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“Staxius…” Rose mumbled, the idea of him having won the bet loomed over her conscience but the fact that he was covered in blood overtook that frail weakness.

“Yes, do you have something to ask?” Staxius replied as nonchalantly as ever.

“Why are you covered in blood.” Her gaze turned sharp – she forgot Staxius had slain her men.

“Ma’am,” Isac whispered through his gritted teeth as he tucked on her already skimpy shirt. In turn, she turned and faced him with the scary gift any women had – the death stare, mothers often abuse that ability. That one look shook him to his very core, instantly, he backed away slowly as he changed his gaze to Staxius.

“Why are you giving him the death stare…” Seeing what happened, Staxius intervened. “-he was warning you about me, for I’m the one responsible for the slaughter of your men. Matter of fact, let’s head outside.” Unwillingly, the three of them headed out.

The sun brightly shone, the ground was damped with corpses lying everywhere. The wind’s assault only got faster – it was its way of saying, (I’m angry.) As a result, the white building ended up being its prey for it screamed as it made a whistling sound while the wind constantly assaulted its massive structure.

Coming right behind Staxius, Rose laid eyes on what had become of her precious men. Her face turned from stern to disgusted for a good reason, not only blood and corpse were visible but the unlucky ones who were sliced vertically had their internal organ all rushing out. The once dusty courtyard turned into Staxius’s welcoming slaughter.

.....

Two quick taps on his shoulders, Staxius turned around to see a smiling face – a face with murderous intent overflowing. With her eyes squinted, she asked politely, “did you do all this just to call me?” Her tone was gentle and calm.

“This isn’t the reaction I was expecting, but please, Rose, you’re making me rather uncomfortable. I know I’ve slaughtered your men but still, I did send out a warning. You were the ones who opened fire on me. My sister’s precious car has been wrecked thanks to your foolishness. Why don’t you go back and work some more? You have a massively popular informant business to run.” He casually spoke as if all the blamed laid fully on her for not heeding his warnings.

“I can’t get mad at you. I thought of Thunderstain as being the strongest, sadly, that isn’t the least bit true.” Her face turned gloomy – she really bit the bait Staxius handed out. The attempt at making her take the guilt for his bloodlust worked, manipulation is still his forte.

“Don’t sweat it,” he patted her back seeing as she stood next to him. The reunion was more than poetic, this and the first time they met ended in the same way – death.

“Now then, Rose, you have a bet to uphold.” Hearing him mention the one thing she dreaded, her frown turned into a more neutral stance as her face seemed to get tense.

“Alright…” Deep breath in, “-I want you to forget that this incident ever happened, I’ll forget that Viola’s car also got destroyed in the process.”

“How about that, you haven’t changed have you.” A sigh of relief followed.

Temperature outside got colder; the sun was ready to retire for the day. The moon, on the other hand, was already out and about. It’s rare to see both the sun and moon to be out at the same time; a sign of bad omen, for it goes against popular belief. The sun and his trusty friend; the moon, shall never meet for if that day came to pass – the world would surely get devoured in their wake.

Nighttime soon followed; Staxius and Rose were at the very top floor. A room used for strategical meetings for when war or another catastrophe got unbearable. Said room was spacious and held very little furniture – only the basics were found such as a large semi-circular table facing a giant map of Hidros. On one side of said map, you had information and current affairs as well as other state-related matters, on the other you had the current objective. And the map itself, it would lit up on places of interest while someone gave a report or proposed a plan of action. Sitting square in the middle of that table; Rose. She looked more scary than usual, the light’s behind her didn’t help at all. It only gave the impression of an angel watching down over whoever was speaking – her face unrecognizable with said lights behind them. Her identity was a secret Thunderstain could never let anyone hear about.

On that night, however, the semicircular table and map weren’t in use, instead, both Rose and Staxius sat comfortably on a bright red leather couch around a glass table. Their discussions which lasted a whole four hours reached its end.

“Now that should be more than enough for you.”

“Thanks, Rose, you’ve got me back on track with how Hidros works – I don’t feel out of place anymore.”

“No problem, now what is the reason you came here? Surely it wasn’t for a reminder.”

“Correct, I haven’t come here for a leisurely chat. As you fully aware, Dorchester is under Millicent’s rule now.”

“Let me stop you there Staxius, I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is simply no. I

can’t become a noble for Dorchester alone. You see, the princess has crucial information about me and my men, If I ally myself with another province other than hers, everyone will be killed. Also, you asked about my kid, right? Well, that poor boy was taken away recently to become a combat butler to serve the royal family. I sadly had to agree – the only way I can keep my family safe is by being unbiased and impartial – that princess has me around her finger.” Midway her tone changed to woeful.

“You know your craft way too much.” Rose let out a quiet chuckle seeing Staxius pout after saying that.

“There, a Rose should always bloom and never wither. That goes for you as well, a smile suits that face best.”

