Absolute Darkness.

All Roshan could see at the moment was darkness. The blackness was absolute, a void that had no beginning or end. His mind raced with the terrifying thought that he had died or maybe trapped in a world without light, sound, or life.

But will he just die like that? After living a useless life? And he didn't even know why he was killed. This is not fair! He thought.

He strained to hear any sound, no matter how faint, but the silence was oppressive, a physical weight that pressed down upon him.

Maybe I am really dead, such a bad destiny. He commented in his mind.

The door opened slightly, a woman came in and checked on Roshan. "I hope you will be fine." She muttered to herself.

Roshan's ear caught that, the voice sounded familiar to him. He tried remembering the voice as he opened his eyes slowly.

"Euphoria!" He called out loudly as he recognised the woman standing before him. It was his childhood friend.

"You…. Why are you here? Did you die too? Who killed you? Or did you follow me to heaven?" He asked her a series of questions.

"What… What are you saying? And you, why did you travel alone?" The woman inquired in return.

"Travel?… I didn't travel alone. I was attacked. But wait… how did I get here?" Roshan asked in a state of confusion.

FLASHBACK.

Euphoria returned from the academy the previous day, she had now become a captain. The first person that came to her mind when she was coming back was her long time friend, Roshan.

When she got to the palace, it was a different thing that welcomed her. To her surprise, Roshan was not the king, it was now his uncle. She inquired about him from a palace guard she had known before.

It was then she was informed that he had left the capital and would be relocating to another place that day. She decided to trace his steps maybe she would meet up with him.

When she got to the border of a nearby village, she saw a group of men attacking some people.

"Stop it!" She yelled from afar and came down from her horse.

"Who are you?" One of them asked and raised his eyebrows.

"Why did you kill them?" Euphoria countered with a question instead and walked towards them.

"What are you doing? Kill her!" The boss among them ordered and four among them moved to attack her.

Swiftly, Euphoria raised her hand, a cluster of needles came out from her sleeve and flew straight to pierce the four men. The men collapsed to the ground and slowly, they fell asleep.

With fury, six men flew down from a mountain beside her and faced her with gleaming swords in their hands. At her front beckoned eight men too, so it was now fourteen against one.

Nonchalantly, she brought out a mask from her sleeve and covered half of her face. At the same time, they all raised up their bows and arrows and fired it at her.

Quickly, Euphoria manipulated the energy in the air. She closed her eyes and clapped both of her hands together, a golden light emerged in the air. By the time she released her hands, a strong wind changed the direction of the arrows to the opposite direction and the arrows pierced some of the men standing.

An eerie laughter sounded in the place amidst the tense situation. "So you think you can defeat us? Just because you can manipulate the air? Who are you?" One of the men questioned.

With an air of superiority, Euphoria turned around and answered. "I am Captain Euphoria, the fourth formidable mage of Drakonia! Wherever I am, I make the enemy's head fall!" She answered fiercely. Before they could interpret her words properly, she flew towards them with two swords in her hand and attacked as she unleashed a soul scream.

She was able to strike two of them who weren't aware of her impromptu attack across their chest with her sword.

Simultaneously, she turned to her left and blocked an attack with her sword. She used one of them as a stepping stone and striked down two men without looking at them.

Their blood stained her clothes and her face as it splashed. With the back of her hands, she wiped the blood away from her face and turned the same hand to her left, another cluster of needles flew out from her sleeves. It was too late for them to defend it as it was unexpected, six of them fell to their knees the moment the needles pricked them, their body went numb first before they became unconscious.

Then, one person remained standing. Simultaneously, both of them flew and attacked each other, their sword clashed and it formed a cross. Euphoria used that time to look at his face through his transparent mask.

No how! She recognised the mask. It is a mask customised for palace guards! This is impossible! She thought.

Seeing that she was getting distracted, her opponent unleashed a mighty burst of qi, making her fly to the back.

Fortunately, a nearby tree halted her backwards stumble when her leg struck it, preventing her from falling.

Fury consumed her, she took her other sword and kept in her scabbard before attacking again. The opponent was quick to block every attack but unknown to him, she had a pea stone in her other hand.

Her other hand positioned the stone, and with a sudden snap of her thumb and index finger, the pea stone shot out, flying straight to strike his knee with a small click sound. The man fell to his knees, Euphoria quickly made use of that opportunity and pricked him with a needle, making him unconscious.

After defeating all of them, she quickly went to check on the victims if they were still alive. She realised all except one of them was alive.

She quickly ran towards the man and tried lifting him up. She was taken aback when she got a better view of the man's face.

"Ro… shan." Her lips trembled as she carried him out of the pool of blood.

PRESENT DAY

Roshan's jaw dropped in disbelief after Euphoria narrated everything to him.

"You fought all those men???" He asked again to confirm.

"Yes, your highness. Fortunately, you were not hurt when I found you. So I quickly called for help and brought you back to the palace."

"Me? I… was not hurt?" He questioned and Euphoria nodded in response.

Could it be that the fear had affected his memory? Roshan thought as his mind drifted slowly to yesterday.

He could remember one of them pulling his hair before he was struck with his sword. He remembered vividly.

He quickly stood up and went to where a mirror was to check his body. Behold, when he checked it, he was shocked. There was no sign of being cut at all.

He screamed in fear. "What… What is this?" He screamed as he looked at himself in the mirror and nothing changed.

Euphoria quickly rushed inside upon hearing his screams.

"What is the problem, your highness?"

"This cannot be. Something is wrong somewhere. It seems someone had exchanged my body with a new body before you came."

"What are you saying, your highness?" Euphoria questioned with confusion.

"I clearly remember what happened when I was attacked. I was kneeling down, backing them. Then one of them pulled my hair from the back and struck me continuously with his sword. I am sure about this! I saw my blood with my own eyes before I died. So how come I am here?"

Euphoria couldn't help but exhale after listening to Roshan's explanation.

"Your highness. It seems you are stressed because of what happened. Please calm down and rest. Your condition doesn't seem okay."

"I am sure of what I am saying. I died yesterday when I was attacked. I wanted to plead with them and give them money, but they killed me even before I could do that." Roshan tried to explain again, but Euphoria wasn't in for it.

Instead something else came to her mind, the customized mask!

"Wait! Something seems strange. Those people, they seemed like they were from this pa….."

"His majesty is here." The voice of an eunuch cut her off from outside, announcing the king's presence.

Maximus came in with fury and worry plastered on his face, there were dark circles under his eyes indicating that he had been deprived of sleep.

"You! Will you just kill me instead of making this old man worry all night? I warned you! What if something had happened to you? I couldn't dare to close my eyes when I remembered the condition in which you were brought in yesterday."

"Father, I am sorry." Roshan knelt down before Maximus and apologized to him.

"No, I won't accept that. Just kill me."

"Father, please forgive me." Roshan pleaded and kowtow to him.

"Who am I not to forgive you?" Maximus said emotionally and helped Roshan to rise up from the floor.

"Greetings, your majesty." Euphoria greeted and bowed at the same time.

"You… aren't you the minister of war daughter?" Maximus asked the woman bowing before him.

"Yes, your highness."

"Oh no!" He spread his hands for a hug and hugged Euphoria tightly.

"Thank you for saving my poor son. I know I am at fault for allowing him to leave the palace. Don't worry, I will make sure I reward you and your father in a way you don't expect!"

"Fear no more. I will protect you. And as for those that dare to hurt you, they won't go without being punished."