Hidden between the rumour of time and the infamy of the Dark Forest had a unique village in the heart of the forest.

Far from the usual daily stillness, the inhabitants of that village, of long ears and great beauty were extremely altered due to some rumors that arose from the first hours of the day.

The matter was of such magnitude that the two Sages and the three most important elves of the village had gathered in the old Hall of Virtues.

“We must attack immediately!” -accompanying his impetuous words with a strong blow on the huge old wooden table, one of the elves, he energetically fixed his posture.

“Don’t talk nonsense Libel, we don’t know what their intentions are, we can’t just make such a sacrifice when these humans might just be passing through” –in front of the posture of Libel, a well-dressed elf gave his opinion without hiding his displeasure.

“Who takes a walk in the woods with such an army, Hacel!?” –without giving time to the opinion of any other of those present, Libel answered with a question full of malice.

For no one in the village it was a secret the bad relationship that existed between Libel and Hacel, regardless of the subject their points of view were always opposed.

Libel was a young and strong elf, the best archer of the village and the leader of the Forest Guards, who were in charge of the security of the village.

For his part, Hacel was the most important among the Diori, the elves of noble blood.

“Although I don’t support an attack, I’m not so sure these humans are just passing through” –interrupting the imminent confrontation between Hacel and Libel, a beautiful elf woman, the only woman at the meeting, offered her point of view.

“I completely agree with Erabel, as far as we know, thier number is too big to be a simple exploration” –Rarpol, the old elf who acted as a Green Sage, supported Erabel’s opinion.

“No doubt more information is needed” –Jaal, the eldest of the elves and the Grey Sage, added his words to the discussion apathetically.

“So, what we have to do is quite clear, tomorrow, first thing in the morning, I will get as close as possible to these humans to observe them.”

“Have you lost your head, Erabel!?”

“That’s completely reckless Erabel!!”

Faced with Erabel’s surprising statement, Hacel and Libel seemed to agree for the first time.

“We need information and it is not a task that we can leave to the wise, and you Libel, you would probably attack the first provocation, and I doubt very much that Hacel would be willing to perform such a task.”

Erabel’s response left Hacel and Libel completely silent.

Erabel, the most beautiful elf woman in the village, was also a prodigy with respect to magic and this, which despite her youth, had led her to become the leader of the Lori, the elves specializing in magic.

“Erabel’s words are full of wisdom, I feel reassured to leave such an important task in her hands” -Rarpol gave his full approval for Erabel’s plan, Jaal simply nodded.

Despite Hasel and Libel’s disagreement with the plan, the meeting concluded with the approval of the two sages to Erabel’s plan. With it, the night finally hovered completely over dark forest.

The conclusion of the meeting was announced to the rest of the elves by Rarpol, however, the tense atmosphere in the village did not diminish even slightly.

Everything had begun early in the morning, before the first rays of the sun illuminated the forest, the forest guards had brought disturbing news to the village.

A huge contingent of armed humans had begun to cross the forest with great impetus, neither the thickness of the forest, nor the rugged terrain had stopped them.

Apart from their unwavering will to move forward, there were several other aspects on these humans which had frozen the blood of the forest guards.

Unlike the human armies they had seen so far, all these human soldiers were equipped with ornate silver armor. Besides, those who could say were magic practitioners wore beautiful silk robes.

As if that were not enough, both the horses that pulled the heavy wagons through the forest, as well as those ridden by their skilled riders, they showed a ferocity and strength comparable to that of the fearsome dragons.

To further concern, those men wore no emblems or shields of any known human kingdom. The emblem on the black banner, which was also carved on their armor, was that of a crow perched on a broken crown.

Unable to continue observing because of the disturbing sensation of being perceived, the forest guards had withdrawn halfway to the coast, presumably the place to which humans were heading.

That news had caused a great commotion in all the elves, however, the event that pushed them into fear occurred near sunset. Provoking fear even the bravest of the elves, a powerful chorus of glee rumbled along Dark Forest, “conquest.”

Thanks to their privileged hearing, the elves were able to locate the north as the place from which that disturbing cry came.

They had crossed the forest equipped with their heavy armor and other burdens at an impossible speed, and yet they still had the strength to shake the afflicted hearts of the elves.

At this point, even the forest guards who had seen them wondered if those were really human, and not troops of the Elven Kingdom of Grandeza.

“Erabel-sama!”

Before Erabel entered her small wooden house, a loud voice uttered her name behind her.

“Lucel, Olivel, is something wrong?”

