Darkness, darkness all around her. The air is cold and dry. Where is she? What is this place? She decides to move forward with arms outstretched, trying to find a way out of this darkness. She tries to find walls or anything that could help guide her, but nothing. There is nothing but the darkness…and the feeling of loneliness. She tries to cry out for help, but her throat is dry and her voice sounds hoarse. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Nothing.

She continues on despite the lack of direction or anything to guide her. After what seemed like hours of stumbling in the cold darkness, she finally sees something off into the distance, a pinprick of light. Motivated by its sudden appearance, she moves faster. The floor is curiously smooth, almost like marble, so she decides to be cautious. She doesn't want to slip and fall into a hole or stumble into anything unpleasant.

As she gets closer, she starts to see the source of the light. In the middle of the oppressive darkness stands a pedestal. Atop the pedestal floats a bright white flame. The pedestal is surrounded by five massive arches with about three meters of space in between them. When she finally gets to the small lighted area, she realizes that the arches are actually massive two sided doors, each of different make and design. Massive chains are curiously on the floor near the five doorways. The chains are rusted and falling apart. It seems like the chains were once coiled around the doorways, keeping them securely closed. She cautiously circles the pedestal. Curiously, the white flame doesn't seem to be giving off heat. In fact, this area seems to be even colder. "What is this place?"

Curiosity gnawing at her, she turns to the massive doorways. She starts to inspect the one directly behind her. It seems to be made of gray stone. The arched frame and the doors themselves are carved with faces, faces filled with fear and anguish. She tries to touch it, but recoils almost immediately. She takes a quick step back. Fear, primal fear seemed to wash over her as her fingers touched the doorway. She could feel her knees weaken as her skin brushed the door.

She decides to leave that door alone. She has a feeling that whatever is inside will not be pleasant. She moves on to the next door to the right. This one is far more extravagant. The frame seems to be made out of the most pristine white marble she has ever seen. The doors are made out of pure gold, inlaid with precious gems. There are impressions on the doors. She looks closer at one and sees a statuesque woman sitting on a graceful throne and throngs of worshipers bowing at her feet. Some of the worshipers are offering the woman wealth beyond imagining, but the woman seems disinterested. She tries to push the door open, but it seems to be shut tight. After trying for some time and failing, she decides to move on. She regrets it though. She's curious what's on the other side.

The next door is less extravagant, but more beautiful. It's made out of carved wood and it smells faintly of lavender and rose. It looks very elegant. The lines of the frame seem to flow gently like cascading water. To her surprise, the doors are carved with the most erotic scenes, bodies intertwined in very imaginative ways. The women have very soft, voluptuous, and curved bodies, while the men are athletic, well-muscled, and sporting massive cocks. She could feel her face turn scarlet looking at the scenes depicted. She quickly turns away, but the sweet scent coming from the doorway seems to entice her. All of a sudden, fires of passion seem to well up within her. She slowly turns back around. She looks closer at the carvings. They seem to be moving now and she could hear soft moans and groans accompanied by soft and sweet whispers of promises of great pleasure. She's having thoughts of opening the doorway now and seeing what 'activities' lies beyond, perhaps even partaking in them.

She's about to push the doors open when she hears a soft grinding sound, as if one of the doors is opening. The sound quickly takes her out of her reverie. She quickly looks around to see which one made the noise. The one to the left of the gray stone door seems to be ajar. She slowly makes her way to it, quickly noting the one next to the wooden door that's made out of iron. As she gets closer to the doorway in question, she realizes that this one is by far the strangest door out of the five. It's made out of some bright red material with dark spots all over. She can't tell whether it's stone or metal. The dimensions seem off as well. The arched frame seems to be twisted and warped and the two doors seem to be of slightly different size. There are dents on some parts of the doors, like someone or something massive was pounding on the other side trying to get out. Unlike the others, the chains at the foot of the doors don't look rusted. It looks like they were melted off. As she gets closer to the doorway, she begins to hear whispers. At first, the whispers are unintelligible. But as she gets closer and closer, they become more audible.

"Kill them all! Kill them all!"

"They hurt us! Hurt them back! Kill them!"

"Yes! Kill them! Slice them open and watch as their blood and guts flow out!"

"Yes! They deserve it! They use us! They hurt us!"

