Bright flashes fanned out like fireworks scattered somewhere in the distance, where Temithea still could not reach.

What was that?

It was so different from the spray of witchcraft that Lillian used to destroy the magic maze. Was it some kind of magic that she had never encountered before?

Curiosity overcame her fear, but she had to stop when Klaus suddenly collapsed, whimpering and spewing blood from his mouth.

The stupor was momentary before she jumped off Berkoot and, waving spells from all sides, fell to her knees in front of the wolf.

The vampires, who fought fierce battles, realized the complexity of the situation and stood up like a wall, protecting their "queen" from the enemy.

Tiny droplets pinched the corners of her eyes with immense gratitude, but she did not waste time on this and began to inspect the damage. Under the scarlet-dyed fur, she couldn’t see the bleeding deep laceration.

If it had been received from bliar, it would not have been able to inflict such damage on Klaus, but this wound was definitely inflicted by bliar’s sharp claws. But when? She couldn’t remember this moment because she was too often distracted by helping others.

Judging by how instantly he was losing his strength and breathing heavily before her eyes, she realized that he probably picked up the ogre’s poison somewhere. She couldn’t find any other explanation.

- Try to calm down. - She put her hand up, pressing so hard to stop the blood loss, but her hands were shaking violently from the uncontrollable convulsion of the wolf.

Gathering together all her knowledge of healing magic, all her practices and mistakes, she began first to cleanse the wound of poison, filtering, separating the poison from pure blood, pulling it through the wound. She collected droplets of poison into dense bubbles and concentrating them in the air, sent them to enemies, causing them to burn from the flesh-corroding liquid.

When his condition returned to normal, Klaus was able to calm down, his breathing became even, and she continued to conjure, tightening the wound as if it had never been there.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as her hands fell into her lap. Despite the fact that she was still full of strength to go on fighting, she already felt some physical fatigue. What was it like for the others who were significantly weaker than her?

The vampires parted when the werewolf rose to his paws and TemiThea ordered him to move on, climbing back onto his faithful horse. More precisely, the horse was loyal only to Raphael, but she would not let him give up on her now.

- Thea! - The loud scream sounded like a squeak, but it reached its destination.

There, among the crowd of combatants, Eugene was actively fighting back with spells. Her dear mentor, her friend. And the fact that she was currently fighting against the bliars indicated that she was still on her side.

In a couple of jumps, the horse overcame the distance, literally diving over their heads, and landing, he kicked his hind legs right in the muzzle of the bliar, forcing him to lean back and scream. Eugene did not let him get up, sending him to the next world.

- How did you end up here? - Temithea asked in surprise.

- I see everything is happening as I foresaw. - She touched her disheveled hair with her hands. - I’m here to warn you.

- Why didn’t you come earlier? So much has happened.

- I know, but...

- You always knew everything, you foresaw everything in advance, but why didn’t you say anything? After all, it was possible to avoid all these victims! - There was indignation in her tone, and it was more Artemis’s indignation than Thea’s.

- Even though I’m a seer, I can’t see everything. Moreover, changing events can change their course, but it will never change the result. No matter what we do, everything will end as it was revealed in the prediction.

- That is, we’re all going to die anyway. Is that what you’re getting at? - She chuckled, shaking her head. - Then let me go on, I have to get to the witches before they destroy my people yet.

- No, wait. - Eugene grabbed her arm, and there was utter horror in her eyes. - She’s not the person you used to deal with anymore. You can’t beat her. More precisely, you can, but... I do not know how this should happen.

She shook her head frantically, as if she realized that her words did not match her thoughts. She couldn’t explain what she wanted to say.

- Lillian drank Raphael’s blood and performed a conversion ritual. - She said with all seriousness.

- Conversion? Into whom? Has she become a vampire? - Temithea whispered as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

- An immortal... an immortal vampire. - The witch replied in a drooping voice.

She couldn’t hear the rest of the words anymore. Her mind dissipated like a fog with the first rays of the sun. Awareness of the situation gave her a hard kick in the gut, knocking the ground out from under her feet, completely demoralizing it, destroying all fighting spirit.

- Everything will happen again... - she whispered faintly, not noticing how lonely tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Eugene touched her cheeks, brushing away the warm, wet trickles.

– I definitely saw the prophecy, you are the one who will save us all.

- But how? I don’t understand, how am I supposed to do this? Do you know any way to kill an immortal? - Silence followed the question. – I don’t know either. And Raphael doesn’t know. No one knows. It’s suicide. Did you see me kill her?

Eugene shook her head.

- No, I just saw you after everything. You will rule a large continent, you will unite our countries under one banner.

- But what if there must be some other outcome of the war in this prophecy? Maybe some kind of negotiations, concessions? I do not know... -despair colored her beautiful face. - I was going to fight witches until you called me from the crowd.

- You shouldn’t be in such a hurry. I came here with help. - She smiled kindly, like her own mother, and it made her feel so warm and a little sad.

- But who? - She frowned.

- Witches who didn’t dare to die for the evil ambitions of Lillian and... faeries. – she knew that this news would make an impression. And so it turned out. - The Faerie Queen contacted me herself, I think it was not without Ivrim’s intervention. But we were a little late. When we arrived, the flames of war were already burning here, and I was just desperately hoping to find you as soon as possible.

- You always take care of me,– Temithea smiled. – By the way, why...

She suddenly realized that they had been talking for so long, but no one had attacked them yet, although there were still battles around.

- It’s an internal deceleration spell. While seconds pass for them, tens of minutes will pass for you and me. - The witch explained, pleased with herself.

- Well, I bow to your knowledge. You are a really strong and wise witch, which should try to find. – She praised from the bottom of her heart.

- I just always loved to study, to learn something new for me, how to conquer an unknown peak, how to get the coveted prize. It’s good that it came in handy. I’ll teach you later.