The sky was bathed in a fiery hue of orange, streaks of purple, ocean blue, and yellow, mixed up to create a view that could take anyone’s breath away.

But Alex could not appreciate the beauty, the expedition they were on, it could take anyone’s breath away as well.

Only that this time, it would be permanent.

He sat on a golden horse, a steed so tall that it towered over all the others. It was a magical horse, at least it seemed to have a little magic.

It was stronger than all the others, far faster, and most of all, it had no fear. A gift from his father as he sent him marching to death’s door.

Even in the face of death, the steed would march forward without an ounce of hesitation.

Some said it had Pegasus blood running through its veins, but no one had ever confirmed the rumors.

Even in the freezing cold Thalikan plains, the horse’s magic managed to somehow keep Alex warm, but nothing could be done about the chill settling in his heart.

Marching ahead of him were more than five thousand knights on mounts, in front of them were soldiers bearing shields, the line going as far as the eyes could see.

The rows of men continued behind him. Mages of the tower, including Azarath, siege equipment, magitec weapons, specialist warriors.... Thousands of them were present.

And yet, when Alex stared at them, all he saw were dead men.

A second apostle...

After the attack on Donia, Eliron had revealed something terrible to him, one that may have doomed them all to hell.

All this while, he had worked with the assumption that the third apostle was leading the horde of the undead, and so he had made his calculations based on that assumption.

But now? Everything had shattered like glass. A second apostle was someone who had completely transcended the ranking system of humans.

Meaning his power could not be quantified by conventional means. Whenever Alex tried, a stinging headache would poison his mind.

There were just far too many variables, far too many things to consider....

Worst of all, they had already fallen head long into one of his traps.

After the attack on Donia, it became impossible to hide the details about the war, about the sinister nature of it...

There was a riot in the city, royal buildings were razed down, the night glowing red with fire. King Darius had to stay back alongside Warren to contain the situation.

The result? Their military capacity had been dealt a serious blow, and Alex was put in charge.

"One hundred thousand men..." Alex cooed into the cold. "And I would have given twenty thousand to have the strongest man in Donia by my side..."

He still remembered his father’s parting words. "Win this or we are fucked. Like ass fucked boy!"

They were very reassuring....

"Stop overthinking." A soft voice reached his ears. He turned around to see Ciera’s horse walk up to his own.

She was wearing a thick wolf’s pelt to ward off the cold, but the harsh winds had stung her cheeks, leaving them a bright shade of pink.

Her hazel eyes took in him and a small smile appeared on her face. "Everything will be fine."

Alex stared at her for a long second before nodding. "Of course it will. I am the smartest commander Donia has ever had!"

Ciera frowned. "The most humble one as well." She said, just before they both burst into laughter.

It felt good to see her laugh, especially considering what had happened...

The sight of her clinging onto the only thing that was left of her brother—a piece of hollow bone—while she weeped out her heart was something that had burned into the back of his mind, something he never wished to see ever again.

When she was close enough, Alex ran a hand through her pale blue hair and smiled.

Thwack!

Ciera knocked his hand to the side, causing a few soldiers to stiffen at her sheer audacity. But Alex only laughed as they continued marching.

"I told you to stop doing that." Ciera closed her eyes in rage, folding her hands across her chest. Then slowly, she opened one eye, stealing a peak at Alex.

She would never admit it, but his head pats... although he likely did them just to incite her, there was something comforting about it, something that she could hardly put into words.

"I just can’t help myself..." Alex’s voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned a bit towards her. "Dragons can’t help by covert treasures, I’m dropping my scent on you to keep the other beasts far away."

He said that... with a straight face. Not even a twitch of those golden eyebrows, not even an ounce of hesitation in his silver eyes.

’I... am... his treasure..??’

Ciera felt a heat rise up in her chest. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a strangled whimper.

This strange attitude of his had begun just recently, especially since Alexander began hanging around Eliron!

Ciera was not sure how much her heart could take before it would burst apart.

"Cici—"

"Y-your friend!" She screamed out the first thing on her mind, desperate to change the topic.

Alex raised a brow, but thankfully he sat straight on his horse. "Hmm? You mean Eliron?"

Ciera took in a breath. "Isn’t it about time you went to find him? It’s getting late..."

"She is right, my prince." A deep voice came from his right side. Alex turned to the side only to see the Grand Marshal staring at him.

"Uhum... Reginald..." Alex said in a comical tone. "...How long have you been there?"

The grand marshal cleared his throat. "It is by God’s mercy that we have not encountered any undead so far. We should find him and make camp before it gets too dark." He said, dodging Alex’s question.

Alex sighed, but he agreed. This close to Kasket, it was not unusual to see a stray group of undead prowling the streets.

