I left instantly when the fighting stopped. Waiting around seemed like possibly the stupidest thing I could do.

  After retrieving my stuff from the library, I saw Mariel and Jerek walk in and approach me.

  Jerek grabbed my face with both hands inspecting to see if I was hurt. “Dude, what was that?”

  I shrugged and took his hands off my face. “I don’t know man.”

  Mariel’s hand began to glow softly with lucen light as she cast the spell over me.

  I didn’t think I was injured at all but I appreciated the sentiment.

  My eyes drifted to the distance. I was zoned out. “Why do at least three of five Grand Marshal’s want me?”

  Jerek raised his chin with nobility. “I can ask my father and see what the word is, but we’re in tight water right now. I’m pretty sure if we do anything at all except be quiet and do as we’re told I’d wind up homeless.”

  Figures as much.

  Mariel took a step closer to me. “I’m not sure either, but I’m just glad you’re safe.”

  I stopped drifting out to look up at her.

  Her face showed a mixture of grief and gratitude.

  She cared so much about me.

  I nodded and we went to our next classes and just flowed through the motions but things were awkward for everyone — not just me.

  When the last bell rang I walked out and felt a rough tap at my shoulder.

  I jerked around to see it was Rona.

  “Hello, is my advice not helping?”

  She had water beads forming in her eyes. But wiped them away before they walked down her cheeks.

  “No that’s not it. It’s that you helped me a ton Cade. I can’t even repay your kindness because I’m poor. What can I do to make things right?”

  I saw how genuine she was. I wanted to try to think of something to ease her conscience but that wouldn’t ease mine.

  “I’m sorry Rona, but I don’t help people so they’re indebted to me. I just help who’s in need.”

  She stood shocked as people flowed around us to get out of the academy's walls.

  “Okay.” She said as she turned with tears forming.

  I went to turn away too but I heard her mutter something.

  “I wish you could help my–”

  That’s all I could hear before she was too far away.

  Help her what?

  I wanted to know what else needed help but the crowd of people drifted us further apart even if we were still the same physical distance away.

  Per usual I met up with Mariel and Jerek just outside the Academy’s walls. This time they were understanding that I’d be late, given all that transpired in the day.

  We walked around Krail a bit, exploring the markets and whatnot.

  Mariel saw her father at the guild and ran to say hello. He had been on a quest for about a week or so and just now was returning.

  We were still a walk away so I slowed my stride.

  “Hey man, I gotta ask a question.”

  Jerek glanced over to me. “Hmm?”

  What’s your opinion on Mariel?

  He shrugged and glanced back towards her. “She’s a great friend, why?”

  I shook my head softly. “No, I mean do you like her?”

  Jerek stops walking for half a second — not shocked, just… thinking. “Do I like her? Of course I do. She’s Mariel. She’s kind. Strong. Smarter than both of us.”

  I swallowed. “I mean like… a crush.”

  Jerek snorted and slapped my back.

  Ow, what was that for?

  “Oh, THAT.”

  Once again, nodded.

  He looks over to Mariel talking to her father. The look in his eye changes — soft, but not romantic. Older-brother energy.

  “She’s a sister to me. Always has been.” “If anyone hurt her I’d bury them six feet under. But… love?” He shakes his head. “I don’t get to choose things like that. Nobles don’t marry for love.”’

  I turned to him. “That’s rough, I’m sorry man.”

  Jerek shrugged but it’s a heavy shrug. “It is what it is. I’m just… preparing myself.” “Mariel deserves someone who can choose her.”

  Cade freezes for a heartbeat. Jerek bumps his shoulder lightly.

  “Relax, man. You have no competition. Not from me anyway. Better be quick because I can see how she would be a catch.”

  We arrived right before them so we couldn’t finish the conversation.

  Eric's charm broke through our seriousness. “Hey there kiddos!”

  I smiled. “Hello Mr. Levee.”

  We chatted for a moment, then he showed us a tusk he sawed off mid-battle. Most of the time those things were cut after battle. The fact he did it mid-battle just proves his skill as an adventurer.

  We told Eric about Jerek needing to go back to his place and he insisted he walk himself and didn’t need us to walk him home.

  Eric started walking us a different way home.

  “Let’s hit up Fenrick's secret shop.”

  Secret?

  We walked through parts of the town I had seen very little of in the past. We made our way to the northern edge of Krail.

  It honestly felt like a labyrinth, but one I could almost call home. When we went inside we found Fenrick hard at work. And we saw a little bit of dark mithralite.

