- Her Throne

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A/N: Very mentally exhausted today, so if this chapter seems like I'm babbling when writing, it's because I was going on autopilot. Hope you enjoy it though.

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The night was young, and the owls cooed in the night air. The sun was rising on the horizon, and Cain could see the glinting beautiful rays of orange, red, and yellow that were about to decorate the sky.

From where he sat, at the edge of the bed, he could see through the wide open window, as the moon's existence was being snuffed out by the warmth of the sun.

The cool air told him more though, as it blew through the open windows, fluttering the drapes and curtains, casting fleeting shadows across his face.

'Ah, I do love the evening's chill. Can't remember the last time I had a moment of peace like this since…"

His thoughts trailed off as he began to envision his past mistakes, and the chances he had - though little - to turn those days of horror into nightmares.

Nightmares were better than the horror of reality.

After all…

Nightmares you could wake up from.

Attempting to shift his thoughts away from this poisonous memory, he focused back on the issue currently at hand, and the facts that led him here to this room - this lonely room in the back of a lonely inn.

The door, which stood on the end of the room, stood motionless, as it had been standing for several hours. In fact, Cain had already known that the owner of this room was currently gone, and had been for quite some time.

'Let's see. I've sent Gwen and Cleric back for not since this might be a little too small to involve four of us, but I've kept Kal waiting in the allies, in case he might spot something.'

He scratched his chin thinking back to the fortress and its many tunnels, tunnels that still were crawling with goblin children, some numbering in the dozens if not possibly hundreds.

Children he would not kill, despite how much Gwen bugged him about it.

He had morals, and ideals.

Killing children was a strike against those morals, and an insult to his ideals. So for that matter, he had collapsed the entrances to the tunnels, leaving the goblins with only one way out.

The exit to the forest.

With this, he ran less of a risk of them being discovered by the Hunters when they sent in a recon team to scout out the destruction. Though he knew a good number of them would die from the wilds, and monsters that no doubt still lurked in the shadows, deeper in the woods.

However, he had seen something quite extraordinary.

The gray one.

He doubted the goblin king had a child, especially given how little he was a true king on the inside, so he would have seen any child as a threat to his crown, and killed them.

'No doubt the mother was a normal goblin. She must have hid him down there out of pure instinct, for fear he got killed.'

Cain smiled, knowing what that goblin would become.

Another king.

Only this time, Cain was hopeful. Normal people, including Lia no doubt, would have berated him for leaving a child with that much potential danger alive.

What if he came back with even more goblins?

What if he tried to take revenge?

What if?

What if's were often the most deadly thing to a mind - a question with no direct answer, and yet so many possibilities. Possibilities that would reel the mind into acting rash, or committing an act they would never have once thought possible for their characters.

But Cain knew better than to ask himself the impossible questions that could make him rash. Instead, he focused on the facts at hand, ones that could be laid out in front of him, and drew a conclusion based on the reasoning he had for each fact.

One, the goblin would most likely die in the wilds, or worse, the Glades - a place where monster activity was abnormally high.

Two, if the goblin did happen to survive, he would most likely be too overcome with fear to attack the outpost again, and even then, it would take him years, if not decades to survive as a goblin before he ever even thought about being a king.

Three…

Cain's mind thought back to the goblin king he had killed, how easy it had appeared to him, and how much he had to hold himself back just to delay the githing a few more minutes for Lia's group.

Realizing the likelihood of this happening again, he sighed.

Three. If it does happen, he'll just kill it.

Harsh, but an undeniable reality and fact that had to be accepted no matter what.

If the goblin refused to learn from its predecessors and their mistakes, Cain would teach the little thing a lesson. In his mind, if the child could learn to wield a knife, and chose to lash out with it, he wasn't going to hold back because it was a child.

Coming to this conclusion, Cain believed that he had filled up every hole that had appeared in his plan, and ones he had left from previous plans.

Normally he wouldn't have been so under cautious when dealing with these types of situations, however, with how quickly he needed to act, he had little to do or say in the matter.

He was just grateful there were no loopholes, or things he had missed when deciding this course of action.

Just as he was about to shift his focus back to Lia, as he began questioning what she was up to at this moment, the door knob to the room turned.

Raising his head, Cain's eyes found a woman's - middle aged, but well off in appearances if he had to say so.

At first she didn't say anything, nor did he, as they simply eyeballed one another from across the room.

Finally, having had enough of the silence, the woman showed her first signs of surprise at his appearance, and slowly moved back towards the open door.

"Who…Who are you?"

