The sun was towering directly over everyone, indicating that it was noon.
A woman was sitting on a wooden chair as she flicked her throwing dagger again and again.
Behind her was the ruined pavilion of the Black Dragon Company, once mighty mansion reduced to rubble and earth.
She was a formidable looking warrior, with small scars spanning across her body. Veins bulged from her arms when she tensed. Her abs showed as she stretched her arms.
She was the same woman that the boy met.
But her body was clearly visible under the sunlight.
Then, sounds of hooves bashing against dirt reached her ears. A group of soldiers were coming towards the warrior lady. Her sharp eyes glanced towards the people as she slowly stood up.
As they reached her, all of the soldiers stopped as their horses shared a pained look.
"Ma'am."
The captain slightly bowed as the woman closed her eyes.
"What happened?"
The captain stiffened as he looked at those behind, giving them a silent command.
The warrior's eyes retracted into a singe point as her fists dug into her palm.
It was the corpse of the driver.
Swallowing her rage, she turned to the captain and asked in a threatening voice:
"How did he die?"
The captain tightened his grip.
"Here's the report."
He gave a file of papers, bind by a thin rope.
The lady warrior opened the report as she read every page.
The crude report was just the documentation of everything that happened in the woods from the horse tracks to the missing of the two bodies.
It was a desperate and the first draft that didn't contain any drawings or illustration.
The leader paused, clearly shaken by the news. She was very well acquainted with the driver as he had also worked for a decade under her leadership.
She gritted her teeth and said:
"Vice-leader, come."
Following her command, he silently nodded while his face tried to constrain hints of fury and anger.
They had walked far across the team.
There were torches along the pathway that lit the road very poorly. The dirt pavement was constantly overrun by snakes and squirrels crossing to the other side.
"Stop."
The lady halted as she raised one hand.
"Who could've done this, Agatha?"
The captain dropped his formal tone as his masked emotions couldn't hide themselves. His eyes glowed with tension as a stream of lights escaped from it.
"I don't know. Matthew was a good man... and a clever one at that."
Agatha sighed as she turned towards his direction.
"Someone deliberately did this. For what reason..."
Her voice trailed off as they walked further towards the woods.
'How could I be so lax?! The carriage was supposed to house the two bodies that were recovered from the site. This could be our major lead, by identifying them. That means!'
Before she could complete her thoughts, the captain interrupted her:
"Do you have any idea who could it be?"
She glanced at the tall trees, and listened to their rustling.
"I think it was an assassin meant to destroy the evidence."
The captain's eyes twitched.
"They killed... Uncle as he was their witness. But why do it in such a fashion, when it can be done silently?"
Agatha paused for a while, her silence making it clear that she was also pondering.
"It must be a distraction. To confuse us and, if the work is already done... they would escape."
She raised her voice, reverting back to her leader persona.
"Quin! Barricade the entire city, now!!"
She didn't have to say it any sooner as Quin ran with surprising speed, catching up to the men in 5 minutes. His breath became fast but not enough to slow him down.
"Everyone!! Section 32!"
The soldiers wasted no time as they mounted their horses and galloped, leaving behind heaps of dirt rising in the air.
The city was on alert.
Somewhere in the city, a few hours ago:
Meria was sleeping soundly on the bed.
She hadn't noticed Imus's absence as her feet dangled to the side while her arms flew around time to time.
She groaned as her entire body convulsed.
She muttered 'Rav' and 'Maya' as her consciousness drifted away.
She was standing on sand.
She looked up and saw sand.
All around her.
There was an endless desert of sand with no boundaries. The sun was gleaming radiantly as it expressed deadly amount of heat. She could have believed that it was a desert, if not for the fact that it was flat.
There were no rising mountains nor lowering canyons.
It was so flat that the only roughness was the footprints left by her.
She let her tongue out as her body dragged itself against the golden grains. The sunlight reflected from the sand, giving a ethereal look. She could have believed that it was a sea of gold, if not for the fact that she was feeling an extreme sense of thirst.
Speaking of thirst, she was in dire need for water.
She took a look at her body and saw clothes.
'Clothes.'
She didn't waste any second as she undressed her white tunic and black skirt.
Her brown skin glowed more radiantly in sunlight as her heart calmed down a little. Beads of sweat rolled down her belly. As she lifted her feet, burn marks showed themselves.
Slowly, her body was covered in the same burn marks, as her face distorted into an extremely ghastly and charred one. Skin started to peel off, dropping with every step.
Blood oozed from the heart-wrenching wounds as muscle and fat dissolved to show an ivory shard.
'It hurts.'
She tried to scream, but her voice box was already damaged.
She tried to see, but her eyes melted.
She glanced at her arms which contained nothing but threads of nerves starting to dissolve and bone. She tried to run, but limped instead.
As her body started to melt into nothingness.
She saw something.
She was not sure how could she see and checked for her eyes but there was nothing but a hollow hole instead.
A lady and a man were limping against the sand.
Their wounds dripped water.