The Flower field had gone silent once again, the three people still standing in it had stopped talking entirely. The dead bodies were removed from the clearing and buried in the distance. The frozen orc stood still and watched them.

“You want to tell us where your scoundrels are coming from?”, Kalliope asks him with an evil smile.

“I'd rather die than tell you something.”, The orc says.

“Okay good luck.”, Kalliope explains and kicks him down a slope close to the flower field and the graves. He vanishes into the treetops, shortly after the sound of freezing ice is to be heard.

“Are we following him?”, Craftol asks and looks towards the slope the orc fell down. Orcs were stubborn against physical pain, most of the damage probably was blocked by the ice around the orc. The only damage that was really done to the orc, was the last impact and the imprint of a heel from Kalliope's boots on his back. As Arkevh answered the orc had already vanished behind the treetops.

“No, let him be for now, the orcs from the south have nothing to do with the orc’s in the north as far as I know. I also won’t follow him now, we would waste our time if he does not comply.”

“And you also would miss the ball.”, Craftol reminds Arkevh.

“The Ball, they will be there.”, Kalliope says thoughtfully. Her laddish attitude had vanished but her anger was understandable, the orcs tried to kill them after all.

“That Karsa and who else?” Arkevh asks, confused.

“My whole Family, four people here, another one of them is in Enshire. He is guarding Lady Fira.”, Kalliope explains sad.

“Wait, you took Lady Fira Hostage?”, Arkevh asks confused, he heard from the lady of ice, she was a strong magician. Kalliope's family seemed to be strong if they could capture her.

“Yes, Nash that bastard holds her captive the rest is also not to be underestimated. Trisor is a shapeshifter that will lead them closer to the king if Shade fails. Shade can face through solid material. Veleno will drug some at the ball including you if you drink or eat something Arkevh.”, Kalliope explains.

“So we should warn the King, I know who can easily reach him.”, Arkevh explains and thinks about Donovan.

“Even if we warn them, Karsa listens to us all the time. Through me she will already have changed her plan as we were done with the orcs.” Kalliope explains

“I’m sorry it’s my fault.”, Kalliope explains and looks at the ground.

“It’s not your fault, without you we would not know about the assassination attempt at all. We will take care from here.”, Arkevh explains.

Kalliope rubs away a tear and nods.

“T-Thank you.” She just says.

“I want to help you and I need your help as well”

“I know Karsa seems to have a magical connection with you somehow. Do you her?”, Arkevh asks her

“Yes, even though she probably won’t kill me.”, Arkevh explains

“Why that?”, Arkevh asks interested.

“I’m not sure she needs me for something?”, Kalliope explains.

“Can she appear next to you?”, Arkevh asks further.

Kalliope nods.

“Do you feel when she approaches?

Kalliope nods again and starts to shake; it seems like it happens once or multiple times.

“Fine we will help you.”, Arkevh explains

“We?”, Craftol asks, baffled.

“You are Part of the Guild and our Group now so you're gonna help us as well.”, Arkevh explains.

Craftol just sights.

“Fine I will help you but don’t think I would fight against someone who could appear anytime.”, Craftol gives in, even if reluctant.

“Thank you Craftol.”, Kalliope says.

“You are Donovan, am I right?”, Karsa asks the man in front of his door, who rummages through the beard and gives her a polite smile.

“Indeed, Helland sent me, where do you know him from?”, Donovan asks skeptically.

“As a noble you also know the church to some extent, especially if you are working towards the same goal. Alexander needs to leave the Throne, everyone is doing it for the money besides us, am I right?”, Karsa asks Donovan and smiles.

For being around 40 Years old her appearance looked rather young. But that is what Karsa was known for; she somehow preserved herself very efficiently. Donovan knew how this was achievable. Her Magic Aura was not to be underestimated if she revealed it freely. In addition her Magic skills showed with her hiding the Aura she normally emitted, she only revealed it towards Donovan for a short period of time.

“I agree he either needs to die or be taken care of politically. He abandoned the church and retreated from Darkingstone even though Arkevh was able to kill a big part of the orcish army. With the elves and the dwarfs he could use the forces of Ljus to end the Order of Mörk.

Karsa chuckled as she heard Donovan's simple thought process, he still was a child after all playing after Helland's rules the one he admired so much.

“Good let us talk more freely, there is a garden close isn’t it?”, Karsa asks.

Donovan nods, resulting in Karsa stepping out in the sun, the large hat and the black dress protecting her pale skin as best as possible. Together they would get rid of Alexander's reign, after that however their goals would go part ways.

A bit later Arkevh, Kalliope and Craftol would arrive back in Helgria. They were able to catch some sleep. Karsa did not seem to be interested in attacking them at this exact time.

