The world stood still. The colours faded, leaving behind only a monochrome shade. Though the colourful wonders of the world had all been taken away, whatever remained was still a sight to behold. The sun was as bright as ever. Colours were gone but not the light. It was a reassuring sight. Henry couldn’t help but be appreciative of everything he had. As he closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth, he would open them back immediately. His hands would shiver and his shoulders would shudder. He had to grip his hands together tightly to stop himself from shaking.

  “D-damn it…” he muttered.

  Henry had excused himself to be alone with his thoughts after that small debacle. Though he called it “small”, it would have been drastically different if it had been anyone else but Kiera standing behind him back then. It could be belled as “small” because no one died nor was anyone gravely wounded. Kiera survived a grave wound due to her being a Magus, so it wasn’t much of a grave wound. However, what if it were someone else? Henry couldn’t help but imagine that scenario.

  Every time Henry closed his eyes, the image of Kiera bleeding out from her neck surfaced. He would always flick his eyes open immediately after. If he endured the sight, the figure of Kiera would blur and gradually be repced by the figure of his other women. Unlike Kiera, they would not survive that kind of wound.

  Henry sat on a boulder atop a cliff, overlooking the vast forest outside of Ulrum. The sun had begun its descent from the zenith but there were still hours away before the darkness came creeping in. There was no clock in this world but somehow, Henry could always roughly guess the time of the day or how much time had passed. He wagered he must have been gone for hours by now. He should be heading back soon but he didn’t want to. Not until he could suppress his unbridled fears.

  “Surely you didn’t invoke me just so you can have company in enjoying the view,” said Nadea as she took a seat beside Henry. She did not sit on the boulder but on the air itself.

  “...How grave of a wound can they survive?” Henry asked.

  “They?”

  “Don’t py dumb.”

  “I’m not. I’m just crifying. Well, to answer your question, they are… quite tenacious. They are not susceptible to many diseases or poisons. Emphasis on ‘many’, not all.”

  “What about wounds? What degree of wounds can they survive?”

  Nadea had a wry smile. “That rgely depends on how much affection they hold for you. At its best, one can even survive a stab into the heart. A slit to the throat.”

  “Decapitation?”

  “Possible but not a pleasant experience. Even if one’s body survives a decapitation, their mind wouldn’t. The shock would be too much for a mere mortal to bear unless they have extremely strong mental fortitude.”

  “Rayne would be fine, then,” Henry immediately thought of that.

  “Did something happen to your women?” Nadea asked.

  There was something uncomfortable about that question. “Aren’t you supposed to know that?”

  “I can see more than what mortals are capable of but I am not omniscient. And I’m certainly not constantly keeping a close eye on you… or do you prefer that I actually do that?”

  “...No, nothing happened to my women,” Henry answered. “But something did happen to a woman. A Magus. I brought back the remains of an inorganic enemy to study it. Turns out, it wasn’t truly… dead. It sprang back to life. It was quickly put down but in the brief chaos and confusion, the Magus was hurt. She had her throat slit. She survived.”

  “Magi are very tenacious.”

  “But I can’t help but imagine if it was someone else in her stead. What if… it had been one of my women.”

  It was a sudden move. Nadea appeared right in front of Henry’s face in the blink of an eye. “Do not go there,” she said with a firm tone that Henry had never heard before.

  “D-don’t go there?” Henry stammered, taken aback by Nadea’s sudden movement. “Go where?”

  “Your thoughts. Do not go down that road. Your fear is understandable but do not ever let it rule your head. Let it remain in your heart.”

  “...What if it rules my head?”

  “Paranoia, for a start. From then on, it would just get worse. I have seen this… illness in many mortals before. Fear gripped their hearts. When their hearts could no longer bear it, they let the fear into their heads. It turned them into something terrible. It twisted them into beings that not even their loved ones could recognise them. All the while in their heads, they would be living in a twisted fantasy where everything they did, no matter how depraved or vile, would be justified and acceptable, simply because they were doing it all to protect their loved ones.”

  “That would not happen.”

  “That’s what they all said,” Nadea said. She reeled away from him and sat back down beside him.

  “Then what do you propose I do? Let the fear fester? That doesn't sound like a good idea to me.”

  Nadea sighed. “It isn’t. But if you confront it, you have to be careful. You have to avoid being infected by it. Many have tried, many have failed.”

  “I’m still waiting for a bright idea.”

  “There is a way but it ain’t bright. It requires you to let go of the roots of your fears.”

  “Fuck, no.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, you can only confront it and hope that it will not triumph over you. Remember, you are my emissary. You are essentially a demigod. If you go… rogue, it will be doomsday for this world.”

  “It won’t happen. My women will make sure that I won’t and I will make sure that they will always be here for that.”

  “Then, I have nothing else to say. What about you? Anything else to add?”

  “Yes, our mutual friend— or rather, our mutual enemy.”

  “What of him?”

  “He knows the ancient nguage of this world. Is he from this world?”

