Within the palace of the former emperor of the Eastern Empire, which is now the palace of the Master, there were several warriors on guard. Although more than half of the empire's warriors had been deployed – some to the Southern Empire and others to the Northern Empire – there were still quite a number of warriors left in the empire to defend against any attacks.
"Your mother was right Mane. Even with so many of their warriors deployed, they still have a large number of warriors on stand-by" Jake was surprised by the sheer number of warriors they had avoided just by trying to enter the palace.
"This is a small number" Mane sighed when he recalled that there were several warriors loitering around the capital. And that was only the capital. The other cities also had several wielders in reserve. It was only by coming here that Mane realized that although the Eastern Empire didn't have as many men as the three empires combined, the ratio of their number of wielders to the three empire alliance's wielders wasn't 1:3 like he thought. It was only 1:2. Which meant they had far more men than the each of the empires.
"Move" Mane instructed when he saw an opening.
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"I can't believe we are only on door duty. We should be out there fighting with the others"
"I know. If only some above-mortal realmers had been tasked with our duty instead"
The throne room was guarded by two profound level wielders. The two guards weren't happy about their current circumstance. They were profound wielders, and felt that they should be on the battlefield to show their worth. In their books, Zandor didn't have any wielders above the mortal realm, so two above-mortal level wielders should have been enough to protect whatever was in the throne room.
"I heard it's because of what happened to the squad that was deployed to that kingdom just before the western border" one of the guards whispered to his comrade.
"I am not really clear on that" the other guard shook his head and indicated that he didn't know much about what his friend was talking about.
"Apparently over twenty wielders were killed in one of our kingdoms. The least of them were profound wielders. And there were three earth realmers leading the group!" the guard who was well-informed spilled out the knowledge he had only acquired a few days ago.
"How is that possible? Is there a traitor?" the other guard asked.
"Don't be silly. It's impossible for anyone to betray the Master" the guard with the information scoffed at the notion of a traitor appearing in their ranks. The Master's methods were known to all. And the soul oaths they made before receiving his power made it impossible for any of them to betray him.
"Yeah, you're right" the other guard shivered in fear when he recalled how the last traitor died. He was a warrior and wasn't afraid of dying in battle. But he didn't want to die a meaningless and painful death like that guy.
"But how do you know all this" he wondered. They had similar power levels, and their ranks were equal but he didn't know any of what his friend was telling him. He had only heard rumors but rubbished them as untruths. Plus the rumors were vague and the knowledge they spread varied. Some said heaven realmers were killed. Others said a strange creature had appeared and killed ten wielders. And listening to his friend right now, he realized that the truth wasn't even among the rumors.
"You know that my brother is a member of the Knights of the Eastern Sun" the guard with the information replied.
"Oh yeah. How could I forget?" the other guard hit his head and wondered how he could ignore such common knowledge.
"But that isn't the strangest part of the story" the guard continued.
"It's not?" the other guard was curious. How could profound and earth wielders being killed in their empire not be the strangest part of the story?
"No, it's not. The weirdest part of all this is that the men who died were all Knights of the Eastern Sun!"
"What!" The Knights of the Eastern Sun were the strongest force the Eastern Empire had under their banner. They had more talent and greater battle strength than the regular wielders. These two guards were profound wielders, but they weren't members of the prestigious group. Their talents weren't sufficient to grant them knighthood.
"Shh. Keep your voice down" the guard quickly sealed his friend's mouth with his hands.
"Sorry. I was just startled" the other guard quickly apologized, his voice coming out in a whisper.
"So now you know why we were left to guard the throne room" the first guard let go of his colleague after confirming that his friend had his bearings back.
"Yeah" the second guard nodded. "But if they could deal with earth wielders, how could we hope to stand against them?" he continued.
"I don't know. We can only hope that they don't come here" the first guard sighed. There was no way they would be a match for people able to decimate an entire squad of Knights of the Eastern Sun.
"Besides, weren't we complaining about having no fighting to do?" the first guard cracked his knuckles.
"I wouldn't be a fight. It would be a slaughter" the second guard didn't agree with him though. He had no doubt that if those people who murdered earth wielders were to come here, and somehow get into the palace, they would be killed very easily. He didn't want to die a meaningless death. Alas, that was what awaited him.
"Well our shift is almost over. Only ten more minutes to go. Let's get some chicken wings when we done here. What do you say?" the first guard suggested. "Why aren't you saying anything" he turned to his friend wondering why he hadn't received a reply for his suggestion yet. Unfortunately his friend was on the floor; his head separated cleanly from the rest of his body.
"Wha-" before he could call for help or draw his sword a hand covered his mouth and his vision went blank.
"That was easier than I thought" Mane mumbled as he dragged the bodies to the dark corner of the hallway and set them on fire.
"You make killing profound wielders look so easy" Frederick smiled wryly. He was a mortal wielder. Even above-mortal wielders were out of his reach, yet Mane had easily dealt with two profound wielders. He wasn't supposed to be here. Neither he nor Selina were strong enough to be on a mission like this one. Yet even after Alexis suggested that they stay behind, Mane didn't approve. He said there was something in the throne room that would benefit them both. And they needed to be there for it to work. Alexis seemed to know what that thing was, so she hadn't gone against Mane's decision. Frederick didn't know what it was they were here for, but he knew that it was related to the 'blessing' of the Master.
"You have gotten way stronger" Selina commented. She too was amazed by what she had witnessed. Till now they hadn't experienced the power of any profound or above-mortal wielders because Mane had dealt with them so swiftly.
"But why are you burning the bodies?" Selina wondered. There were several ways to make a body disappear without creating smoke. She wanted to know why Mane didn't just manipulate the ground they stood on and hide the bodies in the floor.
Seeing what she was thinking Mane whispered, "I can't. These floors are enchanted so I cannot move them. Any earth wielder would be handicapped here. Unless they conjure the earth from scratch, but that takes a lot of inner energy".
"Plus the smell of the smoke would led Abe to us" Mane continued with a smile.
"How?" Frederick wondered. Unless the prince was a dog, it would be impossible to track them through smell.
"I'll explain later" Mane promised. He didn't have the time to tell them about scholars. That would have to wait. Their team had separated into two. Abelard, Jake and John formed one group; Mane, Selina and Frederick formed the other. Mane's goal was the throne room. Abelard had a different mission so he took a slight detour. But they would meet in the throne room at the end. So Mane had to direct Abelard to the place by producing smoke. Although it may alert the guards, it was a risk Mane had to take. After all it was his fault for not using a special perfume for each of them so that Abe would be able to find them. Next time they would do that.
"We have only ten minutes" Mane recalled the conversation between the two deceased guards. They had only ten minutes before new guards would arrive, only to realize that their colleagues weren't there and something was wrong. They needed to finish quickly and be done before the time limit.
"Now let's see about the blessing" he mumbled as he pushed open the doors slightly and sneaked in, with the other two close behind him.