Encounter

After they finished investigating the rooms and corridors, Leatrix finally made her way to Kyr.

She found a good number of clues about Aven’s murder, but not much about the apocalypse itself. The books were all burned as expected, and it was about time they tried going into the room of testing, assuming they could open it. If not, there was that secret place Morick told her once—a place she had a hard time believing was real.

"There you are," Leatrix said.

Kyr was standing at the mouth of the corridor to the right of the stairs. He had a blank look on his face, his horn highlighted by the light from the ceiling. It was as if his mind was elsewhere.

“Have you remembered anything?” she asked.

“Only one,” Kyr whispered, “and I’ve never forgotten it.”

Kyr pointed to the wall with light scratches on it.

“I remember pushing Radon on that wall," he said. "The spikes in his armor made all those scratches. I can still hear it grate against my ears.”

Leatrix looked at the hallway beyond. She searched it earlier, but there wasn't any damage to it.

“Was this where you found him harassing Jessa?” she asked.

Kyr nodded. “I found him clutching at her shoulders, leaning at her face, as if whispering something vile. Jessa wasn't having any of it. She yelled 'stop, get away from me' as she tried to push him away. I shouted at them and told Radon to back off. It wasn't the first time he made a pass at her, but it was the first time I've seen him be forceful.”

“And that’s when you fought?”

He nodded again.

“I was angry,” Kyr said. “Radon was strong, so I didn’t know if I could beat him completely, but I really tried. When I realized what I was doing, Jessa was crying, telling me to stop. Even I was shocked to see Radon’s handsome face all bloodied and broken.” He laughed pitifully. “I think I scared myself too... I walked out of this corridor to cool my head… and that’s the last thing I remember.”

The memory of Morick resurfaced in Leatrix's mind.

“Why… why did he go mad?”

Was that really what happened?

Kyr suddenly grabbed Leatrix arm and pulled her deep into the corridor.

“What are you—”

“Quiet!” Kyr put a hand over her mouth and whispered into her ear. “I just alerted Cinza. Someone followed us into the spire.”

What?

“I’ve been watching the entire time… and I think they’ve finally lost their patience.”

*

Kyr breathed as he stared at the shadow sneaking down the stairs.

Leatrix was standing behind him, while Roy was staring at the door of testing, and Nowe was somewhere in the corridor opposite theirs.

Kyr made eye contact with Cinza who was crouching near the headless statue, pretending to make notes of it.

The shadow stirred at the stair landing. They knew not to move.

In this tight space where the only source of mana were the bits of light in the ceiling, and everything else was blocked by onyx-infused walls… Kyr could only use what he brought with him from outside. He spread bits of magic into the air, mostly when he was rearranging the books upstairs, then slowly guided it to surround the extra intruder.

Whoever it was, they were no sorcerer. They didn't notice what Kyr was doing.

Cinza stood up, turned away from the stairs, then made a gesture with his hand.

It was time.

Kyr yanked the mana from a distance, hauling the intruder down the flight of stairs into the floor below. Cinza then dashed with his daggers, while Kyr shot a blast of lightning.

The intruder blocked both attacks… with two of her swords. It was a woman with black hair, red leather armor and spiked greaves. She kicked at Cinza’s leg, then pushed him back with her right sword.

Kyr dashed past a surprised Roy, then hurled two fire balls.

The woman slashed at the flames with her left sword, then leapt towards Kyr.

She was fast. Maybe faster than Aven.

Kyr created a magic barrier in front of him, which the woman easily broke with both of her blades. Perfect. He poised to intercept his opponent with another shield, but the real strike was elsewhere. Kyr’s moved enough mana to form a jolt of lightning behind the—

The woman stopped her approach, then spun to block his attack from behind with one sword. Her back was now exposed to Kyr, but then her other sword swung behind her aimed directly at his stomach.

Kyr formed the barrier he didn’t intend to make, and the sword hit it almost simultaneously. The impact pushed him backwards like a stringless puppet.

Roy caught him with a gust of wind. Barely.

Cinza clashed with the woman in a flurry of steel against steel. But it was obvious who was stronger. Cinza was purely on the defensive after his first strike.

When he was clearly about to lose, the butler switched it up by dropping one of his daggers mid block, then lunged at the woman with a punch that landed directly at her face.

Instead of staggering, the woman quickly recovered, swiped Cinza’s other dagger, then sprang back at him with a headbutt to his face. The loud thump of two skulls banging on each other echoed in the circular room.

What savagery. Almost like…

Cinza fell to his knees, his nose bleeding.

The woman immediately turned around to catch Leatrix’s rapier with both of her swords when the inquisitor appeared out of nowhere with a piercing lunge. 

“Cast shields on Leatrix,” Kyr quickly said to Roy. “Repeatedly! Now!”

Kyr circled behind the intruder and channeled mana into his hands. He shaped it to be like ice—the element hardest to mold. The idea was to manipulate moisture in the air while simultaneously removing heat. In this place, that was near impossible, so Kyr had to be precise. He only needed a little.

The woman broke all four of Roy’s shields, but Leatrix was intuitive enough to catch an opening between slashes. She made a forward stab that struck the intruder directly at her shoulder. It caught on leather, but it was enough to make the woman back away.

Right into Kyr’s icy trap.

The woman cursed as frost crawled up her legs and locked her in place. She turned to look at Kyr, and to his surprise, she whipped her upper body around and threw a sword at him.

It was so fast that Kyr barely caught the attack with a jolt of lightning instead of a shield. The blade spun in the air, hit the ceiling, then landed point first into the ground, just as the princess made her way back. Nowe blinked at the sword, then at the intruder.

The woman might have a few more tricks up her sleeve, so Kyr created three balls of fire above him, ready to intercept.

Leatrix and Roy were poised to attack from the other side, while Nowe assumed her own combat stance, her fists vibrating with power.

Stillness echoed as their shadows danced against the fires of Kyr’s magic.

The woman finally cackled a laugh, then dropped her remaining sword. “I give up,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how well you worked with each other, so I was cautious… but that was terrible. I should’ve made my move sooner.”

She looked almost the same as she did six years ago. Muscular frame. Black hair cut long to the sides, short at the back. Pretty face with scars and a self-satisfied grin. What’s new was the eyepatch over her left eye.

Vysa Trellus. Former guardian, former friend. Though Kyr supposed she was guardian to Ilara now.

“It’s nice to see you again, Kyr. What’s up with the horn?”