"Kindly get the shard fairy into his room," the Sovereign said. Xanthy moved to help Cirasa as the shard fairy struggled but her own guards tightened their hold on her arm. Cirasa shouted something that the sack on his head muffled as he was led out of the room. The door shut with a finality that sent shivers down Xanthy's spine.

The Sovereign nodded to the girl standing mutely on a corner. "Silence is of utmost importance, darling," she waved a hand as she strode towards a table where two chairs waited. "You know what to do."

The girl dipped her head. "Yes, mistress."

Xanthy stepped forward. "Wait—"

A gunshot. A form sprawled on the floor with a thud, lifeless. Bright red blood spread in a thick halo around the girl's head. Xanthy's eyes widened as she edged backward. Why...

The Sovereign waved her hand again. A brush of magic swept past the lifeless form. The blood vanished like they're never there. Xanthy's lips quivered. This woman...Synketros was supposed to be good. Why...

The Sovereign smiled as if sensing Xanthy's turmoil. "It's okay, Virtakios," she gestured towards the other chair. "It's just one of the dispensables. It will be replaced, say, tomorrow," her eyes flashed with a deadly glint. "Probably."

Xanthy eyed the door. This woman was insane. Synketros...just what were they?

"Let's have a seat," the Sovereign said as she perched on hers. "I trust that you find our services commendable?"

Light green eyes that almost looked gray followed Xanthy as she strode towards the table and sat on the chair opposite the Sovereign. The Sovereign's bright red lips curled into a smile, exposing rows of white, pearly teeth.

Xanthy forced her tongue to unlatch from the roof of her mouth. She needed to play this carefully. This was her chance to learn things coming from the Sovereign herself and ask questions of her own. "Well, it's not every day your host murders a servant in front of the guest," she crossed her arms over her chest. "So you're good. Very commendable."

The Sovereign simply inclined her head to one side. Hair as red as dried blood fell into a wavy waterfall from her head. "That's a lie," she said. As was your laugh, Xanthy wanted to say but she swallowed her retort.

"Where are they taking Cirasa?" Xanthy followed the Sovereign's high collar that led towards a long-sleeved, black dress girded with an elaborate belt. Pointed shoulder pads rested on the Sovereign's form before giving way to a cloak that caressed her back like a blanket of soft, black wool.

The Sovereign's smile fell like she had just realized something. Then, in a flash, her features rearranged themselves back into the open expression. Xanthy narrowed her eyes. What's that? "Your friend will be taken to his quarters where you will spend the night," the Sovereign said.

"Hold up," Xanthy splayed her hands in the air. "We won't stay the night here. We have somewhere else to be."

The Sovereign chuckled, her warm brown skin a direct contrast against the whiteness of the room's walls. "I make all the rules here," she said. "Be thankful it's only for one night."

Xanthy pursed her lips. Should she take the Sovereign's words literally or dig for more implied meaning? Perhaps she'd ponder on it tonight. "What do you want?"

The Sovereign raised an eyebrow and folded her hands atop the table. "More importantly, what do you want?"

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. The Sovereign's baiting her into revealing her plans. Or maybe it's just Xanthy being paranoid. But...the Sovereign just ordered a servant girl to kill herself for being a part of this kidnapping-slash-welcoming. Xanthy was not going to take any chances. "I don't want anything," she shook her head and leaned back.

Stay still. Don't let Xanthy's face betray her feeling to the Sovereign. For the gods' sakes, stop tapping a foot against the marble floor. Stop reaching up to twist a lock of hair with fingers, too.

"You don't want anything but you come to Akaron with your magic blocked and with a ticking clock," the Sovereign inclined her head. "How amusing."

Xanthy nodded. "Yeah, it is," she bit the inside of her cheek before she could say anything that might doom her. "What do you want from me?"

"Do you want to escape from your destiny?"

Xanthy froze. "What?"

"You've got a whole load of suffering ahead of you," the Sovereign lifted her hands off the table and began examining her nails. "There are roads to be tackled... sacrifices to be made," the Sovereign flicked her gaze towards Xanthy briefly. "Why? Because destiny demands it so. I can help you escape it. I can free you from your destiny."

Xanthy swallowed the bile slowly coating her tongue. This was what she wanted ever since she discovered that she's the Virtakios. This was exactly what she needed. To be free of the burden of protecting the Virtakios, of getting to watch the people she loved, even innocent people who just happen to be there, be hurt. This was her dream.

"How do you plan to do it?" Xanthy's mouth moved on her own but the words were the silent screams of her heart.

The Sovereign bared her teeth. "Together, we shall gather the thrones and from them we shall create another, anew," she spread her arms. "We will rise from the ashes of this rotten, old world. We will create a new world where people can write their own stories, where we could be who we want to be. A world without destiny."

"That's exactly what Cardovia wants to do," Xanthy said.

The Sovereign waved her head with a frown. "Peredeira aims to decimate the races I desire to unite," her nose wrinkled seemingly at the thought of the Heiress. "She wants to take the Virtakios for herself but I wish to usher you to the glory of shaping the world as you see fit. She wants the power to rule the world while I desire for it to be free from any ruler," she leveled her gaze at Xanthy. "She wants to take your legacy, but I want you to do it yourself."

