Warmth. Her chest aches. A water droplet falls on her burning skin. She felt feverish. The knight turns over as her mind is pulled into a white fire. Her face grimaces as the heat rises higher and higher into the cool night. Painful shocks of energy thrums through. Her mind screams as her mouth grunts.
Red eyes open from the pain of her body.
Zarracen was where she last lay inside the empty sub barracks. The dust from the lack of people living there causes her to sneeze. The sound, fires inside the empty room.
Creak!
The sound came from outside the door. She sits up slowly intent on not making a sound on this wooden cot. She hears a relieved exhale from the other side. Five years ago, she would have burst through the door intent on killing an assassin or what she thought was one. But she is wiser now than she was.
She listens, blocking out even the sound of her heartbeat to focus her ears on the grounds around her. The burning pain is making it hard though.
"Looks like what they say about Masters being able to hear a feather falling thousands of meters away," the voice sounded familiar, but Zarracen could not clock it.
"Can't wait to taste this dragon," a grunt from outside.
Footsteps across the grass closing in on the direction she left her charge.
"We kill her take the heart."
"What about the Emperor?"
"Blame it on thieves."
Fools. If they think the Emperor wouldn't raise this place to the ground. Regardless, she has given permission to act by their words alone. A smirk slides across her face. She'll kill them all for not letting her have a good sleep.
She stands silently moving like a ghost towards the door with blade with in hand. Disloyal knights to the crown don't deserve to live. Well, in truth she cares little for the crown itself. She has no royal liege and only came this far for power. One thing she hates is betrayal.
Too many she has come to care about have died through the years because of this. From her times in the slums getting stolen from to another knight pushing a knight before a cognifiend to escape. People like that irritate her to a level that brings the need to kill.
She opens the door.
"Wa-"
Schink!
Splash!
With a sword draw she cut through the first knight's neck decapitating him. His blood splatters across the wall as his head rolls down the hall.
"Wha-What are you doing!?" A high-pitched scream echoes.
"Huh? You askin me that for real?" Zarracen questions tilting her head at the fool in front of her.
Now she knows why he seemed familiar. It was the knight who greeted her instead of the barracks Knight Captain.
"Knight Code 1 the first one we ever learn those with treasonous thoughts towards to the Star of Ixmtaraza are to be dealt in a swift and firm manner befitting the thought. Theft from the high lord of this land of this magnitude only has one answer. Death!"
The fool didn't even brandish his sword while she was talking. She shakes her head and swings hers to decapitate him again. He hastily brings his weapon up to defense. Her blade slices through his and partially decapitates him.
That should have been a clean severing and she moved slower than normal.
A good night's rest should have let her body recover more. Whatever that white fire is burning within her was messing with her ability to kill. Luckily, she cannot sense anyone above a tier 5 here and they were all outclassed.
She hears murmuring from the yard letting her know they heard the fools shouting.
Zarracen entered the yard before they came to her she could not let them eat the flesh during travel.
The fools had their blades out, but they were trembling. They knew they were outclassed and yet they still tried to steal from her. To steal from the emperor. The power beneath the flesh of a dragon calls to all. Not even they were able to keep themselves from wanting it despite the death that was slated to occur should they try and fail.
Zarracen makes short work of them. Some of them try to run only for her to throw a sword through their back. Around her they drop like flies. When the last body falls a light flicker on in the barracks.
A face peers through the window before the light flickers out again.
"I need another bath," Zarracen spits on the ground grimacing a bit at being covered in blood once again. She was just cleaned, and they messed it up with their greed.
She stomps her way back into the sub-barracks and draws herself a bath. She scrubs as much blood off before she gets inside sinking into it. The warmth of it soothing the pain still thrumming through her. She closes her eyes again and relaxes as well as she can while still being aware.
Once her bath is finished, she stands out the water and lets it drain. She dries herself off before dressing and returns to the carriage with her belongings inside the sub-barracks.
Since they wanted to play traitor. She will play guard dog.
"Trard tahear," Zarracen casts the spell again.
She places the blade beside her and falls asleep again. This time resting through the night.
Sunlight refracts off the tall spiraling buildings nearby as the sun rises on the horizon. The beams shine onto her and slowly she wakes. The burning pain in her body was gone. She stretches feeling oddly rejuvenated. More than that her body feels off. She stretches a bit popping her back.