"They all deserve it! Kill them all!"

Every fiber of her being wants to run, run as far away from this door as possible. But for some reason, she still moves in closer…and closer. Her eyes are fixated on the small opening. She tries to look away or close her eyes, but it doesn't work. Her body is moving on its own. She's afraid. The same primal fear she felt when she touched the first doorway washes over her. Her breathing becomes ragged. She could feel the heat emanating from this door as she gets closer, the same intense heat that has melted the chains. She begins to sweat profusely as she gets closer and the heat becoming more intense. Suddenly, a badly burnt hand slowly slides out of the slight opening. The whispers become more intense, whispers of revenge, whispers of killing, and whispers of death. Shadowy tendrils begin to ooze out of the opening. She reaches the door and she sees someone looking out at her from the darkness beyond the slight opening, eyes like burning coal. The whispers have now become howls of anger and rage, calling for death rightly deserved. She whimpers as she looks into the rage filled eyes. "Hello, Lauranna."

The burnt hand suddenly grabs her throat, its burnt flesh searing her own. She screams in pain. The pain from her neck quickly spreads throughout her body, like a wildfire burning through dry and open grasslands. She screams in agony. Her vision blurs and is suddenly bombarded with scenes of pain, anguish, mutilation, loss, anger, and hate. Over and over, she sees people being mutilated by others whose faces are contorted with rage. She sees people dying and the anguished cries of the loved ones they have left behind. Slowly, she starts to realize in horror that she recognizes the people in her vision. It's her. Every single mutilator and their victims, all the people suffering, all of them have her face. Every scene is more horrible than the last, more painful, more heart wrenching. She can no longer take it. She cries out for help. "Please! Make it stop! Someone…anyone…help me!"


In a cave somewhere in the fringes of the forest of Tethyr, Lauranna screams awake. She quickly gets up trying to see where she is. It's still dark. The only light source is the dying embers of the fire just a few feet to her left. She finally realizes where she is and tries to calm her nerves. She's sweating profusely despite the cold. Her body is still shaking. The nightmare, it was so vivid, so real. She hugs her legs closer to her body, resting her forehead on her knees. She bites her lip, trying to stop herself from crying. "It was only a nightmare. It was not real." She then realizes that she might have disturbed Kristov. She quickly looks over to the other side of the campfire and sees Kristov's sleeping form. She sighs in relief. Good. She didn't wake him.

She lies back down, thinking about her nightmare. In the time she spent nursing Kristov back to health, she's been thinking about her recent dreams. She really can't remember them all, but she still tries to find any significance in the parts she does remember. It all has to mean something. In the past, her dreams have always guided her. They were a little vague at times, but they still held answers. But this one and the others she's had, they seem disjointed and random to her. This most recent one though, the nightmare she just had, it was the most vivid. She could still remember it right down to the tiniest detail. What did it mean? What were those doors? Who was that that grabbed her and showed her the horrible visions? Does it have anything to do with her recent bouts of memory loss?

She sighs. She can't think of anything. Her mind is too jumbled at the moment, her emotions still raw due to that nightmare. She doesn't want to due to fear, but she might as well try and get some sleep before dawn comes. Kristov has regained consciousness earlier in the day and has begun to interrogate her. She's managed to deflect most of his questions so far by telling him he still needs rest and that she needs to go out into the forest to forage for food. They can't very well eat only dried meat and stale bread. With the help of his healing skills as a paladin, Kristov will be strong enough by the morrow and there will be no avoiding his inquisitions. She needs to be of sound and rested mind if she is to endure it without revealing too much. There are things she can't tell him. Maybe when she's sure she can trust him, but right now, not yet. Right now, she needs rest. Her last thoughts before sleep took her lingered on Calima. She dearly hoped the miniature dragon has managed to escape unscathed and is heading for her right now.


"After I blacked out, the next thing I remember is waking up in the middle of the forest. You were beside me, bleeding and unconscious. I took your armor off and staunched the bleeding. It was then that bandits stumbled upon us. Upon seeing our dreadful condition, they decided to take advantage. I ensorcelled them easily enough and found that they had a hideout nearby. I ordered them to take us here and sent them on their merry way, but not before rewriting a few things in their simple minds; the location of this hideout for instance and a little nudge into changing their ways. With the help of a few supplies they had, I managed to take care of your wounds and nurse you back to some semblance of health in less than two days."

