Koldon poured himself tea. He was sitting at the table in one of the rooms still intact after the widespread destruction that had levelled large parts of the Temple territory and city at large.

His trembling arms and the effort it took to complete the simple action once more reminded Koldon of his dead retainer. To be fair, Otto wasn’t the only one who had died. Most of the staff and guards attending the Temple were dead.

As were countless civilians, city guards, soldiers and more.

And there would be even more…

Koldon’s thought process was interrupted as his comrades entered the room. He looked at the man and woman, who looked to be in their mid-thirties. Both of them had grim expressions on their faces.

The man - Arhk Pavlow, was well-groomed and had piercing blue eyes and brown, short hair. His demeanour was such that it drained any positive emotions from his surroundings. Not that there were any in the vicinity.

The woman - Insy Nathaly, was more approachable. Her brown eyes were kind and supportive. Her round face, framed by sand-coloured hair, reinforced the illusion. Koldon knew she was the most ruthless person in the room.

“We checked the area.” Pavlow walked to the table and sat across from Koldon. He murmured a small prayer to invite the gods guarding gaze to stand over them. “No traces of any remaining taint.”

Insy joined them at the table. “That’s not true. There was that mutated body.”

“Which you destroyed.” Pavlow pointed out.

“But it means there was taint remaining.”

“And it’s not there anymore.”

Koldon rubbed his temple. These two were always like this. “So it’s true then?” He interrupted. “Was it Silinth?”

The quarrelling pair stopped and exchanged glances. They looked back at Koldon. The moment lasted as they scrutinised him until Insy Nathaly spoke.

“Yes. We need you to think back. Did you really not notice anything?” She questioned. There was uncomfortable pressure from the woman, contrasting sharply with her kind features.

Koldon ignored the sweat on his back. He had nothing to hide. After waking up, there was a moment he had struggled to keep his mind from wandering, but that time of weakness had long since passed.

“Nothing. After Silinth was possessed, we suddenly lost the support of the Sleeper. It resulted in an imbalance, and with just me and Miss Astra left, we failed to hold the horror back.”

Koldon gathered his thoughts. It was not healthy for his mind to recall this experience. This would surely result in many sleepless nights. He whispered a prayer before continuing.

“It struck Miss Astra first. She was already injured. It struck her with…” Koldon hesitated. They could not speak of such matters loudly and without taking proper countermeasures. And his comrades agreed. They motioned for him to continue.

“She was hit with enough strength to launch her back deep into the city. Then it was my turn. After gathering all my might, I struck, but without the holy hymns supporting, it was for nought.”

“Yet you live.” Insy leaned closer. “Curious isn’t it?”

It was official then. Koldon was under investigation. He only hoped Insy would not be the judge. If Arkh intervened, there still was a possibility he would live. He could not help but glance at the man.

“Full examination of Koldon will be done at a later date. That is not our duty.” Arkh stopped Insy.

Of course, Insy wasn’t that easily deterred. “Oh, but it is. If our friend here is still alive, he did not do enough. He did not give his all. That is punishable.”

Arkh glanced at Koldon. It appeared he somewhat agreed with Insy on the matter.

And truth be told, so did Koldon. He shouldn’t be alive.

Insy’s smile turned sweet and innocent, which made Koldon sweat even more, but she did lean back and didn’t push the issue further.

“Where was I?” Koldon cleared his throat, which was suddenly very dry. He sipped from his cup before continuing. “I managed to push the attack to the side, but it still grazed me.” He touched his side, where a bruise was still growing in size. “I was knocked away as well. Upon the impact, my head hit the ground, which resulted in me getting disoriented.”

“And?” Arkh wanted to know more. “How did it end? Who killed it?”

Koldon glanced from Arkh to Insy. He tried his best to recall the moment when reality snapped back to normalcy. “I do not know. The ‘obstruction’ that guarded ‘It’ from the Divine eyes made me unable to tell. But once ‘It’ vanished, there was fighting inside the courtyard for a while longer. After the fighting ended, I saw someone - a woman, carrying something out of the place when she jumped over the wall.

“Yes,” Insy leaned back into the chair. “The woman. We asked Astra. She was likely Silinth’s accomplice. There were two of them who matched the description she engaged shortly. One of them younger and smaller in stature.”

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“Hmm,” Koldon’s mind spun. “It’s possible the woman was carrying the shorter girl.” His mind returned to the moment. “It is highly likely.” He concluded.

Arkh rapped his fingers against the table. “From what we gathered, it is there likely was infighting.”

Those words made Insy scoff. “Or they retrieved something from Silinth’s mutated body.”

“That is unlikely.” Arkh frowned and opened his mouth to argue more.

“Perhaps it’s both,” Koldon suggested.