"But I don’t wanna go..." Alex squirmed.

Ciera sighed. "Why?"

Alex glanced at her then he lost a steamy breath. "He’s strange these days. Quiet, I don’t like it... sometimes he talks to an invisible person, other times he scrolls through the air, drawing strange patterns."

Both Ciera and Reginald gave him a blank stare.

"You’re still going to make me find him aren’t you?"

They both nodded.

"Tch!" Despite his protests, with no one else fit for the job, Alex held the reins of his horse and steered it away from the army.

"Let’s go find him, Jason." He muttered to his steed, patting its neck as it raced into the thick forest.

<•••>

It would have been impossible to find Eliron in the vast forest that seemed to stretch on for miles, but thankfully, Alex did not need to search through the forest fruitlessly.

Eliron always left signs. Some were mild, markings on trees to make them know he went that way, but others were a little more... elaborate, to say the least.

Large swaths of the forest that had been sliced to pieces, scorched earth, and sometimes explosions that touched the skies.

Alex had no idea what he was doing, and Eliron always ignored him when he asked. All he knew was by evening, he found Eliron neatly tucked away in some tree, napping like a monkey.

After some minutes of prowling through the forest, Alex finally came across the last of Eliron’s signs.

His horse pushed through a thick pack of foliage, but the moment its hoof touched the floor, there was a light, splashing sound.

When Alex stared at the ground, his eyes went wide. It was blood, black blood. The foliage parted, revealing a rather ghastly sight.

Hordes of undead stacked up atop each other, till they reached the height of the trees. And standing in front of them was a cloaked man, staring at the tower like it was some sort of art piece.

The man sensed their presence, or perhaps he had even sensed it long before they arrived.

Slowly, not an element of haste in his action, he turned around to glance at them. His cloak was dark, obscuring his face, the only skin in view being his pale fingers...

Pale fingers that were holding a head by the hair.

Alex felt his steed flinch. It did not run. But Alex could tell it was not going to take a single step forward. I was afraid.

’Who the hell is this?!’

And how did he capture a Dullahan without a single scratch on his robe?

Now, Alex knew why they had not encountered any undead. This person had been killing them, gathering them to build his morbid tower.

Was he friend or foe? There was no way to know. His hand brushed the hilt of his blade, his eyes narrowing on the man.

Surely he was some sort of horrid being, a ghoul or maybe worse...

The eyes on the head snapped towards Alex’s direction. He felt a chill run down his spine, and that was before the head screamed.

"HELP!! HELP ME, HE’S A MAD MAN, A MAD—"

A pale hand clasped around the skull’s mouth, squeezing, and then a sinister laughter emerged from the cloaked figure, or was it a cough?

The cloaked figure hurriedly stuffed the crying head into an old looking sack, then stuffed the stack inside his robe without as much as a word.

Alex’s breath stiffened as the man raised his gaze to meet him. He pointed that pale finger at Alex’s neck, then gestured, tugging his finger back and forth.

’He... he wants my head?!’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The blood drained from Alex’s face. He kicked his horse by the side but the steed would not move, it did not take a step even as the cloaked figure stalked towards them.

And then just when the man was right next to his horse—

Achoo!

"Heh?" Alex blinked.

It was a very elven sneeze.

Jason rubbed his head on the man’s shoulders, neighing as he pushed off the cloak.

"Hehe, good to see you too Jay." The man laughed as Jason smothered him.

"So it’s you..." Alex’s eyes glared at him. Eliron was petting Jason, a warm smile on his face. Yet, those azure blue eyes remained cold, as cold as they had been since that day.

Eliron smiled and pointed at Alex again, his words snapping him out of his thoughts. "Give me your cloak, it’s fucking freezing out here."

Alex took it off with an annoyed grunt, then tossed it at him. "It’s good to see you are in good spirits..." he said, glancing at the tower.

"Hmm? Since when did you care if I am in good spirits?" Eliron cocked his head to the side, fixing a curious stare on him.

Alex watched as Eliron wore his warm cloak, a pleased smile on the elven lord’s face.

"They are coming today..." he said dryly.

Eliron pushed Alex to the back of the horse then floated up, sitting comfortably in front.

"This is my horse you know..." Alex sneered. "You can ride at the back."

"The back?" Eliron’s brows creased as he gave Alex an odd look. "Riding at the back of another man’s horse is gay."

"But you are making me—" Alex’s voice trailed off when he realized it was not worth arguing.

Eliron then held the reins and ushered Jason forward. Then he asked from over his shoulder, "So who is coming?"

Alex gave him an annoyed stare. There was an edge in his voice as he said, "The Seven Oracles of Donia."

"I see..." Eliron nodded, just as the pillar of corpses burst into flames...