As Amber and I neared uncle’s room, we could hear muffled yelling. I couldn’t make out what was being said from our current distance, but as we got closer, the cause of the argument became clear. “You can’t be serious, kid. I won’t allow it.” Uncle was screaming at the top of his lungs. What in Rubolg’s name got him this riled up? I couldn’t hear the response, but the voice was calm and measured.

“I don’t care, it’s too dangerous!” We were too far away to hear who the lower voice belonged too. “Mordred, she will be fine. However, if she doesn’t go, then Granite won’t be.” A cold chill went down my spine as the calm voice mentioned dad. There was no hesitation as I opened the door without knocking. I opened my mouth to demand an explanation, but froze as I saw who uncle was screaming at.

“Ah, just in time, why don’t you join your uncle over on the couch? Your presence might calm him down somewhat.” I hesitated for a moment, then did as I was asked. I couldn’t remember where I had seen it before. However, there was no mistaking Lady Labyrinthia’s human form.

“Now, as I was saying to Mordred, I will need the three of you to return to the festival grounds and join up with Granite. Of course, Miss Sarirrva is free to join you, should she wish to do so. No need to worry about travel time, since I will send you there myself.” She looked at me with a strange expression.

“I will be joining you myself later. However, there is something else I need to do first, something long overdue.” She then rose from the chair she was occupying and walked towards the door. “I would recommend preparing, as you will be leaving at sunrise tomorrow, willingly or otherwise. Oh and Mordred, page 550 of the tome, study it, learn it, lives depend on it.”

Uncle looked at her with a frustrated expression, then hesitated, before he deflated. “Fine, you win. At least you had the courtesy of giving me a heads-up about it.” Lady Labyrinthia stopped in the doorway. “I know that I have long since lost grip on my humanity, Mordred, so becoming more enigmatic was unavoidable, I suppose. However, that doesn’t mean I would toss one of my oldest friends and his family into peril without a proper warning. We might have parted on bad terms. However, I have not lost so much of my old self I cannot realize the state you were in.”

She paused for a moment, then turned and locked her gaze with uncles. “The only one who is still angry at you for back then are yourself, Mordred. So stop beating yourself up over the past, since it can’t be changed anyhow. Now get your head back in the game. They rely on you, and so do I. Which reminds me, Rael mentioned he’d want a drink with you before you leave.” Uncle opened his mouth to say something, then froze for a second, before he closed it, and just shook his head. Labyrinthia looked at him for another second and then left without another word.

“Stop beating myself up over the past huh…” He looked at the door with a distant, glassy gaze for a few moments. Then, he chuckled, before long, the chuckle turned into a laugh. However, it was mirthless. “You make it sound so easy, kid. However, forgiveness is hard. Even more so, when you’ve been hating yourself for as long as I have.”

Before uncle could say anything else, both Amber and I pulled him into a tight hug. “Don’t say stuff like that, uncle.” Amber, who jumped into his lap since she wasn’t tall enough to reach otherwise grabbed uncle by the collar. “Yeah, what Ashes said. We both love you, and I know Gran-Gran and Yun-Yun do too.” Amber’s teary face glared up at him. She looked on the verge of crying, herself.

Uncle looked at her, then me. Then he put a hand on his forehead. His voice regained its normal strength as he spoke. “You did this deliberately, didn’t you? You sneaky winged feline.” I looked at Amber. However, she just shrugged. So, she didn’t know either. However, before I could respond to what uncle said, he embraced both of us in a crushing hug. We stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the sensation of closeness to those you care about, with none of us saying a word.

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Mordred, Mordred, Mordred, please stop obsessing over a past you can’t change. Sure, you might change the past with the right magic, however, only by paying a cost beyond one’s wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. I shook my head a bit to refocus myself. Although I would have enjoyed helping Mordred regain his love for life, it was not my place. Besides, Mordred’s future would be decided by those he cared about, present and future, not by me, who were a part of his past.

I phased out from the dungeon and into the dreamworld. The eternal night and full moon shining down upon my home. First things first. I raised my hand and conjured a glowing sphere. The picture coalesced, and I could see Minos speaking with the queen. “Good, you arrived safely.” They both flinched as my words arrived in the hall the two were in, sent there through divine will.

“Your Highness, seeing you on the mend brings me no small amount of joy. And Minos, you got there as fast as I hoped. Good. Now listen, I have some new information for you. And some new orders for Minos…” After providing them with the information they needed, I cut the connection, I was behind schedule already.

“Are you sure you wish to do this, Maker?” I looked at Mahiba, who’d arrived without a sound while I spoke with Minos. “An old enemy shall become a new.” Mahiba looked at me without altering her calm, mask-like expression. “You said the same when you arrived back from Caelyn, it’s a prophecy I take it?” She was spot on, as always. “Indeed, it is a prophecy. One that when I got it, made no sense to me at all. I thought, however unlikely it was, that maybe it referred to Saol, although I am no longer holding on to such a convenient fancy. However, there is a way to find the answer to this riddle.”

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Mahiba understood my line of thinking. “Then I wish you a safe journey, my Maker. And may your search be fruitful.” I gave her a nod, then sped off. Time to get a definite answer to the century old mystery. I travelled through my realm, to the one spot that was still a raging, cloudy nebula, and re-entered the mortal realm. As I materialized, I could see the Shrouded Isles in the distance, still covered by the mist of pure Void Energy.

