Inside the Ice Palace, Rowena meditated with her eyes closed. Her eyes slowly opened when she sensed Bai Ning approaching her. Bai Ning waved her hand as the mist shrouding the room faded away revealing the empty room built of cold ice.

  "Holy Maiden" Bai Ning approached Rowena,

  "I scoured the black forest but I didn't find the fire giant's remains"

  Rowena slowly opened her eyes after hearing Bai Ning,

  "That is now a problem of Mazeroth," Rowena said coldly,

  "But Holy Maiden…The energy I sensed from the fire giant, was something ominous and sinister"

  "It's the Dark Lord"

  Bai Ning felt a chill running through her spine the moment Rowena said this. She suspected it, still, it was shocking to hear from the Holy Maiden.

  "I must alert the elders"

  "Don't bother. I already ordered them to stand down"

  Bai Ning was stunned,

  "What? Why?"

  "How long have you been searching for the Dark Lord?" Rowena stood up,

  Bai Ning couldn't guess what was the meaning behind her question,

  "For nearly four thousand years" answered Bai Ning,

  "You didn't find him then and you are not going to find him now. If I am right, he has covered all his tracks"

  Rowena was calm, too calm despite the situation. Bai Ning disliked the Holy Maiden taking the threat posed by the Dark Lord so lightly. However, the old woman knew better than to disagree with Rowena,

  "What do you suggest we should do, Holy Maiden?"

  "Nothing" As Rowena said, she gracefully walked toward the wall behind her and waved her hand. The wall slowly split open revealing the floating mountains and puffy clouds beneath them. Rowena closed her eyes, absorbing the cold energy of the dazzling moonlight.

  "The Dark Lord won't stay in Akilan Realm for long"

  "We have to catch him," Bai Ning said to herself.

  "When the time comes, we will meet the Dark Lord"

  Rowena would rather focus on getting stronger than wasting her time looking for the Dark Lord. It was not her job but the Great Eight clans'.

  She approached Bai Ning and then flicked her wrist as a golden parchment appeared in her hands. The scroll looked exactly the same as the invitation to Mazeroth that Ghost received,

  "Mazeroth has chosen Sabrina, send this to her" Rowena handed over the parchment to Bai Ning,

  "Holy Maiden, if I may, can I ask you something?"

  Rowena nodded at Bai Ning,

  "Your brother was also chosen by Mazeroth but why didn't he come?"

  "Because I told him not to, not yet"

  Bai Ning was stunned,

  "Do you remember the assassins you brought me, Bai Ning?"

  Bai Ning began to sweat under her robes despite the chillness of the room.

  "An oblivious spell was cast on them"

  "Oblivious spell?" Bai Ning's brows arched up. The oblivious spell was created by Qin Jiu herself. This spell could only be cast by someone from Skyhall. Almost four thousand years ago Qin Jiu invented the spell to forget about the Dark Lord. It was way before Qin Jiu mustered the courage to fight back. After she escaped from the future, she desperately wanted to erase the memories of the Dark Lord. Those memories were beyond horrible.

  With her three best friends' help, she created Oblivious which could erase someone's memories in part or as a whole. However, when she realized the risk of using such a spell, she made sure that only someone from Skyhall could cast the spell.

  Before disappearing from Akilan Realm, Wulfric used the Oblivious spell on Elidyr, erasing all of Elidyr's memories of Wulfric as well as those who participated in the ritual.

  "Yes. you know what this means right?" asked Rowena as Bai Ning felt the room becoming colder and colder. The Holy Maiden's eyes flickered with cold killing intent,

  "Someone…someone from…Skyhall…cast it" each word of these words could barely escape her mouth. Just by thinking about the possibility that someone inside Skyhall may have targeted the Holy Maiden's family rendered her body a living statue. She could not even breathe looking at the Holy Maiden.

  "You wouldn't happen to know who might be this traitor, would you?" Rowena placed her hand on Bai Ning's shoulder as the old woman's entire body froze for a moment,

  "Ho…Holy…Maiden"

  "I want everything about everyone in Skyhall. You have a week"

  When Rowena took her arm off of Bai Ning's shoulder, the ice layer covering the old woman's body vanished into thin air,

  "Yes Holy Maiden" Bai Ning shuddered,

  The old woman bowed deeply in fear and when she was about to turn back and leave, Rowena called her again,

  "Bai Ning"

  "Holy Maiden"

  "Not a single word about this to anyone" Rowena's words were colder than usual. They made the old woman shiver,

  "I swear on my life Holy Maiden. I won't speak of this to anyone"

  After Bai Ning left the room, Rowena waved her hand as the wall sealed close.

  "Whoever you are, you dug your own grave"

  Rowena's killing intent rose through the roof. More than anything in this world, Rowena loved her family the most. The elders of Skyhall advised her to cut the ties with her family as a Holy Maiden should but Rowena outright refused it. She would destroy anyone who dared to threaten the safety of her family, even if that someone belonged to the Skyhall. For Rowena, her family mattered more than the Skyhall or the elders.