  He wasn’t working on a relic but perhaps received an order for one?

  We went here for Eric to drop off his findings from the quest and to replace gear.

  It was good to get away from all of what transpired earlier in the day. And to do it with Mariel was wonderful.

  Fenrick gave me and Mariel our gear from way back when we left it at his other shop. Apparently he brought it over to his more secret shop. Possibly with the goal of us knowing we can go to any Cinderheart forge and be welcomed.

  When we left Eric walked a bit farther up than us. So I didn’t want to waste this opportunity.

  “Hey, Mariel.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Her eyes widened and a smile brushed across her face. As if hearing me say her name made her as happy as could be.

  “Yes, Cade?”

  I smiled too. I guess I was as happy as could be when she gave me her attention.

  “Do you like Jerek?” I figured I’d do the same questions I gave Jerek.

  “Mhm!” She nodded. “I love him. I love both of you! Only, Jerek’s a big brother to me. And you are–”

  Her face got bright red and she covered her mouth as she began walking faster to avoid me seeing her.

  “I’m what?” I teased.

  She shushed me.

  Eric glanced at us then his gaze drifted back in front of him. “What’re you kiddo’s doing back there?”

  A stupid grin flooded across my face. “Mariel was just telling me–”

  “NOTHING!” She cried out. “I was telling him nothing, just some school drama that’s all.”

  Eric didn’t skip a beat. “Oh, like a crush?”

  Her face went even more beet red. “Can both of you stop please. I feel like I’m dying.”

  The funniest part is I think Eric actually had no idea what we were talking about.

  We walked more without saying much and I noticed people getting shoved into the back of a transport.

  They were far away but I could still make out some words.

  The one that hurt me the most was the word ‘cleanse.’

  Officers pushed people inside the back. If they refused their order they’d get beaten.

  They already looked like they needed healing, this didn’t exactly make it any better.

  “Mr. LeVee, is it alright if me and Mariel walk around a bit more?”

  He turned and smiled with a nod. “Of course kiddo! Just have her back before sundown.”

  I drew the same expression on my face that he had on his and took Mariel’s hand.

  Her face turned red as I brought her down an alley towards the main city to see where the caravan was going.

  When we reached the end of the alley I looked back and her face was still bright red.

  “Mariel, I’m sorry but I had to show you something.”

  She looked back up at me and took a deep breath bringing her back to normal.

  “You see that over there?” I pointed to the caravan.

  She nodded.

  My eyes sharpened on the caravan even more. “That’s a cleansing caravan. But the people just need basic healing. We could heal them and–”

  Her hand covered my mouth. “No, Cade. I want to help just as much as you do, but you know we’re already being watched as is. Especially you. Three Grand Marshals fought over you today. We don’t need more attention.”

  My eyes drifted away but immediately darted back when I saw Rona.

  “Is that?”

  The woman turned and her face was different from Rona’s.

  Her mom maybe?

  She looked closer. “Is what who?”

  I couldn’t watch. Something inside me boiled with rage.

  My expression went from neutral to a death stare.

  Fathers. Mothers. Sons. Daughters. Cousins. Aunts. Uncles. Nieces. Nephews. Grandparents. Friends. Colleagues. And more. All of them have a mere cold. And the empire wishes to exterminate them?

  My heartbeat felt like drums again. Growing louder. Faster. Stronger.

  I felt a gust of wind hit my back. Not as powerful as wind magic, but certainly enough to move me, even if it was just a quarter inch.

  I muttered to Mariel. “I will not watch.”

  She knew when those words left my mouth I was going to stop at nothing to save the people in the caravan. She was helpless in trying to stop me.

  She sighed. “Fine, but I’m coming, not only will you need my magic to heal them, but you need my backup.”

  I nodded. “They are still rounding people up, we have to wait. Let’s wait nearby.”

  She nodded back.

  We spent a couple hours in the area, we kept a fairly close eye on the caravan ensuring it wasn’t going to move, but made sure to have a fun day.

  We walked around a bit. I took her to a bakery and bought her a pastry. We took our treats to the fountain in the middle of the area and we laughed, ate, and tossed a coin each into the fountain water.

  It wasn’t true, but a common shared delusion was just that tossing in a coin and making a request would lead to good things. Clearly it wasn’t true given how many people likely asked for health, or other prosperous things and nothing ever came to fruition.

  A street performer strolled in, I heard him getting closer with his instrument blaring. He was good but it felt unsettling for some reason.

