A week had passed since Nux killed the woman who sided with the demon and Bellum took the evidence. Nux thought it was a good idea to hang the body of the monster’s companion just above him. It was good to show the monster that nothing good would come of having allies. They would all meet the same fate.

  After apprehending the demon, Nux was able to do something he hadn't been able to since the demon’s arrival.

  Sleep.

  After getting some much needed rest, Nux felt a lingering dread. Especially when he looked towards the room where the demon was locked. He didn't know why.

  He and Bellum were in their section of the carriage playing cards as they waited for the interminable journey to come to an end. Ever since they locked the monster in his room, they had lost their primary source of entertainment. There were only so many ways to make playing cards with two people fun.

  There were more combinations for a deck of cards than there were atoms in the universe, but solitaire will always feel samey after the first few million games. Or even after the third. Bored, they moved on.

  Bellum looked out of the windows and saw the never-ending stretch of white that seemed to blanket the world. The snow had started a few days after their departure from Silverbrook and had not let up since. It wasn’t unexpected, but the constant nature of the blizzard was.

  It was only going to get colder the closer they got to their destination, as the Starlight Grove was located in a mountain range in the northern region of the continent. Only the Helios Saint knew its exact location, but they had been told that the Godstone would direct them to its place of origin.

  As Bellum looked out the window, he once again gave his thanks to the Valtorin family for giving them such advanced models of magicarriages. With built in sky magic systems, the carriages all hovered a meter above the terrain until they were shut off, allowing them to ignore much of the hazardous terrain that marked their ascent up the mountain.

  “We’re going the right way, right?” Bellum asked.

  Nux nodded.

  “I checked the Godstone earlier. Starlight Grove is somewhere on this mountain. I'd assume that the Pool of Starlight would be a centerpiece for the grove. We’ll know more when we come to a place to rest.”

  Nux scoffed as he continued.

  “I never understood those religious types. You’d think they’d make a holy site easy to get to.”

  “Or at least easy to find. Do you know a place where we can set up camp come night? It's only a few hours from nightfall.”

  “I have one. There is a monster that lives in these mountains, called a Stonelord. It’s very strong for a monster, almost at the level of a dragonling. It normally spends most of its time in a cave nearby, but during the cold seasons, it heats up by going to the tip of the mountain.”

  “It heats up by going to the top?”

  Nux nodded.

  “This mountain is a volcano. It rests in the crater where the rock is warm to the touch.”

  “We’re going to rest in a cave of a volcano?”

  Nux sensed the crownguard's hesitation.

  “Would you rather sleep in the snow?”

  Before Bellum answered, an explosion rocked the earth next to the carriage, knocking it over onto its side.

  “Ambush!” Bellum yelled.

  Nux and Bellum regained their footing quickly and within seconds were equipped to fight off the attackers that hadn’t revealed themselves. They stood on the wall and made their way to the door to get off that was now on the wall from their perspective.

  Bellum swung the door open and immediately blocked a sword aimed at his neck with his own sword. He kicked the assailant back to the snow covered ground, giving Bellum and Nux enough time to get out of the carriage completely. When Bellum got out, he quickly disposed of the assassin.

  Bellum looked down at the dead assassin. He was clad in pitch black robes with a hood and a veil blocking the lower part of his face, so that the only thing they could see was the dead man’s eyes.

  Nux looked at the other carriages and saw similar scenes. All of them were being attacked by men in identical clothes as the first assassin. The soldiers of Valtorin were doing their best to prevent the deaths of any of the non-combatants. However, none of the soldiers were as capable as a crownguard, so it was only a matter of time before they fell.

  Rage crossed Nux’s face as he made his way to the nearest carriage. He would protect those under him. That was his duty as crown prince. As the hero.

  There were four assassins attacking the six soldiers at Nux’s destination. The assassins were outnumbered, but they were more skilled, and didn’t have the burden of having to protect people. Before Nux arrived, one of the soldiers fell.

  “Damn it!” he yelled.

  Three assassins jumped from the snow in front of Nux and Bellum and began a relentless assault on the pair. Steel clashed against steel in the five person skirmish.

  An assassin with two daggers pressed his advantage against Nux. Reading their movements like a wizened warrior, Nux managed to dodge the blade aiming for his throat. When he threw his head back, the assassin only cut air.

  Nux shouldered the assassin and blocked the attack of another with the crossguard of his sword. The second assassin's shortsword was pulled back in preparation for another attack, but Nux didn’t give him the opportunity, and swung his longsword upwards, cutting off the main hand of the shortsword user.

  ‘I'm not a good match for small fast weapons, and neither is Bellum. They planned this.’

  Nux released his aura, as did Bellum and the assassins. Nux’s was dominating, while Bellum’s was sharp. The three assassins’ aura melded together into one single presence that allowed them to shrug off the oppressive aura that fell on them.

  The assassins’ cohesion with each other was something to behold. It was like they were trained to fight with each other since they began holding weapons. But when it came to team cohesion, Nux wouldn’t lose. Not when he had Bellum, his friend and teacher, by his side.