  “He is not.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow. Her answer came quickly, he thought. “Are you sure?” he had to ask.

  “Absolutely. Divines can discern whether a being or an individual is born of the world they are currently inhabiting.”

  “Then, could it be that he has been here, in this world, long ago?”

  Nadea made a difficult face. Her brows creased. “I have no recollection or records of him ever being in this world before. If he has been in this world before, then it would be from a time before my advent.”

  Henry grimaced but he tried to not let it be obvious. “Time is shortening…”

  “Time would not have been against you if you simply followed my advice.”

  Henry shot his patron goddess a gre. “I am not doing that. I will not involve colteral. Weren’t you just being so concerned about my mental wellbeing?”

  “I’m asking you to sacrifice thousands to save billions. My concern from before was about you possibly sacrificing billions to save… not even a dozen lives. Do you understand the difference now?”

  “Do I? Well… what I do understand now is how little you think of my women.”

  “I think as much of them as I think of you, Henry. If your life can save billions, I will make the same decision.”

  “I’m still not doing it. I can’t just raze the entire city just so I can kill one individual. You don’t burn your entire house down just to kill a rodent or a pest.”

  “So be it, Henry,” Nadea said. She rose from her hollow, empty seat. “Consider this my final advice. You will be forced to incur more colteral in the future if you don’t deal with him right here and now.”

  Before Henry could get a word of response in, Nadea disappeared into nothing and the colours returned to the world. The winds started blowing again. The clouds resumed drifting ever so slowly in the skies. Time was flowing once again. The clock was ticking. As Henry stood up from the boulder, he heard someone running towards him. Whoever it was, they were not trying to be discreet. It was clearly no enemy.

  “Riva?” Henry blurted when he saw who it was, appearing from the slope.

  “Lord Henry, you must come. There has been a dire development on the side of the Argon Kingdom.”

  ****

  The news was truly dire. Henry had expected Riva to lead him to the council room but she didn’t. Instead, she led him to some deserted pce within the vast vilge. There was nothing there save for a few empty small patches of nd. Iluna was there, along with Iora, Leon, and Mika. Speaking of Leon, he looked as if he had just been through a tough battle. He was panting with wounds all over him. Surprisingly, Rayne was among them. She was also panting but not as much as Leon. Her knuckles were slightly bruised and bloodied. She had been sparring with Leon, Henry assumed. She had been sparring with the Lavan soldiers to pass the time.

  Mika was not faring any better. He looked half-asleep. He had clearly been rudely and abruptly awakened. The development must truly be dire for such a hasty gathering.

  Henry couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the news. He wondered if Nadea had known about this or if she had seen this coming. Was this what she was hinting at? He didn’t know but he didn’t pursue it. Not now, at least. The kingdom was under attack and the attack was coming from within. A coup, to put it simply. The one leading the coup was none other than his main target, the alleged new advisor of the court.

  “Do we know why?” Henry asked.

  “We do not,” Iluna answered. “Not for certain, at least.”

  “How did he even achieve that?”

  “The Dark Syer,” Mika answered, albeit between yawns. “Well, Dark Syers, I should say. He already had a small army of them, according to our spies.”

  “That’s what they get,” Rayne scoffed with her arms crossed. “Our enemies have destroyed themselves.”

  “Not quite,” Mika said. “From the ashes, rise anew and stronger. This is what will happen if we don’t intervene now.”

  “What of the princess?” Henry asked.

  “She’s in the Royal Sanctuary.”

  “And what is that?”

  “It’s an underground structure. A vast room. A safe haven. A pce where the royals would retreat should the capital have a chance of falling into ruin.”

  Henry heaved a sigh of relief. “How’s the city doing?”

  “The entire city has been locked down. The gates have all been closed. As for the city itself, the Dark Syers have already begun subduing the people. Anyone who resisted would immediately be cut down. The nobles are still putting up a fight but they are losing quickly. I say they have less than a day before they are also subdued… or massacred.”

  “Less than a day? Isn’t that too quick?”

  “I could scarcely believe it myself but these are the facts.”

  “It’s not unexpected,” Rayne chimed in. “We all saw the Dark Syer for ourselves. They are extremely difficult to destroy, on top of their crushing offensive strength. I say it’s a miracle that they are still fighting.”

  “Lord Henry.” Iluna stepped forward. “The Argon Kingdom may not be an ally, this is an enemy that we absolutely can't let fester. We must crush them before they set their sights on us. Unfortunately, the Lavans cannot mobilise an army big enough to oppose this new enemy force without leaving ourselves vulnerable.”

  “I understand, Iluna,” Henry nodded. “I had no intention to let our enemy grow more than they already had. We have been patient long enough. If we— no, if I wait any longer, the enemy would become too much for me to deal with.”

  “Well, about time,” Rayne said. “I trust that you will be bringing me along? The others too, I assume.”

  “Of course. And it isn’t just you and the other girls. Anyone else here care to join?”