-------------------------

“Lord Rodrick” Said the servant inside the knight’s quarter, respectfully addressing the lord.

Rodrick looked up from his desk “What is it Albert?”

“We received a report that the assassins ceased to follow the boy my lord”

“And why is that?” Rodrick asked, restraining his anger.

“They are demanding more money sir… they said that the contract was for the boy alone, but he is always in the company of powerful people, the mercenaries, the owner of the tavern, the first army and even the princess. They said that the price has increased if you want them to deal with all that, specially when there is royalty involved”

“What?!” Said the lord loudly. His face was red and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“The princess was given a royal seal my lord, she left with the boy to roam the city and now as you know, now he is participating in the incursion with the army. There was no opportunity for them to act”

Rodrick punched his desk in anger. “That gross, loamy bastard assured that the assassins would not fail… And yet not only the boy is still alive but now they are even demanding more money?! We paid a fortune already!”

Rodrick faced away from Albert while calming himself down “How much more do they want?”

“They said they want triple the initial payment” Answered the servant promptly and with a calm tone.

“Outrageous!” The lord paused for a moment and sighed “Tell them to stand down, I will not pay them anymore… I will deal with the boy myself.”

The servant bowed acknowledging the order.

“Yes my lord. And regarding today’s plan? Do you wish to proceed?” Questioned the servant in a calm voice.

“No, the king changed his mind and put the second army and some reserves from the first in charge of protecting the royal wing. He is on to something, it will be too much attention if we try anything now”

Rodrick walked to a table by the wall and took a chalice and a bottle of wine from it.

“I will have to wait. It will be foolish of me to rush my plans now that Maximilian is missing. The boy is a mere pawn and can be dealt with. And about the king, we will act, but at a better moment.” he smiled and nodded to himself.

---------------------

The tingling and itching sensation on his eyes greatly bothered Riou. It was not something he couldn’t stand, but he had to constantly remind himself that it was the spell's effects and hold his hands to not scratch his eyes furiously.

Once again in the dark and with his vision spell active, Riou dashed through the mine towards the corridor where the mage’s split, this time he’d go the other way to find the remainder of their party..

He calmed down once he reached the place, he moved now paying attention to his surroundings as more enemies could be lurking nearby, he couldn’t risk being caught off guard.

He could see the mine very clearly with the spell and with it, Riou easily spotted footprints on the dusty floor. He was able to follow them to the next opening, a very large room with a huge rock formation on its center. The natural structure served as a central pillar, probably solely responsible for holding the cave in place.

Riou continued following the footprints and soon noticed that the straight line of steps became erratic and dispersed. He was not a tracker but he could clearly see several different shoe sizes that began to wander around in confusion before dispersing in different directions.

“One of these darkness spells must have been cast when they were here” He guessed while looking around. He found marks on the stones nearby and even on the ground not too far from the footprints.

Nearby some stalactite debris he saw a scorched surface, very similar to the ones Ursula’s flames did. Not too far ahead there was a liquid substance on the ground. Approaching it he touched it with his hand “It’s cold water… Ice magic perhaps?” He assumed as there were no water sources nearby.

He searched around and noticed strange transparent formations, erupting from the ground in a wide wall formation. On the ground near them water was forming

“Ice barriers”

The footprints were all over the place now. And the groups suddenly split up again, six of them stuck together while four ran to the other side in the other direction, Riou wondered why nobody tried to go back the way they came from.

“Did the shadows purposely force them to split up again?” Tried to figure out the situation while he followed the four that stuck together.

Riou walked towards the right wall, following the biggest group of footprints.

It did not take long for the boy to see more bodies. They were the soldiers, mutilated in a horrendous way. Blood spatters even reached the ceiling and covered a lot of the wall and the rocks nearby.

It was impossible to know which part of the body Riou was looking at, much less to which soldier it belonged to. Since no footprints came out of that place and by the sheer quantity of body pieces, none of them seemed to have survived.

He quickly retraced his steps back to where all footprints came together to follow the remaining group.

Not too far after following the trail, he noticed a woman’s body impaled on the ceiling stalactites.

