" Curses, I can't believe that I'm seriously lost, at least it's almost dawn again." Complained a frustrated Zane who was nothing short of being completely exhausted upon entering his third day in the forest. The climate was also starting to get to him, from the hot and humid days to the eerily cold, quiet nights with only the sounds of nature and scarce illumination of the moon to guide him. He was able to mange even if he was dressed lightly in black pants and shirt, with a white scarf tied around his neck, topped with a hooded cloak. They were designed specifically for messengers or travelers who crossed long distances, and was equipped with a belt with cases to carry small equipment. Zane also kept other primary equipment such as a bag strapped onto his back, containing provisions like spare clothes, food, water, and arrows for the bow on his back. Lastly, for protection he was armed with a short sword and the aforementioned bow.

While he gingerly made his way through the forest Zane considered stopping to rest, after all he was all but certain that he managed to lose his pursuers. Ultimately though, he considered it unwise, being all too familiar with pursuers willing to travel through ridiculous lengths and environments for his head. Plus, he also had to be mindful of the forest organisms that would be more than willing to make breakfast out of him. The forest he was in particularly was notorious for having abnormally large animals, and after a few close encounters with grizzly bears and jaguars, the slightest rustle of a bush or crunch of a tree branch was enough to make him flinch.

Aside from being killed by an animals, starvation or dehydration as a cause of death was becoming an increasing possibility with his reserves of food and water running low.

" Come on Zane, keep it together." He groggily moaned to himself, the original pursuit for him begun at the evening of the two days ago, he struggled to shake off the warriors following him, until he saw the entry to the forest, where they finally abandoned their chase. Unfortunately at that point there was no turning back and he had no time to assess where he was, being so focused on escape and went in without a second thought. Even for normal standards this forest was exceedingly extensive, and coupled with the darkness of night when it eventually occurred, he was practically running around like a headless chicken.

Gradually the sun reared out allowing for a much clearer perspective of his immediate surroundings, that didn't make him any less lost though. " I never thought I'd grow to hate the color green so much." Zane huffed, his strides becoming more vapid with every passing moment. The past few days without rest taking it's toll in abundance, and Zane was lucky to even be going through the motions, rather than collapse on the spot.

When he thought he couldn't have any less luster in his movement, his vigor came back in a flash as he heard several crunches of grass coming from the distance. " Crap." Zane lowly said, he wasted no time moving behind the nearest tree to hide, he knew something or maybe even someone was up ahead.

Zane waited out a moment and surely enough the sound of foot on grass became louder and louder, unexpectedly though as the noise grew closer he even started to hear voices.

" Just my luck, maybe I should just ru-" Zane poked his head out from behind the tree considering to make a getaway only to quickly return back to original posture. What he saw that startled him so much, was three women coming in his direction, and he prayed that they didn't see him just now. The real surprise of the matter was the stature of all three of them, never in his 19 years has he seen women as massive as he witnessed a second ago.

To make matters worse, they were all dressed in a form fitting black body suit, with pieces of light armor covering their shoulders, arms, and gauntlets on their legs.

" They must be soldiers or knights of some sort." Zane thought to himself, he still heard them approaching closer than before and it would prove to dangerous to make the slightest move right now. From what he made out, two of the soldiers were standing in the forefront, a good 8 foot 5 inches tall by his estimation, one with short shoulder length brown hair, the other with dirty blonde hair in a pony tail.

The soldier who stood out the most though, was the one he saw behind them, she stood a good head and shoulders above the other ones, 10 feet by his guess and her armor was more distinct looking and accented by a dark blue cape behind her, Zane could tell that she must be of a higher ranking than the other too. From her armor to demeanor on her prideful yet stoic face. The sense of duty she possessed was apparent in the her sharp hazel eyes, and not a hair out of place on her straightened long brown hair, that was tucked behind her cape to keep from interfering in field work. Their sheer enormity was staggering to Zane who only stood a modest 5'7, and on a good day probably wouldn't be much taller than the navel of the tallest women.

" There doesn't seem to be anyone here either." One of the soldiers said, lazily scanning her eyes through the landscape in search of anything out of the ordinary, or that shouldn't be there.

" Yeah, come on already General Slave Driver, no one would know if we stopped patrol here and go back to the capital." Complained her partner, and not even bothering to be on lookout.

