The horses cried to be set free from their reins, galloping restlessly as the monsters drew closer. Guinevere looked at the beasts, her mind still perplexed with what she saw as she holed back into the carriage. The monsters had humane figures but that was where the similarities ended. Some of them had blue and others purple colors.
Others had multiple limbs, others with pus grotesquely pulsing through their veins. Others cried like animals, others sobbed like humans. The image hard to get off her mind. Now alone in her carriage, she could only rely on herself to live another day.
Holding her dress up, she made her way to the horses and freed one of them, the other she boarded and whipped the reins. With a neigh, the horse shot through the woods, away from the beasts however the situation wasn't as ideal as she had hoped.
The abominations gave chase and their speed was no less than hers. Her head lay low, ducking the branches and other fauna while the monsters that followed her mindlessly ran through it all. The image of her falling into their hands made her skin crawl.
It didn't take long for fate to play a trick on her.
*Whoosh*
An arrow to her shoulder made her lose grip on the horse's reins and fall to the earthy ground with a heavy thud.
*Crack*
From the fall, she dislocated her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she could only watch at the group of mercenaries emerge from the darkness, some wearing greedy smiles, others blinded by lust. "Well well well, if it isn't the royal gem of Othare, Princess Guinevere." One smirked, his eyes landing on her assets.
"Now with such a tragedy befalling your kingdom, I'm sure that a fine lady like you would be in dire need of assistance." Another added, his tone growing more ominous with each breathe. "We can take care of you." She let out a resigned sigh, her shoulder was dislocated and ravenous monsters were still chasing her.
If she somehow managed to escape their grasp the monsters were still an unresolved issue. "Damn it! I can sense a huge hoarde heading this way. It would be better if we leave her to stall." One spoke up, presumably their leader.
His body was draped in black, a scar gracing his face. He eyed Guinevere, his mind aware of the price she would fetch in the underworld market but now was not a time to view in the eyes of profit when to their lives were on the line.
Disgruntled murmurs echoed however an order was issued and they couldn't refuse. "If you do somehow manage to survive, we'll be waiting for you." And with that their figures dissappeared back into the shadow. Guinevere looked at her palms, stained with dirt and cuts.
Looking back, she could already hear the hoarde approach her. 'Is this how I meet my end?' In her mind, she had already deemed running stalling the gruelling inevitable. The monsters came into view, their teeth glimmered in the dusk as night slowly covered the lands.
...
The pain and agony that she had pictured in her mind never came to pass. A strange silence filled the scene and daring to open her eyes, she was shocked to see the monsters pause around her. Frozen in time. She staggered back, falling to ground before she felt a figure behind her.
Looking up, she was baffled to see a figure her mind failed to comprehend. The stars themselves failed to glimmer in her presence, as if out of shame. Her brown hair drooped all the way down to her waist, her eyes an ethereal plane of endless stars and souls long devoured.
"You'll do." She spoke, from every word to breathe she took, the world seemed to quiet. The poor innocent girl was still entranced in the mythicality her eyes were blessed with. She couldn't realize that she had ceased to exist, her soul snuffed like a candle in a gale.
The figure dissappeared but something seemed to replace Guinevere, her eyes once filled with admiration and reverence fell out of touch with the world. Every breathe that she took, perfectly drawn and exhaled. The air around her twisted wrong, akin to Jarren's smile lacking his playfulness and bathed with something far more archaic.
She admired her own limbs, the minor cuts coating her body dissapearing in an instant. The monsters that dared to make a meal out of her were erased on multiple levels of existence. Not just their soul but every aspect of their being on the plane of reality as well.
Above the veil of mortality and far above the gods and all logic, a being smiled. Solon who wore Jarren's body like a skin he fancied smiled not out of malice or ill intention but something far simpler. Entertainment. She looked at the sky, with a smile of her own that rivaled his. She was after all the only one that had managed to survive the pale sovereign.
"Very well Solon, let's see how you bring this world to your feet." Space distorted around her and ina blink she vanished.
