Iris fell down from the basilisk’s back and its tail blasted her a fair distance away. The impact knocked her out and she was lying there, helpless. Marco tried to drive around it to get to her, but the beast got in the way. As he abruptly turned the steering wheel to not crash right into it, Ken took out his Frostblade and pulled down the nearby window. The vehicle barely missed the monster and he stabbed it, leaving a lengthy cut on its skin as the car drove by.

“You got it with your overpowered sword!” Emilia said, “We won!”

“What do you mean?” Marco asked and stopped the jeep.

Ken was watching the basilisk, which was heavily growling and slowly walking towards them.

“Just wait a little bit and it should die,” Ken said.

The closer it came, the weaker it got. At around ten meters away from them, the beast completely halted its movement and stared at them with its glowing, dark blue eyes.

Ken gazed at his sword.

“Is it that powerful? With just one cut, I can bring down basically anythi-”

The beast let out a rather demonic, deafening screech and before anyone realized what’s happening, it was already rushing at them. Marco stepped on the pedal, but couldn’t lose the monster, as it was keeping up right behind them.

“So much for your overpowered sword!” said Marco.

“It doesn’t work on monsters?!” Ken thought.

The basilisk was faster than them, running side by side with the jeep. It bumped into the vehicle, causing Marco to lose control and they crashed into a tree. The gas canister near Ken’s feet fell over and a small amount of it spilled out.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Marco panicked, while trying to turn the engine back on, unsuccessfully. The beast lunged at them, but luckily, the engine turned on right in time and they got out of its way. It got back on track and followed them again. Ken lifted the gas canister and put it on his lap.

“Marco, you smoke, right?” he asked.

“Why are you asking me, at this time?!”

“If you have a lighter with you, throw it at that thing when I tell you!” Ken said and began pouring the gas through the opened window, right at the basilisk.

“Ah, I see,” said Marco.

The monster was chasing the vehicle, ignoring the liquid and letting it get all over it. As it got into the scars from the cuts and stabs, it groaned in pain and moved to the Marco’s side of the car. The canister was empty, the beast nicely wet and soaked.

“Now!” Ken shouted.

Marco had the zippo lighter ready in his hand, so he turned it on and threw it at the beast. When the little fire touched it, the monster burst into flames and turned into a mass of blaze chasing them. It let out a continuous demonic screech again, changing into a cry out as it burned. The vehicle’s engine began malfunctioning and drastically slowed down, but the basilisk gave up on its prey and tried to put out the fire by rolling on the ground. Eventually, it stopped moving and at that point, it was likely dead.

“Woah, we did it!” said Emilia, in excitement.

“We? But you didn’t do anything…” Ken said and looked at her. She was holding a camera and she probably recorded the whole thing. “Oh my.”

As they drove where Iris was, Ken looked back at the beast’s burning corpse and it emitted an intense blue glow for a short moment. When they reached her, Ken tried to wake her up by calling her name and gently shaking her, but she was still unconscious, without visible injuries. He took her inside the jeep and they decided to drive her to Nataran, for medical attention. When they drove past that small village again, something was different.

“Slow down a bit,” Ken said.

The people living there were confused and talking to each other, as if to figure out what happened. “They seem to have… regained their senses.”

“Could it be, because we killed that monster?” Emilia asked.

“Maybe...” said Ken and looked at Iris. “But we have no time to investigate, we need to take her to a doctor.”

At the portal between the two worlds, they left the vehicle and Ken carried Iris.

“I need to check on the damaged jeep, so I will stay here,” Marco said.

The rest of them passed through the portal and went straight to a nearby small infirmary. It wasn’t the usual hospital one would expect it to be, but there were medical experts and enough beds for a few patients. When they arrived, a doctor rushed to them immediately.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We have obliterated an ugly demonic beast, who thought we were an easy prey!” Emilia said proudly.

“This girl was heavily hit and went unconscious…” Ken said, “It has been a few minutes at this point.”

“I see… don’t worry, we will take care of her.”

Two nurses came with a wheeled bed, helped to put Iris on it and took her away.

“Thank you, Dr.-” Ken looked at the doctor’s name tag, “Dr. Hubert.”

Ken was about to leave with Emilia when he recalled why Iris got in this situation in the first place.

“One more thing, doctor… Very often, her left leg begins to hurt badly, and it kinda paralyzes her… could you please check on that?”

“Yeah, sure!” the doctor replied with a smile.

Ken and Emilia went to give Charlotte a quick visit at home. Upon entering the house, they could already hear her violin playing. It was a piece she had been practicing for some time. A beautiful, mellow song that places oneself into a peaceful, yet motivating atmosphere.

Leaves falling from the sky in a late autumn night. They radiate in their true colors, falling slowly like snowflakes. Eventually, they reach the ground and when they do, their vibrance is stamped onto the surface. Rotting in an instant, they turn into ash only to be taken away by the wind. The marks they left will be there for the others to see, forever.

Emilia loudly sneezed. The mood was ruined, and no matter how much Ken wanted to continue listening, the song had already stopped. It was followed by quick footsteps coming from the same direction, and Charlotte appeared. Standing in the middle of the room with the violin, her face was filled with happiness upon seeing the two of them. She put her violin on a table and ran towards them.

