In the dead of night, the boiling islands were quieter than ever. Particularly around the Emperor's Palace. No noise, no shadow animated the streets. The only evidence of surrounding life was two masked guards dressed in their traditional white togas.

In service for many hours already, the two wizards had long lost interest in their mission and contented themselves with staring blankly in front of them. One of them was also on the verge of falling asleep when his colleague pointed to a figure in the mist, her cloak waving in the night breeze.

"Do you think she's hurt? " One of the guards whispered to his comrade.

Indeed the female figure seemed tottering as she walked in their direction. When she was close enough that the mist did not hide any more details, the two guards could see that the young woman was covered with bandages soiled with red, but on the face where only her eyes were visible. Worried, one of the wizards approached the woman.

"Are you fine? he asked."

The young woman continued to walk without any change in her attitude, as if she had heard nothing. The guard stepped closer and found himself close enough to catch up with the stranger as she stumbled. Suddenly, as the woman leaned on the guard's chest to stand up, the guard heard her whisper a word.

"Die... "

The next moment, a terrifying jet of flame crossed the man's chest from side to side. Behind him, his colleague was frozen in place by the scene. What had just taken place was so violent and unexpected that it seemed incompatible with the word real.

Despite everything, his training quickly regained the upper hand and it only took the guard two seconds to come to his senses. Alas, those two seconds were enough for the intruder to rush towards the survivor and impale his throat with an ice pick straight out of her arm. With a fluid gesture, the murderer withdrew her weapon elegantly and the two corpses collapsed in harmony.

Indifferent, the woman simply made her weapon disappear in a cloud of vapor and observed the door that her victims were supposed to defend. Behind these heavy doors was the only thing that still justified her existence, her reason for living. It was the emperor and she was going to kill him.

"Let's finish this ... "

With the help of another powerful jet of flame, the assailant shattered the huge doors and lunged for the stone bridge.

Alerted by the din, many wizards came running, ready to defend their emperor. The fight which then began was most violent. The assailant was formidable. These wizards powerful enough to gain their place around the emperor were being massacred. Some were struck down, others cremated, impaled, etc.

However, despite the difference in strength, these sorcerers were nonetheless the guard of the emperor and they ended up gaining the upper hand through numbers. So, as she defended herself against a true shower of spells, the intruder suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back as a dagger slipped through her abdomen.

As her strength left her, the intruder painfully turned to face a masked witch. The latter, proud of her victory, even lowered her weapon, convinced that everything was already over. Mad with rage at this affront, the intruder tried to strike the witch, but her blow was so weak that her opponent only had to take a step back.

However, she could glance at the arm of this scoundrel. Beneath all the bandages, which had long since ended in ashes, the intruder's arms were covered with symbols carved into the pulpit. These symbols, the witch had seen them before, often even. Only one person knew how to use it.

"Luz?"

The witch removed her mask to reveal the face of Amity Blight, who, barely 25, was the most powerful member of the Emperor's coven.

After the bitter fight, the intruder's bandages had mostly been burnt or torn off. So all the woman has to do was rub her hand on her face to remove what was left. Then appeared a face that Amity would have recognized among a thousand, despite all the scars that covered it now.

"Hey, Amity ..."

"What ..."

Amity couldn't finish her sentence, Luz had reached her limits and collapsed, dead.

***

The next moment, Amity woke up at home, completely panicked.