" Cease your complaining, and keep going, there could be someone right under our noses trespassing in the forbidden Xaria Forest as we speak. We have several more acres to cover, now continue." Zane knew immediately that he heard the alpha speak, the force and bellow in her voice was powerful enough to make him want to yield right now, and she wasn't even speaking to him. As powerful as her words were, she still managed to sound commanding, and not demanding, definitely not one to be trifled with.

Zane was worried immensely now that he heard this forest referred to as "forbidden" and he heard the word trespassing too. " Shit, I would have to be near Xaria." He cursed in the lowest of voices knowing he was breaking some sort of law, and now he was aware whose territory he was in.

Every motion they took at this point made Zane more wary and as much as he would hope they'd leave, all they have to do now is look around the tree to the side of them and notice his presence. There was also no knowing what they'd do upon capturing him, and there was no way he could win a fight under circumstances where he's fatigued, out-powered, out-numbered, and out-sized.

" I can't afford to take chances now." Zane thought, if he started running with a head start now perhaps he could lose him, but he certainly wouldn't stand a chance if they discovered him first. Having made his decision, Zane put on the hood to his cloak to conceal his identity and threw caution to the wind as he turned tail to make a dash run for it. " Someone's there!?" Responded one of the soldiers, jumping in surprise at Zane's sudden sprint.

" An infiltrator! Pursue him immediately!" Ordered the General, and the two soldiers complied instantly and began the chase, despite this the General followed as well, running at probably double the speed as her underlings who are no slowpokes given their size.

Zane fortunately was able to cover a decent amount of ground in the few seconds of leeway he had, and was somewhat able to maintain the distance of him and the first two soldiers after him. The one really giving him a run for his gold was the General who was hot on his trail and rapidly closing the distance.

Granted she was far taller than her colleagues Zane was still astounded just how much faster she was than them. " Shit.", he knew he had to do something quickly or else she would need but a few more seconds to catch him.

Thinking fast, Zane began to cut every corner and every turn possible, at every tree or bush to prevent it from being a linear chase where he had no chance at escape. As clever an idea it was, these acts only afforded him the absolute minimum of extra time, and was barely managing to keep ahead of her just enough to avoid being within an arm's grab. He managed to ditch the other two soldiers entirely, but the General was giving him all sorts of difficulty.

Ordinarily keeping the pace he was running at would be a lot more maintainable, but with his fatigue being as high as it is, his movement began to slow ever so slightly as his legs failed him. Like a shark smelling blood the General swiped her hand out in an attempt to grab him, only being short by a mere centimeter, and grabbed the cloak straight from off his body with the swiftness of the wind.

This clearly rattled Zane and took a look behind him and it was painfully apparent that the tides of the chase has completely turned, with his eyes showing panic and desperation, and his adversary unshakable confidence that the end was near. What was really telling though was the smirk that was on her tight lipped face, it almost gave him the impression that she was toying with him and that she could catch him sooner if she wanted to.

" Getting tired little one?" She condescendingly asked, knowing full well that the question needed no answer, all she really wanted was a total and definitive conquering over her foe where their maximum effort wouldn't prevent them from falling miserably before her.

Zane tried to take no heed to her words, but there was no hiding his weakness now. The impending doom of knowing this was a near futile struggle didn't even make it feel like a chase anymore and more so a pitiful game of cat and mouse. It's obvious who the mouse is, yet it'd be insulting to compare the General to a cat, with such imposing size, strength, and not even utilizing her full capability on her far smaller and weaker prey, comparing her to a lioness or tigress is more accurate.

Keeping on the lookout for any opportunity to lose her, Zane had to avoid letting his nerves get to him even under the insane amount of pressure, and he may have found his chance. " Excellent." He thought, coming ahead, was a large concentration of trees, with an excess of vines and branches drooping and obstructing the path on every angle.

This is one of the few areas where his smaller size in this forest will play to his advantage and allow for much easier mobility through the obstacles, which cannot be said for his much bigger adversary.

Going full throttle ahead, Zane swiftly lunged passed the first series of vines, he had to be particularly cautious to duck, bob, and weave through every last one or risk getting tangled. Still he knew for sure he had one upped the General here.