So they entered the Guilds grounds well rested.

“Look who's back.” Bryan exclaimed and rummaged through his beard, he had a sly smile on his face.

“What is your problem Bryan? Why did you tell everyone I joined the Guild?”, Arkevh reminds himself, since the first day he seemed weirdly interested in Arkevh's arrival even though he had not talked with him since their first encounter.

“Well-”, he takes a while to answer.

“None of your business okay? Piss off.”, Bryan answered annoyed.

“Do you need help or something.”, Kalliope speaks up, confused by his abrupt change of mood.

As Bryan hears those words he seems weirdly silent, and stomps on to the ground.

“I hate you!”, Bryan yells and throws his sword towards the dummy, he misses.

As the sword falls towards the dirt he starts to breathe heavily for a while.

“Okay I do you need your help!”, he yells again and looks at Arkevh.

“I tried to get your attention in some way, I thought you like that like every famous person does.”, Bryan exclaims and waits a while.

“And I felt sorry for the first meeting.”, Bryan says slowly and picks up the sword, his face only loosely reflecting itself on the rusty blade.

“Why were you so angry back then?”, Arkevh asks, confused?

“Well you seems like a noble nowadays in some way, they are the reason why my Sister and Mother had it so hard, she can’t finance a house cause they are all greedy and i assumed you are like them, the Holy Knights are said to be part of the church but behave nothing like in the holy scriptures.”, Bryan explains.

“So your family has Money problems because of greedy feudal lords, we can help you to get some money.”, Arkevh explains.

“You would do that?”, Bryan's Eyes light up as he finishes his question.

“I will and I have a plan to do so. Wait here I will come back later when we got everything we need from Bork.”, Arkevh explains and continues towards the Forge.

Bryan nods in agreement while Kalliope and Craftol follow him.

“What are you planning to help him with?”, Craftol asks unknowingly.

“Just let me do, I have a plan.”, Arkevh explains and knocks on the forge's door.

They hear footsteps and soon enough Bork steps outside.

He looked rather sleepy, however his eye started to shine in wakefulness again, as soon as he saw the Lunar flower in Arkevh's hands.

“You really found it?” Bork asks, surprised and joyful at the same time, grabbing the flower instantly and rushing back into the forge.

“Follow me.”, he explained and vanished behind a wall. Surprised by his sudden energy they follow him inside.

They go past the very small main corridor of the wooden hut into an adjoining room. Only dimly lit by a small window on the right side, which directly shone towards an old crafting bench on the opposite side.

On top of it there was a vase containing a mix of colorful flowers, the Vase itself was decorated in wave like patterns, this probably was the gift Bork was talking about.

“Thanks. I probably would never have found this flower without you.”, Bork shows his gratitude.

He cuts a bit of the stem and puts it into the vase, then he gives Arkevh the rest of the flower.

“Is that a gift for your Wife?”, Kalliope asks Bork, he nods.

“Yes that’s it, the Lunar flower has a lot of Mana in it, so it will keep the other flowers blooming for years on end. I only need a part of it, it does not shine right now but it still contains some Mana I can feel it. Maybe the Mana comes from the moons when it shines.”, Bork theorizes.

“That could be true we never really studied Lunar and Lunnon how could we?”, Arkevh explains and looks at the flower in his hands, he had an idea, a stupid Idea not sure if he should do it.

“That's all for now, thanks for your help once again, keep the flower as a little Gift Nolan has the payment as always.”, Bork smiles and looks over to the Vase again. Never dying Flowers from all across Ljus as well, a nice Gift. His Wife was probably someone who loved nature.

On their way inside the Tavern Arkevh speaks up about his plan. Not sure if she would like it.

“Kalliope i thought about something. The Lunar flower could sense Karsa as well right, you shoved it away so quickly and you told us that she can sense you maybe we can do it too with that flower somehow.”,

“You can do more than that Arkevh.”, Kalliope explains

“There is a kind of compass in me, you can sense it and destroy it maybe.”, Kalliope continues.

“It could be dangerous I assume?”, Arkevh asked her.

“Yes and you need to use a lot of Mana, I think you are the only one that can do it, but I understand when you don’t want to use your powers for me, you know me since a few hours at most.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Well you warned us from the attack, i can try it, so we are even.”, Arkevh smiles

“I can give you a trinket that increases your amount of Mana for a while, I can surely fabricate it with some spare ingredients left, Maybe we don’t need to use your hidden powers if you need to use a lot of Mana”, Craftol suggests with a grin.

“We can try, what do you think?” Arkevh looks over at Kalliope.

“Only an outside force can remove it. I found the perfect one for that. Let's do it.”, Kalliope says determined.

