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The Drinking Bear was full of customers as usual.

Stepping inside, Riou walked to the counter followed by a suspicious and curious princess. She kept throwing sneaky glances at everything around her.

The customers watched her the whole way to the counter with amazed eyes.

Syldis was just leaving the kitchen when she saw Riou.

“You are back already! Come in my boy, take a seat and I will get you the special in a moment!”

The smiling woman with her golden braids swinging while she walked around the counter.

“Make it two, Syldis! I have a guest with me”

Syldis looked a bit too serious for a moment at the girl following him before going into her usual joyous mood “Take a seat and I will bring you both something in a moment!”

The princess looked at the owner of the Drinking Bear with eyes of amazement. Noticing her reaction, Riou smiled and proceeded to get a table.

When they were about to sit he heard from nearby.

“If it’s not our friend, I thought you’d be dead by now” Said a big man with his trademark smirk looking at the girl with Riou.

The mercenary leader was accompanied by Levi and Judeau.

“Not yet” Said the boy with a smirk “So, how are the brothers’ recovery?”

“They are stubborn, it will take more than a Dracar to kill them, a day or two and they will be up on their feet once again.”

Viktor looked at his weapons “but what I really want to know is why are you armed to the teeth today? And Swords nonetheless, are you having a change of heart?” Asked the smirking mercenary glancing at Eileen with curiosity “And you? I’ve never seen you around before” his attention was at the rapier on her waist.

Riou sighed regretting having ran into the mercenary.

“This is Eileen, she is a friend of mine. These are Judeau, Levi and the one with the big mouth here is Viktor.” He said introducing the mercenaries to her. Eileen greeted them as Riou continued “we just came from the blacksmith, we are taking these swords to the castle. I will be taking sword classes there.” Said the boy to the mercenary.

Viktor squinted his eyes for a moment “The castle was hiring a sword master to teach the prince, they came asking for me to come in but… you know me, I couldn’t stay put for that long, so I refused. But I tell you, if you knew you would be taking the classes as well... I might have considered the offer. You learning the sword would be a sight to see” he said laughing.

Levi took a deep breath “Enough with your tasteless jokes, Viktor”

“Alright, alright… we are just having some fun with our good friend here” he said losing his smile and getting serious “Kid, it has been a long time since I had such good fun. So if you ever need me again, all you need to do is ask, you are a client for life… and we will make a good price for you” said Viktor.

Riou smiled and thanked the mercenary with a nod “I will hold you to that”

“You better, good luck kid, I’ll see you around” Viktor and his group said his goodbye and stood up to leave the tavern.

The boy and the princess finally took a table near the end of the tavern, far away from the other customers. They sat down facing each other. But before they could even start talking again, Syldis showed up with the food.

She put the plates down on the table and a couple bowls and mugs for drinking. Stew with bread, cooked meat and soup.

After serving the food Syldis proceeded to sit down beside Eileen, which surprised them both.

“So, why is she following you around?” Asked the big woman with a serious tone despite showing a big smile.

Eileen froze for a second.

“This is Eileen, we will be training swordsmanship together at the castle” Answered the boy.

“I know who she is… what I want to know is why is she following you around, especially without an armed escort” repeated the owner of the tavern in a more serious tone.

Riou sighed “It will get tricky now…”

The princess recovered from the initial shock and promptly answered in his regard “He is my sword master!” she said in a serious tone.

Riou was taken aback in surprise “Wasn’t that supposed to be a secret?”

Syldis widened her eyes. She clearly knew what that meant.

Nonetheless, the big woman couldn’t conceive the idea of the boy being a sword master and began to laugh loudly as if it was a joke.

“Hahaha!” she almost shed a tear of laughing so much, it took a moment for her to recover completely.

Riou hid his face behind his hand, ashamed by the consideration that Syldis had towards him, or better put, the complete lack of it.

“My poor girl, you must be desperate… I heard the stories that you chose the path of the North. Then when you grew up you feared that teachers stronger than you could use the opportunity to challenge you. So you chose to walk the path alone, as a true maiden of the north should. For that I was proud of you” She paused for a moment after complimenting the princess.

Syldis returned to her serious tone “But what I can’t agree to what you are doing now, you shouldn’t use this boy like that. I understand you wish for some freedom, but that’s not right my dear… I don’t know how you got the king to consent with this nonsense. But I have to warn you, if someone recognizes you outside of the castle, you will be putting this boy at great risk. You may be able to protect yourself, but you must think of him as well.”

Eileen looked terrified at Riou who was still covering his face, unable to reply.

Syldis continue “I was put in charge of this boy’s safety, so please understand my concern.”

The princess was very confused and instinctively nodded vigorously in agreement to Syldis strong presence.

Seeing that Eileen promptly agreed, the big woman smiled with satisfaction.