" Not good enough." Zane heard an unimpressed voice from behind him say.

" Fucking hell, now what? " He thought looking behind him, Zane's eyes widened at the sight he was seeing, the General reaching onto her back unveiled the largest sword he's ever seen. His awestruck didn't last long though as he had to duck to the ground while she took a huge swing and cut down the vines in her path, the wind force produced from it enough to even leave slash marks on the tree's bark.

" That's flat out absurd." Zane thought aloud, referring to the sheer asinine amount of strength this woman possessed. The metal of her blade shined brilliantly, and stood as proudly as it's wielder at a whopping 3 meters tall, it was also quite wide and thick. Near the bottom of the blade was an emblem with a symbol, probably her military's insignia. Even if a normal sized human wielded a sword proportionally sized sword to that, there's only a handful of people who could swing it as effortlessly as she did, with one hand no less!

What he initially thought would be an advantage was becoming his steepest challenge yet, it was bad enough he had to be mindful of every last stray vine that could possibly get in his way, but now he had to multitask dodging every swing of the General's sword who was simply cutting down all obstacles in her path, without losing a step, one wrong move on his part would leave him as little more than a stain of blood on her blade.

As valiantly as he struggled, the inevitable inopportune moment and Zane overlooked a vine near the ground, causing him to lose his footing and his right ankle was successfully trapped. To make matters worse, his fall was broken by another vine above that trapped his right arm as well.

Precious seconds were going down the drain as Zane desperately attempted to free himself, he tried to grab his sword, but with only his left hand at his disposable it was too difficult a task for him to reach over to his opposite right side where his sword was equipped.

Zane was so busy struggling he didn't even notice that the General was already right in front of him and seemed amused watching him only manage to pitifully tie himself up further. After a few moment Zane ended up looking like a very poorly wrapped mummy, and he finally gave up his futile efforts, proceeding to heave heavily. The only thing that kept him going throughout the entire run was adrenaline, and now that its worn off, he didn't even possess the strength to move a muscle anymore.

He didn't even want to look, but he did so anyway, in shifting his eyes over to the General whose face beamed in non-verbal gloating in her total victory and simply said. " Infiltrator detained."

"Over here, there she is ! " Said the blonde haired solider who was chasing him earlier, with the brunette haired one following behind. During the whole runaround, the General's colleagues got lost entirely and only now managed to catch up after the matter was settled. " Looks like you already caught him General Rana."

"Took you two slugs long enough, I might as well report that I completed this solo." Rana said, obviously not pleased with their performance. " Zoila your knife." She ordered, and the brunette responded without hesitation and handing the knife she had hoisted on her side for fieldwork to her senior.

Zane meanwhile knew nothing he did now would make a difference, and dangled in mid-air suspension of his vine trap. After all that it was hard to believe that the General, Rana wasn't even breathing heavy let alone break a sweat, while she looked like she got done with a casual jog, he looked like he completed a full marathon.

Rana with the knife in hand roughly grabbed the tops of vines and proceeded to cut them loose and in the process causing Zane to flat on his back letting out a slight yelp on impact. She wasn't worried if he would attempt another chase knowing he expended all of his stamina prior. For safety measure though she lifted hard large metal shin guarded shoe and pressed it directly onto the stomach and partially chest of her defeated foe.

" Uh-oh, looks like her sadistic side is coming out today." Whispered the blonde soldier to Zoila.

" Quiet Anna!" Rana commanded, and with those two words shut her up faster than lightning can strike. With them under control, Rana shifted her fierce hazel eyes way down to her captive.

" Now onto you. I'm going to make this simple, I'll ask you some very simple questions and you WILL answer. If you don't, I will press my foot down on you until I crush you like a tiny, little, bug." Rana declared and for demonstrations sake applied some slight pressure onto the completely vulnerable Zane, the act caused him to writhe and cough several times. In all fairness, Rana probably applied minimal force in her mind, but with the size difference the relative force Zane felt was much worse, plus he needed all the oxygen he could get and a giant foot over his lungs certainly isn't helping.

Feeling like she's made her point, Rana alleviated the pressure she inflicted upon Zane thus far, despite being all business even she found it a bit humorous to how silly he looked with her mere foot covering most of his body, with only his limbs sticking out flailing like a puny turtle on it's shell.