“Ah you are back, you are done with the task?”, Nolan greets them and hobbles from the counter towards them, he had 3 badges and a letter with him.

“Bork was so nice and made some named Badges for new Guild Members, Arkevh and Craftol yours hold your name.”, Nolan smiles and gives them the letter and the two badges, he also had a bronze badge for Kalliope, without name however.

“Welcome to the Guild.”, Nolan smiles

“You actually made them smaller for me, thank you.”, Craftol explains and takes off his old badge, he feels lighter once again.

“No Problem did everything go well.”, Nolan asks?

“It did.”, Arkevh answers.

“Good, so you can help me with the Guild tonight, there are probably a lot of guests coming.”, Nolan chuckles.

“We can talk about that later Nolan. Okay you two let's go to Craftol’s room and prepare everything.”, He explains and goes up the stairs with them.

“Why are you going so fast?”, Nolan asks confused

“I’ll explain it later.”

Kalliope sat cross legged in Craftols room and tried to meditate, she needed clear focus, Arkevh as well. Both of them focused their Mana as best as they could, while Craftol prepared a mixture in the meantime

After a while he gave Arkevh the bluish trinket.

“Normal Blue Herbs?”, Arkevh asks and realizes the hints of green color in it

“You don’t wanna know.”, Craftol smiles and watches Arkevh chuck the liquid down, on his face he could tell that he did not like the bitter after taste.

Even though the mixture tasted awful Arkevh could feel his Mana circulating in a pulsating way, he was ready to undertake the magical treatment and looked towards Kalliope for approval. She didn’t open her eyes, she just nodded slowly.

Arkevh stretched his hands out up front and concentrated on the auras he could sense close by. Holding the Lunar flower in his left hand.

He senses his own, the relatively weak one from Craftol but also Kalliope's immense Aura, most of it was actually from her only a small part seemed to be hidden somewhere in between this mass of Mana. He takes a while but with sending some of his Mana towards Kalliope he is able to dig a path into the aura, revealing Karsa's compass within. As his Mana reaches the Compass it starts to pulsate aggressively, and before he can really realize what happened he hears Craftol yelling.

“Arkevh look out.”, he yells as the strings once again burst out of Kalliope, they directly focus on Arkevh and pierce through his left hand, with what he tries to block as many as he can. Even enchanted with light magic some of them pass through, even reaching his body causing the strings to cause wounds on his stomach, gladly not that deep.

Arkevh lets out a sound of pain, as two of his fingers fall to the ground. Before the others can do something Arkevh speaks up.

“Stay concentrated, both of you. I got this.”, Arkevh eases his friends and directs both hands forward. The blood tripping to the ground, his hand felt like it was placed in a fireplace. But he carried on he could heal himself later.

Kalliope did not see what was going on but she was able to hear it, especially the sound of something falling to the ground and that the strings hit something. As the strings loosened from their target they return with a hint of Mana while the blood burns on them in an instant. She hated Karsa, what was her plan now? Did she know that the connection was about to be cut and she tried to resist?

Kalliope does not have enough time to think, she senses a strong Aura next to her then suddenly a sharp pain overcomes her as something falls out of her neck closing the wound instantly, as something slams to the ground. She looks up again. He did it!

Opening her eyes reveals Arkevh who cowers on the ground, Craftol standing next to him touching his shoulder carefully. The eye on Arkevh's forehead vanishes as another stream of blood flows from his nose onto the wooden tilling. He looks towards Kalliope who gives him a smile of relief, then looks at the two fingers on the ground and then back at Arkevh's hand. He lost his ring and little finger, his face still covered in pain, he leans back and sights.

“I understand why you hate her now.”, he laughs but immediately goes silent again now that his stomach burns as the bottom part of his tunic slowly turns red.

“I’m sorry Arkevh.”, Kalliope explains, holding back tears in her eyes, she felt closer to being free.

“You don’t need to I… I applied to this idea, just promise me that you take care of Karsa at the ball. I have a plan.”, he chuckles again and holds his undamaged hand in front of his stomach trying to heal the small wounds with his light magic.

“Come on Arkevh I make you a healing potion.”, Craftol explains while Kalliope picks up the Compass.

“Thanks Craftol.” Arkevh looks towards his Companion who has started to prepare something on his desk. He had an Alchemy set built up. Nolan had a spare one left. He looks back at Kalliope who held the Compass in her Hand. She washed away her tears with a mantel and looked towards Arkevh.

“I’m in your debt.”, She smiles and gets a reply.

“I will make Karsa pay, I promise!”, Kalliope explains.

Arkevh nods and stands up, changing his expression because of the pain again.

“Before you rightfully destroy that… Compass stone we can maybe use it for my Plan.”, Arkevh explains.