  Mariel loved it, so why was I unable to just enjoy it too?

  I looked around to see if anything was happening and sure enough the caravan was leaving.

  The street performer was a distraction.

  Sure, the empire did atrocious things daily. But by now they’ve likely realized that out of the millions of people here, the regular people actually outnumber the militant forces.

  With that in mind they can be as oppressive as they’d like, but if they did a public cleansing it would surely result in some form of opposition.

  So for larger events like the caravan, they’d take the subjects to a dungeon, or the badlands, where the very nature of the planet would swallow any evidence.

  I poked at Mariel’s shoulder. “They’re leaving.”

  She turned her head from the performer to see the caravan, then back to me. “Right.” She nodded.

  I climbed the stairs to the top of a building to watch the caravan and where it was heading. Mariel and I jumped from rooftop to rooftop, slid down building curves, and followed the caravan. But the whole time it felt like there was someone following.

  I kept scanning the area but no luck.

  We arrived on top of a building nearby where the caravan had stopped near a market. The caravan was left in a small alley nearby.

  I looked down to see the caravan from the roof, then I glanced at Mariel. “Now’s our chance. Let’s heal who we can. I’ll handle the easier sicknesses, you get the more complicated ones.”

  She nodded and we made our descent.

  There was a second guard who was still in the front with the horses, but he noticed an innocent looking woman a few yards ahead of the caravan so he went to talk to her.

  Likely had no good intentions, but we couldn’t do anything for her — not yet anyway.

  Mariel finished whispering her chant and healed a couple at a time. There must’ve been twenty or so that needed help. She could maybe do three or four at a time, and I could maybe do one or two. It was slow but steady.

  Then the woman up ahead let out a cry so the soldier with her slapped her across the face.

  She clearly didn’t want what the soldier was doing but it didn’t matter.

  The soldier from the market heard her however and walked back outside to check on his partner.

  “The fuck was that?” He said bluntly. Then he noticed the woman and unbuckled his belt. “I want in on this.”

  Didn’t even notice me and Mariel in the caravan. He just cared about his oppression of the innocent, and whatever he wanted to inflict on whoever he wished.

  Mariel saw me grip my sword, knowing I wanted to go help her.

  She put her hand on mine. “Cade, believe me when I say I want nothing more than to help her as well. But if we go over there, we’re as good as dead.”

  I gripped my sword tighter, but she was right.

  I nodded and helped finish healing the sick. The soldiers were distracted so Mariel guided them out of the area and told them to flee town. If they stayed they’d be hunted here.

  Although the empire still existed outside of the capital of Krail, it’d be nearly impossible to track them down elsewhere. But a few had family still in Krail so naturally some couldn’t leave for that reason.

  I finished helping the last of the people out of the caravan when my chest tightened.

  The drums in my heart beat louder than ever before. Everything felt dizzy, but not because I was losing focus, but because I was taking more of my environment than ever before.

  Then I heard the woman cry out. “Why are you doing this?”

  I closed my eyes awaiting the soldier's response.

  “You’re worth nothing more than pleasure for us. So shut your mouth or I will help you.”

  My breathing was steady, low, but my heartbeat was barely ten beats per minute. My body felt colder. I felt almost every part of me change at his last response.

  The world slowed, like I’d stepped into a lake of cold glass.

  Then I opened my eyes and Mariel had just arrived at the caravan to check if there was anyone else. But it was just me. She looked at me as though I wasn’t human.

  I jumped out the back of the caravan and landed then faced the two of them.

  “HEY!” I declared. “Back the fuck off of her.”

  The two soldiers immediately threw her on the ground.

  One looked at me and walked towards me. “Kid, this is official military busin–”

  Before he could finish his idiot mouth’s sentence I lunged forward. Assuming he’d block I didn’t hold back. Apparently I was too fast because my sword sliced directly through his torso, even the bone of his spine.

  Clean cut.

  I barely even saw my own blade move.

  The separated soldier collapsed in two parts. The other dumbass had his dick out and drew his sword while scrambling away and trying to put his pants back on.

  Before I could even do anything his body was split vertically and fell to the ground.

  Out of the darkness of the alleyway came the same woman I saw earlier in the day.

  Grand Marshal Cecilia Thorne. Master of the void. And Harbinger of the Forbidden.

  I stammered. “You split him in half.”

  Her sword dematerialized back into void energy, as if the void was her sheath. “You’re one to talk.”

