is...Nery?"

"She just let me out, probably made her way out of the citadel already." Leon said, picking Melissa up from the ground. When the hood fell off, Cormac noticed Melissa's eyes.

They were the very same green hue as they always been, but they were incredibly wide. As wide as the executed lords and Norman. She was controlled by something.

"We have to go!" Leon shouted again.

"No we cannot!" Cormac yelled back, pointing his baton back at Leon. "There are more in there we need to get out!"

"Nery will be alright! I saw her walk-"

"Not just Nery! And...we need your help." Cormac said, letting his hand down.

"I will help, I promise. I just have to get these two somewhere safe. Let the crow follow me, he can keep tabs on me and inform you. I know of a safe place nearby."

"How do you know about the crow?"

"Your dad. He used to have similarly...unusual servants." Leon said as he put the boy around his other shoulder and jumped from the platform, running quickly somewhere.

"Obs." Cormac said and the bird immediately took flight. Following Leon.

Without a word, without a gesture, even without using their bond.

Both the boys started running, heading to where they feared they would be needed.

Nery heard the shouting coming from the room with the source of the stench. The scent was as blurry as it had been before, but it was hidden imperfectly. Nery could still sense it. There were cracks in the protective barrier.

She heard the queen, heard Aviana's name. The name that Cormac said with such yearning, kindness and vulnerability. She feared, what might happen, what she might see, but she had to help.

She rounded the corner, when she took in the situation.

Aviana was lying down under the throne, breathing deeply and hurt. Nery wanted to see more of the person she heard so much about, but there was no time.

A man clad in light-plate armor stood before her, his hand on the hilt of the weapon, he was watching Aviana, his face and body motion-less.

And finally there was the queen. She was standing above all of them, looking down at her, wielding a golden scepter and an expression full of wrath.

"You keep on pleasantly surprising me." The queen said as her face calmed. "I will give you one more chance then. But I will have to isolate you, it seems that there are too many bad influences around you." she said as she eyed Nery. "Maybe the *hernek* you gave Darius prohibits him from attacking you directly, but I doubt you were wise enough to extend that protection to the others. It was your first time applying it, it is understandable."

"Darius, kill her." She gestured at Nery.

The man suddenly dropped into a low stance, unsheathing his sword in one fluid motion. Then he turned to attack.

"Stay...your ground...Darius." Aviana let out in between ragged breaths.

The man stopped himself. He quickly sheathed his sword again, before straightening his back again. Just to peer on the princess.

"Darius, **I forbid you from taking her orders**." Trisna let her voice roar through the room. "Kill, the newcomer."

Again the man shifted quickly.

"Stop." let out the princess, but her plea landed on deaf ears.

Darius made two quick steps toward Nery, sword in hand.

She jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the trajectory of the blade. But the man's shoulder hit her directly, launching her to the wall behind her. The crash pushed all the air out of her lungs.

Darius advanced again, hefting his longsword. Slashing down at Nery.

When Carl tackled him in the air.

They both fell to the side, the sword flying away.

Darius twisted himself on the ground, climbing on top of Carl, bringing a volley of punches down on his face. When Cormac caught up and delivered a kick right at Darius's jaw, throwing him to the side.

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He was left there, unmoving.

Cormac quickly turned around, when he saw the hurt Nery. But before he could get to her, Carl was already appraising her condition. Cormac could feel Carl get calmer through their bond. Realizing the good news. *Nery will be ok*. Cormac turned to the room from which Darius attacked.

The queen instantly stole all his attention, as she was standing on the high throne in all her terrifying glory, looking at Cormac as if he was prey. Cormac could not avert his gaze from the woman, something held his focused attention. Fear, hate, confusion, intrigue, he could not point out what it was.

"You have it too, do you not?" asked the queen, clearly amused. "Surprising that you would posses such a thing. A child of the Blackwing. Ha! How fate plays with us." The queen let out a laugh that made Cormac shiver. "It is truly a shame I did not realize that sooner. We could have been working together. Truly a mistake on my part. It is unfortunate that I will have to vanquish someone of your caliber."

"What are you talking about-" Cormac stopped as his eyes finally moved to the bottom of the stairs and there, lying in an unnatural position, laid Aviana.

The world stopped for a moment, taking Cormac's thoughts with him. It was the longest moment Cormac had experienced up to this point. A time where everything but the sight of Aviana disappeared.

