Seraphine studied her forehead in the cracked, old mirror she carried with her. A slight bump was visible. When she ran her fingers over it, it ached faintly, but it was already healing well. She had struck the vampire with her head, which, despite her unnatural strength, had left her with a burning injury. But it was already healing quite nicely. One more day and it will be gone completely.
Kaeladons, members of her family, were all blessed with many supernatural gifts that made them perfect for hunting. Increased stamina, more robust, faster, more intelligent, and stronger. Legends about the origin of this strange power in their family have always circulated around the world. Some claimed it was because they were direct descendants of a god, but others swore that the Kaeladons consorted with beings from the Abyss. Either way, they were not normal humans. One of their nice characteristics was significantly accelerated healing. Seraphine was constantly injuring herself, but her wounds healed just as quickly.
She set the mirror aside. It was an old thing; cracks covered the glass, but the mirror had once saved her life in the fight against two particularly stubborn Gorgons. Since then, she had always carried it with her; you never know when you might need a mirror again.
She leaned back against the wall of the tub. The hot water washed the grime from her skin. She splashed water on her face and began to clean it. It was a liberating feeling, as if she were washing away not only the dirt, but also the stress and tension of the last few days.
Her hair hung over the edge so it wouldn't get too wet. She wanted to wash it too, but it always took far too long to dry again, so she'd have to do it later.
She was just starting to relax when she suddenly heard a faint scratching at the door. She looked up and saw it slowly opening. A far too familiar hat appeared in the gap. Jester had lowered his head so he wouldn't look at her. How polite...
Seraphine groaned, "No, Jester, you can't come in, I'm still in the bath."
Jester immediately pulled his head back and closed the door. She rolled her eyes.
"Like a damn child…" she muttered as she leaned back again.
She shut her eyes, and suddenly fatigue washed over her. Her eyelids grew heavy. With a sigh, she rose and stepped out of the comforting warmth of the bath.
Just as she was about to get dressed, she saw out of the corner of her eye that the door was slowly opening again. Furious, Seraphine slammed the door in Jester's face and turned the key in the lock.
Her clothes were still dirty, but she didn't really care. First, she put her chainmail shirt back on. It wasn't soft, but at least it kept her from being easily stabbed. Over it, she pulled on the rags that had once been a long, black shirt. Then came her short trousers. She hid the Kaeladon symbol again beneath her black armband and wrapped the long silver chain with the sun of Deius around herself. Finally, she fastened her black choker with the five-pointed star of Nocia.
She placed her boots next to the small bed before lying down. Her packed bag stood nearby, with her sword and crossbow leaning against it. Slowly, she closed her eyes. The bed wasn't really comfortable; it was hard and smelled rotten, but Seraphine fell asleep immediately, nonetheless.
As soon as she fell asleep, she started dreaming.
She found herself in a vast palace, larger and grander than any she had ever seen. It was a breathtaking sight. Colourful windows several metres high illuminated the entire room, and around them were hundreds of people whose faces were hidden. Or rather... she couldn't comprehend them, as if they were too much for her mind to grasp. She stood in the middle of the palace, and except for one woman who hurried past her, she was the only one there. Seraphine followed as the woman hurried toward a great throne in the center of the hall. Her hair was an unnatural dark blue, glittering with hundreds of tiny, star-like lights. Her skin was pale, but like the other Seraphine couldn't see her face. The woman ignored her completely as she hurried to the throne.
On it sat an old man with pale gray hair. His skin was wrinkled, and he looked ancient. Seraphine stepped closer. She could see the old man's face, but his eyes were closed and his head was bowed. The woman knelt before the old man. She opened his shirt, revealing a massive, bleeding wound. It had been caused by some sort of blade, but it wasn't a normal wound. Sickly red veins spread out from it like a spider's web, crawling across his chest.
With a trembling hand, the woman applied a yellow ointment to the wound, but it began to smoke, and the bleeding got even worse.
Suddenly, a man appeared out of nowhere. He was young, even younger than Seraphine. His skin was flawless and marble-like, his eyes a deep, dark black. Not just his irises, but his entire eyeballs. Bizarrely, it reminded her of Jester. The young man's expression was emotionless and calm, yet he exuded incredible charisma. The moment he appeared, the mood in the entire hall changed. Seraphine flinched as her heart began to beat unnaturally fast. Panic spread through her, sweat broke out on her forehead, and her breath quickened. It was an unnatural fear, but at the same time, it was the deepest fear that had always been inside her.
She had never felt fear like this before, not even close.
But she wasn't the only one. Everyone in the immense palace shrank back from him, as though he carried some contagious plague. He approached the old man, who weakly opened his eyes.
