Well, the third story to this little saga of mine is finished. I felt as if I did the ending justice but with this type of ending it is like walking on a razor's edge. Thank you, and enjoy!

No. It wasn't blood. It was the briny, amniotic soup Mist passed off as a healing tonic I could taste in my mouth. I opened my eyes and saw that a thin white cloth covered my eyes soaked in cold water.

Had I survived? Were the voices I heard real after all? Did Oscar and Kieran yet live? Did they muster reinforcements?

My mind overloaded with uncertainty and with my senses restored with searing intensity, I thrashed upon the bed. The feeding tube had come loose and I was drowning in the filth.

In mere moments, trained hands undid the belt straps and removed the feeding tube. I rolled over off the bed, sprawled out on all four coughing up this potion that had saved my life and kept it tethered to the world. My eyes looked up into the eyes of my healer. I could scarcely believe what they were telling me. "Mist?" I wheezed out with a weak voice.

Mist looked down upon me, and fashioned a warm smile. "Knight Commander, welcome back to the world of the-"

"You're alive…" I asked and cut her off mid-sentence. I staggered as I got to my feet. I was sweating with the intense biological rigors my body had just undertaken, and a little unsteady. Mist went to assist me, but my outstretched palm held her back.

"And so are you, Geoffrey. You were badly injured and had just this-"

"Injured? Where?" I interrupted her for a second time. "Here in the Castle of Melior?" Something wasn't right. An odd sense of recollection, a very mortal experience described as deja vu, that which is 'seen already', was affecting me. I remembered the chronometric device utilized by the assassin. I recalled how it had slowed time for a moment and wondered if I was somehow trapped within it.

"Volus." Mist's expression turned into an upset frown and began to run her staff over my body, as if it could tell her the reason for my sudden distemper. She shook her head and placed her spare hand under her chin. "You were struck down on Volus three weeks ago in fact. You have just this moment come back to consciousness." I heard cooing in the background and her smile came back. "It seems Elena welcomes you back as well."

I gazed around the shadows of the hospital. It was much as I remembered it from what I thought was real. But there were no shrouds of shadows, no darkness that hid monsters. Still, this wasn't right. "I was… drowning."

Mist's face became abruptly contrite and she bowed her head. "Apologies, Knight Commander. Your feeding tube came loose towards the end of your coma. You appeared to be an experiencing some form of a night terror, it is not uncommon. So close to revival, I could not adjust or replace the reed. It was like that for but a few seconds."

I shook my head, skeptic of it all. "But… it is impossible."

Mist held out her hands in a gesture that pointed to me and then to the entire room. "You are here. You are back with us once again." I scowled, and she rolled her eyes. "What is your name?"

"MY name?" I asked in a bothered tone. I was wounded on my side, not the head.

"Yes. What is it?" She asked patiently.

"Geoffrey of Delbray. I am still a master of my sense, Mist." I responded.

"You do not seem it." Another apparition appeared. Renning came forth from the shadows, just as he had before.

"Renning. I saw you fall." I said the words slowly, it sounded like Renning but I was unsure of it. That was his armor, the cloak around his shoulders, the sword at his side. It was unmistakably him.

The veteran commander held out his hands to me, as physical testament to his tangibility. "I am standing before you know, Geo." He unlocked his helmet from his head and placed it in the crook of his arm. "Son." He came over to me and placed his hand upon my shoulder firmly, but gentle at the same time. This aged and scarred veteran was trying to comfort me as a father would to his son.

I then realized the truth, and it redoubled my concern. "You are here to summon me before the King and the Queen, are you not?"

Nonplussed, Renning let go of my shoulder. "I am. Yes. How did you know?"

I didn't answer and then I turned back to Mist. "My Lady, tell me. Did we bring back anything from Volus… anything of the flayed ones?'

Mist slowly nodded her head. "Yessss-"

"And is it under Bastian's care in the east wing of the Royal Armory?"

Renning answered this time. "It is. What is this about, Geoffrey?"

I looked to him as I grabbed a green habit. It was a look of concern. "Do you have a weapon you could lend me?" Renning nodded slowly, not quite understanding what I was saying but trusted my instincts. He reached down to his side and unhooked a broadsword to hand to me. I appreciated the grip of the weapon when it was in my hand. I looked to the two with a look of urgency and certainty. "We need to get there at once, the Castle of Melior has been breached!"

Oscar and Kieran were on their way to the hospital when I met them in the hallway. I quickly told them what was happening and the five of us headed down the hallway to the Royal Armory. Mist had her sonic sword, whilst Renning had his saber and the two rivals wielded their respected weapons from my dream. "Should we invoke a castle-wide alarm?" Oscar asked as he looked to Renning.

"Let us see what is in there first." Renning had donned his helmet once more and I was unable to read his expression. Though I knew that he was full of doubt that the fortress was in real danger and did not want to create needless panic. Kieran looked over to Mist. The sister of Ike Greil hid her concern poorly, and only responded with a halfhearted shrug. I paid her no heed, we had arrived at the great door leading in.