Sitting cross-legged with his katana propped on his shoulder, Kristov looks into the eyes of the woman sitting in front of him. Lauranna looks a little annoyed. She also looks tired, like she hasn't had much sleep. Maybe the scream he heard last night wasn't a dream? In any case, she looks well enough to answer his questions. She's managed to deflect them yesterday using the excuse that he's not strong enough and that she needs to forage for food, but there is no avoiding it now. This would be the fifth time she has related the same story to him; her recollection of the night he got injured. Every single time, the same story, word for word. She doesn't seem to be lying or is just very good at it. Taking a moment, he goes through the story she just told him again, paying attention to every single detail. "And you have no recollection at all of how we got here?"

She crosses her arm in annoyance. "No. And if you're going to ask me to tell the story again, I'm going to scream in your face."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Let me remind you that you are still my prisoner. If I order you to jump, I expect you to outdo a frog. If I order you to tell me a story, I expect you to put to shame any court bard in Tethyr." She rolls her eyes at him in response, but says nothing. "Now, you also told me before that you think that the others might have survived, that we did manage to destroy that artifact before we were teleported away. How do you know this?"

She doesn't answer immediately. She looks through him at something distant, her eyes adopts a faraway look. After a few moments, she blinks her eyes and focuses on him. She looks troubled but tries to hide it. "Yes. That is my theory. And the reason is my familiar is still alive and is not moving. That means your army is still probably holding her captive in hopes of using her to get to me. They're somewhere to the south, probably resting and recovering from the fight."

Kristov is a little skeptical, but hopeful. "And how do you know she is not being held captive by Valtek and his lackey instead?"

She becomes thoughtful for a moment, but replies with certainty. "Yes, this could be the case. They could be using Calima to pinpoint my exact location. But again, she still has not moved from her current location. That means whoever she's with are also not moving. Knowing our enemy, they would have made a move as soon as possible. Unlike your army, they will not be hindered by injuries and such. And we've been in this forest for two days now."

She makes a good point. There is still hope that most of his soldiers survived the battle. He thinks for a moment and remembers something Colleen told him a long time ago about familiars. "Can't you look through your familiar's eyes to validate your theory? Or is a sorcerer's magic far more different than that of a wizard?"

She looks at him flatly. "And you think I haven't tried that? No. I can't. She's too far away. I can only tell that she's alive and that she's somewhere to the south. She's also a little scared and hungry."

Kristov sighs and thinks for a moment. Right now, he has two choices. One would be to rendezvous with his army to the south and continue on to the capital with the remainder of his army. If he's able to do so and most of his soldiers are still alive along with the mercenaries, this would ensure that Lauranna remains a prisoner throughout the remainder of the journey to the capital. Plus, there would be safety in numbers. He cannot deny though, no matter how hard he tries, that this option feels selfish because he knows in his heart his true motivation is to make sure that Dorn and Colleen are still alive, especially Dorn. Another reason stopping him from taking the first option is he can't fully trust Lauranna's word that they are still alive, as much as he wants to believe her. Her optimism aside, there could still be a chance that her familiar is being held captive by their enemies, perhaps bait to lure them in.

His other option would be to continue on to the capital from here, with Lauranna in tow. Right now, he is in a perfect situation to smuggle his prisoner into the capital undetected. They would be harder to track since it would only be the two of them. And with only the two of them, they would be able to move faster. He cannot keep the queen waiting. To go south would take time. Time he might not have. Furthermore, if Valtek's goal is to track and capture Lauranna, going back to the place they were ambushed would not be wise. There are dangers in choosing this path though. If by chance Valtek is able to track them, he would be facing impossible odds. Right now, he is in no condition to fight. Not with his injuries.

