The Zhythar's were a group of miniature druvis, about the size of a normal human. Still, they were uglier and ferocious-looking than anything else Meera had seen among the druvis. She would even put them on the scale with dragonlings, and this was just from looks.

They had a protruding overbite, which resulted in their fangs sticking out of their mouths. The fangs were nothing but jagged spikes. She did not want to even get close to them, no matter how confident she was in her armor's defensive capabilities. They walked on two legs, but some were also walking on four legs. But the worst part about them was their pale eyes. They looked like they were staring directly into your soul. She could imagine having nightmares of them.

"Anything I should know before we begin?" Meera asked.

"Do not break eye contact," Manazhar said. "That is when they will attack. They do not give any quarters and will pounce on any weakness."

"And though it is a given, stay away from their teeth," Leenai added.

"Will you be safe while we, you know, take care of business?" Meera asked, keeping her eyes glued to one of the bigger ones. He was about seven feet tall, and his body was rippling with muscles.

"I would need some cover, but if I stay close to the door, I'll be fine," Leenai said. "The druvis don't tend to come close to the door."

"I see." Meera took off a regular chakram and handed it to her. "In case of an emergency, but unlike me, this chakram won't come back to you if you toss it at an enemy, so only do that as a last resort."

"Thank you, Reverent Lady," she said, with a bow.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Meera deliberately looked at the prince, and just as he spoke, the pale-eyed Druvis attacked.

The big one charged for Meera, and so did the rest of them. She could have cut it down with her chakrams, but didn't, as she wanted to level up her skills. So, instead, she started the fight, just as she usually did. She littered the clearing with tiny mirror shards from her armor.

The charging monsters didn't even flinch as the shards hit them, and fell to the ground, but then again, they weren't meant to hurt.

The hurt came next.

She waited for the Druvis to come close to her, and then she teleported to its back and activated Nightstalker Bindings. The Druvis was engulfed by the chains and was powerless to move, though it still struggled, as it tried to break free.

Another Zhythar lunged for her. She activated Druvis Might and swung the chained Zhythar like a wrecking ball and sent them both spinning on the ground. She didn't let up, after all, that was what Veridiana had taught her. To bear down on her foes with extreme prejudice, and there were six of them, so she couldn't take it easy.

She placed Death Mark on both of the ones that had targeted her, teleported to them, and used Mirror Shard Fury from both hands. Razor-sharp shards burst from both hands as they crashed into their thick hides. It was a testament to their leathery skin that her shards didn't pierce through right away. It took a few seconds for her shards to draw blood.

The Zhythars jumped out of the way, snarled at her, and then came for her again. She activated a skill that she hadn't had the chance to use in a while. She activated Shroud of Shadows and turned invisible.

The Druvis stopped in their tracks, perplexed as to where their prey had gone. Meera sneaked a peek at the prince and he was also taking on two at the same time, with his colossal sword. The good thing was that he wasn't being pushed back, but neither was he gaining any ground. So far, he was doing okay, so Meera wasn't worried about him for now. But she was worried about his girlfriend, who had her back pressed to the door as the last two Zhythars closed in on her.

"Be right back," Meera called to her dance partners.

They perked up at once and must have excellent ears as the bigger one jumped on her position at once, but she was already gone.

She appeared before Leenai and deactivated Shroud of Shadows. "Need some help?"

"Yes, please," she squeaked.

"You better back up a few steps, it's about to get a little too hot to handle," Meera said, without taking her eyes off her new foes.

Seeing that the other two had finally found her, they raced across the clearing towards her, so she didn't have much time. She breathed in deeply and activated Shadowflame Devastation. Dark flames surged out from her mouth as if she were a dragon herself.

The Zhythar's pale eyes widened in a very human-like expression. They tried to run, but they were too slow. Her dark flames washed over them, and they shrieked and screeched as they burned down. One tried rolling on the ground, but its body wasn't meant to roll, and it burned to death in a few moments.

Seeing this must have enraged the others, as they doubled their efforts. Their attacks on the prince became frantic, and he was being pushed back. One attacked him with its claws while the other used its tongue like a whip to throw Manazhar off balance. The master swordsman wasn't so easily brought down, but he could misstep at any moment, and then that would be it for him.

Leenai was clutching the chakram so tightly that her knuckles had gone white and she was trembling, not from fear for herself but for her boyfriend. She watched him on the verge of what looked like inevitable defeat. Meera could imagine all the thoughts going through her head, and if anything happened to Manazhar, she would never forgive Meera. After all, it was her idea to stay and fight these night creatures.

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Meera would never let anything happen to either of them. She activated Spectral Dominion and brought forth two Shadow warriors.

"Assist the prince, make sure no harm comes to him," She commanded.

Leenai's eyes bulged when she saw the two hulking shadow warriors with weapons of dark metal dash across the clearing.

"Relax, Leenai, they're mine," Meera said.

Just as Meera had said, her dancing partners had arrived, but they slowed when they got close to the door. So, Leenai was right, there is some magic carved into these silver doors that keeps these beasts away.

Meera couldn't let the door make it any easier for her. She teleported behind them, and the bigger one turned as soon as he heard the mirror shard crunch under her feet.

She smiled at the Druvis's quick response and his even quicker attack. She teleported further back and almost pulled off her chakram, but stopped in mid-air. She was so accustomed to relying on her chakrams that she automatically reached for them. Instead, she waved her arm and hurled a Frigid Wave and froze one of the Zhythars.

