My eyes flickered open as the flames in my chest ignited back to life. Above me was the familiar rough grain wood that made up the roof of a familiar wagon. The sound of creaking wheels and the gentle shaking from every rock and ditch was like a distant dream brought to life. As I tried to sit up, I was instantly grabbed by the soft hand of a woman. So familiar, but now completely foreign to me.

“Wren! Are you ok? I can’t believe those cowardly Avari, when…” The woman paused, blinking a few times as she looked at me. “Wren?”

“Wren is still sleeping,” I replied, pulling myself free from the woman’s grip, “She will probably be asleep for a few more days still.”

I stood up, ignoring the woman as she opened her mouth to say something, only to close it silently. I could guess what Wren would want me to do right now. She would want me to comfort her mother and say a few nice words, but I had no patience for a game of pretend.

Pulling on a pair of boots and grabbing my dagger, I opened the door of the wagon and stepped outside. It was day, early morning. Based on how my stiff body felt, I had slept for at least twenty hours. More than enough time for the kidnappers to create quite a bit of distance between us.

Closing my eyes, I connected with the little bird Wren asked me to save, Sylvie, I think she named it. before I passed out, I had tasked her with following the Avari. Through her eyes, I could keep track of where they went. No matter how far they ran, not a single one of them would not be able to escape me. I would teach them the painful lesson of angering one of the calamities.

Through the small bird’s eyes, I could see the soldiers had already made it out of the mist and had met up with a larger group of Avari heading south. Even if I pursued them immediately with Naga, it would take quite a bit of time to catch up. By then, they would have made it past their county’s borders. It seemed I needed a plan before I could kill them. It was a just a matter of pride for me, but Wren would not give me a single moment of peace if I did not at least try and help the boy.

I opened my eyes as a skinny boy hopped down from the wagon and ran up to me. The familiar figure of Wren’s brother waved his arms as he practically shouted when he spoke, “Wren! We were so worried about you. How are you feeling? Are you injured anywhere?”

“Where is General Arthur. I need to speak to him.” I replied simply.

“Wren… are you ok? You seem…” Charly stumbled back as his eyes widened. “Both of your eyes are green again!”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Wren is still sleeping. Where is General Arthur?”

“I… I think he is at the front…” Charly barely managed to stammer out.

I nodded silently and walked away, leaving the boy to his thoughts. I moved past the wagon, completely ignoring the same shouts and questions repeated again from Wren’s father as he was driving the wagon.

I could not help but wonder why they were all so concerned. They knew I was uninjured. There was no reason for them to keep asking if I was ok.

Unable to understand it, I just shook my head as I continued to walk away without bothering to explain everything again. It was better not to spend much time around them right now. All talking to them would accomplish was reopening old wounds about my residence in this body. I would rather not leave those memories for Wren to see later. It would just end with her crying for hours again. I moved past the frustratingly slow civilians as the wagon faded into the distance behind me.

It was not hard to find General Arthur. The dome that kept out the mist moved whenever he did, giving away his location to anyone and everyone. It was a horrible flaw in his protection glyph. If we were attacked now, the silver light would instantly let every enemy know he was the most important and target the general.

When I found him, General Arthur was helping a few civilians after another Demonkin transformation. It was a bloody scene, but not an unfamiliar one. I stepped over the deformed and mutilated body without bothering to give it any more than a casual glance.

I heard General Arthur speaking to an elderly woman weeping on the ground. A small child huddled in her arms as tears streamed down her face. the general had a comforting hand on her shoulder as he spoke, “I am sorry we could not save your husband. We are almost out of the mist. We will meet up with a team from the church to help cure everyone soon. Do not give up hope. The rest of your family can still be saved. Push on for their sake. Your other children need you now more than ever.”

The elderly woman did not seem to acknowledge General Arthur as she wept while holding the other child tight in her arms. General Arthur shook his head and sighed as he left the woman alone to grieve. He gave me a forced smile as I approached.

“Wren! Good to see ye up and about again. I assume you want to talk about the Avari that attacked ye the other night?”

“Did you capture any prisoners?”

General Arthur nodded. “About twenty of them. They were screamin’ and hallucinatin’ when my men apprehended them. Ye would not happen to know anything about that would ye?”

“Take me to them.”

General Arthur froze, squinting his eyes as he looked at me for a long moment. I met his gaze, glaring at him impatiently. The general blinked a few times, shivering as he unconsciously took a step back.