Cain, of course, did not answer as he slowly stood up, causing the woman to flinch as if he was going to do something. But in the next minute, he disappeared from her vision, a gust of wind blowing past her hair.

From behind, the sound of a door closing, and a voice, emotionless and bare.

"Shhh…let the city sleep tonight."

Reeling around, the woman's eyes met Cain's once again, as he appeared behind her, his crimson red eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Y-You! What are you doing here? What do you want?!"

The women hastily backed up, as Cain made slow but steady advancements towards her, causing her to shuffle even farther back.

"I want answers. And I intend to have them."

"Answers? What answers - to what?"

By now the woman's thighs pressed up against the edge of the bed, leaving her no room to move back any farther.

Yet, despite this, Cain still continued walking forward, until he was only a foot from the woman, who clutched the edge of the bed in fear.

"Stop acting afraid. I know who you are."

Cain's voice was like an ice chill on a hot summer's day, as the woman instantly knew this man - whoever he was - was not messing around, as his voice contained no hints of any emotion at all.

"I-I don't know what you mean. You just suddenly appear in my room and -"

"Katlina. Stop."

Instantly the woman's - Katlina's voice stopped, as she stared at Cain with eyes wide.

When she did find her voice, it contained no hints of fear as her voice did once before.

"Did they send you?"

'They? They.....so I was right.'

Cain thought, as he raised an eyebrow, finding himself face to face with that of a serious woman, whose gaze could kill if it were a weapon.

'Phantom.'

Katlina sat down on the edge of the bed herself, not an ounce of fear in her demeanor as she awaited her answer.

Secretly, as he went to shut the windows, Cain admired the woman and her courage.

'There isn't even a slight hint of fear. I would say I'm impressed but I know the training these people go through to know well enough, she's confident she could kill me.'

When his mind passed over this thought, a slight twitch in his eyebrow - unnoticed by the woman, gave Cain an idea of the current emotions he found himself feeling.

'Ha, I guess I'm a little upset because she sees me as an easy kill.'

He turned back to Katlina, drawing her eye to his, as he began pacing around the room, his hands behind his back.

'I'll change that.'

"Answer my question. Did they send you?"

Before he could say anything, she spoke up once again, restating her question, as she was looking for an answer.

Half turning to her, Cain decided to play along with her little game, curious as to where it would end.

"Why not just say their names. It's not as if anyone here would know what you're talking about."

Katlina said nothing, yet Cain could catch a hint of acknowledgement in her eyes. She knew he was right, and so did he.

"That being said…"

He continued, turning to her fully exposing his stone face, not a single emotion to be seen painted across it.

"...Let's discuss your current failure Katlina."

Katlina seemed somewhat taken aback by the sudden accusation, as she instantly stood up, defending herself.

"Failure? I've done nothing wrong - only what you've asked me."

"Are you certain of that?"

Instantly, Katlina doubled back, questioning herself if something had gone wrong, putting together the facts of both Cain's appearance and now his accusation.

Finally, she came to a conclusion that reflects those facts.

"You wouldn't be here if I hadn't failed."

"Correct."

He nodded, smiling to show he was happy she noticed and admitted her mistake.

"Then is it something to do with the goblins? I gave them the stone like you asked, and my summons died because of it."

"Oh, I'm aware. After all, a few of our spies noticed a group of Hunters returning from the forest."

"We have spies here?"

Katlina seemed somewhat taken aback, her guard returning to her as she looked Cain up and down. However, the man showed no signs of being discouraged, nor did he feel any hint of it.

Calmly, he spoke, showing her who exactly was in charge here, his truth becoming her truth.

"No, we don't. By spies, I mean everyone in the city that has eyes, who could see the flaming spire a mile away!"

His voice rose towards the end as he gestured both to his eyes and towards the window, showing her that he was not happy, and that this obvious fact was somewhat foolish to test him on.

Katlina hung her head low once he scolded her, secretly clenching her fists in rage.

"I know. I did everything that was asked, but its not my fault if some stupid goblins can't handle taking down one mesley city!"

"That isn't our problem. The problem is that now that the goblins are defeated, who do you think will be the first to find the soul stone you foolishly left behind?!"

Their raised voices stopped as Kalina realized the gravity of his words, as she began putting the pieces together.

"Oh…Oh, no."

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Cain continued speaking, his voice thin and cold like a master to a subordinate.

"Yes, now do you understand where you screw up started?"

Quietly, she mumbled with her head hung low.

"Y-Yes sir."

"Good. Now, tell me, why should I not replace you with someone else?"

