Priscilla rested in a chamber with Hallie and Bianca present. Little Bianca sat in Priscilla's lap and rocked playfully, eliciting nothing but smiles from the two women.

  "Must you leave so soon?" Hallie asked as she placed a plate of pastries in front of Priscilla.

  "Mhm," Priscilla muffled a reply through the pastry.

  "Time's running out, and if we delay, there's no telling what the demons will accomplish." She added once she finished the pastry in her hand. "Everyone here should be safe, which is reassuring. The people from the sand lands won't need terribly long to begin their journey here, and that'll offer us a better chance against surprise attacks."

  "True," Hallie said. "Fortunately, they seem easy to talk to. It's a miracle they agreed to work together after all the abuse they've received from the empire, but I suppose a common enemy resolves all hatred."

  "When people are far from one another, it's a simple matter to paint them as the demon at your threshold," Priscilla said, shrugging together with Bianca.

  Hallie laughed, "Are you two having fun over there?"

  "A little bit," Priscilla replied, smiling as Bianca bobbed in her lap, reaching for a snowflake butterfly that weaved through her fingers.

  "Are you feeling nervous?" Hallie asked, her sharp instincts sensing the truth beneath the surface.

  "A little bit." Priscilla nodded silently.

  "It's just."—"I don't know what to expect concerning my father and his actions. I hate him. And the fact he abandoned me, but I also don't understand him. Was it all a ploy because of the demons? Or was it something else? I need to know. I want to know. But it does worry me."

  "Uncertainty is always a burden on the mind, but after everything you've been through, it's not something you can let stop you," Hallie reassured. "Answers need to be sought out, and the opportunity for that lays before you. And, no matter his reasoning, the man still hurt you like no parent should. That alone is worth getting to the bottom of."

  "You're right, Hall," Priscilla nodded. The snowy butterfly burst into a light rain of particles, eliciting carefree giggles from Bianca in her lap. "Admittedly, there's more pressing matters. But, while we're already heading toward the imperial city, meeting with my father will definitely happen."

  Priscilla's gaze firmed as the thought of the man hovered before her eyes, a figment of her memories and the multitude of questions she had for him. Their time would come, and despite not knowing how the encounter would go, she eagerly anticipated it.

  The door swung open, and Jensen and Jared trudged in with weariness plastered across their faces. They slunk into chairs and let out deep sighs as they made themselves comfortable.

  Bianca squirmed off Priscilla's lap and wobbled over to Jensen, jumping atop the tired man's lap. "Papa!" She warbled like an excited chick, nesting into Jensen's chest.

  "Oh, is that my bear cub? Come here," Jensen chuckled as he ruffled the girl's hair, turning it into a bird's nest. "Did you miss papa? Being a good girl for Mama?"

  Priscilla watched with a grin stretched across her face. She truly admired their kinship despite the uncertainties plaguing the entire continent. It was how a family should be. They could laugh and play freely and weren't burdened by ploys and scandals.

  After some time passed, Priscilla asked, "Has everything been prepared for our departure?"

  Jensen squished Bianca close and smiled, turning to Priscilla, "Yeah, it's all sorted. There'll be three hundred men in town, with another two hundred around the perimeter. It should be more than enough to deal with uncertainties until the warriors from Parth come."

  "There's also another two hundred that'll join our main force and the warriors that came along. Some of them have friends and family in the villages and townlets that dot the territories until we reach the imperial city, so we're hoping to use those connections to bolster our forces further by the time arrive."

  "Very well," Priscilla nodded, rapping her finger against the desk in thought. "We have to be swift and precise, and more than anything convincing to get the support of the empire's civilians."

  "They must be aware of the threats surrounding them," Priscilla said. "I know! Chain up a few of the corpses we've yet to burn. If they see the demons in the flesh, they should find the situation more believable."

  "That's not a problem, My Lady. We've got a few of them put to the side already. Some medics were curious about what makes them function and wanted to run some experiments. But it won't hurt them to lose a few samples." Jensen said.

  "I'll go and grab them before the buggers are full of holes and missing limbs," Jared muttered, lifting himself from the chair with a grunt.

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  The plans proceeded over the next few days. Everyone had their strengths and tasks, and the townsfolk moved with one heart. Setting up a big journey for so many people wasn't a simple matter, but together, they were unstoppable.

  Starlight rose and fell, and the tides of impending battle weighed upon everyone. Many backs were drenched in sweat, but everyone fulfilled their tasks until finally, the time for departure arrived.

  Priscilla stood before hundreds of men and women who bore expectant gazes onto her face. Mercenaries, warriors, and the brave sat atop steeds to the side, awaiting the trek onward. While their families stood in the center, reluctant to say goodbye, brows furrowed with the unknown reality ahead of them. They looked toward Priscilla as one would look toward a mother during a thunderstorm, frightened, worried, and wanting reassurance.

  I know," Priscilla spoke, a regal air of nobility fluttering around her, one that could never be hidden. "You're scared and worried. Frantically seeking answers to questions that have no answers to be told. And I know you wish me to give you those answers, but I cannot."

