Plamus' gaze washed over the remaining people Kassan had assigned to him, they had finally reached the lake, yet both fire mages, one of the priests, and six out of eleven warriors lost their life in the process.
"Not bad, we only lost nine of our sixteen people." Reyna smirked at him.
"Quiet. It's not my fault the fire mages were useless." his eye twitched.
"They barely had any particles to use, what were you expecting?"
Plamus glared at her, "What about you then? You weren't useless."
Reyna shrugged his question off, "We are at the lake, what now?"
Now it was Plamus' turn to ignore her, he looked at the remaining people, "Rest here at the edge of the cave. Reyna and I will make sure that there aren't any more locals in hiding." he ordered, then grabbed Reyna's wrist and dragged her closer to the water.
She struggled to remove his hand at the start, but soon noticed that he was physically stronger than her.
He stopped at the edge of the lake, then pulled Reyna's wrist forward, pushing her into the clear, and shining turquoise water.
"Hey! Stop-!" she got cut off by the sound of water splashing.
Reyna's head emerged from the water, she was coughing, wiping the water off her face, "What was that for?!"
"You are going to dive to the bottom of the lake and find out for me what the source of this light is."
"Why don't you do that yourself, asshole?"
"Because those without power should just shut up and do as they are told."
"Tch." she clicked her tongue, she slammed her hand against the water's surface, splashing some onto Plamus, before diving downwards.
Plamus stood up and gnashed his teeth, "Just you wait..." he watched as her figure turned blurry within the water.
Reyna opened her eyes underwater, the glowing was bright, but looking at it somehow wasn't painful.
Before long she reached the bottom of the lake, where she curiously observed the source... crystals.
Perfectly white crystals covered the whole ground; she tried to identify what kind of crystals they were, and whether they were safe to touch, but she felt her remaining breath, her time, running out.
She reached out with her hand, the crystal felt like a cold and hard rock, its surface was very smooth.
Reyna grabbed onto the crystal, they were big, but smaller chunks split off from the main part.
She began to pull with all her strength, her feet pushed against the floor and her face scrounged up.
The breath she gathered before diving escaped her mouth, lots of bubbles appeared and headed towards the top.
She let go of the crystal and pushed herself off the ground.
With rapid speed she approached the surface again, then immediately inhaled sharply.
The air filled her lungs, her heart was beating fast.
"Well?" Plamus impatiently asked the first moment he could.
Reyna rubbed her eyes, then frowned as the man appeared within her vision, "There are crystals at the bottom."
"Crystals? Did you get one?"
"Does it look like I did?" Reyna retorted; she did not attempt to mask her annoyance as she crawled her way out of the water.
She bunched her hair together, then twisted and squeezed it, trying to wring out the water, "You wouldn't have gotten them out either... you'd need an explosion or something to break them loose."
Plamus stroked his chin, "An explosion..."
"You are stupid if you think that's a good idea. Even if you do manage to get the crystals, those seven back there would certainly notice and tattle to Kassan Horun the first chance they get." Reyna advised him against doing whatever he thought of.
"I would just have to get rid of them."
"Sure. I'd love to see what those back at the camp would do to you when they learned that everyone who accompanied you died." she smiled.
"You have been getting on my nerves a lot lately." Plamus narrowed his eyes.
"Not my fault an airhead like you gets angered so easily."
"You are pushing it."
"And you think being rank three makes you invincible."
Plamus grabbed her by her collar and pulled her close, "I've been holding myself back out of consideration for you..." he glared at her, then he noticed something around her neck: a thin chain.
He released his grasp on her collar and grabbed that chain instead.
Reyna jolted, she moved to intercept him, one of her hands grabbing the chain, and the other his hands, "Let go!"
"Or what?" he smiled at her while pulling on the necklace-like object.
A red pattern shortly flashed underneath Reyna's wet clothes, in an instant several orange particles appeared in Plamus' sight, he opened his mouth in surprise, but just a moment later his world was spinning.
He felt extremely light, like he was flying, until a loud splash returned him to his senses.
"Wh-What was that?" he looked around himself, disoriented, but obviously in the lake.
"Try that again and I am going to ruin you." she spat and turned around.
"Where are you going?!" Plamus shouted after her.
Reyna sneered then looked over her shoulder, "I am going to find the boy. Whether you will help me or not."
... ...
"...and then I told him, 'If you show up at my doorstep again, I'll stone you using gold coins!' haha!" an older man chuckled, he and the many people around him were dressed in elegant clothes, most women wore dresses, but all of them had beautiful and expensive looking jewellery around their necks, arms, and fingers.
"Sir Wolfheart, your benevolence knows no bounds! Truly, that idiotic commoner would have experienced the highest heavens, hoho!" the people around him flattered and fawned over him, singing his praises and making toasts in his honour.
"Thank you! Thank you, dear friends. Today couldn't be a better day, without you all my liquor would taste sour! Let us all raise our glasses to a most prosperous future!" Sir Wolfheart raised his half-empty glass as high as he could, a warm smile spanned from one end of his face to the other.