  True. It was ironic for me to say that considering I had just done the same thing but horizontally.

  “Look kid.” She walked closer to me. “You have guts to say the least. And I’ll overlook this one time. Just tell me where you found the booklet.”

  Mariel stepped in front of me with her hands out, protecting me, being my shield.

  Before she could say anything Cecilia dropped her hood and lowered her mask. “Child of LeVee, I have no care for what you or Cade did tonight. You’re both free to go, all I ask is Cade give me some information.”

  Mariel didn’t move. “Cade has no booklet you speak of. He would’ve told me by now.”

  The rage I felt before completely dissipated.

  How the hell did I not tell Mariel about the booklet yet?

  My eyes drifted downward.

  Cecilia got down on one knee to meet us at eye level. “Is that why his head just drooped down like a sad puppy?”

  Mariel turned around to see me. I was so ashamed.

  “Cade?” Mariel began. “What booklet is she talking about?”

  I could barely open my mouth. “I found it almost ten years ago. It was a booklet from some old ruins. I can barely read it myself, but occasionally the words shift on the page and I can read bits and pieces. It helps me control my magic better.”

  That was the gist anyway.

  Neither of their gaze drifted away, nor did either of them want the spotlight yet. It looks like I had more explaining to do.

  “It felt like it was something unique and I wanted to hold it as a collector, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I read it occasionally. That’s the truth I swear.”

  Cecilia stood back up. “I see.”

  She opened a small pouch on her side and took out the booklet.

  I could read the title now. As if what I did tonight changed the book further.

  The title was ‘The Exacting Codex of the Goddess of the Hunt.’

  The title implied I had to follow everything the book said, no matter what to not stray from the book's words.

  Cecelia opened the booklet and flipped through the pages. “What’s the book about, kid?”

  I was puzzled. “Wait, why can’t you read it?”

  She sighed. “I speak thirteen languages Cade, this is nothing like any of them.”

  How could I read it? Was the book sentient? No, couldn’t be. Something else was allowing me to read it.

  I opened my mouth but hesitated. “Well, the book is called—” I couldn’t tell her the real name. “—controlling mana efficiently.”

  She inspected more pages before closing it. “Right, can you teach me this language? Or at least the contents of the book?”

  I nodded. “I can try. Like I said, though the letters just shift for me. Almost like dyslexia.”

  She nodded. “What’s one piece you can teach me?”

  Where the hell was I supposed to start? “For starters, just breathe in and out and feel the mana come and go through your nose. Then you’ll feel the ambient mana in the atmosphere. From there, absorb a little ambient mana, and your spells will take better shape, or will appear faster.”

  She nodded. “I understand. Thank you, adopted child of the Grimmholts.” She handed me my booklet back. “Don’t worry about cleanup. I will handle this, just get her and yourself home. There’s no need to get in trouble with either of your parents.”

  Why was she protecting me? What did she gain from this?

  I nodded and took Mariel's hand so we could flee the scene.

  We began walking to her house and I explained the truth to Mariel as we walked. I revealed everything. Including how I felt about her. I wasn’t in love the way my parents were, but I felt strongly about her, I had a crush on her.

  I laid my cards on the table and we arrived at her house.

  “I appreciate you letting me try to explain everything. I don’t expect you to forgive me.” I paused. “I’ll go through the motions tomorrow like things are normal, and if you want to still be my friend I’d love to–”

  She interrupted me with an abrupt but intense hug. I felt my shoulder get damp.

  She was crying.

  “You jerk.” She said through tears. “You need to stop thinking it’s just you against the world. You didn’t let me help you in the courtyard at school today, and you didn’t let me help you with those soldiers. You also didn’t tell me about the book, I mean Cade before you killed that man I saw your eyes. They glowed purple.”

  I hugged her back as hard as she hugged me. “I know, I’m sorry Mariel.”

  She released me and took a step back, but her eyes were kept on mine. “I will always stand by you Cade. You need not ask. All I ask in return is you keep me close.”

  I nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

  We hugged again before she walked into her house.

  I got an earful from Mister and missus Grimmholt, but in the end I just fell into my bed. I needed sleep.

  When my eyes drifted to black however, dreams aren't what met me.

  There was a woman. Long blonde braided hair. Skin as pure as water. Clothes dressed for the woods but also for nobility. Unlike most dreams I could actually smell here it smelled of pine, frost, and blood. Most importantly her eyes were purple.

  This was not an ordinary dream, let alone person.

  Was this the Goddess of the Hunt?