Those extraordinary beings with unlimited power and a deep purpose for everything, and with a mind beyond the comprehension of mortals, that is, those beings called 'gods', they do not exist for the elves.

For the elves, everything that exists was created by chance by five spirits who do not possess a consciousness, and who are more similar to wind and rain, that is, more similar to natural forces than to thinking beings.

Righteousness, Humility, Courage, Empathy and Kindness, these are the names of these five spirits which together are called by the elves; 'The Five Virtues'.

According to the beliefs of the elves, they as well as the plants and small animals were created by the five virtues. Therefore, they have these five virtues and they must respect them.

As for the other creatures, such as humans, goblins, orcs and a long etcetera, all of them were created by the five setbacks, chaotic spirits contrary to the five virtues.

Inevitably this kind of belief caused the elves to develop a great pride and look down on the rest of the species.

Strangely, perhaps influenced by the beliefs of other species, at some point in the past, elves began to create prayers to worship the five virtues.

Of course, among the elves there have always been some who have realized how absurd it is to pray to the five virtues, however, given that praying has served to calm uncertainty in complicated times, these elves have kept their comments on the subject. If the five virtues do not possess a will, them, what harm can cause praying to them?

It was in such circumstances that Erabel, knowing that praying to spirits without will was absurd, she was forced to encourage her people to pray in an attempt to alleviate their worries.

From the outside, anyone could point out to the elves that their prayers should not have any kind of effect on five supposed spirits who have no will, after all who prays to the wind?

In response the elves would simply laugh and claiming that someone who worships a poorly carved piece of rock would never understand the greatness of the five virtues.

"May the Righteousness fill our hearts so that evil may be kept away from us. May the Humility soak our souls so that arrogance does not corrupt us with its stench. May the Courage strengthen our steps so that fear does not stand in our way. May the Empathy always remain in our eyes so that we can clearly see the selfishness. May the Kindness always dwell in our hands so that greed never stains us."

With Erabel and Rarpol as guides, the little more than a hundred elves that still remained in the village continued to pray.

It had been more than an hour since Libel and his group had left for the human camp.

In the midst of the continuous prayers, the long ears of some elves shuddered slightly as they picked up the sound of a large number of approaching steps.

Once all the elves realized that, their pray stopped.

The elves exchanged puzzled glances, the approaching steps were not as light as those of the elves, they were heavy and strangely harmonious.

Those steps were so uniform that it was difficult to try to distinguish a precise number of persons.

Uncertainty soon turned to terror; a considerable number of humans dressed in shimmering ornate silver armor emerged from the forest. They all moved as if they were one, in a rigid formation of five columns in perfect synchrony.

Without exception, each elf remained completely motionless because of fear.

The formation of soldiers stopped their march and orderly separated to allow their center to be exposed. To the great surprise of the elves, Jaal emerged from the center of the formation accompanied by a beautiful human woman with black hair up to her shoulders.

Jaal and that beautiful woman with violet eyes walked out of the formation, and as the soldiers reorganized themselves in an orderly fashion, both shook their hands.

"Captain, thank Freya-sama on my part for she taking the trouble to ensure the safety of this old elf."

"I will let she know, Jaal-san" -after offering that answer, Teress gave a quick glance at the crowd of elves stopping her gaze on Erabel and the group close to her. "I'm sure Freya-sama would be pleased" -Teress muttered to herself. "Good luck, Jaal-san."

"I hope to have the fortune to pay you this favor, Captain" -regardless of Teress having escorted him by order of Freya, Jaal felt indebted to her, since she was kind and patient with him and his weary walk despite Libel's attack on Freya.

"If it is the will of Raven-sama and the supreme god of battle, so be it" -after giving that answer, Teress turned around and then left along with the fifty soldiers who accompanied her.

The sight of humans retreating caused more than one elf to fall to their knees because of the deep relief they felt.

"Welcome, Jaal-sama. It seems your journey has been successful" -relieved to see Jaal safe and sound, and with her face full of hope about the situation with humans, Erabel approached Jaal to help his walk.

"As successful as to anyone who goes and visits a new neighbour, but it seems I haven't made it in time" -Jaal's voice was filled with grief as he contemplated the small number of elves still remaining in the village.

It was not difficult for Jaal to conclude that like Libel, Hacel had also carried out his plan.

"There is no need to grieve, Jaal-sama. As soon as Libel returns, we can send some forest guards towards Hacel to let him know that everything has gone well" -Erabel was sure that Jaal had managed to establish a relationship of mutual respect with humans, enough to at least not fear for their lives.

"No, I haven't really made it back in time. Libel and his warriors attacked a Rayl-Ar."

Jaal's words were full of grief, something no one remembered seeing in him before.

Erabel, Rarpol and the rest of the elves were truly confused about the words used by Jaal; 'Rayl-Ar', literally 'White God' in the ancestral language.

"Jaal-sama, I don't understand what you mean by Rayl-Ar, but what has happened to Libel and the others?"

"A large part of them were defeated by the Rayl-Ar, the others fell in front of the Herol-Rayl-Ars. Only Libel and a few managed to escape, I do not know where they could have gone."

Erabel and the other Elves undertood that by 'Rayl-Ar,' Jaal meant the leader of humans, while by 'Herol-Rayl-Ar,' literally 'Herald of the White God', he meant human soldiers.

Although the way Jaal referred to humans was strange, until a few hours ago everyone considered him an old man with little mental lucidity, so everyone focused their minds on what happened to Libel and the others.

"I-if that happened... then why...?" -Erabel was barely able to spin the words.

"Why am I still alive and why was I kindly escorted despite Libel's actions?"

Unable to respond with words to Jaal, Erabel simply nodded.

"The older Rayl-Ar seems to be very wise. Faced with our lack of reaction to their presence in Dark Forest, he determined that we did not have an absolute leader and were therefore unable to agree on how to proceed to them. So, for this why he ordered his Herol-Rayl-Ars to respond to our actions in the same way. That was why they received me with decorum while Libel was treated with the edge of a sword."

Erabel, Rarpol and the other elves had trouble assimilating everything that happened.

"The Kobolds call them Vanur and Avor, the god of night and the goddess of the day. From what I heard, the orcs call them Elai-Akal, sons of the god of battle. They call themselves childen of the Eternal Winter and of the Supreme God of Battle. Even I, after personally contemplating one of them and their power, I could not avoid calling them Rayl-Ar."

Jaal had heard the kobolds talking about Vanur and Avor on his way to the beach. As for the way the orcs called Raven, that was something he heard as he spoke to Freya when a group of riders arrived from the west to report on Raven's early arrival in the company of the orcs.

"Jaal-sama... are you saying that the leaders of these humans are not human?" -Erabel was finally able to get out of her perplexed state.

"I have no doubt that they are beings beyond our comprehension; they posses powers with which they can go against nature itself" -Jaal recalled the breathtaking image of the sea being denied by an invisible barrier. "As for the humans who serve them, they are not ordinary humans. They far surpass our abilities and their strength is comparable if not greater than of the orcs.

Jaal's response left Erabel and Rarpol breathless.

"Jaal-sama, what will become of us?" -Faced with the silence of the rest of the elves, Lucel approached Jaal to ask that question.

"I don't know..."

Even though Jaal had met with a Rayl-Ar, the one who was the absolute leader, the older Rayl-Ar was not in the camp. Even so, realizing that coexistence was possible and concerned about what his people might do because of the uncertainty, Jaal tried to return as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, the worst scenario Jaal could imagine became a reality as soon as he entered the forest.

All the elves could do was continue to pray as they waited for the older Rayl-Ar´s reaction to Libel's accomplishment.