“I knew you were a good girl. This boy has a heart of gold and is under my protection while in this city, I don’t want to see any harm coming his way.”

“I can take care of myself Syldis” Complained the boy.

“Of course you can my dear!” she looked at Eileen and shook her head, finding him cute to say such a thing.

Eileen didn’t know how to respond.

Riou tried to divert the big woman’s attention “About those guests you told me about? Are they still here?” asked the boy.

“No, they left. In the end, they decided to travel together... It was a good sight to see. I must say that I was surprised to see them getting along so well.”

Riou smiled “That’s good to hear”

Syldis stood up, “I took too much of your time already, please eat and feel at home, if you need anything let me know.” She smiled and patted the boy’s head before leaving.

Now with Syldis gone, Eileen looked at Riou eagerly expecting an explanation to what just happened.

Riou smiled wryly “What can I say? I’m a poor, innocent small boy. A victim of the circumstances… But one thing is now very clear to me now, I am being terribly abused by an evil princess” He said sarcastically before pausing “I had no idea you were such a scoundrel Eileen. I’m completely shocked by that revelation”

“Pft… Hahahaha!” Unable to contain herself, laughter bursted out of the princess to the point of tears rolling down her face.

Riou didn’t think the joke was that funny, but he laughed together just by seeing her amusement.

It had been too long since he had such a good time. Perhaps it was the very first since coming to that world.

He looked at the princess and smiled.

She was beautiful, even the sound of her laughing was like music to his ears.

Suddenly he shook his head, noticing that his thoughts and body responses were taking a path that he knew they shouldn’t, he promptly suppressed everything. And quickly changed the subject to put his mind out of it.

“You know, I thought you shouldn’t say I was your master… why did you do it?”

“You should never lie to a bear” She answered plainly.

“What the… you too? I heard that before, so that’s actually a thing? So you know about Syldis?” Asked the surprised boy already taking the food and digging in.

“Yes, she was one of the few humans to be recognized by the Beastmen and she is also a woman of the north, I know all of her stories.” The princess watches Riou picking the food.

“I’d like to hear these stories sometime” Noticing that the princess was not eating he tried to help her to get more comfortable.

“You should eat before I eat everything. It’s not as fancy as the castle’s food, but it's very good.”

She nodded picking the stew “Tell me, those were the mercenaries that helped you when you were looking for Maximilian? Did I hear right? You fought a Dracar?” Asked the Princess with curiosity, picking up a few pieces of bread.

“Why do you ask?” Riou replied dismissively.

“Because they mentioned that someone fought a Dracar.” she asked inquisitively.

“Yeah… on the way back, they said it was a small one and two of the Mercenaries took a small hit. Nothing too serious. These guys are really good fighters.” Riou said to appease the princess' curiosity.

Unconvinced of the whole story, the princess let it slide for the moment. But the memory notes she was taking had a few new pages now.

“Called master by a Head Blacksmith inside his own shop, taught them how to craft legendary living metal swords. He owns not one, but 6 blades of the rare metal and let me hold two of them as if they are nothing but a tool. He quickly grew a friendship with the great Magus who is well known to hate most people. With a Mercenary Leader that treats him as a friend and client. He is overly protected by the Bear Syldis. He is stronger than a master swordsman at a young age and can win real fights against enemy mages. How come no one seems to see all this? Why does nobody recognize his feats?”

She continued thinking after remembering what he had said about magic “The fact that he didn’t use any magic to fight so far tells me that he really does not have much power in that regard… that’s the only aspect in which he seems to be rather normal.”

Eileen tried to imitate how he was eating, without a spoon or a fork, she didn’t know how to properly do it. With resistance she tried to eat directly from the bowl like he was doing.

To her surprise the food was excellent, the taste was rich and even the peculiar way of eating had its charms.

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In a vast, windowless, dark room made of raw stone, torches illuminated the large entrance door. A sinister figure sat upon a stone throne in the very center of the room amidst the darkness covered completely by an old and ragged dark robe.

The door opens and a man in dark robes walks in a very respectful manner, he ends up kneeling right before the stone throne.

“The failure to kidnap the princess and queen has been reverted to our advantage, the king’s court mages were sent to investigate the mine… the ritual is being performed as we speak. They will be properly dealt with.” the man said slowly and without looking up.

The sinister figure on the throne slightly moved its head.

“What else have you learned?” a heavy, rough, threatening inhuman human voice emanates from the one sitting on the throne.

“They must be covering a powerful mage my lord, our spies informed us that the story commented by the guards was that a servant boy was able to defeat two of our members. As you know”

“And the spell?”

“We couldn’t break it, even after we killed him, the spell persists, it’s like nothing we have seen before.”

“Who casted it?”