He couldn’t figure out who it was, due to the different shades he was seeing… but by the size of the body, he knew it was not Lilly’s.

Looking around once again, he saw many broken stones and splintered stalactites on the floor, as if they were blown off by something powerful, even the dust and the footsteps were gone.

“So, they were near each other in pitch black darkness… the mage was attacked and screamed… the others heard and shot the spells in her direction? Maybe they knew the monsters were attacking someone?” He was trying to make sense of the situation, the boy looked at the direction of the rock debris coming from, while walking towards the most likely position of the other mages since the footprints were gone, blown away by the fight.

After following a few shattered rocks and stalagmites formations , Riou found a hand in the ground… just a hand and another bloody trail.

“Damn, the more I search the worse it gets”

The trail led to another body. A mage sat down. leaning against the wall, the man was with his left hand holding the wound of his missing right hand.

“Hey!” Riou rushed at him hoping he'd still be alive. But as he approached him, Riou noticed 4 big puncture holes in his stomach..

“Fuck, they bled him out... this things are just evil, they take their time to kill” Thought the boy once again returning to follow the last footprints “I still have to find Lilly and Serena…”

Riou sped up as there were no signs of the shadows in that place.

He went towards one of the exits in front and finally found a trail of footprints in the dust again.

There were two sets of footprints and they were in a hurry, the distance of the steps showed they were running with difficulty and able to see somehow, they ran towards another entrance in that direction.

“Another attack” Many ice barriers and scorched marks were found in that path.

Following the trail and approaching the hole in the wall, Riou noticed movement on the next cave chamber.

3 shadows were lurking in the distance, very close to something, it looked like one of those men made corridors.

The shadows were acting strangely, contorting their bodies and peeking inside the corridor from time to time. They entered it just too suddenly and very quickly rushed out of it.

As they moved back from it, a massive fire wave followed, it raged outside of the entrance and very close to the waiting shadows that leaned against the walls to escape it.

Riou stealthily got closer to see better.

He noticed that the shadow beings were not whole anymore. Many parts of their bodies have been consumed by the intense fire, there were some missing parts and even holes in them.

“Seems like fire spells can really cause damage to them, they really fear a full hit of the spell, this is most likely Lilly’s or Serena’s doing” Realized the boy while watching as they tried to go in again.

Riou waited for the moment they went inside and quickly approached the entrance. He noticed they were coming back as another fire wave was coming after them. Riou smiled at himself and he quickly erected a barrier at the tunnel entrance.

“This must be some tactic taught in the academy… all mages seemed to know it” He thought unsure as he waited.

Suddenly the shadow fiends hit the invisible barrier, unable to get out of it, they tried contorting their bodies, squeezing and pushing them through gaps they were searching by edges of the barrier with the stone walls. But as it was made of mana, there were no gaps for them to exploit.

Riou could notice a hint of despair in the shadow fiend’s movements as they realized the fire was coming.

It did not take long for them to be hit by the flame.

Riou could see firsthand the effects of a high level fire spell on these shadow fiends as they desperately launched themselves against the invisible barrier in silence while slowly languishing. The 3 shadow figures died slowly as the remnants of the fire consumed their bodies until it completely dissipated into oblivion.

As soon as the shadow fiends were completely gone, the dark haze that covered the whole mine, began to dissipate.

Riou dispelled his mana barrier and his darksight spell. A blissful feeling of relief wrapped around his eyes that no longer itched viciously because of his spell.

His vision returned to normal and he saw a gold colored flame burning on the rocks and corners of the corridor and where the shadow fiends were. Their silhouette could be seen on the ground where their bodies remained.

“Intelligent, this must be some special fire to be able to affect the shadow beings that much.” Concluded the boy sneakily looking inside the corridor.

There was another opening in that corridor, just like the one Ursula was. A very faint light illuminated the place, there could see Lilly and Serena standing and looking around as they finally were seeing again.