  Nux blocked the third assassin’s sword while Bellum stabbed forward, straight into the man’s heart. They fought as one. A crownguard had to at least be that good to protect their sovereign. It was something that Bellum was trained in from a young age, a fighting style that was adaptive. Nux and Bellum were covered in small cuts by the end of the fight, while the three assassins were dead.

  They didn’t stop and continued until they arrived at the site of a slaughter. The carriage that they were approaching was filled with the smell of copper, and the numerous bodies of Nux’s men, soldiers and non-combatants alike.

  They were too slow.

  Everyone in the carriage filled with Valtorin staff members was dead, laying in piles of their own blood. The assassins that Nux couldn’t get to in time were nowhere to be found.

  “How dare they!?” he roared. “To civilians!?”

  They exited the lifeless magicarriage and looked at the other carriages. The sounds of fighting had gone silent, and were replaced with the sounds of slaughter.

  Nux gave an order to Bellum.

  “Search the first three carriages for survivors. I’ll check the rest. Keep the survivors alive. That is an order.”

  “Understood.”

  Nux and Bellum split up and went in opposite directions. Both of them knew that they were essentially handicapping themselves, but they didn’t care. The only thing that they cared about was saving civilians, even if their combat potential was reduced.

  Nux ran to the next carriage in the line, one of the two used for carrying supplies. Even if it wasn’t really meant to be housing for people, there would be one or two people in each of these to make sure that everything was running correctly and to correctly take stock of inventory.

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  There was a single assassin waiting for Nux in the carriage. Like the others, this assassin was stained in blood. At his feet lay two dead men.

  Nux raised his sword and struck, his fury giving him more power and speed in return for giving up his calm.

  “Piece of shit!” he yelled.

  The assassin held his own sword up a horizontal angle to block the prince’s attack. The weight of the strike forced the assassin’s form to crumble, allowing Nux the opportunity to decapitate the fiend in front of him, which he gladly took advantage of.

  A strange red light came from the head of the assassin. Nux looked at the strange symbols that blazed to life from the assassin’s forehead and recognized them. He was instantly filled with dread and an overwhelming sense of danger. He quickly escaped the carriage, and only a few seconds later, the carriage, along with the supplies and three corpses aboard, exploded.

  ‘The other assassins didn’t explode when they were killed. Only the one in charge of the supply carriage did. They aimed for that from the beginning.’

  Nux swore and moved to the last carriage, where a large number of soldiers were busy fighting off a swarm of the nebulous enemies. Nux leaped into the fray with his sword already raised above his head. He brought it down on the arm of an assassin looking to move in for a killing blow on one of the soldiers.

  As soon as Nux arrived, a sinister laugh rang out from somewhere in the fog of snow. A person with black and red robes emerged from the fog. They had androgynous facial features and long black hair. Their skin was of an inhumane pale color with no blemishes to speak of.

  A wicked smile cracked the person's face as they slowly raised their arms up towards the Valtorin faction. The robes were too long for their arms, and thus drooped over their hands.

  The person spoke once, their voice both masculine and feminine at the same time.

  “Go.”

  Inky black shadows dropped to the ground and disappeared almost immediately upon contact thanks to the clouds throwing down constant snow.

  Nux pointed his sword at the person, ignoring the rest of the assassins. This person was strong. Incredibly so. They warranted his undivided attention. This reaction made the person speak again.

  “You, heir to the crown. I hold the lives of your men in the palm of my hands. What do you think you can accomplish?”

  Nux said nothing as his hands tightened on his sword. Despite the frigid temperature, sweat poured down his face.

  “I see,” the person continued. “You actually believe that you can stop me. That you can save your men. The conviction that burns through you intrigues me. I am willing to let you and the remainder of your men go free on one condition. Hand over the Godstone. Or you will taste my conviction.”

  Nux's heart thundered in his chest when he heard those words.

  “How do you know about the Godstone? Only a few high-ranking individuals know about it!”

  The person shook their androgynous head.

  “How surprising. Did the Helios Saint not mention us?”

  Nux paled considerably. Helios Saint Aldren did mention the revival of an assassin troupe.

  The Setting Sun, a group dedicated to power and the destruction of the Helios Church.

  Father Aldren did not come along on the journey because he was to go after the organization. For the Setting Sun to be here now only meant one thing.

  The Helios Saint had fallen.

  “Regardless,” the androgynous man continued. “We do know of the Godstone. Will you hand it over or not?”

  Nux was torn. He had to save his people, but he also had to take the Godstone to the Starlight Grove to become the savior of the world. He made his decision, and it was spikey and bitter in his mouth.

  No matter what he thought about his men, the world was more important than the lives of a few dozen soldiers.

  “I refuse.”

  The shadows beneath each of the soldiers rose up and skewered each of them on spears. The spears were launched with enough power that the dying soldiers were left impaled several meters above the snow.

