"I came from the underground. You have mines right under your palace!" Caden called.
"What are you talking about, kid?" Jedar was standing in horror in the centre of the room, his guards at the entrances were standing without any response to Caden's presence.
"I mined some kind of ore underground with which you torture my people!" Caden shouted.
"I didn't know about that, Caden... I'm sorry," Jedar whispered.
Caden turned, released his sword, and his thoughts began to fill his mind again.
"Caden, watch out!" Cassandra shouted, and a guard stopped her at the entrance.
Caden turned and was pierced by Jedar's sword, he fell on the ground.
"I'm really sorry about this, Caden. I didn't want it to end like this, I wanted you on my side..." Jedar walked around Caden.
"You monster..." Caden crawled on the ground while holding his wound.
"Monster? Me? Don't you realize what I have done for you? For all of you, and for her people? And what did you do!?" Jedar walked from side to side.
"Prison..." Caden replied.
"Ahh, Caden... You're not such a fool. I protected them! What do you think would happen if I would release them freely? They wouldn't survive a day! This is how they are safe in the town, they have freedom there and nothing is missing, and the mine? There were only those who deserved it!"
"You're just a coward..."
"Hah, I'm honourable, but not foolish, Caden. And I'm also not a mage. You know that you can't defeat me in a fair duel, after all, you've already tried it. Do you think I don't know about that sword? It began to break before it even touched your sword. Who is the real coward, Caden? Think about it, in the realm of the demons you serve to, you'll have enough time for that," Jedar nodded at the guards, and they released Cassandra, she ran to Caden.
"Now excuse me. I have enough work with your other friends, Caden. By the way, I'll tell you a secret. Everyone in the mine was convicted of murderers and crimes, and you released them," Jedar waved his hand and left the building with his guards.
"Get up, Caden!" Cassandra tried to pick up Caden.
"Why did you come here? You have to go..." Caden pushed Cassandra's hand away and laid on his stomach.
"Damn, Caden! Don't be like a child!" Cassandra shouted.
"I killed Merill..."
"Merill is alive! In his kind of way... Now let me help you!" Cassandra urged.
"What...?" Caden replied in confusion.
Cassandra unbuckled her cloak and bandaged Caden, then she helped him to get on his feet.
"You shouldn't have come here. When we get out, they'll kill us," Caden said.
"Shh... You two!" the man in the watchmen's uniform called. "Come this way."
Caden's eyes lit up as he saw his face. It was the watchman who shared the food with him.
"Come, I know another way out."
"Who is he, Caden?" Cassandra asked.
"An old friend."
"Come on now!" the watchman shouted.
Meanwhile in front of the palace...
"Sir, did you let them go...?" the soldier asked.
"Of course not. This building is a thing of the past," Jedar smiled and nodded at the two guards, pouring black dust from the door.
"Sir, are you going to destroy the palace?"
"This building is linked to an incompetent and corrupt past government, and it will be that way forever in the eyes of the Empire's citizens, captain."
"Shouldn't we move away, sir? This will certainly cause turmoil in the entire Imperial City."
"Yes, captain, how lucky I came out on a patrol with my personal guard when those treacherous mages destroyed the palace," Jedar smiled.
"Wouldn't it be suspicious if there was no one in the palace?"
"You're cunning, captain. Of course, the palace is not empty... Captain, start the Exterminatus immediately after the palace is destroyed," Jedar ordered.
"Sir, are you..."
"Of course I'm sure! Perhaps a direct attack on the Imperial City could be enough as a reason. And now we should leave. Soldiers!" Jedar indicated to the soldiers, and they lit the black dust with torches.
Caden, Cassandra, and the watchman went out of the tunnel near the walls of the Imperial City.
"Why did you help us?" Caden asked.
"I'm already dead. You know, because of your escape, a lot of people will die now..." watchman replied.
"What do you mean?" Caden asked.
"I was lucky and heard of an order called Exterminatus."
"And what does that mean?" Cassandra asked.
"From the context, I understood that they would kill everyone who knew about the place..."
"Hey, you there!" shout and the barking of dogs was heard from afar.
"Run away!" the watchman forced his backpack into Cassandra’s hands and pushed Caden and Cassandra, they ran away.
They ran north toward the rocks and stopped there.
"Where's the watchman?" Caden was scared.
"He probably stayed there, I thought he was running behind us," Cassandra replied.
"We have to..." Caden proclaimed.
"No! Didn't you hear what he said? Do you want to fight your way into the Imperial City in this condition?" Cassandra replied.
Caden clenched his fists. "You're right. We have to go."
They both reached the forest and camped there.
"You have to sleep, Caden," Cassandra smiled and used a bandage from watchman's backpack instead of the cloak on Caden's chest.
