The world does not cease to quake. Though the cave's interior is still intact. The old hermit has since returned and is fighting off several armed soldiers with Nyx as Watson tears into a group of five. He expertly fends off their blows before returning his own. Cutting one down as Nyx hurls a fireball into the other's face, igniting his armor. Through the screams, Nyx and the old man glance back to me. The old man whistles for Watson when he realizes I'm awake.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"They found us, we're under attack." He says.

"How did they find this place? Who are they?"

"They built it." Nyx says. "Come, we don't have much time." The two make their way to the mural, Nyx feels the wall for a moment before depressing one of the stones. Years of dust shoots from cracks in the wall revealing a door. Slowly it grinds down to reveal a tunnel. Nyx snaps her fingers and torches hung on the walls burst to life.

"Who is attacking us?" I ask as we run.

"The Mortus Rose. I thought they had forgotten about this place. Though it seems they were just waiting for an opportunity." Nyx says. The clang of armor against stone echoes down the tunnel behind us.

"Why would they attack us? I thought we were allies?" Nyx glances back to me confused, then her eyes widen. A loud rumbling roars through the tunnel as a huge beast covered in matted black fur comes barreling towards us. It's long sharp teeth beared and ready to devour. We take off a full sprint down the tunnel, but the creature is much faster than us. I stop and turn to face the beast.

"Soren, what are you doing?"

I close my eyes and conjure a memory, a memory I would rather not have. I see their faces frozen in horror and covered in blood. But I do not offer the face of the killer to the rose. And then all of it fades into nothing. I open my eyes and slam my hand down in the ground. A thick wall of shodowfrost shoots down from the ceiling and through the beast, shearing its head away from its body. I watch as the head of a disfigured bear rolls through the smokey shadow to my feet. I'm not powerless anymore, I'm no longer a pawn.

With our pursuers path blocked we make our way out of the tunnel and into the woods. I look up to the waning Vita moon through the darkness. Mortem is nearly upon us. We stop just inside the tree line, all of us panting from the effort. When I catch my breath I ask Nyx more about why the Mortus Rose attacked.

"They're after your power." She says through heavy breaths. "The Mortus Rose has been hunting down witches and siphoning their magic for centuries."

"But I'm not a witch."

"You're far more of a witch than you think." I look at her confused.

"Because my power comes from the Black Rose?" She looks over to the old man, their eyes meet and linger for a moment. He nods and she takes a deep breath, gathering her words.

"You remember I told you about King Samir's affair?" She says. I nod, remembering her words before the ritual.

"His lover was not a mortal woman. She was a witch." She pauses a moment. "She... was me." I stare at her in shock. My father never spoke of his family, too afraid of what might happen if he did. Did he know about Nyx? The old man interrupts our conversation for a moment, telling us to keep moving, lest our attackers break through the ice. We set off through the woods with Watson in tow, holding our conversation in hushed tones. He grabs hold of Nyx's hand as he passes and it finally clicks.

"Samir said he died in the Rose War." I say.

"I did." He says and pulls Nyx down the trail. How is he alive?

"How was your fragment in the Memoria?" Nyx looks back with a soft smile, her voice hushed.

"After Corvus had been taken in by Alaric. The Queen found out about our affair. She was enraged, and threatened war on my Coven. She cursed the Black Rose and came to despise Samir for accepting its gifts." She looks up at Samir for a moment, her eyes filled with a decade of memories. "We found a way to split him from The Rose."

"By sacrificing Corvus to it?" They look at each other, surprised at what I already know. "Before the Memoria collapsed, Corvus claimed that Samir cursed him to get away from the Rose and spend his life with you." Samir glares and turns his attention down the trail. Nyx offers a sad smile.

"Yes. But at the time... We saw the Rose as a blessing. A blessing we could pass onto the world. But it consumed him in a way that I did not anticipate."

Snapping twigs silence our conversation, and we quicken our pace. Watching the thick brush for any movement. Samir calls Watson to his side and the two lead the way through the darkness. We make it nearly a mile before Watson stops and begins sniffing the air. He releases a low growl and launches himself up into the canopy of a tree behind us. A short lived panic screams from the branches above us, and then the crunch and tear of flesh from bone and then silence. Leaves rustle and the shillouete of a body falls to the ground with a heavy thump. The three of us rush over to join Watson who is now sitting next to the body. Samir bends down and inspects it.

The dead man is dressed in leather made armor and wrapped in a crimson shoulder cowl. A golden metal mask, forged to depict a demon covers his face. Samir looks back at Nyx, a slight worry fills his voice.

