Alyssa’s golden eyes traced from side to side as a pale blue dot reflected off the sheen of her iris. Her skin softly glowed with a shade of blue as she leaned over the mage table. Across the table stood a decrepit old man with crooked fingers, delicately pulling at strands of magic that built the image of a man on a hilltop.

Mirio’s gaze was numb and barely conscious as a woman with an untamed demeanour strode up towards him. She looked down at him with a mess of emotion, one part disgust at having met Mirio in a weakened state, another part admiration, and another ravenous hunger to prove herself against him.

“Ah Mirio, nice to see you” she said with a sneer of her upper lip..

She flicked her hand “Grab the wolf”

Mirio stared back at her with vacant eyes, unable to piece together the scene before him.

She gazed over at the giant gutted monster laying off in the distance, the folds of its toothed maw draped over the grassy mound, and nodded.

“I’m guessing somehow that was you?” she said with a hint of a smile in her eyes.

Mirio rubbed his fingertips against one another at his sides, and felt the gentle flickers of the wind trace against his skin. He moved his hand in front of him and clenched a fist before releasing it again with a satisfied nod.

“You know, I didn’t expect you guys to actually beat that thing, we were just going to clean up the town after. But I guess now plans have changed and we’ll have to route the remaining people ourselves”

The wild haired woman signalled to her bandit crew with a circle of her finger, “Listen up, head to Elmvale, take what you want. It’s ours now. You three stay with me. Those with the prisoner’s slit their throats already, we don’t have time for this shit”

Her crew swiftly pulled their daggers against the throats of two bound men, leaving them to clutch at their throats as torrents of crimson soaked through their hands. Mirio looked over at them with an emotionless dissociation from reality.

Mirio stared back at the wild woman blankly.

Alyssa squinted a little as she stared into Mirio’s eyes.

*Is he poisoned? Or just in shock?*

Alyssa stroked a lock of her hair between her fingertips and leaned over the table, exposing her bust to the otherwise chaste magician. The magic flickered for a moment before the mage enhanced his resolve and continued his magic spell. She opened her mouth and stared deep into Mirio’s eyes as the wild haired woman lifted her sword above her head.

“I’ve been looking forward to fighting you again,” Talon said smugly.

Flashes of blue shone in Alyssa’s eyes as she stay fixated on the battle between Mirio and the wild woman. Mirio moved almost as though informed by the melody of a beautiful song, avoiding each brutish slash of Talon’s greatsword with such ease as though he were swatting flies, rather than sharpened steel, in the hands of a terrifying warrior.

“Enough of this shit!” Mirio snapped as his hand wrapped tightly around Talon’s blade. His hand seemed to defy the sharp edge of her sword and refute the leverage Talon had on the handle simply by the force of emotion he channelled into his grip.

“If you continue trying to fight me I will kill you” Mirio said coldly and without any hint of hesitation.

Alyssa stared at his blue image intently, her eyes rapidly darting left to right, as figures moved towards him in the background.

“Don’t!” Talon screamed as she reached out towards her subordinate with his spear drawn.

With a gritty thrust, the man drove its tip deep into Mirio’s knee joint, slamming him to the floor with the force of the blow. The man smirked for a moment as he watched blood pour from Mirio’s mangled wound, before suddenly turning to horror as his eyes captured a snapshot of Talon charging towards him, with anguish and bloodlust scarred across her face.

The wild woman pulled her sword free from Mirio’s hand and with one powerful slice the blade soared over his head and slip streamed just below the shocked bandit’s jaw.

“You don’t touch him!” Talon screamed, as her sword rushed to a stop, blood dripping from its cutting edge.

The bandit fell to his knees, and with a thud his head toppled along the grass.

Alyssa pushed out her lips for a moment as she tapped her cheek.

*She adores him?*

The wild woman walked over to Mirio and cut loose his binds.

“I told you once, you have my sword, and I’m honoring it”

The corner of Alyssa’s lips pulled tight as she chuckled under her breath.

*The wild woman has a heart it seems… Or at least what passes for one in the world of a bandit*

“Know this Mirio, you are a true master of the blade, I’ve never seen anything like it. But not even that can change the way of things in this world”

Talon’s hair flicked in the wind as she drew a sword from her horse. She tossed it at Mirio’s side, leaving it to tumble in the grass beside him.

