The throne room was abysmal. It carried around nothing but an empty air of desolation and remorse. Every step the Champion took toward his rightful throne made him feel worse and worse. He didn't know why. He never knew why he felt certain things after times such as these. It was unexplained. He knew why humans were so frustrated all the time. Why Shimmer could never talk in her breakdowns, much less tell him why she was feeling so terrible.

Darkness had made the room its domain for quite some time until an unlikely companion arrived in force: moonlight. Through the large window in the room, a sliver of moonlight jammed down upon the floor in a last, desperate act. He stared at the patch ahead of him, then walked into it. Basking in the moonlight was his second favorite thing, after the sunlight. Though, he began to doubt his ranking on the basis that moonlight was much less frequent in its appearance.

Already, the night was long. The Champion felt as if he had been in the room for many more hours than the actual amount: not even a single hour had passed.

Voices bounced around his mind that each had a distinct agenda. They all wanted him dead. He could sense Promidate nearby, but she never spoke. The rest were voices he had never heard before, yet they were still somehow familiar. He was sure tonight would be bitter. A haunting night for all his victims to assault him. Why tonight? He didn't know. He just knew tomorrow would be the definitive day of his career and crucial for securing the future.

He couldn't make any mistakes. Everything had to be done perfectly down to the every detail.

Once the Champion reached the throne, he simply stared at it. He didn't wish to sit on it. No, he was unable to. Any thought of it was pushed out by raging voices commanding him to fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness. He could not decipher their words of pure, unbound rage. He could only grasp the anger they all possessed so, so deeply.

Troubled souls were far too high in numbers. They were the worst type, the ones that never wished to leave the earth; however, it made sense. They needed a certain something before they left. Whether that meant seeing their murderer die, to be satisfied and relieved of their endless thirst for revenge they had wished to quench before their untimely death, or just sitting around. Some souls just levitated around the world aimlessly. They didn't wish to leave.

It was pure sorrow, something that couldn't be fixed.

"Oh!" Jewel called out, appearing in the darkness only marked by his yellow eyes. He stood by the doors, like he was a humble servant ready to open them. "They'll be here very soon, brother. Be on your best behavior!"

The footsteps appeared in the hallway with a variety of voices as well. The Champion couldn't understand them, either, for they were too distant. He had finally taken his seat at the throne to appear as normal as possible. It was routine at this point.

"Also, don't freak out! That's the last thing you want to do..."

Jewel left right as the doors opened. Caught off guard, the Champion went to prepare himself only to freeze. His heart had stopped with his left gauntlet hovering over it as means of assurance. It couldn't even get near his chest, much less touch it.

"You're such an arrogant, annoying, little princess!" Nightstrider exclaimed, though it was more amusement than anything.

There were three figures walking toward the Champion. On the sides were clearly the mercenaries, as shown by their clothing, but then there was a third in between them. It was being dragged with its feet forced along the floor. Before it could be identified, the Champion could tell it was gagged and screaming. Most likely hateful insults, just like the voices that had lay siege to his own mind.

"Here we are," Nightstrider called out, as the trio walked into the patch of moonlight.

The Champion couldn't budge a muscle. His left gauntlet drifted to his side in a hopeless heap. He didn't know what to do or say.

He had been tricked.

It was all a ploy to kill Shimmer, who was the one sandwiched between the two mercenaries.

Shimmer had her arms hidden behind her back with rope also binding her knees together. Despite that, she still rapidly struggled with sweat dripping from her forehead. Her blue eyes were absorbed in utmost rage as she didn't stop her muffled screaming; however, when she located the Champion, her eyes narrowed with all defying attempts coming to an abrupt halt.

She looked hopeless, like she had failed.

"Oh, she's gone silent now, has she?" Nightstrider cooed, putting her hand under Shimmer's chin to tilt the head around. "Without your words, you're so useless! No guards at all. You must really be unimportant..." Her words trailed off, as if she were recollecting something. "Well, there was that one guy. A shame he was asleep. He seemed so menacing and easily capable of killing both of us! But he was asleep! He was awfully cute, too..."

As she laughed, with Radean nervously looking aside and Shimmer groaning, the Champion was drowned in irritation.

How useless can you be, Nam'ill? Just be there one time when it matters...

"So."

Nightstrider's voice broke the Champion out of his thoughts. He met her fierce brown eyes that were all too much engulfed in pride—and still amusement.

"Is the gag really necessary?" he asked, which made her narrow her eyes.

"What?" Nightstrider looked at Shimmer, then her distant brother, then back at the Champion. "Are you joking? She's a mage. Of course she needs to be gagged. Do you want us all to die?"