There is one more thing that he needs to consider though. Lauranna. What if all of this is nothing more than an elaborate plot to free herself? What if Valtek is in league with Lauranna and the attack was planned all along. Or Lauranna could be using the attack as an opportunity to escape. Right now, Lauranna is essentially free. He has no way to recreate the magical bindings the wizards placed on her before. If Lauranna wishes to escape, this would be the perfect moment. How much of her story is really true and how much of it is fabricated? After all, he remembers very little of what truly happened that faithful night. "She stayed to care for your wounds and nurse you back to health when she could have easily left you where you were, bleeding your life away." He sighs. He then notices Lauranna looking at him. Her head slightly tilted to the side and her deep blue eyes filled with curiosity. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

She quirks a small smile. "Aside from dirt and grime? No. I just find you curious. I've met a few paladins in my travels. They are men and women of action who act on instinct. They trust their gut and base their actions on faith and belief that their patron god would not lead them astray. You, on the other hand, plan your actions deeply. You look at a problem in different angles and base your course of action not on faith alone, but with reason. I find that interesting."

This time, it's his turn to look at her flatly. "Still trying to charm me? I thought we're past that."

She laughs melodiously. "No, Kristov, I am not trying anything. I am merely stating an observation. Besides, I would never try to get in between two individuals who are obviously in love."

Her smile disarms him a little. He doesn't want to admit it, but her charms are starting to work on him. He's finding it harder now to see through her words and discern her true intentions. He's finding it a lot harder now not to trust her. Though it's true that he is committed to Dorn and their relationship, he cannot deny that a woman like Lauranna doesn't catch his eye. Despite being a little grimy from her ordeal and dressed in nothing but rags, her radiant beauty still manages to shine through. He has no doubt that any man would be disarmed faced with that smile. But he steels himself. A lot is on the line and he cannot allow himself to be distracted. Besides, right now, Dorn's faith is what occupies most of his mind. He once again looks at Lauranna with guarded eyes. "I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to distract me, distract me from the fact that you're hiding something. As you said, I am a paladin. I can see beyond your charming façade. What are you hiding? What are you not telling me?"

Her smile deepens. "A woman has many secrets, Kristov. Do not expect her to reveal all of them to you simply because you demand it." Her eyes do not reveal anything. He sighs at her reply. It seems he isn't going to get any more from her today. Besides, they are wasting daylight. They should start moving if they are to get anywhere. He stands up gingerly to begin packing supplies for the journey ahead, taking care not to open his wound. He can feel her eyes on him as he rummages around the cave to look for things they may need. She doesn't say anything for a time, but decides to finally break the silence while he's packing his armor in one of the sturdier and cleaner sack. "So, what are you planning?"

He grins at the question and replies in a slightly mocking tone without turning to look at her. "A man has many secrets, Lauranna. Do not expect him to reveal them to you just because you asked." He could practically feel her eyes roll at the reply. She does not say anything though and remains silent, watching him. He ignores it and starts to plan.

They need to travel fast and light. That's why he's leaving his armor behind, buried under the ground with rocks marking the spot discreetly. They can't very well remain stealthy if he's going to wear something that would undoubtedly catch attention. He'll return for it in the future once all this trouble is taken care of. Thankfully, one of the bandits left behind a set of leather armor that fits him perfectly. It will have to do.

Water shouldn't be too hard to find now that they're out of the desert, so there is no need to pack more than what's necessary. He checks what rations they have, which is a few rolls of bread and a pack of dried and salted meat. Food is not an issue as well since they can forage for food in the forest easily enough.

What they do need is gold for when they get out of the wilds and into more civilized lands. The bandits left behind a stash, but there are only a few gold coins. Most are light weight silver and coppers. They did leave behind other objects though that could be sold for a few silver coins, maybe gold. He decides to pack a few of the animal pelts as well. They can serve as blankets during the night and maybe he can use them to trade at the first village they can find. He also takes a few of the bandages and herbs just in case. Part of him feels guilty for using stolen goods though, but Tyr will forgive him. These are, after all, desperate times.

The next part is to pinpoint exactly where they are. He's already been outside for a look and a little fresh air, but the woods don't look familiar to him. He'll need more information on their location and he knows exactly who to ask. After packing a few more essential items, he turns to Lauranna, who seems to be preoccupying herself with cleaning her nails. He tosses her one of the packs he's prepared. "It's time for us to leave, my lady. Or are you going to make that difficult for me as well?"

Her lips curve into a small smile as her eyes glittered with mischief. "Maybe I'll make you carry me all the way to wherever it is you are taking me."

He doesn't take the bait. "I am taking you to my queen to face judgment. Or have you forgotten?"

