When he arrived at the castle he ran into some of his soldiers coughing and covered in ash with minor injuries presumably from the initial explosion.  As he ran around checking on all the soldiers he ran into his second in command, Sir Aegis. “Aegis! What the hell happened?!” He shouted over the chaos that was the castle’s front steps. “Sir, we aren’t sure. We were protecting the castle and we were about to switch patrol shifts when an explosion came from the dungeon. All these men here were the closest to the explosion and everyone else made it out safely. All except for the king and the prince, I sent a group in to search for them but they have yet to return.”

Leris’s head spun as he tried to grasp all the information he had just received. Suddenly a voice snapped him back to reality and he turned to find Lily out of breath and calling out his name. He ran to her and caught her just as her legs gave out from exhaustion. “What are you doing here, it's not safe.” he said as he helped her stand straight again.

“You suddenly ran off and wouldn’t slow down when I was trying to get your attention. What happened? Is the king okay?”

“I’m not sure, the group that was sent to find him hasn't come back yet. I’m going to check on them.” Leris began to run toward the inferno that was once the castle but stopped when he heard Lily call out his name.

“Be careful, I love you. Make sure you come back to me.” She smiled at him but the concern that she was trying to hide was too strong to go unnoticed. Leris realized this and replied “I’d fight through hell if it meant I’d be coming back to you.”

This did little to ease Lily in this situation, however it did make it ever so slightly easier to let him run into the flames.

 “I’d fight through hell to get to you.” That was what Leris had said, but he didn’t know that this scene would come to fruition so soon after he declared that. Inside the castle there were bodies and flames everywhere. The castle was a landscape of fire and death. Knights and castle attendants lay motionless on the floor. The air was dark and thick with the smell of blood and burning bodies. Survivors that were still inside the castle struggled against the fallen debris and flames that were inching ever closer to them. Leris assisted as many as he could on his search, however this did little to quell the feeling of helplessness that was swiftly growing in his chest as he saw body after body and still no sign of the king. He ran through the castle crying out over the roar of the flames for his long time friend and king. He ran and ran until he came upon the room of the king’s son, Daren Arden Rymanna II named after his father, inside he heard the sounds of blades clashing and fleshing ripping. He bursted through the door just in time to see the last member of the search party get cut down by the same cultist who had killed the man in the square just the afternoon before. There was one glaring difference about this man though. His body was half burned and he was missing an arm. In the place of his arm was a sigil that Leris recognized as the character commonly used for the spell explode. This lunatic had sacrificed half of his body and an arm to escape and throw the kingdom into chaos. Leris also saw on the opposite side of the room the king and prince huddle together looking relatively unharmed other than some mild burns. Leris sprung into action pulling his sword and attacking the man who had just finished off the knight who now lay motionless at his feet.

 Leris swung his sword with all the strength his arms could muster and slammed it down on the man. To his surprise and horror, the blade did not make contact with the man. Instead the man blocked it with the small dagger in his hand and flung it off to his side. Before Leris had the chance to react he was launched backward by a kick which had come far too fast and much stronger than he had thought this half burned man would be capable of. However, he had no time to question how that would be possible because the burned cultist was already sprinting at him with his blade ready to strike. As the man got to him and swung, Leris parried the blow and slammed the hilt down on the back of the man who was now off balance because of his wild swing. “I’d expect no less of the captain of the royal guard. The rest of you men were pathetic and went down at my first attack.” the man sneered which served little more than to piss Leris off. Without giving the man a response, Leris swung his blade at the man again which proved just as ineffective as the first swing he took at the man. “What’s wrong Captain? Don’t want to have a conversation with me? I thought you’d have a lot more to say when you realized that you’re the one who caused this mess."