Unexpectedly, they saw no one guarding the front entrance of the cave. Nor was there anyone within the gorge leading up to it or waiting up on the top of the cliffs to ambush them. No single soul other than their own existed out here.

It appeared that Lady Meredith wasn’t so intent on even letting her loyal allies know of this location. She wanted to keep it a secret from all others except those closest to her. This was a critical mistake on her part, but one she strategically had little other option to take.

Acknowledging this cave’s existence would indeed prove problematic for her. It would unravel every lie uttered from those lips of hers. When Bridella confronted Lady Meredith along with the other lords and ladies in attendance, she had spoken of this cave and the consequences of it. But like any who surround themselves with lies, she merely needed to deny it and accuse Bridella of trying to manipulate everyone into betraying their loyalty to her. And thus, the majority chose to stick by her side, despite the truth of the situation.

Kiran understood to a certain extent. These were uncomfortable truths to confront. Bridella would’ve easily fallen in line with the rest of them had she not had her own suspicions from the past.

Kiran hopped off his horse and observed the darkness dwelling within the cave. An orb created by Yorais began to appear and illuminate the entrance for them.

He winced a little due to the cut on his arm. The sloppily applied bandage he had done earlier needed a bit of adjusting before they carried on. Before he could do it himself, Lar approached and began handling it for him.

“You’ll need to have this taken care of soon,” she said pulling the bandage away. She began applying another one as everyone gathered around.

“Ah, it’s not that bad. Besides, the minute we’re done here, I’ll get it taken care of, I promise you.” The cut wasn’t incredibly deep, but it was a good enough cut that he did have to be somewhat concerned about it.

There were plenty of instances of warriors winning their engagements only to then die days later due to an infection. He certainly didn’t want to end up like one of them.

For now, at least, he had far more important matters to deal with first besides applying alcohol and covering his injuries such as this one with bandages.

“She’s here,” Aphelia muttered softly. “My sister lies within.” She appeared quite troubled. Doubt and regret lingered within those kind eyes of hers. “I will try my best to convince her to not fight us, but I fear she won’t listen to a single word I say.”

“She nearly killed you all the last time you were here.” Abigail turned her back to them as she walked up to the entrance. “If she gets in our way, we may have no choice but to—you know—kill her.”

“I understand that’s a possibility. But like with Felghan and Rudicous, we can always defeat her without resorting to that.”

“If that’s possible,” Yorais replied. “I promise you Aphelia, that we will do everything in our power to not kill her or cause any grave injuries to her. But we also cannot afford to hold back. We must get past her if she chooses to stand in our way. She is one who wields immense power demanding we wield immense power ourselves. This will make it more likely that she ends up gravely hurt at a minimum.”

They were going to give Aphelia the chance to direct her sister in the right direction, but success was unlikely. Everything about Evelyn was the exact opposite of Aphelia. She was vicious, stubborn, and immensely furious beyond even Abigail’s own fury which was surprisingly tempered at the moment. Perhaps all of this fighting had satiated those violent desires of hers.

Given Evelyn’s general temperament and demeanor he became uncomfortable aware of from previous interactions with her, he didn’t think Aphelia would succeed. That didn’t mean they couldn’t at least give it a try. If it did turn out to work, they would certainly have an easier time finishing this whole ordeal at long last.

Rather than remain outside any longer, the six of them began to enter the cave. The darkness within would’ve swallowed them whole had it not been for the orb hovering above their heads. Such light made things so much easier.

Their reflections appeared in the pools of water gathering inside. Droplets of water splashed into the puddles that came from the ceiling of the cave warping their appearances. He walked through a puddle and saw something strange shimmering slightly ahead of them.

“Wait,” he said. He focused even more intently and noticed what must’ve been a nearly invisible barrier. “There’s a barrier right ahead of us.”

Yorais held up a hand and appeared a bit disappointed as she tried sensing it with magic. “You’re correct. It appears someone put one up. It’s a good thing you noticed it before we ran into it.”

“What would’ve happened if we did?” Frederek asked.

“That’s hard to say. It would depend on a variety of factors,” she said whilst contorting her fingers. The faint barrier he thankfully noticed in time, dissipated into the air. “This barrier doesn’t appear to be one enhanced with any spells to cause, let’s say, harmful effects to our bodies. Whoever created it likely doesn’t have the knowledge to do that but does at least know how to create barriers which under other circumstances, would prevent us from continuing on, but these certainly make such a thing possible.” She showed them the arcane root that she held with her gloved hand at the moment. She quickly put it back in one of her robe’s pockets. “I will try to sense any further barriers as we proceed.”

As they kept going further in, they didn’t appear to run into any more barriers or wards. He imagined that that first barrier they came up against, was a way for them to know they were here. It would give them the time to prepare and position themselves appropriately.

Such preparations would help he imagined, but they were quite the team. Defeating them would be difficult, even for someone as strong as Evelyn.

Eventually, a large spacious area appeared. Yorais sent the orb to the ceiling of this spacious cave. Due to its size, she had no choice but to summon several more orbs and send them out to reveal any possible dangers awaiting them within here.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

From across this area full of different elevated rocky surfaces, he spotted Evelyn blocking their path to the narrower cave pathway they were to take to reach that chamber full of arcane roots and the altar they were seeking.

Unlike the time from when he last encountered her, Evelyn was not wearing her maid outfit. Instead, she wore a sort of black plate armor with a helmet. She kept the visor lifted to reveal her resolute face.