“Don’t mourn this shit hole of a town, go live a real life, somewhere where it’ll mean something”

The wolf walked over to Mirio and nuzzled under his hand. Mirio reached out towards it and petted its soft fur for a moment before he fell into the grass.

Alyssa impatiently rubbed her legs against each other as she switched her weight from side to side before pushing herself away from the table.

“How is it a boy inspires such passion in a cut throats heart?” Alyssa said with a bitterness tracing the edge of her lips.

The old mage beside her let loose the strands of magic from his fingertips and looked at the princess with a sad expression, “The woman has seen much tragedy in her life, it seems the boy gives her hope, where she can find none in herself”

“Hope she can be saved?”

“No… A hope that she is wrong about the world, and that the boy is right in spite of what it means for her”

“Hrmm…” Alyssa said as standing to her full height and adjusting her waistband, “Where is this boy now, I want to look in on what he is doing”

“Princess, of what interest is this boy to royalty such as yourself, perhaps it is better to watch over the movements of Rainal as he prepares his invasion from the south?”

“No, I already know what my brother is up to. What I don’t understand is how it is possible for a child, naive to politics and the ways of the world, to almost stop a war before it had even begun with just the raw passion in his heart”

“Don’t be so dramatic, princess, the boy never had a chance”

“Really? I see it as just the opposite. If that child had even one person willing to stand by his side, with a hand on a lever of power. He could have changed everything”

“And are you wondering if you could have been that person?”

“... No… Well, I suppose that is an intriguing idea… Maybe…”

“Princess, you give this child too much credit, he was lucky at best. Skilled for sure and a talented wild mage, but no match for the elite operatives of the twelve kingdoms”

“Maybe so, but you remember just as well I do another story of a child from the country who had to flee his village when war left it in ashes”

“Hah, you can’t possibly put that child in the same league as the most powerful Paladin to walk the kingdoms”

“Why not?”

“For one, he was god touched! This child is flesh and blood. Trust me on this we checked when he entered the city ahead of the townsfolk”

“Bah… You magician and your tests. They are nothing compared to a woman’s intuition. When I look at this boy I can see the terrifying power lurking within”

“Respectfully princess, I know you have your opinion, but you are certainly misinformed”

“Hmph… Just hurry up and show me what he is doing. Now!” she said with a winding motion of her finger.

The elderly man snapped the magical strings back to his fingertips and raised his chin as magic formed into shapes on the tabletop.

…

“Whoa boy, what are you doing in there?” Mirio said with a hushed voice.

“You are cut”

He quickly wrestled through his satchel and pulled out a potion and a rag. Carefully pulling back Ezee’s fur he dipped the rag into the potion and dabbed it across the wound.

“Hrmm, lucky your fur is thick boy, the wound isn’t all that deep”

Mirio observed the straight cut along Ezee’s fur and grit his teeth.

“Who the hell attacked you, their blade was sharp, so it was someone willing to take time to maintain their gear in good order. Or it was some kind of aristocrat. Gah… Point them out to me if you ever see them okay boy”

Ezee’s wound sizzled and closed over with a magical gel as Mirio splashed on the last of the potion.

“There you go, good as new. Well… Almost”

Ezee stood up and barked excitedly before bumping Mirio affectionately with his snout.

RUFF

Ezee shook his coat, and then leaped out into the roadway. Mirio watched on curiously as Ezee glanced back one last time and shot off back into the woods.

“Off again I see” Mirio said with a warm smile, “Find your way boy, and I’ll do my best to find mine”

…

Alyssa dropped the lock of her hair from her fingertips and looked off to the side.

“Looks like you cut a slice out of his favourite pet” the magician said with a dry chuckle.

“It was charging at me, what was I supposed to do, let it swallow me whole”

“Ha ha, I suppose not,” the old man said with squinted eyes.

“Ugh, I’m going for a walk”

“My lady, you must stay within the palace, there is no telling what manner of assassin Rainal has sent after you”

“I will not live my life in fear of my brother”

…

Ribbons of vapour rose from the surface of the hot bath water as Mirio tossed his towel down onto a nearby stool. He brushed his fingers through his hair and tensed his muscles in a fluid stretching motion before stepping into the tub.

