The Dawn of the New World

"Whatever...human trash...what did I expect from a filthy halfling," Princess Inara mumbled loudly.

Uri who was still being held back by Lady Jiang doubled his efforts upon hearing the remark and tried to struggle free but Lady Jiang hugged him even tighter.

"Shh, it's okay little brother, they are just words, they won't hurt me."

Uri looked up and saw Lady Jiang's smiling face. But even though she was saying that it didn't bother her, her eyes were already wet and Uri could see it clearly.

He stopped struggling and relaxed his body. Lady Jiang let him go while Princess Inara jumped down to the valley floor to help the two feline demihuman guards deal with the rest of the threadworm controlled creatures.

Uri's brow was creased and he appeared to be outraged on Lady Jiang's behalf, even though she didn't do anything herself.

Sour-faced, Uri made faces at the Princess's back while talking in a low voice.

"Ms. Jiang, why do you always let the Princess say things like that? She's always so mean to you!"

Lady Jiang ruffled Uri's hair, making him pull back.

"If she can feel a little better about herself then why not? It doesn't bother me."

Uri fixed his hair, muttering under his breath, "Liar."

A little further away from them, Princess Helena was simply standing at the hill's peak with her eyes closed.

She hadn't said a single word throughout the ordeal. The thumbs of both her hands were taping against each finger as if she was counting something. Her lips parted and then met again repeatedly but no sound came out.

She seemed to be in a world of her, in more ways than one. The billowing wind that had picked up its pace couldn't even move a single lock of her hair. No one else noticed this peculiarity either as each of them were busy doing their own things.

Nor did they notice the strange purple clouds that had started to gather in the sky above the pyramid. At first it started as a thin mist that got thicker and thicker and within half an hour had become something akin to a Stormfront.

Yet it was completely silent, the rolling gusts of wind being the only obvious evidence.

Down in the valley, most of the threadworm creatures were dispatched within 10-15 minutes. Princess Inara stood atop the last burnt corpse, crushing the outer charred shell with her boots to make sure all the threadworms were dealt with.

"It's good, come down!" she shouted towards the hill and moved on to another corpse to do the same thing.

Lady Jiang and Uri walked up to Princess Helena waiting for her to go down first but she didn't make any movements.

"Sister Helena?" Lady Jiang called out gently. She waited for a few seconds but there was no response to she called out again.

"Sister Helena, sister Inara says it's safe to go down now!" this time a little louder.

Still no response. Lady Jiang and Uri exchanged glances, finding it quite strange.

"Sister Helena...is everything okay?" Lady Jiang reached out and lightly tapped Princess Helena on the shoulder.

*Woooop*

A bubble of white energy suddenly materialized around the Princess before bursting open with a soft electronic sound.

Lady Jiang and Uri both jumped back but strangely enough, nothing had happened to them. Flabbergasted, they looked towards Princess Helena who was facing the sky now. Both her eyes and mouth were open while rays of white light were somehow being projected outwards, lighting up the surroundings.

The commotion was big enough to attract the attention of Princess Inara and the two guards who swiftly jumped back up to the hill.

"What's happening to her?" Lady Jiang asked as she pulled Uri out of the way.

"Sister!" Princess Inara shouted towards Helena before suddenly drawing her sword and pointing it towards Lady Jiang, glowering at her uncertainly.

"What did you do to her, witch?!"

Stunned, Lady Jiang took a step back.

"Sister Inara, what do you mean? Why would I do anything to sister Helena?"

"Then how do you explain her condition? If not you then who? This mongrel?" she pointed the sword towards Uri this time who was too scared to even refute her claims.

Lady Jiang pulled Uri behind her while taking another step back.

"Sister Inara I promise you neither of us has anything to do with whatever is wrong with her! She was already like this. All I did was try to wake her up-"

"So it WAS you then!" three words of power lit up on Princess Inara's blade.

Both the other guards exchanged knowing glances with one another before pointing their spears towards Lady Jiang. It was laughably obvious what Princess Inara was trying to do but they were not in a position to stop her.. Ever since they first met all those months ago she had been at odds with Lady Jiang and it looked like she was not going to let this opportunity pass.