The mischief in her eyes disappears and curiosity replaces it instead. "Curious. Don't you want to rejoin your army, ensure the safety of your friends and your lover?"

He sighs and takes a moment before answering. He did not come to this decision easily. "Yes, I do. But my duty comes first. I swore to take you back to face judgment no matter the cost. With just the two of us, it would be easier to hide our tracks. It would also be faster."

She nods in understanding. "I see. What of your friends and the rest of your soldiers? I could be wrong. For all we know, they might be prisoners right now. For all we know, Valtek could be torturing them at this very moment for information."

He steels himself. "Then it would be wiser to stay away and move on to the capital." Despite his efforts, his heart panged at his words. "Your capture and delivery to the capital is our duty. Every man and woman that went with me knew this. They knew the risks involved and still they volunteered. If any of them were in my position now, they would be doing the same thing."

"I see." She looks at him for a few moments, eyes unreadable, and then gracefully rises to her feet. She picks up the pack of supplies from the ground. "Let's get a move on then, paladin, while we still have daylight. And I promise I won't be difficult." She gives him a smile dripping with honey.

He scoffs at her before walking out. What sunlight that manages to get through the thick canopy greets him as he exits the cave. Its warmth is filling him with determination. He crosses the small stream in front of the cave and head into the small clearing beyond. He notices he's alone, so he looks back to see Lauranna facing the cave and chanting something he could not hear. Suddenly, the cave entrance disappears and is replaced with a massive boulder covered in vines and moss. She then walks towards him. Once in front of him, she attempts to touch his forehead with her index finger. His body tenses and he immediately grabs her hand before she could do so. "What are you doing?"

She smiles innocently as she replies. "As you can see, I have hidden the cave from prying eyes with an illusion and placed a few discreet enchantments to prevent anyone from stumbling into it. I am merely ensuring that you and only you can find this cave in the future." He eyes her suspiciously. "You do want to return for your armor, do you?"

He sighs and finally allows her to place her spell. As her finger touches his forehead, he feels a tingle spread from the spot she's touching, all the way to the back of his head. She then takes a step back from him. He looks back in the direction of the cave and finds that he can see through her illusion. The boulder and the vines look hazy and transparent. There is also an orb of light hovering just above the cave entrance. He looks back at Lauranna, still feeling wary. "Thank you. I do want to return here once all of this is done. But right now, I want you to help me find out where we are exactly."

He takes out a crude map the bandits had in their possession and places it on the ground in front of him. He groans as he kneels down. Despite his efforts to heal himself with magic, his wound still feels tender and sore. Lauranna is quickly at his side, helping him down to his knees. "Be careful. You don't want that opening up. You may have healed yourself, but it is clearly not enough. You need a proper healer." Her voice is surprisingly tender, almost motherly in fact. He nods to her in thanks. She then proceeds to kneel opposite him. "So, what do you want me to do?" Her eyes filled with curiosity, almost as if she's excited about this whole thing.

He sighs and proceeds to tell her his plans. "I have examined this map the bandits left behind. I can't be too sure, but we might be somewhere in the Wealdath. There is just not enough detail on this map for me to guess at a more accurate location. If you can remedy this, I can plot a safe route to the capital."

She nods, studying the map closely. "Yes. I have figured as much. There is a familiarity in the air. I've travelled the Wealdath before, although I do not recognize the area where we are." She is silent for a moment, deep in thought. After a few moments, her eyes brighten. "I have an idea, but it risks exposing our location though. It is a small risk, but still a risk. A magic user looking could potentially detect the spell I will be using."

He thinks for a moment. How far can he really trust this woman? "Use it then. We cannot make a move without knowing where we are, especially not in the Wealdath."

"Very well. Give me a moment." She concentrates while holding out her two hands in front of her, palms facing upward. She chants a few words of power. Suddenly, an orb no bigger than his head and glowing softly with a white light appears above her open palms. Her eyes are glowing as well with the same light as the orb. The orb then slowly floats upward through the branches of the trees, gaining speed as it goes. After a few minutes or so, she gives him instructions. "There. The orb has broken through the canopy. Place both of your hands on mine, slowly. And be ready, the feeling can be a little peculiar."