“The Dark is gone! you got them this time Lilly!” Said Serena in a happy and relieved tone, “Let’s get out of here while we can”

Lilly was still breathing heavily and nodded to Serena “Let’s go, we need to help the others”

It was a moment of decision, if he helped the mages back, he would have a lot to explain, which would prevent him from continuing his search on the mine for the enemy mage that could still be there somewhere.

The boy showed a grimace of disapproval and leaned towards the wall, hiding himself from the mages. “The path behind me is clear, they won’t have any trouble getting back… and I have more pressing matters at hand” he thought to himself while he watched the two mages rush by him after identifying the fiends body burnt on the ground.

Once they were gone from sight, Riou continued exploring the cave, there must still be one or two corridors left for him to check..

----------------------------------

A large fire was burning near the entrance, but there wasn’t enough fuel to hold the fire for much longer.

“Prepare to destroy the entrance pillars, get something to break or force them down! We must be ready when the fire goes low!” Shouted the knight commanding his men.

Suddenly all attention went towards the entrance as two figures emerged from the darkness inside.

Ursula’s eyes widened and a relieved expression took over “Lilly!” she shouted.

Bhalrom and a few soldiers rushed towards them to help.

Serena had a small cut on her arm, but nothing threatening while Lilly was just tired.

The two mages were out of breath after rushing back. Bhalrom helped them to get far away from the entrance.

Ursula went to them as well, she embraced Lilly tightly. When she released Lilly, Bhalrom quickly asked.

“Tell us what happened”

“Shadow fiends… they lured us in and then attacked after a darkness spell.” Said Serena.

Bhalrom nodded acknowledging that he already knew that much, urging them to continue.

“As the dark came I knew we were up against shadow fiends. We couldn’t stay in the open part of the mine or we would die. I heard Ursula’s shout urging everyone to find cover and a place we could fight. When the group got attacked I grabbed Lilly’s hand as she was beside me and we ran. I kept using ice barriers and wind magic to try to find a safer place to stand ground. Luckily we reached a corridor and began retaliating. They would try to get to us there, so we kept changing the intervals of the spells and barriers to try to catch them off-guard. It took a while but Lilly’s golden flame was finally able to catch them.” She said looking at Lilly with a smile.

“The fiends are dead? All of them?”

“She killed three of them and the darkness dissipated immediately!” added the court mage.

Ursula looked proudly at Lilly who faintly smiled back.

“Three Shadow Fiends? My goodness… It’s a miracle you two survived” said Bhalrom surprised, “What about the others?” asked Bhalrom already imagining the answer.

Lilly kept quiet as Serena sadly shook her head.

Bhalrom nodded and returned to the topic at hand.

“One shadow fiend is already enough, and you killed three… I don’t think there are any others remaining in that cave” said the Knight to the mages and glancing at the soldiers, ready to send a soldier party in.

“Yes” Answered Serena with absolute certainty. “We have killed three of them, their bodies were marked on the floor, there are no doubt about it”

“It took a high mage of Argos with great knowledge to summon one of these creatures. If there were three here, our enemy was much better prepared than we anticipated.”

Ursula nodded in agreement.

Bhalrom looked once again to the two mages with very serious eyes

“Did you see the boy… or his body on your way out?” he asked to the surprise of the two mages.

Lilly blinked a few times not understanding the question. “Did he enter the mine?”

“He went in after none of you reported back… he surprisingly brought back Ursula and then went back inside, probably looking for your group.” Answered Bhalrom.

Lilly looked towards Ursula unable to believe what she just heard.

“No, we didn’t see him” Answered Serena confidently. While Lilly couldn’t help herself, she just didn’t believe in what she heard.

“What do you mean by brought back?” She asked.

Ursula nodded “Somehow he was able to bring me back outside… After we split up and we got attacked, I sensed a corridor and moved towards it followed by Barbara.” The expression of sadness said it all what happened next to their friend.

That was hard for Lilly to believe. She had come to terms that the boy was not as weak as she first assumed, but to be able to throw himself against that kind of situation and still survive… the only way for that to happen would be if all monsters had converged towards Lilly’s group leaving Ursula alone

But it still wouldn’t explain how he was able to roam through the mine while the dark spell was active. A person would lose all sense of direction under its effects.