“Before dying, our brother informed us that a boy fought him, completely protected against his magic. And before he knew what happened, he was already taken out and bound by it”

The man paused, the sound of cloth being pressed against the stone made his blood freeze. His eyes never went up to directly look towards the throne, his fear from the figure wouldn’t allow him to do so. After a moment of silence he continued.

“We believe it to be a secret spell from one of the Allard households. That boy was credited just to maintain the spell owner's identity hidden.”

“It doesn't matter now, proceed with the plan… we will weaken Allard one way or another” the sinister voice once again echoed through the walls.

Without saying another word the man respectfully stood up and turned around, vanishing by the door and into the corridor.

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As soon as Riou and Eileen arrived at the castle, the princess began to unstrap the swords to hand them over to Riou.

“Wait, you can hold on to them a while longer, we can use them to train” the princess found it an unusual suggestion. To use such weapons for training was odd, but wasn’t her place to discord.

There were two days left until the expedition to the mines. Riou had some time to spare and they used it to improve Eileen's skills.

Riou taught her different techniques and guard stances than the ones she was used to, all based on his memory. He showed her the importance of good feints and locations to aim for leverage, that way she could completely disarm an enemy.

His teachings were more theory than techniques and physical skills, it was more biomechanics than anything else.

The way he saw the fights were like a game of chess, the idea was to predict the adversary’s move before he even thought of it.

While teaching Eillen, he also managed to better understand how to use mana to improve physical abilities which allowed the creation of new sword skills and techniques.

When he brought up the subject to the princess, he discovered that it was not very common. And that only the beastman were able to specialise in such a skill set.

“So you can use mana to enhance your fighting ability? How did you learn that?” she asked, very curious.

“It kinda came to me” he smiled wryly.

“You must be a one in a million, if you can use mana in your own body that explains how you moved so fast! Can you show me?”

As expected she had some difficulty understanding his explanations and how he was unable to use it.

Exactly how it happened with Max, they lacked too much of the fundamental understanding to be able to produce the desired result.

But still, they trained all day long during this two day period and got used to the weapons that were crafted.

The princess was able to learn a few new moves that greatly improved her fighting style.

And so, the last training sessions finally ended and they both were resting in the training hall.

Riou would be going soon, but after spending so much time with her, he felt that he needed to warn the princess.

“Eileen… Tomorrow I will go with the investigation, so I’d like you to be watchful while we are out. I have reasons to believe that there are spies in the court and that they might try something again soon. So don’t trust anyone… especially the yellow caped knight and his men. Be ready for anything, someone might use the opportunity and attack again.”

“Rodrick?” Exclaimed the princess in surprise.

Riou nodded. “I might be wrong, but I caught that guy acting strange a couple of times… he might be up to something, so keep your eyes open”

She became very concerned.

“And keep the rapier with you, just in case”

The princess nodded, such conversation was a bit too sudden and quite heavy, she didn’t expect that even one of the knight generals could be an enemy.

-------------------- Later on the castle

Once more Eileen went to the study room where she knew she’d find her parents.

“Eileen… if you came here to talk about that subject again, don’t even start, this is the third time already, and you know my position, you will not go.” Said the king clearly angered.

“I know Father, I was just wondering something else… who will be taking care of the castle defenses once Bhalrom and the mages are on their way? I know you sent the second to the barracks since Kasius lost the command” Asked the princess.

The king was not expecting such a question, so he answered suspiciously “Rodrick and Rottcher offered their man to take care of the castle defenses. The blue and red banners will be patrolling the cities nearby while some of the first army and Bhalrom are on mission.”

The princess seemed concerned.

“Can you please call back some of the soldiers of the second, or even the reserves of the First instead? I would like them here in case something happened like last time” She requested with a serious expression.

Finding it very suspicious the king questioned “Why do you think that’s necessary?”

The princess replied “I’d feel safer knowing that the First Army is protecting the castle”

The king lowered his head thinking, a wry smile formed on his face.

Raising his head once again he looked to the princess with a smile “Very well, I will make the arrangements.”

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The morning came and the preparations were finished. The sun was shining and the horses were ready.

The mages and Bhalrom were in front while Riou was riding with the cavalry.

About 30 heavily armed men on horses followed by 70 infantrymen were with the first party. There were about a hundred men total behind the mages and Bhalrom, many of them were already friends with the boy.

The remaining soldiers would be coming later and positioning through the region at strategic places to help monitor the situation and track any enemy activity.

Without delay, the first party departed towards the mountains in the north.

It was the first time he was riding a horse but it was not as difficult as he thought, just a few guidance and the horse went on his own following the others nearby.

They passed by the plains, right beside the big plateau where the castle was built upon and continued on their way towards the hills and mountains to the north.

