Crisp, soothing winds blew outside the red circular building, easing the weary minds of the patrolling men. One such breeze drifted past them, it was sharper than the rest, carrying a distinct sanguine stench.

  The metallic, blood-tinged breeze unsettled them. But before they could react, their heads—cleanly severed—fell. Their bodies followed soon after.

  Dozens of thuds echoed simultaneously.

  The crisp wind still blew, but it soothed no one anymore. None appreciated its calmness and serenity, yet it flowed all the same. Indifferent and cold.

  A man in a white coat silently stood beside the headless body of the last guard. His breath steady yet his eyes looked fatigued.

  Despite the carnage carried out as instinctively as a heartbeat, his clothes remained unsmeared by a drop of blood.

  Letting out a small breath, he muttered, "I took too long..."

  Ravina, leisurely biting her nails, kept her blade pressed to Elsyn’s back with the other hand. Then a figure in white stepped out of the darkness ahead.

  Ravina smirked. "I barely heard a sound. You’re good, Doomwarden Corvus."

  "We have different standards, Brineheart," Corvus said evenly. He glanced over Elsyn for injuries—there were none.

  "Sure... Let’s go. I wonder who her friends are that made the Kin send a Doomwarden of your calibre. I can barely contain my excitement." She poked Elsyn with her blade. "Lead the way."

  Corvus led them to the first metal carriage he had marked.

  Elsyn trailed behind him, stepping past scores of headless bodies. By all rights, the merciless sight should have unsettled her. Yet, strangely, she felt nothing.

  You reap what you sow. The only thought her mind formed—startling her more than her own indifference did.

  She was no longer the aloof, naive girl who had set out from Caldraveth. She had changed.

  "Is this it?" Ravina asked.

  "Could be. There are three more carriages like this one, they should be in one them," Corvus replied.

  Ravina regarded the carriage. "Hmm... This one doesn't seem special... But then again that's a perfect place to hide something special." She gestured for Corvus to open the door.

  Inside, seven children were sleeping. Their bodies scarred with wounds and lashes, and their faces bore deep melancholy.

  Ravina stepped forward along with Elsyn, and knocking on the carriage a few times she awoke some of the children.

  "Hello, cuties. Do any of you recognise your friend Elsyn here; say hello to them, Elsyn," Ravina playfully spoke.

  One of the children, a boy, rubbing his eyes, meekly asked, "Where's master?... Who are you ma'am? Is it time for us to —"

  Ravina curtly shut the door. "A dud. Shall we move on to the next one."

  Corvus simply turned and moved toward the next carriage.

  It held five children; none knew Elsyn. Apprehension crept within Elsyn's mind, she feared the worst: Have they been sold—No... please, no.

  They advanced to the third one. Again, no luck.

  Elsyn's breath grew heavy; Ravina's eyes flickered in frustration; only Corvus remained as he was—detached, mute, and grim.

  Now, only one carriage remained that fit Elsyn's description.

  "Whoever said third time's the charm is about to be proven so wrong," Ravina commented and gestured Corvus.

  Corvus opened the gate; inside, four children sat huddled on worn blankets.

  The black box, the coarse fabric, the faint smell of charcoal and fish—it all brought Elsyn's memories rushing back.

  Their childish quarrels. Their inane gossip. The laughter. The belonging. She remembered it all and dreaded losing it all the more.

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  "Livi—" Elsyn began, but a sharp voice from behind her cut her off.

  "Not so soon, girl," Ravina said.

  Approaching the children, Ravina asked, "Do any of you know this girl?" And placed Elsyn in front.

  A small figure crawled out of the shadows. A girl stared at Elsyn for a long moment. "Is she... perhaps my new master?"

  Ravina patience snapped. She shoved Elsyn's face into the carriage. "Do any of you know her? Think hard, little ones."

  The children trembled, then quickly crawled back and folded themselves into one corner.

  "Girl, you don't know them? Are you certain?" Ravina probed Elsyn.

  "Yes! They're not the ones I'm looking for," Elsyn voice broke with frustration.

  Ravina squeezed Elsyn's hand, dragged her a few paces from the carriage. A small cold smile formed on her face. "Then you won't mind me killing them all, right?"

  "What? Are you mad?"

  Ravina looked at Corvus. "Doomwarden," she said sweetly, "do what you do best. Kill them."

  Corvus did not move an inch. He darkly stared at Ravina.

  But Ravina was not one to back off so easily. She placed her blade against Elsyn's throat and pressed lightly—a thin line of blood formed on her neck.

  "Either you draw blood. Or I will," Ravina hissed.

  Reluctantly, Corvus approached the carriage.

  Ravina leaned closer to Elsyn's ear, whispering, "Last chance, girl... speak the truth or all will be for naught."

  "I'm telling you, they are not my friends—believe me."