"They sent The Mortem Guard." The two share a silent moment of understanding and we set off at a run. I don't know what Samir's words entail, but it can't be good. We rush through the bush, tearing through foliage in a desperate attempt to evade the guard. As we break through the tree line into a glade something hits my ankles and wraps itself tight around them. My momentum carries my face first into the dirt. I try to pick myself up but a foot slams me back down, filling my mouth with soil. Several other men with similar gold masks appear from behind rocks and trees. Samir is quickly disarmed by two of the men and several others with strange glowing stones strapped to their belts nullify Nyx's magic. As I struggle against the weight of the man above me I hear a blade unsheathe.

I try to freeze him but he bears the same stones as the others. I reach for my blade and the man steps on it, I feel several bones crack under the weight. I roar in pain and try to rip my hand away, but it's no use. Whatever new found strength I gained over these last months has been in vain. He raises his blade above his head and I brace myself for death. But instead of a blade I flitch at a warm wetness splashing onto my face. The man's head has been cleaved from his body, slowly the remaining flesh topples to the ground beside me. Revealing a sight I once thought I'd never see again. Ivar's huge frame looms above me, a blood soaked axe in his hands.

With no time for a reunion I cut the bola biding my feet and he pulls me to my feet and we lunge at the remaining Mortem Guards. Two of them come at each of us. I slash my blade with my off-hand at the gaps in their defenses. Each blow being met with a block and retaliation. I slip under a combined swipe of blades behind them and swing my blade at the stones on their waist. The blow connects, shattering the stones and cutting through the cloth in their armor to reveal thick layers of chainmail. The two men turn to face me, their haunting demon masks glare at me from underneath the shadows of their hoods. A blade isn't going to be enough. I see a memory in my mind and run my broken hand over my blade. Thick shadow envelopes the blade, drifting down and evaporating on the ground as the men approach me.

My lips form into a cocky smile as I stare down my attackers.

"What are you smiling at, prick?" I shrug my shoulders.

"Because I know something you don't." I toss the blade to my broken hand. "I'm not left handed."

I slash in a horizontal cut, launching a wave of shadow at them. The shadow passes through them effortlessly. But it does not stop their advance. Shit. I really thought that would work. I ready myself as they charge at me, but they do not make it far before their torso leaves their legs behind. The two halves tumble to the ground in a staggered fall. Caught up in arrogant pride I do not notice the guard rushing me from behind. I hear the woosh of large object flying through the air. And then the wet meaty crunch as an axe blade buries itself into the head of the guard. The force rips him to the ground, his body twitching as his brain tries to fight against the brutal quickness of his death. I hurry over to Nyx and Samir, cutting through the ropes around their wrists and untying cloth gags. Ivar joins us from searching the bodies and hands a folded piece of paper to me.

"The Arator's orders to her guard." He says. Unfolding the paper I read the order aloud.

"The Dcera has received orders to escort the Rose Knight to Oakhaven. Capture the Rose Knight alive." These orders are months old... I look up at Ivar confused.

"Keep reading."

"Burn the tavern and bring the Dcera to me." A small part of me is filled with a sick joy that the murderer has met such a fate. But when I meet Nyx's eyes, they are filled with that same fear as mine were as I stood over my butchered family.

"They have Aurora..." She says quietly. Silent tears glimmer in the moonlight as they well in her eyes. Samir grabs her hand and pulls her into his embrace.

"We'll get her back, I swear it." He says. Ivar pulls me to the edge of the glade, giving the two space. He notices the faint smile on my face and hardens his expression.

"Aurora did not kill your family." He says. His deep voice rumbles through my bones.

"Of course she did, she bears the mark." I whisper, motioning to my inner wrist. Ivar shakes his head and continues.

"Before they were captured by the Mortus Rose--" I had assumed they were all captured. What happened?

"Wait. How did you evade capture?" I ask.

"They wished to return to the Coven to speak with Nyx. The night we split ways I had set off into the woods, searching for you. I did not make it far before The Mortus Rose attacked them. By the time I made it back to the camp, they had been taken." They must have found out Rhys was playing sides and assumed Durin was his accomplice. I only hope they are in a cell and not already dead, or worse. After a moment he continues.

"Rhys and Durin spoke of their concern for Aurora. But they also spoke of another, the Dcera before her."

"And you think this other daughter is guilty?" He nods.

"She defected from the Coven to join the cult. They spoke of many tragedies she orchestrated in service to the Noxbleum. One being the raid on our home." I feel a strange sense of relief as my heart softens for Aurora. I had hoped with all my being that it was not her.

"Told you she was nothing to worry about." I say, clapping a joking hand on his arm. But he does not share in the relief. I stare up at my friend who has shifted his gaze to Nyx and Samir, an untrusting expression on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"She is the woman we were sent after."