The moment was broken by her chest moving up and down. Signaling that she was still alive.

Something rose up in Cormac, something he had experienced only once before.

"You dare?" Cormac looked up at the sorry queen standing on the ridiculously high throne. Her carefully crafted appearance gave way to a genuine surprise, making her lose her footing for just a second. "You dare to touch something of mine? You?"

"Watch your tongue, *boy*." The queen replied, her face lacking any emotion.

"You seem to misunderstand, *queen*." Cormac said mockingly. "There is no reason for me to do so, when talking to my *inferior*."

The queen grew angry and her expression turned ugly with hurt pride. She gestured with her scepter and shouted at him.

"**Prostrate yourself.**" The wave of her intent pushed through out the room. Harsh and unyielding.

"**No.**" Cormac replied without any difficulty. "**I will not.**"

"You stupid little boy. You think you understand what this is? What I am? You are nothing but a misguided fool. Fed on morals from a double-crossing rat! And you will pay for your insolence." The queen took a breath and assumed her calm attitude. The effort she must have spent holding it made Cormac smile. "Darius. **Awaken**."

The lifeless Darius hefted himself straight to his knees and with an incredible speed ran straight at Cormac.

Carl jumped from where Nery was, but Darius was pushed him away instantly without a thought. The force strong enough to crack the brick wall.

Before Cormac had the time to realize it, Darius's fist was already drilling into his face, sending him against the throne stairs. The impact to the stairs hurt his body even more.

"You think that being a ruler is just about commands? Will? It is about ambition. About the strength of your presence."

Cormac tried to stand up, but Darius quickly stepped right onto his chest, pushing him against the sharp stairs. And the pain hurt twofold.

The physical part was something that Cormac knew well, but the pain to his living pride was worse. His entire being screamed at what was happening. It felt shame at the weakness of it's wielder, regret at it's existence. It left Cormac with the strength it brought for but a moment. It was a fleeting thing, but it was as if a chunk of himself torn him apart.

"See? You cannot defeat but a soldier I command. What ruler are you?" The queen stepped down from the top. "Under the right tutelage, you might have been great. Under my wing, you could have blossomed into such a man. It truly is a shame I never bothered to meet you personally before. This all could have been avoided."

"Fuck...you..." Cormac let out with difficulty. Darius increased the pressure on his chest in response.

"Still have some fight in you, do you? I suppose I should reward that." She said as she came to the very last step of the throne. "I had your father killed Cormac. I had his name tarnished with the death of my mother. I prepared everything I needed to kill him, so he won't ever be king. I had your mother *hunted* Cormac. I am the one that hired that young wizard to take your life. I am the one that gave him the hernek spores. I will also be the one to kill everyone you care about. You know why?" She let silence took hold for just a few seconds, but Cormac knew exactly what would come next. "Because I can."

Cormac saw it again. The world turned to black, with only him standing on the execution platform. A rope prickled at his neck.

He looked around. His friends, his family. All the people that ever helped him. They were around him. They were shouting at him from down under the platform.

"You could have avoided this!"

"You had a chance!"

"You let us die!"

They were all blue from suffocation. All had rope dangling from their neck. All had the sunken eyes of the dead.

"I could help you." The familiar thing said. "You need me."

Cormac was not surprised about it's presence, he expected it from the moment he appeared back here again. But it hid itself this time. Hid itself behind him.

"I could give you the power you desire. The power to save everyone. My king, my beloved ruler, I could make you oh so magnificent!"

"How? What would you give me?"

"Give you? No. I would not give you anything but my love and loyalty. No, no, no. I would help you embrace something that is already there. You feel it don't you? It is so close you can almost grasp it. Can taste it."

"What would you want from me, would I accept?"

"Nothing my lord." It said, sounding uncomfortably content. "Your acceptance of me would be enough."

"Then I-" Cormac stopped himself. He was alone here and he was powerless. He would be powerless up there too. He wanted to take the deal. Save those that wanted to help him, that undergone the danger that was there. He wanted to do it so much...But he could not. And the pride had not left him fully.

"Send me back." He said sharply.

"But lord!" the voice sounded surprised and betrayed. "You can stay here! You can be stronger!"

"I will not repeat myself." he told the thing. His will clear.

"As you wish, my lord." The thing said angrily. "I do hope you won't die."

