Back in the tavern on the outskirts of Allen Alari, one of the three dukedoms and where the Aqua Palace was located, Tanulia Valren made her way to the carriage waiting outside. The soldiers followed her close despite her cultivation stage. To be honest, she didn't need any protection as she was the strongest among them. Her guards were only at the Soul Refining stage.

The carriage waiting outside was hooked to horses rather than a pegasus. Upon seeing the moonless sky, the darkness reminded Tanulia of the Dark Lord. Only then did she notice the horses hooked onto the carriage instead of pegasus. Her furrowed brow made the old man shudder. As a human, the old man knew the elves' tendency to punch the humans. However, he was lucky that Tanulia wasn't in the mood to punish him. Moreover, she felt riding the carriage instead of flying may be a good way to calm her mind and soul.

"My Lady, the pegasi fell sick. Please forgive my incompetence," the old man quickly dropped to his knee.

"Rise," Tanulia waved her hand,

"Just drive the carriage to Thera," Tanulia said before opening the carriage door with a small clicking sound.

"Yes, my lady," the old man frantically nodded and hopped onto the driver seat. The surrounding elves were displeased to ride the horses like humans but they had no choice. After entering the carriage, Tanulia settled onto her seat. A small orb of light illuminated the interior. It was decorated with dark purple walls and cushions to make the journey as cozy as possible.

The old man slapped the reins as the horses neighed. The horses then clip-clopped on the pavement built through the forest. Sitting inside the carriage, Tanulia hardly felt any bumps. Tanulia closed the curtains and flicked her wrist. Soon, a golden parchment appeared in her hand. After opening the parchment, she saw a few lines of a message written in a rush. She could hardly make out the words,

"The Dark Lord is in Thera," Tanulia mumbled the words written on the parchment. After escaping the Dark Lord's wrath in Dreidel, the elders ordered her to stay as far as possible from the Dark Lord. They didn't want Tanulia to obstruct Mutrad's investigation. However, Tanulia sought revenge. She couldn't help it. After all, her decisions caused the lives of many loyal guardians, including Tiriana and Peyton.

"Lucifer," Tanulia clenched her fist. There was spite in her voice.

"(cough)(cough)" Suddenly, Tanulia coughed twice, closing her mouth. When she moved her hand away from the mouth, she noticed specks of blood on her palm. It had been a couple of days since she had been infected with the molten plague. She prepared to transfer her responsibilities to someone else in the Guardian Guild when she heard about the cure from one of Valren family allies; the Hunts. According to them, they would have the cures in their hands by next week. For now, Tanulia and her family used the healing potions they stockpiled over the years.

"Avenge me if he kills me," Tanulia heard Peyton's voice in her head. As an Alpha Guardian, Tanulia made countless difficult decisions in her life. However, none of them resulted in utter destruction except in the case of the Dark Lord. She thought sacrificing Tiriana to catch the Dark Lord would be worth it, but not only she couldn't catch the Dark Lord but she also lost Peyton.

Moreover, Tanulia heard the elders were considering making Noah an Alpha Guardian once he reaches the Fusion Stage from the other Alpha Guardians. Although Tanulia had no objection to making Noah an Alpha Guardian, she didn't want Noah to catch the Dark Lord. Because if he did, Noah would prefer to put the Dark Lord in a special prison rather than end his life. Tanulia sought revenge. She wanted to slowly squeeze the life out of the Dark Lord. There was no way in hell Tanulia would let the Dark Lord live after what he did to her men and her ship.

She slammed the cushion in anger.

"Bastard," Tanulia growled. Blood slowly dripped through her nostrils as she clenched her fist tight. She began to feel weak. Hopefully, she will get the cure soon. After wiping off the blood, she wondered when and how she got infected by the molten plague. She looked at the blood on her face and shoved her thoughts to the back of her mind.

To everyone's surprise, the horses following the carriage behind neighed. Tanulia quickly put the scroll down and opened the curtains. She then put her head outside to get completely stunned by what she saw . The five guards who were following the carriage were nowhere to be seen.

"Stop!" Tanulia ordered the carriage driver.

True to her orders, the old man pulled the reins back, slowly stopping the carriage. Before she could step outside the carriage, the old man opened the door for her. Tanulia looked at the shuddering old man. The old man carried a torch to look around. With the torch's dim light, the old man could see horses neighing behind the carriages. To his surprise, the Soul Refiners riding the horses were nowhere to be seen.