He gathered up water with his hands, and with the aid of his magic brought it crashing against his skin. Soothing rivers of warm water trickled down his body, the sweat and mud from the day’s training slipping off his form.

His cheekbones were tense, and his jawline prominent as he searched deep within his eyes for an elusive truth.

“Was it all just a fluke…” he whispered.

“Or… Worse… Was it all real…”

His brow rose into a gruff set of lumps as he scowled and mist traced past the line of his eyes.

“I lost my identity… And with it… The conviction I held since a child…”

Mirio soaked water through his hair and lifted his chin. He traced his hands down his body and left his index finger fixed to a spot just in front of his heart.

“The feeling of what is missing, doesn’t hurt at all, yet at the same time… It hurts far more than I can bear”

Mirio grit his teeth and wrapped his hand into a fist with a snap. His breaths intensifying as though he was in a fight with the phantoms in his mind. Candlelight from the surrounding room flickered in the reflection of his eyes.

“Maybe, I’m nothing anymore… Maybe I was never anything, but a stupid and lucky child…”

“But even so. I refuse to believe that being average, and just like everyone else, means I am powerless to fate”

Adrenaline weaved a delicate thread through his circulatory system as he held firm in place, his arteries dialating, as his heart pumped hard enough to unleash the emotion he truly felt inside. And with it a rush of magic flooded from the marrow of his bones into the facia beneath his flesh.

“I won’t dare let doubt have the power to determine deeds before they are done”

“I will always stand amidst it if I must, even if it never fades”

“I won’t ever let the beliefs of a moment define me, it will be what I continue to do that will matter in the end”

“I don’t know if Akur was just a fever dream after being poisoned by the Sawtooth Queen, or even if any of my memories are real, after all the scars that fight left behind in my mind. But even if I’m not that same person anymore, I still share the same resolve to not let the forces out there in the void overcome what we are as humankind”

Mirio slipped out of the tub and dabbed his body dry with a composure he had never worn before. His resolve no longer extended from the start of one moment to the next, but reached like tendrils deep into his past and decades into the future, for he now stood upon the shoulders of the part of himself that died on that hilltop.

“Truth bends… Heck sometimes it even blows like the wind. Eddies and currents in a clash that refuse to let go of their binds upon each other”

Mirio pulled up his trousers and strapped tight his belt before shuffling into his shirt. He made his way out of the inn door with a readiness to face whatever may come from the world.

The night air was cool against his skin as he peered up at the stars as they twinkled amid the velvet sky.

…

Deep in the depths of the mountain catacombs below the palace, whispers of breath returned to a halfling’s lips.

The cold slab that lay at his back reminding him of the grave that almost greeted him.

“How am I still alive?” he rasped and croaked.

The focused and forceful presence of the duke stood at the doorway watching over him.

“The adrenaline in your blood clotted your wounds just long enough to buy us time to reach you”

Gladly gripped at his neck with trepidation and caution, “And the princess?”

“Safe”

Tears welled in his eyes as his upper lip quivered for a moment before he composed himself.

“Then we still have a chance to stop this war spreading to the twelve kingdoms”

“Yes. We will stop Rainal here, and crush the spirit of this war before the insectids and goliaths have a chance to join him”

“May I ask you something…”

“Yes”

“Why did you entrust this task to me?”

“Your task required delicacy and an abundance of competence, you had both”

“Hmph, so a pragmatic choice then”

“Not entirely. I also know you. You are a sceptical man. You have an uncanny eye for detail. I doubt there is an outcome you didn’t consider”

“Thankyou my lord”

“What do you wish as your reward, if it is within my power I will grant it”

“Just one thing. Do not let that girl out of your sight. I have a feeling that Rainal let us make it to the city”

“Are you saying he has agents within our midst”

“Yes… And not just anyone… I heard whispers in the halls of the palace when I was watching over Rainal”

The Duke’s eyes pierced through the distance between himself and the halfling.

Gladly dusted off his vest, and hopped off the slab and onto his feet.

“A halfblood insectid warrior that goes by the name of the spider”

“Of the Eshashi Clan?”

