Note: I will be using my previously purchased lemon in order to combat scurvy that had been picked up after Island 5!

***

The world was in a much worse state than she initially thought.

Having helped Cleopatra with the disposal of Octavian and the Roman army, Marina believed that times of hardship and bloodshed were over. The Egyptians were given an opportunity to find themselves again: soldiers came home to reunite with their families, poverty-stricken communities were beginning to thrive since money wasn't being thrown at war materials, and famine was declining at a fast rate since enemy pillagers weren't around to steal food for themselves.

She hadn't considered the Romans would retaliate by forming a cult of practicing necromancers hellbent on raising the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse to be her next obstacle to face. Nor did she expect for the necromancers to actually achieve their goal, sending the world into complete and utter chaos.

People, both in and out of Egypt, were dying at faster rates than ever before. The sudden yet rapid decline of life forced Marina to intervene yet again. And she did so by seeking guidance from the hieroglyphs that prophesied her arrival in the first place.

*

Of all the powerful creatures that were available to help get rid of the Four Horsemen, a group of young-faced vampires also capable of jumping through dimensions wasn't what she was expecting.

The presence of the bloodsuckers wasn't only necessary but intriguing too—because in their timeline, where territories were made up of covens instead of countries, the Romans instilled their superiority by killing anyone who disagreed with their customs. The vampires working to help Marina were, incidentally, the last remaining members from a recently eradicated Egypt.

They saw their request for assistance as a chance to avenge their fallen comrades.

Even with help, however, Marina wasn't sure of her next course of action considering she didn't know...

"How exactly does one kill the Four Horsemen?" She glanced around at four pairs of glowing orange eyes. "Aren't they more a type of otherworldly omen or unseen power instead of a physical manifestation?"

"Contrary to dramatized media portrayals, the Four Horsemen are living, breathing, corporeal beings. That's how those cursed necromancers were able to give life to them in the first place; because the Horsemen were revived by means of mass sacrificial offerings under the guise of territorial expansion via the art of war. But with the promise of life comes the threat of death. Those beings have been killed before, and they can be so again."

"How?"

"Let us take care of that. You should focus on finding a way to get us to them without being noticed. If we can get the job done quietly, innocent bystanders won't have to be harmed."

"But... how would I get us there?"

"You're the Silken One, aren't you? You may need our help to stop this threat, but the one with the power to even get the ball rolling is you."

Marina pursed her lips in uncertainty. She didn't understand the extent of her abilities, and, because of that, she wasn't sure how exactly she was supposed to get them from the picture caves in Egypt to the summoning domain in Rome. Also, since each moment wasted led to more death, their journey would have to be quick—something that would possibly take superhuman speed to get done.

But maybe, just maybe, her methods of thinking were too logical. Maybe she was putting too much thought into the next plan of action. Following her gut proved to be a pretty reliable system of moving things along as of late.

Perhaps all Marina needed to do was follow her instincts again.

She kneeled down onto both knees, the palm of her hand resting against the ground. Stretched out fingers felt each individual scratch and grain of sand. When her eyes closed, delicate tingles sent electricity running up her entire arm.

A hand against the Earth acted as an anchor when her mind flew sky high, an attempt being made at picturing the people she was supposed to be dealing with. She thought of a gangly body ravaged by sickness; of pronounced skeletal structures barely hidden behind cloaks of skin; of weapons and blood and grief and destruction; and, finally, of a battlefield made up of unresponsive corpses. Marina thought up a visual image of each Horsemen before she felt the world around her shifting.

Distant, surprised shouts forced her to open her eyes.

Still not used to her power, overwhelming dizziness made her vision blurry. But that didn't stop her from watching as numerous cloaked figures were caught kneeling in front of four gray-skinned, horned, mouthless people.

The vampires sprung into action before the necromancers and Horsemen really knew what was happening.

Left and right, people were thrown out of their spots against jagged rocks and crumbling walls. Limbs were torn away from bleeding bodies. Pained screams were silenced when indulgent bites were taken out of exposed necks. Corpses began piling up within a matter of seconds.

Marina decided to stay out of the battle for several reasons: one being her continuously swimming vision made her feel nauseous, and two being the fact that the vampires didn't seem to need any help in... taking care of the threat.

She looked away when the sound of tearing flesh became a little too much to handle.

That left her, unfortunately, unprepared to fend off a pair of hands that clamped around her mouth. The connected arms keeping her close were warm, but she was held against something hard and cold. Soft red fabric bellowed into her field of vision when a window was broken, letting in a rather strong breeze.

It seemed that in the span of time Egypt took to begin mending its wounds, Rome took the time to do the same with its army.

"We've finally found you, Silken One. I have to say, I didn't think you were actually real; I thought the folktales of a realm hopping woman were insane. But you've finally made an appearance at long last." A large grin could be felt forming against her ear. Heated breath raced against the skin of her neck, causing goosebumps to form. "How kind of you to join the party."