Chapter V

“Where am I?” was all Karilaya could say the moment her consciousness returned.

It was only when she felt so light and cold that she realize that something was not right, besides the fact that she could not feel the ground beneath her.

Hearing the screams from above Karilaya then realized where she was, partly remembering what had occurred a while ago. Quickly setting her current condition aside, she was now worried as to what was happening. Moving with haste she proceeds towards the staircase not caring for the danger up ahead.

The princess stops upon hearing noises of battle just up ahead, she chases the said sounds ending up behind the castle near the divine bridge. Her eyes grew wide upon seeing a Black Knight releasing onslaughts of attacks on commander Hendall who was trying to protect priestess Unei. She was about to move towards them when a huge light engulfed the group making her understand what the two were doing trying to hold off the enemy like that.

“Unei, Hendall, no!” she screamed in full horror seeing the explosion after that.

The whole bridge began collapsing the moment the smoke rose making Karilaya fall on her knees when she felt her strength suddenly failing her. She could not help her tears flow out of her eyes, knowing that she had just lost the two most trusted people in her life.

Her thoughts were only disturbed when she hears loud cries and screams along the hallway from behind her. Gathering her remaining strength, she tries to stand up, wanting to know what was happening.

Karilaya moved in strides though she was holding on to the wall, trying to reach where the sounds were coming from in the quickest possible time. She could not help her sobs as she saw the number of fallen soldiers along the way, her mind almost starting to falter. It was only when she arrived at the keep that she totally lost it.

“Stop, stop it, please! You’ve already won, why do this!” she screamed as tears flowed all over her face upon witnessing the tragedy befalling her subordinates.

The male soldiers were being stabbed, decapitated, and mutilated as they were outnumbered by the enemy. The female warriors were held down, stripped of their armor, and knocked out, while the priestess suffered a much horrifying fate by being violated by several soldiers all at once who were laughing and seem to enjoy while doing these horrendous things.

The screams of agony, fear, and hopelessness were enough to drive Karilaya insane as she quickly ran off towards the massacre, wailing in sheer anger and rage.

“Stop, you fiends, stop it!” she cried out at the top of her lungs only to be ignored.

But when she managed to strike one of the enemy soldiers it was then that she found out why she wasn’t being attacked or noticed. Her body began fading and turning into stardust as several people began passing her by.

“No, no, no!” Karilaya ended up pulling her hair out of frustration realizing that she had been in the spirit realm this whole time.

It was only then that the world around her started moving slowly, giving her a proper view of each event that was happening in front of her eyes. Her mind suddenly went blank as she was utterly helpless to do anything for her subordinates.

Darkness slowly started creeping in around her as screams slowly drowned the voices of the people around her, she finally returned woke up when she was totally covered by the blackness.

Panting after waking up, she was now finally able to feel the coldness around her, smelling the reek of molds and dust all over her along with the roughness and itch of where she was lying down.

Though sweaty, full of tears, and feeling sticky all over, she disregarded it all to find a way back to where she was a while ago.

She patted herself noticing that she was no longer wearing her armor, only to feel a satchel around her. She quickly guided her hands into its opening, rummaging its contents. She let out a sigh of relief feeling a familiar cold and smooth thing in her palm.

Grabbing hold of it, she quickly transfers her energy unto it whispering the words, “moonlight.”

The stone suddenly shined a bright bluish light, illuminating her surroundings a bit. She then checked her bag of its contents and the clothes that she was wearing.

It had a few loaves of hard bread, a gourd of water, and a few coins. Covered in commoners' clothes she understood what the priestess and her commander wanted to do. Though she wanted to honor the purpose of the two, she just could not stand not doing anything for her people.

Standing up, she proceeded for the door only to be stopped when she noticed that the door was shut in tight. Not wasting any more time, she surveys the surrounding area to find another way out, knowing that the commander and head priestess wouldn’t have left her there with no means of escape. As expected there was a crevice behind one of the tombstones, big enough to fit her.

Squeezing herself in it, she was able to get through it and into a much larger natural cave. She crawls her way out, moving as quickly as possible, following the draft that she was feeling.

Her skin was being bruised by the rough earth while almost out of the air from the lack of space that she was moving in but it was not enough to stop her. The fear and frustration were enough to fill her with strength.

After almost what seemed like an eternity she was finally able to see light ahead of her, making her move faster.

The sweet scent of grass and flowers filled her nose, invigorating her with new strength. But then she saw where she was and was quickly filled with dread, seeing the numerous huge trees around her. The sky was already turning dark, crows could be heard from afar beside the dead silence all around her.

Karilaya hugged herself, biting her lip from the turmoil of emotions that were inside of her. Tired, lost, and frustrated she quickly walks towards the sound of water. Upon reaching the river, she quickly searches for any signs of the castle, feeling hopeful upon seeing the peak of one of the towers, making her move to it with haste.