She stands and stumbles over her feet. It was like a rush just going through her. She pauses then. Zarracen steps forward. The ground she can feel it. She can see further in the distance than ever before. Hearing. She can hear the entire city. A murmur of voices, a cacophony of sounds slowly rising to a crescendo as the sunlight brings the city to life.
As a Tier 2 Martial Master such a feeling wasn't odd. She felt this before when she progressed to this level. When the captain of the Grand Knights of Valor Ulruk Praer gave her the title of Grand Knight of Valor. Did she progress to Tier 1. Has she finally achieved the next level that she's been striving towards for the last four years only to hit wall after wall.
Her aura levels, too low. Her Videle was unable to compact even further into her body. A body that was said to not be able to take the strain. She sits then. Forgoing standing to meditate. She always hated this part of aura training, but this was the best way to figure out what changes were going on in her body.
Her inner mindscape brings the feeling of her aura and reminds herself of the words her former teacher and only friend told her on how to access the aura she herself unlocked via tribulations.
Zarracen feels it inside. The raging aura which normally comes out a deep crimson red. Something was different about it though. Before her aura was somewhat stable but if she were to guess it was now unstable.
Through her inner eye, she could see a constant flickering of colors. Her normal crimson red burns bright but there was this whitish gold color that was intertwining with her aura.
It felt like aura the white did. But the gold felt more like what she felt when she turned her Videle into mana for her spellwork. Which are parlor tricks. Yet, it felt like this wasn't hers. Oh yes, her Videle was absorbing this Videle and turning it into its own, but it wasn't hers. It felt like the magic the White Dragon of Arcus used against her in their battle.
It was vast eclipsing her own but not taking control of her. A green orb was nestled near her heart like it was keeping it from taking over. Zarracen felt as if this Videle would take over her very soul if not for it.
She comes out of her meditation and reaches into her chest to pull out the trinket. It was an egg sized stone green in color though the original color was white. It was wrapped up a copper feather that was strung up into a necklace by a silver chain. The girl who gave it to her injected her own Videle inside of it.
Zarracen smirks. Again, this has saved me.
She's not a fool. She knows without it she would have lost to the White Dragon of Arcus or been too severely injured to do anything but die. Now it saves her from some unknown curse and is turning it into a boon.
"Eeeek!" Zarracen's head looks up from her trinket.
Rustling and movement starts immediately as a servant scream signaling to the Knights that something was amiss.
She stands, as partially dressed knights come out from their barracks and look towards the yard. They draw their blades hesitantly.
"Put your weapons up...idiots," she remarks while rolling her eyes.
"You killed twelve knights!" One of them responds.
"Fourteen actually there are two inside the sub-barracks,"
"wha-"
"Confused? I'm not they tried to kill me in my sleep for Emperor Iximdor's dragon heart. Unless you plan to die like them and cause this entire barrack to be empty of knights, I'd advise you to put away your blades."
They knights look amongst each other while one of the knights run inside the sub-barrack house to find two knights with their weapons drawn.
"Are you going to find an excuse to why they were in the sub-barracks so late at night are shall I call a sorcerer to make plain what I state?"
Zarracen knew that if a mage was called to verify the interaction, then this Barrack would come under an inquiry that the members likely wouldn't survive. Even though most knights were nobility of some kind of vein there were a few commoners amongst their ranks that were unlikely to get through such an... inquisition favorably.
It also couldn't be swept under the rug.
"Of course, I'll send a runner to the nearby RIM station so we can clean this up nicely so you can be on your way," a woman spoke.
"But Knight Captain?" One of the knights addressed her drawing Zarracen's attention.
RIM. The Realm Investigation Ministry (RIM). An organization was created about two hundred years prior to the current Emperor's rule. It essentially runs the guard in each town under the royal family's authority. Prior to this most nobles kept guard in each town but so many uprisings were happening due to the nobility fragrantly abusing the commoners. It came to the point that Empress Julia Iximdor under the advice of her Prime Minister Calyx Hunter created a guard to oversee each city and township in the land even those far from noble lands.
It's one of the cornerstones of her rule that sets her apart from predecessors. Because of her the commoners had a safe space to go to with their grievances against the nobles in their regions flagrantly abusing and not following the realm's law. Other than the knights of Mitra they are considered the ones who know the truth of the law of Ixmtaraza and is a cornerstone of the royal family's power to keep the nobility in check.