"What?" The old man shuddered. By this time, Tanulia had stepped out of the carriage. She noticed the old man gazing behind the carriage. When she turned her head, she could only see the frightened horses but not her guards. Immediately, Tanulia conjured a ball of light that emanated a bright white light several times brighter than the torch. As she cautiously approached the horses, they neighed louder and louder as though they were frightened by something.

She surveyed the sight continuously, careful not to miss the smallest detail.

"My Lady, where did they go?" the old man asked in a husky voice. There was dread and fear in his voice. One moment the four Soul Refiners were following him behind, and the next moment, they disappeared without a trace. Judging by the frown on her face, the old man didn't think the Soul Refiners left their horses under her order.

Ssshhhhh!

Suddenly, the old man heard a rustling sound as he quickly jerked his head in the direction where the sound came.

"(cough)(cough)" Tanulia coughed again.

She quickly flicked her wrist, taking out a sparkling blue healing potion from her space ring. Without wasting a second, she emptied the potion into her mouth. There was something eerie about this. The horses kept neighing until they suddenly ran off into the sea of trees, disappearing from her sight. Leaves rained down upon them as though it was autumn, and the ground was blanketed by dead leaves.

Although Tanulia knew something was obviously wrong and eerie, she was unable to pinpoint it. Aside from the sound of hooves crunching the leaves and the old man's teeth cluttering in fear, the forest was silent.

"Make them shut up," Tanulia ordered the old man. The sound of horses neighing annoyed her.

"Nothing has happened to me. It's alright," The old man mumbled, shaking the worries from his mind. Once he arrived near the horses, he gently brushed the horse's man to calm it down. With gentle movement, he was able to make one calm, but when he was about to touch the second horse, he felt a strong gust of wind brush past him. The wind almost knocked him down to the ground.

The old man couldn't remain calm any longer. His frail legs began to shiver.

"Who is there?" snarled Tanulia. Just like the old man, she also felt the gust of wind. Unfortunately, the wind put out the torch, as well as the orb of light floated beside Tanulia. As a result, darkness enveloped them.

"My lady!" Suddenly, Tanulia heard a wail of cry resonating from the woods. As though in a queue, several arrows shot out from all directions, penetrating the carriage and Tanulia's hand.

"It's an ambush!" shouted the old man. Unsheathing sound echoed through the forest as Tanulia drew the silver sword hanging on her waist. Due to the molten plague's effects, Tanulia lost most of her connection to the arch and celestial energy. She swung the sword, cutting some of the arrows in half. As an Alpha Guardian, she was trained to use all the weapons including swords. With precise swings, she was able to defend herself. Despite her weak state, she readied herself to cast a defense shield. But the barrage of arrows stopped. Several dozen arrows riddled the carriage yet none of them harmed the old man or the two horses. The forest was once again quiet with only the old man's cluttering teeth to cut the silence.

Tanulia held the arrow sticking out of her left arm, trembling as blood flowed down. Although the Valren family inquired with the Hunt family about the cure, they did not reveal Tanulia's condition. After all, if the rival families got any whiff of the Valren family having a sick one and a protector at that, the rival families would attack them like a pack of hungry hyenas. When Tanulia thought about it, everything led her to believe this was either a mind-blowing coincidence or a perfectly planned ambush. Except for her parents, no one knew about her sickness, not even her personal guards. The possibility of her being attacked at the precise moment when she was weak and vulnerable was highly unlikely unless someone had planned everything perfectly. Still, the question remained. How did one learn about Tanulia's sickness?

"My Lady, are youare you there?" The old man could hardly raise his voice. He just crawled under the carriage and curled into a ball to make himself as small as possible. At the end of the day, he was just a carriage driver who had no obligation to die for the elves. Unlike her personal guards, he was just working for coins. So he would rather save himself than die for Tanulia. Besides, he was not a fighter. The most powerful thing he killed was a wild boar when he went hunting with his five friends.

"Shut up," Tanulia growled with a tinge of pain and anger in her voice.

"Twinkletwinklelittlestar" Suddenly, a woman's voice reverberated in the area. Tanulia's pain was slowly replaced by shock. She wanted to catch the ambusher, feed her to the dogs and personally hang her by the neck.

"How I wonder what you are," The mysterious woman spoke slowly.

"Up above the world so high., like a diamond in the SKY,"

As soon as Tanulia heard this phrase, her body went rigid. She had heard these exact words before. To be exact, twenty-five years ago, when she met the heaven-defying prodigy of the Hunt Family, Harriet Hunt.