"Don't you dare forget about us when you rise above the rest!" someone shouted from among the crowd.
Sir Wolfheart placed his hand onto his heart, "Ha! Never! You all hold a special place in my heart. If it was up to me-" but his touching speech was interrupted as the door to his ball room was smashed open.
Splinters shot through the air, raining down on some of the attending guests.
"WHO DARES?!" Sir Wolfheart screamed, his eyes were bloodshot, whoever did this would soon have to live without skin on their bones!
Daring to interfere in his celebration!
Which moron was it?!
His eyes were twitching, but his jaw dropped to the ground as tens of guards flooded the hall, they pushed aside the many nobles in their path, making way for a tall and armoured man, the green feathers at the top of his helmet gathered everyone's attention.
"By the order of our Lord Cykrus Aventia, you, Sir Rudolph Wolfheart, stand accused of treason against your liege! You are hereby charged with conspiring to undermine the authority of your Lord, threatening to destroy the order and stability of his domain!"
"Men! Take him and everyone attending this ball into custody!" the man ordered, silencing the many people present with his sheer authority.
"Y-You can't do this to me! I am a Sir! My family funded the Aventia's entire lineage!" Sir Wolfheart attempted to leverage his influence.
"Silence! You will answer for your grievous crimes and be judged before the court!"
The guards went about their business, cuffing and arresting everyone present, one after the other gave up without much resistance, all except one, who struggled until the bitter end, "Unhand me fiends! Treason?! What nonsense are you spouting?! Bring Lord Aventia before me this instant! I will not be treated this way!"
The guard-captain stepped up to the nobleman, he grabbed a bunch of his hair and pulled on it, to make Sir Wolfheart look up into his eyes, "His Lordship is not someone an insect like yourself can command. If you continue disrespecting our ruler, I will be forced to shut your trap myself."
"Take him away." he ordered.
"Just you wait! Once my innocence is proven, and I am free again, you will all regret this day!" Sir Wolfheart shouted as he was dragged out.
"The rest of you: get to searching!" the captain bellowed out another order.
... ...
A day later the guard captain was kneeling in front of Cykrus' throne, the only other person within the room was Agnes, who attentively listened to the captain's report, "We have successfully detained Sir Wolfheart as you ordered, as well as several other nobles he appears to have a tight connection with. We are still investigating the details behind their relations; however, our initial search of his residence bore fruit."
"I have handed over the documents, but we will continue doing our utmost to discover even the smallest of specks these traitors believe to be hidden."
His head was lowered as he spoke, but after an extended length of silence, he raised it, he was expectantly awaiting an order from his lord...
Agnes turned to Cykrus, who was absorbed in thought, she had no idea whether he even paid attention to the report they just received.
She turned back to the captain and spoke in Cykrus' stead, "Thank you. You are dismissed until further notice."
The man nodded at her, then bowed once more to Cykrus before leaving with heavy steps.
"Did you hear? They found evidence that tied Sir Wolfheart to the Ironhoofs. That makes one less insider threat." Agnes looked at him.
"Cykrus?" she got closer to his face and used her fingers to make snapping sounds.
Cykrus was pulled out of his stupor, then pushed her hand aside, "Yes, yes. I heard. It just doesn't matter anymore at this stage. Getting rid of a few flies won't clean your shoes off the shit you stepped into."
Agnes frowned, "Can't you just ignore their claims? Or even fight them? I know you are good at politics, surely there is a way out of this."
"It's not that simple. We killed the Ironhoof's general, that is a fact. Whether or not we had any right to kill him, and whether or not he had been terrorising our lands, it doesn't make a difference as long as the royal family doesn't deign to interfere."
"And why don't they? We are in the right! Is it just because the Ironhoofs are above us in rank?"
Cykrus shook his head, "We must attend the hearing in the royal court. Our only chance out of this situation is to sway the opinion of the attendees that day."
"What do you need? How can I help?" Agnes offered, wishing to help out, if even just a little bit.
"You don't need to do anything. We have everything we need... we can only hope that the Ironhoofs were unable to bribe the majority of the officials." Cykrus contemplated.
Agnes sighed, "Fine... I'll leave you to not interrupt your strategizing."
"Agnes." Cykrus called out after her, but she left without turning back.
He stared into the air, then covered his eyes with his hand before mumbling, "How I wish to return to simpler times with you... back before I was Lord... back before I felt the burden of responsibility. Mother, father... why did you leave so soon?"
Agnes stormed out of the palace, climbed onto the nearest roof and threw a punch into the sturdiest looking wall.
She gritted her teeth and clenched her wrist in pain, "Fuck! Why are you so useless Agnes?!"
"Frail! Weak! Stupid!" with each word she threw another punch at the wall, her skin got torn, and her fists bled, but she continued, "If only! You amounted! To anything!"