I did not make my presence known ahead of time. I was insistent upon this. Whatever awareness the calligans had I did not want to have my forewarning activate them. I pushed the mighty doors open and breathed in the smell of fire and sweat. It was much as I remembered it, a hive of industry and labor, serfs and engineers hurrying back and forth, artisans engaged in their various tasks, arms and armor in various conditions of repair and restoration. And there, at the back of the expansive workshop, tended by a small army of menials, was the salvage from Volus.

Bastian turned his head with a flurry of his body. He had just finished working on my armor and weapons. "Great and noble commander, your timing as ever is impeccable."

"Thank you, Bastian. I do indeed hope so." His face changed from warm greeting to slight confusion as Renning, Oscar, Mist, and Kieran entered behind me. I anticipated his next question and got to the point. "Evacuate your laborers."

Bastian looked to Renning for confirmation. "Do as he commands, Count." Like ants returning to the nest, the various workers left the chamber to other parts. None questioned their orders, but quite a few looked worriedly askance at the five soldiers in their midst.

"With me." I gestured an encircling command around the salvage, weapon in hand.

Bastian was not far behind me, and his protest was upon his lips. "My good sir, this is illogical. What are you trying to d-" Dozens of viridian eyes flared into life which halted Bastian's advance and had him instinctively reaching for his hand crossbow and spell book. "They are self-repairing!"

I raised the broadsword and scowled at the host, sword held aloft in a battle stance. "Not for long." We were upon them in an instant, and brought ruin to their prone forms. I swung my sword until the muscles in my arms ached while the others were doing the same with me. Every swing of our weapons brought death as we struck out with violent annihilation. Even Bastian did not stop until his quiver was empty. The back of the workshop was a scorched, ash riddled wasteland. It looked as if a battle had just taken place. Indeed it had.

And we won.

Renning sheathed his sword and looked around the armory. "Whatever is left, incinerate it!" Oscar, Kieran and I had shifted through the wreckage. I shook my head after looking for any remains of our enemy. There was nothing left, the threat was taken care of.

Mist gestured to the carnage. "How did you know?"

What real answer did I have? I told Mist the only thing that made any sense. "I saw a darkness in my vision, and I swore that it would not come to pass."

Renning was more pragmatic. "Whatever the cause for your clairvoyance, I for one am glad of it" He bowed his head to me. "Gratitude, Geoffrey. But King Tibarn and Queen Elincia yet await."

Renning was insistent that I was cleaned and that I wore my armor for my audience with the rulers of the two nations. As from my half remembered vision, I walked under the archways with the weight of marble heroes that seemed to judge each of my footfalls. As before, I would not be found wanting under their gaze.

The Queen and King were dressed in regal clothes, not the suit of armor I recalled. Banners behind the two depicted a legacy of glory and honor. Renning was by her side, his own armor polished to a gleam. I stopped at a respectful distance and saluted the two. "Come forth, Geo." Elincia's voice held weight, but I winced at the informality of my nickname being used by her in such an atmosphere. She had not called me that since we were ten.

I obeyed her command and took a knee before the two rulers, head dipped to the stone floor. I bowed my head and felt my pulse pounding. "I stand here, and await your judgement."

Elincia rose from her throne and walked down the steps towards me. I soon felt both of her hands upon my shoulders as she knelt down to me. "Rise, my fair and noble commander. You are not being judged this day, though I had reviewed the engagement of Volus." I raised my head and saw her lovely amber eyes mere inches away from my own. I slowly did so and she rose with me. Tibarn himself rose from his throne and came down to join his wife.

"Milords?" I asked, unable to mask my confusion at this blatant disregard for tradition.

Elincia sighed and crossed her arms in mental exhaustion. It was not directed at me, but Volus itself it would seem. "Volus wounded all of us, but you and your knights had suffered it more grievously than most."

"It is a stain upon my honor." I growled, and I saw Tibarn nod in affirmation.

"One I will see removed personally, Geoffrey. I will not have this go unchallenged." Tibarn said.

Renning kept his studied silence, and my brow flurried. "Permission to speak freely?"

Elincia nodded. "Of course, you mustn't ask for permission though. I always have valued your blunt nature."

I nodded and placed my hands behind my back. "What exactly are you saying?"

Tibarn spoke this time, his voice was like the wind in a storm. Firm but wild. "In your unconscious visions, you saw the ice? You felt and heard the beating of the hearts?"

My voice caught in my throat at this revelation. "Yes."

Tibarn scowled, his thoughts seemingly confirmed. "It is the Gilded King mocking us. I feel it in my feathers, Geoffrey. He wishes to make us believe that nowhere is safe, not even in our own castle. He is mistaken, but he has had the last word for now."

Elincia nodded. "Be it one year, or ten, we are not done with Volus just yet. And it is not done with us."

The corner of my lips almost made it to a smile. But I would not. Not until this stain against me was rectified, and Volus avenged. "And I shall eagerly count the days until our return."

In the darkest corners of my mind, the gemstone skull mask spoke with me, his voice inside my head. This was no taunt from him, but one promise. We would meet again, and only one of us would walk away for the last time. As one, we swore the same oath.

"This isn't over."