They were coming home. It had been two weeks of travel along the Frostlandian border. Two weeks of extended travel, though in high spirits. They could almost feel the difference in climate as soon as they passed along the Silondras Trail that directed them back southward towards the city itself. It was still late into the winter season for the empire, but they felt warmer seeing the barrier markings introducing them back into Liontari. They have had a few close encounters with a few passing armies, a small force of Frostlandian soldiers camping out about fifteen miles away from yet another Lykan outpost. They decided to take the long way around this time and cut through the very top of the Forest of Silence to avoid any further halts in their plans. Otherwise, the road was unbothered, and nature was as unruly as it ever was. Lyse felt the warm embrace better than anyone, the Pendant of Life radiation ti's infectious aura that only he could grasp. They tried a few experiments to see if either Edlund or Makyra could glimpse the power it held. Still, neither could feel anything, envisioning the pendant as just a blank space in their aura sense, melding into the air as if natural. And they gained no effects while holding it. Still, they managed to keep their time as they rode home through it all, Edlund most of all shedding the anxiety he had to garner and resembling his old self once more, entertaining them all by regaling Makyra of the many moments from their childhood. Strangely enough, he always painted himself as some courageous, trustworthy figure of the town and not the trouble maker he tried painting Lyse as.

"Remember when you pushed that girl into the fire ants nest?" he laughed, just off the cusp of some other shenanigans they had gone on.

"Oh no, that was you," Lyse sighed, turning to Makyra, who was pleasantly smiling, only listening. "He had pushed this older girl into it. She was a bit of a bully to us at the time, before we were accepted as squires."

"Oh yeah, wasn't it Susie or something like that?" Edlund asked.

"It was Susie, I believe, yeah," Lyse agreed. "She still lives in the village. She tried to become a squire herself but failed the written exam."

"How embarrassing," Edlund laughed. "You would think she would have run out of town. Doesn't she still work at that bakery? Maybe we'll head down, grab a bite and make a day out of it."

"We can do that after we handle our business," Makyra said. "Your mother will be in James' hands, and we can start planning on what to do next. Talin is up to something, and no doubt it involves the godslayers, don't you think?"

"We have been over this a thousand times," Edlund groaned. "Talin this and that. How about we instead try and relax. We just made a major victory, stopped a god from rising, saw a Frostlandian White dragon and all. Some beers and wines and women would do me some good."

"No doubt you'll have your full brother," Lyse sighed. But then felt some strange sensation in the back of his head. It was like something was calling his name from a distance, and it told him to look to the south. So, without stopping his horse, he looked in that direction. It was getting late in the day. They meant to get to Silondras perhaps the following morning, but something pushed Lyse forward. Something that spoke danger into his mind and action into his limbs. Makyra and Edlund sensed his hesitation as well, stopping their horse from looking curiously into the direction he was staring at in some daze.

"Are you alright, Lyse?" Edlund asked him.

"It's . . . something," he said, confused by this strange sense. "Like something . . . wants me to do something."

Without another word, he willed his horse into a brisk pace, Makyra, and Edlund shouting after him to stop. But he did not listen. It was getting late in the night, and they needed to set up camp. But despite this protest, he moved forward, forcing the two of them to make do and ride along with him.

(X)

In the ending moments of the siege, most citizenry just made it to the fortress of Silondras itself. The many knights of the Paladins guarded them. Many are now mobilizing to get to the wall and possibly end this threat once and for all. Though the knights and police officers tried to guide everyone orderly across the main bridge and entrance, the crowd was not very responsive to reason while rocks hailed from above and were getting closer and closer with each passing moment. So many families were separated in this catastrophe, many lost. The only safety and security to be had from any of them lay behind those thick walls of The Silondras Fortress, with the king. But the word was getting out amongst the guards at this time that something odd had occurred. That the king had suddenly vanished into thin air and a sentinel reduced to dust by one of the Paladins themselves. And when Lupurious furiously ordered a search for the king, that was when things became even direr and panic reached the commoners who heard this order. Is the king gone? Why now at this time? His decrees had all been done to protect his people; that was the promise he had made. But now, he was not with his people; they were left defenseless, tired, and confused. And the enemy was getting closer.

People began getting more desperate, climbing the rails and making their way towards the entrance faster. Many of these people simply fell into the moat below, others clinging to the sides as any nearby couldn't pay mind to help them. The situation was only worsening, and those boulders were getting closer to them, demolishing buildings, setting fires around them, and squeezing them like rats in a flooded enclosure. The knights had mobilized away from defending the city itself to the walls, and spare ordered to protect the citizens by Lupurious before he headed off due east, over the walls with sentinels at his side, the Paladin of exploration headed in the opposite direction. Things didn't improve when a large enough boulder to demolish the bridge hurdled itself over the wall and made its way towards its intended target. Those who were quick to notice had time to freeze in horror, watching it descend to end as many lives as possible in one moment. The knight's too slow to spot the object against the dark skies were already slow to move. It would be too late.