Darius still pushed onto his chest, but he bent down to pull out the knife lodged in Cormac's shoulder. The wound started quickly bleeding as the blade left it. Weakening Cormac even further.

"Start with the girl. On my command now soldier." said the queen.

Darius turned knife in hand. His steps were slow. They reminded Cormac of the steps of an executioner. Calculated and sure, but not hectic. A calm bloodlust, waiting to usher itself in the smell of blood.

Even through the pain Cormac stood up, as did Carl.

The boys traded glances and impressions through their bond.

They both felt that the soldier before them was an altogether different breed than those before. They felt something from him. Power. The undisputable kind.

Neither believed that they will bring an end to him, but neither would let him close to Nery.

Cormac channeled the broken pieces of his fleeting pride and poured them all into his command. He could feel his powers depleting, a reservoir somewhere inside him getting dry. So he gave it his all.

"**Stop**." he said.

The queen started laughing at him again, laughing at the pathetic struggle with which he uttered the word. Laughing at his belief that he can bend her will. Laughing at how Cormac fell onto the ground exhausted. The command taking more from him than some magical reserves. But her laugh deteriorated, when Darius had not taken a step. It disappeared when continued standing motionless on the ground.

"**Kill her**, Darius." she commanded. But the man had not moved from his spot, his body frozen whole.

Carl quickly ran to him and threw the knife he held away.

"**I said kill her Darius!**" she yelled angrily, but the man moved not.

The queen slowly moved to Nery herself. Carl ran to prevent her from reaching her, but she just smacked him with the scepter, throwing him far into the hallway with incredible strength.

She hefted her scepter in the air, revealing a sharpened end of it. She slowly strode to Nery, aware of the fact that none of them had the power to stop her.

None until the man that broke his word twice over, came to fulfill his last. A man with slashes across his torso, and white long hair and beard, reminiscent of white lion mane.

Leon reflected the queen's stab. The scepter narrowly missing Nery. He tackled the queen, sending her a few feet away from the Girl.

"Run!" he shouted at Cormac. "Quickly!"

"I...you..."

"Run! I had done little as your godfather Cormac. Let me protect you as I should have all this time. Run!" Leon yelled in between his slashes at the queen.

Cormac's head buzzing, and pulsating. He felt his consciousness quickly fade away, and he used everything he had left to keep it. He pierced his fingers into the wound, the pain awakening him a little.

He stood up slowly, scared that he'll top over any moment and lose consciousness completely.

He could feel Carl standing up and walking over to Nery, he hefted her on his arms. Then he started walking to Aviana, prepared to carry her as well.

*I will.* Cormac sent the thought to Carl. He could sense that Carl doubted that, he thought that Cormac would have enough trouble to carry himself, which was true. But Cormac bent down even then. He slowly and carefully picked up Aviana.

He flashed one last look into the flashing fight in which Leon had locked the Queen. He watched his godfather, now an actual lion in his eyes, fought the queen to a standstill. But Cormac knew he would lose eventually, lose the fight and his very life with it.

He bid his godfather farewell, as he turned to run.

For the first time in ages, Leon fought like a lion again. He was overwhelmed with the queen's incoming attacks, but he managed to avoid any fatal wounds. He had to stand had to hold Trisna off for as long as possible.

He fought faster than he thought he could move, he slashed stronger than he expected. He fought valiantly. He felt pride, something he thought he would never experience again.

Until the queen spoke.

"Will you betray *me* too Leo? Will you betray every ruler you serve?"

The question was carefully made to hurt his biggest regret and it accomplished it's goal. Leon felt a part of his strength leave him. Part of his determination defy him.

"I have always longed for you Leo. I had always loved you." the queen continued her onslaught, both physical and psychological.

He had felt a certain way about the queen. But he despised her more than anything. Despised her for what she was, for what she made him do.

"Did you kill Blackwing for something else then? I thought it was for me, but you continue to fight against me as well."

No, he never wanted to kill the man. Cormac was his closest friend. Leon never had any ambition to betray him. This time, Trisna's bluff was obvious.

"Serve me again Leon. Catch the children. You know what they are doing is against the better future. Our future. You know what is coming. I have told you of the doom in the east." The words were not commands. They were slimy and promising. Told in a way a lover would tempt his partner. They covered Leon's mind, slowly flooding into his thoughts.

