Grand Duke Lione appeared tired and his normally neat appearance was unkempt. It seemed as though he had been investigating without any rest. 

 

Along with the Grand Duke, King Roland, the Crown Prince, and a few of his advisors and generals were present. 

 

They were in the middle of a discussion when Sable wandered in.

 

“...able to find him?” King Roland looked at the Grand Duke. 

 

“No, Your Majesty.” Grand Duke Lione shook his head and grimaced. “Once we were able to put out the fire, we found a secret tunnel leading out to a storehouse. The guards around the area had all been killed.” 

 

King Roland rubbed his temples with a grim expression. 

 

“To think that they were responsible for the deaths of so many nobles. And he even involved his daughter.” 

 

The room fell silent. Many of the advisors and generals in the room were quite old and had children around Sable’s age. She could tell that they were both upset and uncomfortable with the idea that a sixteen-year old girl was capable of murder. 

 

There was a knock on the door. 

 

“Enter.” King Roland replied. 

 

Sable didn’t recognize the man who stepped into the room. He was someone she had never seen before, although he was wearing the uniform of the Lione Knights. 

 

“Your Majesty.” He bowed in greeting. 

 

“Reinfred, what have you found?” Grand Duke Lione looked at him with concern. 

 

“We believe he’s fled to the West, Your Grace.” Reinfred informed. “Some of the lookouts spotted a carriage leaving with several cloaked figures on horses.” 

 

“Your Majesty.” Grand Duke Lione turned to the King. “I won’t let him get away a second time.” 

 

The King readily nodded his head. 

 

“Go.” 

 

Grand Duke Lione saluted and left the room with Reinfred. 

 

Sable followed after them in her ethereal form. She intended to personally see her father getting captured. 

 

However, she soon found out that she could not leave the Capital. An invisible barrier prevented her from doing so. More accurately, she could only stay within a certain distance to what was presumably her grave. 

 

This only fueled her anger. She cursed at the gods for putting her in this position before heading back to the palace. If she wanted information, the King was the person she needed to shadow. 

 

For the next few days, Sable never left the King’s side. She listened in on royal affairs and military secrets, only waiting to hear about the capture of the Marquis. 

 

This continued until the third night. There was a commotion in the palace. 

 

The King awoke from his bed after hearing someone frantically knocking on his door. 

 

“Your Majesty! The Capital is under attack!” 

 

Sable quickly reacted and flew outside. After what she had been through, Sable thought that she could no longer be surprised, but suddenly she was proven wrong. 

 

Several areas of the Capital were lit on fire. None of the districts were spared. From her vantage point in the sky, Sable could see citizens and guards frantically rushing around trying to put out the fires. This was clearly a coordinated attack. 

 

“But who could’ve done it?” 

 

Her father wasn’t in the Capital. Also, the knights and guards would have been on the lookout for him, so there was no way he could move freely and orchestrate an attack of this scale. 

 

Hearing shouts coming from the palace behind her, she flew back inside to see the guards and the Royal Knights fighting against cloaked assailants. They were gathered around the King and his family. 

 

“Your Majesty! You must get away!” The Knight Captain urged him. 

 

From his words, Sable could tell that they were losing. Those defending the royal family were ill prepared for a surprise attack. The knights were likely scattered throughout the palace fighting assailants. It would take time to reach the King and his family. 

 

Whoever planned this attack knew what they were doing. 

 

Sable could only watch as guards fell, one by one, to the cloaked assailants. The assassins’ movements were skilled and their swordplay was enough to be a match against the Royal Knights. They were gradually losing against the assassins. 

 

Sable slowly felt her vision darkening and her form being pulled backwards. Realizing that she was fading, she struggled with all her might. 

 

“No!” She growled. “Listen, God, whoever the hell you are, I refuse to move on like this!” 

 

Silence. Then a disembodied voice echoed in her head. 

 

“...Is that truly what you wish for?” 

 

“I have to know who did this.” Sable glared at the sight below her. 

 

The departure of the Grand Duke and his knights, the coordinated attack on the Capital and the royal family, she would have to be blind to not see how the pieces fell into place. There was a mastermind, and she needed to know who it was. 

 

“...Very well.” The voice replied. “We will give you a second chance.” 

 

Sable felt herself fading. Her eyes slowly closed, but she heard one last thing from the voice. 

 

“However, do not make the same mistakes again. Next time, your punishment won’t be as simple as seeing the future.” 

 

Then Sable faded away.

