"Are you certain?!" Irwyn almost yelled, clearly losing his cool. Something incredibly rare for him.

"There is no doubt, my lord," the knight, a middle-aged man with a brown beard, said solemnly, "I saw it with my very own eyes."

"Is anything wrong?" Elizabeth looked up from behind a nearby desk. She hadn't heard the original report from where she had been, but Irwyn's unusual tone caught her attention.

"Where is Alice and Desir?" he asked her rather than answering.

“Alice is in the library and Desir had been in town since morning,” Elizabeth answered without any complains, clearly feeling that something was awry.

“Alright, get Alice and meet me in the main guest room,” he nodded and turned back to the knight, “Go and report what you just told me to Clarissa and tell her that I am going to need her help,” he finished commanding as he stormed out of the room, clearly startling a maid who was just walking by. With quick strides he made his way to the guest room, stopping just before the door in order to adjust his expression from fury to worry.

“Are you alright?” he said as soon as he entered, seeing the sunken visitor. It was a young boy not any older than him, seated on the ground, ignoring the furniture meant for sitting. His hair was golden, his head sunken and although Irwyn couldn’t properly see the boy’s face from the doorway he knew that each of his pupils were of a different colour. In his minutely trembling hands, he was tightly clutching a flower: An abnormally large daisy, its stalk already damaged from being clutched for a long period of time while it’s petals were already on the verge of withering. Needless to say, Minet did not answer Irwyn’s question.

“Calm down,” Irwyn placed a hand on Minet’s back, sitting beside him, “Don’t give up hope. Whatever you need I will be here for you,” that at the very least seemed to have reduced Minet’s trembling, however, he still did not look up nor speak.

“We are here,” Elizabeth announced with a knock before entering. Her eyes widened momentarily seeing Irwyn sitting on the ground.

"Is that Minet?" Alice gasped as she peeked from behind Elizabeth, "What happened?"

"I will fill you in later," Irwyn patted Minet's back one last time before he stood up, "For now stay with him, Alice. He desperately needs someone to keep him company. Elizabeth, you come with me to meet Clarissa, I need to see this with my own eyes."

"No need to search for me," they were interrupted by the stalwart head maid's entrance, "I have already heard what happened. Let's get going right away," she beckoned for them to follow her. Irwyn and Elizabeth complied while Alice remained behind.

They quickly trod along the hallways of the Blackburg mansion, reaching a rather remote room. Upon entering the group could immediately see an elderly man standing above a map. It was none other than Irwyn’s former tutor, Lucas Wisenose. The old scholar and priest had quite a few cards up his sleeve, this time his almost famous cartography would come to play.

“You had never been to the area, correct Clarissa?” he did not even look up as he studied the large map stretched on the table.

“Yes,” the stone-faced woman replied, stepping closer. Apparently this was not her first time doing something like this.

“Alright then, brace yourself,” Lucas nodded and raised his hands, placing one on the map and the other on Clarissa’s forehead. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments before a weak white light suddenly enveloped the fingertips of both his hands. This lasted for about ten seconds.

“Doesn’t get any easier with time,” Lucas collapsed into his chair behind the desk, clearly white as a sheet, “Off you go then.”

“Thank you, Lucas,” Irwyn said while Clarissa stood as if frozen in place with her eyes closed.

“No need,” Lucas weakly shook his head, “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to take a nap.”

“Are you sure she is ready for this?” Clarissa finally opened her eyes, turning around to look at Irwyn and Elizabeth.

“Ready for what?” Elizabeth immediately asked, still uncertain what was even going on.

“Something terrifying, perhaps even scarring, happened where we are headed,” Clarissa explained, “Something no child should see.”

“But Irwyn is still going,” Elizabeth looked at him.

“Yes,” Irwyn nodded, “I must see this with my own eyes.”

“Then so am I,” Elizabeth stated, her eyes even slightly sparkling, “Wherever you go, I will follow.”

“Then hold on tight,” Clarissa did not react strongly to her words as she offered them each one of her hands. When Elizabeth and Irwyn took them Clarissa began her chant.