His eyes had once been golden and bright, but now they were marked by age, grey and pale. When the old man saw the newcomer, dozens of emotions flickered in his eyes. Fear, anger, grief, worry, pain, but also relief. He looked away from the young man and, for the first time seemed to notice Seraphine. He looked at her, but it felt more like he was looking directly into her mind,
"Don't be afraid, child. He is here for me. You still have much time before you will face him."
Seraphine tried to answer the man, she tried to ask who he was, or where she was, but no sound came out of her mouth. It simply opened and closed uselessly, like a fish's. The old man smiled faintly and looked back at the young man. He raised his wrinkled hand and held it out to the young man. "I've been waiting for you," he said weakly.
The young man tilted his head to one side. "Everyone does," he answered in an emotionless voice as he touched the old man's hand. Immediately, the old man froze, his eyes lost the last bit of light, and his head fell onto his chest. His body collapsed. An eerie feeling spread through Seraphine, but she couldn't determine what it was.
A scream echoed through the hall as the woman fell to her knees, but before Seraphine could see anything else, the world shattered around her. The palace crumbled, reality itself breaking apart. For an instant, she saw the face of a blond boy, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, before everything finally dissolved into darkness.
And then she woke.
Her eyes flew open as she jolted upright. The memory of the dream faded quickly, yet a strange feeling lingered within her. It was still dark outside.
Something had disturbed her sleep, but it took her a moment to realize what it was. A faint sound, the scrape of metal on metal. Quiet, barely audible, but it definitely came from the door.
She knew instantly what it was: someone was picking her lock.
At first, she thought it might be Jester, but when she glanced to the side, she dismissed the thought immediately. For there, in the deep darkness, lit only by the faint glow of the half-moon, stood Jester in all his eerie presence. He was grinning, though his gaze was fixed on the door, head slightly tilted. In his hand gleamed a long, black dagger.
The faint click of a cylinder tumbling inside the lock echoed. The intruder was making good progress.
Seraphine rose soundlessly, slipping into her heavy boots. She slung her crossbow across her back and slid her sword into its sheath. She tapped Jester on the shoulder, and he tilted his head slightly toward her. She raised an eyebrow and pointed at the window.
Jester hesitated, then nodded. Seraphine opened the window as quietly as possible. She grabbed her bag, tossed it outside, and leapt after it. Jester was nowhere in sight, but he could take care of himself. Most people couldn't even see him anyway.
She landed on the ground just as something came crashing down at her. Her instincts kicked in as she automatically rolled to the side, barely dodging the blow of a massive club.
She sprang forward, tumbled, and put distance between herself and her attackers. In the darkness, she could just make out three figures.
"Take her alive!" one of them hissed. "Don't let her escape!"
What an unnecessary command; the three had clearly been stationed outside the window to catch her.
She raised her crossbow and fired a bolt. The figure she aimed at barely managed to dodge. She let the crossbow fall back against her belt and drew her sword. It flashed silver in the night as she charged.
The first to fall was the one who had dodged her bolt. Too slow. He didn't even react before her blade split his skull wide open. Only then did she realize it had been a woman. She crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
Seraphine's expression didn't change as she smoothly blocked the strike of another attacker, a massive man, twice her size. In her opinion, he was a terrible choice for a stealthy kidnapper. He swung a huge club at her with brutal force.
One blow from that thing would probably kill her.
Seraphine frowned in confusion. Did they want to kill her or capture her? It didn't matter; either way, she wanted nothing to do with these people.
The man grunted in shock when she caught the heavy swing with her sword.
Seraphine was small and slight, but she actually managed to block the larger man's blow with his heavier weapon. Not only that, she actually pushed him back.
"Damned witch!" the man growled in a deep voice.
With another effort, she struck through the shield with her sword, splitting it cleanly in two. The man, who had just pressed his entire weight onto the shield, stumbled forward in shock.
Seraphine swept elegantly to the side, ramming her sword deep into the man's back. He groaned in pain. Before he had even fallen to his knees, Seraphine pulled her sword out again and looked for the third attacker, their leader, but saw him running away in the distance. She clicked her tongue as her attention was drawn to shouts coming from her room.
A man was climbing out of it. Seraphine felt around on the floor and picked up a stone. She swung back and hurled it with all her might. Like a cannonball, the stone flew towards the man and hit him squarely in the face. A disgusting sound rang out as the stone shattered the man's skull. He fell out of the window, but another person was already climbing out. Seraphine had no intention of waiting any longer and hoping she would hit more stones so perfectly, but turned and ran into the darkness.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jester pursuing the fleeing man.