Master spy Salin had never felt so much terror in his life before. He had been a common soldier before his recruitment, a captain in the glorious liberating army of Solaria, but still a just common soldier.

  He wasn't one of the pillars of the kingdom, the ones with the capability to wipe out armies within minutes. But despite their power, they stayed out of most battles, only appearing in response to any opposing pillars. Their might were the things of nightmares and legends, appearing and leaving cataclysmic devastation in their wake. And he wasn't even a quarter up to their levels of power.

  On rare occasions, during major wars or shadow operations of deep importance carried out in foreign kingdoms, he'd been fortunate enough to bear witness to one or two appearances, and he was always left with awe and wonder at the powers displayed. Powers that turned night to day redirected rivers or wiped them out entirely, with a mountain or two leveled as an extra. Their battles seldom left little survivors, and the ones who survived were forever changed.

  Having been recruited into the ranks of one of Solaria's hidden protectors, Salin had felt an undreamt dream come through. Outsiders referred to them as spies, but he liked the term 'Hidden protectors' more; it made him look more prestigious any time he was on operations outside the empire. He liked the fear with which Solaria's hidden protectors were spoken of.

  Recruited into the sanctum for stumbling and revealing a plot that had saved a pillar's son from the hands of one of the Empire's enemies, Salin had been sponsored by said pillar, and then given an opportunity to become a wielder, which was the most important requirements for joining the ranks of the hidden protectors.

  His rise through the ranks of the hidden protectors was nothing short of explosive, becoming a master in the arts of assassination and espionage within a decade. He had infiltrated dozens of enemy strongholds and put to permanent sleep people who had been unfortunate enough that their names had fallen into the protector's book of the dead. They didn't need to be powerful people, just people with knowledge of things they shouldn't have.

  That was why he'd been wary at first when the strange man had approached him, boldly identifying Salin's identity as an empire hidden protector.

  There were only a few people who could successfully see through his subterfuge with correct precision, and he knew that people like that couldn't be seen in a city like this. There was nothing of interest here to warrant their attention, so his only conclusion was that the young man must have gotten access to information he shouldn't have, so it stood to reason that Salin uncovered the identity of the man and who his backers were. After all, if one of the Empire's enemies already had eyes on this city, secluded as it was, it wasn't too far-fetched that others might also do the same. Salin had to inform his superiors.

  When he had told the stranger not to bother running, he had still expected him to flee. No one in their right mind would wait for a hidden protector to find them. So Salin was more than surprised when he found the man, easily at that.

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  Infiltrating the stranger's room had been child's play. Entering the room, Salin had been hit with a strong feeling of unease, which had then heightened when he'd simply met the man sitting on the bed with an unsurprised look, like Salin's visit had been expected.

  Tamping down on his unease, Salin had moved forward with purpose, intending to carry out this mission with zeal. How painful his methods became depended on how stubborn the stranger was. They always tried to prove stubborn.

  And he loved the thrill of breaking them.

  He had silenced the room so as to project the fear of the unknown into the stranger's mind. Those were the worst kinds to feel in situations like this.

  Everything had instantly turned around when the stranger simply laughed and replied. "You seem to be getting things the other way around." The man had smiled. "You're going to happily answer all my questions without me having to lay a finger on you."

  Looking into the man's eerie grey eyes instantly sent shivers down his spine, and without thinking about it, Salin ran. He hadn't gotten more than two steps when he felt the sudden lightheadedness that always came with dimensional travel. The feeling hadn't lasted long, but what he'd seen out through the window in the aftermath had finalized his fate.

  The stranger stood up from his bed and then crossed the room onto a chair across. "Now, where should we begin?"

  Salin had contemplated jumping through the window and taking his chances in the strange dimension the stranger had moved them to, even though he knew intuitively that he wouldn't survive longer than a few seconds, at least it was better than what the strange man had in store for him.

  The man seemed to read his mind. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he'd shaken his head. "The realm of the metaphysical is filled with strange and terrible creatures that would send most beings into madness."

  He then smiled.

  "Your brain could melt, or every orifice in your body could start leaking blood, among other consequences, the best of which is a simple, instant death. And if you're very unlucky, they might just bore a hole into your consciousness to make themselves comfortable there. Creatures of the unreal are very curious, and the human mind is a very interesting thing."

  Saying all that with such nonchalant and cheerfulness had only served to increase the terror brewing within Salin. What had he gotten himself into?

  The stranger gestured toward the bed. "Have a seat."

  Hearing this, the terror holding Salin quailed, terrified of what would happen should he disobey. He walked up to the bed and sat.

  "We haven't properly introduced ourselves yet, I'll start. My name is Damien. What of you?"

  Salin kept staring until the man raised an eyebrow.

  "I am called Salin, lord?" He didn't know whether it was permitted to call the man by his birth name. He had always been told that when meeting powerful people, he should never call them by their birth names.

  "Just call me Damien; I do not care for those overly flashy titles your pillars seem to fight for. bad memories and all." His eyes flashed, and Salin's heart froze.

  "Sorry about that. Now that we have all those formalities out of the way, I am going to ask some questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully to the best of your abilities. You do not want me to have to forcefully draw answers out of you," Something in the man's tone changed, Salin didn't know what it was, but any brewing plan to lie was forcefully tamped down and smothered.

  The man must have seen this in Salin's expression because he then smiled and nodded.

  "Now, tell me why the empire has suddenly gotten interested in this desert city?"