***
"So you're playing." Solon chuckled, his hand clasped as he looked at his opponent across the board. His eyes spoke of ruin and senseless chaos, hers spoke of calmness far too ordinary to grace the plane of existence. "What, I've long decided that I'll never beat you so I might as well keep myself busy. Maybe you might kill me out of mercy."
Gods and horrors would weep hearing the words she spoke. She had it all, immortality, divine and chaotic power, logic and chaos at her fingers and yet she never thought much of it. The power that she had exhalted over the rest slowly turned into a hobby for her to use to her whim.
"Death? Don't think so gloomily." He snarked, horrors shuddering at the sight of his teeth that stretched way too wide and way too long for their comprehension. "A hopeless despair, your favorite no doubt." In her words held a bitter truth that she had long come to terms with.
He had no plans of letting her go thanks to her woes and cries. The efforts and resistance she put, the means of escape she tried and at times daring to end him only to be met with the same result, his playful smile. Thus from this she knew that would be better to play his game rather than be played by him.
"You know me best Orsen." He concluded, the two looking at the pawns at their disposal. Around them the white void cried out in madness, his castle towering behind him as bizzare creatures lurked about. Some devouring dimensional planes, others siphoning souls and others merely entertained at the sight of those they tortured.
***
The sun's rays shot through the windows, Jarren waking up took a shower before preparing himself for the day to come. After the hectic events of jr second trial, they were given a week off before the third and final trial of the tournament began.
He had a lot of pawns he wished to toy with but first, he had something that he had to deal with.
...
"It's no doubt that Jarren will be the one to come out on top in the tournament." Esdora sighed, her voice signifying her weariness. Sure at first she was thrilled but as time went on, his monstrous progress and towering presence in the game hindered and demotivated the rest of her students.
Most already had given up the prospect of being first, ready to settle for fourth or lower with the top three already dictated. Jarren, Callista and Brose. Ingrid had yet to regain consciousness from his coma. "What about Rhydian? What happened to the interrogation?"
Forare added, Caelbridge professors all gathered and tried to decode his strength. The image of Jarren blocking Brose's attack was still fresh in their minds. "Nothing , the old man simply fell silent." Harven mused, his tone light. "Old man? I wonder how you would act when Rhydian heard you call him an old man."
Esdora playfully added however the joke didn't land. "What surprises me is how he is now. All silent and broody, even his jokes are scarce now. I wonder what happened between him and Jarren." Forare added, his tone heavy as the rest resonated with those present.
"Well the problem is that he won't talk and with the tournament, he has chosen to remain isolated in his office." Esdora mused, her head supported with her hand. "The problem is that after the tournament Timothy is required to take the victors to a secluded retreat so any active investigations will be halted till they're done."
It was clear that they had a week's length window to get their investigation underway or they would be forced to wait for an unknown period of time. "Lirale is on it and with my approval has taken the matters into her own hands." Harven spoke, his words drawing all kinds of glances.
"Lirale? Didn't a close friend of hers die recently? Saevin wasn't it." Another asked only to be confirmed shortly after. "Well I'm sure that she's smart enough to come up with something before the week is up." The Brose and Jarren fight was a good cover for them to stall for time.
...
Elsewhere in the academy, a girl constantly examined her own reflection. Her clothing the usual fitting jet black blazer and short skirt. However her ash hair and beads made her stand out of the rest of the students. It was Callista however her usual cold demeanor was replaced with worry.
Fixing her collar, lightly jiggling them, she took her leave where Jarren's figure was waiting for her. "My mouse, I think that you're out-growing your glass cage." Landing a kiss on her palm, his eyes bore into hers. He had prompted a date with her out of the blue however she couldn't refuse.
She was sure thanks to the drones that the professor would make it known to her father and then it would be more than problematic to explain it. The two walked down the halls and off the academy. All kinds of gazes were shot at them, both ignoring them and hopped onto the tram.
"So where are we going?" She couldn't help but ask, her tone filled with coyness and meekness. She wasn't sure whether to hate what she felt or revel in given that the only time she felt ant emotions were with him. "It's a shame that we're bound to Bolyres but I'm sure that something interesting will happen."
His words hinting at something more than it seemed. Letting him hold her leash and tail, she waited for what he had in-store.