“I will take ye there right away!” he said a little too quickly.

I shook my head as he led the way towards a cart, loaded with twenty soldiers. Both their hand and their feet were bound with a rough rope that looked like it had been salvaged from one of our supply caravans. Their armor and weapons had been removed, leaving them in only the thin clothes they wore underneath. General Arthur motioned for all the surrounding guards to leave as I walked towards the cart with slow measured steps.

General Arthur cleared his throat a few times before he spoke, “We already questioned them. The soldiers have no idea where the Avari are taking Donte. Ye are welcome to try again of course, but I do not know how much it will help.”

One of the soldiers laughed as he pulled against the restraints that tied his wrists. “This little girl is going to question us? The Novus must be getting desperate if they are letting children become interrogators.”

The other prisoners laughed as I walked towards the boisterous man silently, unsheathing the dagger on my belt. The man sneered and was about to say more, but was unable to speak a single word as my dagger flashed across his neck. There was a moment of silence from all the prisoners as a red line opened across the man’s neck. I stepped back as blood sprayed out in every direction. The prisoner made a few desperate gurgling noises as he coughed up mouthfuls of blood. His eyes bulged and his face paled. Within a few seconds, he stopped moving. The body slumped lifelessly against the side of the wagon.

General Arthur stepped forward, his voice pitched as he spoke, “These men are our prisoners. killing them is…”

“I could not care less,” I replied, interrupting the general’s protest. I pressed my hand to the dead man’s head as the small flame in my chest flared to life.

The flame passed through my hand and into the corpse, hidden by the skin-to-skin contact so that those around would not see it. The corpse began to twitch as the wound on its neck started to heal. A few moments later, green appeared in the glazed-over eyes. The other prisoners gasped and scrambled away as the corpse began to move. It knelt down in front of me, touching its head to the floor of the wagon.

“What is your command, my lady?” the corpse said with an expressionless tone.

“Stay here for now. I will have commands for you soon,” I replied before turning towards General Arthur, “I will be back in a few hours for another one. Gag the rest of the prisoners. Irene may know about me and probably plans to spread the news of my rebirth, but I do not need more rumors flying around even sooner than that.”

The general hesitated for a moment as he looked at the helpless soldiers, but in the end, he sighed with a nod. “I will do as ye say, but I need to know, what is your plan?”

“The fleeing Avari are running towards the fortress of Bastya.”

General Arthur grimaced. “General Izmos’s stronghold. That is a nasty place to attack.”

I nodded. “I have been there once before. I have even been inside. the whole fortress is practically a deathtrap for any invader. Taking the place by force to rescue Donte will not be a simple task, but I have no intention of letting this insult go. So, I will do what I do best and create a calamity.”

“Can we… try and negotiate first? War with the Avari will ruin many of the plans I had for gatherin’ allies against Envy.”

I shrugged as I turned away from the general. “You can try, but regardless I will still kill the men that attacked me. If you want me to limit the damage, I will need your full cooperation and your army. Are you prepared to give me that?”

“Of course,” General Arthur replied, thumping his chest with bravado, “My forces are at your command. I have always wanted to know how the great Immortal Calamity waged war. I can’t wait to see ye in action.”

“This is not a war. This is an execution,” I said coldly, “We should reach the edge of the mist sometime tomorrow. Before that happens, there are a few things I want your soldiers to get for me. In the meantime, I will turn these little toys into as many puppets as I can. Once we are done with whatever annoyance the Corvus girl has in store for us tomorrow, we will march on Bastya Fortress.”

“Speakin’ of which, Irene will certainly target you during tomorrow’s event. I have a plan to deal with direct action, but I cannot stop them from sendin’ assassins. Your family might be in danger if ye stay with them.”

My eyes narrowed as I turned to glare at General Arthur. “Do not try and manipulate me. I know you just want me to keep my distance while I am like this. You do not want them to see their little girl as some kind of monster, right? Lucky for you, I do not mind. Being near Wren’s family right now is… uncomfortable.”

General Arthur looked at me for a long moment with that same annoying gaze he always used when trying to read me. after a moment his eyes widened slightly. “Are you… sad?”

I twirled the blood-soaked dagger in my hand, running my finger across the sharp edge as I continued to glare at the general. “You need to work on your cold reading a bit more. Don’t make wild guesses and focus on what is important. Get me some paper and I will give you a list of everything I need your soldiers to get me.”