But someone, leaping over the Fortress walls and then launching themselves at the bolder, collided with it in mid air. The shattered pieces scattered away, harming few. This person landee before the passing crowd. Though they had sage gauntlets on, they were untransformed. Their hands visibly dripped with blood and seemed broken in several places. But Celia still stood, in full armor, waiting vigilantly for whatever came next. Then, turning to the crowd, she shouted words out then all.

"Steel your hearts, lions of these mountains, for our enemy calls for our fear to feast upon," she shouts above the worried and frantic clatter. She seemed to grab almost every ear with those words and command the heated air to rest as if a hound to a lord. "Our beloved King still watches over you, and his will carried in every sword and shield and mind that protects you now. His knights, his paladins, his soldiers. We shall protect you from these faceless cowards and show them their folly for this insult. Here me, men, women, here me the children of the forest, we are strong. And we shall survive because we are the strongest."

Adrenaline ranged into her head. It has been a while since she had to rally a crowd. But from the response she got, a symphony of cheers, cries, and war chants from the soldiers and knights, it was more than enough to call them into action and calm the people enough to allow order to push them into the safe walls of the inner fortress. Her arms felt numb and useless, barely the willpower to move them, much less perform the same feat she had just accomplished. She knew she shouldn't push herself this much, but she had no choice. As people moved into the fortress walls, doctors coming forth to immediately treating those who needed their aid, she noticed something rather odd. It had been a few minutes since another boulder had arrived at the fortress itself. She looked over to the wall, over the city smoking and lit with various sputtering fires. The sounds of chaos had dulled, leaving only the quiet night. She wondered what had occurred, but then alarms began rolling over the walls, down upon them. They were bells of celebration. Six rings echoed off of the city, reflecting up onto the mountains and into the air. And then, a soldier called out triumphant.

"The enemy falls to the knights of Silondras. Long live King James; his vessels have saved us."

How? As the people began to cheer and shout their relief into the dark heavens, a chill clutched onto Celia. She looked around to see where Lupurious might be, finding him atop the fortress wall where he planned on protecting the populace from any more assaults. Novia was nowhere to be found, most likely in the streets initiating immediate rescue and repair efforts for the city at this time. Lupurious only looked dazed and confused. He was urgently speaking to his sentinels, ordering them about alongside his knights to prepare every able hand to search the surrounding area. Though knowing monsters are so active this time of night, it is a dangerous proposition. Still, he ordered them to spread the word, making sure to keep the news away from the people at all costs. No doubt they believe this victory to be the king's doing and expect him to come about triumphant to give some rousing speech. Celia wondered what he was on about, though something told her she could guess. She scaled the wall in her thirian form, digging into the stone walls with her claws to meet him. They still felt numb, but she expected the pain to come once her adrenaline simmers away.

"What is happening, Lupurious?" she asked him, turning back into her human form to greet him. Three other Thirians bounded away across the walls as she arrived. "What is going on? Where is James?"

That look on Lupurious face, full of unbridled frustration, told her so many things at once. It seemed the worst of fears had been realized. Still, Lupurious took a deep breath to make sure his words came clear and collected, failing miserably. "James disappeared."

"Disappeared," she echoed back, though Lupurious took it as a question. She quietly contemplated as he went on to explain what had happened, one of his sentinels suddenly showing malice, and touched the king, and in a flash of light sending him out of sight.

"We suspect it to be Torlakian magic," Lupurious said. "A mage assassin in our ranks. How can this come to be?"

"He can't be far," she said. "Such magic is extremely costly; they may only be able to afford to send him only a few miles away."

"Here's hoping," Lupurious said. "Damn it, and I should have taken that bastard prisoner instead of vaporizing them on the spot. We could figure out where he's being kept."

"Where is Novia?" she asked him.

"Leading a few of her rangers through the forest to find out whoever sent out this golem army, they could not have gotten far."

"The enemy is far more cunning than that," she whispered to herself. "The creatures of the night will provide them protection. And if they are within the Forest of Silence, we have no hope of finding them. So it appears that the cities greatest shield shall be their cover from our arrows."

"So I'm just supposed to call off the search?" Lupurious asked her, undirected anger creeping into his voice. It was a question not to be answered by her. A massive explosion. It shook the ground with unmitigated might. A bright light engulfed the horizon to the north, like the sun had touched the earth. When it subsided, the wind rushing through everyone, all was silent.

Wordlessly, he ran off along the wall to presumably join the scouting parties searching the surrounding area. Celia, on the other hand, just felt a loss at what to do. Celia felt something was being taken away from her again, but this time she knew the futility of trying to hope for it back. James is dead. She doesn't know why she knows this, but she knows. They attempted to take her life. They took away her husband, their king, and her children. What more? And the other godslayers may meet the very same fate. With that thought, she immediately made her way back into the castle proper, past the many people taking refuge in the main mess halls and ballroom. She had memorized the layout o this place a long time ago; she knows it better than the back of her hand. She approached the tapestry that had been unmoved for decades, making sure no one was remotely near her; she threw it back and placed her hand on the geometric pattern carved into the stone. She had to make sure. Immediately upon contact, the outline of a door soundlessly made itself apparent and swung open with unknown mechanisms. She quickly made her way inside, down the narrow path, past the hall of heroes, and into the main meeting room for the godslayers. She descended the steps and immediately placed her hands on the orb at the very front of the table, pouring aura within it to activate this ancient artifact, and it did so respond to her whim. This lifeless place suddenly became lively with power as her essence powered whatever innate spell laid within it, like James before her. She felt her consciousness pulled from her mind, her sights becoming that of the only aura, transporting her to a black void of a million distant lights. She willed the image of the godslayers in her mind, Remmus, and her sister, in hopes of finding their connection. But alas, only Remmus and Lizbeth appeared in their spectral forms, James nowhere to be seen.

