The soldiers did not come back. That night, I recovered a little magic and helped extract some more energy from her abdomen. Jade and I both took care not to make any more strange sounds.

The best thing though, was that Chryssie seemed to like Jade a lot. As soon as she climbed out of her hiding spot, she’d toddled up to Jade and looked her up and down, before decisively climbing onto the bed and plopping herself next to Jade. She leaned her head onto Jade’s arm. Jade visibly tightened up, and then stiffly lifted her arm to drape it across Chryssie’s shoulder, half hugging her.

I was relieved. With the arrival of Jade, Chryssie seemed to be getting a little better.

“Sister, sister, who are you?”

Jade stiffly replied, “None of your business.”

Chryssie pouted and tears welled up in her eyes. Jade hurriedly moved to correct her mistake. “My name is Jade, I’m the Medusa Tribe’s Princess.”

Chryssie instantly blinked away her tears and let out her most charming smile.

“Jade is a really pretty name.” Jade blushed and cleared her throat. “Thank…thank you.”

I gently patted Chryssie’s head. “Chryssie…are you alright now?” I wasn’t quite sure how to ask her.

Chryssie’s happiness wilted almost right away. She slumped over, and her eyes clouded with sadness once more. Jade frowned and hugged Chryssie close to her. She looked at me with a question in her eyes. I shook my head lightly.

Later that night, when Chryssie had gone to sleep, I lit a lamp and set down two mugs of tea before Jade. She nodded her thanks.

“You first,” she said.

“How to start…?” I looked up at the ceiling, fearful that my memories would result in a fresh stream of tears.

“It all began at the first town that I came across when I left your caves. There, I met a man called ron. He was the blacksmith in town, and I wanted him to fix my blade. “

I told her everything. About how Ron had revealed to me that he was Fae, and how he had taught me, helped me along, and in the end…all that awaited him was a bloody death. I left out Lucifer though. I didn’t want…didn’t her to look at me differently too.

Jade clutched her mug of cool tea now closer to her. “Another fallen. And one of royal blood too.”

“What about you?”

Jade looked off into the dark night.

“I’d remained in my cave until about six weeks ago.

I went out to hunt for some food, but on my normal path. There was an enormous ambush waiting for me. First that came was a squadron of mirror-armored knights. I didn’t even need to petrify them. I only cast a simple earthen press and they all fell into a pool of quicksand.

I’d thought that that was the end, but then, an arrow suddenly flew at me out of nowhere. It narrowly missed my back and nicked my arm. I whirled around, only to see an enormous army approaching. Cavalry, foot soldiers, archers. Everything. Even worse they wheeled out a small cannon and aimed it at me.

Furious, I clapped my palms together and made a Great Law - Abyssal Descent. The ground underneath the army all turned to quicksand, and they all sunk down, struggling for their lives. I turned away from them again, thinking that it was the end.

Suddenly, I felt a presence that could only be the presence of a Sword Saint. I whirled around again, to come face to face with a white-haired, long-bearded man. I quickly unsheathed my talon and deflected his first strike. The following strikes were so fast that I could not follow a single one. It was only on instinct that I managed to escape with only a small scratch on my leg.

However, even the small scratch was insanely painful.”

“Astral Blade cuts directly to the soul. I am capable of doing it, but only one strike will end up depleting all of my energy.”

Jade shook her head. “He is perhaps just as powerful as Mother. She’s petrified an entire city with a blink of her eye before. When the Sword Saint looked at me, I got that same feeling from him. That a single swing of his blade could demolish an entire city.”

I nodded. “There are as many Sword Saints as there are leaders of the Ancients. There are also High Sword Saints, Which I assume to be as powerful as the Dragon King and the Phoenix Lord.”

Jade hummed an affirmation. “And the final differential factor that decides the circumstances right now…is that humans have shorter life spans, but much faster reproduction rates. What we may have in strength, they have much more in numbers.

I sighed. “Why didn’t you want me to tell others what I was?”

Jade tightened her lips. “Have you met Lucifer yet?”