  "But that does not mean that things are hopeless. No, what I can tell you is that we will fight. We will endure these trying times and come out on top!" Priscilla said, the commanding air around her spreading across the town. "We leave, outnumbered and scared, but I tell you now; we will return victorious!"

  "Victory!" Many cheered.

  "We believe in the Divine One!" Others shouted.

  "Praise the Duchess!" Another added with fervor, his voice booming loudly from the back.

  "We'll return victorious! Flay the demons and offer their heads to all those that have perished at their claws!" Jensen roared, thrusting his waraxe into the sky.

  "Damned dogs will learn to fear us! Fear the future Empress Valentine!" Jared added, pumping his warhammer vigorously into the air with a boisterous laugh.

  "Empress Valentine!"

  "Empress Valentine!"

  Their cheers hit a zealous peak as the words slammed against the town, an audible uprising of emotion that flooded into every nook and cranny. Humans needed belief. They needed a symbol they could follow in the darkest times, like a starry beacon shining from above. And Priscilla had become that beacon in Blackthorn.

  "Let us go! Onward to the heart of the empire!" Priscilla commanded, climbing onto her steed and galloping away.

  The others followed. Their hoofsteps thundering out of the city like a brewing storm that raged toward the empire, a proverbial arrow on a flight path to its target.

  Gusts of wind caressed their faces, propelling them on a path of questionable return. The steeds pushed through with confidence, hooves thudding against the firm soil that blanketed the path beyond the town. Behind them, Blackthorn faded into obscurity, gone with the wind.

  Priscilla turned back and sighed. "They should have enough reassurance now to face whatever's to come. All we can do is pray for the best and focus on what's to come."

  "That's right, but they'll be fine. We'll all be fine in the end, have faith, Pris!" Jensen added with a chuckle.

  As their journey progressed, they went through several of the smaller towns and villages bordering Blackthorn. The residents had mostly been evacuated to Blackthorn beforehand, but now even those stubborn and unwilling to move had vanished, leaving the area an eerie wasteland devoid of life.

  Meanwhile, in another location far south, Duke Valentine began his journey to the empire at the same time as the people of Blackthorn.

  He sat leisurely at the back of a carriage, his thick coat unbuttoned as Maxine nestled close to him. His gaze drifted outside the carriage window into distant lands and thoughts.

  A thick floral perfume scent wafted into his nostrils as Maxine leaned in, her heavy chest pressing against his arm. She looked with a doe-eyed stare that burned a hole in Valentine's back, causing him to stir and turn to the woman.

  "What's wrong, Maxy?" Valentine asked. His voice tinged with a hollow droll that lay beneath the caring facade.

  "When the world is at our fingertips, what should we do afterward, darling?" She asked sweetly, her voice laced with temptation. "We should visit my homeland! You'd love the sights and smells of foreign lands, those untouched by the empire's filth!"

  Valentine laughed, a cold and firm laugh that shook the carriage, "Should you talk of the empire's filth when you're sitting beside the future emperor?" He paused momentarily, rapping his finger atop the window's sill, "But you are right, I should visit your homeland. There's much a monarch can do in foreign lands to strike a balance."

  "You've been so serious since the girl died, my love. You need to move past it!" Maxine said, her lips pressing against Valentine's ear. "It was a must for our plans to progress, and you know it. And why worry when we can simply create more seeds between us."

  Maxine arched her back and moved her leg close to Valentine's thigh, letting the slit on her gown part slightly, revealing her long bare thigh as it glistened in the carriage.

  Valentine eyed her with mixed emotions across his face before smiling and pushing her down onto the soft cushion-lined seat. "Should we do that?"

  After some time, the carriage pushed onward, passing through the southern lands. From the sides, crimson liquid trickled down, leaving an ominous trail as silence permeated the surroundings.

  Duke Valentine crossed his legs within, rapping his fingers against the window sill, deep in thought. He remained obliviously unbothered by the pooling blood and the desiccated wretch curled on the carriage's floor. Its beady blackened eyes widened in shock, and the veinous shriveled, leathery wings lining its ashen flesh limp.

  Within Valentine's palm, an eyeball innocently rolled, and a smile caressed his cheeks. Did you sisters think I was such a foolhardy individual to not have any backups? He lifted the eye to his face, peering into it as a scene reflected into his mind. Beatrice previously talked with her sister about betrayals running so deep, unaware of the true depths of their connection.

  "My foolish little brother, if only you hadn't fallen prey to such foul-minded wicked creatures." Valentine lamented as his gaze spread into the distance once more. "The world could burn, and it wouldn't fix their treacherous acts."

  Valentine turned to the seat opposite him where a thick blade lay flat, emblazoned in gold and obsidian, with a ruby-encrusted hilt. It took several years to craft it, painstaking effort, and a meticulous search for materials. All for the sake of stabbing it into the 'emperor's' heart. Long live the emperor! He thought, a chuckle escaping his lips.

  Am quite indecisive about it. But I've missed more than a few scheduled days as a result of it. Alas, alas. In the future I'll definitely have a backlog bigger than the mountain of failure's in my life. Learning experience after all. It is what it issssss.