Hey look!“ He yelled and pointed his spear towards the nearby cliff, but before anyone could react, the figure disappeared. Something was off, the nights were too silent, and the raids stopped, but everyone thought that Henry became paranoid after the battle.

  "We are being watched! You must listen to me! They are inspecting our shifts, the distribution of guardsmen on the walls; they must be preparing the siege!“ He yelled, but nobody seemed to take him seriously.

  "Listen, kid, just go to sleep; nobody will report you. Get some rest.“ Nogryl said nonchalantly, and Henry charged at him with his shoulder, almost knocking him off the wooden crate. The knight stood up, and Henry swung fists towards his face, but the champion simply dodged the blows.

  "You are not the same person anymore!“ The kid yelled and slammed his fists against Nogryl's armor, but Nogryl seemed unshaken. After a couple of blows, out of breath and with his fists bloody, Henry stopped hitting him.

  "Alright, I will find the cure for you“ and walked away. The rest of the guardsmen simply laughed and continued doing whatever they did moments before.

  Henry ran down the stairs of the wooden tower and down the wall, entering the village of Lindenrow, and then he went straight to the church, passing through the dark alleys and turning around every now and then. He was sure that he was being followed.

  After a couple of minutes of running, he arrived in front of the church. The priest was already sleeping by this time, and the place seemed deserted. Henry entered through the large wooden door into the stone hall held by the pillars that led to the altar.

  The church was simply massive, and the room for the masses was not the only room in the church, and on the ceiling there could be seen large mosaics depicting scenes from the war of the gods, countless warriors fighting dragons and the dark gorugolm hordes,

  and the skies were full of arrows and the Alofy, winged angelic warriors of Xorael. Among the scenes there was also a depiction of Xorael slaying Aroseth in their final battle and the depiction of the slain rebel being thrown into the deep, dark abyss.

  Henry did not waste too much time looking at those arts, and instead he went straight through the corridor on the left leading into the church library that was separated from the main hall with another heavy wooden door.

  There were countless old books, each one older than the other, and the shelves expanded for meters. He searched through the library, through the pile of old books written in old languages, but none of them told anything about Nogryl's curse.

  As he searched through the shelves, he could hear the steps on the wooden boards behind him.

  "I must be hearing things,“ he thought, and continued searching.

  "Is this what you are looking for?" a familiar voice echoed through the library hall, and Henry looked up towards the top of the many wooden shelves. Much to his surprise, he saw the cloaked figure of Nuula holding a small black book in her hand,

  and upon the dark leather book cover, the letters laid with silver: "The Guide on Valkrulnal: Rituals of Purification, by Aryon Smite." Henry was visibly frightened by her presence, but braving through his fear, he stated,

  "Bold of you to show me the last piece of the puzzle." The statement made the assassin laugh.

  "If you want this book, come and take it, or perhaps you are afraid of heights?“ She said in a mocking voice while standing on the top of the enormous wooden shelves.

  "You can keep the book; all that I needed is a name." The young man said and started running towards the door. Realizing her mistake, Nuula's face turned grim, and she chased after Henry, and before he could reach the door, she jumped down from the shelves and landed a couple of meters ahead of him, blocking his path. The wooden floorboards were shaken by the impact, but she did not seem to be bothered by the fall. He could see her menancing face clearly, with its large teeth and dark, empty eyes.

  "Looks like it's your time to die." The gorugolm said and placed her hands on her sword handles, and after a quick pull the swords seemed to be stuck in their scabbards. She was surprised by the occurance; the blades made of valkrunal, the cursed black steel could not be drawn inside the hallowed place, such as the church of Xorael. By that time, Henry already drew his sword and recklessly charged at her.

  "Die, fiend!“ He yelled as he swung his blade towards her neck, but she parried his blow with her iron bracer and attempted to close in the distance, but Henry dashed backwards and stopped her advance by pointing a tip of his sword towards her, after which he started running towards the shelves.

