Some hours had already passed since Jaal left for the north to carry out his reckless plan.

"Even naivety has its limits, Erabel. Truly act as the leader of the Lori and guide them along with the rest of our people to a safe place!" -Hacel raised her voice with anger and frustration.

In Jaal's absence, the uncertainty had caused the elves to divide into three groups of different opinions.

One of these groups, led by Libel and the Forest Guard clamored to make an attack on the human camp by taking advantage of the distance with their bows and the cover of the trees.

Another group, led by Hacel and the Diori wished to leave Dark Forest immediately to escape danger.

Finally, the last group headed by Erabel and Rarpol asked to wait for Jaal's return to make any decision.

"Precisely because I care about the safety of our people is that I think you two are rushing!" -Erabel replied equally irritated and full of frustration.

Hacel and his Diori were already prepared to leave, they carried with them only the indispensable and just waited for other of their brothers to decide to join them.

Formerly the Diori caste was that of the rulers under the council of sages, the Diori ruled over villages and cities, they acting as direct representatives of the council of sages.

Today, however, although they retained their pride, the Diori were more devoted to the arts; blacksmithing, painting, writing and music.

As for Libel and his group, they finalized details and gave a quick lesson to some volunteers on the use of the bow against human targets.

"Please don't compare me to cowards, Erabel" -of the three, Libel was the quietest. From his perspective, Erabel and their people really only had to stay in the village and wait for his triumphant return.

"Using head to think is not cowardly, but I suppose someone who intends to attack an army of a thousand soldiers with a handful of improvised warriors will never understand" -Hacel's response was scornful and full of malice.

"Libel, Hacel, that's enough, neither of you can do as you please!" -Rarpol intervened clearly using his authority as a Sage. Hacel, Erabel and Libel were arguing outside the Hall of Virtues, right in the middle of the crowd of nervous elves gathered there, and their discussion only served to contribute further to the uncertainty among their people.

The mode of government of the Elves was simple, five elders of great influence were named Sages and they were the ones who made all the decisions.

However, since the minimum requirement to become a Sage was at least two hundred years of age, today only Rarpol of two hundred and fifty years and Jaal of presumably four hundred years were the only ones who could perform as Sages.

As for Libel, Hacel and Erabel, as leaders of the Forest Guard, the Diori and the Lori respectively, they could only give their opinions but not make decisions without the prior approval of the Sages.

"Rarpol-sama, in the past our ancestors disobeyed the order of the council of Sages and they escaped to guard our customs."

"Hacel, how dare you!" -anger grew more in Erabel.

The event Hacel used to back up his actions occurred almost a thousand years ago.

At that time, humans were not present on the continent, and orcs, lizard men, dragons, and other creatures fought each other for supremacy. As for the gray elves, they lived hidden in the Great Forest.

By the time humans began to invade the continent, the young elves were dissatisfied with their passive way of life. Many young Vieri had on many occasions proposed to the council to send armies to fight the beasts that prevented them from freely leaving the forest. However, their proposals were always rejected by the Sages.

When humans arrived in the north of the continent and began to found their kingdoms, the young Vieri were unable to bear it any longer. One night they rose up against the council of Sages and after fiercely fighting against other Vieri loyal to the council, they seized the leadership of the grey elves.

The Vieri rebels first forced the council to establish martial law, however, seeing the intentions of the Vieri rebels to eliminate ancient customs, a large group of gray elves escaped and settled in Dark Forest.

In the end the rebellious Vieri really did what many feared, completely eliminated the old system and imitating humans, they established a monarchy, thus giving birth to the Elfic Kingdom of Grandeza.

"I'm just telling the truth, Erabel. In complicated times, customs can be temporarily forgotten to safeguard life."

"Although it bothers me, this time I agree with you Hacel. In times of war the warriors take the leadership."

"You two...!"

"Libel-sama!" -the powerful cry of a pair of forest guard interrupted the angry words of Erabel.

The two elves come from the east ran towards Libel visibly affected.

"What's going on?"

"Humans have attacked the Orc camp, the orcs have been massacred!"

"The humans have attacked the Orc camp; humans are taking the orcs to their camp!"

Both elves exclaimed at the same time what seemed to be contradictory reports.

"One at a time! What happened?"

The answer to Libel's question froze the blood of all the elves.

The orcs were beasts of the plains, the fact that they set up a camp so close to Dark Forest had forced the elves to maintain constant vigilance over them.

The two elves who after running without stopping from the eastern edge of the forest, spoke of what they observed.

The humans had carried out two devastating attacks on the orcs, considerably reducing their numbers. The orcs then acted unusually, knelt down, and what appeared to be a duel followed.

The elves observed from inside the forest, so they were unable to appreciate further details and could only conclude that the humans won the duel. After that, the orcs picked up part of their camp and began a slow march westward in the company of the humans.

"Enough, everyone who wants to come with us, forget your belongings and follow us! Erabel!" -Hacel stretched out his hand to Erabel.

"The orcs were not eliminated!" -in reply Erabel pointed that.

If the orcs, who were aggressive and barbaric creatures had not been completely eliminated, Jaal must still have had a chance to negotiate with humans.