" Now first question, what is your name?" Rana ordered. Zane knew now wasn't the time to go into deep thought in considering his options. At worst, he tells his name and they know who he is and probably executed on the spot. At the VERY worst, he stays quiet and is literally crushed here and now.

" Alright, Zane. Tell me are you a mercenary for the opposing forces?" Rana sounded more serious about this question (if that was even possible), unlike before though, Zane didn't know what she was talking about.

" What is she talking about? Is Xaria in the middle of battle or something?" He thought.

It didn't take long for Rana to grow impatient from Zane's brief moment of silence and she in return abruptly pressed her foot downward driving the breath straight out of Zane's lungs as he vainly tried his hardest to push her enormous foot off his body to give himself the smallest amount of wiggle room.

" I . .don't know what you're talking about ! " He managed to squeak out in a barely audible voice, he knew she had no reason to believe him, but he attempted to look up at his captor's imposing form that towered over him like a monolith right now, in hopes to stare her in the eyes to convince her he's not lying.

" Is that a fact?" Rana sarcastically asked while raising her eyebrow. Even if he was working for her land's adversary she didn't expect him to confess anyways, still she was partly unconvinced and kept her foot down with the same amount of pressure.

" Then tell me, what were you doing here?"

" I . . .I. ." Zane was asked another question that's difficult to answer given his situation. Telling her he was pursued gives her ground to suspect he's a criminal and his brain was working in overdrive to think of a passable excuse.

" I wouldn't even try to fabricate anything if I were you. Seeing as you fled from me on sight was a pretty suspicious act." Rana now started to slowly increase the pressure on Zane's prone body, which further expelled the little oxygen he was fighting to keep.

" I . . .wasn't doing anything honestly!" Zane squeaked out, it was bad enough he was on verge of suffocation, but the pain on his body was starting to become unbearable.

" And why should I believe some lowly vagabond who was loitering around like you?" Rana rhetorically asked. " Truthfully, pressing down as hard as I can and leaving you splattered under my foot would make my day a lot easier."

" Puuh . . .l . eease . " Zane used the last bit of air from his lungs with his plead, and even Rana's teammates Zoila and Anna had semi-concerned looks on their faces, not concern for Zane per say, but the possible backlash if Rana killed in cold blood . If she continued any further his lungs could be ruptured and his ribs fractured. Or if she went full force . . .it wouldn't pretty spectacle to say the least.

Rana feigned a skeptical look for a few seconds as if she was contemplating putting some pitiful creature out of their misery, but ultimately lifted her foot off of Zane's body, and he started to alternate between heavy hacks, inhales, and exhales.

" Lucky for you my orders today are quite clear and I need to take you under the city capital's custody." Rana then leaned down and performed a customary pat down on her barely breathing foe to check for any weapons or anything else out of the ordinary.

All she found was the bow, arrows, sword, and bag he carried on him, none of which were a lethal threat to her, still she confiscated them no less and motioned over to her soldiers to supply with some rope. Roughly kicking

Zane's lifeless body over to have him lie on his stomach, she pulled both his hands backwards and tied his hands together, right after doing the same to his legs. These procedures were overall unnecessary with how worn down he already was.

For the last order of business Rana pursed her lips in an "o" shape and let out a loud whistle that echoed through the air, seconds afterward a large crow descended from the air on her shoulder with a piece of paper tied to its foot. It was a messenger bird, that was used to relay information in advance, for something of this level a bird was sufficient, for more highly classified information a human messenger will be sent to deliver the news.

Untying the paper, inside it was a pen and she became to quickly write on it some documentation on her findings. Once finished she tied the paper back on and the crow flew off.

" There, by the time we reach back to the capital the council will decide on what to do with you." Rana leaned downward and gave another display of her immense strength by effortlessly lifting up Zane by the fabric of his shirt and threw him over her shoulder as easily a bag of groceries.

"Come on you two it's time to get moving." Rana ordered as she began to walk, with Anna and Zoila following.

" Cutting it a little close don't you think? I thought you were really going to go all the way." Anna asked, out Rana's near murder of Zane.

" That's an understatement." Zoila said in agreement.

