A murky mist spread over the silent meadow—blood mixed with soil, dead men's cause entrusted to another.

Homokirus glared down at the wounded Desserious, who was forced to kneel, his shackles clanking.

'What of the rest?' said the king, his voice grim.

'Dead, Your Majesty,' victoriously said Evixrus, standing a few feet away.

Homokirus crouched in front of his prisoner, peering into his face. 'Desserious, you fool. What have you done!'

Desserious weakly lifted his head. Half of his face was damp with blood, the open wound on his forehead still bleeding. His gaze locked on the king as his lips moved in a silent whisper.

Homokirus frowned, taken aback by the old man's smile. He was drawing nearer when the sudden crack came. It left him ashen, for he knew what it was.

'No!' he exclaimed, kneeling to the ground, his fingers digging into the skin of Desserius's hollow cheeks, forcing his mouth to open. 'Tell me why!' he cried, shaking him. 'Why my daughter!'

The hiss of Desserious's last breath sounded loud in his ears despite the calls for an antidote in the background. He could not stop his hands from trembling, feeling the increasing weight of the dead body he supported. He lay the lifeless body on the ground with the utmost care, brushing close the pair of dimmed open eyes that stared into the infinite. 

There lay his tutor, father of his late wife, and kingdom's greatest priest, dead, unquestioned, and unpunished. A storm erupted inside of him, powerful enough to rip the life out of everything living.

He rose, then turned at his right hand, who stood behind him. 'Mingus, take care of the bodies... No one shall know of this.'

'At once, Your Majesty,' replied Mingus, marching to the group of soldiers aligned behind them.

'Your Majesty,' said Evixrus taking a step forward, 'I suggest that we—' 

Homokirus's lifted hand ordered silence for Lanesirus's arrival was announced. His hand trailed to his bejeweled belt, tightly clutching it, turning at the prince. 

'My Prince,' greeted Evixrus with a bow, moving away from Lanesirus's path.

'Your Majesty, I came as soon as I heard!' said Lanesirus looking at the bodies scattered around them, 'A mutiny, who dares attempt such an act?'

The king slightly moved, unveiling the corps laying behind him. Shock knotted Lanesirus's guts, the man recognized. Homokirus walked towards him, his cloak rustling behind him over the grass. He paused by his side, their shoulders brushing, his sight fixed on the ancient gate howling in the distance. 'Suaurs,' he whispered, her name ringing like a curse inside of him, erupting dormant memories of a time long passed.

Everything seemed to have stilled at the mention of her, moment after moment passing, words unspoken. 

'Is she...?' Lanesirus finally said, his voice shaking. 

'No, she wasn't killed...' The king bit of his jaw. 'I wish she was.' 

Lanesirus looked at the high priest, who immediately lowered his head, his hands clutched together in front of him.  He then turned back at the king. 'Where is she then?'

'She broke the sacred seal, successfully passing through the gate.'  

'Suarus...' muttered Lanesirus through gritted teeth. 'I'll follow her. I'll fetch her back!' he said, his hand on the hilt of his sword. 

'You can't, Your Highness,' said Evixrus, intervening, 'she is beyond reach.'

'I don't care for the risks. I will retrieve her from the Land of Origin. Give me the needed spell for the passing!'

'No spell will work once the seal is broken, Your Highness. As I've earlier explained to His Majesty, once the ancient seal is broken, it could never be mended. Thus the passing back and forth becomes impossible.'

Lanesirus's eyes traveled between the king and priest to the dead man between them. 'Did he talk...tell you something, anything?'

'He took his own life before being interrogated. The cowered, ' answered Homokirus, bitterness in his voice. 

'How were you sure it was Suarus who've passed?' he asked, his stare piercing through Evixrus. 

'I've seen her with my own eyes, Your Highness,' said the high priest, 'the princes' handmaid too. The one always at her side.'

A spark of hope glinted in Lanesirus's eyes by the mention of Tirus.

'It was unfortunate that she threw herself after the princess's successful passing, just when the soldiers were about to claim her.'

Lanesirus forcefully shut his eyes, a furrow creasing the space between his brows. His grip tightening on his sword, his knuckles white.

'Your Majesty, this breach in our security is grave. It could be the end of us all. We need to contain it before...' The priest hesitated. 'Before the great Gaxmanisus awakens. It pains me to say that I must—'

'I forbid using your dark magic against her. I will not kill my own daughter!' exclaimed the king.

'Your Majesty, the continuation and stability of the Gaxmanisus and the existence of the realm is at stake! I see no other way...'

'Find one! Do what you must, High Priest, but leave my daughter unharmed. I want Suarus back alive, not dead. Is that understood?'

The high priest lowered his head submissively, 'Yes, Your Highness.'

The king's cloak flapped behind him as he walked to the horses, mounting his. He recognized the haunting look residing in Lanesirus's eye, for it was the same he had carried since Ushalius's death, betrayal. He slashed the leather reins, then cantered out of the meadow towards the woods, a dozen soldiers on their mounts following him.