Truth of old, speaker of lies,

Listen to this, to my cries

of distance and eternity

of faraway prosperity

Seeker of old, upon your throne

Grant me this, from flesh and bone

of paths and times

of ancient crimes

Grace of old, mute and vane

behold this, a complete bane

of way and age

of unbound rage

Teleportation

The surroundings shifted as both Irwyn and Elizabeth were hit by a plethora of unidentifiable images and sensations. Time seemed to accelerate and slow haphazardly while their limbs perpetually stretched to kilometres before shrinking to pins. The feeling of unholy speed traversing through their bodies also did not help as they were overcome with motion sickness. Those sensations lasted for an unperceivable period of time before Irwyn and Elizabeth once again returned to reality. To a patch of white.

Or rather, about a meter above the thin patch of snow. When the spell ended and gravity once again fully set in, Irwyn and Elizabeth found themselves falling down two-thirds of their height. Although Irwyn barely managed to remain on his feet, Elizabeth stumbled and fell, but thankfully she avoided any injury.

"I apologize," Clarissa seemed to have no trouble with the landing, "Teleporting to places I have never been to is very difficult even with Lucas' help."

"Don't worry," Irwyn said as he helped Elizabeth stand up, "I understand."

"Where are we anyway," Elizabeth asked as she was dusting off her clothes, not yet looking around for herself.

"At a place where I was once saved from the brink of death," Irwyn replied, already looking at what the knight had reported to him earlier in the day. Those words gathered Elizabeth's attention who followed u Irwyn's gaze.

"What happened here!?" Elizabeth gasped. Before them appeared desolate ruins. Remnants of ash and half-burned wood lied all-around a large area, intertwining with remnants of scorched stone foundations of the few houses that had them. But the true horror was revealed only after a closer inspection: Hidden among the black destruction lied corpses. Dozens upon dozens of ebony carcasses, their blood and tissue mostly devoured by the flames, the bits which survived only serving as a feast for the crows. Among the levelled buildings there was something in the middle which stood out. Although it was still too far away to be seen properly, it was clearly some sort of an elevated rod.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Clarissa put her hand on Irwyn's shoulder just as he was about to step forward. Somehow, there almost seemed to be a trace of concern in her voice as she gave him the last chance to back out.

"I have to see it myself," Irwyn shook his head and easily slipped away, walking towards the pole. It was far from his first time seeing a merciless massacre like this, however, the same couldn't be said about Elizabeth. She seemed pale and unusually quiet, though she was just barely not daunted enough to not follow Irwyn into ground zero. Although her eyes flickered around the corpses and the black birds pinching at them, Elizabeth managed to maintain most of her composure, making Irwyn almost sigh in relief. He had been unsure whether it had been a good idea to bring Elizabeth along as although it could help further steel her heart, the situation also had the potential to backfire.

Soon enough their target was close enough to be seen clearly. Perhaps by chance or maybe by design, the metal pike was far enough from the destruction to not be damaged by the flames. Despite that, the tall body impaled on it was far from undamaged as decay and crows had already begun to take their toll. From what was left it could be seen that the displayed corpse had once been a woman, few last stands of golden hair barely hanging from her mutilated head. Both her eyes had either been clawed out by crows or were missing in the first place. Her dress was drenched in blood and filth, making its original colour impossible to clearly define, though the countless rips and tears spoke a story of their own. Long dried open wounds and lacerations covered most of what could be seen of her flesh while the rest was obscured by clotted blood. Together with her strangely twisted limbs, her death must had been far from pleasant.

“Isn’t that…!” Elizabeth gasped in shock as she recognised the last few remaining features and determined the victim’s identity, though not daring to speak her name out loud. Her face was white as a sheet and it was nearly miraculous she managed to keep anything she might have eaten inside her body.

“Yes, the woman who had once upon a time saved my life, Daisy Bloom,” Irwyn nodded grimly, staring at the desecrated corpse, “She did not deserve to die like this.”

“What now?” Clarissa asked from behind them after giving them a few moments of silence. Even her always unwavering expression seemed to be slightly paler than usual.

“You already instructed people to begin investigating before we left, right?” Irwyn shot a burning glare at her.

“Yes,” Clarissa confirmed, “We are going to find whoever burned this place down soon. But what will you do once we do?”

“I will wipe them out,” Irwyn replied firmly, “Personally if I have to.”

“No matter who they are?” Clarissa asked, her tone neutral but the implications great.

“No matter who they are.” Irwyn nodded and outstretched his hand to Clarissa, “Let’s hope it won’t come to that. Please take us back to the manor, I want to personally oversee the investigation.”

“Hold on tight then,” Clarissa held his hand as well as Elizabeths. She sighed and closed her eyes for a few moments before she once again began her chant.