Katlina stiffened at his words, knowing full well that there was no 'replacing' in the Phantoms. Either you succeeded, or you died. That was how it went, and from where she stood, this superior of hers was about to kill her before she could ever do anything about it.

"Please sir, I can still do the right thing. I have a summons at my disposal, if only you would give me a chance, I could - "

"A summons? Now, didn't I hear you claim that your summons had died? This "all so powerful Warlock" I read about in your profile?"

Secretly Cain was somewhat enjoying tricking this woman, as he took pride in the fact that he could fool many people with his acting. Except some…

'Lia.'

He shook this thought from his head, turning his attention back to Katlina, who was still trying to defend herself.

"Sire, please, I can still do this. The original mission is still underway, I just need more time. The goblin horde was a screw up, I admit it, but at least I put some suspicions in on their side?"

Her voice was hopeful, as if this was enough to suffice for Cain.

"Oh? Then state to me your mission, just so we know that we are on the same page."

"I am to observe and take down Lia of Rovosta, the princess and her party."

Cain said nothing, as he processed these words in his mind.

"Anything else?"

"...And to bring back the man named Cain, who has affiliated himself with Lia of Rovasta, alive."

Again, Cain said nothing, as he knew this might happen one day, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of Phantoms coming after Lia, especially since they had failed in assassinating her the last time.

He just didn't expect it to come so soon.

But one thing stood out amongst the rest of these words. The last bit, regarding himself.

'They're still hung up on that?'

He thought, his mind drifting back to his conversation with Venessa back when he destroyed the Ogre and refused her offer.

'She probably went bragging about finding someone strong. A summoner no less. If only she would have paid a little bit more attention to me, and she would have realized that term would never fit me.'

He gave Katlina a cold gaze, one that reflected his appearance and the thoughts he was currently going through.

'A summoner is limited by the power of their summons. I am limited by none.'

"You claim that you've achieved something within the city's inhabitants. Go on, tell me? What have you achieved over this failure of yours?"

Katlina seems to jump at the opportunity to show what she had begun, and prove her worth to Cain, who could have honestly cared little about it to begin with.

"I've put both the Hunter's Post and the city official - the Town Speaker, at the end. All because of that girl, who is now being investigated for the deaths of those four Hunters. If I was given some more time, I could fully start a conflict between them, and achieve what I was set out to accomplish."

He was quiet for a moment as he thought to himself, pulling over the information he was just given.

At last, he spoke, his voice more serious than before, as his face was casted with shadows of the rising sun.

"Did you send those goblins on the four Hunters?"

Cain didn't even need to hear her acknowledge his words , as he already knew this was the case to be true.

"So, you were the woman in the inn that made a mockery of Lia, and her party. That means you were also the one to kill those four young Hunters, by sending a group of goblins on them. Not to mention you were also the one to give the goblin king - or rather, create a goblin king - within the fortress."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, knowing what was coming next.

"Yes. You Katlina have accomplished much, and I will give you that. But you still made a mistake."

"A mistake?"

She didn't like the way his voice was changing from more and more serious, to the type of talk she had heard being given to many executed Phantom members.

Secretly, she shifted her hand to the dagger currently strapped to her thigh, waiting for the worse to happen.

But Cain already knew where the dagger was, and cared little for what would happen next, as he spoke his next and final words.

"You made the mistake of telling someone you shouldn't have about this."

In a flash he whirled around faster than Katlina could react, grabbing her neck with one hand, and blocking the dagger in her hands with the other.

Through choked and gasping breaths, Katlina looked to Cain in horror and despair, as his eyes flashed red as he brought her closer and closer, to where she could hear the whisper on his lips.

"You told 'Cain' everything he needed to know. Thank you."

"Ga-Gah!…help…please - I - I'm sorry!"

"Shh."

He said, silencing her pleas for help, before he recited a simple line from a poem he read once, one that fit this situation all too well.

"Let the sun's rising rays fall upon this golden crest, and let not the earth see the blood flow from your chest."

-Snap!

Katlina's lifeless body fell to the floor with a thump!, just as the sun raised above the mountain's edge, casting a beautiful red and golden hue over her body.

"Like flames licking at the flesh, they'll send you to an endless rest."

Brushing off his sleeve which had been stained by Katlina's saliva, he turned to look out the window, across the city, towards a large building.

The Hunter's Post.

While few wouldn't be able to make out more than just the outline of the building, Cain could see everything, even the dark haired woman who exited, her face strewn in anger.

One thought entered his head, as his eyes landed on Kara.

"Something's brewing on the edge of the river."

A thought that made him smile his all too famous smile.

"This ought to be fun."