Chapter 2 General Adri

Sollel stumbled, fell to the ground, but

hurriedly got up and started running

again, doing her best to run in zigzag

to avoid getting hit by the arrows. But

just when she thought she was safe, a

moonrite arrow pierced her shoulder.

The pain was enough to make

Sollel's head ache, and her strength

immediately dropped to almost

nothing. But she didn't stop moving

her body to flee even when she was literally dragging herself and crawling

on the ground just to escape her

pursuers.

She would never let those scums

imprison her again. Never!

Just when she was afraid the humans

chasing her would send another

volley of arrows, she heard clashing

of weapons sounds of swords and

blades clashing against each other.

Then she heard grunts and screams of

pain, as if someone was fighting and

killing the soldiers.

But Sollel couldn't care less who it was.

She forcefully pulled out the arrow

from her flesh and threw it away and

then started running again. Stumbling

and falling to the ground a lot of times, Sollel continued to rush in the middle

of the darkness without care where she

was going. Her mind was focused on

escaping that she didn't realize she ran

into a cliff...until she fell.

Sollel was already ready to accept her

fate, that her body would soon break,

but instead of feeling the hard ground,

she felt herself sinking, followed by

suffocation.

Before Sollel could figure out where

she fell, her consciousness was already

robbed from her by lack of air.

Meanwhile, from atop the cliff where

Sollel fell, a man was standing there,

looking at the flowing river below

while holding his war blades covered

with the soldiers' blood. His eyes were

focused on a certain part of the river.

And when the man didn't see Sollel

resurface, he left the cliff and vanished

into the night.

GENERAL ADRI was speechless

after hearing the report early in the

morning. His fear for his life was

increasing day by day. As long as

Yther's Mistress of Flame was roaming

free and not back to her prison, his

head was in a great risk of being

separated from his neck. The emperor

already told him that he'd have his

head if the Mistress of Flame was not

caught, and now that it had been a

week with no good news, General Adri

was starting to become desperate.

"The soldiers that were sent to Mistvale

Village has not yet returned. After

investigating, we found out that all the

soldiers had been slain. No one was left

alive. And after further investigation,

we found out that whoever took the

woman from prison was the same

person who killed the soldiers. It was a brutal killing, just like what happened

in the moonrite chamber a week ago."

Captain Hamlin, who was reporting

to the general, looked up from bowing

his head down to ask, "General, what is

your next order?"

General Adri wanted to massage

his forehead out of frustration, but

he chose to show the captain of his

soldiers in front of him that he was

not a bit shaken by the news. He was a

general; if he showed weakness, then

What would his soldiers say? "Prepare

five groups with a dozen soldiers each.

We will hunt her down!"

Captain Hamlin was stunned.

"Y-you're hunting with us, General?"

The soldier was surprised because it

was uncommon for a general to hunt

down prisoners. Even at war, generals

position themselves behind the soldiers

to command. They were not known to

fight on the front line.

"Yes. That woman must be recaptured,

or I will die trying!" General Adri

swore, and Captain Hamlin felt an

admiration toward the general.

Unbeknownst to the captain, the

general would really die if he couldn't

capture the Mistress of Flame. "Tell

the soldiers that whoever captured the

Mistress of Flame will receive honor

and reward."

General Adri wanted to take matters

into his own hands. He would capture

the Mistress of Flame and be in the

emperor's good graces again. He

worked hard to get his position; he will

double his effort to keep it. Besides,

to stand behind the emperor was the

greatest honor for a general, and he

Swore to support Emperor Gabrien

until the very end.

So early that morning, General Adri

and his elite soldiers rode their horses

toward Mistvale, moonrite stones and

chains ready.

SOLLEL knew she fell from the cliff

and almost drowned, robbing her

consciousness away. So when she woke

up and saw a run-down shack with a

thatch roof, she immediately got up

and winced when she felt a searing

pain from her shoulder. The wound

caused by that moonrite arrow.

Discarding the pain, Sollel became alert

as she looked around. Where am I?

Just when she was about to leave the

bed made of dried straw, the door

opened. Sollel immediately grabbed

the knife she saw from the old table,

ready to defend herself, when she saw

a beautiful young woman entered.

She was petite and tall, maybe as tall as

Sollel. The woman was wearing a dark

green tunic dress that did not reach her

knees. It covered her arms and had a

leather cincher around its waist. She

also wore black leggings underneath

the dress to cover her legs and black

leather boots, with a bow and arrow

strapped on her back.

But it was her ears that caught Sollel's full attention.

An elf? What is she doing outside

their sacred forest? Sollel had a deep

frown, still tightly holding the knife,

ready to kill. Solel did not care if the

woman didn't kill her while she was unconscious; she did not even care if

the elf took care of her while she was

weak. She had suffered enough to

know that no one can be trusted, not

even those who extended their hands

to help.

"Take it easy," the elf woman said as

She entered the house. "I'm not going to

hurt you."

Sollel opened her mouth to answer, but

her voice did not come out as she was

expecting. It was raspy and small, and

she could not create a coherent word.

It's been so long since she closed her

mouth and did not speak a word.

Maybe this was a consequence of that.

Sollel closed her mouth and used

the knife to write something on the

ground.

Where am I? Who are you? These were Sollel's questions.

The elf answered forthright, "This

house is just outside the Beastrela,

a place where halfling resides." The

elf woman put the vegetables she

gathered in the woods on the table

and continued, "Even though they are

half-human, the humans still don't

want them and decided to put the

halflings in one place to control them

and make them work in the mine,

mining iron for the Infernal Empire's

weaponry."