Contact the RIM was a good choice for the short woman standing in front of her. The woman their Knight Captain if Zarracen didn't know any better she'd think the woman was younger than her by at least ten years. Her brown eyes showed her age and experience. It's clear she wasn't going to let RIM run an investigation here at least not one that would get her killed.
"Since you opened your mouth, you've volunteered. I expect you to be back with a Researcher within twenty minutes."
The man stutters but leaves in a hurry perhaps knowing whatever threat was underlined would come without mercy.
"Would you like to come inside for food and drink?" the woman questions.
"No. I'm fine here."
The Knight Captain sighs and runs her left hand through her short brown locks. Her eyes were full of wariness and fear. The claw scar on her cheek makes the worried expression seem more dire.
"Name?" Zarracen questions.
"Apologies Ma'am," the woman suddenly realized that she didn't introduce herself to the person who outranked her. "I am Knight Captain Alondra."
"Grand Knight of Valor Zarracen."
There was no change in expression on her part. So, she knew. It's likely she knew of her cohort's plans as well or had an inkling of it. If not her, someone in that group did. Annoying.
"Well, Knight Captain Alondra fetch me a carriage that I can load em on and a mercenary group as well to help move the cargo."
Perhaps, she should've stopped for the woman on the side of the road. Oh, well. Too late to think about that. She should have known though in her haste that she could not journey without a group far without rest.
Even, as rejuvenated as she is now she still shouldn't. Though, it doesn't seem like the Knight Captain is moving.
"Do I need to light a fire under your ass?"
"What?"
"I gave you an order. Have a man fetch me a carriage and a mercenary squad to help move my goods. Can't trust my fellow knights let's see if I can trust someone, I can throw coin at."
"Of course, Grand Knight Zarracen. Amara go!"
A female knight darts off like a bat out of hell. A smirk falls on Zarracen's face. She's feeling good now.
Fifteen minutes.
That's some good time he made though from his huffing and the strain of the vein in his neck it must have been a distance to the nearest RIM building. With the knight was a male. Tall with a nicely shaved beard. Over his face a pair of glasses that he fiddles with cleaning. On his hip was a long thin sword.
He's dressed in classic wear for the RIM. Black boots with pleated white pants tucked inside. A black dress jacket with an insignia of a star on its lapels. Gold buttons ran parallel down the front of the suit jacket.
Not dirt or spec noticeable on the uniform and he looks relaxed next to the panting knight. He's strong. Tier 3 or 4 in aura usage or magic if what Zarracen is feeling from him is true.
"Well, what happened here?" His accent sounded like he's been inside the capital for years, perhaps since birth. There was no issue in verbiage every word was enunciated.
Zarracen exhales knowing how she must speak.
"I'm Grand Knight of Valor Galt Zarracen. His Majesty Bhaltair Iximdor as you might be aware, sent several Grand Knights of different orders to slay a dragon. I slayed the White Dragon of Arcus and on my way to delivering the corpse with its heart I rested upon it here. Only to find several knights of this division took it upon themselves to try to kill me in my sleep and make off with the meat of the beast and the heart."
"And you dispatched of these traitors?" He questions to which Zarracen nods. "Do not worry. I Researcher Moe Bates will conduct a proper evaluation of the evidence."
He pauses and looks around.
"The other bodies that tried to attack me in my sleep are in the sub-barracks." He nods and stalks off.
As he investigates, he utilizes a magic orb to capture the information he's logging. Zarracen leans against the dragon's cart waiting patiently for that Amara girl to come back with whatever mercenary group they could find.
"Investigation completed. From the location of the bodies, it can be determined that you speak true Galt Zarracen. If you would like I could have you conduct an explanation using a truth orb?"
"Alright."
She does so. The night is recounted once again. This time she adds in details she left out to summarize. The truth orb glows blue throughout the entering explanation symbolizing she speaks true.
Once that is done, he asks a few more questions before leaving.
"Geh!"
Moe is almost run over by Amara who skids to a stop.
"I've completed your request, Captain!" Amara shouts and salutes.
She's energetic.
"Haah!" Zarracen groans as she takes in the people she brought. She didn't even think she'd see them again.
But, standing in front of her is Prawm.