  *******************************

  Cast on the Eastern side of a Southern Continent, the town of Aden was home to pirates led by one of the three Pirate Lords, Gibbes 'Blackmane' Jett.

  This town wasn't built by an island by accident, as it had spiritual significance, which was of great importance to the pirates of Aden and its success despite the myth that pirates didn't give any importance to spiritual well-being.

  The town itself looked hideous and striking at the same time. With its willow wood rooftops, redwood walls, and white, sandy beaches. The main attraction was the lighthouse, which was built 21 years ago and designed by the elves.

  The pirate population in Aden grew to over 2,000 residents, quickly outnumbering the 100 or so original law-abiding citizens. This once port city belonged to the Royal Navy of Awor had quickly grown lawless and became an exciting mecca for criminals, escapees, former slaves, and mercenaries.

  In simple words, Aden was the safe haven for all the pirates in the Southern Continent where they lived as freemen doing whatever they wanted to plunder whoever they wanted.

  The sea was calm under the morning sun. Everything was going on as usual in Aden. Some pirates were sunbathing after drinking a little too much rum, and some pirates were making their way to the nearby tavern to drink rum after vomiting because they had drunk too much rum. No matter where one turned, they could see the pirates drinking, pissing, and having sex wherever they want as though they had no idea of privacy or shame.

  The place was completely lawless but for the pirates, this place was their republic where the freemen reigned. Among the drunk pirates, only one remained steady, this pirate was barely four feet tall and one would hardly recognize him as a pirate instead of as a kid.

  "Finally they are here"

  This little pirate was none other than Shorty. He was sent to Aden as a scout with a few others who were lying god knows where fully drunk.

  "Hey look"

  "War Frigate approaching"

  "What the hell?"

  "What flag are they flying?"

  Some of the pirates who were not so drunk saw the five ships approaching their island and began to wake the others. Old Bertha was gracefully sailing in front like a formidable leader. The name Old Bertha hardly suited her as now she was fitted with brand new cannons, reinforced black hull, black sails, brand new rudder as well as two mortars, one between each neighboring pair of masts for long-range battle. Behind her were four brigades and they were all sailing in a rhombus formation.

  Ding!

  Ding!

  Ding!

  Shorty heard the bell sounds ring across the island, alerting the rest of the pirates and mainly, the pirate captains.

  "It's Pirate Lord Corey"

  "They are flying Pirate Lord Corey's flags"

  The experienced pirates quickly recognized the lips and lightning bolt symbol on the black flag. The moment they saw the flags, they knew the ships belonged to Pirate Lord Corey and did not dare to fire the mortars.

  The residents of Aden quickly arrived at the port to see the five ships anchoring. Their eyes were glued to the mean-looking Old Bertha. They had never seen a ship completely painted in black as pirates considered painting the ships a waste of gold coins.

  Shorty couldn't wait to join back on Old Bertha. He was getting sick of living in Aden. All one could do on this island was get drunk and since Shorty quit drinking so he could become a cultivator, he had nothing else to do except watch others get drunk and hump.

  Nonetheless, he still couldn't join his crew, not yet. Standing under a coconut tree with a few other pirates, Shorty saw Gibson walking out of Bertha first followed by Tiberius. Shorty was surprised to see Tiberius with Gibson instead of Maxine.

  "That's her"

  "Pirate Lord Corey"

  "Really? She is scary as fuck"

  "Who is that crippled old man and the guy behind her?"

  "Shh, she might hear you"

  "Keep your mouths shut, don't you know she can kill you with a single look?"

  "She is a witch"

  The pirates began to murmur. Most of them were shocked to see Corey because she was seldom seen outside of her island. Even Blackmane made more appearances to the pirates than her. Hence, when she came to Aden, the pirates were astonished. Moreover, she arrived with only four ships rather than with a small fleet.

  The pirates followed Corey and the men at a safe distance. Most were curious to see the purpose of Corey's visit while some just blindly followed the others.

  Shorty followed the men to the west side of the island where Pirate Lord Blackmane resided with a couple of his pirate captains. At the moment, Pirate Lord Blackmane went somewhere else taking a small fleet with him and the one who was staying in Blackmane's castle was another Pirate Lord, Pirate Lord Vance.

  The castle was not as majestic as the castles on other continents. It was rather a run-down castle with five slim, square towers scattered in a seemingly random pattern. They had been built for an ideal defense and were connected by fortified, heavy walls made of basalt. There many holes and remnants of siege battle could be seen in the walls. Wide windows were scattered generously around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, along with same-sized holes for archers and artillery.

  Several minutes later, they finally reached the castle gates and were greeted by a red-haired lady with two rapiers hanging on either side of her slender waist and a bold man in tattered golden robes at the gates.

  "Pirate Lord Corey, what a pleasant surprise" the red-haired lady spoke in a seductive tone,

  "Pirate Lord Vance is eagerly waiting for you inside" the man on the other hand spoke in a rather cold tone but Corey ignored both of their greetings and strode into the castle to spread the name of their new lord.