  Corvus had almost grabbed a child's leg, when Ravina said, "Stop."

  Ravina scratched her head and sighed. "What a hassle. All this effort and nothing to show for it... Still, two dozen Legionary scum dead, that’s something. And a Doomwarden, too."

  A grin tugged at her lips. "Not bad at all, Ravina. The brass will be pleased."

  She extended a hand. "Doomwarden, hand over your weapon. We’re leaving."

  Corvus walked toward her, blade in hand. His face was calm, empty, and deliberate. He had no intention of striking, yet his mind was focused on his blade alone.

  Carefully, he placed the blade on her waiting palm.

  Ravina pulled it away. At that instant, Corvus poured his will into the blade. Its edge grew drastically lethal and sturdier by an unseen force.

  Then the lightning within Corvus suddenly surged—it raced through the blade into Ravina's arm.

  For a heartbeat, her body seized. A moment too long.

  Corvus let go of the blade and thrust his palm into Ravina's chest. The impact hurled her several meters back, slamming her into a carriage.

  Dust and ash fell from the carriage, coating her face and clothes. She coughed rapidly, while waving off the dust. To her shock, her mouth spewed blood and mucus.

  Internal injury... that monster.

  She had barely steadied herself when Corvus's shadow loomed over her. He had come barehanded, as if wanting to prolong Ravina's suffering while relishing it physically.

  "Let a woman catch her breath at least. Don't they teach you any manners in the Kin, Doomw—"

  Her words died on her lips as Corvus clenched her jaws and lifted her effortlessly into the air.

  Ravina flailed her legs, but neither did she find any ground nor did Corvus relent.

  As she suffocated, her face lost its color, becoming pale blue. However, her ego, her unknwon grudges were too obstinate to yield even in front of death itself.

  She smirked.

  Corvus cared little for the bravado of a dead woman; he raised his fist at her. Yet waited a few breaths before striking, as if giving his opponent a final word.

  An unspoken respect—begrudging, but earned.

  "The Covenant will hunt you and your masters like dogs. I'll save you a seat in hell," Ravina spoke through her teeth, and closed her eyes. Her last impact upon the fleeting world was complete.

  Yet, the strike she awaited never came. Instead, the crushing grip on her jaws eased, dropping her on the floor.

  Laboriously breathing, she gasped for air and looked up.

  Corvus, and now Elsyn too, were standing above her with a confused expression.

  "You're from Covenant of Eldara?" Elsyn asked.

  Ravina was a bit reluctant to answer at first, but after a few seconds, she replied, "Yes. What'll you do? Kill me?... That monster was about to anyway... so I suppose torture. I'll bite my tongue long before you can get a word out of me."

  "For a person ready to die, you talk too much," Corvus coldly commented.

  Ravina looked at him sharply, hatred burning in her eyes.

  "Please calm down, Mrs. Ravina. We're not who you think; he's not a Doomwarden. You misunderstood our identities. We're looking for a passage to the Covenant ourselves," Elsyn said, setting aside the bitterness.

  "And you, who are you, girl? What's your story?" Ravina asked in denial.

  "Again, my name is Elsyn. My sister and I are hoping to find sanctuary in the Covenant. We've travelled all the way from Caldraveth, please don't say no."

  Corvus observed Elsyn, he had no clue about her motives or goals, apart from their shared destination, Covenant of Eldara. The geezer and El were right—I really am socially inept.

  He further thought, Caldraveth? Never heard of the place... Must be a minor one.

  It was not. But for Corvus—negligent in academical matters—it was. He was yet to realise his shortcomings in the art of academics in general and politics in particular.

  Ravina quietly stared at Elsyn for a while, then smacked her own face with a palm and slumped back. "Fffuuucckk! There goes my entire month's salary for good now... Why does this happen to me only?"

  Coughing up some more blood, she sat up with a groan. "Did that bastard really have to hit so hard?"

  Corvus instantly retorted, "Be grateful it wasn't your heart that I aimed for, Brineheart."

  "Sure, sure. I'm real grateful, asshole."

  "Mrs. Ravina, if I may ask," Elsyn interjected. "Why did you call Corvus a Doomwarden?"

  "His cufflinks—a crow's beak." Ravina pointed at Corvus's arms. "That's an exclusive sigil reserved for Doomwardens. Anyone else wearing it in Bleakmoor Hearth signs their own death sentence."

  "Makes me wonder how he got it in the first place?" Ravina squinted at Corvus.

  Elsyn too fixed her gaze at him. "Corvus?"

  The man in question, Corvus Ashford, stayed silent for a long moment.

  However, the combined weight of the two gazes on him, pressed harder than he had thought. Succumbing to their pressure, he confessed,

  "Alright, fine. I went out of my way to steal these cool-looking clothes by attacking some group hauling merchandise. Happy? Now can you stop looking at me?"