"Uniting the thrones?" Xanthy drummed her fingers on the table. What the Sovereign said kind of made sense. Who wouldn't want to free the world from any government? "Wouldn't that kill the races?"

The Sovereign shook her head. "You'll have to connect them to the Virtakios while you meld the thrones then reconnect them as soon as you're done," a murderous glint flashed in her eyes. "At least, theoretically."

"That's a lot of work," Xanthy scratched the side of her face. "I'm not sure if I can do it."

"We will provide everything you need," the Sovereign put a hand to her chest as a sign of sincerity. "We will see to your training, your knowledge about the thrones—everything."

Xanthy leaned forward. "Do you have sufficient information on the Virtakios here?"

"More than you could ask for," the Sovereign grinned once more.

"I'm not sure," Xanthy crossed her arms as she leaned back again. "That's still too much. I can't be certain the Virtakios could handle carrying the entire islands' mass of synnavaimis while it deals with the thrones' power. It might wink out or worse, die altogether. Surely the Virtakios has some limits?"

The Sovereign nodded. "It has, but you underestimate the power of the Virtakios," she clicked her tongue as she crossed her legs. "I believe Elred told you about your special circumstance. You're the first fairy born inside Fantasilia to have the Virtakios, a power specific to those who cross worlds. You are an extraordinary case, Xanthy."

Xanthy rolled her eyes. She had grown tired of asking people how in Umazure they knew her name. Just let it roll.

"Do you know why destiny made you that way?" the Sovereign cocked her head to one side.

Xanthy's back straightened "There's a reason?" she blinked. "I thought destiny just likes to play with people's lives."

The Sovereign laughed. "You are a funny one," she huffed before shaking her head. "No, fate is not like the gods who play with circumstance and fortune like marquine dolls. You were chosen for a reason—a reason your parents refuse to understand, even now."

"You know my parents?"

"My dear, the whole island knows of them," the Sovereign's voice was gentle. Sweet. It was like nothing was wrong in the world when Xanthy was talking to her. "Their names are whispered in corners dark and small. Their love is worshiped as the giver of hope. Your parents are proof that unity is possible."

Xanthy wagged a finger in the Sovereign's direction. "So you're saying that I'm chosen because..."

"Because you made the impossible possible," the Sovereign bobbed her head and brushed her hair off her forehead with her fingers. "Because you are the proof that unity can and will happen," she folded her hands together and rested her chin against them. "The Virtakios is the cursor of change, the origin of transformation. It can bring destruction and peace, unity and division."

Xanthy nodded. Ezril had said the same thing—that she can either save the world in her glory or bring doom with her folly. "What if I refuse?" Xanthy forced herself to hold the Sovereign's intense gaze.

The Sovereign bared her teeth.n"Then I have to kill you. You know too much."

Xanthy gulped as a lump formed at her throat. Okay, that's not what she anticipated the Sovereign would say. "But what about your plan? If I die, you'll have nothing to use."

"The prophecy will come true whether it was you or not," the Sovereign said, using the same argument Erin did on that fateful tower in Cardina. "A thousand years is a short time if I'm going to wait for the next Virtakios. Don't worry about me being helpless in case you get killed. I have plenty of years ahead of me."

Xanthy wiped her palms to her trousers. They came away clammy and shaking. This was all wrong. Massively, colossally wrong. Her stomach turned. She couldn't do anything to stop it.

Unless she faced this head-on.

"I thought you don't believe in prophecies, in destiny?" Xanthy said. "Why do you think the next one will come if I die?"

The Sovereign laughed. "I believe in prophecies and in destiny," she answered. "I believe in them so much that I want them gone. I will see to it myself, if that's the last thing I do," she brought her face closer to Xanthy's. The table was the only thing keeping the both of them apart in the meantime. "You and I don't really need our lives defined before we're even born. Who dictates fate? Who makes our destiny? Shouldn't we be masters of our lives and captains of our sails? Think about it, Virtakios."

Get out of here. That's what Xanthy was thinking about as her instincts flared out of control. Get up. Run. Forget any of this ever happened. None of this was right. She also wanted to get rid of destiny and to run from the duty she hadn't asked for but using the thrones, destroying other souls, dragging a whole island down just to make that dream come true, it's cruel. Evil.

It's unforgivable.

She has to get far, far away from here. From any of them. Her stomach soured. Cirasa. The Sovereign had him. This sneaky, vile witch. Now, she had to get him first or else Synketros would kill him.

Xanthy should have seen this coming. That's how these organizations operate. "What about protecting the island from Cardovia?" Xanthy licked her lips. Buy time. As much as she could while she's thinking of a plan. Whatever kind. "That's what you do, right?" That's what they should be doing, according to Elred. That's all they needed to be doing as inhabitants of this place.

The Sovereign stood up from her chair and walked towards the door before looking back at Xanthy. "That comes with the power you're going to give me after all this."

The door opened and in came the burly men once more. Before Xanthy could open her mouth, the Sovereign ducked out of the room and disappeared. So where was the clue to the hunt? How much about Xanthy did the Sovereign learn just from their brief time together?

Xanthy's heart pounded against her chest as the goons towered over her. She didn't fight as they shoved a sack over her head. Without magic, she was powerless against the brutes and against this organization.

Was she making yet another mistake by coming here?