Keira Mayek hailed from a small noble family in the north west. Her territory wasn’t blessed with agricultural lands and neither with trade routes nor mines to sustain themselves. The only thing they could boast of having was the rugged terrains that dotted the fringes of the territory and separated it from Frosthail.

Oftentimes, the place was frequented by the mercenaries who were headed towards the North. But just like how they brought business to the small territory they also brought problems.

Their unruly nature and the absence of any strong knights only made things worse. The need for safety gave rise to the people picking up weapons to deal with this kind of nuisance themselves. Even the women had their own forces, soon enough the territory ended up becoming a den of criminals affiliated with the underworld city of Syndrill and the people of the territory ended up becoming a band of assassins that worked under Count Erkens. Until a new Lord took control.

Keira hadn’t expected much from this new Lord who worked for another person but the situation soon changed for her territory and the living conditions improved. They came under the banner of Oasis Foundation, solid houses were built, the facilities like water, healthcare, education and safety were provided to everyone.

The people didn’t have to live like assassins anymore, all they had to do was just protect Syndrill and be loyal. And how could anyone be disloyal to someone who had provided the beggars with everything and more that they could ask for?

Keira was personally scouted by Lord Snake who introduced her to their Master, Ocean Ryujin, the Overlord of Underworld. Keira, at first, had her doubts but after personally meeting Ocean she realised that all the developments in her territory were his endeavours. Thus, she held his word in the highest regard.

Even when he asked her to disguise herself and go work as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting she didn’t hesitate to say yes. She wanted to do everything she could to repay his kindness.

And that was the reason why, even after being so close to death, she wasn’t willing to step back.

Keira had peered through the keyhole to see what Colette had done and her heart had nearly come to a stop when she saw that disfigured misty black creature materialise as soon as she tore the page and leap onto the helpless Queen.

Keira’s body remained frozen as she heard Katherine’s grunts and watched her body twitch and shudder, along with that she could also hear the sounds of wet crunches as if something was ravenously chewing through flesh. The sounds continued even after Katherine’s body became still and after a while it was silent.

Keira knew the Golden Serpent and her kids didn’t have a shred of affection for anyone else but to see her own daughter kill her in such a gruesome manner she was utterly appalled.

But she didn’t have enough time to sort out her thoughts as she saw Katherine’s body moving. The upper half of Katherine’s body lifted off the bed and she sat there slightly slumped with her head hanging forward.

"Velk," Colette spoke, "I am your Master."

A low growl escaped Katherine’s lips and her head turned, her neck cracking and bending at an awkward angle as her eyes searched for the speaker.

Her eyes were unfocused and fixed in different directions, eyelids twitching as she finally pulled her pupils to face Colette.

"You are hungry, aren’t you?"

Katherine’s mouth opened again and a hoarse growl escaped twisting the once beautiful face into a hideous sight.

Colette smiled, "Good, because there is a feast ready for you. Come down here."

Katherine’s body slowly crawled out and stood on all fours.

"Your target is the King of Sestia. Here smell this," she said as she produced a handkerchief and held it close to Katherine’s nose, who sat at Colette’s feet like an obedient dog.

She sniffed the handkerchief before growling and grabbing the piece of fabric in her mouth instantly shredding it to pieces.

"Good," Colette patted Katherine’s- no, the creature’s head.

The creature shook its head as if revolted by Colette’s touch and took several steps back. Colette frowned in displeasure but then sighed.

"Right, she did tell me that you are temperamental." Colette muttered.

The creatures that now wore Katherine’s body growled baring its teeth and Colette glared at him. She then fished something out from her dress, a silver chain that was attached to a coin sized pendant- designed as the skull of the ram.

As soon as the creature saw the pendant, it lowered its head.

"Know your Master." She spoke and the creature further put its head down until it touched the ground.

"Good," Colette smiled.

"Now, go." She ordered.

The creatures stood up on two feet and then whipped his head towards the door for a moment, Keira felt her heart stopping as she felt the creature looking right at her.

Did it sense her? Or smell her?