"Are you alright, sister?" were the first words out of Lizbeth's mouth.

"I'm alright, but of you two. Do you have any idea what has happened?"

"I have educated guesses," Remmus said. "So I can guess there was an attempt on your life as well?"

"Golems just attacked Silondras," Celia told him.

"Golems?" he paused. "Talin mages. They attempted to grab me with some sort of short-range teleportation spell. No doubt to either capture or assassinate me."

"Same here as well," Lizbeth said. "If not for the diamond, I would be dead right now. But, wait. . . where is James. Is he not with you, sister?"

The empty silence that followed that question was more than loud enough for an answer. They all stood, silent disbelief. If James were alive, he would no doubt have been summoned to this call; no magic could reject such forces as far as they were aware. And they all felt that something was missing, Fate having severed yet another thread before their eyes.

"That fool," Lizbeth said under her breathe.

"Such effort," Remmus sighed. "To take out outdated relics like ourselves. The problem with the godslayers is our greatest strength. Our legacy will die with us. And if they can get rid of us before the new crop can mature, they have removed a major threat for their plans. We should have expected such an outcome."

"Is Lyse alright," Lizbeth asked.

"I . . . don't know," those words were hard to utter. "He was sent to fight Hephaestus. I have yet to receive word-"

"He succeeded," Remmus said suddenly. "John has confirmed their victory. He should be arriving in Silondras shortly. Do you think that Talin would target him as well, being the first of this new generation of godslayers?"

"I fear their plans are for more nefarious than merely killing them," she said. "All this time, it has not occurred to me. They had plenty of opportunities to kill him, but each time they would rather capture him. I can only theorize what that means. Are they once more trying to decipher the pendant's powers or something else? I do not know. But they want him for something, something more important than killing a godslayer, as terrifying as that sounds."

"Then we need to further our ends," Lizbeth said. "Lyse needs further training with the pendant to protect him, as well as secure the others before Talin gets their hands on them. They have already dealt so much damage."

"The answer will come to us eventually," Remmus said. "For now, we need to gather ourselves. This is a declaration of war, a war on this new era. and I think it's about time that we fight our enemies in the open."

"In the open?" Celia asked them. "Remmus, that goes against the reason for our existence. It has been our duty to keep the dealings of gods away from the mortal world."

"Which has only resulted in us having to counterbalance secrecy with being effective," Remmus argued. "Our goals could only function as long as Talin swore to such secrecy. Umerius wished to be hidden, and that is how he succeeded for so long. But now, they have struck us in the open. It is time to come out of the shadows and face our enemies in the light, Celia. Together. It is time that we usher in the age of heroes."

(X)

The night has run cold in Silondras. Lyse carefully traversed the terrain on horseback, one hand holding his reigns, the other his sword as he held it out as light. He did not care if a monster wished to approach him, but strangely enough, all seemed to steer clear of him. On the edge of his senses, he thought he had felt some presence, but they quickly disappeared as soon as he focused on them. No monster was around, contrary to the high population appearing this time of the year. Makyra and Edlund followed him closely behind, weapons drawn but extremely wary of what was around them. This was not ordinary; something was wrong, very wrong.

The closer they got to those flashes of lights, the more it seemed to excite. Lyse could feel massive amounts of auras in the air, the hairs on his neck standing on end. The winds still, it was like something had tamed the wild itself. But now, they were beginning to see damage to the terrain congruent to some sort of battle-a massive one. Massive swabs of land gored out like giant swords were raked into the earth, creating chasms and craters easily five men across. Entire lines of trees severed and cut down, littering the ground in their splintered remains, decaying. The snow had been blown away, revealing the pact earth beneath. And then, they spotted one. A body, one was lying limp against a nearby tree stump, severed in half. Edlund dismounted to carefully approached it, his hammer in hand as he moved the body over. It was a Makhai, the pale skin and white eyes giving that away. They were here, and they were fighting something. Then more. Then more. Then more. The ground was covered in bodies of at least a hundred Makhai, and all dismembered or destroyed as the terrain increasingly became more disturbed. They have never seen a sight like this. The number of corpses alone should be calling forth every monster in five miles, but something disturbing lingered in the air, some cold grip that seized them the more they walked.

"What happened?" Makyra asked herself.

"A battle, obviously," Edlund said. "But what could kill over a hundred Makhai and survive. I mean . . . "