“The best of the best of the insectid hybrid warrior program”

“Are you certain?”

“No. Like you said, I consider every outcome, and I fear the worst. And if Rainal indeed has the spider after her, we cannot let down our guard for even a moment”

The clammer of hurried footsteps echoed down the hall as an elderly mage rushed to them out of breath.

“My lord! The princess has slipped the tail of our guards!”

“What do you mean? And what of your tracking magic?”

“Useless I am afraid, it would seem she was in possession of a slipstream cloak. Our magic cannot follow her”

…

The shadows cast by the lantern lights of the street loomed over the alleyways of the city. A forest of dark and dangerous places, hidden within a metropolis filled with light. Just as any other night, criminals slipped through the cracks of the city beyond the control of the guard.

A glint of light shone off the edge of a dagger in the darkness.

A hulking man’s muscled knuckles gripped tightly onto the lapels of his victim as he pressed them up against the wall. Glints of light flashed in the eyes of the other men who surrounded the elderly beast fellow. His grey hair, and fox-like build, was no longer a match for these men. Had this attack had come twenty years prior, he would have slipped free without a thought, and perhaps laughed about it over an ale at the tavern after.

Fear filled the fox’s eyes as he realised he had nothing of worth on him to barter for his life. He shook in terror as he struggled to find the words to steer his assailants away from the need to harm him to save their pride.

“Please… If I had something to give you good gentlemen I would do so willingly. There is no need for a show of force”

“Eh?! You think THIS is a show of force. Old geezer, I’m just getting started”

“Please, you won’t get anything from harming an old man such as me”

“Sure I will. You and your dirty brethren stink up the streets with your wet dog smell, and I’m sick of it”

“No, please, don’t” the old fox screamed as he saw the dagger drawn by the man’s side.

FWET

The air was torn by the velocity of an arrow that cut through the darkness.

FWET FWET FWET

THWACK

Arrows slipped past the muscular man’s ears until the last arrow sunk deep into his forearm, forcing him to leave the dagger to scatter across the ground.

Donny Gatley looked around the shadows for his brothers, and saw them keeled over on the ground, incapacitated but not dead. He tossed the old fox to the ground and turned toward the direction of the arrows.

Silvia stood in the lighted street gazing down the shaft of her arrow, the blood red string of her bow tucked tight up against her cheek.

“Move, and this next arrow goes right between your eyes”

The old fox scrambled up to his feet, and scurried out of the alleyway and rushed off down the street.

Silvia smirked with an heir of relief and casually lowered her bow, before suddenly releasing the bow string.

FWET

SNAP

The arrow shattered by the biggest of the Gatley brothers’ feet.

“Better hurry and get your comrades to a healer, unless you want them to bleed out”

Donny grit his teeth, and tore the arrow out of his forearm. He stared at the Elf for a tortured moment as he considered his next move. His eyes glowed with the reflections of the lit street as he slunk back into the darkness and grabbed up his brothers.

“Hmph”

Silvia tossed her hair over her shoulder and continued her way towards the arena. She looked up at the great colosseum as the spectacle of its lights danced and the roars of the crowd filled the streets.

…

Two silhouettes stood at the top of the colosseum’s walls far above the action, yet it wasn’t the battle below they were interested in as they watched over the city below with eagle-like eyes.

“What brings the attention of a goddess to the city” a hoarse and worn voice croaked.

“I could ask you the same,” Calypso whispered back as a lock of her hair fluttered in the wind.

“The world winds are wild tonight,” the mysterious man continued.

“Have you spotted the source yet?”

“Not yet… How are your scars…”

The shadow of the woman followed the gentle motion of her stroking her heart.

“Something is still missing”

“Hmph, probably for the best you don’t know where to look for what did that to you”

“Why do you say that?”

“Whatever it was, if it can inflict such wounds on even us gods, it is bad news”

“Shhh… Over there… By the park”

“Ah, of course… A tale as old as time, a brave princess, ready to break free of her shackles, to follow her intuition”

…

The whip of Alyssa’s cloak barely made a sound as she slipped through the park like a spectre. Grand white columns lined the main path through the lightly wooded inner city park. The shadows dodged slithers of moonlight as they fell from the heavens. The air was heavy around her footsteps, deepening their sound.

