In their haste to leave, Mahnu could tell that the King was due to come on an expected path and veered down another path instead. The swift, fast action confused William, who asked why they are traveling down a longer road. But then, he suddenly came to question of why she knew of this road in the first place!

The secret of this whole forest wasn't just the town of Havlish, no, even the paths were hidden...A strange trap was set throughout, making the areas into mazes where one could easily get lost and be led out, instead of going in further...

How could an unfamiliar person know of such things...And, wasn't this woman also in the headquarters, and...She had been talking to our leader...Who was she!?

Mahnu didn't answer him, instead made the horse go faster, it wasn't time to chit chat, she thought.

Her companion got confused again when they stopped suddenly, but, when he went to ask this time, Mahnu shushed him before disappearing into the bushes.

After Mahnu left, William wondered if he should have followed. She had just given him the reins to her horse and left without a word. Who was she to have the same level loyalty as the leader of the Loyal Royal Knights?

It seemed stranger still that he had not much of an idea why they were in such a rush and why they had to be quiet. What is going on? He wondered.

After they started off again, she stopped suddenly, again, and said, "You'll find an assassin after the King to the Northeast of here, tied up. Take him into custody. Do not untie him!"

And they left.

William looked behind him, to see someone come down from a tree and run towards where Mahnu had said. How did she know that person was there? He is a secret lookout, yet, how could she know where he had been, even if she knew of him?

They continued to travel east in silence, William wondering, among many other things, if they were going to Cental.

 

***

 

The King arrived in Havlish and then greeted Marcus, who wonders if he should even tell the King, when there was nothing they could do and already waiting on Mahnu's news.

The King asks if things are alright, because he had rushed off to get here earlier.

"We are having some...Difficulties."

The King looks at him and Marcus asks about what he knows about The Siege that happened in the year 423. Marcus is surprised that the King knows nothing of it, just like the previous King.

"What has this Siege got to do with what you hurried back for? And why am I only hearing of this now?"

As Marcus tried to find an answer, a tied-up assassin came in, stopping the conversation.

"He was already tied up when we found him." The scout said.

"And no one was with him?" The King asked.

"No, Your Majesty. William's companion told me where he was before they left."

The King takes a second look at how the assassin was roped up and remembered some time ago when he had seen it similar.

Both Marcus and the King said, "Mahnu." At the same time. Then they looked at each other in confusion.

 

"You know of Mahnu, Your Majesty?" Marcus asked.

"She was here?" His Majesty asked back, instead of answering the question. "She keeps running away from me!"

Marcus remembered Mahnu's anger, and said, "Yes, Mahnu left not long before you got here."

"Dammit! Then she would have known I was coming too!"

How did he know that Mahnu would know? Why was The King angry with Mahnu? Marcus wanted to defend her, as she was the Saviour of Mankind. "It is my fault that she isn't here, Your Majesty."

"Why did she leave?" The King asks.

Again, Marcus questions himself whether to tell the King or not about the history that he had been told through generations of leaders of the Royal Guards of His Majesty. "She heard that a tablet belonging to us has gone missing, Your Majesty...And she volunteered to try and retrieve it."

The King was silent for a moment. "Why? Is it very important?"

How could it be more important than coming back to him at least first to state that she was doing this? Why can't she show herself for just a short moment and let me look at her!? This tablet better be important!

 

"The contents that the tablet holds is what happened back in the year 423. How and where The Siege took place...And where something is hidden."

Marcus didn't know where to start to tell the King the whole story.

"Is it that big? This...Siege?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. It was a fight to save mankind. I am also surprised that you and the previous King have no knowledge of it."

The King was dumbfounded. How could he not have known of such a drastic event?

"I only know of the stories from previous leaders and what is written on the tablet. But there is someone who could tell you all about it from personal experience."

"What do you mean? That makes absolutely no sense..."

"The Betrayer of God's, a God herself, who was present in Kralaide when The Siege took place."

"A...God?" The King swallowed and repeated the word 'herself' in his head. Female.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Mahnu knows about everything."

 

The King fell into a chair and looked at Marcus with wide eyes. "Mahnu...?"

King Richard was surprised, but as he held onto the chair tighter, he found himself thinking about all his encounters with her, making him unable to hear Marcus talking to him or the other attendants wanting to help...

...She didn't age, she was strong, and she had admitted to reading the thoughts of others. She even seemed traumatized which made more sense to the King now. The fact that she didn't speak and stayed away from people, just all clicked together inside of the King's head...And upon one of his first memories of her, one that he had worried about for a long time...Having gotten poisoned from saving his life...