Looking back at the castle's natural defenses and height, Riou was actually impressed by the enemy to have chosen that route, it was no easy task to assault the castle from behind, the cliff was even more impressive from the ground.

They rode fast, straight towards the Deadwind passage.

It took the cavalry about a day to reach the mountain passage. Seeing it for the first time, Riou could see a trail, an old project of a road that led towards the rocky peaks in a winding path.

The lack of use and maintenance caused the trail to be precarious, beside that, the rocky terrain didn’t help either. It was narrow, slippery and allowed only one person at a time to go through it with modest safety.

The soldiers made camp at the entrance of the passage and the horses were resting at the green vegetation still within eyesight.

Riou stood in front of the path and looked at the rocks above, trying to estimate the distance they would have to go on it. It was clearly a dangerous place, a single misstep could easily take someone’s balance. Falling down from it was not an option, sharp rocks and a steep declive waited for those unlucky enough.

The terrain was so bad that Riou would prefer to climb the rock directly than walk through that path. “If I had my doubts before… now I’m certain... this is a trap, we will be stuck up there if there is an enemy attack”

The first patrol was formed, a group of 5 veterans from the first army that would go up with a few trackers that knew the region. They would be followed by another group of 5 shortly after.

That way, they would slowly establish the perimeter at the top of the mine.

Once they got word back that the entrance was safe, the mages, Bhalrom and Riou would prepare to go up as well. The rest of the soldiers would wait for further instructions and guard the entrance of the path until the rest of the army arrived on foot.

While they waited, the mages were together inside a tent discussing their tactics. Bhalrom was outside coordinating the soldiers and waiting for a messenger from the top to return.

It took over three hours for the messenger to return with information, they had found and secured the entrance of the mine and that there was no activity to report.

It was safe to approach.

All mages were tense, especially Lilly.

The seven mages were using a battle robe, a lighter cloth that did not cover them entirely, it had cuts specially designed to allow all ranges of movement.

Ursula was the first to move towards the path, followed by Lilly and the others.

Bhalrom and Riou went after them with some soldiers.

The path was a challenge by itself. At any moment there was a possibility that the rocks above and below them would loosen up just by the person’s weight passing near them.

Riou soon noticed that the wind was strangely absent. He now understood why it was called Deadwind, not a single breeze could be felt there.

In a sense it was a relief, he couldn’t imagine traversing that small path if assaulted by strong wind.

After the long and slow hike, they finally reached the mine entrance.

An open space on the mountain where the soldiers built a forward camp. The place could comfortably hold 50 people with tents.

“The miners must have leveled this area to serve as a camping point or even to deposit the ore found in the mine before taking them down… The path probably was wider and more secure back then” thought the boy realizing how strange and different that place was compared to its surroundings.

The entrance was a square hole in the mountain stone, held by wooden beams. It was very wide and very dark inside.

The soldiers were preparing torches while the mages were taking position to defend from whatever could come from inside the mine.

As no sign of hostilities was noticed from first inspections, they were forming a group to investigate further.

Ursula tied her dark hair in the back of her head leaving just a few raven locks loose in her face. She was the first to organize a party.

“We will enter in groups of 5, the first will be formed by 3 mages and 2 soldiers… with magical support our soldiers should have no problem dealing with any kind of enemy inside.” She said to the group.

“I, Barbara and Alec will be at the front with two soldiers. Then groups of 2 mages and 3 soldiers will come in after us, Nolan and Tess and then for last, Lilly and Serena.

The mine is big, we will just investigate and report back our findings, the goal is to group up and return in case we encounter any problem.”

Riou and Bhalrom were listening to the proposition. Seemed like a good plan, 3 different well balanced fronts, if something were to happen they should be able to support each other well.

But then he looked at the mine “But that’s only true if the environment allows such quick support, inside a mine there might be close and narrow spaces…. They can get trapped or attacked while others can’t support them. Oh well, but they are the mages, they must know better how to do these things” thought the boy.

Riou was preparing himself and already picking up a torch as he intended to go in with the first group of mages in the position of a soldier.

The first 3 mages were already moving towards the entrance when Riou went to join them. Ursula noticed that and immediately reprimanded him “What do you think you are doing?”

Taken aback Riou replied “I’m going too, I can fill the role of a soldier” said the boy puzzled.

“You shouldn’t even be here in the first place, the king allowed you to be an observer and that’s all. We can’t risk bringing you in, despite your extrapolated stories we will need experienced people with us. So step aside and wait” Said the head mage sharply.

“I insist, I’m part of the investigation too” Replied the boy in an equal sharp tone, looking straight into her eyes.

“Step aside or I will have you escorted down and you will wait be the camp there” Ordered the head mage coldly.

Riou felt a heavy hand resting on his shoulder, it was Bhalrom also requesting him to stand down, but in a much friendlier manner. Riou glanced at the knight and back at the mage “You are making a mistake… this is a trap and you should let me go too, I can help”

Ursula turned away from him without a response.