He does as instructed and slowly places his hands on top of hers. At first, nothing happens. But suddenly, his vision blurs for a few seconds and is replaced with a view well over a thousand feet over the canopy. He almost pulled back in shock, but stopped himself before he could do so. The feeling is jarring and a little unsettling. It takes him few minutes before he could adjust to the view. "This is unnatural," is all he could say.

He could hear her chuckle. "Well, I did warn you. So, does it look familiar? I'm passing control of the eye to you. Just…imagine turning your head if you want to look around."

He does as instructed and amazingly, it worked. All he did was imagine turning and the view swiveled in the same direction. With this, he could easily locate where they are and plot a route with ease. He pauses for a moment and gets an idea. "How far can you make it go?"

"Not very far. The vision will start to blur the farther it gets. This is optimal. You can adjust it though. Just imagine squinting at anything you're looking at and the image should come closer." He mentally nods at the instructions given and begins to take a look around, noting familiar landmarks. After several minutes go by, he finally realizes where they are. He can't help but groan a little at the realization. "Okay. I know exactly where we are now. How do we…end this?"

"Close your eyes." He does as suggested. After a few seconds, he hears her voice. "Okay, you can open them now. Your vision might still be a little blurry, but it will pass in a few moments."

He opens his eyes slowly and finds that his vision is still a little blurry, as she said. "That was…interesting." He blinks his eyes and shakes his head a little as his vision slowly returns to normal.

Lauranna sits patiently in front of him, but after a few seconds finally breaks the silence. "Well, where are we?"

Vision still a little blurry, he answers her question. "We are about two days ride east of the Starspire Mountains. We're near the edge of the forest it seems since I could see River Sulduskoon about half a day's ride south from the edge of the forest. I know of a…small village at the foot of the mountains west from here. We can rest and resupply there before we move on further south to the capital Darromar."

She looks at him curiously, obviously hearing the hesitation in his voice. "So you want to follow the river to this small village? Why did you hesitate just then?"

He clears his throat before answering. "It is nothing to worry about. And I think it's best if we stay within the cover of the forest, at least for now."

His vision finally goes back to normal and he sees Lauranna frowning in thought. "What's the matter?"

She looks up at him with a worried look. "Are you sure about travelling in the forest? The elves here can be quite…unwelcoming." Her frown seems to deepen, seemingly remembering something. "It won't matter that we have elven blood, you know."

He nods in agreement. "I know, but I think it should be safe enough considering that those bandits you told me about were able to hide out here."

Despite his reassurance, she still looks troubled as she replies. "That's another thing I've been pondering. Those bandits were humans. The elves in this forest would have never tolerated their presence this deep into their realm."

"Well, they might not be patrolling this far south. This could be a safe area to travel in. We have to risk it nonetheless. As you know, I am still not at full fighting capacity. In here, we stand a chance at avoiding our hunters with some skill and luck."

She doesn't look convinced. "I hope you're right, Kristov."

After a moment, he replies, "I hope so too."


A woman named Vorenia sits quietly in meditation in front of a small fire. She's in a small cave hidden by shrubbery in the middle of a plain somewhere south of the River Sulduskoon. It's currently well into midnight. Despite her attempts at meditation, the stump where her left arm was supposed to be burns painfully. She has managed to staunch the bleeding the night right after the battle, but the wound has now begun to fester. She has also developed a fever. She didn't have enough healing salves or potions back then to completely close the wound. She will need to find a village soon or she will die.

She takes a couple of deep breaths determined this time to go into deep meditation, ignoring the pain. She doesn't get a chance though as she suddenly hears a rustling sound. She opens her eyes in alarm and grabs her dagger from beside her, looking about to see what made the noise. She looks up and sees a large bat hanging from the top of the cave looking at her. "Stupid pest. I'll teach you to startle me, you flying rat."

She's about to fire a spell when the bat's eyes starts to glow faintly. She's startled a second time when she feels a familiar sensation of someone touching her mind. She tries to resist it at first but then quickly realizes what this means. She instead opens her mind up, seeing as there is no point in struggling. It seems her master has found her. She whimpers in fear knowing that at this point, she can no longer hide her failures.

She feels the familiar sensation of tendrils digging into her mind, opening up her thoughts and memories. The tendrils quickly rifle through her memories of the battle two nights before. Her master does not possess a gentle touch and she groans as the tendrils begin to focus on the specific memories. Images begin to bloom in her mind, images of a battle that she should have won, but lost.

