Chapter 64

**Merianna**

Something wasn’t quite right…

What *is* that?

I thought to myself as my mind slowly seemed to come out of a fog. I was tired but something kept nagging at me to open my eyes and wake up. Was I sleeping?

Groggily I frowned and tried to remember what I was doing last before I fell asleep. Was I talking to Thyrion before we fell asleep in bed? I remembered that I was definitely with Thyrion before I drifted off to lala land at least.

**Bang!**

My bedroom door burst open like a gunshot and I suddenly jolted up in bed.

“Merianna get up! Can’t you hear the alarm?! We’ve got company incoming!” Nelia yelled as she sprinted off again, disappearing just as suddenly as she had appeared.

It was then that I heard it… the insistent high pitched din that rang through my eardrums like my ears were ringing, but not quite.

“Oh shoot.” Thyrion muttered as his naked form jumped out of bed from behind me. “Looks like we’re going to have some fun on our home turf for a change.” He grinned and held out a hand to help me out of bed. I took his hand and followed the motions on autopilot as something kept nagging at me that something was different… something wasn’t quite right.

Looking at Thyrion, his hair was long, braided down his back till it hit below his shoulder blades and his skin was bronzed from long hours of training under the sunlight. Then when I happened to glance at myself in the bronze mirror that he had gifted me not too long ago, I saw that my hair was black. I nearly froze at the surreal feeling that washed over me. Almost like I had been in this position before but at the same time I hadn’t.

“Come on my love, carnage awaits us.” Thyrion said gleefully, holding out my old rune scythe and leather armor for me to grab.

“Right.” I smiled back and pushed the strange feeling aside for now. Now wasn’t the time to wonder about what was making me feel so out of place, it was time to erase our stupidly brave intruders from existence.

When we were all set, both of us sprinted out of our room and down the halls towards the main entrance where all the other members of the Order were starting to stream out and organize themselves like a well trained army. We spied Noch suddenly emerging from one of the walls nearby strapping on a brace, and made a beeline straight for him.

“Any idea of who was stupid enough to try and breach the barrier?” I asked.

“Welp.” He waved his hand and pulled his sentient staff out from thin air. “As far as I could sense, it felt like a whole lot of non-magically inclined individuals and a few other individuals that seemed to be blooming with magic, so I’ll give you three guesses.”
“We only need one.” Thyrion groaned.

“Hunters…” I sighed.

“Bingo!” Noch grinned. And for a second, I had that same surreal feeling I had earlier. It felt like Noch was supposed to look different. But at the same time, this was the only way I ever remember seeing him.

“Lets head out with the others and show these idiots what hell they are getting themselves sent to.” he hollered then proceeded to practically skip off out the doors along with the rest of the members.

“This should be interesting…” Thyrion muttered then started to move forward but noticed that I wasn’t really following behind him. “What’s wrong? You alright?” He asked worriedly.

I snapped myself out of the fog that seemed to confuse me. “I’m fine, let's go.”

And with that we filed out of the Order’s doors and situated ourselves in our defensive positions. The sun was shining brightly for a change, I noted dully as the cool air hit my face. Everything from the forest surrounding the Order’s borders and the grass that grew all over the place, was green. Yet, surrounded by all the members of the Order, the familiar scenery, and the perfect looking day… I couldn’t help the ever growing sense of utter dread that seemed to grow stronger. Even though in my mind, I knew that there was nothing to worry about.

Even with the Hunters and Traitor Witches marching up to our doorstep, I knew that there was nothing that could beat the experience and numbers of the expertly trained witches of the Order. We had defeated the Hunters more than once already, what harm would there be in fighting them one more time? Especially when we were fighting on our home turf.

“Alright everyone! The enemy is just about to breach the tree line. Raska had warned me to let you all know that she will be letting her pets loose if you don’t get the job over with quickly enough!” Noch yelled while amplifying his voice over the five hundred odd witches that had gathered.

A collective groan escaped most of the gathered crowd. “If you don’t like it then don’t give her a reason to go through with it!” Noch cackled.

This felt so strange, standing shoulder to shoulder with every single member I had grown up with since Nelia and I were young. I glanced around and spied Nelia hanging in a back corner with the Ga’s and some other healers, Nana Ara was counting something in a satchel she had slung around her front, Jasnine was distributing newly crafted rune weapons to whoever wanted them before the fight broke out, and Fog was in the back lines looking formidably bored.

“Let's see if we can finish this before lunch time!” Noch laughed as he turned back to set his sights on the tree line.