But he steeled himself. He remembered the times he had spent with his true love. The time he spent with his children. The time he had spent with his godchild. With the very person he had promised his father to protect. Looking back, Cormac had probably known about his impending death, somehow. He would stay strong now. He had made the right choice and he would continue to keep it.

"As you wish." the queen's poisoned voice said, moments before her scepter pierced Leon's skin.

Obscurno flew above the house where Melissa and Eamon where taken. He had figured out their names from some of Cormac's memories and impressions. His master cared for them, even if they did not seem to always care for him.

He felt very thin impressions from Cormac now and he felt heavy fear in his small heart. He wanted to dart to him as soon as possible, to offer at least the little assistance he could have. But his master tasked him with something different and he would never betray him.

It was good he stayed, as he spotted a pair of enforcers walking along the houses, clearly searching for something. And escaped convicts would probably be on the top of their list.

Obscurno observed them from the air, hoping that they would go around the house as they always did. Unfortunately, the enforcers did not. They spotted a small splash of blood that escaped from one of the Leon's wounds, as he ran to help Cormac again.

They started looking through the boarded windows, tried to move the door. Slowly, but surely, they were getting closer to the actual way to enter the building.

Obscurno had to act.

He had no sacks of rocks prepared here, and he dreaded it. Knocking these unconscious with them would have been easy. But it seemed he would have to dirty his wings.

He gathered speed as he darted straight downward. Before making contact with the ground, he turned up and flew right before the enforcer's faces. His claw caught one on his eyes.

"Shit!" he yelled as he grabbed his bleeding eye with a hand, putting pressure on the wound. But before they could realize what was happening. Obscurno was flying at them again.

He dodged the wild arm swings of the men, before scratching at the other eye.

"What the fuck!" the other quickly yelled. He hefted his partner up on his shoulder and started running away.

Obscurno felt good about protecting the people inside the locked out cabin. His mission accomplished, the enforcers were running away...

*Running away! They would bring reinforcements!* Obscurno realized too late and let the enforcers run out of sight. He could catch up to them if he wanted to, but that would mean leaving the people here without protection.

They were on a tighter schedule now and it was his fault.

Obscurno flew around the cabin. Cormac had been on his way, he could feel his bond clearer now. Cormac, Carl, Nery even Aviana. All were alive, though not well. All of them suffered injuries they would have to treat at the house for a long time. But they were coming.

Obscurno sent Cormac directions to the house and urged him to come as soon as possible. When he spotted a different man standing down on the road.

This man was not looking at the houses around. Instead, he just watched Obscurno in the air.

He wore a black mask, hidden under a similarly black hood. His arms were joined together, as if he was waiting on something. A sword had been sheathed at his waist and his boots were of black leather, high to his knees.

After a little while, the man walked over to the cabin and he leaned on it. He took out a tobacco roll and lit it with a little flame coming from his thumb. Then continued waiting. Obscurno could hear him say a few things, but he was too far to hear him clearly.

There was something familiar about the man, but Obscurno could not point out what it was.

"So we are stopping here huh? No more helping Cormac and his friends? You going back on your word Gavin?" the manifestation started again.

"Calm down. I am not turning my back to them. Do you see that crow? Flying up there? Something tells me that that is the same one that took my eye." Gavin tapped at the left side of the mask.

"So you are after revenge? Is that it?"

"Considering that you are supposed to be a part of me, you are wrong about my intentions so often." Gavin replied watching the skies still. He took another hit from the tobacco and then threw it at the ground. "If that really is Cormac's bird. It would not stay here for no reason. It is either waiting for them here, or is defending something. In both scenarios, Cormac will get here."

"Yeah he might. How do you plan to introduce yourself anyway?" the manifestation said. Then it took on the appearance of Gavin. "Hey Cormac! Remember me? I am that psychopath that pretended to be your friend to kill you! Good times, huh? Hey Carl! Oh it's just me, the man that almost caused your death. Hello Aviana! Remember how I beat you into a pulp? What good memories we have!"

"Yeah, you might have a point. What do you suggest?"

"Well, since you gave so much effort into this whole getup. Maybe just embrace it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You already look like a mysterious mercenary, might as well act like one."

The idea was not so bad, even if Gavin was getting irritated by the manifestation. Sometimes he wished he could at least hit it. Just a little, just to vent.

