Dust lifted as Mercury and Gula’s feet touched the ground.
“It was that easy?”
Gula waved his hand before Edna’s blank face as he questioned the ease of their backup operation. Honestly, he had expected it to fail.
“I used everything I could muster to waver her emotions briefly, and we used an entire Hidden Shadow Gem. If used properly, that’d be enough to knock an elder dragon off guard, let alone an unsuspecting human. It didn't involve fighting, but it was expensive.”
Mercury sighed at the costs while Gula laughed off the tension.
“Heh, emotional is right. We got quite the drama to watch. But, be honest, Mercury, you just wanted to see her break down.”
Mercury was collecting his shadows and subtly picked up Tham’s corpse. Then, sneaking a peek to see if Gula noticed, Mercury's brows twitched at Gula, who had started poking Edna’s cheek while licking his lips.
“Would you stop that? Hurry up, already.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll start.”
Gula extended a hand upwards as it pierced through a veil of space. When he tugged it back, within his hand were two objects: A large cutting knife and butcher’s blade. Grasping the two objects in each hand, Gula seemed ready to sashimi Edna’s body into pieces.
“Bon Appetit!”
Gula licked his lips as he channelled the energy inside of him and a familiar purple mist stained the two objects a shade of purple. As Gula raised his weapons above him, the purple grew more substantial and finally raced down as they descended towards Edna’s defenceless neck like a guillotine.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t time for Gula to eat yet.
Shing!
Within a split second, a chain emerged from the darkness that wrapped around the pair of blades and tilted them off course. Its sturdiness was admirable, and it wasn't cut through even with the apparent reinforcement of Gula’s cutting abilities.
Gula gulped as he watched a thin line open on Edna’s neck that let out a drop of glistening blood.
“Phase.”
Suddenly, the chain wrapping around the guillotine blades disappeared, and in its place, a green-dipped scythe flew towards Gula’s chest.
Ting!
Gula barely managed to contort his arm and angle the butcher's blade to block the corrosive scythe. Thankfully for Gula, the purple stain on his blade counteracted any of the poison on the scythe.
“Giant’s Strength.”
A boundless voice came from behind Gula as a warhammer striking with the impact of a charging elephant crashed into Gula’s distracted body. Gula shot directly into the sky as his ribs cracked against the unexpected strike.
Whoosh!
The hulking figure with rippling muscles left a cloud of dust behind as he shot into the air after Gula.
Slink.
The scythe phased and attacked a series of rapidly dissolving shadows but ultimately wasn't fast enough to hinder Mercury's escape. Then, a pair of emerald eyes exposed themselves as a voice left Mercury feeling indignant.
“Rude. Dodging isn’t allowed.”
Mercury had already summoned shadowy shields as purple-tinted darts flew in from unseen angles. Meanwhile, a patch of rippling shadow spears appeared beneath the hidden figure’s feet.
“Poison Wave.”
The hidden figure’s feet stomped down and directly extinguished the shadow spears as a light layer of poison corroded bubbled the earth.
The hidden figure gradually revealed themselves as she took back her scythe and circled it in the air. Her cold, emerald eyes cursed Mercury as she spoke.
“It’s going to take a lot more than that.”
Mercury’s eyes narrowed as the darts fell to the ground alongside sizzling shadows.
“Poison Empress, Circe.”
Mercury turned his head to the sky and saw Gula and a hulking figure engaged in a rough melee battle above.
“The First Smith, Goibhniu.”
Mercury regained his calm as he turned down the bubbling rage that was making him more talkative. Mercury hated his plans being ruined, and the duo had succeeded in doing just that by mere presence alone. The surrounding shadows bobbed and weaved around Mercury as he was raised into the air.
“You two will make valuable shadow puppets.”
Before Circe could respond, the gathered shadow shot towards her in a tide that crashed both Circe and Mercury outside the throne room.
Crash!
Slam! Slam! Slam!
…
The tattered throne room didn’t seem like a throne room anymore. Rather, it resembled a ruin now as the attacked wall collapsed and created another additional entrance. The distant, epic crashing of battles were background noises for the silence surrounding the tattered throne room. Only the breaths of four distinct figures filled the silence otherwise, except for the light crumbling of a door that gently fell from its initial bearings.
