“Asha, stop!”

Suddenly, the Small Whispers startled Asha, making her halt. They spoke to her again in gentle voices only she could hear.

“Asha, it’s back! The dark strings are back!”

“Look! It’s there. It’s hunting you again!”

“Sense it. Feel it with your aura.”

Confused, Asha asked, “The what? Dark strings?”

Then, she did as told and spread her bluish aura in her surroundings. Even if she couldn’t see it, indeed, it was there! Like a chilling, dreadful presence in the form of black luminous strings of lights, they hovered around Wynna as if trying to influence her with their darkness. Was it because of them that Wynna acted harshly? And to think she almost killed her because of it!

It wasn’t the first time Asha encountered those dark strings. She often saw them from monsters or demons who attacked her out of nowhere whenever she traveled across Terra. They were all random encounters but they were always there as if they had followed her wherever she went. Red, blue, green, gold, and white strings of light—she could see them all and knew what they meant—but these dark strings… what did they signify? She could only ever guess. Whatever it was, surely, it wasn’t anything good.

“Purify it, Asha,” one of the Small Whispers said.

“Touch it.”

“Yes, touch it and it will be gone!”

Asha then extended her hands toward Wynna’s abdomen where her spiritual core was, and where most of the dark strings accumulated. With nothing but her bare hands, she touched it. They were like cold strings of ice to her hands—so cold that it felt like frostbite piercing the skin. Then, the dark strings went into turmoil from her touch until they exploded and vanished in the air like a puff of smoke.

After that, Wynna suddenly yelled and cried in agony.

“AAAAHHHH!!!”

Her voice echoed in the whole coliseum, sending shivers to anyone who heard it. Alas, she breathed heavily and fell unconscious.

Asha released her from the hundred chains and the hundreds of swords vanished along with it. She immediately ran to Wynna’s side who was then lying on the ground. Lifting her head, she checked her condition—from her pulse, breathing, and heartbeat, to the flow of her energy. Feeling that everything was fine, she sighed in great relief.

Asha still wasn’t sure what those dark strings were and she never eradicated them before so she didn’t know how it would affect its bearer once she removed it. Good thing, nothing bad seemed to have happened to Wynna. Instead, her countenance appeared more peaceful now as if she had been freed from a long-time agony.

Witnessing that scene, the crowd turned to each other in murmurs. They didn’t understand what happened. All they saw was how Asha locked Wynna up in chains and pointed swords at her, then she reached out to her abdomen, and suddenly she yelled and lost consciousness. After all, none of them could see the strings of light Asha could see, nor could they hear the Small Whispers’ voices.

The Master of Ceremony turned to Emperor Vasilias who looked perplexed himself. They weren’t sure what happened but seeing that Wynna was unconscious, it seemed that a victor had been decided.

Dun-dun-dun-dun!

The drum soon rolled, signifying the end of the match and the Master of Ceremonies announced the winner.

“That was… such an anticlimactic end to the match,” the Master of Ceremony commented, sounding a little disappointed. “What I meant was that—it was so amazing and we were all at the edge of our seats but then suddenly… Wynna fell unconscious? What happened?”

He couldn’t help but sigh in great dismay. 

“Nevertheless, it was entertaining and action-pact from the beginning till near the end of the match. We all enjoyed it and overall, the contestants were both amazingly powerful. If only Wynna is not unconscious, we could have asked them a couple of questions but alas, that’s it, folks. Our winner for this round is… Asha Beatrix!”

The crowd became hesitant at first, thinking the same things as the Master of Ceremonies but eventually, they cheered loudly for the victor. The match wouldn’t be able to continue anyway with one party already unconscious.

Still, they all wondered what happened and different speculations circled around, causing a bit of unrest. Some even said that perhaps Asha used forbidden dark magic or dark arts on Wynna. However, none of them could prove it. After all, using dark magic or dark arts should be fairly visible to everyone with its dark purple or black mists and the darkness it produced once cast. Not to mention the relapse it would have on the caster. Since none of that happened, they concluded it must be another spell they could only guess.

