Chapter 22:

Spiritual wisdom consists in finding out the subtleties, policies, and depths of any indwelling sin... to trace this serpent in all its turnings and windings; be able to say, at its most secret actings, 'This is your old way and course; I know what you aim at.' - John Owen

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V Switch: Vilgefortz

A Few Moments Later:

Current Year: 1259

It's a shame that the two older witchers did not last long. I haven't been able to exercise a lot of my powers since Emhyr took back the throne. He's smart, but he's also a bit of a fool. I've actually managed to convince him to try and impregnate his own daughter so that he can create a 'child of prophecy'. It's rubbish, mind you. He will not be the one using the girl, whose name I believe was Cirilla, for his plans. That duty will, fortunately, fall to me. I have Emhyr wrapped around my little finger and he doesn't even know it yet. He thinks I'm doing this so I can rule the north. I admit, that's a nice perk, but that's not what I'm after.

What I'm really after is his daughter's blood. Specifically, her placental blood. Once she is of age, I'll claim her powers for my own. I'm already quite strong now, but after I receive that girl's blood… I'll become stronger than destiny itself.

Enough of that, I have a job to do. That fool Emhyr managed to have his identity exposed. To a boy no less! It certainly was an almost unbelievable scenario. I don't know how this witcher trainee acquired the information about Emhyr's identity, but it was certainly a problem. As I was pondering these thoughts, the soldiers had started to try and fight their way into the castle.

I would not be ignorant and attempt to do the same. I can sense that whomever the witchers have in that castle is most definitely a source. I can visibly see a rusty red crimson energy coalescing in the air around the castle, occasionally a form of energy like this will occur when someone is allowing chaos to flow out of them. At least, that's what I've heard. A source hasn't been seen in a few generations.

I'll let the soldiers kill everyone they can before sounding a retreat. The source would probably destroy the castle within little time, burying whomever was inside underneath a pile of rubble. It would be a completely unnecessary risk and a waste of energy to try and kill this boy myself, whomever is allowing themselves to be controlled by chaos will do it for me instead.

From this distance, I could see around three witchers manning the castle walls. Several soldiers had brought ladders with them in order to attempt to climb their way in. They were met with fierce resistance. Every single man that managed to climb his way over the incredibly large black stone walls, seemed to meet his end by being dropped to the location he first started to climb. The witchers were defending themselves quite well.

That is, until I had just destroyed the gate and allowed the soldiers to get through. While, I might add, making that other witcher with the red eye watch. The look on his face when he died… well, it almost made me crack a smile. He was a particularly good witcher, usually a normal warrior can't even make me fight for longer than a few seconds. He was able to fight me for around two minutes. That might even be a new personal record.

All of the soldiers were throwing themselves through the doorway in a blitzkrieg like charge. Using a spell that could temporarily allow me to enhance my eyesight, physical enhancement was a specialty of mine, I was able to see several black armored soldiers battling the three older witchers that remained defending the castle. The three fought expertly, showing off their incredible swordsmanship. They also made use of a litany of bombs and some rudimentary magic which they call 'signs'.

Unfortunately, numbers often prove to be too much. Even for the strongest of men. The witchers began to become surrounded by the soldiers who managed to barrel their way through. They fought bravely, but they were slaughtered brutally all the same. In this world… quality truly can't beat quantity. It's a shame.

After the three problems had been taken care of, the soldiers began to try and make their way inside the keep itself. They began piling themselves and trying to break through the heavy iron and wooden door. They began to run at it with their shoulders out, attempting to batter it down. After a few moments of them trying to take the door down, I felt something. The ground had begun to shake with greater intensity than it had before. Earlier, there were a few tremors, but now… It was like a great earthquake.

I quickly used a spell to enhance my vocal chords. We needed to sound a retreat. There was not enough time to try and force our way inside the castle. If the soldiers didn't make it out in time, I would certainly not be saving them. I would teleport away in order to save myself. I don't intend to try my luck against a source that's gone out of control, I'm not that arrogant.

"Retreat!" I boomed out with my now enhanced voice. I started waving my hand in the air backwards, trying to get some of them to see. Most of the soldiers turned around to see where the loud words had come from. They saw me signalling them and they began to quickly try and march their way out of the castle.

A lot of them began to make their way out, but the shaking was getting incrementally worse. I immediately saw that I did not have much time left. I opened a portal near the ground to my right. I looked at the castle one more time to see the red light starting to get even brighter. The energy in the air started to condens rapidly before a huge wave of red tinged kinetic force suddenly shot out of the keep. The castle began to fall apart as the wave headed right towards me.

I immediately stepped through my portal in order to save myself. I traveled through space for a moment before I ended up at my destination in the imperial palace. That was a bit more than I expected for one day, but it's no matter. I don't know how many other men survived, and in fact, I didn't really care. Emhyr gave me a job to do and I did it. He was the one who would have to figure out and deal with the casualties for this little stunt of his.

