Beneath a red maple tree, a brunet supported his back with the trunk, knees crossed as he twirled a faded yellow leaf. A red hairpin secured the brown strands in a bun above his head, his eyes lowered, unfocused.

  His attire consisted of black trousers obscured by a looser maroon tunic secured with a black belt. A short, curved sword hung from his waist.

  Ell stood in front of him, brows furrowed.

  As the battle reached its climax, the young man raised his eyes. The leaf fell he extended an arm, fingers splayed. The ground shifted beneath, cracking and crumbling as a large leech-like creature emerged. Jagged teeth lined the round opening of its mouth as it gaped at the man’s fingertips.

  Following the direction of his gaze, Ell found Sonia and the kids.

  As the leech beast squirmed in anticipation, the masked man appeared. When he looked their way, the man clicked his tongue. “Spoilsport.”

  The masked man was gone along with his targets, while the brunet lowered himself into a crouch. “Let’s go.”

  The beast sunk into the ground, reemerging below the man and swallowing him whole before it returned into the earth.

  [Reviewer Deactivated]

  Ell opened her eyes. Around half an hour had passed, the skies overhead blushing a soft pink as birds streaked across.

  Clouds dispersed as she stood up and dusted her dark green robes. She looked up at Selin, flashing her a proud smile. “I found him.”

  The guard perched on a short, broken colonnade that had once supported a protruding section of the roof. She jumped down, dust stirring at her feet. “Who?”

  The dust settled as Ell’s enthusiasm cooled—indeed, who was he?

  From the way he had controlled the leech beast, it was very likely he was the Puppeteer of that night. Sonia should have been in cahoots with him; a probable conjuncture from her calm observation of the battle and Varoth emerging unscathed from the fight.

  But instead of leaving with the Puppeteer, Sonia had been prepared to use a timecomp. Perhaps she wasn’t sure if he could get them out of there, but then the masked man appeared and took her away. From the Puppeteer’s attitude, that should not have been something they’d agreed on.

  Too many discrepancies, and only one way to know.

  Catch him.

  Ell loosened the string tying her hair at the waist. She combed her hands through the free strands, securing them into a low ponytail at her nape with the black ribbon.

  “We will find out.”

  The stone gate to the mansion had been struck through at irregular intervals. Ell strode through a flattened portion, moving deeper into the forest of red and yellow maple trees. The guard followed close behind, tail striking off any unruly branch standing in their way.

  In a few minutes, they were standing where the Puppeteer had once been.

  The ground was covered with yellow, shriveled leaves. Ell pushed them away with her leather shoes. Part of the dirt was sunk in, testimony to the beast that had squirmed beneath.

  She passed a thumb over her forefinger. “Say,” Ell began, glancing at Selin, “have you ever eaten a leech before?”

  The guard had crouched down to closely observe the shallow depression. She looked up. “No.”

  Ell pressed her lips together, crouched down. “Say, how about—”

  “No.”

  Princess and guard stared at one another. Lowering her head, Ell reached for a thin branch, poking at the leaves. “I haven’t said anything,” she mumbled quietly.

  There was a soft crunch as Selin stood up, Ell following her movements discreetly. The guard took out a metallic mask, activating it as she slid her finger on the sharp rim, the silver tainted with faint red.

  It was less than a minute when put it back away.

  Ell stood up. She quirked an eyebrow.

  “I called in assistance,” Selin replied, tail curling around a thick branch and hoisting her on top.

  Watching her comfortably sitting on the branch, Ell felt that her own legs were sore. She had been sitting cross legged for a good while. Convincing herself that she was on a peaceful outing, Ell took a stroll between the trees, not straying far from the watchful Selin.

  The trees were familiar, a common sighting in the city where she had resided. The biggest novelty were the grounded clouds. Ell snuck a glance at Selin, resolved that the guard knew she would act out of character anyway, and took a bite of a cloud rolling close to her shoulders.

  As expected, the condensation tasted like nothing.

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  It was amusing, nonetheless, encouraging Ell to take a few more mouthfuls.

  At the fourth bite, the wind picked with vengeance, slapping leaves against her face and pulling the white fluffiness away.

  To protect her eyes against the swirling dust, Ell pulled up her large sleeve in front of her face. Selin was there a second later, wings engulfing Ell.

  The aggressive winds did not last long, easing into a breeze within a minute. The wings retracted, and Ell could finally see—

  —Nothing?

  She blinked at the trees.

  “The faster the better, but be careful,” said Selin to the apparent air.

  Perhaps someone was there. They were just invisible?

  “Yes, sir!”

  Ell flinched at the squeaky chorus but finally pinned down the source. She looked at a small cluster of leaves standing upright on the ground. Two men and two women were strapped to the leaves, each barely the length of her finger.

  Memories trickled through.

  Ilai’s secret guard. People endowed with the ability to change their size at will, although the number of times they could change it per day were limited. They were equipped with artifacts of clothing and weapons that changed with their size.

  They didn’t always shadow the Princess, only dispatched if Selin was absent. At present, some where shadowing Tyra’s targets, others following her maid Klarn.

