Aegis had grown tired of running relentlessly. He had gotten himself a black cloak, somewhere from the narrow passageway. So, he was now walking through the sea of the crowd, blending flawlessly.
It was already nighttime. And his cloak did its job perfectly to hide him.
He glanced at the river port to his right. The remaining twilight had been engulfed by the consuming darkness. All that remained was the expanse of the great dark water body.
'Where did she go?' Aegis thought as he walked through.
And almost instantly, he got a reply. A familiar voice came from behind. No.. From his right? Left?
[Keep walking straight]
Aegis looked around to find Morgana, but he only met the glances of the public.
And then he realized.
The voice was in his head.
He thought it aloud, trying to accomplish something.
'You can hear my thoughts?'
After a pause, a reply came.
[Yes. Only when you are within the range of the spell. Now keep walking]
Aegis nodded slightly and continued his stroll.
…
Morgana had been standing beside an ice cream stall.
Aegis walked slowly towards her, and instead of talking, he thought it aloud,
'Why here?'
She looked where Aegis had come from.
[I have to meet someone here. Also, I will explain everything while we are waiting]
Aegis stood calmly and looked at the stall,
'Would you like some ice cream?'
…
Morgana sat at the bench with a cone of ice cream while Aegis stood with his arms crossed by the tree, leaning on the thick trunk.
[Have you heard of the other continent?]
Aegis shook his head and thought,
'No.'
Which was a lie.
Morgana kept talking anyway, but not with her mouth.
[They will invade this city soon. And the Monarch suspects that some of the legacy clans have betrayed him.]
[Vale is one of them. But Vale never compromised their allegiance. My father and mother… They have been imprisoned for something they don't even know about. ]
[Actually… The one they should be locking up is me…]
Aegis, who kept staring into the dark horizon, sighed.
'And what did you do, exactly?'
[I've lived this day for a month now. It might sound crazy, but I stole several of Vale's powerful spells for my cause.]
[And I've seen how it'll all turn out. The city will be in ruins. Millions will perish.]
[Now you might ask, how did I know all of this?]
Aegis didn't spare her a look, but he could tell her face was growing somber.
[One of the diviners had reached out to me a month ago. He had told me to run away]
A long pause permeated the cold air, sending a shiver down Aegis' spine.
[Run away with you. And meet him. If we want to save this city]
Aegis finally glanced at the blind girl who had been enjoying her ice cream.
He said it aloud,
"Me? What? Why?"
A whistle of air grazed through Aegis' right cheek, a very thin yet deep cut appearing on his pale face. He couldn't see what had grazed through his cheek, but as he turned around to meet the perpetrator, he was shocked.
'T-The legions! They are here.'
A fully armed knight stood there, under the lamppost. He had been carrying a long bow and an arm band that spoke highly of his rank.
'A lieutenant? Good grief.'
The man took measured steps to approach them. The man was in no hurry to catch them. Aegis felt his cheek and took a step back involuntarily.
"Don't move, kid. Come with us." The knight said it with a reverberating tone.
Aegis took a quick glance at Morgana, who was still enjoying her ice cream.
'What are you gonna do?'
[Watch]
'W-What?'
[Just watch, Emporio.]
And then her prophecy came true.
Out of thin air, a bald man appeared in front of Aegis. Before he could react, the bald man knocked him out with a palm strike on his forehead.
And the world turned dark.
…
"H-Ho-Horcus?"
Horcus kept staring at the scattered corpses with his cold gaze. Klara passed him and ran to inspect the bodies without wasting a moment. Horcus stood there, trying to picture what was about to happen.
'5 lieutenants. 2 Major' He counted.
And then he narrowed his eyes, a somber look appearing on his cold gaze,
"They killed a Colonel with ease…" He said it aloud, gritting his teeth.
Klara inspected the wound very carefully. But she couldn't piece it together. What really killed him? These weren't sword slashes… Instead, the bodies had holes in their chests, some in their foreheads.
What Klara only found out was the presence of-
"C-Charcoal?" She pinched her fingers, trying to feel the substance, "Did the enemy use a spell? Why charcoal?"
And there was a weird smell. Pungent even.
Horcus sighed and said,
"There was no spell. Not of mana, at least. I can't sense any remnants of mana in here."
Klara stood up from the spot and replied with a cold indifference,
"Its them. The bastards from the other continent."
…
Aegis slowly regained his consciousness. But he couldn't see anything. All he saw was darkness. And what he felt was cold being materialized. His realization made him widen his eyes.
He was in the depths of a dungeon.
His hands were in shackles.
'F-Fuck….'
But then, a familiar voice came into his mind, a sense of hope brimming instantly as he heard it,
[Aegis. Are you awake?]
'Morgana. Where are we?'
[They got us. But fret not. It was bound to happen]
Aegis looked around to get a look. But sadly, he couldn't see anything. But then he felt a drop of water fall onto his shoulders. It was only then that he had realized that he had been half-naked, only wearing his pants.
The drop of water… Was surprisingly warm, which was unusual for such weather.
It was then that he realized something that had stopped his heart from beating for a second,
'B-Blood?'