Bhalrom tapped his shoulder once more “You’ve done enough already in the castle, leave this one to us. They are court mages, they know what they are doing.” Said the knight.

Riou dropped the torch “Fine” he answered clearly displeased, turning and walking back. He sat down facing the entrance of the mine while watching everyone prepare in the distance.

It was afternoon and they had almost 5 hours before the nightfall. The knight captain didn’t like the idea of staying the night, as they were too exposed there, he hoped that the mages would finish the job before it and that they could leave and spend the night at the basecamp.

The first group went in, shortly followed by the second and then the third.

Riou noticed that Lilly, differently than before, did not pay any attention to him. “She must be tense with all this, isn’t she too young to be part of the court mages?” He pondered.

Over an hour went by and no contact from the teams that went inside, “It’s been too long already… someone should have returned by now” thought the boy with a restless leg, glancing at Bhalrom from time to time hoping he’d do something.

A messenger came from the bottom of the mountain and informed that everyone reported in, no signs of enemy in the region.

Bhalrom nodded, moved outside his open tent and glanced at the entrance of the mine. It seemed he agreed it past the time for the mages to return.

Riou suddenly felt a shiver, his attention was pulled to the mine entrance.

It was much darker than before. He looked up and the sun wasn’t weak enough to justify such change.

Looking with attention at the entrance, darkness seemed to move, it’s shadows momentarily stretched outside as if checking the sunlight before quickly returning inside.

Riou knew something was very wrong.

He quickly stood up and without thinking he immediately rushed towards the entrance of the mine, trying to catch whatever was there.

While he ran, he reached for his dagger on his back, holding it with an inverted grip before disappearing into the eerie darkness.

Seeing him going in so quickly the knight shouted “Prepare to follow that damn boy! Assemble immediately in front of the entrance!”

Inside the mine, Riou stopped as he found nothing there. The light from outside did not help much as it barely illuminated anything just a few steps inside.

He moved slowly forward while the darkness increased at every step. The only sound in that place was his own breathing and pulsing heart.

The first chamber was big, the sensation of the cold and humid air with the echoing of his footsteps told him that it was a wide and high place beyond his eyes could see.

Big rocks and stone pillar formations could be recognized nearby as he approached them. “It seems they build this mine after finding this cave”

He continued to walk forward, entering the darkness with his dagger ready. He was cautious to only walk forward where the light of the entrance still reached somehow, it was getting very dim and soon it no longer would be there for him.

With attention to all his senses he noticed something moving by. It was not like the dark he remembers, this was different. It was quiet, moved slowly, and Riou could feel the hair in his arms and the back of his neck standing on its end from time to time, as the feeling of being watched increased.

Suddenly, by the corner of his eye, he got a glimpse of another strange movement to his right. Amidst the dark veil, he was certain that something big had just moved between the shades of the shadows.

Quickly glancing at the location he could not tell what it was or where it went, but something big was definitely moving nearby… making no sound.

Riou looked down to check, but there were small rocks and dust all over on the floor, there was no way something could move so fast without any noise.

Realizing the danger of such a situation, without regard to his secret, he quickly bursted a flame on his left hand to illuminate the ambient.

The light quickly illuminated his surroundings in a burst. But to his surprise and to fuel his fears, nothing could be seen. It was all empty, just a few rocks and stone pillars with their shadows flickering by the flame’s light..

Nothing there was remotely big enough to hide the thing he thought he saw.

With caution, he walked a few more steps and stopped at the very limit of the entrance’s light. His breathing and the fire was the only sound he could hear.

He tried to force his sight but it was to no avail, he couldn’t see anything, even with his fire it didn’t go too far inside.

It was at that moment, that he noticed something moving again, farther away and towards the entrance.

It quickly crossed the entrance opening and Riou could see it very shortly, but very clearly.

A very dark humanoid figure, it was very slim and had very long arms and hands.

The sight sent shivers down his entire body and made his heart race. The thing was too close to where Bhalrom and his men were gathering.

“GET BACK!” Shouted the boy as they were about to enter. “DO NOT ENTER!” he shouted once more from the top of his lungs towards the entrance.

Some of the soldiers still stepped forward as they couldn’t see any enem. The shadow cast by their bodies blocked the sunlight where Riou was standing.

Instantly engulfed by the dark, the stillness of his surroundings changed, the flame was barely of any help anymore. He instinctively created a wide layer of mana around him, an extension of his senses. At that very moment, something sharp went toward his chest at great speed.

With instinctively enhanced reflex, he raised his dagger to intercept it.

The clash was vicious and powerful, it would have ripped him apart if he were using anything else but steel.

