Upon realizing what the stage was for, Helianna instantly ran back to the inn, banging on her teammates’ doors to wake them up. Thanks to the unplanned and important nature of the mission, their budget was unlimited. As such, they had taken multiple rooms last night, requiring her to wake up half the inn with her banging. As soon as they were all out, she spoke.

“I’m pretty sure I found them.”

“What?” demanded a slightly groggy Vir. “Hold on, come inside.”

The team piled into Vir’s room and Helianna continued.

“Well, not right now, but later. The stage we saw yesterday? It’s a stage for an execution. If the ithrax were captured, but not killed and then conflict immediately arises and now we have an execution stage, the likelihood that it’s them is astronomical.”

“That made no sense,” Vir accused and Heliann rolled her eyes.

“With everything that’s happening, it’s gotta be an execution stage for them.”

Vir hummed as he thought, still struggling to make the logical leap with a sleepy mind. By the time he realized he was talking about the construction that stopped them yesterday, Helianna was giving him a deadpan look from waiting.

“I agree. They’re likely to do it at midday if it’s today, so we’ll meet there slightly beforehand. Just in case it starts early, I want two people on it immediately. Honestly, that should probably be enough to get them out, but it also allows one person to get the rest of us and the other to delay if you think you can’t.”

“Zane, I want you there as you’re perfect for a rescue. And Holly as well. You don’t have the same movement that we do so it’ll be harder for you to get there if you’re further away. And your nullification will be useful. Any questions?” Everyone shook their heads and departed. Helianna, or rather Holly, and Zane walked together, despite not saying a single word. As they were walking, Helianna had a horrible realization.

Back when they started their original mission, she had crafted a whole personality that she wanted to follow, that of a bubbly and excited, albeit dangerous person. However, that had collapsed early on in the trip when they had confronted her about her abilities. She had reverted back to normal and hadn’t done a thing to maintain her fake personality. To make it worse, she had only just now noticed it, after over a week. How she hadn’t thought of it, she had no clue. She had to redo her makeup almost every morning to maintain the fake look and yet it never occurred to her?

She barely suppressed a curse as she glanced at Zane, wondering if all of them had realized. Her persona had collapsed so quick that she wasn’t even sure they realized anything changed.

It was too late to try and switch back now. Her natural persona was too different. Had they really managed to rattle her so bad that she forgot about one of her main goals for this mission? Not just for a moment but for slightly over a week. Before she could spiral further into negative thoughts, she shook her head, trying to focus on the current mission.

This proved to be surprisingly difficult, no thanks to Zane. He resisted all attempts at conversation, and when they got to square, nothing interesting happened for several hours. A little before noon, the square started to become more packed and tension seemed to rise. Between Zane’s silence and the rising tension, Helianna found it difficult to sit still. Fortunately, the team arrived quickly, and the execution began.

procession marching in from the opposite corner. A single tijatan led the procession of nearly two dozen guards that surrounded two prisoners. Their hands were bound and they were being dragged as if they were half dead despite very few visible wounds. Helianna instantly recognized the two of them, having fought them before when training against ithrax. One was a tall, pale tijatan, but dirt and blood covered her body, making her look more sickly than normal. The other one was short and barely visible from her angle. He was the kinuze that had used his spatial magic to disorient her when they fought.

“That’s them,” whispered Vir.

The procession filed onto the stage and the two ithrax were thrust into the center. The guards formed a semi-circle around them, with the only opening in the direction of the crowd, providing everyone a good view. Zane straightened his shoulders and started to lift an arm, but Vir put a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait,” he commanded.

A moment later, the tijatan leading the procession stepped in front of the ithrax to address the crowd. His garb, like most tijatans, did little to cover his form, instead being more about aesthetics. There were some golden bands around his shoulders, which connected to a black chain-like piece that dangled onto his chest. This ‘chain’ dangled down his chest, with seven loops ending in a one that looked cut in half.

“I want to see what he says,” Vir continued.