*He can’t be much further now, the lake district is up ahead*

Her eyes glimmered with flashes of gold even behind the ethereal disguise of her slipstream cloak which allowed her to in part inhabit the realm of the world winds, a place between the material realm and the realm of the gods.

Mirio passed through cobblestone streets, that wound through the more affordable end of the lake district. Each house was extravagant in its own way, albeit smaller than the mansions that were positioned closer to the lakeside. As each alleyway passed through Mirio’s peripheral vision he could sense the change in the airflow, from thick when between houses to a little thinner as he passed the alleys.

*Great, I am sure that if I keep trying I will figure out how to strengthen my identity. I just need to find passion, and that spark of humanity inside of me…*

More alleyways passed by, the air flickering between thick and thin, as street lights flickered through some, and darkness through others.

*Is it really right of me though… To use the act of trying to get women, as a battlefield to sharpen my instincts on the desires I hold deep inside?*

Lights flickered down the alleyways, as well as choppy sounds of crowds and music echoing from the lakeside.

*Well… Isn’t it a better that I grow through my interactions with others, than if I didn’t intend to? I’m sure deep down women would feel relieved that if nothing else, I am searching for myself through meeting them. And doesn’t that give every act we share greater meaning?*

The air became cool as the humidity in the air rose. Every sound became ever so slightly muffled, but sharper at the same time, as he could sense the life in the trees of the park beyond the alleyways, and the grandiosity of the lake ahead. It was almost as if the lake herself was pulling her towards him with its beckoning call.

His eyes fixed themselves upon the flickers of water up ahead as the moonlight shimmered across its surface. Yet as he was about to cross past the last alleyway, the air seeping through the dark hall carried upon it a whisper of madness.

His breathing tensed up, as his senses opened to the chaos flowing in the subtle breeze. His mind began to race, as thought speeds within his senses rose. Veins around his eyes began to bulge as he felt as though the feeling in the winds was seeping into his soul like a poison.

His stride halted and then he jerked to a stop. Something in him frozen in fear, as a subtle vibrations like the tugging of a spiderweb hung in the air. The fear clutched deep around the fibres of his nervous system, as though his body suddenly became filled with shards of broken glass.

*What is this… Fear…*

His heart thudded in one loud beat against his chest, as his cheek closest to the park lifted in a tortured grimace.

A voice echoed in the back of his mind.

You are not so talented as to have the senses of a clairvoyant, there is no way you can sense anything real in the shadows, continue forward and seek what is your own in the lake district ahead.

It was a convincing argument, he was after all already preoccupied with his thoughts and looking forward to a night battling wits with the women of the lakeside. It would surely cost him nothing to head forward and to dismiss the feeling that lingered in the shadows.

Yet…

It was the boiling furnace of terror spinning up inside of him that stopped him from forging on ahead.

Mirio took in a laboured breath, his eyes frozen forward, as he had not yet the courage to look down that dark alley.

DRIP DRIP

The sound of a waterdrop falling into a small puddle in the dark left a shockwave of subtle sounds to buzz through the alleyway.

*The sound was undisturbed and smooth. There is nothing in the alley, that is for sure… Meaning that almost certainly my mind is just playing tricks on me*

Mirio lifted his chin and focused his resolve forwards towards the lakeside. He lifted his foot and moved it ahead of him. As it came down onto the pavement, he twisted its angle and strode into the dark alleyway.

His face was serious and sombre as he passed through the claustrophobic hall. The walls towered over him, refusing to allow any light to reflect off his surroundings. Chaos stirred in his gut like a blender set to a speed it wasn’t made to handle. He felt as though everything inside of him was about to split apart, and in the seams of the fractures was molten fire.

How was it that such a simple diversion could instill absolute terror? Unless somehow, the terror was for some purpose? Was he acting against fate? The whims of a terrible monster that wished him to act a different way? Was he now walking into the jaws of his own death…

*I’m being crazy… Why do I feel this way…*

Mirio’s stride was unusually calm and graceful as he exited the grip of the shadowed alleyway behind him. He lingered in the lantern light for a moment and leaned casually up against the wall of the house behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck and acted as though he was working out a kink in his neck, buying himself time to settle his nerves and to allow his senses to adapt to a change in environment.