Riou lost balance for a moment and stepped back trying to regain it. Without thinking he pointed his left hand to the entrance and shot a blast of air, throwing the soldiers back, clearing the entrance once again and regaining the light.

The light shone once again revealing his attacker.

Riou saw the shadow humanoid from up close before it ran from the light.

No eyes or mouth, his unnatural elongated arms and legs had sharp fingers. The sight made Riou feel uneasy. The creature was strong and had a tall stature with a long reach for his thin shadowy dagger like fingers.

The thing didn’t seem hurt by the light but it definitely didn’t like it.

“Undead and now Shadow monsters? Fuck my luck is the worse” he thought unsheating one of his short swords with his left hand.

“I need more light” he condensed his mana to create an energy ball on its tip. A sphere smaller than a coin, but was very bright. So powerful that it illuminated everything around him and went all the way to the very walls of the cave.

Once again, no enemy could be seen, but Riou knew better than that.

“I must be careful and quickly find the mages before the nightfall, I don’t even want to think what can happen if this thing ends up roaming free outside the mine at night.”

“Boy! What happened? Get back here now!” Suddenly the voice of the Knight captain echoed inside the mine.

“Bhalrom! There are shadow monsters down here! Don’t let the soldiers inside, it’s an ambush! I will check the mages and come back!” shouted the boy before continuing forward.

“Wait!” Bhalrom stepped away from the mine entrance “Damn boy, doing whatever he wants…”

“What we do sir, we are ready to go in”

Bhalrom shook his head “If there are shadow monsters in there we can’t go in without a mage… We have to wait for them to return on their own now, set watchers on the cave entrance, make sure we do not cover the entrance, we need all the sunlight in there now.” the knight captain looks up measuring how much time they had left of the day.

Riou imbued his short sword with his spell making it his light source while the dagger remained ready in the right hand. He began to drive away the shadows and continued his path towards the darkest parts of the mine after the mages./

Passing by a narrow squared corridor he reached a new large opening inside the mine, it was not nearly as big as the entrance but it was not a corridor anymore. Riou could see a path to the right that seemed made of natural formation and another one to the left that was carved by the miners and held with old wooden beams.

“This damn mine was really built inside a cave” Riou looked down to the dust, tracks showed both paths were taken by different parties “Shit, they thought the cave was save and splitted up here, this will complicate things”

Riou rushed his steps choosing the left side first. Another narrow corridor with old wood beams holding the ceiling that seemed that would give in at any moment. That path led towards a small opening, this one was not natural, all around it there were old crates and rusted mining equipment lying around.

Riou kept going forward.

“The mages had torches… they probably know light spells as well, they should be fine if they were cautious… probably”

Before Riou could conclude his thoughts he found fresh blood on the ground, it was a big pool, but there was no body.

The marks on the ground show someone was bleeding profusely while being dragged away.

“Someone wasn’t cautious it seems, damn, so much blood… I doubt someone could survive after this much blood loss” Riou followed the trail towards the far right wall, it led riight behind a big pile of old crates there, behind them, he found a body.

It was laying down behind the crates and by the wall, the body appeared as if it had been thrown with tremendous force towards it. A blood splash could be seen right above it, with a closer inspection, Riou noticed that its limbs were all displaced, the bones were completely broken.

In the midsection, it was barely attached to itself anymore. There was a deep horizontal cut in his stomach that almost detached the torso from the lower body.

On his shoulder, four deep puncture marks could be seen, clearly and through a mage’s robe.

Riou turned the body, the facial expression was of the man that experienced sheer terror and agony right before it’s last moments.

“This guy… he’s from Ursula’s team. They were the ones to come this way, damn, we are one mage down already.”

Riou’s mind was preparing for the imminent fight. “These are no ordinary monsters… they are far too intelligent. Luring and ambushing both groups separately. Maybe they are luring me in as well… maybe they can attack anytime and are just choosing not to? If that’s the case, this light might be a problem moving forward” thought the boy looking at his light source.

Yet another realization hit him “These things can’t be natural from this place, maybe a summon or something… I bet someone put them here, which means, maybe the real enemy is still around? It’s worth a shot”

Riou resumed his search and didn’t take long for him to find more bodies, this time it was the two soldiers. Both were killed in the same strike, as the slash began from one body to precisely continue to the other. They were lying on the floor near each other in the middle of a corridor, Riou concluded they must have stopped to fight whatever was chasing them.

With concern raised after seeing so many bodies, Riou hurried his pace.

At the very end of a long corridor, he could see a beam of light coming from the ceiling. It was a square opening on the stone, probably created by the miners for renewing the air in the mine. A dim light shined through it, shedding the dark veil on its immediate surroundings.

Riou dismissed his improvised light as he approached the new light source in the distance, very cautiously as he didn’t know if the enemies were into him or not.

