Near a campfire at the side of the road, three people were sleeping near a carriage.
Alicent opened his ocean blue eyes and lifted his head. He stood up and put a few leaves below the blanket.
There were not many predators in the region, except if you counted the bears, who were also hibernating during winter.
Besides, it was not uncommon for travellers to set up camp near the roads.
I should be back in less than an hour, they might wake up.
He said as he walked towards the forest. In his belt, the short sword was attached, and a gun was placed between his pants and the belt.
The forest was dark, but he had a small torch in hand that should last the trip, if not, he also carried a few pieces of cloth coated he had dipped in oil before leaving to make another torch just in case.
The road wasn't bad, but the grass had grown over it, and without a torch, it would be hard to discern the road from the forest.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." He muttered slowly, making his way through the overgrown road.
Crisp.
A twig snapped behind him.
He put his hand to his gun and pulled it out.
He looked back, only to see a deer staring at him. He looked at it for a second before the creature ran away.
"Just a deer..."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
...
In the darkness of the forest, two agents dressed in formal clothing were breathing heavily.
"I told you not to get too close!" The woman whispered loudly.
"It was dark! Besides, I cannot see in the dark." He whispered back.
The woman sighed lightly. The silver moonlight fell on her slightly tanned skin and delicate features, and the loose strands of her hair that were tied in a bun stayed lightly.
"Just be careful next time," Reina told the man. He nodded. She continued. "We still don't know where he is heading..."
A moment of silence followed.
"The Hanged Cliff..." The man slowly muttered with a serious expression as he looked at his senior.
"The incident of Year 875, where a thousand believers of the lord of light were hanged. " The man said with a hand on his clean-shaven chin.
"The Rebel forces were the perpetrators..." He continued, and Reina was intrigued. "The believers hanged were the believers of the lord."
"This place has something to do with the Lord of Light and the diamond domain he holds authority over."
"Perhaps you're just overthinking." She told him.
"Perhaps, but it does do justice to my job as a history teacher." He told her with a smirk. "He has moved farther away; let us continue tailing him."
She nodded with a hum.
...
As Alicent walked, he looked around carefully, he was getting paranoid of his environment by the second.
He hadn't realized that the road in the forest went this deep; it was like the road was leading him to the endless darkness.
It kept getting darker with each step he took, even the moonlight didn't shine through the trees.
"I feel like I've been running in circles." He said to himself as he took a sigh.
He looked back.
"... Did I walk through there?" He said in surprise.
Behind him, the forest seemed to be even darker, and his eyes widened.
Perhaps it's not me going deeper into the forest... Its just the intensity of the darkness around me increasing...
He walked a few steps back, the torch in his hand flickered, and a strong wind blew from the path he had previously walked.
The gust pushed him back, it was like a soft cushion that had enough force to prevent his body from walking in that direction.
A barrier of wind? What absurdity... He said as he stepped back, the wind stopped.
He picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at the barrier of wind. The small rock flew a few meters away, tumbling a few times before losing its velocity.
It doesn't affect nonliving things, then... He said inwardly.
I did expect to encounter the supernatural, but an unpassable barrier of wind is not what I expected.
"I guess I can only go forward now." He said out loud as he walked in the original direction he was walking in previously.
As he walked through the constantly darkening forest, he couldn't help but notice the strange carvings in the tree.
They were cross like ingravings from whence red liquid poured out. He couldn't help but recall the strange dream he had before departing for Snofel.
His intuition indeed was right, there was a connection between his dreams and the forest.
Those red crosses, they symbolize the hanged lord, then does this road lead to the church I saw in my dream? Alicent shivered as his hair stood on end.
I should turn back... Oh, wait, that barrier of wind, there must be a catalyst for it. He looked around, finding nothing in his periphery.
With slow steps, he walked through the roads, with his torch flickering sometimes because of strong winds that shook the trees.
Wind carried the petals of a white tree towards Alicent, he turned his head towards the direction from which they came.
There were ruins there, ones of buildings tens and twenties of meters high covered in foliage and moss. There was a broken cathedral in the centre, one that had fallen.
A tree slightly taller than the surrounding trees in the forest stood in the middle of the cathedral. Its petals were not needle-shaped like the trees in the forest, instead, they were whitish grey with shapes similar to those found south of the Mountains of the Giants.
Alicent widened his eyes, one of which emitted a dim glow.
This... A white tree...
Silver moonlight descended on the tree like the halo of an angel.
Amongst the fallen leaves on the ground, a lone figure of a girl stood there. She wore long whitish robes, and her hair was fine and white in a shade similar to the petals of the leaves.
In the strong winds, the petals in the air and on the ground flew towards Alicent. He put his arm up to shield himself from the wind and continued looking at the girl.
