Encounter

While the events with Jason and Dorian are unfolding, let us shift our gaze to another place where the wheel of time was moving furiously and events taking place here are going to be extremely important for the entirety of the cosmos.

It was a dank, dark forest with a green canopy of trees which almost reach the heavens in height . Sunlight barely came in through the canopy and the entire forest area was dark with a little streak of sunlight piercing the thick canopy here and there and falling to the ground.

Through the narrow winding pathway of the trees, a girl with a small bag strapped to her shoulder can be seen running in earnest as if she was trying to get away from something or someone. She was sweating profusely and was extremely tensed. While running, she suddenly came across a thick obstruction of a tree that blocked her path. She was small and as such, she would not have been able to mount the obstruction and reach the other side. The girl stopped and brought out a tool from the bag which had ropes intertwined around it. She pressed the trigger and the tool launched the rope. The rope coiled around the obstruction and latched itself to the thick obstruction using a hook that was coming out of the rope. Once the hook lodged itself firmly into the base of the thick branch, it started glowing with a yellow hue. The girl then pressed a small trigger beside the already existing hooking trigger. When she did that, the rope started contracting into the tool and that pulled the girl up towards the opening at the top of the obstruction.

After overcoming the obstruction, she heaved a sigh of relief and started running again. She had just run twenty paces when she tripped over a branch on the ground and fell face first into the forest floor. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. She sighed, got up, looked behind and saw a hooded individual with red glowing eyes staring at her. The individual in front of her asked : " How far do you think you can go in this state ? Don't make me hurt you. Give me what I want and I will let you go." From the voice of the individual , it became apparent that the person is a lady. The girl replied : " I did not know that they will send you, Henna. I was expecting Mandrake. "

Henna : Mandrake is otherwise occupied. For a weak little thing like you, he is an overkill.

The Girl : I will never give you what you want. So if you want to torture me, you should get started. You will still not get anything from me. Even if you kill me, my dead corpse will not speak to you.

Henna : Kill you ? Well, that can be arranged. I am asking you one last time. Give me the artifact. It is of no use to you. You even don't know whether he exists.

The Girl : He exists. I know that for a fact like I know that neither you nor your friends know what to do with the artifact.

Henna : Well, I disagree. We know a lot more than you folks give us credit for. Anyways, enough small talk. When I am done with you, either you will give me what I want or you will wish that I had killed you.

The small girl steeled herself when she saw Henna approaching her. When she saw Henna closing her fist, she closed her eyes, ready to face the inevitable. But the physical pain that she was expecting, never came. Suddenly she heard a loud thud. She opened her eyes and saw Henna lying on the floor with her eyes closed. She felt a very faint presence up above. When she looked up, she saw a strangely dressed person standing on the branch of a nearby tree. The person had a mask over his face and through the mask she could only see a set of deep grey eyes looking at her as if those eyes are trying to determine the worth of her soul.