" So what if I got a little carried away." Rana huffed with an irritated roll of the eyes." If the law is broken, punishment should be served swiftly and mercilessly. Given our current situation we're in no position to be taking chances even if it's petty crime.”

Anna and Zoila expected no less from Rana who was dedicated to her position to the very end, willing to die if she's ordered to without a second thought and began to whisper among themselves being sure to keep their voices down from their superior, which lost its purpose when they broke into giggles every now and again.

Rana felt herself growing more annoyed by the second as she heard them, she knew they were talking about her and yet she didn't want to confront them about it to keep an apathetic facade over the matter. Soon after the quiet conversation came to a halt and Rana thought her curiosity would finally subside, that is until Zoila ran ahead beside Rana and got up the tip of her toes to say something in a low tone.

" Hey captain, I think you may have missed something on the little captive." Zoila stated, trying her hardest to hold back her snickers. Zane who otherwise has been completely lifeless and complacent until now started to mentally tune into the conversation.

" I checked him thoroughly, all weapons I confiscated from him." Rana replied holding up the bag that contained Zane's weapons and supplies, she was irked enough by her companions private talk, and she can tell they're trying to goad her into something.

" Are you sure? Maybe you should check him closer." Zoila was practically chuckling after every sentence, and Anna couldn't even keep a straight face anymore.

" Very sure." Rana said getting even more irritated.

" Oh come on, maybe you should . .you know, do a detailed inspection on every last inch of him." Zoila said in a mischievously playful tone, and Rana caught onto where she was going with this. Zane did too and found something new to worry about.

" This woman is out of her mind." He thought.

" You're an idiot, why in the world would I want to do that?" Rana said feigning callousness to mask the embarrassment she felt about the question.

" What a stiff, take a look at him. Why don't we have a little fun with our little prisoner, it can be between the three of us and him. " Zoila said as she took a pace back to admire the completely helpless guy on Rana's shoulder, and placing a hand on his messy black hair to lift his skull up. Zane didn't want to imagine the thoughts that were going on in her head right now as she locked onto his amber eyes with all sorts of fascination on her young face.

" He's pretty cute, don't you think? Haven't you ever wanted to try 'it' at least once?" Zoila asked looking up to Rana.

" Stop being ridiculous! It's disgraceful for our kind to sexually engage with anyone, it taints our blood! Besides it's not being necessary for our reproduction." Rana nearly lost her temper on the spot at the remark and secretly felt mortified at the thought. The act alone is considered lowly by many other Xarians, and Rana would never be able to live it down.

" Relax, I was only playing sourpuss, you'd probably crush him anyway." Zoila said with a laugh, and fell back to walking with Anna. Rana simply sighed at the ludicrous conversation she was subjected to and Zane counted his lucky stars for dodging potential sexual exploitation. For the rest of the trip through the vast forest the travel was pretty uneventful, and took them a good two hours to reach near the exit. The down time at lest allowed to regain some of his stamina, but it wasn't particularly comfortable being draped over Rana's armored shoulder and the anxiety of what was in store for him wasn't easing in the slightest. He was also bored out of his mind from being carried around like a piece of luggage this whole ride.

" At last we're finally here." Rana said, it was nearing the afternoon when the squad stepped out of the lasts of the forest trees and began their walk down a dirt trail.

After a few more moments, Zane lifted his head around to see the open massive doors to the city that even substantially dwarfed someone of the stature of Rana, and standing at the side of door was a woman who was of a staggering height of 7'11, while a bit shorter than Zoila, Anna, and especially Rana, Zane began to quickly realize that probably everyone in this land had heights around the the 7 foot and onward range.

" Welcome back Rana, looks like you've caught a live one." The guards-woman joked.

" He was a squirmy little pain, but we'll find out what to do with him in a bit." Rana said, walking into the city.

" You two report back to the headquarters on how things went, I'll take this guy to the courthouse." Rana said.

" Want some alone time, hm?" Anna snickered handing Rana the bag of that was taken from Zane before, and Zoila joined in with the giggles soon after before going their separate ways.

" Why do I always get stuck with those two?" Rana said while shaking her head.