"Why did you come to that palace?" Caden asked.
"I was going there regularly, Jedar said he would let you go someday... But I don't know what he was talking to you about," Cassandra replied.
"It does not matter. You must sleep too," Caden said.
"You're right, I haven't slept for days, because of fear."
An armed crowd had amassed in front of Terrville in the morning.
"Lieutenant, those people don't look friendly," One of the town guards said.
"Oh, I see."
"And your orders, sir...?"
"Unchanged, we will defend the town. I am sure that ours will send reinforcements soon."
"Sir! Over there!" the guard called.
"I said it!" the captain of the town guard shouted.
The warden's standard appeared on the hill, and Jedar with the entire army after a moment.
"My lord, will we help the town?"
"We can't prevent our people from achieving justice," Jedar said.
"Sir... There are our soldiers."
"Those traitors? That won't do any harm to us," Jedar replied.
"Um... sir?"
"Captain, I'll leave you with some soldiers. Watch the outcome of the situation, and if our people start loosing, go and help them," Jedar ordered.
"What about all the civilians in the town?"
"Noone of this vile city of murderers can survive," Jedar replied.
"What about women and children?"
"Was my order incomprehensible? Everyone must die!" Jedar ordered several infantry regiments to stay and left with the rest of his army.
The town guards watched in horror.
"They probably think this will be enough for the crowd," one of the town guards said enthusiastically.
"I'll die surrounded by a bunch of idiots," the captain of the town guard proclaimed.
"Ehm... sir?"
The commander of the warden raised his sword and swung it, a volley of arrows flew from the other side of the hill and fell on the town guard.
"What does this mean?!" the town guard shouted.
Subsequently, the crowd ran and attacked the town, while shouting, "Death to the murderers!" "For the Imperial City! For the Empire!"
Caden was awoken by the barking of dogs.
"Cass... Cassandra..." Caden looked around and whispered.
Caden hid behind a tree and saw a man running across the meadow, behind him was a pack of dogs and hunters on horsebacks. Caden slowly drew his sword.
"Shhh, Caden..." Caden turned on left. Cassandra was standing behind the tree.
When he turned back, the dog downed the man to the ground and the hunter stabbed him from the horse with a spear.
"We have to go," Cassandra said. She already knew Caden's vengeful look. "We can't fight them, you're too weak. Come on," Cassandra led Caden down the wind to keep the dogs from catching their trail.
"Where are we going? Where are Merill and the others?" Caden asked.
"They camped near the Imperial City, perhaps they escaped. I can't think of another place to go than Terrville," Cassandra said.
"Okay, let's go there. Hopefully, we will not meet the hunters along the way," Caden replied, and they both headed southeast.
On the way, they were surprisingly not hit by many obstacles. The hunters probably did not expect someone to go further into the Empire's territory instead of borders.
"What's that smoke?" Cassandra asked in confusion.
Visions flashed through Caden's head again. He saw everyone dying in the town.
"Are you okay?" Cassandra asked.
"I think, I am. We have to help them," Caden decided, and they both went to the town gate.
The bodies of the town guards laid in front of the gate. Cassandra took their swords.
"What happened here?" Cassandra asked.
"Soon we'll find, Cassandra," Caden drew his sword and walked through the breached gate.
They were hiding behind the market stalls.
"Help!" the woman screamed while she was dragged by the warden.
"Shut up!" the warden slammed his sword handle against her head.
"Idiot!" there was another warden with a paper and pen. "Not in the face, or you will have to identify them!"
They continued, the town was burning.
"What's in those bags? So many flies, probably meat," Cassandra whispered.
"Those are not bags, those are corpses, there are piles everywhere," Caden replied.
"Name!" Was heard as they approached the square.
"Edward Pitch," A warden standing between the line of the other wardens and the residents ticked off something in the list with a gleeful smile.
"Name!"
"Amelia Snead."
"What are they doing with them...?" Cassandra whispered.
"Just writing them down, they'll probably take them away," Caden replied.
"Keep going!" the warden with paper stepped back from the line.
The wardens raised their rifles, which Caden and Cassandra had not yet noticed and fired.
Caden wanted to get up, but Cassandra stopped him.
"That would be almost everything, gentlemen. Get your break before we'll find another batch," the warden with paper proclaimed.
"All the organized resistance has been dealt with, my lord, but we still miss a few people. We don’t have enough soldiers to search the whole town at the same time."
"I understand, lieutenant, we have enough time. The high warden calls all the soldiers from across the Empire, we'll join the desert fighters at worst."
"Are they going too, sir?"
"Sure, the entire Empire will knock on the Dark One's capital soon, wherever it is."
They both saluted and split up.
Caden reached Amelia.