As for Asha, she immediately called for the healers as soon as the drum rolled. She had them lift Wynna’s body on a stretcher and carried out of the arena. She followed alongside them up to the infirmary where they checked her condition.

“Nothing’s wrong with her,” one of the healers said. “I guess she must have passed out from exhaustion.”

Hearing that confirmation, Asha sighed again and went out of the infirmary to return to her quarters. Since she already finished her match and the next part would be for tomorrow, she decided to rest instead… and think—a lot.

“Those dark strings of light,” Asha murmured as she relaxed on the couch in her quarters. “Why does it seem like they’re following me? They appear randomly and whenever they do, I see it as a bad omen so I run away and go somewhere else. When I do, they eventually stop. Does that mean I have to run away again this time? It’s not like I can’t defeat whatever they send me but it will be such a hassle and I won’t have time to relax having to watch my back all the time.”

Asha looked back at her memories of all her encounters with those dark strings and contemplated deeply for hours. She already took a bath and changed her clothes but still, she wasn’t done pondering.

“If I am those dark strings, what will be my motivation for suddenly attacking someone? They’re not a race I invaded—I never invaded any place after all. Besides, they always control monsters from the forest. Maybe that’s why they somehow got a hold of Wynna? Since she’s from the forest, too?”

On and on, she mumbled to herself all of the possible reasons why. She even repeated her murmurs multiple times until suddenly, an idea struck her like pieces of a puzzle that finally fell into place.

“Wait a minute… Every time they attack me, I run away from that place—wherever I was. That’s right! What if… they’re attacking me because they want me to leave? If so… why? What are they so keen for me not to see? Or hear? Or experience?”

Realizing those things, she finally came to a conclusion.

“If that’s the case, then I just need to stay, right? Stay long enough until I see what they don’t want me to see, or hear what they don’t want me to hear, and experience everything. Yes… I should stay here—in the Kingdom of Eirini! Then maybe, the answer I’ve been looking for has been here all along! I just didn’t search hard enough, but… it’s here!”

At last, a ray of great hope dawned on her. Like a warm, bubbling bliss, it wrapped her heart. To have such hope in finding the answer she had been seeking for such a long time, Asha couldn’t help but smile and laugh to herself… until the laughter faded into weeping.

“Sniff… sniff… I-It won’t be long now. I can feel it. Haaah… This time, for sure.”

As she basked herself in this tiny ray of hope she had found, knocks were soon heard on the door of her quarters a few moments later.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Lady Asha Beatrix,” a man from the other side of the door called out to her.

Asha rushed to the door and opened it. She couldn’t see who it was but she heard the sound of armor clanking.

“Ah, thank you, and good evening, my lady,” he greeted. “You have received a summon from His Majesty, Emperor Vasilias. He would like to invite you to his office to discuss a few important matters. If you are available, I ask that you kindly heed his call.”

“The emperor himself?” Asha asked.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Please, I am no lady,” Asha corrected him. Speaking formally once again, she asked, “Might I know who am I speaking with?”

“Ah, but of course! Pardon my rudeness,” he exclaimed, sounding a bit flustered. “I am one of the commanders of knights—you may call me Daniel. His Majesty would normally have sent for one of his vassals or his secretary but unfortunately, they are all occupied at the moment. I hope you do not see my coming as alarming or anything. Truthfully, His Majesty merely wished to speak with you.”

“There is no need to worry. I fully understand the situation. If you could give me a moment, please.”

“By all means, my lady.”

Asha then closed the door for a moment and removed her blindfolds. She couldn’t possibly meet with the emperor in such a state, could she? And so, with her magic, she healed herself of blindness. The dark scales that blinded her fell from her eyes, revealing the beautiful emerald it had always been. Well, so much for tricking Solum that it was impossible to heal except for the shadow man’s abilities. She would have a lot of explaining to do to her familiars later. But then again, those could wait.

Opening the door once again, Asha said, “I am ready. Let us go.”