“How exactly and what are you planning?” Kalliope asked intrigued.

“I will warn the King, and study the Crystal. I do my best in the time we have left to study those compass stones. I heard about them and from it I can maybe create some more. They could help us establish a connection without needing to implement them in your body”, Arkevh explains

“Sounds like a plan.”, Craftol agrees and comes back with a healing potion and a bandage, trying to stop the bleeding on Arkevh's hand.

“Thank you Craftol.”, Arkevh explains and looks at his left hand for a while, he sees both of his friend’s concerned views.

“Can you heal that?”, Craftol asks unsure

“Maybe but I need time that we don’t have right now. Craftol asks Bork or Nolan for some gems or crystals, I will explain everything to them tonight.”, Arkevh looks at his small companion.

“I will need your help with creating the compasses, they seem to be infused gems.”

“I do my best.”, Craftol explains

“Kalliope take the time you need to train or to rest. Since the Compass got removed I feel an even stronger Aura. It was strong at the clearing but now you seem to be even stronger. Surpassing mine currently, I know that you can beat Karsa.”, Arkevh smiles and drinks the potion.

He loved the sweet taste of the mixture and he felt something easing his pain. He was ready to warn Donovan and the King. Even though Donovan did not like the King, the Codex of the church he followed would force him to help.

“Kalliope another Question, which house are Karsa in the rest residing in?”, Arkevh asks

“Park Path, the biggest House.”, She answers by describing a house in the northwest of Helgria.”

“Thanks, Karsa won’t have a chance I promise!”

“And you are really sure there is an assassination of the King planned?”, Donovan asks Arkevh, he needs to play the unknowing one for a while.

“I can get Craftol and Kalliope too if you don’t believe me, second of all why should i lie, you know i don’t care about the King you should.”, Arkevh explains and hides his wounded hand in his pocket.

Donovan Sights.

“Well you are right, it is my duty as an adversary of the church to protect the King and I may have a plan to catch those intruders.”, Donovan Smiles.

“If we cancel the Ball, we will never catch the Assassins, this Kalliope tells us about right, but we can set a decoy. There are three rooms that are important. The kitchen, the ball hall and the King's room. We can catch Lady Fira, the Shapeshifter Kalliope told you about, Karsa if Kalliope described her right and also Veleno pretty easily. Then we open a fourth room where we place the king and shade will fall into a trap in the Throne room where the king was supposed to be before. Sounds like a plan?”, Donovan asks his companion.

Arkevh nods.

“I had a similar Idea but I have another question. How many people can I invite to the Ball?”, Arkevh asks

“Probably ten like most nobles, why do you ask?”, Donovan questions.

“I Plan on creating a connection with my Guild Members with self made compass stones, so we can communicate and take multiple Positions.”, Arkevh explains the plan.

“I will inform the King, I promise. If you are able to create those stones, give one to me as well.”

“Park Path. The biggest house right?”, Donovan asks once again

Arkevh nods.

"I probably won't find anything there but i try my best.", Donovan explains and parts away.

Unknowingly that both of them worked against each other, Arkevh returns to the guild. And tries his best in motivating his Guild Members.

“I know that sounds weird but we really need your help protecting the King from the assassins, I know you all probably don’t like the King and don’t care for him like me. But our leader can’t be decided by acts of terror.”, Arkevh explains.

“In addition the Assassins are sent from Enshire through Garwin, i don’t think you want to be reigned by that old Carwitz either?”, Kalliope asks in the crowd. The Guild Members nodded to each other in response.

“You can show the King your worth but also the nobles that they should not underestimate you.”, she continues

Bryan and his sister stand up.

“If what you say it's true, I'm gonna help you, I don’t like the King but I don’t want to get controlled by Carwitz either and there is surely a payment that we can use for our mother, right Bianca?” Bryan asks and turns to her sister. She nods

“Indeed.”

Other guild Members sight and stand up.

“As an ex-Guard I can show the others that my skills still hold up.”, an older man smiles.

“And I can show my skills as a soldier. Maybe I can enter guard training again.”, a man in Iron armor stands up.

“Well then it's settled, we 're gonna protect the King and show that the Helgria guild has its place in this world.”, Arkevh explains with a smile.

In the meantime Donovan sat in a darkened room, meditating until something touched his shoulder. As he opened his eyes he stared in his own face. It was an exact copy. Every beard hair, every wrinkle, every scar on his arm even his aura was an exact copy.

That was Trisors ability. A scary one indeed, but it will help shape the way for Helland, the one that knows the truth. Even if Karsa took parts of Arkevh's powers Donovan was the true tainted one, like Helland always prophesied. In his blind eye he could see the Father.