But before he got a chance to speak more of this, he noticed a number of enforcers appearing on the far left of the street. Heading unmistakably to the house he was leaning on. The crow let out sound of panic. Seemingly aware of the power of so many people combined. Especially people armed with slings, which they had a number of.

Gavin could not help but laugh at that. The big scary enforcers, the force that was supposed to replace contract killers like him, and they were amassing numbers to defeat a single crow. Then again, this particular crow did take out one of Gavin's eyes. Maybe they really were onto something.

The crowd came closer, watching Gavin intently.

"Identify yourself!" the one in front yelled at him.

"I am a...hood? Mask? Cyclops? Sorry, I really don't know yet. I just started thinking about it."

"No jokes! We are here on her majesty's business and you will comply to our commands. Now, Identify yourself!" the man raised his sword.

"Alright, alright. I am a mercenary, waiting for my future employer. My name is...Hank." replied Gavin with his hands up in the air.

"Then we order you to clear yourself of the premises. We cannot have you snooping around here." The soldier said, walking toward Gavin.

"May I ask what is going on? I did not see anything out of the ordinary." replied Gavin as he started slowly walking to the soldier and away from the building.

"Convicts are loose, you'd do better to hide in a pub somewhere." the soldier said as he passed Gavin.

Right at that moment, Gavin placed a hand on the man's helmet and fried the head that was inside with a wave of sparks. Before the body had time to drop on the ground, or the people before him had a chance to react, Gavin started spraying fireballs at the gathering. He was careful not to hit them directly, determined to kill only as few as was needed for them to leave.

But the group reacted differently than he had expected, instead of turning and running from the volley of fire raining down on them, they roared a horn they were wearing.

The scared and desperate faces turned to stone-cold anger, to a killer state. And at that moment Gavin realized, that he should not pull his punches.

Cormac was coming closer and Obscurno continued to assault his senses with desperate impressions and thoughts. Someone was fighting a whole troop of Enforcers right outside the safehouse. What more, he seemed to purposefully divert the fighting away from it, as if he himself was protecting it.

Cormac would have been suspicious, but with the state he was in, he would gladly accept all the help he could get and ask questions later.

Carl was in a better shape than Cormac, though even he was exhausted and hurt. They had to get out of the city as soon as possible, had to get to Erwin's before it was too late.

He could see the lights of the fire in the distance. The man Obscurno kept sending him messages about was in the heat of the battle. He was dodging left and right, sending sparks and balls of fire with his left hand, wielding a sword in his right. He was a fighter like nothing Cormac had ever seen up until this point. Though there was something familiar about him, but Cormac had no time to dwell on that feeling.

He quickly entered the house through the fake wall. He knew about it because Obscurno saw Leon use it. He entered along with Carl.

Melissa and Eamon were already aware and conscious. She held him close to her, instinctively shielding him from Cormac as he had entered the room. He expected her to look at him with disdain, as she always did. Expected her to distrust him. He half-expected her to put up a fight.

But instead, Melissa was frightened. So frightened that her arms were shaking, that her eyes were darting from Cormac and Carl. That she held Eamon a little too strong, enough to hurt him a bit. Though he did not react himself. The fear taking control of his body.

"I will help you." Cormac said in between ragged breaths. "But I need you to help me now. We need to fix these injuries quick. We cannot run like this." he said, but the two did not react. They were not under the influence of whatever it was before, but the fear did enough to make them blind to what was happening.

Cormac gently put Aviana across bed in the room, before turning to Mellisa and gently putting a hand on her shoulder. He looked up into her eyes and asked again.

"Help us, please." he said.

Melissa's eyes blinked a few times, before they became clear again. She quickly nodded and turned to the girls laid out on the bed.

"What's going on?" asked Eamon weakly.

"We are running away from here Eamon. We have to."

"Where is my sister?"

"She...she...I don't know Eamon. We have to hope that..." he knew that it would be a lie. He knew he should not say it. He knew that it was a mistake. He knew it all, but he could not say anything else to his little brother's eyes. "...hope that Leon will take her with him."

"Cormac!" said Melissa as she turned to him. "The girls will be fine, you need to come here. That wound is nasty looking."

"But the girls-"

"Just needed some ointment. You two are in a worse condition. Come here and let me stich you. Quick!"