“Maybe.” Arkh relented while Insy just stared. “We can not know. And with the mass of people running around, we have lost all tracks. It’s unlikely we will catch anyone who can tell more.”

Koldon pondered. “From the ‘Torch’s’ words, the kids following Silinth were not all that powerful. If they were corrupted, they could not get far before succumbing.”

“If the kids were, then yes.” Arkh agreed. “But even then, it would take some days. Perhaps less without our God’s guidance."

All of them sank into grim thoughts. The spread had to be contained. But at least they would not be too troublesome to deal with. A single Inquisitor should be able to do it.

“Enough about that. At the very least, with Silinth dead, we can move our plans forward.” Insy sounded almost gleeful about the prospect.

All of them nodded. This Kingodm's fate was sealed.

“Any news about where The Nature temple’s strongest are?”

“Nothing concrete,” Arkh spoke grimly. “Just rumours, but-”

“That’s enough.” Insy stopped Akrh. “Koldon is not qualified to know.”

“I wasn’t going to tell him.” Arkh frowned.

“You were.”

“Were not.”

“What about the city?” Koldon’s headache grew more intense.

Both Inquisitors across the table spoke at the same time.

“We raze it.”

Koldon began to pray. That was the answer he had arrived at as well. There would be a widespread hunt for those who managed to flee and didn’t return.

Their toll never ended.

*****

Viola looked at the new orders they had received. The paper felt so heavy in her hands. She crumpled the letter in a ball before tossing it to Litro.

“What the fuck, Pepper?” Litro hurried to catch it. “I haven’t read it yet.” He carefully tried to straighten the paper.

“Just call me Viola, you dumb fuck.” Vila swore. She leaned against the tree and tried to look at the morning sky through the canopy. “There is no need to keep using those stupid names now.”

They were currently hiding in the wast forests south of the Ocheon. Just a handful of people were here. But that was by design. Such places were scattered throughout the area in case one of them got discovered.

“Call me Percy, Pepper. It’s simply prudent to keep our identities secret.” Litro hissed before he began to read. The further he got, the more his brows creased. Finally, he sighed and turned towards the messenger. “Can we get at least a day of rest?”

The messenger shook his head. The man clad in a thick cloak made it clear. “No. You must move now.”

“What happened?” One of the survivors wandered closer.

“Oispio is up to no good, and we have to figure out what that is.” Viola spat on the ground.

“The King is?” The man frowned, then looked at Litro. “So, do we gather our stuff, or?”

Before Litro could answer, Viola already ordered. “Yes. Gather everything. The messenger will stay here for a couple hours to inform any stragglers that may arrive.”

“Hey, Pepper, it’s not your place-” Litro began to complain.

“Now it is!” Viola sent the man a scorching glare. “That ass paper made me the leader of the new operation.”

“What? Where?” Litro looked down at the message in horror. “Why? Are they stupid?”

The messenger shifted in place.

“No, no!” Litro backpedalled. “I mean, why change who leads our group now? We had everything worked out, you know?”

“Pepper-” The messenger started and ignored Viola’s scowl. “-Is better suited for the task. Her experience in tracking is of great importance.”

“See?” Viola gloated. At least the new orders didn’t leave time for them to think about what they had done the last night. “And my first order to you, Litro, is to stop using that stupid code name.”

“Is it about the boy? Oscar, was it?” Another survivor joined them.

Viola had informed them about Mila’s words. They had tried to chase Oscar down, but all she managed to do was to catch his smell. It was useful, but the boy was guarded too tightly. They had to retreat at that point.

And Mila had been right. Once Viola caught the whiff of that boy, she knew he would be problematic. But that was not what the order was about.

“No, we have another task.” Vila stood and stretched. It was better to move. She felt like the smell of human remains had started to spread through the forest. “But the boy has to be taken care of. He was weak now but with time…” She glanced at the messenger, who nodded.

“A team will be arranged.” He affirmed. “Sea Father will guide them.”

“Sea Father will guide us all.” Viola nodded before raising her voice. “Gather your stuff, people. We have to move.”

While Litro was frantically reading the message, people flocked to them with questions.

Viola coughed. “Okay, listen up! We have a new task. That poopy head Oispio has started to gather some of the high-standing members of Nature’s temple. We have a lead on one of them. We will track him and find out what the Kingdom is up to. Are we clear?”

Of course, this explanation wasn’t all. But it was what Viola could reveal. And there wasn’t that much more that she was let know.

But it was clear - King Oispio was planning something big. Not only was he gathering powerful figures, but they also seemingly vanished. Their duties were often left to the Temple of Eternity to handle, which made no sense.

Viola knew the Maltra Empire would not hesitate to take advantage of it.

The situation was all-around shit. And Viola’s gut told her this was only the beginning.