She sees herself locked in a battle of wills with Lauranna. Raw arcane energies wildly lashed out around the two of them as one tried to wrest control from the other. Nothing else existed. The concentration required to maintain any semblance of control was great. She remembers being shocked at what Lauranna tried to do. Until then, she didn't think it possible to disrupt the casting of another by imposing your will on the weave. But she managed to recover quickly enough and was able to go toe-to-toe with her opponent in the battle of wills.

After several minutes of going back and forth in a dance of death, she finally felt Lauranna's hold weaken somewhat. It invigorated her. She was close to finally wresting control of the arcane energies that surrounded them. She increased her efforts tenfold. Then suddenly, she felt Lauranna completely lost control. She almost screamed in triumph. She was about to direct all of the pent up energies at her enemy when suddenly, an explosion of light blinded her and she felt her left arm being burned off. She screamed in pain as she felt another smaller explosion from nearby. Her opponent laughed with glee. She fell to her knees, blinded and clutching the stump where her left arm should have been. She felt a third and more powerful explosion from down the hill. It was then she knew all was lost. With the destruction of the artifact, the undead army she had raised would fall and what remained of the mercenaries she hired would be routed or cut down. She groans in pain as her vision slowly returns. She looks up to see what had happened and saw the ruined corpse of Valtek lying in pieces on the ground. She also saw Lauranna walking towards one of her fallen allies, the paladin named Kristov, who seemed to have been caught in the second explosion along with the Halfling woman. She suffered shock and confusion as she looked closer at her enemy. It wasn't Lauranna. Yes, she looked somewhat like Lauranna, she even had the same frayed dress, but the features were all wrong. Lauranna was lithe, but the woman she was looking at then had more defined curves, more voluptuous in a sense. She also had hair the color of blood. What was going on? Was this some unknown trick their spies failed to report? She could hear her say something as she got closer to Kristov. She took that chance then to make her escape. She felt cowardly, but she knew she needed to survive. She mustered what strength she had left and magically grabbed what was left of Valtek and teleported herself to a safe location a little ways up north.

Her vision suddenly snaps back into present as she painfully feels the tendrils recede from her mind. She falls back gasping for air. Her head feels like it's about to split open. A booming voice suddenly resounded within her head. "YOU HAVE FAILED ME, WORM!"

She gasps for breath as she fearfully replies. "Master, please forgive me! I was caught off guard. I did not know she was capable of doing the things she did! Our spies—"

"SILENCE! I WILL HEAR NONE OF YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSES! I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED TO CAPTURE LAURANNA. YET, YOU FAILED TO DO SO AND THE PRECIOUS ARTIFACT I HAVE LOANED YOU HAS BEEN DESTROYED!"

She whimpers at the force of the voice pounding in her head. "But I can still do it, master! I still have the soul stone you have given me! I can still capture her! Please! Give me another chance!"

The voice is silent for a while and Vorenia begins to fear that this is the end for her. But suddenly, the voice starts to boom a reply. "I WILL GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE, WORM. I STILL MAINTAIN THE TRACKER WITHIN THE FOOL'S MIND. THEY ARE CURRENTLY NEAR THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE FOREST CALLED THE WEALDATH, EAST OF THE STARSPIRE MOUNTAIN. TRACK THEM DOWN. KILL THE PALADIN. CAPTURE LAURANNA. IF YOU FAIL, I WILL FIND YOU AND DEVOUR YOU SLOWLY."

She desperately grabs at the life line she has been offered. "Yes, master! I will not fail you!" she replies, but the presence is no longer there and the bat has already flown out of the cave. She breathes a sigh of relief. The master has seen it fit to give her one last chance. She will not waste it. A painful death awaits her if she does.

She slowly gets up, groaning in pain. Her eyes fall on the large sack she has been carrying. Yes, as soon as she gets to a small village, she will restore herself and use the villager's souls to reanimate Valtek. She will then hunt that bitch and take her down, whatever it takes. She still has the soul stone. It's powerful enough to trap someone as powerful as Lauranna. Her spies from Amkethran falsely informed her that Lauranna is weakened and is no longer as powerful as she once was. This led her to underestimate her prey. But this time, she knows better. She will not underestimate her. She will succeed.