I began to walk right down the hall and over towards one of Emhyr's rooms where he did most of his general governing. It was going to be frustrating to explain to him that he just lost a sizable amount of troops, but that's just one of the headaches that comes when you deal with an emperor…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V Switch: Harkon

Two days later:

Current Year: 1259

My body felt like… shit. I felt incredibly sore and my arm hurt like a motherfucker. I'm pretty sure that I've just awoken in a place that… I didn't recognize. Despite laying down, there was a window high above to my right that showed it was currently midday out. My mind pounded with a very serious headache. I was incredibly confused at what the hell was actually happening.

The last thing I remember was the trial… Wait! NO! That's not all I remember. I was awake for a lot of the trial and I know what's happening. The keep is under attack! Nilfgaardians are at the gates! Ivar went off to help the other witchers fight them off. I needed to find him and help out the offensive. Another set of memories violently assaulted my head.

We've… We've been betrayed! That bitch Fringilla! She's betrayed us all! I remember, I remember it all! I was still strapped to the death trap esque gurney and screaming my lungs hoarse when I found out. My mutations were only halfway complete, but I was still awake. I remember what Fringilla said! She went back to working for Emhyr! That rotten piece of Toussaintois trash actually dared to say she was sorry when she was in the middle of killing everyone in the keep?! She put my fucking mother under a sleeping spell and left her to rot! That Fucking traitor!

No… I can't believe this is happening! I can't believe that I've been so ignorant. She's been against me since she showed up with that fucking bottle of wine! I was too distracted by the fact that I liked her that I didn't even bother to think about the questions she was asking me!

I couldn't really move, but I managed to crawl off the bed and onto the floor. There was a door that was several yards away, all I had to do was make it and I would be golden. My left arm was currently in a lot of pain and was resting in a small sling. I was fatigued, more tired than I've been in almost forever. It didn't matter, I had a mission to do.

I managed to drag myself along the cold stone floor with my right arm. My now mutated strength was enough to pull me forward, inch by inch. My vision was a bit blurry and colors looked to be a bit more pronounced, but I kept moving.

"Fringilla… You goddamn traitor… the next time I see you I'm going to rip out your larynx for what you've done. You hear me?!" I said while glaring at the door ahead with conviction as I desperately crawled across the floor.

I was halfway to the door when it suddenly opened by a peak. A young girl stood in the doorway. She had pretty ashen gray hair and a very cute face. She was clearly a noble from the way she dressed. She was wearing a very well made blue dress that was ornamented with very beautiful white stitchings that accentuated her features. She also had entrancing emerald green eyes.

"No." I said hoarsely while looking at this girl whom I obviously knew. "No, you can't be here. I can't be in this place, it's too early… NO! This wasn't supposed to happen! Take me back! Take me back to the mountains! They need me!"

The little girl looked a bit shocked and then took off running outside the door while screaming someone's name.

"Mousesack! Come quickly! He's awake!" The young girl said with an innocent and cute voice while running down the halls.

No… Fuck! I can't be here! Everyone at Kaer Lorna needs me. The Nilfgaardians are attacking as we speak! They have to send me back! Everyone is about to be killed!

Suddenly a middle aged man wearing a simple robe of druidic design came slowly through the door. His hair color was a pale yellow that was starting to gray and he had black eyes. He also had a moderately thick beard like most druids have, but I could see it might have been trimmed recently. He stared at me for a moment through the doorway before speaking

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep moving like that. I just patched you up a while ago. Let's get you back to bed." The old man said as he made his way over to try and grab me.

"Don't touch me!" I seethed out while a few tears were starting to form in my eyes. I tried to swat his arm away, but it was to no avail. I was too weak. "Send me back now! They need me! They're all going to die unless you send me back."

I tried to fight him, but the druidic man just sighed and easily picked me up and brought me over to the bed. He set me down easily, my limbs felt like they were made of jelly.

"You need to get some rest. We can talk about what you want to say once you've healed." The druidic man said with the tone of a grandfather.

"You can't do this! Because of me, they're all going to di-" I tried to say with anger, but the grandfather-esque man quickly said a sleeping spell in elvish. I felt my consciousness beginning to wane. I tried to fight the overwhelmingly strong urge to fall asleep, but it was a losing battle.

The druidic man patted me on the shoulders a few times and then got up and began to walk away. I tried to keep my eyes peeled open, but they were slowly closing.

"M-mousesack…" I said with a quivering tone. Besides the feeling of sleepiness, I was quite sad about what I knew was going to happen to everyone.

The old man quickly turned around as he was leaving. He stared at me with a bit of a shocked expression that I 'learned' his name after hearing it once.

"Yes?" He said with a ruff Skelligan accent. He was surprised at my strong will that was helping me fight off the effects of the spell.

"H-help me and I'll… I'll," I tried to say, but the urge to sleep was starting to overtake me. "Help m-me an..d I'll tell.... I'll tell you who k..killed your m-mother." I tried to stay awake for longer, but I couldn't. The spell finally took hold after I spoke those last few words and I fell asleep, drifting off into the world of not so pleasant dreams.