Rana began to move, and Zane was shell shocked taking in all that Xaria had to offer, he never thought he'd see the actual city life (albeit as a criminal), merchants selling things, grocery shops, plazas with various monuments dedicated to soldiers, and people casually going about there way with their purchased items and chatting amongst themselves. Occasionally a few people would cut there eyes and stare at Zane, making comments about what they made of the person Rana caught.

It didn't take much longer for Rana to reach the court house that she mentioned earlier, and there was several steps leading up to the building that has stood the test of time judging by the small cracks that on some of the marble the building was crafted out of, and it's dome shaped roof.

The interior was nothing like what the elaborate exterior would lead you to believe, the inside having some more stairs leading to the floor that had a few empty rows of seat, and ahead of that was a single chair with shackles at it's armrest and legs. Beyond that was a greater sight to behold, on an elevated platform were five regal and elaborately crafted chairs, with 5 people sitting in them.

Zane looking ahead couldn't feel more nervous and he detected that something was clearly bothering. It was made especially blatant when she dropped him (accidentally) and the bag she took from him immediately after seeing the who was ahead of her.

Zane writhed silently in pain. With his hands and legs tied up he couldn't hold his aching spots from the fall he endured. Rana meanwhile, assumed a bow to the people gathered getting onto one knee with her hand across her stomach.

" Miss Xaria, I didn't expect to see you here!" Rana said in surprise. Zane managed to wiggle himself to his side to see the folks Rana was gushing over.

" Whoa . ." He said aloud. The people ahead of him all looked to be of supreme nobility. The first, second, fourth, and fifth chairs were all occupied by woman of comparable stature to Rana at 10 feet tall and they were wearing black robes with hoods over their faces to maintain ambiguity of their emotions. The only part of their bodies that were visible were their large,clasped together hands like they were in contemplation already.

Last, but literally/certainly not least, was the person sitting in the center in the third chair. It was a great deal larger than all the others, and looked like a finely designed antique. Obviously the chair was no where near as important as the woman sitting in the chair.

Zane only needed one look to tell that was the Xaria. He wasn't completely knowledgeable on all of Xaria's ways, but word travels far and he's heard several stories about their land and people. The most common knowledge being that Xaria is inhabited by an all female species known as Xarians. The nation also boasts having arguably the strongest military on the continent, Zane always wondered how it was possible among a female species, until seeing that everyone of them is a glorified amazon.

One of Xaria's most infamous labels though was being the least-accepting nation of outsiders. While it was relatively common to see humans, elves, goblins, etc. living outside of their home nations, there has been rumors of Xarians killing foreigners on the spot if they had no business in their territory. Whether it was some traveler telling tales or legitimate, there must be some validity considering Zane was hounded down for being in their forest.

The last of his knowledge about Xaria was that anyone who chosen to be the next ruler, bore the name Xaria from then onward. If his memory served, this was Xaria IX. He was under the impression that he wouldn't see anyone larger than Rana, that is until Xaria met and exceeded all expectations! Zane's eyes traveled up her colossal body, attempting to get some grasp on her size, factoring in he was on the ground and she was sitting down on an higher floor, she had to be at least 14 feet tall. Zane continued to look up and his heart sped up when his eyes met her gaze and a feeling in his gut told him she was staring at him this whole time.

Her expressionless face and elegant posture made him feel like he was looking at a piece of fine art. Common stereotype suggests most rulers, kings/queens, or people of that status were old, withered down, or sheer ugly.

Xaria though didn't fit that criteria at all, everything to her vibrant apricot skin tone, expectant green eyes, to her long dark brunette hair radiated her life and she had many good years to come. Zane couldn't read her expression at all by only seeing her play with her hair slightly with her black laced gloved hand.

" No need for the formalities General Rana." Xaria commented, arbitrary to her enormous size her voice was surprisingly soft. Her purple and black sleeveless dress was nothing short of absolutely luxurious and stopped down near her feet, resembling a ballroom gown. It noticeably did little to cover her chest and gave a slight glimpse of the overgrown watermelons that were her breasts.As if she needed them, she also wore high-heels, which further accentuated her unbelievable height.

" It's wonderful to see you, I don't mean to be rude milady though, what are you and the 4 council ladies doing here? This is only a minor matter, why are people with such high status gathered? "

Rana shifted her eyes over to the far sides of the room, more unaware eyes would miss their presence entirely, but at the walls of the room stood 3 warriors on each side, in sleek black armor and wore a black metal helm over their face that covered the top half of their heads, leaving only their mouths visible, all six of them carried axes that were as tall as they are, their presence so transparent and standing so still they'd easily be mistaken as statues on first glance.