“Citizens of Shohlchester!” the tijatan proclaimed, raising his hands to quiet the crowd that had gathered. “Today, we mark a transition. For over a century, Shohlchester has stood as a simple town in the middle of one of the most powerful nations in the world. We have pushed to make ourselves a powerful place where our children can grow beyond us and make an impact. But in doing so, we made ourselves a target of the system that works to keep us suppressed.

The Academy has conspired to keep us all in the dark for centuries, hoping we would follow them blindly. But they could not hold us back forever. At last, there came a day when their insidious agents failed to make us bend our knees. The ithrax hoped to unleash their powerful magics and slaughter your leading innovators, keeping us all locked in time. But the aims of these tyrants have been halted by those without their incredible magical abilities. Our own people have contained the ithrax cell that you see behind me!”

He stepped to the side and gestured to the trapped ithrax as the crowd roared. Helianna leaned towards Vir, taking advantage of the noise.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? We’re going to be fighting the whole town at this rate.”

He looked at her with an expression she couldn’t place before shaking his head.

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“We’ll be fine. We’ll do it if necessary.” She shrugged but looked around uneasily as the crowd quieted down.

“As you can see, the ithrax are on their knees. They have been weakened and shackled like any man, and shall be executed! Any ithrax that comes our way shall face the same fate!

These are trying times and we will be tested. But just as you see before you, we shall stand tall, while they will fall to their knees. This cell was sent to assassinate us, but our runetech is unrivaled! We have cut down their magical abilities and made them weaker than anybody you see in the crowd.

Under our new runetech, the lives of our loved ones will be safeguarded. It provides power to all, regardless of their mana quality. With these powers, we will stand together against attacks from this corrupt system. Not as individuals, but together! Let those who wish to crush us take heed, for all who stand against us will fall!

We have taken a stance that will be difficult, but I know you! I know the people of Shohlchester! We stand strong and we fight! We must do our part and we will protect what is ours! We will be tested, but we will emerge stronger. We will move forward as one! And this all begins now!”

He raised a hand in the air as the crowd roared once more. One of the guards stepped up to the tijatan and handed him a long strange device.

The crowd was starting to chant ‘kill them!’ on repeat and Helianna glanced at Vir uneasily. A pensive look was on his face and he clearly didn’t have his mind in the moment. She tried to ask him what the plan was, but couldn’t be heard over the crowd. Instead he turned and locked eyes with Zane, nodding his head.

She glanced at Zane to see him stretching out his arms and focusing. Realizing that this was the signal to start, she immediately pulled out her daggers and looked towards the stage. There, she saw the tijatan point his device at the head of one of the ithrax as if it were some strange staff. She saw Zane move out of the corner of her eyes and the prisoners on the stage suddenly jerked, somehow flying through the air straight towards them. At the same time, Vir manifested a pillar of ice below himself to Helianna, launching him into the air.

A moment later, a deafening bang rang out from the strange wand, which had been pointed at Vir. Helianna hadn’t seen what it did, but it became clear when a small piece of the ice pillar collapsed, nearly landing on Helianna. She looked back towards the stage and immediately noticed that Zane had nearly finished floating the prisoners towards the team.

From the stage, she heard the tijatan yell “Fire!” and the guards all raised their own devices, reminiscent of the tijatan’s, whose device was now smoking.

A cacophony of bangs rang out and it took every ounce of her control to keep herself from sprawling to the ground, her countless hours of training the only thing keeping her upright. Zane was not so fortunate and staggered as he lost his concentration. The altered gravity of the captured ithrax dissipated and their bodies immediately fell towards the ground. They landed in front of the team where Helianna and Jayen rushed forward to help them up. They turned around just in time to see Vir’s body fall to the ground next to the pillar of ice.

His body was decimated in a way none of them had ever seen before. Something had punctured holes in his body, but there was no debris and the level of devastation was horrifying. He had clearly been hit in the head and whatever projectile hit him made his head look more akin to a smashed watermelon than a skull.

A solid wedge of his cranium was missing, providing an easy view into the remains of his brain. The eye that had formerly been on that side of his face was now missing, only bone fragments and viscera in its place.