It was already dark when she finally reached the castle gates only to see enemy guards stationed all over the place. She surveys the surrounding area, several people were already working on fixing the walls, while traders were already going in and out of the place.

That was when it dawned on her that she must’ve been put into a deep slumber, cage in a protective spell by the priestess while down on the crypt.

Still hopeful of the possibility to at least save some of her subordinates she quickly turns around, moving back into the forest to take the path that leads to another passage towards the castle. Raising her moonstone to light her way, she moved as fast as she could, she stops midway noticing the weird noises coming from behind her.

Karilaya frowned, looking around to see what or who it was and then a large dark figure suddenly sprang from the bushes making her jolt back.

The beast was as big as her, even if it was on all fours, its mouth was dripping as its hungry gaze stared at her, growling while slowly crouching towards her like the hunter it was.

Karilaya was not surprised seeing it there as it was already nighttime, the dire wolf was known to be a local of their forest so it was quite common to see one.

The moment the creature pounce at her she quickly raised her hands, opened her palm towards it before shouting, “sword of light!” which echoed throughout the whole forest.

A white glow appeared in her palm, forming a shape of a sword before flying off towards the beast. The creature falls as it was struck straight into the heart, howling as it fell on the ground.

Karilaya was about to turn around when she hears distant howling from not far off. Being aware of what that meant, she quickly climbs up the nearest tree she was almost halfway when several more dire wolves began coming out of the bushes, wherein several were quick to give chase to her. She screamed as one of them almost managed to reach her when it jumped up, making her climb faster. She was already lost for breath when she reached a safe part of the three, quickly posing in an attack to dispose of the beast.

With a good enough vantage point, she continued to fire one after the other, but some of the beasts were quick to avoid. Though it was starting to exhaust her she couldn’t stop especially when the beasts started chewing on the tree’s trunk in retaliation. It was not much of a problem to the wolves with their powerful jaw. It did not take a moment and the whole tree was starting to fall, making her jump off to a safe side.

“Gust!” with a swish of her hands she breaks her fall with a strong wind that surrounded her.

Two wolves were already beside her, leaping for an attack. She quickly rolls over to avoid it, touching the ground as she did.

“Pierce!” She shouts making pointed roots sprout from the earth impaling the two she then began releasing spells after spells to keep the beast at bay.

She was nearly spent but there were still seven dire wolves still circling her. The biggest one seemed unfazed though she had managed to hit it with several attacks already. Not wanting to waste any more energy and knowing it was impossible to run away from the pack, she summons her remaining power, covering herself with an armor of light and a weapon made of magic. She then proceeded to charge towards the largest beast but was halted by its companion. A fight ensues as she was trying to protect herself and slashing at the agile creatures. She was able to take down two more of the beast but was now completely drained.

It seemed that her energy had been drained from the sleeping spell along with her body as she was now lost for breath and was barely able to keep her form up.

It was at that moment that all five of the beast pounced at her, in fear and shock she quickly creates a forcefield around her. But that impact of the attack was enough to immediately create a crack on it.

She screamed in horror the moment that she felt the roar and breath of the beast reaching her. Her hands were also giving way along with her barrier. Sobbing and shouting was all she could do, knowing that it was the end for her.

Remorse and guilt quickly took over her as she was going to die without having been able to do anything for her fallen subordinates. She completely surrendered the moment her defense broke, closing her eyes she covered her head, bending down as she waited for the first beast to take a bite at her.

She felt the ground suddenly trembled before hearing whines and whimpers all around her. Not feeling anything for quite some time, she slowly opened her eyes to see what had happened, shakily raising her head.

A tall warrior clad in fully plated black armor was standing in front of her sheathing his sword. All five dire wolves lay headless on the ground.

The man turned to look at her smiling, she could see his shiny teeth bared even with just the moonlight as he moved towards her, giving out his hand.

“Are you all you all right my lady?” the man’s voice was deep and a bit sleepy, almost having that whispery tone on it.

It made her insides tingle and her courteous and valiant act was enough to make her lose any sense of defense towards him.

“Yes,” Stunned and a bit stupefied from the sudden rescue she did not hesitate to take his hand.

The warrior slowly pulled her up, immediately carrying her when he noticed how wobbly her legs were. She then takes her to his steed which was a black armored horse, it was only then that Karilaya managed to find her voice again, after being mesmerized.

“Who are you stranger?” she asks as it was the only thing on her mind right now.

“The names Maxwell, my lady, captain of the blackguards at your service,” he states improvising a bow as they were already on his horse.

Feeling safe within the man's arms after the rescue, she did not try to fend him off or ask any more questions, it did not register to her mind that he was a danger at all, even though he was an enemy soldier. They strode out of the woods and straight into the castle, where she was supposed to go making her feel much better.