An Enemy Within:

Calvert woke up in a room; unfamiliar and surrounded by a sinister aura and he instantly reached for his sword; thankfully White was still with him. His mind buzzed as he tried to remember where he was last when he was conscious. After a minute of thinking, he faintly recalled the shouts, the screams and the horrors of an assassination. He remembered Belor and he remembered trying to reason with him. The next thing he knew, he was in the room.

Suddenly Calvert thought of Feya, his eyes darted to the other side of the room and found her sleeping in one corner. Other than a broken bed, and a few rotten books, he found a large shiny mirror which contrasted to everything present in the room. It was as if someone had only brought a mirror for some use. A horrifying thought rose in his mind, he glanced at himself and found faint blood marks on his body. He concentrated and smelled blood and wine in the room.

One step at a time, he walked towards the mirror. Each step of his looked as if he was resolving himself to the worst possible nightmare. Finally, he stood in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection. He saw his reflection, but it was smiling. Calvert staggered back in shock, dread, and confusion. He grabbed his sword but knew that the enemy wasn’t someone he can kill with a sword. He wasn’t someone visible; he wasn’t someone he could point at because the enemy was within him.

“It’s been a long time, Calvert?” The reflection was the first one to break the silence. And, then he looked at Feya.

Calvert too glanced at her; she was sleeping, her clothes were loosened, and her hair was in disarray. Rage burned his heart as he roared, “What have you done?”

The reflection smiled back at him. His eyes were radiating a type of insanity. “I did whatever I had to do to keep you alive. After all, I die if you die. As for that little maiden, I saw that you found yourself a nice little toy, so I had some fun with her. You don’t mind do you?” The reflection asked. His smile twisting with chagrin as he whispered, “Since we share the same body, it isn’t cheating or is it? Hahahaha…”

Uncontrollable anger erupted in Calvert’s heart, and the next second the mirror broke into many pieces. His eyes turned red, and his fingers dug deep into his palm as he imagined Feya in that man's arms. But, his eyes turned round with disbelief as he found himself staring at a person similar to him, yet unlike him. He, rather it smiled, and Calvert's heart clenched.

“How?” Calvert asked in disbelief. The mirror was no more so the reflection can’t come out, he told himself.

The reflection, however, seemed rejoiced by Calvert’s despair. “It has been fifteen years since we last met and you treat an old friend so coldly. I saved your life, and since we share a body, I played with your woman. Don’t worry; I was really nice to her. She won’t notice a thing.”

“Shut up,” Calvert roared. He couldn’t bear to hear it any longer.

The smile on the reflection’s face turned cold, but nevertheless, there was a smile on his face. “I’m no longer bound by reflections Calvert. I no longer need a mirror to appear before you. In the fifteen years, you’ve grown strong and so did I. Now; I no longer want your body Calvert. I want more, and you’re going to help me.”

Calvert listened with narrowed eyes. He couldn’t kill the enemy; he couldn’t control him nor could he let him go. He was bound to him, for all of the eternity. Having noticed that Calvert had calmed down, the reflection smiled widely and said, “I’ll be back Calvert. This time, I won and grabbed your body. Soon it will be your turn to be imprisoned while I, the rightful owner live like you. We share everything Calvert but bear in mind; I’m not you. I’m Nero.”

……………….

Colt stared at the dark mountains, and the camps spread out among the recess of the forest depths. After dealing with Milad, he ordered all the troops to change directions and enter the small mountains surrounding Ashfield. Escaping undetected with such a large group is almost impossible.

Hiding in the mountains came with its advantages and disadvantages, and Colt was betting that he would be the first one to find an enemy if someone did try to surprise them. So as the darkness crept in, Colt forced himself to sense every small presence within the range of his senses.

He could sense Ursula, Ragnar, Martha, Em, Tim and Jack in one of the tents. Although it was dangerous to keep everyone he cared about in one place, it was also easy to keep an eye on them, so Colt had no choice but to separate them from others.

He also told Darren to make sure to divide the mercenaries from the imperial soldiers. Although he wouldn’t like it, if the situation demands, Colt would rather choose his men over troops. It was an autumn night in the mountains and other than the distant wolf howls and the owl hoots, the silence dominated the night for the better part of the time.

It was almost two, and the star East victory wasn’t above him any longer. The moon was just a quarter of its full magnificence and in the shade of the age-old trees which grew to tens of meters, Colt was like a living ghost, with no presence but his eyes watched everything and everyone.