When the elf didn't continue, Sollel

used the tip of the knife she was still

holding to tap her other question: Who are you?

"I'm called Ciradyl," the elf answered

while inspecting the vegetables. "You

can call me Cira. If you're wondering

why I'm outside the sacred forest, the answer is simple. I was banished for

not adhering to their rule, which was

to stay inside.

I heard about this place, So I came here and became Beastrela's

healer. I saw you floating in the river.

I thought you were dead, but whenI

dragged you out of the water, you were

still breathing, so I took you here and

nursed you."

Sollel took a controlled, deep breath.

Ytherians were a long-lived race. Still,

just like any other race, they could be

killed. But as Yther's Mistress of Flame,

a being blessed by deities, Sollel had an

indomitable body. As long as her blood

of flame flowed inside her, it would

replenish her body with strength to

live. That's why she was so weak now-not only because of the moon rite

prison but also because of blood loss. It

would take time to recover it all back.

"I won't ask you questions.

You can leave if you want, I won't stop you,"

said Cira before handing a small vial

with clear liquid inside. "Here. Drink

this. It'll heal your throat and other

injuries."

Sollel did not accept the vial, so Cira

had to drink a small drop of liquid

from the vial to show Sollel that it was

not harmful.

"See? It's a medicine, not poison."

Sollel stared at Cira for a long minute

before accepting the medicine.

"Give the medicine twenty-four hours

to heal you and you'll be able to speak,"

said Cira before putting the vegetable

in an old pot, and then she went to the

back of the house to start a fire so she

could start cooking the vegetables.

Sollel looked at the small vial in her

hand, and then she used the knife

to cut the tip of her finger. She put

one drop of her blood inside the vial

to purify it. Her blood could purify

anything, detoxifying any harmful

substances. Just in case.

After her blood entered the vial and was mixed with the clear liquid, that

was the only time Sollel drank its

Contents. Then she went back to lie on

the bed made of dried straw.

When Cira returned inside her house,

she was relieved to see the woman

lying on the bed again, resting. Cira

moved silently while cooking the

vegetable and the little meat she had to

not disturb the woman.

While cooking, Cira kept on glancing

inside the house. She couldn't stop

thinking about the woman inside. Even

though she looked pale, the woman

was still gorgeous with her dark red

hair and eyes. Though those color

combinations were uncommon in

Azitera.

Not uncommon, Cira corrected herself.

She knew a race that had such hair

and eyes, but they were now extinct.

But there were still halflings around,

Cira thought because of the color of the

woman's hair. A pure-blood Y therian

had a more vibrant hair and eye color

compared to the halflings who had

muted colors, just like the woman.

Halfling Ytherians were known as a

slave to royalties in human kingdoms.

There's only a handful of them alive,

and that made them rare and valuable

goods to slave traders.

Cira entered her house after cooking

vegetables and meat. While setting

the table, the woman got up, her eyes

alert and ready.

Cira sighed. "Take it easy. I'm not going

to hurt you."

Cira could see that the woman did not

believe her, so she just let the woman

and gave her food.

"This is not poisoned, just so you

know," Cira said after giving the bowl to the wWoman, who accepted it after a

a few seconds of hesitation.

And when Cira turned around to

return to the table, Sollel used her

flame to detoxify the food just in case

-before digging in.

It had been so long since she tasted

good food that Sollel didn't realize she

was wolfing down the food too fast

until she finished everything in less

than a minute. Seeing that, Cira gave

Sollel a second serving and a soup to

pair with it.

It was Sollel's first hearty meal since

her capture, and it was satisfying. But

knowing that she couldn't stay to enjoy

another bowl disheartened her.

Sollel knew she had to keep going, or

she will be captured again.

Using the knife that Sollel was still

holding, she wrote something on the

ground.

How long have I been here?

Cira answered while eating on the

table, "Three days now."

Thank you for taking care of me. I need

to go.

Cira shook her head in disagreement.

"I won't stop you from leaving, but you

have to recover your full strength first.

Give me a weak to heal you, then you

can leave."

What Cira said made sense. Sollel

knew how weak she was at the

moment. Maybe if she accepted the

elf's offer since elves' essence were

known for their healing properties, she could recover even one-eighth of

her strength. With this, she'd be able to

fight her pursuer. She might not be able

to raze hell yet, but Sollel was certain

she could at least damage and kill her

enemies while fleeing.

Sollel nodded at Cira, and then she

wrote on the ground again: I don't have

anything to pay you.

Reading that, Cira shook her head. "It's

okay. You can just help around the

house while I'm healing you. You can

cook, get some water in the stream, or

clean the house." Cira had a feeling that

the woman would be more wary of her

if she told her to just do nothing and

rest.

Sollel swiftly wrote on the ground with

her knife: I can't cook, but I can get

some water or clean the house.

Cira frowned at Sollel. "How sheltered

are you?"

Sollel wrote on the ground as her reply:

Imprisoned.

Cira's eyes widened. "How long have

you've been imprisoned?"

Half Of my life.

That silenced Cira. Then she took a

deep breath. "Very well. Just do what

you can,"

Sollel nodded. Silence fell on the two

until Cira asked, "What's your name?"

Sollel wanted to lie, but to show her

gratitude for the hearty meal, she told

Cira, her real name: Sollel.

When Cira read that, she smiled, like

She remembered something good.

"Sollel, the Mistress of Flame."