No one paid attention to the little girl. She walked across the market square, bought some sweets, and was "just strolling," clearly enjoying sucking on a candied stick. She looked completely carefree and happy.
Just a child. Just walking around.
After bypassing a small procession of Elai priests, the girl, hopping on one leg, joined other children playing in the street. She played for about ten minutes, laughed with the kids, shared some of her sweets with them, and then continued on her way.
There were still a few hours left before sunset, and the streets of Atrei were crowded. Numerous throngs of pilgrims streamed endlessly toward the main Temple of Elai, the largest and most revered in all of Ain. Occasionally, she encountered battle groups hurrying to the Inverted Tower. She didn't avoid them; on the contrary, she waved her hands cheerfully and wished them a successful raid.
All this playacting, this childlike spontaneity, was mere pretense. In reality, the girl was nervous. Though she would never admit it, even to herself.
Those seers and their obscure speeches, may Da'Nnan take them! How much easier it would be if they spoke plainly instead of using metaphors. Yet all their prophecies were so vague, blurry, open to multiple interpretations. However, the girl was not discouraged; she knew how to solve complex problems. In fact, one might say she derived some perverse pleasure from difficult tasks.
The latest prophecy had made her travel all over Ain. And while she had completed the first part of the task relatively easily, having had some fun along the way by scorching a Sidhe combat squad, the second part proved to be much more challenging.
The one who was her second target eluded all the traps set with incredible ease. He avoided ambushes and outsmarted the best mercenaries despite them being a whole Coil of the Great Spiral above his rank.
At first, Reygyana thought that the second target had an incredibly developed sense of danger. But the more her plans failed, the more she was convinced that it wasn't about intuition. The Second was intelligent, very intelligent. So much so that she suggested recruiting him, but was refused. And such a person would have been very useful for their plan. Would have been, but the prophecy was relentless.
The Second must be alive but must stop thinking.
A strange condition. And how to fulfill it, the girl cursed by Ishid pondered for many nights.
More than a dozen times, the Second avoided all her traps and ambushes. But today... today everything would be different. Reygyana's plan was so unusual, so audacious, that even the most sophisticated mind could not have figured it out. She was sure of it because those who consider themselves adults would never take such a risk.
And there he was, the Second, standing in line among the pilgrims to enter the Main Temple of Elai. Without approaching him, the girl slipped into the crowd of pilgrims. Two touches on the right people, and the Seals of Subjugation, imposed by the Mental Mage of the Heroic Coil, began their work.
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The first person she touched was a Life mage of Ruby Rank. The second one was a hunter of Opal who had earned Elai's curse, and now his arrows couldn't kill a target, even if they hit directly in the heart. The first stood in line to offer ordinary gifts, and the second hoped to lift the curse. Having done her job, the girl happily skipped away and took up a convenient observation position.
The bell on the central square of Atrei rang, announcing to everyone that there were three hours left until sunset.
The Seals of Subjugation began their work.
The cursed hunter took a step, leaving the line. In his hands, as if from thin air, appeared a powerful composite bow. None of the pilgrims standing next to him even had time to flinch and understand what was happening as an arrow, aimed by the skilled hand of the Opal fighter, was launched into flight. In a fraction of a second, it pierced the Second's head. Pierced through and flew forward, only to disintegrate into weightless ash and be carried away by the wind a moment later.
The man who had long eluded all her traps silently collapsed onto the pavement with a neat hole in his skull. Nevertheless, he was still alive.
In two swift, wide steps, the Life mage, urged forward by the Seal of Subjugation, approached the Second and cast stabilizing spells. Priests of Elai were already hurrying to the gravely wounded, coming down the steps of the Temple. From the other side, the city guards were rushing towards the line of pilgrims.
The girl quietly snapped her fingers, and the two with the seals ignited like torches, burning to ashes. This way, even the most skilled inquisitor would not be able to understand what had happened today.
Panic seized the crowd of pilgrims. People were running, pushing each other, but Reygyana cared little for that. She watched closely as two priests carried the unconscious body with the pierced head into the Temple. Finally, almost a month of chasing was over, and she could focus on truly important matters.
The Second was alive but undoubtedly incapable of thinking. Not even the High Priest of Elai of the Mithril rank could heal such a wound. The Second's brain was irreparably damaged. This meant she had fulfilled the Head's will and eliminated the one who could potentially interfere with the Main Goal in the future. And she had done it exactly as the seers had requested.
After standing in place for another ten minutes and waiting for the guards to restore order, the girl walked towards the market square.
She craved something sweet again.
The one who called himself Morpheus, and whom she called the Second, would now spend the rest of his days drooling, more resembling a vegetable than a human.
Reygyana had no idea that she - along with the seers who had conducted the bloody ritual, sacrificing five humans, five dwarves, five sidhe, and five orcs kidnapped from the Tyberian Plateau - had unwittingly become instruments of the "will" of that Balance the quester had told Raven about.