Colt was confident in his skills, but suddenly, a small dagger appeared on his neck. And, a cold sweat drenched on his back. He could sense a hand on him, but he couldn’t detect the presence even at such proximity. There was nothing but a shadow behind him. It was as if this hand appeared out of nowhere. After years of experience, he could sense a sharp killing intent of the other party, but it also wasn’t keen on killing him.

So Colt remained silent; his heart beat stabilized, and his breathing returned to normal. Not a single strand of arcane swirled around him, and he looked completely defenseless. The hand silently withdrew from his neck, but Colt didn’t dare to move.

He would have rather preferred if the dagger remained on his neck because that way, he would at least have been sure that the enemy wasn’t confident of killing him but giving up such an opportunity was akin to declaring that the enemy needed no such advantage to take care of Colt.

Colt slowly turned around and found a woman staring at him through a slit in her scarf. Her entire body was engulfed in shadows, and she had a small, unimpressive dagger in one hand, but Colt didn’t dare underestimate her or her weapon. His sword was an example of an unimpressive weapon, and he didn’t dare imagine what her arcane was.

At some point, the corpse of Milad appeared between them. Colt glanced at it but remained quiet. Lilin stared at the man before her, and although her eyes radiated killing intent, she was impressed. Almost no one in the empire can sense her when she didn’t want them to, and certainly, this man didn’t sense her either. But, the speed at which he reacted was beyond normal and the calmness with which he handled the situation spoke a thousand words of his experience.

“Did you kill this man?” Lilin asked in a cold voice. She wasn’t interested in the roundabout way of dealing with things. Although she already knew the answer, she wanted to hear it out of Colt’s mouth.

Colt glanced at Lilin. Her words can be interpreted in many ways, but he could sense her cold attitude and the lack of patience in her words. Colt narrowed his eyes, One minute, maybe two, he silently calculated the amount of time he can stand against her.

If Vivaldi were to face her, he would have been obliterated within seconds, Colt concluded. Who is she? He thought. Although he could only see her eyes and make out a part of her face, he could tell that she wasn’t old.

“I did,” Colt answered after a short moment of trepidation.

Lilin studied the man and the men sleeping in the camp. Her figure suddenly disappeared, and Colt felt his instincts screaming of danger. He kicked the ground and jumped back in shock. However, he then felt the wind near his back and saw Lilin reaching for his neck from behind. Arcane swirled around Colt and Lilin felt a weird energy invaded her senses.

A hint of surprise could be seen deep in her eyes but the next moment a cold snort rang out and Colt’s arcane failed to find its target. Colt, however, only widened the gap between them taking advantage of the delay in her response.

He already knew that it was impossible to control her senses with his arcane. Although his arcane was powerful, there were many limitations on it. And, it was almost impossible to control an arcane user of such level with it.

The only reason he could easily control Milad was due to the latter’s carelessness. He wasn’t aware of Colt’s abilities and underestimated him so much that he didn’t even try to defend against his attacks. By contrast, his opponent was careful, and now she was aware of his abilities. It is impossible to control her, Colt concluded.

Lilin moved like the soundless wind, one moment she was before Colt, the next second she was beside him. Colt’s eyes widened as he saw her move out of shadows and for the first time, his eyes shone with understanding as he finally understood what Lilin’s arcane was. Shadows, her arcane ruled over darkness.

Lilin glanced at Colt. Her eyes shone with an understanding of her opponent's ability. An arcane which tries to invade and influence her senses. Neither of them knew the true limits of each other, but after just an exchange, both of them had some level of understanding of each other's abilities. Now who would win in a fight was unknown because neither Lilin nor Colt revealed their full might.

Colt was waiting to draw his sword when Lilin strikes again, but the attack never came. He backed away and stared at Lilin who was studying him with an incomprehensible gaze. “Come to the Imperial Capital; these are His Majesty’s orders,” Lilin said in a faint voice and disappeared into the night.

Colt stood in his place, and after a long moment he removed his hand from the hilt of his sword. Gazing into the darkness which hid her, and maybe many more secrets, he sighed. He didn’t know what was worse, caught by Vedans or Moguls. Regardless of whose side he was on, Colt was sure of one thing; his life was going to change, and he was going to sin, a lot.

*****

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