This time, however, the clouds were different. Although they looked the same at a glance, they lacked something this time. Though I couldn’t say what it was. However, all would be revealed now. I dove inside the clouds and began draining their power. Immediately the cloud changed, but instead of the outright hostility I felt the last time I attempted this, there was just a rush of images, flashes of events, and shattered emotions.

A portal, death, loss, anger, and an insidious sensation that whispered promises in return for safe harbor. More and more images, no, memories, came rushing in, all a jumbled mess. These void clouds were saturated with them, bursting at the seams to contain them. Although, for what reason, I couldn’t fathom. Why would someone seal their… Wait… that was…

These memories, if I could make sense of them, then maybe, just maybe... “An old enemy becomes a new.” It was making more sense now, if these memories showed what I thought they did. However, I needed more time to sort them out. I couldn’t stop until I was certain, and this entire cloud had been dispelled. It would take time. However, things had already been set in motion with that assumption in mind.

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The march continued ever onward, thankfully the ground was drying up, causing the muddy hellhole we’d been wading through to abate. However, even with semisolid ground to aid our journey this was going slower than I’d have liked. There was a knocking on the wagon door, and Izrah entered a moment later.

“Pardon the intrusion, however, the scouts just returned.” Izrah’s expression lit up. “They found the wretched beasts and report that we should reach them by sunset tomorrow. Although, there is one thing that seemed to worry them.” Her smile faded away. “A large contingent of unidentified strangers arrived at camp just as the scouts were about to leave. They couldn’t tell the exact number, however. But by their estimation, it was four or five score of them.”

Almost a hundred unidentified people just arrived at the beast-kin encampment? Hmm, no it changed nothing. From a pure numbers perspective a hundred too or from would mean little. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel troubled. These continued setbacks. The bad luck that hit us ever since we arrived. And it was all too perfect to be natural.

A sudden dizziness washed over me, and as it passed a sense of fatigue remained behind. What just happened? However, my question fell on deaf ears because I wasn’t the only one to experience this phenomenon. Izrah collapsed into her seat, unconscious. And outside the wagon I could see the soldiers collapse en masse.

However, just as suddenly as it began, the soldiers and Izrah regained consciousness and regained their senses, as if nothing had happened at all. “I am sorry, Mistress, it seems I got hit by a slight dizzy spell for a moment.” Just a dizzy spell? Didn’t she realize she fainted? Strange, although that could be said about all of this. “Izrah, have the men make camp because whatever just happened affected all of us, and not just you.”

Izrah flinched as I spoke. However, she didn’t hesitate to act on my orders. This last incident put me on edge, what just happened to everyone, and why was I feeling so exhausted? Only a fool wouldn’t realize something was wrong about all of this. But the question was, what? Either way, with some luck, a good nights’ rest would ease this blasted, unnatural fatigue.

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Slyvanport was burning, and everything was falling apart. How long had this corruption been simmering? I looked across the camp, my best men injured, exhausted and in being healed. Regular civilians should not be able to inflict such wounds. “Milady, a report!” I turned towards the messenger. “Speak.” He saluted. “We have secured the poor quarter so those who remain uncorrupted are being sheltered there.”

There was more, wasn’t there. “Why do I feel like there is an, however, incoming?” The man took a deep breath. “We might have discovered a void remnant hidden in the cemetery. However, we have not gained a concrete confirmation yet, so Lord Sarvus went to investigate in person.” Indeed, there was the bad news.

A Void Remnant, a Void Entity that escaped destruction or banishment after the Lord of the Void disappeared. They weren’t destructive unless threatened. However, their mere presence would induce corruption and madness. If there was one in the city, that would explain the horrific state of the place.

Did Lady Labyrinthia… no that was a foolish question, had she known she wouldn’t have sent us, she would have gone in person, she always did. That aside, there were still innocent people in the city that was not yet corrupted beyond saving. However, a remnant was bad news, just how long was it allowed to fester, and how many lives had it destroyed?

I steeled myself as I looked through the tent opening, and towards the burning city. “Then let us hope Lord Sarvus can destroy that abomination, before it causes any more harm.” As I finished speaking, I felt a prickling in my neck and jumped backwards, just in time to dodge the assault of the scout. The scouts’ appearance shifted, twisted and crawled. The hand that attempted to strike me had transformed into a purple, clawed and rubbery appendage. “So, you’ve been corrupted, may the gods have mercy on your soul, for I cannot afford such luxury.”

The scout let out a guttural roar and charged forwards with no regards of his own survival. Regrettable. “I am sorry, however, be at ease, for I will not let you suffer.” I dodged his strike yet again by sidestepping sending him tumbling past me. Then, I lifted my hand, and a brilliant mace of starsilver manifested in it. The scout whirled around to strike again, however, that just made it easier as I slammed down. The impact split his head apart like an overripe tomato.

I took a moment to compose myself, before I marched out of the tent and began shouting orders to my men. If our own were succumbing to corruption, this was getting too dangerous. Everyone was a potential enemy now, so my only hope that Lady Justina would guide us now, in our hour of need.