Somewhere in Herimol.
Nikephoria seductively stepped out of a lake, allowing the water to slowly drip down her body. She tucked a stray hair behind her body before putting her clothes back on and tying her piece of cloth over her eyes. Unlike before, the cloth was plain.
"I must say, I wish it wasn't over so soon," a familiar voice said from behind.
Nike turned to see a familiar figure, a young dark-skinned boy with silver-white hair. "Magnus," she called out.
He smiled and waved his hand at her. "The one and only," Magnus chuckled. "Didn't expect to see you here after betraying Hex, and taking a dip at that? Wow… you are shameless."
"What about you? Shouldn't you be running errands for your master?"
Magnus chuckled. "Two things." He raised to fingers up. "One, as I've always said, Hex and I are work partners, I do not work for him I work with him."
"And two, I barely escaped death at the hands of Komnene the evil witch… plus I couldn't get the Tome of Discordia for Hex so I had to take a detour to avoid getting back early," he said the last words softly.
Nikephoria smiled. "Most simply, you are scared to go back empty-handed, am I right?"
The fourth general of Hex furrowed. "Unlike Lancelot, you didn't die, but yet the shield that was bound to you fell, don't you think anyone would call that betrayal?"
The yellowish-grey-haired girl smiled. "Tell him to create another shield then since he's that scared."
"You know it's not that easy to make… anyway, why don't you tell him that yourself." Magnus' hands got engulfed in flames as he zipped forward and threw a punch at Nike.
But before he could make anything out of it, Nikephoria's body melted into liquid and dissolved into the ground.
Magnus managed to regain his footing before he fell to the ground. He quickly turned around ready to defend against any surprise attack but there was no one there. He scoffed and held his hand behind his head. "As expected."
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Back at Monk Zumma's village.
Trippier swung a wooden sword at Masatly, the formless being who had taken Eryth's figure but the latter swiftly jumped back to dodge the attack. He zipped forward and feigned an under strike, but the moment Trippier attempted to defend, Masatly disappeared and appeared behind his opponent, placing his wooden sword to his neck, forcing him to forfeit.
Trippier turned and tapped the boy's shoulder. "Is Eryth your mentor or something?"
He smiled. "I do admit that I watch and look up to him," he revealed. "His swordsmanship and abilities are impeccable, and I do set him as the limit when I train."
Trippier nodded understandably. "That explains why you fight like him, and of course why you pick him to look like…"
"You've met Eryth?"
"Yes I have, we even clashed swords, and yes, I admit he is one good fighter…"
"Eryth?" The two that were conversing turned to see Danila with her brows furrowed.
Masatly transformed back to his normal form. "I apologize for the confusion, I'm not Eryth."
"Oh, it's you."
He slightly bowed his head before jogging away, leaving Trippier and the fairy.
"Hi," she greeted. "I heard from Grevla that you used to work at the Herimol palace and you managed to escape with your mother after the Hex attack."
Trippier modded. "It's true. I was only a mere farmer with no energy so I couldn't fight, I had to flee with my mother to escape the massacre while my father stayed behind to complete his duty as an Imperial Knight."
"You've met Eryth right?" Danila questioned, changing the topic yet again.
"Yes I have, at the forest of the Living," he revealed. "He and Princess Grevla were searching for the Witch's hut to retrieve the Tome of Discordia."
"Could you take me there?"
Trippier raised his brows. "It's at least two days journey to get to the Forest of the Living where we last know he was," he revealed. "And what if you get there and he is no longer there, perhaps also on his way here."
"He's right, Eryth is no longer in the Forest," a familiar voice said from behind. The fae turned around to the speaker.
"Syrie, how can you tell?"
Syrie walked up to them and looked between Trippier and the fairy before speaking. "Because I am a Lamia," she started. "As a Lamia, I have been cursed to feed on human flesh and blood, and when I do feed on one, I tend to unconsciously kill them. But if I happen to fail to kill the victim, I continuously get dreams of the individual's current situation which continues until the individual is dead."
"And Eryth is one you didn't kill after feeding?"
She nodded. "And because I have fed on him multiple times, the dreams about him are much clearer."
"So where is he?" Danila questioned.
"The last time I had a dream about him, he was in a village in the middle of a desert."
"Which one?"
"Hlret Desert— I know this because they keep mentioning day and night constantly, but there's a chance he could have left the village as well because he is searching for something— I could come with you, the closer I get to the victim the more frequent the dreams happen, it can even happen when I'm awake."
"Why do you want to find him though?" Trippier questioned. "You know he's still alive and well, so what's the point."
"It's something else."
"I'll go with you," Arya joined the group. "You'll need all the help you can get to make a journey that far, especially with Hex getting more active, not that we can fight him if we do encounter him, I hope we don't… the point is I'm coming with."
Danila, Arya, and Syrie raised their heads to look at Trippier who put his hands up and shook his head. "Don't look at me, I've heard stories of how travellers mysteriously disappear in deserts, I'm not coming with you."
The corner of Arya's lips curled up as she took a step closer to him. "Come on, we could need the help of a big strong man as yourself," she slowly poked his forearm with her index finger before moving her eyes to him with a smile lingering on her lips. "So, what'd you say?"
"I'm still not coming," he sent a smile her way while taking a step back. "Why don't you ask the one-armed dude? He seemed to be in a fighting mood." He added before walking away.
Arya sighed and veered around to see the two eyeing her. "Don't look at me like that, you saw the way Hex's bodyguard embarrassed us, I was just looking for more partners… the more the merrier, isn't it?" She turned and started away.
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Eryth whipped his cloak from his head as looked up at the gigantic mountain in front of him. "Is this it? Is this the Inshik Mountain?" He asked Wendy who resided in his mind.
[Yep, that's the mountain.]
He slipped his hand into his pocket after getting a reply from his companion and took out the clock that was given to him which he easily read to have only two hours left in it. "Well if this is it, then it was so damn easy."
[What? Were you expecting to walk over a thin thread hanging between two rocks with lava in the middle?]
"That's?" He paused. "Yeah, that would have at least given me a rest, because right now I feel as though the trouble is yet to come…"
-•- -•- -•-
Before Eryth could finish his words, the clouds split open and a ray of light smashed the ground with a tremendous thud, causing the ground to shake and the atmosphere to heat up more.
[Is this what you wanted?]
"Depends what's behind that dust," he stated.
The dust slowly cleared, revealing the creature behind the covering. Eryth's eyes widened as he caught sight of what was behind the dust.
Behind the dust was a light-skinned feminine being with light pink eyes. She had long silver-white hair that stretched down to the bridge of her back.
She had golden body armour on, shielding her forearm, shoulders, neck, abdomen, chest, thigh, shin, and helmet that only covered her forehead and the sides which were designed to look like wings, leaving other parts of her body bare.
"Wow," Eryth mouthed as the lady approached him, holding a fear-inducing look on her face.
[Silver white hair, pink eyes and golden armour… is that?]
"Archiva, the Divine Registrar."
….
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