  Nux looked at the result of his choice and swallowed a lump at the back of his throat. This was his burden, and he would live with it.

  Just like his other sin.

  The shadows beneath Nux shifted so as to draw his attention to them. To let him know that he could die at any moment.

  The shadow master spoke up again.

  “I gave you a second chance. I won't give a third. What's your decision?”

  Nux closed his eyes. So long as he was alive, there was a chance that he could take the Godstone back from the shadow master. If he died, then all was lost.

  Inwardly, he apologized for wasting the lives of his men with his decision. He knew that hell would welcome him soon.

  “...very well.”

  *****

  Nux led the shadow master to his wrecked carriage. Apparently a second squad had entered at some point, because everything in the carriage was demolished. The door to the monster's room was blocked by a large pile of rubble, sealing him in there.

  In the rubble of Nux’s bed, he pulled out the Godstone and handed it to the shadow master.

  The master held it between his fingers for a moment, and pinched it, shattering it.

  “What did I say about second chances?”

  Shadows rose out of the floor and threatened to wash over Nux and drag him to the stygian pits. The pressure of the shadow's presence caused the air around them to vibrate.

  Nux knew that his lie had been seen through.

  “Wait!” Nux yelled.

  The pressure ceased in an instant as the androgynous person scowled. When the pressure disappeared, Nux looked to the bookshelf which held the magicarriage's secret.

  “Hurry up,” the shadow master said.

  Nux went to the bookshelf and touched the star-shaped pattern. A thin layer of magic rose from his shoulders as he spoke the words to open the vault.

  “Praise be to the new star.”

  The pillar rose from the floor as it had before, and air shimmered around them as the prince’s spatial vault was opened. When Nux looked around it the air caught in his chest.

  Nothing was there. Everything was gone.

  Shadowy tentacles immediately coiled around Nux’s neck and he was lifted up to the shadow master’s eyes. Nux stared back with defiance as he tried to wrap his fingers around his binds.

  “It's not here, prince. I’ve already shown you more mercy to an enemy like you than I would give to my allies. And yet you continue to lie.”

  The pressure of a primordial shadow expanded in the small confines of the magicarriage. The windows that had been fine even when the explosion knocked the carriage over exploded outward into shimmering shards of glass. The pile of rubble and the door closing the monster off from the rest of the world was blown off its hinges.

  Nux looked at the room and saw two things missing, and two things added.

  One of the additional items was the headless body of Bellum, missing his pouch of holding and sword, right alongside a headless red-robed man. The stench of copper wafted off from the pool of blood that the bodies sat in.

  The two things that were missing were of greater concern. The body of the woman that Nux had impaled was missing.

  The other thing missing was Arden himself.

  “We have to go after him!” Nux yelled. “He took the Godstone!”

  Nux’s eyes sharpened in realization.

  “He was your spy, wasn't he!?”

  The tentacles threw Nux to the floor and flashed in front of him, looking like a swarm of snakes poised to strike. Nux coughed violently as he took in the cold mountain air.

  “We don’t have spies. They create chances for us to be discovered,” the shadow master said. “If our men fall behind, they die. The Setting Sun has no place for weaklings. We don't have thieves or spies, only assassins. We don’t save our own, only kill others.”

  Nux pointed to the room with the bodies.

  “The outworlder took the Godstone!” Nux yelled with panic.

  The Godstone needed to be returned to his hands. It was the only chance the world had of surviving, and now it was taken by someone who had no care for this world at all.

  ‘This is on me.’

  “I’ll work with you until we reclaim the Godstone, then we can figure out what to do after that!”

  The shadow master took a look into the room. The body of the crownsguard was a welcome sight, but the sight of his teacher and master in the red robes enraged him beyond belief.

  ‘How was he killed?’

  The shadow master didn’t want to accept the prince’s deal, but if it meant avenging the man who was like a father to everyone in the Setting Sun, then the shadow master would leap at the chance.

  A snake-like smile creased the shadow master’s androgynous face.

  “Despite our clear mutually aligned interests, I can’t help but feel as if I’m the one coming up short,” the shadow master said.

  Nux bit his tongue. He knew who was standing in front of him. There were only a few people capable of manipulating shadows to this degree, and only one of them was aligned with the mysterious Setting Sun.

  Shadow Lance Nocturne continued.

  “So how about this: We go after your thieving attendant together. The prince of Valtorin and the Setting Sun working together. I will keep the runaway and the Godstone, and you get to keep your life and any remaining survivors. You even get to keep your kingdom.”

  The tentacles surged and coiled around Nux’s body, suspending him in midair. They rose to his face and stopped just before entering his eyes and mouth. They poised like snakes ready to strike.

  “Do we have a deal?”

  ‘I have to be the one to use the Godstone,’ Nux thought. ‘Anyone else would threaten the world. If I have to lend it out right now to ensure that I’ll be able to use it later after killing Nocturne, then I’ll do it.’

  “Deal.”