“Sister…” Aphelia said.

She began to approach Evelyn while the rest of them remained back.

Evelyn didn’t move or make a single sound. She just peered at her sister who kept walking up to her.

When she got close enough, a sword instantaneously manifested into reality and went straight for Aphelia’s neck. But rather than allow it to sever her head, Evelyn held back the momentum just in time for the blade to remain an inch away from Aphelia’s neck.

His heart had stopped for a moment. It looked as if she intended to go through with severing her head from her body only to end up not carrying this action through.

Someone to his side sighed, although he wasn’t sure who it was since his eyes were fixated on the two twin sisters ahead of them.

Evelyn began to grit her teeth. Even someone like her couldn’t just execute her sister. She continued to keep the blade right up to her neck in a way that suggested that she might be willing to go through with it if pushed. Whatever Aphelia did, she needed to proceed carefully lest she lose her head.

“Leave or die.” Evelyn’s voice echoed throughout this spacious part of the cave. The multiple orbs above kept much of her facial features hidden due to the inner shadows of the helmet she wore. He could see her face well enough to tell that she was embroiled in absolute rage that could barely be contained within that armor of hers.

Aphelia took another step forward despite what she just said to her. “Kill me then.”

“Is she desperately trying to get herself killed?” Lar said. “I hope she knows what she’s doing.”

“If those are the only two options available for me, then I choose to die by your own hands.” She must really believe her sister would never go through with it. I can’t see any other reason for her to so bravely confront her like this if that wasn’t her firm belief.

Evelyn began to ball up one of her gauntleted fists. She slammed it straight into Aphelia’s chest causing her to go to her knees.

With a pained moan, she got back up onto her two feet and received another punch, only this time it went straight for her face. Evelyn then sent her leg forward kicking her harshly.

Aphelia slid across the somewhat uneven ground only to stop after a couple of seconds. She began to get up and use her hands to get the dirt off of her dirtied outfit. She wiped her mouth and appeared unwavering in a manner he hadn’t seen from her before.

“You are not meant for this,” Aphelia declared. “We are not meant to fight each other. My dear sister, please, let us spare Alanora from this nonexistent life she is being forced to experience. We cannot prolong it any further!”

“You do not get to speak of what she desires. You would instead have us meddle with her body and that altar ensuring she never gets the choice to make for herself.”

“She cannot make that choice. She is entirely unable to.”

“False! With enough time, she…she will get that chance.” She struggled to argue for her own position. Even someone as resolute as her, could not fully rationalize her position.

Aphelia fully intended to take advantage of that. “How much longer then shall we wait for her to one day wake up? Will it take another year? Another decade? Multiple decades? How long can our populations tolerate these conditions? Every year there are fewer people alive despite trying to create more. At this rate, it won’t be all that long until there’s none left in this domain.”

She began to approach Evelyn once again. “She hasn’t shown any signs of being conscious whatsoever. For all we know, all we’ve ever been protecting since our existence is a soulless body.” She slowed her approach maintaining enough distance, that Evelyn couldn’t strike her down from where she currently stood.

“Your words are like poison. All they seek to do is destroy and corrupt my mind.”

“No, that’s not it at all. All I wish to do is to speak the truth. We cannot be blind to it, we must confront it and accept it for what it is.”

“You claim to know this truth, whatever you think it is, but what you’re saying cannot be taken as the truth necessarily. Neither you nor I know what is wrong with her. The safer route is to remain patient.”

“At the cost—”

“Her life matters more than any other. Neither of us would exist if not for her. We owe her our very souls. I will never betray her. Not for you, not for them, or anyone else.”

A dark energy began to ripple across the surface of her sword. Kiran began to grip his sword more tightly as everyone else anticipated that convincing her was not going to work out.

I cannot say I’m all that surprised. This was always an inevitability, but I still wanted to give her a chance.

Evelyn pulled down the visor of her helmet. A strange blue energy ran across her black armor with a myriad of lines and geometrical shapes forming on the rough surface.

“That armor,” Yorais said, “is not just mere plate armor. It has been infused with that of an arcane root.”

“That can’t be good,” Frederek said.

“It’s most certainly not. Prepare yourselves. Use every bit of power that these arcane roots can grant us. If we don’t, we will not make it out of this alive.”

“You’re right dear sister,” Evelyn said approaching her. “I cannot kill you. It appears I don’t have it in me unlike you who is so eager to kill Alanora. But while I cannot slay you by my own hands, that doesn’t mean I cannot injure you, nor does it mean I must spare the rest of them who have come here.”

“Aphelia, get back!” Kiran yelled out. There wasn’t enough time to reach her from where they were. She was going to be injured in such a way that would prevent her from being able to assist in fighting.

From a time before, Aphelia had come to his aid protecting him from Evelyn striking him down. This time, he came to her aid using the arcane root he had possession of. He summoned a barrier from afar strengthening it far beyond what he normally required.

Since he wasn’t quite sure how powerful Evelyn’s strikes were, he had to be more cautious. That did mean, however, that he had no choice but to tap into the arcane root’s power more so than during their previous encounter with Felghan and Rudicous.

The barrier protected Aphelia from Evelyn’s strike which would’ve given her a nasty injury. Her sword bounced off of it which annoyed her.

“I should’ve killed you that first night you visited my lady’s manor.” She pointed the front of her body right at him. “I won’t make that mistake again.”