IN THE CASTLEIt felt like time had refrigerated. Alicia watched, in horror, as Drom plunged to the floor, Daito standing beside him with the blood-stained dagger still under his grasp. The quiet buzzing in her ear grew into a high-pitched noise, as the room erupted into chaos. The delegates approached the two intruders with the intent to kill. Lora also stood beside Alicia dazed in a similar trance. She looked on as her apparently dead little brother reaped his swords and whirled them, chopping off delegates arms and legs. At one point he arced his head and caught sight of her, but ventured on with his slaughter as if she wasn't even there, as if he had no clue who she was. Reene and the others tapped them out of their stupor as they pulled out their swords. Alicia began galloping straight towards Drom, and Lora headed for Deryleen. Before they could both reach their intended targets the rest of the faction popped up under the teleportation circle and dropped to the arena, jumping st
He approached the leaders and delegates of the crested families. He left the audience waiting for his next move by scanning their faces steadily. One of the delegates was seized by the neck and whisked about like a delicate flag the next thing they knew. Rowan Eelse hung in mid-air, his throat constricted and almost squished by the tyrant's firm grip. He kicked and flared his limbs as he tried to breathe.The ruler exclaimed, "Your soul is mine!"He reached out and laid his hand on Rowan's chest; a concentrated string of violet and black energy poured out of his chest and onto Tyndale's arm shortly after. And from distance, the audience could see the flicker of life in his eyes fade away, his legs stopped kicking, and his hands fell away from the tyrant's grip. He eventually collapsed to the ground, lifeless.“Do you really refuse to acknowledge me as your ruler?” He screamed again.The chants set off a chain reaction. The public hanging of one of their delegates frightened the shocke
“I may not know about your plans or intentions. I may not care what you do to me, break my bones, break my mind, break my spirit. Destroy my belongings… But if you lay a single finger on my family and my people… I will not rest until I have all your heads under my boot. And for the death of Hashi, his blood is solely on your hands. I will repay, a life for a life. I will hunt all of you to the ends of the earth, Anato Strider will be the first to fall under my sword, that is not a threat, it is a promise!”The figure turned towards him, “... Farewell my king, and understand. His death was for a greater cause, and there cannot be peace without war, just as there cannot be love without hate.” a bright flash of light swallowed him and he vanished. Drom felt a cold surge charge him up. His veins filled up with vengeful blood, cracking his skin in dark networks germinating all over his body. For the sake of his kingdom, he had to ravel the feral side he tucked away inside him. The animal c
“I have told you a thousand and one times I am not going to hurt her! She is part of my deal for the exchange of information, besides don’t you know where I’m from. I made a vow with my mistress never to hurt women.”“And after we bring her here what next?”“Then we can begin the deal. Have a little faith!”Alicia reluctantly nodded to Robert Townsdy, he stepped out and a few moments later he came back pushing Martha on a wheelchair. Once they entered the rest of the soldiers outside surrounded the house.“I will tell you what I know. About the plans of the Heads. The fact is, their plan is not over yet. The invasion was just the beginning of it.”“What are they planning to do?”“They seek to remove obstacles along their way. Obstacles are people who are strong enough to foil their plans. Either you join them, or they eliminate you. That is what they did to the two strongest people from this kingdom. The dark bender joined them, the king refused, and he was to be killed. They wanted t
She felt a warm embrace encompass her. She looked up and saw her mother, hugging her softly.“I understand now what the stranger meant.”She spoke in a cushioned tone. She raised her head and Alicia caught sight of her feint smile.“This miracle was never meant for me. I was just a vessel. To keep it for whoever needed it.”“Mother, what are you talking about?”The entire room was confused. Martha walked up to Reene’s bed and continued her speech.“When I conversed with the stranger, he told me he was about to do something he would not feel proud of, and in the end he would end up hurting himself and people he did not intend to. So he gave me this miracle. He told me that very soon someone would be in dire need of it. And he told me the decision to keep it to myself or help them rested on my shoulders. I now know why he chose me. He choose me because I would never forsake a life for the benefit of my interests. Daughter, I hope one day you will learn to do the same, and when that day
Alicia rode at the front of the pack. Alicia felt betrayed; she had no idea why she wasn't a member of the make-up family, but she was upset about how things had turned out.Lisa had been awakened by the uproar and had remained silent ever since; she was riding in the back of one of the State Guards' horses, Carrs Armani to be precise. Reene and the twins rode alongside the captives' carriage, getting dangerously close to it at points, waiting for the horses hauling it to walk over some rocks, jostle the carriage, and swing the curtains apart so he could catch a glimpse of the dark bender. He was dying for a full-fledged chat with Daito, but he wouldn't be so eager if he knew how 'talkative' Daito was.Albert decided to break the silence by asking, "So, Alicia Iko, I'm guessing you know who I am."Alicia took some time to bottle up her raging emotions and to be sure traces of them were not to be left on her speech."Yes, that's me. I do know you.""A very promising State Guard. I appo
ou are a traitor."Slejj leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing, as if Alicia had said a terrible joke and he was teasing her. It lasted about as long as uncomfortable laughs could last. He went on to say,"You call me a liar all the time, but do you really know what I did, or were you just told?"The skepticism that began to crawl into her mind grew exponentially, mocking her convictions and what she had grown up believing. In the one hand, she was persuading herself that Slejj was nothing more than a traitor who was lying to her, but she still felt she needed to know his side of the story. She could tell which side was going to win.Slejj undid the buttons on his shirt, revealing a deep scar on his chest. A network of black veins sprouted from the mutation at the middle of the dark scar, stretching through his whole chest. The veins weren't normal; they were totally dark, and they swallowed any ray of light that came close to them, making it seem as though there was none th
“Well...”Drom began his narrative, the soldiers tentatively listening.FIVE YEARS AGOWhen Drom looked down, he saw the dagger impaled on his side, piercing his heart. He couldn't see anything in Daito's eyes. They were devoid of detail. His irises were completely dark, and he couldn't see anything through his gaze. Drom was kicked out and fell to the ground. The heads picked up his lifeless body and set sail, finally appearing on top of a hill outside the city walls.Soon after, Alvatrone fired the arrow through Alicia's stomach, and they disappeared, reappearing in front of the Master heads at an unknown location. Alvatrone took a step forward, slitting his wrist and following the Master heads' awakening ritual.“Masters, the Dark Bender has been acquired, and the king has been slain.”The Masters continued to shift in their thrones.“That's fine. We'll go on to the next stage in the strategy, then we'll...”A thunderous sound erupted from inside the building before they could fini