"How do you know she's a mage?" the Champion asked, acting as dumbfounded as possible. He had no plan, but it was just natural to speak this way. He couldn't let them win, even if it meant him losing as well.

"Um, hello?" Nightstrider aggressively grabbed Shimmer's chin to hold it up. The Champion flinched when she shut one of her eyes and grunted in pain. "Her hair's blue. Her eyes are blue. She carries this dumb, stupid aura about her, like she's so special." Shimmer looked high to the ceiling and silently sighed, something the Champion had seen her do countless times to know what it meant.

"Hey, stop falling asleep all the time," Nightstrider demanded, which made the Champion hesitantly meet her gaze once more. "I want you to dispose of her slowly. I want to hear her screams down the hallway. Now, I don't want to be there to see it because you do your own things I don't want to spectate, but I want to know she's dead. After a slow, painful death."

The last word rolled off her tongue with her stressing the -th part of it. She seemed very keen on Shimmer's death; on the other hand, Shimmer was more annoyed than anything. When Nightstrider had her focus on the Champion, Shimmer shut her eyes in what appeared to be a silent prayer. And still, Radean continued to grip Shimmer's arms to keep them rigid. He wouldn't look anywhere else but the wall. He was scared or just extremely nervous.

That was an opening, wasn't it?

"Radean," the Champion declared, which startled the man into focus.

"Why are you addressing him?" Nightstrider asked, suspicion clear in her voice. Her eyes darted from the Champion to Shimmer, and then back. Though, she didn't find enough to voice her suspicions.

The Champion was acting very suspicious by how he was silent and still—and whenever he would talk, it was always strange what he said; however, Shimmer didn't even look at him when Nightstrider checked on her. She continued to play the role of a defeated, irritated prisoner well. It was the only reason why this whole charade even had a chance of working. It was already lucky enough that Nightstrider didn't know of their connection, but then again it wasn't widespread public news. Only a small handful could even guess the Champion and Shimmer were accomplices.

Or at least former.

"Yes...?" Radean replied, completely validating how nervous he was.

"I don't think she needs to be gagged, do you?" the Champion asked, which made him look away in utmost embarrassment.

"Hey, what is this?" Nightstrider said, her suspicions now taking over. "Are you trying to get us—"

"Don't you want to hear her voice?" the Champion interrupted her, his focus completely set upon the nervous wreck. "It's harmless. She'll be dead soon, anyway. Why not just one time before then? You can't just let her die without hearing it."

"I... um..." Radean stammered, then looked at his sister for support.

"Radean, don't you dare!" Nightstrider exclaimed, but before she could say any more, Shimmer had stomped on her boot for a yowl to rupture the air.

"Do it, for I am your king, and you shall be ever so grateful and loyal to my name," the Champion ordered, leaning forward and clasping his gauntlets over his bent knees in a menacing state. Radean tried to look at his sister, but he couldn't help but look at the Champion and fall into a cowering state. It was what the visor provided to any cowards such as this fool. True beauty—the unknown always struck true terror into them.

"But... Blossom..." Radean sputtered, again turning his head to look at Nightstrider; however, he instead found himself staring into Shimmer, who was looking at him in return with soft eyes. He widened his eyes as the arm holding her own fell to his side.

"Radean! Don't!" Nightstrider screamed angrily.

Before she could rush forward to tackle her brother, even pull out a dagger to slit Shimmer's throat there and then, Radean did the one thing he was told to do. The king's word had proven far more effective than a mere sibling's pleading.

How saddening.

Right when the gag was pulled off, Shimmer's voice rang through the room, the night itself even:

Arigyst Bahlae Roiat Gannin Lavado!

At the final word, with her eyes glowing in a blue light the whole way through, a burst of energy erupted from her body in an orb formation. The two mercenaries went flying at the impact, both of them hitting opposite walls. Even the Champion was pushed back at the effect, for his saving grace was his heavy armor and the throne he was seated upon.

The blue orb that glowed like hot flames soon dissipated in the air. Eerie silence lingered about, only overpowered by the Champion's own panting. He had finally managed to grasp his chest and stared ahead in amazement. He first checked Radean, who was unmoving in a prone state. Nightstrider, on the other hand, was on her stomach and trying desperately to stand up.

Then, his gaze shifted onto Shimmer, who silently muttered another spell to disintegrate the ropes binding her. He hadn't gotten the chance to see what she looked like this late at night. He was almost expecting armor, but that wasn't the case. Instead, she wore her mere night blouse that extended down to her knees. Only from the moonlight was how he was able to see her black socks that had truly made him scared in the past whenever she wore them. They were a symbol of Evil, after all.

When he looked up at her face, he couldn't help but cower back.

Those angry eyes were the most terrifying things in all existence.