" You even have the royal guards summoned for this." Rana noted, perplexed at why such extremities were being taken. Zane found it rather humorous to see Rana sound a bit like a starstruck fan in front of someone so highly ranked, not that he had much room to enjoy it because he was in no safety zone. With a snap of her meticulously cared for fingers Xaria could have him tortured, battered, bludgeoned, beaten, and then some.

" A fair question, we got the report of your findings in Xaria Forest and you're correct at first it seemed like a simple case of trespassing." Xaria explained. " After further deliberating and looking at further reports, it's been realized that this is a far more important matter than we thought. Tell me Rana, are you familiar with the Great War that was waged 20 years ago?"

" Doesn't everyone know of it, it's already considered the most important war in history with all of mankind on the line, despite being so recent." Rana confidently answered.

" Correct. Now undo his binds." Xaria asked without a hitch, there was a momentary pause from Rana who thought she actually misheard that order.

" U-uh, I'm sorry, did I hear you right?! What if he makes a break for it a-?!" Rana protested.

" . . . . . . ." Xaria didn't respond at all and stared at Rana. It wasn't an angry or disappointed gaze, just a gaze. It was like Xaria communicated telepathically with Rana seeing how she bent down to undo the ropes she tied on Zane's arms and legs. Zane was amazed by the power this woman had to stop Rana in her tracts without having to utter so much as a single word.

Once Rana completed her order, Zane's heart skipped a beat when his eyes met Xaria's who was staring directly at him again, and made him feel anxious with anticipation of what she wanted from him.

" Come forward." She seamlessly spoke. Zane felt exceptionally weak on his feet right now, partly from being carried around for so long, mainly from the perpetual anxiety he felt, where every last step may be his last. Either way, he definitely did not want to have the same awkward moment that Rana experienced when she failed to comply with an order.

Zane miserably tried to have some form of composure, which simply wasn't working. He knew that everyone was able to see how pitifully his legs were shaking with every step he took. He hated every second of being the center of attention too, all the stares of these gigantic women him making him feel particularly tiny. Especially true regarding Xaria, every step closer he took magnified her overwhelming presence and he had to crane his head upward a little more each time to maintain eye contact. The way she stared down on him made it feel like she was looking downward from a higher plane of existance.

" Tell me are you also aware of the Great War that was fought?" Xaria asked.

" Can't say I do." He lied, it was killing him inside to not be able to decipher what Xaria was thinking as she held the same expression since he entered the court-hall.

" Well then allow me to brief you on some history. Back millenniums ago it was believed that our planet was created by the Gods that possessed magic powers and used them to form the continents, sky, oceans, and all the organisms. However, it didn't take long for natural instincts to take over and the races became divided trying to conquer as much land as they possibly could. Through such pursuits, several of the most ancient creatures we know of became extinct such as dragons, giants, etc. We soon realized that the bloodshed needed to stop were we to collectively prosper and motioned for a global peace treaty among the four most prominent powerful nations established which was by us Xarians, Humans, Elves, and Goblins." Xaria explained. Zane keenly listened onward with his best facade of ignorance.

" Obviously though there has been tension throughout the main core lands for centuries. Each of us keeping tabs on another, for if one became too powerful for our liking and even some of the minor territories have come out the wood work to try and takeover at times. Nothing too dire came out of it, that is until a strange occurrence happened every now and again. there would be a few people born with the capability of using magic. It was quite shocking to us all, who thought only thought the God's and certain holy priests were rumored to be able to perform magic."

"These special people who were born even went as far as to teach themselves various spells, constructs, and even summonings. The governing bodies though didn't take all too well to those news and meetings were held amongst the officials of the major nations, in fear that too many magic users would emerge in one nation, leading to an imbalance of power with one nation able to devastate another. Thus an international pact was assigned forbidding all magic with the exception of healing magic. Should a nation betray the pact, an alliance was to be formed among all other nations to destroy the offending force. Understand?" Xaria asked expectantly.