If she is a God, wouldn't she easily overcome being poisoned? Is that why she never brought it up? Because it wasn't something to worry about?

...Is that why she fought people, because she won't get hurt and die?

For someone who is immortal, what could they have gone through?

Those eyes of hers...

...And what did Marcus say, a Betrayer? What has she endured all this time!? The King felt desperately sad for her.

Yet, after all this time, after all that has happened...She still looks like she wants to help us...Why?

The King felt himself a little crazy because he could believe it! The first thing that came to his mind, after that thought, was that he had fallen for a God! Utterly and deeply, fallen for this God!

It was all becoming easier to accept. Even with this 'Siege' that had happened, seemed somewhat, strangely familiar...Or right to him...

But why do I feel like this?

It was a question he could not answer...But he wanted answers to the other questions at the very least.

What...Is The Siege?

"Marcus!" The King looked up to find everyone go silent and still, waiting for him to continue. "Tell me everything you know!"

Marcus nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."

 

 

As the past was finally being told to the King of Kralaide, Mahnu and William continued to travel east.

They passed a third person with only one thing in their mind...To find the tablet.

There was nothing else there in their minds and Mahnu started to get a bad feeling...

They're all like the humans who were slaves to the God's back before The Siege...Time was of the essence!

Faster, Mahnu thought, as she made her horse gallop at full speed.

 

William continued to follow Mahnu but after another half a day of venturing east, he asked her if they could stop so that they could eat and give the horses a rest.

Her startled look made him worried. If she wasn't thinking of food, he pondered, this outing might be a more important matter then I thought.

Sadly though, the horses needed a break, just as much as he did, and Mahnu could only admit that they will have to have a rest, before the horses die due to dehydration and exhaustion...

Finding shade and some water, they stopped. Even though he could have used some time to rest as well, William got ready to leave straight after eating. Of course, he didn't spend much time catching prey and cooking it, as he had lived half of his life in the bush, just like many others from Havlish. It was just in the last couple of years that he started to do more work in the Loyal Royal Knights...Since it was like this, it was a nice change, considering he'd much prefer less responsibilities anyway, as he liked the sense of freedom and be able to do what he wanted instead...Not that it was happening at the moment, as he was traveling, but being able to travel was still something great in his eyes, perhaps he'll find something great in the process!

Her silent nod, at William's quick stop, looked like a small thank you and he was glad to have pleased her.

...What didn't make sense though...Was that he noticed that she did not have anything to eat at all, nor did she look tired...

But, without another word, the two set off again.

 

***

 

Four days later, they finally reached Cental and Mahnu was convinced that somehow, The Chest of the God's has already been found and opened. The people being controlled was evidence that a God was somewhere...

As they had come this way, she had come across more people thinking only about finding the tablet, but otherwise their minds were completely blank.

Cental was still busy with daily routines but Mahnu knew that the town had mindless people in it, just by looking around.

There were gazes from people looking at those who seemed to be mindless and they looked stunned. One of the people close by, spoke of 'Anderson' being normal just two days ago, when they had traded some salt for some sugar...

It was just like this, many years ago...Slowly and slowly, towns would be taken over and the people were confused and conflicted.

They knew these people, some were friends, some might have even been someone they didn't like...But when they went mindless and didn't show any signs of paying attention...It was a whole different story...

In the past, one town had killed those who had been 'infected', so that the rest of those who weren't 'infected' would not become that way. Another town sent the people like this away, then in another, the people who were still sane had ran away from the town.

Remembering these past events saddened Mahnu and made her wish for her existence to scatter into the wind and become nothing was wrong...

As, if she wasn’t here right now, how would the humans end up surviving?

Do the humans even know about getting a chest to use, and even if they did, what were they going to use to get the chest to work!? They don’t have prophets anymore and if I wasn’t here, they wouldn’t even have my powers to help the chest to work in the first place…How could they do it!?

…Was this really something that was tied to my fate? That I will never become nothing and sleep for eternity because there might always be some kind of worry for God’s existing? It had been so long, yet…

She knew it...She knew...It was nearly the same as back then...

Strangely though, at the moment, her existence didn’t sound bad. Most of the time she could say these words with no emotional attachment, but now…Now, she felt like she was saying and thinking the wrong things, as she did in fact want to stay…Nonetheless, it wasn’t really time to get all muddle headed about how I feel, she thought.

They changed horses, Mahnu also allowing William a short rest, as she tried not to feel or think of anything, and they continued east.

As they traveled closer to Brackan, more and more people were blank, making it known from which direction that they were coming from…And, as much as Mahnu wished for her to see this wrong and think she was instead dreaming or going crazy, it was all there, right in front of her…These mindless people…