The creatures snarled and rushed towards the door, Keira didn’t have time so she gathered her skirts in her arms and then made a mad dash for the corridor away from the room.

She could hear the sounds of the fabric rustling, footfalls and the sound of low growls behind her. She didn’t need to turn to see that the creature was hot on her tail. She didn’t care of anything else as she ran straight through the dark corridors until she reached at the balcony but it wasn’t the arena facing balcony but the one that was facing away.

As soon as she reached the dead end, she whipped back to see the creature already lunging at her.

Thinking quick on her feet, Keira leapt off to the side of the balcony but within that moment she felt the searing pain in her back as if she was splashed by four daggers. She swallowed the pain and fell freely from the third floor before grabbing the edge of the eaves that were above the first floor balcony.

She looked up hoping to see the creature leaping off too but it wasn’t there. Keira easily climbed down onto the first floor balcony, she felt the sharp pain in her back along with the wet, warm fluid oozing from those gashes. But without waiting to check the extent of her injuries, she rushed towards the arena. She had to warn Archmage and others about this creature before the King was murdered.

Silas and Alys had decided to take turns in patrolling the colosseum. It was Alys’s idea in case someone would try to ambush them from inside, it was highly unlikely but the possibility couldn’t be ignored.

One of the younger Mages of around 19 years of age, was walking alongside Alys. There was no sound around other than the faint sounds of the people seeping through the stone walls and their own footsteps echoing through the empty corridors.

"S-Scholar Alys." The young mage named Ernie spoke, breaking the silence.

"Hm?" Alys hummed.

"Y-You are going to marry Archmage soon, right?" He asked and Alys looked at him.

"Yes," she answered.

The talks of marriage have been going on for long enough and in that time, anyone who would see the couple interacting would only come to one conclusion. These two sounded more like an old married couple than the ones who had only seen each other for some time. Alys and Silas didn’t mind as their bickering was one way of showing their love for each other, Silas couldn’t talk softly to her at first despite having feelings so, his way of talking to her was picking a fight and then at the end of it throwing some unlikely line that gave Alys the indication of his real intent behind seeking her out.

Soon enough, she found this trait of his adorable and the petty bickering was funny. And she also knew his emotional side, she knew he was extra cold and harsh when he was worried or upset. He wouldn’t filter his words at that time and might end up hurting the people he cared for. Only a few knew this and that’s why Alys found it even harder to see only the surface of this man and found herself diving deeper into him to find out more and more about him until she knew him like the back of her hand.

In this world, it was probably only Alys who knew Silas so well, not even Reina knew so much about him.

The thought of Silas made a small smile appear on her face as they walked until the young Mages came to a halt.

"What-" she was about to ask when she heard the sounds of the ragged breathing and on the other side of the corridor saw a figure running towards them.

Ernie tensed up and brought his hand up as if to cast a spell as soon as the person came close enough but Alys raised her hand as she realised it was the figure of a woman. She was struck by the smell of blood before the figure came into the light of the mana stone that was mounted on the wall.

Alys saw the lady dressed in a bright yellow dress, her face was ashen and her eyes growing dazed. The woman seemed like she was on the verge of collapsing as she staggered towards the duo until her knees gave out and Alys grabbed her shoulders both the ladies sinking to their knees.

Alys noticed the four long and deep gashes that marred the woman’s back, blood was gushing profusely and it was only a miracle that she had found someone in this long corridor before she passed out.

"What’s wrong? Who did this to you?!" Alys asked.

"Hurry..." She rasped.

"Wha-Wha-What do we do, Scholar Alys?!" Ernie stuttered.

Alys looked at the woman’s face feeling the woman’s tight grip on her hand, her lips were moving slowly.

Alys brought her ear close to her mouth to listen what she had to say.

The woman only managed to rasp out a few words that made Alys’s blood run cold.

She didn’t have time to confirm the words of this woman who was so close to death so she could only bark out the order to the novice mage.

"Ernie! Bring this woman to Archmage now and tell him to hurry to the King!"

Ernie was at a loss but before he could make sense of it, Alys shoved the woman into his arms and then hurriedly rose to her feet before running away with a look of pure bewilderment on her face.