Even though the arcane root appeared dead, he didn’t dare touch it barehanded. He grabbed a piece of fabric and wrapped it around the palm-sized object that reminded him of the arcane root his uncle had shown to his past self. As he held onto it, there was no power surging into him. It was completely dead much like the queen.

He imagined the queen had kept the state of her mortal body a secret. She always wore that arcane armor that prevented anyone from realizing that instead of possessing an actual heart, there was merely an arcane root transplanted in its place to grant her an extended life. She was at the end of a day a mortal like everyone else.

“What do you think you have done!” Lewis yelled aloud as he sat there on the ground with fury in his eyes. “Your actions have doomed this city. And especially you, traitor!” His lips quivered as he stared directly at Silvy. “You are no sister of mine nor anyone else in our order. You will suffer for this I swear.”

Silvy punched him in the face getting him to shut up. “She was a tyrant Lewis. Nothing more and nothing less. You’ve seen her cruelty with your own eyes. I know you have. Don’t begin to tell me that she didn’t deserve this.”

“Deserve?” He began to laugh. “We cannot begin to understand the position she has been in. She was responsible for the safety of all of our lives. It is because of her that we are able to live. Now that she is gone, we are all going to die.”

“That’s not true,” Silvy stated firmly. “We no longer have need of her. We can power the pillar ourselves.”

“The pillar…as if that is all that matters.” The fury in his face went away instead reforming towards a more cold and calculating stare. “You’ll be remembered for this Silvy. Traitor to our queen. Traitor to the citizens of Liall that you also swore an oath to protect. And beyond all of that, a traitor to our order. I spit on all that you are and I pray that you die!”

All of a sudden a knife revealed itself in his hands. He lunged forward only for Silvy to slice his arm off. The knife fell to the floor and blood began to spill out onto the marbled floor. Rather than let him suffer from the serious injury, Silvy did him the courtesy of plunging her sword towards his heart. A bright orange and red flame at the very tip of her sword formed right as it went through his breastplate. The enhanced tip gave the sword enough strength to pierce through his armor and penetrate his heart. The anguish and life in his eyes became calm as he passed from this life to the next.

Silvy stood there standing over the fallen knight. He put a hand on her shoulder trying to get her to focus less on him and more on what they needed to do now that the queen was dead. They had to get out of this place somehow without getting captured. Kiran was not up for this task alone. It was up to Silvy to lead them through this heavily guarded place.

“Silvy, we need to go.”

“I know.” Although he didn’t quite see her face, he could tell she did not feel happy about having to kill this man. Who would? Even Kiran didn’t feel happy for having to end the queen’s life. But it was a necessary step towards justice. She eventually backed away from Lewis and looked around. “Follow me.”

They traveled further into the vast complex of halls and rooms getting ever further away from the keep where their actions lay there out in the open for any who stumbles near it to see. While they had distanced themselves away and avoided running into anyone, he felt immensely worried that they would get stopped.

His life ultimately was in the hands of Silvy who knew the layout of this place. They ended up reaching what looked like a barracks of sorts. She closed the door to the room full of armor, weapons, and gear for the knights.

“Alright,” Silvy said. “We need to get you covered from head to toe so nobody can recognize you. Have you ever worn full plate armor before?”

“Not that I know of.”

“I would think you’d normally remember if you had but anyways. Let’s hurry before anyone stumbles in here.” He hadn’t told Silvy yet that he didn’t recall much from his past. It could’ve been possible that he had in that previous life of his worn plate armor. He sure as heck didn’t know though so to say definitively was a farcical notion at least to him.

Before long he found himself—with the help of Silvy—covered from head to toe in plate armor. A green cloak fell down his shoulders and down his armored back as well.

“There we are,” she said after putting a silver plate helmet over his head with the visor down to obscure his face. “Now, if anyone asks you who you are, say you’re Ser Renald. Try to say it in a muffled low tone as well, alright?”

“Ser Renald,” he said with a low scruffy voice. “Got it.”

As they left the cramped barracks, the hallway was bustling with people dashing through it. A pair of armored knights stopped by them breathing in heavily. “Silvy, there you are.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve received word from Grand Master Harold to meet at the queen’s keep. We’ve received word that Queen Luvia Aenveld has been murdered.”

“Murdered? That can’t be right. By who then?”

“We don’t know. We’re all expected to meet there to figure out what’s happened.”

“You two should go immediately then. We’ll be right behind you.”

The two knights left them and didn’t look behind as they rushed away. Well word has certainly gotten out now. That’ll most likely make our exit much more difficult.

She grabbed his armored wrist. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

They exited through an arched entryway leading outside. The sun shined down upon them harshly and reflected unkindly off the puddles made out of melted snow. While the outside parts of the keep were quite beautiful, he had a hard time taking in its beauty with everything that has gone on.

He felt somewhat disappointed when he thought he would feel great after having carried out this plan of his. The spilling of blood even to one who he thought deserved it, strangely felt hollow to him.

They reached one of the inner gates that were different than the one they had originally entered through. Silvy ordered them to lift it. So far they didn’t deny her request. When they reached the outermost gate, they prepared to open it as well for them. However, a pair of knights began marching towards them from behind.

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“You two,” one of them said. “You’re to report to the queen’s keep immediately.”

“What for?” Silvy said.

“Orders from Grand Master Harold.”

“We have somewhere important to be.” The last gate continued to go up giving them access to their freedom. However, just as that freedom lay right there for the taking, right behind them it felt like the tip of multiple daggers sat right up against their backs.