Bhalrom looked up to the sky once more. The night was upon them and he had a decision to make

He looked towards the 3 mages.

“I know this is a lot to ask… but we will not be able to come back down before nightfall. I will give you a few moments to recover and then we will storm the mine once again. If shadow fiends were involved there could be enemy mages inside… We will need your help to defeat them, we can’t camp here at night before confirming the cave is now completely safe..” Said the knight with a serious tone.

Ursula and Serena with determined expression nodded in agreement, Lilly nodded a moment after them.

“Prepare torches… I want 10 men to follow me and the Mages into the mine, we will put an end to the enemy and avenge our fallen brothers!” Shouted the knight to the first army soldiers who shouted back to him in unison and got ready to move into the mine.

-------------------------

After following the last corridor for a while, Riou ended his search at a collapsed rocks and dirt. Riou casted another white light spell on his hand to better inspect his surroundings with more care, there was no other way to go, if there was someone in the mine, that should be the way.

With further inspection at the place, the rocks seemed recently moved, the earth that caved in with it was still humid and fresh, green grass, roots and even some green leaves could still be seen amidst the dirt.

“This is recent, so there must be more to this place… now, how to pass through this without collapsing the whole tunnel on me?” He thought, bringing his hand to his chin and looking towards the rocks and dirt in front of him.

As if deciding the method, he moved his head from side to side, stretching his neck and back muscles, this would need some work.

Bringing both his hands to his sides near his body, he began to fill the tunnel with his mana, enveloping everything around him in a layer of his magic power. Once everything in the tunnel was secured, he began to bring his hands up towards the ceiling, slowly but steadily.

And with his hand moving, the rocks in front of him began to tremble and finally followed it’s movement going up, floating slowly and towards the ceiling.

It quickly stabilized the rocks and dirt… the mana mantle went upwards through the ceiling hole penetrating the rocks above as well to ensure nothing would fall apart and on top of him.

He moved everything as a single body until the passage was opened.

He passed by it very quickly while holding everything up and then proceeded to slowly fix them tere. Like a tetris with rocks and the broken supports, he managed to stabilize the corridor.

Once everything was in place, Riou could move forward inside that mine.

The corridor went on and reached another open area full of old mining equipment: crates, mining carts and pickaxes. There were many old stools and improvised beds near the remains of what was once a fire pit.

In the ceiling he could see another breathing hole.

Riou approached the other corridor entrance and heard something on the other end. He quickly put down his light and approached the wall following the sound.

The tunnel was not long and at its end he could see a room with an oscillating light, flickering by a big fire in its center.

Voices echoed from the room.

“Is the crystal ready?” a man’s voice asked

“Almost…” another man replied

“Quickly then, all the summoned shadows were taken out, we need to leave before they reach us” yet another man's voice echoed.

“Don’t fret, for as powerful as the enemy mages are, they will take a couple hours to safely cross the collapsed corridor, by then we will be long gone…” the first voice replied.

“But still, to think they would be able to win against 6 shadow fiends in a place like this… the court mages are not to be underestimated”

“Yes, but I don’t believe they did so unscathed… probably a few died in the process” one of the voices said with a tone of satisfaction.

Riou quickly and silently rushed through the corridor towards the room where the voices were.

It was a round chamber, with marks of excavation on the walls, it was not very big and there was no other exit from there that he could see.

He noticed a white circle was drawn around the center fire. Some strange lines connected forming 6 other circles around the main one. On each of them there were many runes written in a vertical line towards the fire and small pitch black stones inside each one of the circles.

Riou finally saw the men inside, there were three black hooded mages in the room.

One of them was collecting the books and scrolls that were piled in a corner and putting them into some leather bags.

The other one was to the far end of the room, holding a white translucent crystal on top of a pedestal with both hands.

Both of them were turned away from the entrance while the third one was at the center fire, collecting the stones around the circle and throwing them into the flame and erasing the white lines and runes on the ground.

The stones exploded quickly after reaching the fire.

