Two weeks, and no news of any attacks on Aurelburg's neighboring towns. There was nothing that followed the pattern she expected; it was their second day at the city and nothing else followed the sudden closure of the Archives.

She was on her way to a store when she caught sight of a pair of constables escorting a van filled with

Euphemia looked at the contents of her purse – there was only enough for a week of food. She was considering working for the innkeeper as a cook. It at least could give her an excuse to buy ingredients for food she and Rook would eat; having to buy cooked meals outside proved to be expensive and less rewarding to the taste. There were other things to worry about though.

It was too impulsive, Euphemia admitted; going to where she thought would be the heart of the Altrecht and Aurelburg attacks. She had no other choice though; if she was not going to act now, all her efforts searching for her father would lead to nothing. She saw Rook peering from the window watching the lines of cars and carriages move closer and farther from the inn.

"Rook, there is something I want to talk to you about."

Euphemia's lips were caught open, as if she was supposed to say more but Rook's gaze proved to be enough that his ears were hers. She forced a smile on her lips when she continued talking:

"I know that I promised not to get you in harm's way, but I am sure that what I would ask you of will bring you to a danger even I do not know of."

"I won't make things harder for you, and I'll be at my best to follow you anywhere."

"Thank you for bearing with me, but I shall tell you what I intend to do first." Euphemia's smile straightened away; her eyes lost the concerned expression they had moments ago. "It has something to do with what we experienced at Altrecht and what we heard from the soldiers days ago. I feel that the ones behind those are hiding in the forest."

"You want to go there to see if they really are there?"

"Yes." Euphemia's quick answer earned Rook's rounded eyes. "You can stay here and wait for me if you..."

"No need to ask. I'll help you anyway."

The cleric closed her eyes and nodded once.

†

Dead leaves and damp twigs crumpled under Euphemia and Rook's feet. Much of the sun was blocked out by the dense foliage; trees were planted so close to each other that their roots formed an uneven carpet on the ground. They ventured deeper into the barrier of vegetation; Euphemia felt that they were going farther, but everything looked the same inside the Antikwald. The two stumbled upon an old road; their soles stepped on worn-out and uneven stone.

What little solar streaks that managed to break through thinned out, leaving the two to a place of almost total darkness. Euphemia and Rook had no idea how far they have gone through the forest; only the strain felt on their legs gave a hint that they had been walking inside for hours.

Not too far ahead was what seemed to be a broken-down castle. A third of the walls crumbled and revealed a neglected place that was still fighting with the forces of time and nature to stay intact. A part of the keep peeked from the dense forest cover; the silhouette of a conical tower rose above most of the trees.

"If I am right, we are at the center of the forest. We can see the Guilenfrau Castle ruins from where we stand."

Rook's attention was not with Euphemia. He pulled out his revolvers with his thumbs cocking the hammers ready.

"Is there something wrong, Rook?"

His head tracked the rustling bushes and the sound of fast-moving soles going against tree roots. Euphemia also felt that they were being surrounded – they were not the only ones roaming the forest. Black metal rods moved with the shadows; their sheen revealed the rounded holes of rifle barrels. Some of the rustling stopped, and Rook outlined a pair of guns aimed at him and the cleric.

The loud report of a rifle cracked from a distance; its bullet blasted bits of old bark from a nearby tree. Rook took Euphemia by the wrist and broke into a run; chipped wood and whizzing bullets flew behind them. Everything looked the same: bushes, trees and the ground created the illusion of a maze in the attempt to flee from the unknown shooters. Beads of sweat formed on the cleric's brow in their mad scramble for a place to shield them from the hail of metal fired upon them.

A clearing was seen ahead. Rook could not feel the presence of other people beyond the place and yet it would not be enough for a refuge. He thought of another advantage the section of the forest offered: rays of moonlight that gathered would allow him to see the attackers more clearly.

"Could... you..." Euphemia held to her chest; her lungs heaved deeply for air. "...my legs... may not be able... to keep up."

"They're still coming. We have to get away from here." Rook aimed his pistol at the dark ahead of them.

"There has to be... something I can do."

More footsteps were coming their way, and there was a moment of bewilderment that managed to seep in between Rook and Euphemia. The cleric stood there and faced their hidden pursuers. He knew this stance – the same one he saw Euphemia do during their stay at Ingermann's farm. Something was entirely different from her prior demonstration; she stood there staring at her hand in sudden shock.

Euphemia could not make the barrier appear.