Near the light and against the end of the corridor he saw someone, he approached “Ursula?” he called when he recognized her in the distance.

But the mage did not respond, she was standing but not moving.

Riou stepped forward and felt something wet with his feet, “Blood?” he crouched and touched it with his fingers. He immediately recognized the smell and texture. Following its trail with his feet not too far ahead, Riou found another body in the dark.

He snapped his fingers to create a small flame to see.

Headless and wearing the battle robe bathed in blood.

Riou turned off his flame and continued to move towards the light at the end of the corridor, where Ursula was standing.

She was with her palm up pointing to the corridor while her back was against the wall, she barely could stand, yet she held her hand up, trembling by the effort. Her head was already down.

Approaching her, Riou saw a deep bleeding on the side of her torso and on her head.

The mage was breathing heavily, she didn’t move, Riou couldn’t tell if she was awake or not.

“Ursula?” he asked again, very close to her, she moved her head slightly, only her right eye was still open, as the blood covered the left one.

Her arm was shaking.

“Ursula!” Shouted Riou to get her attention as she didn’t seem to have noticed him yet.

She snapped “Who is that? Don’t come near me!” shouted the mage clearly confused. When she finally recognized who it was “This is the only way to fight them! So stay clear from the corridor!” she said once again.

Closer to the light, Riou looked at the walls with more care, he noticed scorched marks all over them. She was using fire to engulf the corridor in an attempt to fight the Shadows.

Her group was probably attacked and cornered, she desperately maintained her fire spells in an attempt to keep the shadows at bay.

“She must have done this for a while now”

She would have a chance if these were mindless monsters, but against this thing, she’d run out of mana and stamina before even grazing it.

Riou knew he could not leave her there, as she was at her limit already.

“Calm down, you need to rest… you will faint if you keep this up. Let me get you out of this place,” said the boy approaching her.

“You don’t understand… If you come too close the dark will return, the fiends will come back if you come too close. Stay away or I will be forced to hit you with my spell! Get out of here now!” She shouted trying to warn the boy. But Riou did not care for her warnings and continued his approach.

Riou was a couple steps away from her when they were suddenly shrouded in a haze of darkness that even the light from the hole couldn’t pierce.

He desperately tried to ignite a fire on his hand, but it didn’t help. He could feel its heat and power, the spell was working, but no light could be seen from it.

That strange haze blocked everything, he was immersed in a complete and utter darkness, his sense of sight was completely gone.

But that was nothing new for him.

Immediately after the darkness fell, heat began to come from where Ursula was. Riou quickly erected a mana barrier that completely sealed the corridor between him and her.

Quickly after, the sound of fire engulfing and raging against his barrier could be heard in the corridor.

“She is a woman of her word… she really didn’t care I was here at all”

The shadow beings must be near, it was certain that the shadow fiend would probably attack.

Riou needed his vision back, quickly, he concentrated mana in his eyes, a tingle sensation began to form on them, it was a bad feeling and it bothered him greatly but something was happening as he tried to tune it to enable his vision in that dark place.

A faint violet glow began to form in his view, showing him the environment around him.

His sight was being affected by the mana, he managed to sense different light wavelengths through his eyes. The darkness was now transformed into shades of violet, red and white.

“As I thought, not all kinds of light are being blocked,” he said to himself, very satisfied with the results “But this tingling feeling inside my eyes it's awful, the urge to scratch my eyeballs out is real! Goddamn, I can’t keep this up for too long” he thought while restraining himself from scratching anything.

Seeing no enemy behind him, he sheathed his dagger and short sword. He turned to the barrier to see the fire still raging against it. It was colored very differently than usual and with different shades than the ones he was used to see in flames

“She has stamina, that tired and still holding the spell for this long, gotta give it to her” thought the boy while watching the fire's intensity and volume. He then turned towards the corridor once again as he noticed a few shadow beings making their way towards him through the long corridor.

“So there are more than one after all”

The monsters were completely unaware that the boy could now see them perfectly in that dark.

There were three of them, moving very quickly towards him.

Riou pointed his index finger towards them and smiled.

“Let’s see how you deal with something like this”

When they noticed Riou pointing at them they were confused and stopped in place watching him from afar.

The first one quickly began moving again, but the others were not so confident, they stayed back, watching.

Suddenly a beam of bright violet light appeared in front of his finger and instantly passed through the monsters that were lined up in the corridor. It was light, simply too fast for them even to dodge it.

A hole appeared in their bodies and they immediately rushed towards the boy, clearly angered by the attack. Their movements were now erratic and more grotesque as they desperately and furiously moved to attack him.

But the hole in the shadow beings quickly began to expand while emitting a violet light of its own that was now quickly consuming the shadows from within.