Everyone around me looked confident. They all seemed so sure about what the outcome of this battle was going to be. I knew that I was supposed to feel the same way, usually I’d be right up there in the front with Noch, boasting about how many Hunters we’re going to end up taking out, making bets on who would get the most.

But for some reason, my heart was pounding in my throat, and it wasn’t because of excitement. I gripped the handle of my scythe so tightly that I could feel the runes leaving imprints on my skin. Something was nagging at me to shout a warning, to make everyone a bit more cautious about what was heading our way, but at the same time, I kept feeling that those were just irrational thoughts.

As I heard a distant din of footsteps coming from the forest, I couldn’t help myself, and silently called for Hezerial, telling him to stay close.

“Incoming!” One of the members called out as a bomb seemed to be catapulted over the treetops towards us. The defense team immediately sent the bomb flying back with a wind spell and it exploded midway on its flight back, releasing a purple gas-like substance as it did so.

“Shit!” Someone  cursed in genuine worry.

“Witch Bane! Keep your wits about you!” Noch yelled, all smiles and chuckles were gone. Now he seemed thoroughly pissed off that the Hunters had somehow managed to get their hands on it, especially since the dangerous herb had been thought to be exterminated already. Was this what my gut had been warning me about? Sure Witch Bane had a blocking effect on our magic, but physical warfare was still fair ground.

Suddenly hundreds of the bombs came flying over the treetops and got blasted back before they could explode. The ensuing purple haze slowly drifted downwards to the ground by the tree line, smothering the area in its poison.

“At least it won’t affect our ability to fight all that much.” Thyrion muttered unhappily.

“Nelia and the healers will need to stay close to the castle for emergencies, but we’ll be fine.” I agreed.

“All ready!!!” Noch yelled as he readied himself. He seemed to have noticed movement in the trees and it didn’t take long for the Hunters to come pouring out from the darkness. The Traitor Witches were easily recognizable in between the Hunters with them having clothes that covered them from head to toe in black. Probably in order for them not to be affected by the Witch Bane they released.

“Here we go, have fun out there my love.” Thyrion grinned and gave me a playful wink.

Then we were off. All the fighters shot off like a hoard of hunting dogs set loose after prey. It only took me a second of uncertainty before I followed suit with everyone else. This was something I was used to, battle with the Hunters was a common occurrence for us, hell we even thrived off it. Yet that suffocating sense of dread kept sticking to me like pine tar. I couldn’t put my finger on why, there was no reason for me to be so on guard. The fact that the Hunters had found our castle and managed to break in wasn’t all that surprising either considering that Dermon was still on the loose, we had talked about this possibility many times before it even became a reality today. I only needed to do as I had always done, fight alongside all my brothers and sisters of the Order.

Noch was the first one in the fray, diving straight into the front lines of the Hunters with his staff bashing in sculls and breaking bones as he went. Seeing the blood already flying through the air made me roll my eyes, go figure that the bluntest weapon in the Order would shed the most blood from the get go.

It wasn’t long before I reached my first victim as well. Wielding my scythe, I cut through the Hunters that appeared in front of me like they were nothing more than target posts. Some of them seemed to be well trained and managed to block my strikes every here and there, but they were no match for the bursts of speed I let loose with my lightning magic coursing through my body.

That was one advantage that Noch and I also had over most of the other members where Witch Bane was concerned. Our ancient aligned elements tended to be less affected by the poison than the more common 5 elements that were used mostly externally. Some witches that were still out of the reach of the Witch Bane had sent earth magic ahead of them, tossing Hunters into the air or making them fall into pits, burying them alive on the spot.

Jumping up onto one of their earth pillars I jumped straight into the air after the Hunters and cut them down mid-flight. Some of the other members followed the same tactic and took advantage of their vulnerability mid-air.

While jumping from one earth pillar to another, I dodged a few fireballs that were aimed my way. I smirked as I saw the Traitor Witches hanging back and throwing their magic our way. My high vantage point made it easy for me to glance over the battlefield. 

Noch was already making his way towards the Traitors since they were the bigger threat in the hoard, Nana Ara was cackling away as she tossed blood rot bombs deep into the treeline where screams of agony followed soon after, Fog was hanging back to make sure no Hunters managed to get past us, Jasnine was working her way through the Hunters like everyone else with her rune whip and I even spied Raska at the top of the caste with one of her demonic human-sized bats, waiting for any sign that we might need her pets. I had no doubt that one of her Tartarus worms were already under our feet, probably Lillian…

A shiver of disgust ran through me at the thought, which only made my drive to get all this over and done with that much bigger. I already had a run in with Raska’s pets more than once before and was not very keen on being too close to them ever again if I could help it.