A black barrel gleamed nearby; its wielder was preparing to take aim at Euphemia. Rook took the initiative and fired a round at the man. The impact on the gunman's shoulder made him jerk and lose hold of the gun; his loud but short scream was heard by his colleagues who trailed behind.

"My..." No light shone on Euphemia's arm. "It's... not working."

"Worry about that later Euphemia. Let's go!"

Again, they were on the run, dodging and ducking with each bullet their pursuers let loose on them. The cracking of rifles was less frequent; the place was occupied by older and thicker trees that served as both cover and shield from the enemy's sights. Perhaps whoever was behind them knew better than to waste bullets on a target they could not fix their irons on.

Rook could taste the salt in his sweat; he could only imagine that much of the time inside the forest was spent fleeing from the faceless hunters. There was another clearing: one that sat close to the ruins of the Guilenfrau. A broken section of the wall blocked their path to their dismay. There wasn't enough time to scale the stones without being sniped down by the gunmen.

Rook didn't have enough bullets with him to take down all the threats. More of these men would respond to the violence the moment some of them were killed off. They were getting dangerously close. There were footsteps that sounded louder than the rest; Rook wasted no time wondering and prepared to fire at those foolish enough to charge at them.

One of the gunmen was ahead of the rest and took a bullet to the gut. There wasn't even time to cry for pain when he doubled over and fell to the bushes. A second pursuer appeared only to take a round to the chest before he collapsed.

"I'll try again. Let me help this time." Euphemia's arms were shaking; her voice almost quavering. Even nature's darkness could not hide her fear from Rook's eyes.

The rest of the gunmen were catching up. Time wasn't generous to the two.

Both the cleric's palms were opened this time; it began with a small light on her hands, followed by orbs that grew whiter until a film of light spread out and formed a screen on both of them. Voices could be heard from some of the men who hesitated to shoot at the growing spectral field in front of them.

"What in the...?"

"Don't stare at it, morons! Shoot the girl."

The light took a solid form; a half-dome that arched over Euphemia and Rook. Gunfire followed the barrier as both moved their way out of the corner. Sparks and small explosions disturbed the surface of the shielding; any bullet that attempted to go through it vaporized on impact. They inched their way out of the rain of metal; faces of men wearing what seemed to be uniforms were revealed to them by the light.

"Are these Imperial soldiers?" Euphemia's thoughts felt unshackled, now that her light finally started to serve her.

The canoness scanned those her eyes could get a proper look at. She knew most, if not all, of Kriemreich's insignia. None of them wore patches or badges that resembled anything in the Empire. Nobody among these people reminded her of either the automatons that wreaked havoc in Altrecht, or the men those machines slaughtered. She could see Rook wanting to fire back at the gunmen but then he needed the protection of the spectral barrier to stay alive.

A broken-down gate lay behind the pair. The guns were withdrawn the moment they entered the Guilenfrau's grounds. All of their pursuers returned to the forest's darkness when Euphemia and Rook ventured into what was left of the castle's courtyard.

At the center of the courtyard ruins were six machines positioned outside what looked like a circle with unfamiliar inscriptions. On top of each machine was a red crystal that gave off a ruby-like brightness. The air began to be heavy when the red glow intensified; the light was almost unbearable to the eyes when the symbols on the ground lit up in an unearthly green.

"Something smells bad here." Rook sniffed twice and looked at the corners. There was a pile of flesh nearby. It took the canoness to realize that they were whole carcasses of piled up livestock. "I wonder why they left meat in this place?"

The cleric continued probing at the machines; she reacted to the smell by covering her nose with her sleeve.

"This isn't any magical circle I've seen before." Euphemia's barrier dissolved in the air when she relaxed her hands.

"Magical... circle?" Rook squinted at the glowing symbols but did not go near them.

"It's a device... for magic users who could not create their own magical energies. Something's not right with -"

A mild shockwave blew up dust and small pieces of rock from the ground; Euphemia and Rook stood back and shielded their eyes from the force. One of the six machines produced a thin metal arm clamping a glowing purple crystal rod. It etched something on the space above the circle. What appeared before the two was a wound of pure darkness. It looked unreal – a black tear that floated on the space it occupied. There was a small wave that moved inside the void, forming circles that became more violent as more of the waves appeared. What forced itself out of the void drew terror from the canoness and her companion.

They were staring at a rough, scaly limb; a colossal lion's paw that emerged from the rift and slammed on the ground.