“Staxius, why don’t you stay the night?”

“I’ll graciously accept the invitation.” Soon after, Rose left – Staxius was to sleep on the same couch as punishment for killing her men.

“I guess I should be frustrated? I mean, my whole purpose for coming ended up being for naught. Dorchester can’t be left how it is, two nobles aren’t enough. If I can’t find allies, I at least need to gather some crest to make the silver guardians the nobles. That way, we’ll fill the council’s table but that doesn’t hide the fact that we are weak. I mean, I can and probably will have to defend Dorchester on my own. Allies… wait, whatever happened to Julius?” A hint of inspiration whelmed from within – Julius Garnet. Sleeping here turned out to be a blessing in disguise, most of the information he needed was present.

A quick search through the main monitor and file cabinets; Julius Garnet’s name popped up. The reputation he had earned wasn’t that pleasing to look at. Most nobles refer to him as a manipulator, a heartless person, and a bloodthirsty mage. His most notable work that is also the one that got him to the nickname of Reaper is the murder of another mage. An S-ranked female who… the report ended, or was erased by someone.

“Julius… you’ve become just like me, but the report goes on to say that after Dorchester was overthrown you were exiled by her highness. What is happening? Why would she do something like that, Autumn Garnet’s location is unknown? This is confusing, to say the least, Julius killed an S-rank mage and was ousted? What kind of report is this? I guess it’s for the best, a dead man should stay dead, after witnessing how difficult it is to make someone believe your identity – it is faster to just forget said past and start anew. Dwelling in the past and my failures will not serve any purpose. Time to turn a new leaf.” The hopeless struggle against the monster called sleep ended in defeat.

“Staxius…Staxius…STAXIUS.” A faint voice, after each time it uttered the name, got louder and louder until his sleep broke. “STAXIUS, WAKE UP.” With his eyes still not adjusted to the sunlit room, he squinted and asked unwillingly, “W-who is t-this?”

“Wake up already, it’s me, Rose, we are in deep trouble – I mean YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE.” After a few seconds, he fully woke. “Why am I in trouble again?”

“I-it came from Dorchester, we got reports saying that Kreston and Arda are planning to attack castle Garsley as a sign of rebellion against Hidros.”

“Rebellion, why do something so unnecessary?”

“STOP BEING CAVALIER, don’t you understand? Dorchester is going to be used as a warning

directed to Hidros.”

“I mean, I figured as much, those elves truly were…”

“Stop speaking to yourself and go, we’ve got a car ready for you at the entrance, and here…” she firmly placed a radio in his hands. “-use this to contact me, the princess is tracing all my calls and conversations – she ordered me not to provide any information to neither Arda nor Kreston.”

“Stop speaking and take a breath, I shall leave this instant if that is what you desire.”

“Go!”

Sat around, with his hand firmly grasping the phone and staring outside; where the troupes are filling trucks with supplies and weapons – duke Hawkin spoke loudly.

“Greetings queen Shanna Islegust.”

“Greetings duke Hawkin,” a gentle and friendly voice spoke, Shanna Islegust sat on a golden

throne. Knelt in front of her, two elves, a brother and a sister, the brother was severely hurt while the sister sobbed for she told everyone that her virtue was stolen.

“May I ask why you’ve requested us to attack the unimportant province of Dorchester?” The Duke asked calmly, it wasn’t the first time he held a conversation with the queen whose face remains a

mystery.

“My dear Duke, the province of Dorchester has assaulted and defiled my envoys…” her friendly

tone changed to one more piercing and angrier “-they are to be exterminated and shown that ARDA isn’t a kingdom to be taken lightly. For all I know they might be allied with the royal family. As you know, the only way to get into their territory is through that woeful province.”

“I understand your majesty but what are we supposed to do?”

“You, my trustful allies are to invade and destroy what little settlements and resources they have. I, on the other hand, shall march into their noble district.”

“As you wish your majesty, I shall invade their province in two days’ time. Preparations are in order. And if I may be so bold, when are you going to march forth?”

“My dear duke, have you forgotten that I Shanna Islegust, am a fairy, one whose wisdom far exceeds everyone combined in this world? We from Arda are tired from all the abuse, the Order has given us permission to do whatever for we are a free nation in their eyes.”

“Everything is taking a turn for the worse, that slight hesitation – that slight miscommunication has resulted in an uproar, damn it. If only I followed my instinct and killed those pesky spies – nothing like this would have ever happened.” With his feet slammed onto the pedal, Staxius drove across at neck-breaking speed. Dorchester just got out of a problem and ended into another. His war-torn province is on the verge of total chaos – there isn’t much left to save. In a futile struggle for independence, Dorchester is being used once more like a sacrificial lamb. My question is where does Plaustan stand in all this? Are they just going to watch Arda fight for their freedom and let Kreston take the blunt force of the royal army? No matter, I need to get there as fast as I can.”