The urgency of the situation made all the elves forget a great truth, the orcs would never surrender and would continue fighting until death, after all for them dying in battle was a way to honor their only god.

"Will you choose an iron necklace over you neck?!"

"That will not happen Hacel, this is the moment. Listen me! Humans must have suffered many losses, and at this moment their camp is unprotected. It's the perfect time to attack them!"

Libel's logic horrified Erabel.

"Jaal-sama is still there!"

"Sometimes some sacrifices are necessary, Erabel. This is something the history of my Vieri blood has taught us."

Vieri, for Erabel, all Libel's actions were reduced to that.

The legends of the valiant Vieri armies fighting alongside the Golden Legions of the golden elves in remote antiquity, as well as the subsequent battles they fought to protect their own people once the golden elves disappeared. Libel was reaped by these stories and although he was not aware of it, he had always sought an opportunity to leave his own mark on the long history of the Vieri.

"How much stupidity, go and die like your brothers and the rest of yours did, Libel."

"Hacel, you!" -Hacel's scornful comment provoked Libel's wrath.

"That's enough you two! -seeing that Libel was hastening to face Hacel with his fists, Erabel came between the two of them.

For Libel, that could be a source of pride or dishonor, depending on how it was mentioned.

For no grey elf was it a secret that much of the blame for what happened almost forty years ago lay with the Vieri. If Nitel warnings had not been ignored, the problem with the growing number of goblins could have been dealt with in time.

However, no one had the face to reproach the Vieri for that. At the time, no one listened to Nitel's warnings and in the end, the Vieri sacrificed themselves to solve the problem they themselves had allowed to grow.

"I don't have time to deal with cowards" - after exclaiming those words, Libel walked away to organize his forces and immediately carry out the attack against the human camp.

As for Erabel, because of her resentment towards the Vieri, she was unable to try to stop Libel.

"Erabel, since I can't convince you to come with me, then I ask you, no matter the cost, you survive. Once we reach Black Forest, we will ask the dark elves for help in rescuing you from these humans" -with these words Hacel and his followers left the village heading west to Black Forest.

Golden elves, grey elves and dark elves, these were the three species of elves that existed in this world, although in the case of the golden elves, they had been completely eliminated in the remote past.

The dark elves, though under their own interpretation, they were also believers in the five virtues, and though their nature was less peaceful, they were honorable elves who would fulfill a promise even if it had been made almost a thousand years ago.

Without Erabel or Rarpol being able to do anything, Hacel left the village accompanied by all the Diori and several other followers. At the other side, led by Libel, all the forest guard and a large number of volunteers marched north.

"Father..." -for the first time in her life, Erabel felt the enormous frustration her father must have felt when he was unable to prevent the disaster hovering over his people in the face of the goblin threat.

"Erabel-sama?"

Seeing the anguish over Lucel's little face, Erabel remembered something important about her own father.

She didn't remember seeing her father showing her any expression other than serenity and calmness. Even wen he left to fight the goblins, his father always kept a face full of security, which never allowed Erabel to feel distressed.

'As a hunter I have learned that there is nothing certain in life. Everything around us is full of coincidences and events that escape from our hands. Our only chance is to stand firm as rocks, to advance without stopping like a river and let our thoughts be as free as the wind' -those words of his father echoed in Erabel's mind.

(Father, give me some of your strength...) - realizing that her condition was affecting others, Erabel took a deep breath.

"Let us implore the five virtues for the return of Jaal-sama" -Erabel forced herself to be as strong as her father had been. As the leader of the Lori and the moral leader of those who chose not to escape or start a war, she had to be firm and project an aura of tranquility and security.

In response to Erabel's sudden change, those who chose to remain in the village felt their anguish lightened.

Elders, children, women and some men who were loyal to the ancient customs remained in the village, and with Erabel as moral leader, they began to pray to the five virtues.

Meanwhile, full of confidence and driven by pride, about one hundred elves hastened to the northern edge of the forest under the leadership of Libel.

"Just wait Erabel, once I expelled these humans out of the forest, you will no longer have any excuse to reject me..." -with a faint smile on his lips, Libel muttered to himself as he ran through the forest.

"Libel-sama!" -Libel's thoughts were interrupted by the cry of one of his followers.

Just in front, on the edge of the forest, it was possible to see old Jaal in the company of a group of human soldiers.

"Prepare...!" -Libel was unable to finish issuing that order.

As soon as the elves noticed the soldiers, them noticed the presence of the elves. The gazes of the humans quickly focused on the elves.

Remembering the sensation he had felt at that moment when his right hand had been pierced by an arrow, for the first time Libel felt doubts about his actions.

"Don't hesitate, those must be the only soldiers in the human camp right now!" -forcing himself to forget his doubts using only his Vieri pride, Libel dispersed the doubts of his companions.

Originally the elves' plan was to reach the edge of the forest and harass humans with arrows. Once they lured them into the forest, the elves were sure that each of them could easily defeat a hundred humans.

Overwhelmed by adrenaline, fear and Libel's words, the elves even forgot Jaal's presence among those humans and prepared their bows to begin the attack.