The intricacies of feelings of the light woodland washed over him, and filled his mind with its suggestion of forms and likely structures. As he lifted his gaze, reality pieced itself together over the forms within his mind, each shadow and patch of greenery filling themselves in one after another. He was careful not to look into the shadows too quickly, fearful that his mind might dart away from the truth if unveiled to him before he was ready.

He slowed his breathing, pulled a coin from his pouch and softened his gaze past it. Twisting it in front of him he looked at it curiously.

“Whatcha doing!?” a bright eyed girl said with a grin.

Mirio’s voice was deep and tender as he whispered back, “Thinking about how such a simple thing could make the world turn”.

In reality, he had no idea what he was babbling on about, but he didn’t want the girl disrupting his process.

“Are you a merchant or something?” she said as cocking her head.

“Do I look like one?” he said with a smirk, somewhat relieved now to have her company to loosen up his approach.

*Maybe if I keep her talking, I will have an excuse for being here, and I won’t feel like I am acting on some kind of crazy impulse I don’t even know is real…*

“No, honestly you look pretty poor, maybe a wagon boy?”

“Of course you’d say something like that, can’t you see the regal way I hold myself, I thought it was obvious, I’m a royal” he said with a tender wink.

The girl froze in place for a moment as his eyes flicked into place to make eye contact with her for a moment. His eyes were filled with an intensity that stirred something wild and primal inside of her, and before she could grasp onto that feeling his gaze was gone again.

“Are you dressing down to fit in with the peasantry then?”

“No, this is the latest fashion in royal circles these days, didn’t you know?”

“Haha, you are so full of shit”

“But it isn’t it always people who are openly full of shit who are in reality most likely to tell you the truth”

“Hmph!” she said with a stamp of her foot, now thoroughly confused.

Her eyes searched over his form, his silhouette was unusually composed, like that of a dancer or stage performer as he gripped the coin in his hand and slid it back into his pouch.

Mirio rose his eyes slowly towards the park, each of the shadows becoming clear to his senses. It was as though in one gaze he shook the woodland and felt upon the limbs of the tree one loud thud, as a shadow in the canopy stuck out amidst everything else.

His cheeks dropped and his eyes shot up towards the canopy with laser like focus at the spindle legged form crouched within the trees.

It was clear now that this was the source of his sensory panic, but what remained unclear was whether this creature was a villain or simply strange.

“Oh fuck who am I kidding!”

Mirio pushed himself up off the wall.

“Leave” he said with a sharp tone to the woman as she reached forward to tap him on the shoulder to turn him toward her.

“Sorry” she said as she ran off toward the lakeside.

Mirio stepped into the shadows and drew forth ember, her blade glowed gently as he waded deeper into the woodland.

A rush of wind shot past his back. Turning his ear towards his back he could sense a figure, yet this figure felt soft, and familiar.

Mirio’s voice rumbled out in a gentle and melodic tone, “Stay close”

Alyssa drew back the hood of her cloak and stared at Mirio’s face as he stared off into the darkness with unwavering focus.

“It’s you…” she whispered.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are… I don’t even know how I know what I know. But there is something in the trees that is hunting you”

Alyssa dipped her head, “I noticed it… I can’t exit the woods of the park, or I feel it will attack”

“Mhm… That is perceptive of you. But avoiding its threat can only last so long, it grows bolder with each passing second. A fight is inevitable”

“Does it have to be, what if I call for the Duke’s riders”

“If you can find a break in the fight where there is an opportunity, do it”

Alyssa responded to Mirio’s focus and resolve with a sharpening of her own, “Mhm!”

“Is that sword on your side just for show, or can you wield it?”

“I can wield it”

“Draw it and cover my back, grip onto me with your back hand and signal me if an attack comes from your side. There is no telling if this thing is alone or not. We will need to work together, do you understand?”

“Are you sure you can beat it?”

“No…”

“No?”

“I don’t know what the hell I just walked into, but I’m scared to death right now”

“You don’t look it”

“Shhh… It is coming”

The dark silhouette cut into the canopy vanished like a smudge on a window pane hit by a different shade of light. It was already hard for Mirio to see the subtle outline of the creature, yet now it had become almost impossible. Its movements were quick to the point that it stretched the credibility of Mirio’s beliefs, causing him to doubt if it had even moved at all as it shifted through the trees like a blustering wind.