Cormac walked over and sat on the chair.

The sounds of battle outside accompanied the pain of the needle entering his flesh, knitting his wound closed.

Carl got much the same treatment, before getting a cold and painful ointment put on his injuries.

"That is all we can do here right now. You need more, but we will have to do that somewhere safer."

Suddenly the battle sounds stopped. Cormac and Carl prepared themselves before the entrance, ready to fight if necessary. It would be a last stand, but there was nothing else to do.

That was until Obscurno flew in first, followed by the masked stranger. His clothes were cut and charred, but he seemed otherwise fine.

"We have to run you guys. They are going for even more of them."

"Alright." Cormac nodded. "We will have to run across the main street and hope that the gates will be-"

"They will be closed." Melissa interrupted. "I know my sister. The gate must have been closed for some time now."

"That's true." Gavin replied. "I had to get here by bribing the guard. But something tells me that that won't work for all of you."

"...Cor-mac..." Nery let out as she sat up on the bed. She weakly reached out with her arm, pointing at the stone wall.

Cormac quickly darted to it, touching about the rocks as Nery did at the family Estate. Nothing was happening, no rock was loose, no button to push, nothing to do. Cormac feared that this time Nery was not r....

*click*.

The sound gave Cormac hope.

"Do we have any light?" he turned to the group. When nobody answered for some time. Gavin held out his hand, producing a small flame between his fingers.

"That would have to do. Nery can you walk?"

"...Y-Yes..." she said as she slowly got on her legs. They almost buckled under her weight, but she managed to stand.

"Alright, you..." Cormac pointed at Gavin.

"Hank."

"Alright Hank. I assume you are with us."

"Seems like that."

"Alright. Hank you will go first, you have the light, you will lead. Nery you go second, you will see if your intuition picks up on something in the tunnel. Behind you will go Carl, I need you to carry Aviana. Then Eamon and Melissa. I will go last, to protect us if they go at us from the rear. Obs you are with me. Everything all clear?"

The people around him nodded and quickly got into the tunnel in their formation. Once Cormac entered, a fireball flew past him, hitting a wooden wall of the house. Cormac looked forward in surprise, but 'Hank' answered plainly. "Getting rid of any leads." Before walking forward.

The wall behind Cormac rebuilt itself again. It was the same kind of tunnel as was in the academy, as was in the estate. Three times did the tunnel save him. It was a very...lucky coincidence. The kind that Cormac thought it was not.

But he paid it no mind. For now, they had a goal to escape. He would be content with that.

"What is the situation sergeant?" Trisna asked from above the throne. The room was still covered in blood and grime from the fighting before and Darius stood on the side of the throne. Looking at the floor in shame.

"The house has burned down with everything inside it. It seems that it caught fire during the fight outside. The enforcers that survived the battle reported four people entering the house, the descriptions match your assailants. A different man, a mercenary called Hank - by his word- warded off our force and killed most of the troop."

"What state are the survivors in?" Trisna asked, her displeasure evident.

"Fifteen badly burnt, ten have stab wounds that they are healing from as we speak. Around twenty with minor injuries. Can we distribute the healing tonic?"

"No." the queen answered.

The sergeant seemed surprised by the answer and he lost his words.

"I want you to kill off all the enforcers that took part in this action. They had failed and we cannot tolerate failures."

"But my queen, one of them was my son..."

"Then you better clear your families name for him." she replied. "You are right. I apologize to you my sergeant. I am on edge from what has been happening."

"Thank you very much, your majesty."

"Kill off only those unhurt. Those burned and cut put their life on the line and so deserve a second chance. They were weak, but they proved their intent."

"A wise decision, your majesty."

"You can go now sergeant. I hope your son will regain his vision."

He nodded than bowed down to her. After which he left.

"It seems we are not done quite yet Darius. You are not yet strong enough if a little whippersnapper can command you."

"I apologize my queen. I wanted to resist, but I could not..."

"Do not worry Darius. These powers are divine, it is no surprise that men are weak to it. But I will fix you Darius. We have to move to the next phase earlier than expected."

"Are the men ready? They had little time to get used to the first chance, the second is tenfold worse."

"Those who are ready will prevail, those who are not will die. It is but natural selection."

The queen stepped down the throne and moved to the windows overlooking the giant mountains in the distance.

"I have underestimated my enemies for the last time Darius."