“You would disobey an order from a superior?” Kiran turned himself around to face the trio of knights. Kiran was the only one wearing a helmet. He had little choice considering they would likely immediately know he was not one of them. They eyed him suspiciously. “Who exactly is this with you?”

“Ser Renald,” Kiran said in that low muffled tone she suggested he ought to use.

“Excuse me?

“Ser Renald.”

The man’s brows lowered. “Can you perhaps try to speak more legibly for me Ser…?”

“Renald!”

“Ser Renald you say?”

Is it really that hard to understand me in this tone?

“I’m fairly certain we ran into Ser Renald moments ago,” the brown-haired knight said beside him.

Confusion beset his face only for a scowl to appear. “Close the gates!”

Silvy yanked his wrist harshly causing them to dash towards the entrance that began to close. As freedom itself stood there only to soon be barred from them, they managed to get past the portcullis right as it closed altogether.

Neither looked back. They ran for it ignoring whatever arrows came flying towards them. His heart felt like it would pound right out of his chest and go straight through his breastplate considering how hard it pounded. His breathing became course and every breath taken of cold winter air causing further irritation in his lungs.

They ended up strolling down some steps leading them close to one of the inner city rivers with water that hadn’t fully frozen over. She led them beneath a bridge where they could catch their breath.

“I imagine,” he said taking another deep breath of air, “that you’ll want to avoid ever showing your face to them again.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious. But you’re right.” She sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow. “At least we got out of there. I wasn’t sure whether we would for a while back there.”

His breathing slowly went back to normal providing some relief. His heart still felt ready to fly out of his chest however.

While the darkness under the bridge offered some relief from thinking they’d be easily discovered after losing whoever chose to run after them, his body tensed up again as the bells began to toll throughout the city. Traveling through the city had been somewhat laborious since the queen instituted more patrols to wander throughout the city to hinder the coalition’s recent operations. But now, whoever was to take charge whether temporarily or permanently, he imagined the patrols would only increase.

“So this is what it feels like to be an enemy in this city,” she said.

“Doesn’t feel so good does it?”

“Not at all.”

Silvy was a bit of a unique person in that she had both perspectives of the hunter and the hunted. He only knew what it was like to be hunted so he imagine that must feel quite strange to end up on the opposite end. He did find it somewhat amusing that not all that long ago, she was the one who fought against him, and now to see where she had ended up at. He couldn’t help but smile a bit thinking about this and seeing her fully commit to aiding him.

“So,” she said softly. “How do you feel now that you’ve accomplished this task you sought to do?”

It was a strange feeling. He did accomplish it. It was a task that felt nearly impossible to do, and he had chosen to try to succeed anyways managing to in fact succeed in the end. But despite that, he did not feel great about it. That same hollow feeling he felt earlier lingered making him wonder why he didn’t feel better about it.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he felt concerned that he made the wrong decision. It also brought to mind of what Della might think of his action to try to not necessarily avenge her, but bring her justice for the wrongful act done to her and many others. Is this what you would’ve wanted Della? Does it even matter what you would’ve wanted? I wanted this for myself and others, or at least I thought I did.

His mind was full of confusion. Emotions swarmed around his head making it difficult to pinpoint how he should about it. Maybe should was the wrong word. Perhaps a better word ought to be why. Why do I feel so confused? Should I not have been sure before doing this? I guess I thought I was certain beforehand but now I’m truly unsure.

“Kiran,” she said getting him to snap out of being in his own head. “You look like you’re unsure of things. Are you alright?”

“To tell you the truth Silvy, I’m not sure. I did accomplish my goal but now I just don’t know if it was the right decision. I know that’s not the answer you’re likely excited to hear but I don’t want to lie to you either.”

“The way you feel right now reminds me of how I felt during the entire process of me deciding whether or not to turn my back to the queen. So I can say with absolute certainty, that I know how you’re feeling right now.” The only difference he supposed was that she felt that way before the fact, not after the fact like he did.

However he felt, his previous actions were set in stone. I can only ever go forward. There is no turning back.

While they could reflect on their recent actions, he knew better than to do that all day especially when a search was inevitably going on to find them. They ended up carefully moving through the city eventually reaching the same place she was being carefully watched at. He whispered the password at the door only for it to open.

They both went inside in a hurry as the man closed the door.

“Well? Did you succeed?” the watcher at the door asked.

“I did.” It sounded strange for him to say it, but he had succeeded. The queen was dead. And now, as for what would occur, he felt excited and terrified at the same time as he struggled to fully comprehend the situation that had occurred.

The man whose name escaped him gave him a mighty pat on the shoulder. “Nice job. That tyrant got what she deserves. Now then, as for you.” He directed his focus towards Silvy. He took her sword and handed it over to another man who would keep it safely stowed away.

“What? Still don’t trust me? I’m guessing you’re intending to still keep me under watch, huh?”

“Bosses orders. Don’t worry, we’ll continue to treat you well, especially after your assistance.”

Silvy sighed finding the situation somewhat silly. She had played an important role in getting him direct access to the queen. After doing that, she honestly didn’t need to be guarded so closely but at the same time, they had to be careful.

Kiran figured he could speak to Rinas about her once he saw him soon. “I’ll try to work something out with the leadership to get you more freedom,” Kiran said.

“I’m sure you will. It’s not that big of a deal. I mean I get it.”

Considering that she will be immensely wanted at this point, she had little other choice than to find her own place within the coalition. He would work towards facilitating her official admission since she certainly needed the Human Familiar Coalition’s protection since without them, it would certainly be much more difficult to survive here in this city for now on.