As she turned around, Erabel see two elves, Lucel of small and slim complexion, practically a cheerful elf girl of just fifteen, who was accompanied by Olivel, her always more centered older sister.

“Erabel-sama, we hear you plan to go and observe the invaders.”

Erabel could see the reflection of her own face in Lucel’s clear blue eyes full of concern, even though she herself had her own doubts, she remained firm in her decision.

Erabel Sprout of Sun had made that decision for two simple reasons; leaving the matter in Libel’s hands could only end with a bloodshed, and this, considering the number of humans which was almost twice the current population of the elf village, there was no way it would end well for the elves. As for her second motivation, this was a very selfish one, Erabel’s own curiosity.

The Grey Elves had isolated themselves from the world in the interior of Dark Forest for almost six centuries, and a generation had passed since the last time that more than a solitary human had entered in the forest. Erabel, like a large number of elves, had rarely seen a human.

However, it was not as if the elves had no information about the world. Although with outdated centuries, they had enough information regarding dangers outside Dark Forest, and this of course included information about Urd’s nearby human kingdom.

For all these reasons, despite the danger represented by the task for which she had offered herself, retracting was not an option for Erabel. She must always be firm, and serve as an example to her people.

Among the elves, women had to try much harder than men to excel, and these which would probably earn them little sympathy among men. However, Erabel was different even from the other elf women, since she was little, she was prey of an uncontrolled curiosity that was barely limited by the old customs of her people.

A prodigy in magic, she had climbed positions among the Lori to become their leader. Even so, the sad reality was that, despite her great talent, Erabel was far from reaching the level of ability reserved only for a few, for those catalogued among legends, the “heroic” level.

‘If only the Five Virtues had not limited her talent by depriving her of a limb between her legs’ –during her first days as an apprentice, this was a very common mockery told behind Erabel’s back by her male companions.

Nevertheless, Erabel was equally grateful to both her teacher and her detractors, for while one had not shown her the slightest contemplation despite being a woman, the others had forced her to try much harder.

Using the women difficulties as motivation, Erabel had reached her present position, and from this position, very in her own way she tried to serve as an example to the other women of her village.

As for the elf women, they did not ignore Erabel’s efforts, and some of them set aside their prejudices and began to make efforts. An example of this was the two of sisters in front of Erabel, Olivel was her most promising apprentice, and Lucel who for lack of talent in magic and bow, had decided to practice with a weapon that the elves rejected completely, the dagger.

“For the sake of our people, we must know what these humans’ intentions are.”

Erabel showed a warm smile, her intention was to dispel the concern of the two sisters.

“Why does it have to be you, Erabel-sama? It’s something Libel-sama can do, there’s no need for you…”

Erabel placed her index finger on Lucel’s lips, which took the little elf girl by surprise.

“Of course, Libel will accompany me, but, according to the forest guards, there were a large number of magicians among these humans, and we do not know if they have placed trap spells in the forest. We’re not going to do anything dangerous, we’re just going to observe.”

The mere mention of Libel served to relax Olivel’s face. The leader of the forest guards was the most talented elf in combat, nobody in the village could imagine him being defeated even by some fierce orcs. Libel Willow Bark was also the last Vieri of the village, the last of a warrior blood of countless legends.

“Libel-sama? I see.”

Unlike her older sister, Lucel smiled bitterly.

“Everything will be fine, I’m sure those humans are just passing through.”

“Yes, Erabel-sama!”

Lucel clung to Erabel’s arms.

For Lucel Laurel Leaf, Erabel Sprout of Sun was a loving older sister, and as such, although the rest of the elves placed her as the only elf woman worthy of being Libel’s wife, for Lucel that was unpleasant idea. The honest little elf girl with long golden hair tied to two ponytails simply did not like Libel.

“Erabel-sama, please be careful and don’t get carried away by your curiosity.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you, Olivel.”

As Erabel’s apprentice, Olivel knew her teacher well. The brown-haired elf women tied to a long ponytail knew that her teacher became reckless when curiosity overflowed she.

(“What kind of humans will they be?”)

Despite her words at Olivel, Erabel’s mind was already full of questions and doubts about the strange humans who had entered in the Dark Forest.

(“I would like to know about their magic.”)

For Erabel as well as the rest of the elves, the danger of these humans was in their great number, because for the elves, humans were creatures only just a little above the orcs.

‘Humans are closer to the orc than to the elf, you can talk to them, but why waste time doing it?’ –this was a very old saying among the elves.