It wasn’t until Vir convulsed as he tried to sit up that they realized he was somehow still alive. Helianna couldn't help watching as bits of blood and brain oozed from his head, forzen in horror. She knew that direct hits to the brain were rarely instantly fatal despite what most thought, but to see it herself was entirely different. Even with the angry roaring of the crowd, she could hear him gurgle when some of the muscle that held his jaw in place shifted when he tried to speak. She didn’t need to look in his remaining eye to recognize the level of pain he must be in and Helianna’s training failed her.

She instantly threw up, struggling to keep herself and the man that she was supporting standing. After a few moments to get a hold of herself, she stumbled forward, half dragging the other ithrax as Vir’s life slowly fled his body.

“Get the fuck over here Zane and get everyone out of here, I’ll try to hold them off!” yelled Jayen with an anger she had never heard from him. A moment later, she felt the weight of the ithrax she was carrying lighten and she saw Zane concentrating as he picked up the girl. His eyes were unfocused due to his concentration on his magic, and she turned forward. In front of her however, stood several townsfolk, all looking furious. A split second before she could drop the man she was carrying, a sovereign enhanced order rang out from Jayen.

“Stop! Move aside and let them through!” he yelled and the townsfolk all scrambled aside. Taking the opportunity, she immediately dashed forward, dragging the cuffed kinuze with her. He took this moment to speak for the first time.

“Let me the fuck down! I can run on my own.” Still in shock from what she had just seen, she let him down without thought. He stumbled forward for a moment before righting himself and weakly jogging alongside them. He looked towards the other two with an angry expression, but continued running. As they ran, they heard more bangs in the distance, clear indicators of more of the strange weapons they’d used to kill Vir. Abandoning what little they had left in the inn, they all rushed as fast they could straight to their carriage.

They encountered surprisingly little resistance until another bang rang out from right behind them. Helianna instantly whirled around, locking eyes with a man that had fired and seemingly missed with the strange weapon. A dagger was instantly in her hand as she rushed towards him. He instantly dropped the weapon, and held out both his hands.

Clearly unused to combat, he cringed and let loose a small burst of fire from his palms. Unperturbed, Helianna dashed straight through his meager flames and thanks to him cringing from his own flames, he never saw her coming. She easily slipped a knife up under his sternum and hit his heart, killing him almost instantly. She glanced around to see if there were any shooters, but none appeared.

She turned back to her team and saw that the man she had initially been helping was now kneeling on the ground with a small pool of blood forming underneath him. A quick glance showed that he had been shot in the leg with the strange weapon. While not immediately fatal, it would be eventually if not addressed and would slow them down. Making a similar diagnosis, Zane spoke.

“Kill him.” Her head snapped towards Zane, stunned at his decision. “He can respawn off of his teammate and right now, he’s only slowing us down. This is our best option.” Immediately realizing he was right, she quietly cursed and stepped toward the kneeling kinuze.

“Don’t you dare you piece of shi-” the kinuze tried to say, but was cut off by Helianna’s knife severing his spinal cord.

“Let’s just go,” she croaked out, struggling to maintain control. She knew he’d respawn, but killing her fellows didn’t sit right with her, regardless of how much it helped the team survive. She’d killed plenty during her training, but never an ally. Him being unwilling only made it worse. The only reason she was able to do it was the memory of Vir’s shattered form. The idea that the people with those weapons were still coming for them was a powerful motivator. She still hoped she wasn’t around when the unknown ithrax respawned.

Another bang echoed through the streets, but this one went wide, a scar appearing in the ground a few feet in front of her. Seeing this, Zane yelled out.

“Keep running! They missed!”

They immediately continued running and thankfully, that was the last shot fired at them by the time they got to the carriage. Vir had fortunately prepared the carriage beforehand and the horses were ready. Helianna immediately jumped in the driver’s seat while Zane carried the girl inside. With the speed of the carriage and no guards in sight, they got away, albeit now down to a single member per ithrax cell.