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  His foe was faster than him, and after a long leap, she managed to catch him, wrapping her arms around Henry's neck as they both fell on the ground while the beast held him in a stranglehold.

  "This is how you die!“ She said aggressively through her teeth as the young man struggled for a breath. The world seemed to get darker every second, and he could hear the ringing in his ears, and the gorugolm swung his body around, making him unable to stand up or take hold of balance,

  but instead of panicking, he grabbed a book from the nearby shelf and bashed its reinforced golden corner against Nuula's body. The book's holy power struck the fiend like a lightning bolt through her bones, and as he repeated the attack, he managed to get out of the hold.

  Nuula growled with rage and kicked the human straight in the abdomen. The armor absorbed most of the blow, but the force of the impact was enough to send Henry flying through the bookshelves. Understanding that she cannot win a fight without her weapons, Nuula gathered her strength and pushed one of the large shelves over Henry, burrying him in books and splintered wood. Before he could dig his way out, she climbed on the other wall of old books in a couple of fast leaps, and from there she leapt high towards the ceiling and grabbed a large golden chandlier. Henry was quickly digging his way out of the pile of broken wooden planks and books as she watched him struggle and laughed with an evil laugh and a candle in her hand.

  "I wish I could stay to watch you burn alive." She said as she dropped a candle into the rabble and added,

  "It's a shame I'll have to go." After which she swung on a large golden chain and leaped through the church window, shattering the large colorful glass and thin wooden planks that held it and disappearing in the darkness of the streets.

  The fire was spreading fast, almost reaching the young man, roaring, crackling, and engulfing the holy books and spreading to the large wooden beams. The smoke was thick, and the whole place started crumbing as the young man slowly dug himself from underneath the wooden shelves and the books. He quickly ran outside before the roof collapsed behind him, and without wasting a moment, he ran towards his position to alert the garrison about the intruder.

  As he ran, he realized that Nuula was heading in the same direction, running across the rooftops, jumping from one roof to another. She most likely entered the village walls through the gap in the defenses where Nogryl and Alwin were statoned, drunk, and too focused on gambling to notice her. Heading in that direction, it was obvious that she intended to exit the same way.

  "Intruder! We have an intruder!“ Henry yelled as the rest of the village guards, sleepy in the middle of the night shift, noticed her and quickly sounded the bells. The whole garrison was ready, leaving Nuula no choice but to attempt to break through their defenses.

  From inside the town, it was easy to climb on top of the defensive structure because the roofs were barely lower than the wall. Charging towards the wall, Nuula was shot at by a hail of arrows coming from the wall and the nearby towers.

  Nogryl and Alwin's tower was there too, and both of them shot towards her. She dodged most of the arrows and deflected some of them with her bracers, but Alwin, being skilled in everything he did, managed to land a shot to her thigh.

  The arrow lodged itself deep into the monster's flesh, but she seemed unshaken by it. Another one of the arrows shot by the guardsmen from the wall found its way to her shoulder. Regardless, Nuula reached the wall and jumped from a rooftop to the defensive structure.

  There she was met by two of the guards, pointing their spears at her, as the rest of the garrison rushed towards her.

  She unsheathed her swords and charged at them, taking down one of the guards with a sword throw to the head that went through his face and lodged itself straight into the brain. The guard was instantly dead. While closing her distance with the other guard, she dodged a spear thrust so narrowly that the side of the spearhead made a cut in her stomach. But regardless, she decapitated him in a single swing before pulling her sword out of the rattling dead body that lay beside and quickly jumping from a wall into the moat with a loud splash.

  The moonlight's shine was strong enough to reveal a black spot in the water where she dove. She was obviously losing a lot of blood, and it stained the water black. Henry quickly climbed on the tower where Alwyn and Nogryl were stationed.

  "Did she leave the water?“ He asked.

  "No, she's still inside." Alwin spoke as he aimed his bow and waited for an opportune moment to shoot.