  “Greeting to Your Highness!” they bellowed again in their squeaky voices, forcing Ell to bite down on the inside of her cheek to suppress a chuckle.

  “Sorry to trouble you,” she replied with a smile.

  The four mini-humans froze. A woman with fiery red hair gaping at her dumbly.

  A wing blocked Ell as Selin explained, “Her Highness is in a good mood. Let’s move.”

  Idiot, Ell chided her own carelessness. Since she was not using Impersonator, she should at least be careful not to blatantly act out of character.

  She pushed Selin’s feathers away. “Now, my mood is ruined. Move.”

  Turning her back to them, Ell headed to the tree. She pointed to the Puppeteer’s exit route. “I need to know where this leads.”

  The miniature guards saluted, shedding their wind-carried leaves and entering small bronze spheres. Ell marked the time as they rolled away and into the small hole.

  Ell and Selin waited by the exit, constant updates relayed to them through their earrings.

  “Course clear. Following route.” The sentence was repeated every five minutes over the course of forty minutes.

  Lightly thumping her fist against her legs, Ell looked around for a seat. Before she could find one, Selin hoisted her up onto a low sturdy branch. Pleased, Ell gave the pixie short hair a fond ruffle.

  Selin allowed her to mess with her hair, attention focused on their surroundings.

  Ell pulled out her current stats out of boredom.

  [Plot Deviation | 21.4%]

  [Deviation Points | 0245]

  [Stability | 94%]

  Thankfully, the Dragon did not interfere in the stability this time, perhaps more entertained by the cat and mouse game they were playing.

  She recalled the Priest’s words about witnessing the Dragon Emperor kill the Dragon.

  The vision, the Priest and many others had seen, was very dubious. Although they were convinced they witnessed a murder, it should have been an attempted one that did not see fruition.

  If the ‘review’ was true, it was not clear to what extent the Dragon was harmed. If it were a false hallucination projected by her, then for what reason was she showing it to people?

  Most importantly, why show the Priest a vision when she should have been aware that he wouldn’t expose Ell as a Reviewer for fear for his life?

  Perhaps, what the Dragon wanted was not Ell’s death; it was her cooperation.

  The silver earring encircling the top of her ear buzzed as a guard spoke, “Tunnel has branched off into five sections, how shall we proceed?”

  Selin and Ell exchanged a glance.

  “Let them retreat until reinforcements arrive,” Ell instructed Selin as she hopped down.

  Following her instructions, Selin summoned them back.

  Since they were moving carefully, the guards had taken a long while to explore the tunnels, but the trip back should be much faster.

  Leaves drifted onto Ell’s shoulders as a bird flew through the branches. As she brushed them off, loud howls rumbled through the forest.

  Selin slide her mask into storage as leaves crunched beneath vicious paws. She pulled Ell into her arms, springing into flight.

  The whistle reached their ears after the arrows did, dozens tearing through the air. Three pierced through Selin’s wings, sending her into a plummet as she struggled to land. Trees cushioned their fall, Selin bearing the brunt of the impact as they collided with the ground.

  Ell turned on her ring shield as soon as Selin let go. The guard was quickly on her feet, hand over her shoulder as sharp nails sunk into the sparse flesh at the root of the wing. With a crunch and a twist, she ripped out the wing and threw it out of the one-way shield. She grabbed the remaining wing, tearing it off before the poison blackening her feathers could seep into her body.

  The eroding wings fell next to Ell who was frozen in horror. Selin grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away from the rotting appendages as the shield shifted with her.

  “Stay here, and close your eyes,” Selin instructed as she left Ell within the shield with bloodstained sleeves.

  Ell’s eyes lingered on the red for a moment before they found Selin’s blood-soaked back. Wolves surrounded her, snarling as they snapped their jaws.

  They attacked together, Selin evading them with ease. She brandished her tail as weapon as she struck them down. One managed to sink its teeth into her arm. She grabbed it by the jaw, allowing it to take a chunk of her arm as she pulled her arm free.

  Ell prepared to use Puppeteer when the ground beneath her shifted.

  Selin’s attention snapped to her, narrow pupils constricting further. She tore the wolf’s maw in half, mouth now stretched to its neck. She dug her hand into the flesh of its shoulder, tearing out a chunk and gulping it down.

  Canines extended past her lips as fur sprouted from her skin, trailing at the edges of her face. Her tail, retaining its long length but now covered in soft fur, slapped away attacking wolves. Bare hands and feet, like a wolf’s paws, pushed against the ground as she sprang towards Ell.

  Earth rumbled as the beast underground drew closer.

  [Puppeteer Activated]

  Selin run in the opposite direction.

  Ell watched the guard’s eyes widen in confusion. She halted in place, fending of her attackers, expression flickering from confusion to frustration to anger to despair.

  No matter how much she struggled, her back turned to Ell, neck straining to allow one last resentful glance at the Princess before she bounded off.

  Ell maintained her sight on Selin, watching her silhouette grow smaller as she pushed her as far as possible.

  The ground parted as the leech beast tore through, swallowing Ell and her shield into its stomach.

  [Puppeteer Deactivated]