Like a paper that was lit on its middle, the flame within the hole was rapidly increasing in speed as it gained size and area.

The shadow beings burned out, disappearing completely before they could reach the boy.

The monsters were gone but the darkness still persisted, which made Riou wonder.

He turned back to Ursula as he noticed the flames behind his barrier dissipating.

Ursula was not able to stand anymore and clearly had spent all her forces.

He quickly ran towards her, putting his hand around her, helping her to stand up.

“Who is this...” Asked the mage puzzled and fighting off the touch she was feeling.

“Hold on, it’s me, I will take you out of here” replied the boy.

“You? But how are you still alive? The fire... and the shadows… I thought I had killed you... you should have be dead”

She said clearly confused as Riou helped her through the corridor. Surprised that he could move in that darkness she added “Can you see where you are going?”

Ursula was full of questions, nothing made sense.

“Now is not the time to think about these things, let’s go, you are still bleeding and probably out of mana. I will get you out of here” Said the boy to calm her down.

“Wait, we need to find Lilly! She might be hurt too”

“Shut it, you are useless now and I can’t do much if I have to drag you around.” Answered the boy seriously.

The mage asked “What about my group? Did you find them on the way to me?”

Riou kept silent.

She was about to speak once again, but restrained herself, she understood what that silence meant.

Her steps began to slow down as the reserves of her stamina ran out.

“We really don’t have time for this…” he said pumping up his body with mana. and picking her up in his arms, the boy then threw her over his shoulder and began to rush out at full speed. After all, he was able to see everything now.

Ursula was surprised by the boy’s strength and ability to move like that under the darkness spell. She couldn’t see how fast they were going, but by the way she felt his body moving, she could tell it was way too fast for someone who couldn’t see.

Riou quickly made his way back to the entrance.

“I should’ve thought of this spell earlier… it would have saved a lot of time.”

The darkness spell was very wide and extended almost to the entrance. Riou kept his hands ready to shoot at any sight of danger, but to his surprise there were no other monsters on the way back.

“I can see the entrance” said the mage as her eyes were able to see light.

Riou covered his eyes with his arm and slowed the pace. The sunlight from the outside was too much for his eyes under his spell. He shut it off and finally gave his eyes some rest from that tingling sensation.

Outside the soldiers were positioned in a concave line, away from the entrance and in a two row formation. They were waiting for whatever could come out of the mine with spears and swords ready.

But to their surprise, it was Riou that came out of the mine carrying Ursula. Bhalrom immediately rushed to help him with the mage with some soldiers.

“She is badly injured, someone needs to tend to her wounds!” Said Riou to them as they picked her off him.

“Lilly, we need to find her!” Said the mage at the knight captain while being taken to one of the tents in the back.

Bhalrom nodded “We will, don’t worry…” as he turned to address the boy, he was not there anymore. He looked around trying to find him.

.

“Damn brat… where is he?” the knight captain asked the soldiers.

They just pointed to the entrance.

“What? He went in again?” He looked at the entrance pondering on something “Arrrrghhh, damnit!” He turned around in ager and went to talk to Ursula at the tent in the back.

“What happened inside?” He asked as she was being treated.

“Shadow Fiends, many of them, it was an ambush” She said with regret..

Bhalrom eyes widened and his stern appearance showed deep concern.

Despite how uncommon that enemy was, Bhalrom in his early days had encountered that for before.

Memories from a time when he was just a soldier in an incursion against a high mage of Argos that had made a lair by the south of Allard border.

That day, half his brother in arms died at the hands of just one of those fiends.

He knew well enough against what they were up to. “Are you sure there are Shadow Fiends in that mine?”

Ursula didn’t want to, but she nodded confirming his fears.

“That can’t be....How did the boy survive them?” he questioned the mage that had no answers to give.

“What about the other mages? Where are they?”

“We went separate ways, my group got attacked shortly after, but the others might still be there”

“Damnit, we can’t go inside without a mage’s backup… we need to believe they will make it back alive, maybe the boy gets lucky again and informs them before they are attacked.”

Bhalrom turned to the mine entry “I can’t believe it… they were really prepared for us, Shadow Fiends inside a dark mine… shit, that boy is good as dead isn’t he?”

Ursula kept silent.

The knight nodded and looked at the sky, measuring how much daylight was left as the sun already began its way towards the horizon. “And by the looks of it, we may follow not too long after…”

He turned to his men nearby.

“First Army! We are facing Argonian Summons, more precisely, Shadow Fiends are inside the mine! Bring everything you can find that burns! We need a big fire going at the entrance of the mine before nightfall! Or we are as good as dead!” he shouted with his potent voice. “Our best chance is to defend here! If the fire cannot light the entrance completely, we will have to collapse it! We cannot allow a Shadow Fiend to leave the mine once the sun is gone or we are all dead!”