SHING

Mirio’s stance shot out, his feet gripping deep into the grass beneath his boots. He flicked the hilt of ember above his head and used the side of his blade to intercept the hard thud as a shadow dropped from the rustle of leaves above.

SHING SHING

With a twist and a flick of his sword he forced each followup strike to graze just past him and to pierce only air. The dark creature moved in disturbing puppeted motions, as it snapped back into the dark.

Mirio searched madly with his senses for the creature as it sounded as if its motions were coming from all around them. He grit his teeth, and calmed his nerves, hoping to pierce deeper into the shadows with his sense for the creature and its intentions.

While moments before his intuition was what tortured him and made him question his sanity, now it was his only hope, and he clung to it as the beast of the shadows searched for a vulnerability.

SQUEEZE

Alyssa’s grip tightened on Mirio’s back, and without thought he cast back his hand and swept her behind him as he turned. The long spindled arms of the creature flicked at Mirio’s wrists with inhuman precision slicing into one of his wrist tendons. Ember flung out of his hand and scattered into the grass.

The creature’s second limb shot towards his throat with a speed so terrifying that it was almost invisible to the senses.

Black mist swirled around Mirio’s hand as he shoved it into the path of the blow, the dagger of shadows held firmly in his hand slid the creature’s blow over his shoulder as he flicked a sigil in his other injured hand, and brought it into the creature’s eyes.

DIVINE LIGHT

The blast of fierce light snapped the creatures wide eyes shut just long enough for Mirio to dive forwards with a thrust of the cursed blade.

FWET

The slicing attack cut through the air with a ferocity that would have shaken any mortal man, yet this creature managed to move with uncanny speed and precision out to Mirio’s blind side.

Mirio sensed the creature slip outside of his realm of control and in response his mind fought to respond. Ghost images of possible moves, lit up all around Mirio, with a speed and intensity he had never felt before. It was as if each ghost image flashed up a thousand times with a thousand variations and all of them within a slither of a fraction of a second. As the images zipped through his mind, he didn’t even have time to decide on a path. He followed a feeling weaved in amidst the ghostly images, and followed the madness of his intuition.

“HIYAH!” he screamed as he dispelled his dagger and let out a fan of flames from his fingertips.

The fiery tendrils licked up the surrounding trees, and lit up the shadows. But as for the creature, it had not been struck by the blast.

Mirio gasped, as he realised the only path of attack that could remain. He dragged Alyssa to the ground with his weight as he ducked underneath the acrobatic and sweeping attack that shot from behind them.

Crescent blades shot fractions of an inch around his silhouette. Alyssa thudded down hard into the grass, and plunged deep enough to become coated in a thick layer of mud. It was a bizarre thing for her to watch this battle being waged, the whistle of sword blades, and near silent motions cracking like a whip from any direction without warning. It was like standing in a room with a foriegn speaker and trying to decipher the exact meaning of obscure poetry recited by them. It seemed utterly impossible to her, and yet… Mirio somehow, had picked up on that very same impossible slither of meaning with a precision that was in itself frightening.

The creature spun through the air and found its feet a few paces away. Mirio flashed off the ground in a blue blur to chase after it. He gripped up Ember from the grass and spun on his knees in a wild sweeping attack towards the creature. The spindle legged creature lifted its feet over the path of the blow and struck down at Mirio’s neck from above. Anticipating this Mirio flicked across the path of each strike with a dagger made of strange warping shadows.

Mirio pushed up to his feet in a powerful motion, and sliced and spun his sword in rhythmic strikes driving the creature back through the woods.

Alyssa stared at the horrible fight, transfixed by the utter violence of its silence. She shook her head with a snap and looked up into the sky. She clutched a small pipe from her belt and broke its seal, pointing it to the sky.

A flash of yellow light shot up above the canopy.

She scrambled to her feet in a panic and searched around her for a path out of the woods. She pulled up her hood and vanished back into the slipstream of the world winds, running for an opening in the canopy.