“No point in waiting… let’s ask them directly a few questions”

The memory of the dying assassin at the Dracar river came to mind, even in the face of death, that man wouldn’t speak anything… and maybe these mages were the same.

“Perhaps if they are scared enough they will be more willing to speak” Thought the boy with a plan. So he put on a smile and casually left the shadows of the corridor and walked into the illuminated room for all to see.

“A cozy place you have here… I wonder how many times you have used this mine before?” said the boy, looking around not too impressed.

The three mages quickly glanced towards him and then to each other, trying to figure out how that boy had reached that place unnoticed.

The one near the crystal quickly recovered from the shock “Kill the boy!” he shouted to the other 2 who immediately positioned themselves.

Suddenly one of them put both his hands together, he was about to shoot some spell towards Riou. But the boy quickly brought up his left palm towards the mage in response.

The dark one froze, he could feel something emanating from the boy, all his instincts told him to stop and flee.

The strange boy smiled at him “Think very carefully now… what should you do in this situation?” he said, waiting on the mage’s response.

The mage shook off his feelings and continued conjuring his spell.

“Wrong move” Riou closed his hand with vigor, the mage stopped conjuring and brought his hand towards his chest as if it was pierced by something. His face showed a terrible pain and soon he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, falling to the ground, completely still.

“See what happens if you misbehave?” He said with a smile looking towards the other two that went silent at the sight of such a strange spell.

“What fascinating crystal you have there. Would you let me take a look at it?” The boy added happily as if nothing had happened in there, he was casually walking towards the crystal with no concern.

Both mages swallowed hard at that sight and looked at the fallen mage. They could tell he was dead.

Recovering his will, one of the dark mages moved away from the crystal and began concentrating his mana in his body. A green smoke began to ooze off him going quickly at the boy’s direction.

Riou waved his hand in a swift movement at the approaching green smoke. It immediately dispersed as if a strong wind blew it away into nothingness, the strength of the wind was so powerful that even the mage went flying, violently hitting the wall behind him.

“Oops… sorry about that,” said the boy clearly not caring for the dark mage’s well being.

Riou turned to the only one dark mage remaining “I will take a wild guess… you are the leader here right? Let’s have a little chat…” Said the boy approaching the crystal.

The black mage was scared and began to step away from him.

Riou looked at the white, translucent crystal on top of the pedestal.

It was lapidated into an oval shape and seemed to be just one half of the whole thing. Neatly positioned as an egg laid in its bottom, with the smooth and straight side facing the mine wall.

“This is how you intended to leave?” said the boy, analyzing it.

The man began to get angrier as he managed to subdued his fear. “I don’t know who you are or how you got in here, but you will not leave alive!” Said the mage preparing to fight the boy as the other did.

Riou sighed “I’d think twice if I were you, or didn’t you see what happened to your friends?“ said the boy menacingly, as he turned towards the mage with a serious expression. The mage didn’t know how to respond, he saw how the other two were immediately dealt with.

Conflicted, the dark mage stopped his movements.

Riou noticed that the threat was finally being effective, but the mage’s will was still strong. It would need a bit more than that to bend the dark mage into cooperation.

“Now tell me, what was your plan and where does this crystal lead to?” asked the boy in a very polite manner.

“Hahahaha!” The mage forced a nervous laugh “Do you expect me to betray the council… death is more welcoming than suffering their wrath! You have no idea what you are getting yourself into!”

Riou smiled broadly towards the mage. “Oh, is that so? Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“Kill me!”

The young boy shook his head and his finger from side to side. “No, I’m not giving you death… that would be too easy, I will bring you pain”

The boy became dead serious and spoke very slowly with emotionless eyes at the dark mage.

“Unimaginable… excruciating… pain” he tilted his head looking deeply inside the man’s eyes as he approached.

The dark mage could see the emotionless dark blue eyes gazing into his very soul, the boy was not kidding. “You will desire death… you will beg for it… but it will not come. I will tore your soul apart and feed it to the demons of the Abyss, piece by piece while you feel every single one of their bites.” Riou smiled once again with eyes wide open.