“Keeen!” she cried out loud.

“Hi there! Little sis-”

When she reached Ken, she jumped at him and clinged onto him.

“Oh, wait, wait! I am not that strong…” he laughed and carefully put her down. Then, she hugged Emilia as well.

“Tell me, tell me!” Charlotte said, “How is that other world? Did you see any fairies?”

She was definitely very excited and Ken didn’t know where to start. In fact, there was so much on his mind, that he decided not to say anything. Instead, he wanted her to see it with her own eyes when the time comes.

“I am sure you will love it! But for now, you will have to be patient, okay?”

Charlotte seemed like she understood.

“I knew it! Good that he already told me everything,” she said and hopped away. Ken was confused, but he remembered that Enju was taking care of her.

“Yes!” Charlotte continued, “The old grandpa visits me every now and then. I play songs for him while he shares tales of Aeterra.”

“Amazing!” said Emilia.

“Speaking of Aeterra, we have to go now,” Ken said.

Charlotte frowned, “You are going away already? I didn’t even get the chance to play you my newest composition!”

Ken walked to her and hugged her.

“I heard it and It’s truly wonderful. I think it’s my favourite so far.”

“I named it,“ Charlotte said silently, “For My Beloved Hero”

“Oh, and who is that hero of yours?”

She smiled.

“I won’t tell you now, you will have to be patient, okay?”

“Alright then,” Ken said and patted her. “We will be going. Send my regards to Enju.”

Aleric was nowhere to be found to tell him what had happened, so Ken decided to visit the elven sisters and finally deliver the ingredients. Luckily, they all were intact in the trunk of the jeep. The vehicle however, did not seem to be in a good state, as Marco was just repairing it.

“So we are going on a horsie again?” Emilia asked.

“Sorry guys,” said Marco, “But this won’t be able to move for some time… Not to mention it’s borrowed.”

Ken collected the ingredients from the back of the car into a container and attached the bags with the crimson clovers to a horse. Emilia took the camera and she also had an UV lamp with her, which she took from Nataran.

“For what do you need that?” Ken asked.

“Well… I forgot the mushrooms Mei needed for the insect repellent, so I thought this can work too.”

“You realize there will be nowhere to plug it in, right?”

“It’s powered by batteries, I am not that dumb… It will at least be a temporary solution.”

After Emilia got on the horse, he gave her the container and hopped on as well.

The ride was shorter than before, since he already knew the way. He recognized the passages and some of the weird shaped trees. The two orange moons were even more apart, seemingly heading towards the opposite horizons. That’s when the moons will align, and that’s when the twins will carry out the ritual.

“Delivery!” Emilia announced when they reached the twins’ house in Enchoria. They came out and welcomed them. Lino was there too.

“It took you much longer than expected, did something happen?” Mei asked, “Where is Aleric and Iris?”

“We fought a giant mo-” Emilia tried to speak in excitement, but Ken interrupted her.

“We brought the things you asked. On our way back, we were attacked by a beast, but we managed to overcome it.”

Mei got frightened.

“Don’t tell me…”

“No, need to worry. Aleric wasn’t with us, but Iris got injured, so we took her to an infirmary. Also… after we killed the monster, people in the nearby village got their souls back. Have you noticed any monsters lurking around here, or something? It might be a way of freeing these people.”

The twins looked at each other and nodded in disapproval. They had no clue either. Everyone went inside with the ingredients and unpacked them.

“Where are my mushrooms?” Mei asked.

“I forgot about them… but,” said Emilia, and showed her the UV lamp. “I have this!”

“What in the world is that?” asked Rin.

“Well, maybe not in this world, but in ours, we call it black light.”

“Black light? Some sort of dark magic?”

“Oh, nope. No magic. It’s science!” Emilia said, “You gotta put it somewhere high, so it attracts insects. They will fly inside… and boom! They die!”

Mei and Rin began making the special ink. Emilia probably thought it could be interesting to record it, as she set up the camera and put it on a spot, where it could see the whole room. First, Mei poured the rhino saliva into a bowl along with the sac honey and mixed it. She stirred it for so long that it thickened and became foamy. Meanwhile, Rin brought a wooden bathtub and poured the crimson clovers from both of the bags in it. Then, she took off her shoes.

“Wha- What are you about to do?” Emilia asked.

“It’s simple. We need the sap, so we crush the clovers.”

Rin jumped in the bathtub and proceeded to squash them with her feet. Black sap was coming out of the clovers, as she continued mash them.

“Hey! Don’t leave me out of the fun!” Mei said. “Ken, mix this until it becomes completely white.”

Ken replaced her and she went straight into the bathtub with bare feet. The twins walked, jumped and did everything to get the sap out. It seemed like they didn’t get the chance to have fun very often. They were laughing the whole time and even Lino was confused about what’s going on. At first, they tried to be careful and to not let their dresses get dirty, but that quickly went out of the window, as they were already covered in that black mud. It went all over their faces, snow white hair, the floor, and a bit over the walls too.