 

~~~ 

 

“...The next thing I knew, I was trapped inside the body of my younger self. You’re smart enough to figure out the rest.” 

 

Sable blinked dumbly. It was a lot of information to process. 

 

The events of the future that were yet to happen were the memories of the other Sable. And somehow, the soul of her future self was transported into her past self through some kind of divine intervention. 

 

After a long silence, she finally spoke again. 

 

“Then that would mean… you’re the future me?” 

 

“That appears to be the case.” The other Sable nodded. 

 

“But who exactly was it that sent you back?” 

 

The other Sable shrugged. 

 

“Whoever it was, they were powerful enough to manipulate my, or rather our, soul.” 

 

She sighed. 

 

“Unless we have some way of talking to the gods, we really have no way of knowing. It’s best to just leave it alone for now. We have more pressing matters to discuss.” 

 

Sable decided to follow her advice and pushed their talk of the possibility of divine beings being involved to the back of her head. 

 

“While I was trapped within our soul, I’ve had the opportunity to think a lot.” The other Sable paused. “Actually, all I’ve done is think.” 

 

“Wait.” Sable interrupted. “How were you able to manifest yourself back then? When you saved me.” 

 

“Ah, yes. I wasn’t able to confirm it until now, but it seems I can use the mana inside you to manifest myself or take control of you for a short time. Or any mana for that matter.” 

 

“...Like the mana from the orb.” Sable stated. 

 

The other Sable had a stiff smile. 

 

“In hindsight, forcefully absorbing mana from the same object that corrupted the beasts was probably a bad idea. But if it makes you feel better, I was fairly certain that Sir Isaac or His Grace were enough to stop you if you ended up corrupted like those beasts. If anything, that orb was intended to corrupt rather than kill whatever that touched it.” 

 

The cold tone, in which she spoke, made Sable frown, but she found that she could not argue with herself. 

 

“Besides, I think we both realize that Father-” The word was said mockingly. “- isn’t working alone. So, I decided to even the playing field, so to speak.” 

 

Sable placed a hand underneath her chin. 

 

“It would be nice to talk to someone who knows everything I know.” 

 

“What better person than yourself.” 

 

Sable’s small smile was mirrored by her other self. Then, she suddenly had a thought. 

 

“What happens when I run out of mana?” 

 

“Well, I will return here until the next time I can manifest again.” The other Sable explained. “But with the mana from the orb, it should still be okay to use your ability.” 

 

“I see.” Sable made a mental note. 

 

They fell silent. 

 

“Now what?” 

 

“We wait until you regain consciousness.” 

 

Sable nodded her head. After another short silence, she opened her mouth then closed it, hesitating to ask her next question. 

 

“What?” The other Sable raised her brow. 

 

“Um.” Sable had an awkward expression. 

 

“Spit it out.” 

 

“Is… Is there something else I can call you?” Sable asked in a quiet voice. “It’s awkward to call my own name.” 

 

This time, it was the other Sable’s turn to blink dumbly. 

 

“I suppose that is an issue.” 

 

The two Sables awkwardly stared at each other. 

 

~~~ 

 

The forest was deathly silent. The only indication that something had happened were the torn-up branches and the blood splattered across the trees. 

 

Two cloaked figures appeared from seemingly nowhere and approached the corpses of the two bears. 

 

“The experiment was a success, but…” One of the figures spoke while examining the body of the bear the knights fought. 

 

“It seems someone has found out.” 

 

The other cloaked figure looked around, then narrowed his eyes. 

 

“They took the orb.” 

 

“What?” The other cloaked figure joined him. “That’s impossible.” 

 

The assassin clicked his tongue. 

 

“We need to inform the Master.” 

 

“Oh, you have a Master?” 

 

The two assassins turned around in alarm, simultaneously pulling out their swords. Auberon grinned while eyeing the pair. 

 

The man looked at the beast in shock. To encounter a dire wolf here was extremely unlucky. 

 

“When did it get behind us!?” 

 

“Are you the ones responsible for corrupting the beasts of this forest?” Auberon stepped forward. 

 

The two assassins shared a look of panic. They needed to get away from here as fast as possible. 

 

“You know, it is quite rude to ignore someone when they are speaking to you.” Auberon glowered at the pair. “You are not planning on running away without answering my questions are you?” 

 

The assassins moved first. One of them threw a smoke bomb at the ground, and the pair moved in separate directions. As long as one of them made it out to inform their leader, then they would have a chance to retaliate. 

 

However, they underestimated the dire wolf’s speed. 

 

“I only need one of you, anyway.” 

 

Auberon reacted immediately and jumped after one of the assassins. 

 

He clamped his jaws down onto the man. The man screamed as his upper body was crushed by the jaw strength of the dire wolf. Leaving him barely alive and bleeding on the snow, Auberon rushed after the second assassin. 

 

The second assassin urged his legs to move faster when he heard the screams of his companion. Ducking under trees and jumping over the roots of the trees, he ran as fast as he could. 

 

He didn’t know how long he had been running, but he didn’t pause to look back. 

 

They were no match against a dire wolf, and it would be suicide to attempt to fight against it. Not only that, but he also needed to report the disappearance of the orb. Once activated, it was normally impossible to collect until it ran out of mana. 

 

“I need to report this to Mas-” He was unable to finish the thought as he was suddenly tackled from the side. 

 

His body flew through the air, then a sickening crunch was heard as his body impacted a tree. He laid on the ground, unable to move his legs and struggling to breathe. 

 

Auberon slowly approached the man, who was attempting to crawl away. He placed a paw on the man’s back, forcibly pushing him into the snow with his weight alone. 

 

“Now.” Auberon let out a low growl. “Tell me what I need to know.” 

 

It wasn’t long before the forest fell deathly silent once again. 

 

~~~ 

 

Sable’s eyes slowly fluttered open, and she groaned as she attempted to get up. 

 

“Hey, don’t push yourself.” She felt someone gently place a hand on her back, helping her up. 

 

“Isaac?” Her voice came out croaky. 

 

“Here.” 

 

Isaac grabbed a glass of water from the side table, and she greedily drank from it. After she was done, he placed the glass to the side and stood up. 

 

Sable heard him speak a few words to someone outside, before he moved back and sat on the chair by the bed. 

 

Looking around, she recognized the place they were in as her room. They were back at the Grand Duke’s castle. 

 

Swallowing her saliva, she looked at Isaac. 

 

“How long have I been unconscious?” 

 

“Three days, Sable.” Isaac exhaled, and Sable finally noticed how tired he looked. “You’ve been unconscious for three days.”