Noticing that the mage was on edge, just a little push now would do it, Riou forcefully released his mana in the small room.

“Perhaps a demonstration of power will help…”

The room quickly became full and heavy with Riou’s rich mana, to the point that the mage was able to feel its pressure in his body and especially through his breathing.

And it was slowly increasing, like something was pushing him against the walls, growing in intensity to the point that the very air seemed to be thick and impossible to breath.

The mage was more than frightened now, he had never felt something so overwhelming before, not even in the council. It was as if the boy emanated an aura of power unlikely anything he had seen, even his masters paled in comparison to him.

Before him the boy approached slowly and with gleaming eyes. An eerie calmness to his movements made the mage shiver. In his eyes, that thing in front of him had transformed, it may look like a boy but it was actually a demon, some being that escaped the entrails of the Abyss to spread an evil much worse than any shadow fiend could.

It was getting harder and harder for the black mage to breathe, he already couldn’t move a finger against that pressure and the boy was dangerously close to him now.

In cold sweat the man quickly began to speak.

“We planned to weaken Allard!” screamed the mage with the little air he had in his lungs “We wanted to use the princess and queen to get the Norse but the plan failed. The master knew that the mages would come after us so we set a trap” he said out of breath.

“Aha! So it is true, fear of pain can be more effective than pain itself to get information” Riou nodded.

“And who is behind it?” Shouted the boy with a resounding deep voice that echoed in the room.

Falling completely to the ground and cowering in a mixture of despair and terror the mage continued “The council is supporting Argos, they want their Death magic! So they agreed to help weaken Allard and the Norse! That’s all I know!”

“Why? What are they to gain with the Death magic?”

“Power over death!” shouted the mage. “That’s what the council wants”

“Where are the council members?!”

“I don’t know!

“Who ordered you here?!”

“The one known as the Undead Mage of Iris! He obeys the council and commands us here! He was the one that taught us how to use the stones to summon the Fiends!”

“Where does this crystal lead to?”

“The mountains to the west… near the ocean, it’s his cave and hideout, near the north village!”

At that moment Riou was a step away from the mage who was barely conscious due to the pressure.

Riou looked from above at him fallen at the ground “How can the council have so many mages at their disposal? Wasn’t that supposed to be a rare thing?” he asked calmly.

The mage was struggling with the pressure and lack of air was getting to him.

“So?” he said expecting an answer very quickly.

“The runes… they… carve runes… into the body… fueled by mana for specific spells… and taught…us how to use them… ” said the mage fighting to stay awake, already with glazed eyes.

The boy nodded “That explains why all of you look and speak like thugs” Riou said pointing to the blue rune on the man's forehead.

With a movement of his finger, Riou broke the magical container that was created there to store the mana, allowing it to flow out of the body. As the mana quickly dispersed, the rune turned into a scar tissue.

All magic power stored there was completely gone, the rune was disabled for good and the man would no longer be a threat.

Riou stopped the pressure and the dark one began to recover consciousness, he breathed deeply. He felt as if he had been underwater for a long time and just now was able to reach the surface to breath.

Riou waited for him to recover a little more before continuing.

“I will let you live. But there is a good chance you will be captured by Allard, tell them what you told me. But keep in mind one thing, I was never here, you will not mention me. We have never met and this conversation did not happen. And if you even think about mentioning me, I guarantee you will see a much less pleasant side of me. Do we understand each other?” said the boy to the ex-mage who nodded many times with small movements.

“Bhalrom will not stop… he will come in again and will eventually find this place… that means I need someone to take the blame and inform them of the council allegiance.” Realized the boy as he turned around.

Riou went back to the crystal. He touched it with his right index finger hoping it would not explode.

Unexpectedly a very bright orange light shot out of the crystal towards the wall, forming a round orange circle that oscillated as if made of water.

The ex-mage watched him, and at that point, he did not find it strange that the demon was capable of activating the crystal with such ease.

“Great, it did not explode… I’m getting the hang of these things”

Before crossing the portal, Riou took the two downed mages and threw them through it.