She slowly turned towards him, revealing her pale skin and grey eyes. Her gaze was devoid of any emotion, almost like a puppet.
She's pretty... Like a doll. Alicent said to himself as his gaze lingered on the woman. He was mesmerized by her beauty and the serene aura she exuded.
Her grey eyes locked into his blue.
She disappeared from her original position, her figure appearing several meters above him. In her hands was a sword made up of bone with a sharp edge on one side and serrations on the other side.
Alicent widened his eyes.
This person was not friendly.
The sword she held was almost as tall as she, and she held it tightly over her head with both hands.
Swish!
What?.. Alicent didn't get the opportunity to think, his gaze followed the fast-moving sword's edge. It came to a stop when it lay just beneath his feet.
He glanced at the woman, eyes wide in surprise and fear.
His body split vertically as it was sliced in two like a piece of butter.
Gong!
A sound of a bell ringing in his ears as the scene in front of him blended out, replaced by the woman still standing near the tree, her eyes locked into his.
Fuck...
Like in the vision, she appeared above him while clutching the sword.
It was Precognition.
Swish!
He instinctively dodged to the side, placing his hand on the gun wedged in his belt. As the sword hit the ground, he realised that he had narrowly escaped death.
The woman's gaze followed his movement, her eyes held a tiny hint of emotion, surprise.
He pulled the gun out and pointed it at the woman.
Bang! Bang!
Two bullets were fired.
The girl dodged the first bullet, letting it fly behind her. Her head bobbed down, avoiding the second bullet.
With her head still down, she put her skinny arm forward, the tip of the bone sword was thrusted out towards Alicent's torso.
Alicent widened his eyes as blood surged out of his abdomen.
Gong!
The bell rang in his head again as the vision faded, replaced with the girl ducking her head to dodge the bullet.
Like Alicent had seen, she thrust her arm forward.
With the bone sword rapidly approaching his torso, Alicent jumped back just in time to avoid the strike.
She's fast, but not as fast as when she appeared in the sky, that is probably an ability that allows her to bypass the distance somehow...
He huffed as his breath started getting heavier. After throwing away the flaming torch, he held on to the short sword in one hand and the revolver in the other.
The girl stood straight and pierced the tip of her sword into the ground. She put her two arms together, like she was doing a prayer, but it only lasted a split second.
She put her arm up, spread her fingers out, gusts of wind blew the petals on the ground, and Alicent put the arm with which he held the gun upwards, shielding himself from the winds.
With an arm up, the winds were hastened and stronger. In her hands, abyssal darkness surged out from her palm, forming a ball of black viscous liquid that seemed to be unaffected by gravity or the strong winds.
Alicent's blue eye pulsed at a high frequency, like it was detecting danger as the darkness in the forest materialized into tendrils. They were wild and seemed to have a life of their own.
He felt dread approaching.
The girl squeezed her hand into a ball, crushing the mass of black liquid, and the shadows around Alicent seemed to lose any wildness they possessed; they all swayed in a uniform manner around him.
This girl is using that black tar she has in her hands to control the shadows. It's a conduit between the abyss and the real world, then... Alicent knew what he had to do now.
He gripped the sword in his hand tightly.
With her monstrous strength, I can't use this sword to fight her; the best use for it is as a distraction.
With a plan in mind, he threw the short sword towards the girl's hand. The sword spun horizontally as it flew rapidly towards the woman.
She moved to the right, narrowly avoiding it as the sword flew behind her.
Gong!
The scene of the future blended in with the present as Alicent smirked. As he threw the sword, he deviated his arm, throwing it to the right, where the girl was going to be moving to avoid the sword.
The girl dodged to the right, the sword rapidly approached her face, and at this rate, it was going to injure her badly.
The look of surprise in her eyes deepened. It was unexpected for one to throw their melee weapon in combat, it was even more unexpected for the boy to know exactly where she was going to dodge.
She came up to the preliminary conclusion that it was precognition that allowed the boy to dodge her blows and predict her path.
With the sword almost at her face, she ducked, and the swaying strands of her hair were cut by the flying blade.
In war, the first principle of an Emperor is to conceal what he is doing.
Alicent smirked.
Bang! Bang!
He pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession, the girl widened her eyes.
The abyssal tendrils that were surrounding Alicent lost their source of energy, blending in with the shadows.
The girl disappeared and appeared a few meters away from her original position as the bullets embedded into a tree behind where she had previously been.
She looked like she was out of breath.
She can only perform it a couple of times, or is it because the movement is not instantaneous and needs a couple of seconds of preparation before performing it? He analysed her ability.
The sword was still where she had pierced it.
"Abyssal Herald Anya." A voice said from behind the girl, it was a woman's voice.
Two people, a woman with slightly tanned skin in her early 20s and a middle-aged man in his 30's walked out of the bushes, dressed in exquisite formal wear.