CHAPTER THREE

A trail of bloody footprints marked the path that led from the mansion's lavish entrance to a young girl covered in blood that didn't seem to be hers. A gentle night breeze pushed her hair aside to reveal a face riddled with scars, open wounds and the same elaborate scars could be found on her arms and legs as well, the only difference being that the latter were much worse than the former. She looked extremely thin and her eyes were obviously sunken.

Oddly enough, with every bloody footprint she left behind, the wounds healed and the scars rapidly disappeared, leaving no traces behind. She limped at first but that also didn't last long before disappearing.

She suddenly halted her steps and looked up at the moon, tears continued to spill from her blank soulless eyes with no signs of stopping. She opened her dry lips but no words came out, she just stood there, quietly staring.

The light of the two moons revealed her bloodstained clothes and her long white hair that gently swayed along with the breeze. The clothes she wore were no better than rags that had seen better days. Her skin looked so pale that it was obvious she hadn't seen the light of the sun in a while. After staring at the two orbs in the sky for a while, she resumed her steps and walked towards the fountain in the middle of the garden.

Kharis stared at her reflection in the water, she barely recognised the girl she saw. She touched her face and watched as the reflection did the same just to be sure that it was really her and not just the water playing tricks on her. There were no scars and without them, she really did look like a different person. Her tears had stopped but her eyes could never recover their shine.

She slowly tore her eyes away from the water as her hands fell limp by her sides. The silence consumed her but she didn't feel any loneliness, all she felt was peace, her tortured soul had finally found some rest even if this peace would only last for a moment. The silence was deafening, there wasn't a single sign of life which was certainly strange for such a huge mansion. The mansion was large enough to rival a castle in size and lavish enough to house royalty but it also seemed quiet enough to be considered lifeless. It was already late at night but there were neither guards patrolling nor maids gossiping in little groups, there were no echoing voices or hurried footsteps, there was only silence.

Kharis didn't mind this though and started walking towards the entrance without giving her surroundings more than a cursory glance. Even when the sound of horses broke the fragile silence, she simply ignored it and continued walking. After crossing a large gate, she found herself being forced to pause her steps as her path forward was completely blocked. 

An army surrounded the mansion, blocking any way of going forward. She didn't know how many soldiers there were or why they were here in the first place, she didn't even care enough to attempt guessing, all she knew was that they stopped her from going forward.

"A child?"

"How odd"

The man in front of the army spoke as he tilted his head in confusion. He had shoulder-length golden hair and piercing blue eyes to complement his handsome appearance. He adorned golden armour that seemed to shine under the light of the moons and the white horse he rode served to make it even more obvious. He never lost the prideful look on his face even as he spoke to the girl in front of him.

"What is a child doing here"

His confusion only grew with the passing moments but the silent child in front of him provided no answers.

"What is your name child"

His question still recieved nothing but utter silence.

After many generations of careful planning, every piece had finally fallen into place and Andrius was more than ready to execute their plans. Grisha knew he would be the one to pioneer the new era that would soon dawn on the continent. He was willing to pay any price to obtain what he wanted, the consequences could simply be resolved after. 

The other four families had only grown weaker while Andrius had secretly gathered strength, their biggest fault was growing complacent in times of peace, forgetting that greed could sprout in the human heart at any time. They had lost their hunger for more power eons ago and chose to remain satisfied with what the god they had betrayed gave to them. They made the mistake of underestimating the fallen Andrius because they had lost all traces of their power except for the colour of their hair, it was this foolish mistake that would lead to their destruction. Andrius had planned for years and gathered their power, even making allies within other territories just to ensure that their goal of taking over the continent would be achieved. The strength of their current forces wasn't something the other families could go up against.

Grisha had carefully built on the already existing plans of the previous patriarchs of Andrius. Now that he had the mantle in his hands, he was determined to be the one that would bring the grand scheme to fruition. He would claim the power that was rightfully his and take control of the continent. He was more than willing to make a deal with demonic worshippers to achieve his desires and not even the fallen god of light would stop him. He had already chosen the lands of Circe as his first stepping stone. They were the weakest of the four enemies he had to face in his opinion and were the perfect starting point.

However, he noticed something odd as he invaded the territory, there were some initial clashes which were easy to deal with but as his army finally advanced to the mansion of the Patriarch of Circe, silence was all that greeted them. There was no final battle or even soldiers trying to stall long enough for the patriarch to escape, there was simply nothing. They had marched straight into the capital city and right to the front gate of the patriarch's abode completely unhindered.

Grisha couldn't wrap his head around the odd situation, he wondered if Circe had a secret plan to counter them but he knew the current patriarch very well and he was very sure that fool would never be able to come of with a plan to save his own life much less the lands of Circe. Moreover, what could a little girl that looked no older than twelve actually do except she was some kind of experimental weapon. Every one knew that Circe had been rapidly losing the magical gifts in their blood, may be their experiments were finally successful but he highly doubted that and the girl didn't seem to be making any moves, she was just silently staring at nothing in particular. Though, she seemed harmless, there wasn't any wrong in being cautious especially since she definitely didn't own all the blood on her clothes.

"My lord, shall I remove this child from our path"

A middle aged man with dark hair steered his horse and appeared beside Grisha who contemplated his suggestion before nodding.

"Do as you wish with the child"

He decided that the best course of action was to simply remove the child and continue with his objective.

"We have wasted more than enough time already"

The dark haired man was about to order for the child to be dealt with when a strange cracked voice stopped their actions.

"Stop"

"Don't harm the child"

An ominous figure appeared from seemingly no where or at least they couldn't tell exactly where the hooded figure came from but none of them were surprised by the sudden appearance as this person was one that seemed to prefer using such methods to mysteriously appear before them.

"What is it Lupo"

Lupo pointed a wrinkled finger at the child in front of them.

"Take the child with you"

Grisha found her words to be quite intriguing.

"Why?"

"Everybody in the mansion is already dead"

Grisha tried to hide his shock but there was a slight change in his expression.

"Although, that is quite shocking news, you still haven't answered my question"

"You will know soon enough"

"That child may be quite useful to you"

Having delivered her message, she disappeared and returned to where she came from. There was no point in staying any longer since she had done what she needed to do.

Grisha was still confused but he knew he could trust her words since both of their interests were involved. He left his initial position and walked towards the girl. She had observed their actions without so much as a word, she didn't even show any sign of surprise in her expression when Lupo suddenly appeared, she didn't even attempt to move an inch from where they had found her. There was definitely something odd about this girl.

He stopped not far from her and extended his hand along with an opportunity.

"I do not wish to bring you by force so I will give you a choice"

"Come with me and I will offer you protection in the name of Andrius and that I can promise you"

"All you need to do is take my hand"

Kharis looked at the hand and then the face of the man in front of her. She was beyond confused at the words he spoke. In fact, she didn't understand the situation as a whole but she knew that someone had once reached out their hand to her and promised to help her, they had kept that promise up until their last breath and died trying to keep that promise so she felt like she could trust the stranger who spoke similar words. She felt like she could take his hand and rely on his promise.

She just wanted a fate that was different from the one she knew. She had already made her decision but she couldn't have been more wrong. She only doomed the fate that she so desperately wanted to change.