This gave the bigger one pause. His head snapped to his frozen friend, then back to Meera. But she didn't wait for him to attack. After all, she had even more fun things planned for him. She dashed forward, using Mirror Bolt, and punched through the frozen druvis with Druvis Might.

The Druvis burst apart, its frozen pieces flying everywhere. It would've been gruesome if not for the frozen body parts.

While the prince and her shadow warriors were cutting into the Zhythar magnificently, Manazhar's colossal sword hacked off piece after piece of the Zhythar. At any moment, it would slip up and make its final mistake.

Though the real gory spectacle was her shadow warriors, they hacked and slashed at the druvis as if it were a demon from Hell and they were the holy warriors sent to rid the world of it. They beat the sharp point of their swords into the creature until all it could do was screech and wail as it was too beaten down to even run. Then, finally, an overhead blow cut off its head, putting an end to all the noise.

At the same time, the prince's sword found its mark, and he drove his sword into his Zhythar's belly. With a roar, he jerked up and cut the monster in half. Now, that was something. Meera was rather impressed.

"Looks like it's just you, my friend," Meera said. "And seeing as how you're the strongest one of the lot, there is no way I'm letting you go."

The Zhythar bared its fangs and roared as it lunged for her. She punched the air, but was too slow; it swallowed her arm whole, all the way to her shoulder. It bit down, and her armor held for a few moments.

The other cried out and rushed for her.

Meera held up a hand, and they slowed.

"Did you think I was punching you for no reason?" Meera asked.

It chomped down again, and this time, its fangs crashed through her arm and drew blood.

"That was the final thing you're going to taste."

She activated Quaking Fist and blew him apart from the inside out. Its body burst apart into pieces until the only thing that remained was its head, still locked onto her arm, thanks to its fangs. She pried it off, wincing a little. Her armor closed around her wound, and she activated Greater Vitalize, and it didn't take her long to heal herself.

"My Lady," Manazhar came running, with Leenai close behind. "Are you okay?"

She flexed her arm and swung it around in a circle. "Seems so."

Manazhar bowed at the waist. "Reverent Lady, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for protecting Leenai when I couldn't."

"It's okay, Your Highness. Please, you don't need to bow to me. Besides, I doubt you would've let me live if anything had happened to your lady love."

His head swivelled up, but he remained bowed. His eyes were wide as if Meera had discovered his deepest, darkest secret, which it probably was.

"She knows," Leenai said. "I don't know how, but she knows about us."

Meera winked at him. "I have excellent ears."

"My lady, I must ask that you keep this to yourself," Manazhar said, exasperated. "No one can know, absolutely no one. If my father learns of this, he will ship Leenai off to a far-off subordinate kingdom, and I will never see her again."

"He is right, Reverent Lady," Leenai added. "We come here because this is the one place that Munral's dogs cannot follow without alerting us. The one place that we can be together without having to worry about prying eyes."

"You come to a druvis-infested jungle to be together?" Meera asked.

"That should tell you how desperate our situation is," Manazhar said. "Back at the palace, we hardly even talk to each other. Sometimes, I even bring other healers with me to throw off Munral, but he is beginning to have doubts. I can feel it."

"Really? You go through all that. I'm sure your father is not that heartless," Meera said. "He seems like a rather kind man."

Manazhar scoffed. "Kind man is a persona that my father wears only for those whom he needs something from. Leave this city and go to one of the outer kingdoms of our empire, and they will tell you the truth of it. For most of his reign, he was nothing but a warmonger, who was hell bent on being the Emperor that brought the entirety of Ealisto under the Varshan empire for the first time in history. He's close, too. He just needs the Cervi kingdom, and history will remember Arzhazar Varsha as the one to have conquered the entire world. He's even more desperate now that the Savior has revealed himself."

"Wait, is that why the people on the other worlds hate the Varshans so much?" Meera asked.

He nodded. "We're nothing but warmongers to them who use our might to take whatever we wish. This is not the time for conquests, but the time to secure our borders and start preparing for the end times. With the Savior's coming, Aetheron should be awakening any time soon. That is what we should be preparing for. Still, my older brother, Sekaramal, is just like my father, and he so sorely wished to accomplish Father's dream that he started an ill-advised campaign against the Cervi, which ended in disaster. The loss of life on our side was enormous, but at least it opened Father's eyes that he might not be the right one for the throne."

"And you are?" Meera asked.

"I don't know…" He took Leenai's hand in his. "But that is the only way, I know that we can be together without scrutiny or worry. If I'm the God King, then no one can stop us from being together. And I'll be able to do the things that need to be done for our kingdom before Aetheron awakens. Like make bunkers for the citizenry, prepare food stocks. Ensure that those who cannot fight are properly cared for while those who can are away facing the enemy. I know the task that I will present to my father and humbly beseech you to help me in my endeavour."

"For that, I would need to know what it is," Meera replied.

"I plan to—"

Meera raised a hand. "It wouldn't be fair to your siblings if I heard your proposal before theirs, now would it. Let's do that in a few days. For now, I wish to bathe and get a good night's sleep."

"As you wish, My Lady."

"And thank you for this, Reverent Lady." Leenai handed her chakram back. "And also for agreeing to keep our relationship secret."

"My pleasure."

With that, they turned to the door. Manazhar opened the door, and Leenai walked out. Meera was about to, but then looked back as if she had forgotten something.

"I think I dropped a chakram." She took a step back and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Manazhar frowned while tilting his head. She activated Druvis Might and tossed the prince out the door.

"See you all in the morning."

Before they could protest, Meera slammed the door shut. She turned to the jungle and cracked her knuckles.

"Time to see what other strong creature you have for me to kill."

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