" . . .I see." Zane wasn't in the mood for a history lesson and felt she was condescending to him like a child. Still, he knew at this point where she was going with this and the subject that's gotten him in so much trouble the past was quickly rearing it's head.

" What's truly shocking though over the last several decades there was a surge of magic users being born, and when locals found out about their abilities there's been stories of them being shunned and even exiled from their their homelands in fear of neighboring nations finding out. Perhaps it wasn't a wise idea, for the great scholars back in ancient times wrote about how magic was a power reserved only for higher beings, not meant for mortal kind as it had a way of corrupting souls. Over time that's exactly what happened, with the exiled magic users from all lands eventually discovering one another in somewhat of magnetic attraction, and they spent all their time honing their magic, learning more advanced spells. It started as a child-like curiosity and transformed into a full obsession, and they became corrupted beings, in essence they became the witches that were written about in folklore.

Several of them had bodily distortions from the countless experiments they did on one another and had no allegiance or care for anyone outside their kind."

" The true fear we had all along manifested when they believed that they could overtake the world with their abilities and once news reached all cornerstones of the continent an alliance was immediately formed to confront this threat. Although we had an advantage in numbers, they more than made up for it with the sheer power of their spells that rendered all armies over-matched. The casualties were heavy and for a time it looked like we all would have to go down on our shield's. That is until an elite platoon of warriors went in and fought the most important battle of history, and managed to kill the witches leader." Xaria closed her eyes mid-way through her story of the Great War and Zane was looking absently the ground.

" The alliance finally had the witches on the run and an order was put out from all leaders, to kill every single last witch and to spare none of them and leave absolutely no stone unturned. Whether it be a pregnant woman, child, or infant . ." Xaria accounted. " The final battle was 20 years ago, and to this day we're all still recovering from the heavy losses suffered from that war."

" Xaria please explain! What does this story have to do with this vagabond!?" Rana butted in, she didn't comprehend what the need was for this whole story.

" Basically . .we were almost sure that every last witch was exterminated without question, using even the most gruesome of means. When the messenger bird reached the courthouse, I was asked to come because of dire news." Xaria said, opening her eyes to look down at Zane.

" For the most part whenever crimes are committed in a nation they generally don't transcend to other nations unless it's capital level felony. At that point a notice is sent to major nations."

" . .Are you saying that this guy is a felon? B-but what did he do?" Rana's proud confidence was overshadowed for the moment by a feeling of suspense, who she thought was some trespassing nuisance was turning out to be anything but.

" It turns out that he has as many capital offenses as a rogue terrorist, who has lived in several different areas throughout his life. What's strange in this situation, whereas with any other felon the exact details of the crime will be thoroughly explained in the report. For him, the only thing listed on every account is only 'treason' the only detail on the crime is 'Body Art'." Xaria explained, with that piece of news Rana was perplexed beyond words and felt like the only one in the dark here.

" What . . like a tattoo or something?" Rana asked.

" I suppose you can say that, however if my suspicions are correct it's much more than a tattoo. To all the commoners who didn't fight in the war, one important detail was not let out to the general public. That detail is that all the witches, somewhere on their body had some sort of marking on their skin." Xaria began to play with her hair slightly now coming almost full circle with her story.

" You're seriously suggesting he's a witch?! How do we know if this is true or not?!" Rana had a hard time believing this all, being such a high ranking soldier she had access to some very exclusive intelligence, this was something that was over her head entirely.

" So Zane I'll give you a chance to spare all of our time right now, are you a witch?" Xaria asked. Zane couldn't even look her in the eye, but he felt the weight of her stare which was different than her impartial look before, this one felt far more convicting.

" . . . . .And what if I say I'm not?" Zane asked, he knew he'd have to go for broke now.

" I would still have to perform an inspection to see if you're lying, and if you are you will be executed promptly." Xaria responded without a hitch.

With that being said an unnerving silence overtook the room with all eyes on Zane who was looking towards the ground in contemplation. Rana was behind him, guards to his sides, officials in front of him, it looked like every turn inevitably lead to death.

So he thought, until a loud distinctive thud was heard from several meters outside of the building, and the cries and screams of Xarians were heard, that rattled him along with everyone else in the courthouse. Suddenly a soldier opened the door to the hall.

" LADY XARIA, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"