"No... It's not possible... Why did they do that?"
"I don't know, Caden, I didn't expect it either..."
"They'll pay for this..."
The voices in Caden's head began to scream. He saw his stepfather in front of him, in a village.
"You let her die, Caden... Why? Now the Saints will reject me!"
"Caden... Caden!" Cassandra shook with Caden’s arm.
"What? Sorry..."
"Don't do this to me, especially not now. We gotta get out of here," Cassandra said.
Caden hung his head again and wandered in thoughts.
"C... Cade... Caden..." Cassandra pulled his sleeve nervously.
"What?" Caden turned.
Cassandra pointed out. A large group of wardens was standing around them.
"Well, it must be Caden Snead himself... wait, oh... yes! I had your sister executed a while ago, I'm so sorry, boy. You know war is cruel," the warden smiled, still holding the list.
"Kill them already!" the warden ordered.
Caden's eyes darkened again, and he whispered something.
"Caden... Now is not a good time to pray..." Cassandra retreated as the wardens armed with swords were approaching from all sides.
"What the...?!"
Caden raised his hands, and the swords of some wardens levitated in the air and started to fight them. Despite the losses, the commander with a list was still smiling. All attacking wardens fell on the ground.
"Remarkable. Too bad I don't have time to watch your tricks any longer. Shoot them!" commander called, and the wardens fired rifles from all sides. But the bullets stopped and returned to their owners, ending the lives of the last of the commander's defence.
At that moment his smile had already dropped. Only the commander and his personal guard were left.
"Before I kill you, I want to know why..." Caden came in front of him.
"Why? What led us to destroy this "evil paradise"? The same reason why you just killed so many law enforcement officers... Revenge," commander replied.
"Revenge? And what for?!" Caden called.
"Hah, don't pretend to be an idiot! With your band of thugs, you attacked the palace in the Imperial City and demolished it."
"Why do you care about one building at all?" Cassandra asked.
"You are not pretending... You are idiots. There were families of the highest-ranking wardens and many servants of the Empire in the palace. Including my family," the commander said.
"How do you know we destroyed the palace?" Cassandra asked.
"The high warden saw it with his own eyes. And now, kill me already, you monsters."
Caden dropped his sword. "No... Get out of here."
"Do you want to leave me with a fate worse than death?" the commander replied.
"What are you talking about?" Caden asked.
"I'd rather die here than go back, and being executed like the wardens who helped you and shame my entire family. So, defend yourself!" the commander shouted.
Cassandra stood in the way of the commander.
"I'm not going to fight a girl," The commander proclaimed.
"That's all right, Cassandra," Caden said while drawing his sword.
They both started fighting. The commander's guard escaped. After a moment of combat, Caden stabbed the commander and placed him on the ground.
"Where's the high warden?" Caden asked.
"His army went to the Wall of Sorrow, but he went to the temple where we hid the artefact... North from here," the commander said.
"Wait! Why would he tell us so easily...?" Cassandra stepped forward.
"Uh... ech... I'll never get to the Saints anymore. This won't hurt me... Thanks for the fight."
Caden closed the commander's eyes.
"What now?" Cassandra asked.
"We're going to find Jedar," Caden said, they mounted the nearby warden's horses and headed out.
"This must be it," Caden said as he saw the small temple of the Saints, he opened wide a large door and ran inside.
Jedar was standing in the back, staring at the dark artefact on the pedestal.
"This evil must be destroyed. It destroys the mind..." Jedar murmured.
"You won't have to care about that anymore, Jedar!" Caden called.
"I see that someone doesn't even know when to die!" Jedar turned.
"I came here to fight back!" Caden drew his sword.
"We cannot fight in the temple of the Saints," Jedar replied.
"Hah... Then I'll just kill you!" Caden ran to Jedar with his sword firmly in his hands and swung with it.
Jedar drew his sword quickly and defended himself.
"Caden, the artefact has evil power! The mortals can't touch it without going mad!" Jedar shouted.
"But I'm not an ordinary mortal, haven't you noticed?" Caden's eyes darkened.
"By all the Saints..." Jedar murmured.
Caden took advantage of Jedar's dismay, knocked the sword out of his hand and pierced him. Then he kicked him off of the small stairs to the ground.
"Yes, finally!" Caden laughed madly.
"Um... Caden? Do you hear that too?" Cassandra asked.
There was a terrifying, deep laugh, "Muhahahaha... haa! Finally, my warrior!"
A large shadow appeared on the windows in front of Caden.
"My knight, feed on my power! Does anyone else want to challenge the Dark Champion?!"
The atmosphere thickened.
There was a loud voice going through the whole temple, "I!"
Cassandra turned, "Merill?!"567Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcL8x6mFHnz
