“So, here we are.” The city of Endel stretches out before them. A towering keep of stone surrounded by large walls, and beyond that the sprawling city itself, which is again surrounded by another wall of stone. Luc, Daf and Insight gazes down on the city from their vantage point. “So how are we going to get in? The sewers?”

“No. They’ve blocked the tunnels a few months ago when it was discovered that people rebelling against the new “king” hid out down there.” Daf says with a voice of slight frustration.

“We could try the main entrance.” Insight muses. “Though then again, they would probably question what a partner-less Power is doing with two people outside the order.”

“Hrm... ah wait. Do you think that those two have notified the city that we are arriving?” Luc turns towards Insight and tilts her head.

“You mean... yes, I think so.” Insight looks down at the city.

“And since we “defeated” two powerful assassins, they will be putting out watchmen known for their brawn, rather than smarts.”

Daf tilts his head. “Not neccessarily, but not unreasonable either, considering who we are up against. What are you proposing?”

Luc chuckles as she draws a circle in midair. She steps through it, and disappears almost completely from view. “Invisibility. If they have powerful guards at the entrance, they should not have the third eye needed to discover us.”

Daf shakes his head. “Unlikely. If anything, this would have caused him to make sure there’s always a guard with thirdeye around.”

Insight nods. “He is correct. I doubt that such a plan would work.”

Luc turns back to the city and sighs as she gazes upon her old home. “Hrm... ah wait...” She turns back towards Daf. “There is one passage that I know about. We can sneak into the city using a hole on the western side of the wall.”

“A hole? I don’t recall any holes.” Daf walks up to Luc. “And you have been gone for quite a while. Surely, they must have closed the hole a long time ago.”

Luc shakes her head. “No. The hole was a few loose bricks. I’d push them out of the way and put them back in place whenever I snuck out of the city. The hole itself is quite small. I doubt me or Insight could get through, but you could. And once inside, I could teleport to you.”

“Or.” Insight jumps in. “Daf himself could enter the city through the front entrance and let us teleport to him that way. As a citizen, he should have no problem getting back into the city.”

Luc turns to Insight, before she gives a quick nod. “Yeah... that could work. But how will we know when we can teleport to him?”

“You don’t need to. I can summon you.” Daf gives a playful wink. “So do we have a plan?”

Luc turns back to the city, before she nods towards Daf. “Yes, we have a plan.”

---

The sparkling of magic leaves the air as Insight’s body materializes fully. The three are in an abandoned, burnt out stable. The roof has almost collapsed in on itself from a fire that must at some time have ravaged through the structure. Charcoal lies strewn across the ground, and the walls are covered in scorch marks. Luc already stands at one of the windows, looking at the surroundings. “Well done Daf. We’re pretty close to the keep itself, which means we’re also near the church so we can get Insight back to Exusiai.”

“Thank you for your concern Luc, but isn’t it more important that we confront your uncle first?”

Daf nods. “It just struck me that they may be scrying on us right now. So it is important that we stay on the move. I chose this location because there are so many shabby locations around the city that they wouldn’t know which one it is. But as soon as we get out there, they’ll be able to pinpoint us immediately.”

“In that case, we need to move quickly.” Luc beckons to the other two. “In fact, we’re going to have to storm the castle.”

Daf and Insight immediately stumbles from the surprise. “Storm the castle?” Daf shakes his head. “That’s madness.”

“Madness perhaps, but right now it is the only solution I know about.” She turns to the other two. “There is only one way I can stop my uncle. I need to prove that I’m next in line for the throne. In order to do that, I need to place my hands on a globe deep inside the keep itself. The globe controls the Harmonic Tune, our nexus, and it is tuned to only recognize my bloodline. With the power of the Tune, they would have to recognize me as the Queen I am.”

“Hrm. This is suicide, but staying around and doing nothing would be suicide as well.” Daf sighs. “But we’re going to need a plan.”

“I have a plan already.” Luc smiles. “See, the advantage of living inside the castle is that they push a lot of history down our throaths. History includes some knowledge of the architecture of our city. Including knowledge of how, when they built the wall, they cut clean through the church, with the inner half becoming the guildhall of the order. There is, however, one part where they didn’t complete the wall. They couldn’t cut through the belltower itself without destroying the bell. They never got around to fixing that. We can climb the belltower and rappel down it on the other side. The roof is close to some of the structures inside the keep, meaning we can scale the roofs and get into the castle that way. If we are invisible, it should be hard enough to spot us.”

“If that is all we have...” Insight mumbles.

“It is. We’re going to wait for night, and then we act.”