Then he took the crystal from the pedestal and turned once again towards the man on the floor.

“Remember my words, you never saw me” he said seriously.

He looked inside the portal and noticed a room very similar to the one he was, very dark with raw stone walls, he also saw a pedestal and a crystal very similar to the one he was holding.

He stepped forward, traversing the portal.

-------------------------

It was late in the night when two cloaked figures crossed the gates of Longart. They directed themselves towards the merchant district on foot.

Their destination was a well known Tavern in the area.

When the two figures stepped inside, they instantly became the center of the attention of all patrons there. The lively tavern went completely silent as their eyes widened in awe.

The two continued to walk towards the counter looking for the owner.

It didn’t take long for Syldis to come out of the kitchen to see what had happened, it was not usual for the place to quiet down all of a sudden.

When Syldis got out and saw the two standing before her, the big woman's eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise.

“Therese!” Syldis exclaimed “And this must be the little Leona, it’s been a lifetime since I saw you!” she added with a smile on her face.

Therese was a tall woman with wavy pale blonde hair, long enough to go over her shoulders and almost to the middle of her back. Her exact age couldn’t be guessed easily, she wasn’t young nor old either, she was certainly at her physical peak. But the aura around her gave off a strange feeling of a much older person.

She stood and walked with a dignity and a pride that clearly differentiated her from anyone else.

Her eyes were very unusual, her iris had a golden color, very bright and vivid. Her eyelids seemed constantly slightly relaxed, covering bits of her eyes at all times. As she looked at the big woman, Therese held a faint smile.

Everyone that saw her could agree that she passed the impression of a gentle yet unapproachable woman.

Her most predominant characteristic was her calm demeanor, her movements were slow and precise to the very details, as if every move she made was calculated.

She was wearing pieces of metallic armor and chainmail, clearly valuing mobility and lightness over protection. Only shoulders and chest were covered with thicker plates. With big boots matching the dark gray shades of her metal armor.

She had a two handed sword sheathed and attached to her back, everyone there couldn’t believe that such a frame was able to handle such a sword.

She was indeed a beautiful woman with a thin waist and very well defined muscles which gave her a round butt and very appealing round breasts, she looked very strong but without losing any femininity.

The second figure was also a woman, Leona. She was clearly younger, at her 20 years at most, wearing long black boots and brown pants which were held low on her waist by a red colored wide belt. She had a leather vest with buttons at the center that did not cover her entirely. The vest itself was well-designed, aligned to her shoulders perfectly, adorned with golden sewn details. The vest granted flexibility as it shaped perfectly around her body.

She had a light gray shirt underneath. The sleeves stopped before the forearms that were protected by a wristband tied to the middle index finger.

She had an athletic and well defined body, she looked very similar to Therese but not as tall.

With long straight brown hair tied in a voluminous ponytail. Her face held a scar that ran vertically from above her right eye reaching her upper cheek. Something sharp had run straight in a downward movement, barely missing her eyes that were sharp and green as jades.

She also carried a two handed sword on her back very similar to Therese.

“You seem well Syldis” Therese replied politely.

“Please take a seat you must be tired, last I heard from you two, you were out of Khargaz to train, it was many years back… so what brings you here to Allard? Wait! First take a seat and I will fetch something for you to eat, then you will tell me everything!”

Therese nodded as Syldis went inside the kitchen once again before they went for an empty table nearby.

The silence only was relieved once the two women sat down.

Whispers from the clients around the tavern could be heard amongst their tables.

“That’s Therese!”

“I don’t believe it! I was told she was a giant, this beauty cannot possibly be her…”

“The Lioness?”

“The one and only… see the golden eyes? And the two handed sword? That’s the Lioness for sure”

“So the other one...?”

“A disciple maybe?”

“Seems like it”

“What I wouldn’t give for a night with the two of them…”

“Are you mad? They will kill you if they hear it…”

“But I’d die a happy man haha”

“The Golden Eyed Therese in person… Nobody will believe me when I tell this back in Siscia!”

The commentaries went on… while the two waited quietly for Syldis to return.