Thud!
Behind the door, a figure draped in a concealing black cloak was startled by the collapsed entrance. However, the figure eventually drew the courage to leap into the tattered throne room as they appeared before Edna in a few graceful steps.
“Poor girl. Us women have to stick together.”
A feminine voice came from beneath the cloak as the figure revealed a dainty hand grasping a corked glass bottle with a pale blue liquid inside. Unknown runes glittered on the surface as the figure removed the cork, and they carefully poured a few drops into both of Edna’s glazed eyes.
“Awaken.”
The soft voice drifted into Edna’s ear as the figure landed next to Novus.
The cloaked figure paused as she opened Novus’ eyelids to mimic the same action. However, the figure was quickly shocked.
Novus’ originally golden eye colour was entirely azure blue and rapidly cleared with each moment. Had it not been for the lack of focus, the cloaked figure might have been spooked by being seen.
“He truly is the chosen apostle.”
The cloaked figure leaned in closer, and an inhale was heard as they gathered their courage. Then, half-exhaled, half-spoken words travelled into Novus’ ear.
“Awaken, my prince.”
The cloaked figure kneeled for a moment before stepping toward Adrianne and revealing her glazed eyes.
“Interesting.”
The cloaked figure went for her usual approach but disappeared into thin air as Adrianne’s arm twitched. Her hand moved towards her belt loop, where one of her twin swords was attached.
…
…
…
Intermittent crashing sounds sent crumbles of rock drifting down from the walls. But, soon, the silence was broken as the cloaked figure magically reappeared in the same spot as before and curiously gazed at Adrianne’s hand clenched around the hilt of her sword.
The assumed head inside the cloak tilted as the dainty hand revealed itself with a radiant light at the tip of its index finger. As the index finger fell, the radiant light spun and split into two, disappearing into Adrianne’s eyes.
“A gift of clear sight for my prince’s sword.”
Then, a similar scene of the pale blue liquid dripping into Adrianne’s eyes was enacted.
“Awaken.”
Finally, the cloaked figure reappeared beside Percival, who had landed with an outstretched hand towards a beaten shield that lay just out of reach. Coincidentally, it was the same shield that Percival had thrown earlier to try and prevent Tham’s daggered death.
The cloaked figure paused and analyzed for a long while before deciding on something difficult for her to accept. With a small voice lingering with resolve, the figure pulled closer to Percival.
"The prince's knights have to be the best if they are to survive, after all."
Soon, the armour covering Percival’s back was stripped, and the cloaked figure bit their index finger, leaking ink-like blood. Then, with a flourish of her finger, the ink-like blood floated into the air and formed a perfect circle above Percival’s back.
Snap!
“A gift of fortitude for my prince’s shield.”
The ink-like blood descended as it dissolved into Percival’s back. The circle formed neat lines as a perfect black circle tattoo glowed and then receded on Percival’s back.
“Awaken.”
Percival’s eye-dropping ritual was completed as the cloaked figure stepped back towards Novus and kneeled, a strand of pitch-black hair revealing itself from beneath their hood. The cloaked figure seemed reluctant to leave but was made to as light pattering steps echoed into the room.
Patter. Patter. Patter.
Huff. Huff. Huff.
Creak!
The hide boots creaked the barely holding frame of the fallen wooden door. Had anyone been cherishing the silence, they would have been sorely disturbed. However, nobody nearby minded as Garbal’s knees slid beside Edna’s unconscious body. Garbal’s hands drew symbol after symbol as he cast various spells in quick succession.
Lights projected against Edna’s skin, various liquids diffused into mists that entered Edna’s pores, and smoking flames lingered in the air around Edna. These spells were all tweaked by the moment as Garbal’s eyes rapidly moved to check every inch of Edna’s body. Garbal hyper-focused on any minute detail until, abruptly, his hands stopped.
The flames extinguished, the mist became dewdrops that fell across Edna’s skin and the light phased out of existence.
Garbal waited with bated breath as he watched Edna’s finger twitch the mana around her. With that single twitch, a small smile crept onto Garbal's face.
Garbal knew she would wake up and that it would be soon.
He could feel it.