Hitting the ground I sprinted straight towards the Traitors, aiming to take them out first before I moved on to the other Hunters. The moment I hit the purple haze of the witchbane I could feel its effect on me, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would’ve been but there certainly was a weakening sensation.

Not like that fact was going to slow me down at all.

I dived into the crowd of Hunters that were the Traitors’ first line of defence and sliced cleanly through three of them at a time. The looks of baffled surprise and fear when I reached my main targets were so funny that I couldn’t help but chuckle before I sliced through them as well.

“Awww I wanted to take them!” Noch whined from behind me.

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where they came from.” I chuckled and nodded to the left where another group of Traitors and Hunters were slowly advancing.

“Now that’s more like it. I’m on 50 heads by the way!” He gleefully announced as he zoomed past, heading straight for his new targets.

I caught myself noticing that I wasn’t exactly reacting the way I usually would when Noch would goad me on like that. My drive to outdo him was not there. When he went ahead, I didn’t follow straight after him to try and take his targets from him. I just kept feeling like something was off…

Shaking off the unsettling feeling, I headed back in towards the battle. With each new blow I dealt, and every comrade I pulled out of a dangerous pinch, my anxiety seemed to mount to even higher proportions. And every single time, it irked me that I just couldn’t put my damn finger on the reason why.

Suddenly in the midst of the battle, I saw that Thyrion and Noch were specifically being targeted by Hunters that were moving suspiciously well through the throng of bloodied bodies. My stomach dropped as I caught sight of them, nothing else mattered in that moment. I had to do whatever I could to catch those Hunters before they reached Thyrion and Noch, or I should at least catch their attention to warn them.

“Thyrion! Noch! Watch-” My breath suddenly got knocked right out of me, but I wasn’t flying anywhere, I wasn’t even moved, I was still standing in the same spot I started yelling from. But, I couldn’t take a breath. Glancing down, I saw what the problem was…

A sword blade, coated in Witch Bane and small runic inscriptions, had been stabbed straight through my chest. And by the way my strength was rapidly declining along with my dripping blood, it was possible that my heart had been nicked too.

Gritting my teeth, I lifted my scythe as I made a grab for the blade protruding from my chest, only to have the enemy yank the sword back out before I could grip the blade myself. Still using the momentum, I used the strength I still had and whirled around, whipping the scythe upwards in an attempt to lodge my own blade in their torso too.

The enemy moved back quickly but I did manage to land a strike. My blade had managed to slice their skin open from the hip to the opposite shoulder. Their grunt of pain wasn’t nearly satisfying enough for what they did, but I couldn’t strike again. And that was when I recognized the Hunter’s face. It was Dermon. That damn slimy asshole had led this group of Hunters straight to our doorstep himself, hiding himself in between the army.

I was so furious that my magic suddenly raged uninhibited, making lightning rain down onto the battlefield with no sense for friend or foe. Dermon jumped back quickly as a deafening strike landed on a tree right next to him, making the wood explode and sprinters fly right into him, embedding themselves in his arms and body.

A flicker of fear crossed his face before he glared at me with a grin. He reached down and yanked the largest splinter out from his thigh, then gripping the gaping wound over his body, he turned around and sprinted away as fast as he could without even glancing back.

“Urgh.” I groaned as I turned around to glance back at Thyrion and Noch. They had seen what had happened, but they were being swamped by the more experienced Hunters around them, and now I knew that this tactic was intentional. The Witch Bane in the air inhibited our abilities for wide range magic, and the Witch Bane on the blade made it impossible for my magic to start regenerating any damage that had been dealt.

Since the Witch Bane was now also mixed in with my blood, I could feel my magic growing weaker with every second. The lightning had stopped, and just as Thyrion had finally managed to break away and decimate the Hunters that were swarming around him, my legs gave out and I fell to the ground.

Everything felt muted. I didn’t feel it when I hit the ground, I couldn’t hear Thyrion’s shouts over the muted din as he flipped me over and checked my injury. Everything seemed to slow down and grow darker, I couldn’t even manage a chuckle when I caught a glimpse of Raska’s Tartarus Worm Lillian, rearing up and gobbling up Hunters by the dozens behind Thyrion.

I strained to try and move my lips, Thyrion and Noch needed to know that Dermon had done this. We all knew Dermon was still out there, but right now he was right there, in our forest. I silently cursed in my mind as I realized that I wasn’t able to get anything out anymore. I had no choice now but to wait to tell them when I reincarnated.

As I felt my heart shudder and stutter in my chest, I only had one word flit through my mind before everything disappeared. “Shit…”