"Gods! Damnit!" she huffed; her bleeding hands dropped down her side as she blankly stared up at the sky.
"First I have to watch Frey head off into certain death... and now I can't do anything but watch as Cykrus and our home is being torn apart..." she dropped to her knees.
"I'm so sorry Frey... if only I was a better mage... I could have taught you more... I could have... I don't know..."
"…I could take revenge for you… I could trample on the Ironhoofs… destroy their estates and land… kill all of them! No, no… Agnes, we've been through this before… your anger leads to you making bad choices…"
She sighed yet again, then conjured up some ice to cool her fresh wounds.
"You can't change a thing, the way you are. What is a rank two if not dead weight? But I just don't get it… what stops me from reaching rank three?! Even that woman's apprentice, who looks like he is just barely twenty got there before me!" Agnes felt like she had a headache, that kept getting worse.
She sat down and leaned against the wall she was hitting just moments ago, she went quiet, just breathing, in order to calm herself down.
A single tear managed to squeeze its way out, and rolled down her cheek, which she promptly wiped off.
The sun was setting on the horizon, bittersweet memories resurfaced within her mind, "…Nothing is going to change if I don't… You can only rely on yourself… isn't that right, Frey?"
"Argh! What am I saying…?" she shook her head and got up, her forehead felt like it was burning.
Agnes climbed back down from the roof, then wandered through the bustling streets, trying to clear her mind.
Her gaze wandered, taking in her surroundings that had an orange hue due to the setting sun, when her eye spotted a familiar sign: 'Aventia's finest brew'.
She felt conflicted for a moment, and closed her eyes, but as she opened them again, she noticed that she was already taking steps towards the bar, "Just one drink won't hurt…" she convinced herself.
The bar was nearly full, as usual, and the same bartender was filling cups his regulars would jug in one or two goes.
She took a seat at the counter, and the bartender quickly noticed her, seeing her was a refreshing turn of events, "Lady Agnes! It's my honour to serve you once again. What will you be having?" he asked with a smile, but his eyes involuntarily looked down to her hands that were covered in red.
"Are you hurt? Should I bring some bandages?" he offered.
"I am okay. One beer. Same as usual." she said, ignoring the man's concern.
"Are you certain? Excuse me, but you don't look like you're oka-"
"One beer." Agnes interrupted him, her glare as cold as what her enemies would experience.
The bartender gave in, "Coming right up." but his smile faded away from his face.
"Damn! Nice ring brother." a drunk man roared next to her, he was wobbling from tipsiness, but still managed to speak to the person besides them, who carried a long sheathed sword on his waist.
"Where'd ya get that?" he tried to point at the ring, but his finger was less accurate than a novice archer during long distance shooting.
"That?" the swordsman showed his ring off, "It's nothing special, just a souvenir I took with me from the Land of Fog."
"Land of Fog? That death trap?" the drunkard asked while holding onto his head, trying to make the spinning stop.
"Yes. It is a goldmine full of expensive stuff, like coins, jewellery, and most importantly… magical artefacts! There is a rumour about that place, that states that there was some kind of huge battle between hundreds if not thousands of mages, and supposedly there are very few artefacts that have yet been uncovered."
"Eh? I should take a look…" the drunk man raised his mug, accidentally spilling some of his drink onto his top.
"Not everyone that enters manages to leave unscathed, and even fewer do manage to find something worth their investment." the swordsman warned the guy next to him.
Agnes overheard their conversation; this wasn't the first time she had heard of this 'Land of Fog', the last time it was mentioned was before the start of the competition, where the Ironhoof family and the Whitewood family both fought over something…
She mulled the thought over while sipping from her drink.
After paying and leaving she breathed in the cool evening air, her headache had fully disappeared already, her knuckles were still hurting, but that feeling grounded her to reality.
She headed back into the palace, where Cykrus was still hard at work, sifting through tens of documents on the table in his study.
"Back already?" he felt her presence, not even needing to see who entered.
"I am going to the Land of Fog." Agnes declared; her decision sounded final.
Cykrus spun around, bewilderment covered his face, "Are you out of your mind?! The Land of Fog?! You won't survive that place!"
"I know I am weak! That's why I want to go! To grow stronger! To change myself! To become someone, you can rely on! To turn to when Aventia is in danger!"
Cykrus grabbed her shoulders, "Agnes! I don't care what happens to Aventia! Let it burn down in flames! It doesn't matter anymore! But please… I couldn't bear to lose you…" he looked at her, his eyes were practically begging to hear her agree to stay.
But Agnes shook her head, "I am sorry Cykrus. I am sick and tired of how my progress has stagnated. I will go. Please, promise me that you will defend Aventia… that there will be a home for me to return to. Back to you."
Cykrus' lips quivered, his instincts screamed at him to reach out to her hands, to grab her, pull her close, and force her to stay… but instead he lifted his hands off her shoulders.
Cykrus looked into her eyes, he could see the desperation that was consuming her, "I promise."