SLICE

The creature’s limb struck into Mirio’s side and tore loose flesh with it.

STAB

The creature’s second limb hovered over Mirio’s heart. With a twist of his hand Mirio dug his dagger through its carapace and held back its lethal blow. Gritting his teeth, he thrust the creature back and smashed a small vial of healing potion against his wound, sealing it with a burning gel.

He spun the tip of his sword and pointed it at the creature as at last its image became clear before his eyes.

It was a slender man no taller than himself, in special armour with bladed scythes coming out from the vambraces on its forearms. Yet while its figure was undoubtedly human, something in its red eyes was not.

*An insectid. And it looks like it has been trained in the arts of assassination*

As Mirio gazed at the creature he felt a strange pull from the wound in his side. It bubbled and hissed more than it ought to from the healing potion alone. The assassin gazed at him with its cross slit pupils, confident now in its victory.

“Argh” Mirio’s muscles tightened in a snap as the poison reached his bloodstream.

The only thing he could move was his eyes, as the creature shot towards him.

FWOOSH

And in a flash the creature moved past him, and shot towards Alyssa as she clambered and struggled, lunging towards the opening in the trees.

REEEEEEEEEK

FWOCK FWOCK FWOCK

The tear of a wyvern’s wings blasted through the air before it thudded to the ground like a comet with fire welling in its throat.

FWOMP

The spiral of fire poured from its fanged jaws, melting the air surrounding it, and leaving thick ribbons of black smoke to pour from its edges. Alyssa dug in her heels and sprung towards the wyvern’s back and gripped tightly onto the rider’s hand as he helped toss her onto the back of the beast.

“SHEEEEE CHI CHI CHI” the creature rattled as it leapt over the blaze and spun in the air towards both the rider and the princess.

Mirio’s eyes shot towards them, his heart breaking in slow motion as he realised that it was a certainty the assassin would reach them.

A boiling roar rose from the cracks deep in his soul, as the fibres of his very essence shook with a force that tore at the border between the realms.

FWOM FWOM FWOM

The material realm pulsed like a sail in storming winds, as the divine realms cracked at the edges and bled into the world winds. Threads of silver bled into reality all around him, and carved through the scene before him, revealing curves in the realms invisible to the human eye, only visible to the divine.

As the threads ripped through the material world, he sensed two figures standing upon the walls of the colosseum far in the distance, their eyes locked onto him. Flames of powerful magical essence swarmed around them as something deep inside their presence spoke to him.

He pried from their very essence a truth about the moment that otherwise could have never been possible. It was almost as if they were whispering to him the answer.

“This is who you are” Calypso said with hushed breath as she stared at Mirio in awe as the world winds swarmed around his paralysed form.

“Crazy son of a bitch” the figure beside her smirked.

“Brave champion, do you see yourself?”

“Yeah bud, this isn’t to blow your trumpet but that isn’t common”

“Believe in what you really are, don’t hide from yourself anymore”

“Focus, don’t let it get away from you now”

Mirio’s gaze turned away from the gods and back towards the assassin. His body was paralysed, yet his soul grasped the world winds, and he could see the bends in the realms. With a tremendous push of his soul he let out a pulse of force that waved through the winds like a whipping ribbon.

CHA!

The realms snapped into a thick bundle of force between the spider and the princess, and as time unwound back to its normal pace, the creature’s path bent. It was as if distance itself had shifted and morphed to fit an alternate course of events that slipped away from the assassin’s grasp. The wyvern pulled up into the sky and swooped off back towards the palace.

The assassin landed in the dirt, its scythes, once sure of their kill, now sung with the hollow scratching of defeat. His red eyes shot towards Mirio with heated suspicion before his form vanished and returned to the shadows.

CLANK CLANK CLANK

Magic circles within Mirio’s blood spun and whirred violently, pulling him free of his paralysis.

“You!” a voice screamed out from across the way, “Quickly, its the assassin!”

CLANK CLANK CLANK

“You’ve got to be kidding me” Mirio said under his breath as Martin, the Duke’s sword arm rushed towards him with hatred in his eyes.

“Huh!? It’s that kid… Wait! Of course!!! It’s the kid! I knew you were a spy!” Martin screamed as he drew his sword, “Die traitor!”