-Xania-

Elves are weird. Were they seriously having an argument over which trees they like the most and treating it as if was some deep philosophical question?

To think that they would waste their time like that while their forest is under attack... it's clear that they are too used to being protected. And the so-called 'queen of darkness' is the same, with that power she's probably never encountered anything that can threaten her, she doesn't know what it's like to be in danger. I cannot depend on someone like that, I'll just go find my brother myself.

However, I don't have my undead warriors here with me, I'll be in trouble if I get into a fight. My skeletal dragon is flying in circles far above the forest, but if I order it to come down the trees will try to stop it. From what I know, they don't attack animals or sapient beings unless the elves order them to, but an undead would probably be identified by them as a monster. It might be possible for it to force its way through, but that should be my last resort.

I arrive at the elf village, but something is strange. There's an orc keeping guard and I do not see any elves... don't tell me that the demons took over this place already. The strength and numbers of the demons we've been encountered are too much if all they wanted was to capture Rax; it seems like they are trying to take over this forest completely.

He just saw me, I need to get rid of him before he can warn the others... but before I can get a spell ready, he waves his hand and calls to me.

"Lady Xania! Are you also taking part in the invasion?"

"Uh? I... yes, I am..."

"Hehehe, master Garerg's plan worked even better than expected, those elves are so stupid."

Garerg? That green old bastard is the one in charge of this invasion? And why is this guy talking to me as if he thought that we're still on the same side?

"Actually... Garerg only told me to come here and didn't explain what his plan is, so I don't know what's going on right now."

"Oh well, then let me explain. You know how the elves depend on their magic trees for everything and cannot do anything on their own? That includes watching for any intruders. Master Garerg figured out that after the trees give a warning about an intruder, they won't say anything for as long as there are any elves near them."

I guess that makes sense. If they continued to warn about an intruder that has been found already, it would be more distracting than helpful.

"And you took advantage of that somehow?"

"Yes, we made an overt attack to catch the attention of the elves. Then we replaced some of them with shapeshifters without them noticing. Since the shapeshifters were with the elves the whole time, the trees didn't give any warning, and the elves are too used to being told what to do to notice that anything was wrong. When they made it into the village, they used magic circles to seal the trees protecting it, and most of the warriors had left, so it was easy to take it over and capture the remaining elves."

"So you captured them... where are the prisoners?"

"They are all inside that giant tree at the center of the village. Well, it looks like a tree but it's actually a building."

If the captive elves are there, Rax is probably there as well.

Still, a plan like that would have failed as soon as someone thought that their friend was acting weird and decided to ask the trees just in case. It's clear that living in isolation for so long while being protected by the forest has made the elves weak in more than one way.

'Mind void'

The orc was not expecting an attack from me at all and falls asleep without resistance. He's probably a new recruit if he doesn't even know how much I and his boss hate each other, and that geezer was the one who convinced Kalroth to take my brother in the first place...

All the buildings in the village seem to be made of stone, I was expecting wood but I suppose that the elves do not want to cut down their precious trees. Their houses are also very poorly made, the only reason they don't collapse is that they have trees holding them in place, literally.

The only one that seems to be able to stand by itself is the big one that the orc mentioned. I'm not sure if it's a tree that was turned into a building or a building shaped to look like a tree...

I approach slowly, making sure to not be seen by the orcs keeping guard. When I'm close enough I use 'corpse puppet' on a few dead small animals that I was keeping in my pockets and make them get close to the guards.

"Uh!? A lizard is climbing my body!"

"A bug just flew into my face!"

*BANG*

"AAAGH!!!"

The bombs that my minions were carrying detonate injuring some of the orcs, but not as much as I expected. They are tougher than I thought.

"Look! Over there! It's Xania!"

As they rush at me, some of the muscles in their bodies start to grow in an uneven and grotesque manner. That must be Garerg's 'flesh shaping' at work, and if I know him, there will probably some severe side-effects that his underlings will have to suffer. I've never seen him use that magic on himself, after all.

*Crash*

But before they can attack me, my skeletal dragon drops on them from above. If the trees around this area are disabled, I can take advantage of that too.

But I'm not going to stay to watch this fight, I need to find Rax!

When I enter the building, I see the captured elves. I gag a bit when I see the method that has been used to restrain them.

Their legs and arms have been fused together with 'flesh shaping', and their mouths have been stitched shut with their own flesh. They cannot talk but I can see the pain on their faces.

I knew that the old bastard was twisted, but this is beyond anything I've seen him do before. There are even a few children here...

"Well, if it isn't the little necromancer girl. Did you come to look for your brother?" Once again I have the displeasure to see Garerg's ugly face grinning at me.

I screwed up, I got distracted looking at the elves and lost the element of surprise.

"What are you trying to do here? Does Kalroth even know that you took over this village?" I ask.

"Ah, I'm afraid that master Kalroth would not have allowed me to experiment on the elves. He doesn't understand the value in studying the way their bodies can retain their youth."

As I thought, hunting down my brother was just an excuse to bring some soldiers into the forest. Hiding the fact that he brought soldiers here would be almost impossible, hiding the exact number of soldiers would be much easier.

"And where's Rax?"

"I have him right here, but I'm afraid that I had some trouble stopping his cries."

When I see him grab my brother I feel my blood boil. His mouth has been sealed the same way as the elves, and he looks like he's been crying a lot.

"Fix his mouth! Now!"

"That cannot be done. When someone's body has been altered with flesh magic like this, it cannot be reversed without damaging it even more."

"You... I'm going to kill you!"

"Please, calm down. You don't want your brother to end like these elves, do you?"

"..."

"Well then, let's go outside."

He makes me walk in front, giving me no chance for a surprise attack. But when I step outside I see something that I was not expecting.

All of the orcs have been bound by chains of darkness. It looks like they were able to win against my dragon, but then they were defeated by something far more fearsome.

"Xania! Thank goodness I found you. Don't run off like that!"

The queen of darkness is just standing there, seemingly relaxed despite being in enemy territory. Then again, why would she need to worry about something like that?

"Luna! You need to help my brother! Please!"

"Your brother? What's wrong with..."

The moment she sees Rax, it feels like the temperature drops. I hold my breath as I get the sensation of an icy hand taking hold of my heart.

"Is that flesh shaping?" Luna gets closer to Rax while completely ignoring Garerg, who seems to have been frozen in fear.

Now that I think about it, all intimidation auras and skills are more effective the more the user wants to hurt someone. And I don't think that I've seen Luna truly want to hurt anyone until now... Does that mean that all the fear she normally inspires is actually the minimum that she's capable of?

She touches Rax's head and his mouth opens in an instant, looking good as new, but he's too scared to say anything. Garerg looks like he cannot believe what he's seeing. That geezer has been studying flesh shaping for decades and he truly thought that this was impossible, but she did it with a mere touch.

"Xania, are there any more people like that inside?"

"Y-yes." I surprise myself by being able to answer.

Luna walks into the building and starts touching each one of the elves, just like she did with Rax. But they all seem to be more afraid of their savior than of their tormentor.

"Their nerves are being pressed by their own flesh, this must be rather painful..."

She sounds calm, but I can still feel her anger. Each one of her words feels like a dagger stabbing me.

"Seeing this, I can understand why flesh shaping ended up becoming a forbidden field of magic."

After Luna finishes healing the last elf, she calmly walks up to Garerg, who has not moved at all this entire time. She grabs him by the neck and lifts him until he's eye-level with her.

"You are the one who did all of that. Are you not?"

forli

I could not put a lot of humor into this chapter. I hope that you liked it anyway.