Nine people stood before the menacing, terrifying Black Forest. 

Avice, Dall, and Veral stood at the front of Elran, who twirled a small knife in circles. Behind him were five other men. Avice gazed into the blackness of the Forest, where light held no power.

She could feel her heart racing, so she held the bow strapped around her tightly.

Dall stuffed his hands in his pockets, and Veral calmly rested his hands against his holstered blades. Veral glanced at them and nudged them, indicating that they should start walking, when Elran took his knife and poked Avice in the back with it. “I want you on this side.” He said with a smile, forcing her to the left of Dall, who stood in the center. “Some of my boys’ve got a bone to pick with you.” Elran smirked.

Her fists shook at his taunting voice. His frustratingly irritating smile tempted her to shove them straight down his throat. Dall glanced at Avice expressionlessly, putting his hand on her shoulder. She glared at him, but it felt like all emotion disappeared as she looked into his eyes - a chilling cool swirling around her legs. “Damn…” Veral muttered as he looked at Dall.

“Today’s the day, boys. The vision that Father has so gloriously proclaimed to us will begin!” Elran turned to the five men standing behind him. Avice saw that one of them was Solace, the man who tortured her on that fiery night. Then she noticed another man standing near him. He wore an eye-patch covering his right eye. Oh no… She thought. When they made eye contact, he made the nastiest grin she’d ever seen in her life. “And we have our cute little trio here to protect us if we ever get into some reaal big trouble.”

The five men curved around them, wrapping them tightly in a semi-circle. What’re they…? “Pleasure seeing you again, girly.” The vulgar man that had pinned her down stood directly next to her, a broad grin on his face. She shivered as he spoke to her, so he held his hand up and said, “Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure to be… delicate this time around…” He took out a dagger and licked its blade. “I wouldn’t want to hurt such an important piece of property, right, James?”

James, the man that Dall incapacitated before, stood tall and expressionless. “Do what you wish, Ivan…”

Ivan clicked his tongue. The two other men circled around and stood behind Dall and Veral. “I’m not done with him either.” Ivan scowled at Dall.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Veral sneered at them. “Do you really think this’ll work? Trapping us in like this? I’m a Knightblade... I can take care of all of you right now if I wanted to.”

“Can you, now? I would love to believe you, but I saw your dagger, my friend.” Elran threw his arm over Veral’s shoulder. “You’re not just any ol’ Knightblade. In fact, you’re the weakest... Rumors of your escapades have reached even our lands. And I’ve gotta say, your position as the tenth Knightblade makes so much sense.” Veral growled and tried to shake him off, but Elran kept his grasp firm. “Besides, look.” The men rolled pulled back their robes and cloaks, revealing Magical Orbs strapped to their belts. There were at least five per person. “We’ve got magic. There ain’t a lot, but I can sense some of my dear Earth Spirits floating around.”

Veral scoffed. “Like Spirits’ll do anything…”

Elran swept at Veral’s feet and threw him on the ground. “Please don’t disrespect them, Knightblade. The Spirits are far beyond what your inferior brains can handle. Speak like that again and I might end up killing you.”

“Why don’t you, then?!” He yelled. “Let’s go ahead and fight, I’ll beat the shit out of you!”

“I highly doubt that, my dear meatshield.” Elran forced Veral on his feet. “But let’s not get hasty so soon. Get ready to move.”

Avice warily looked to Dall. She gazed into his lifeless eyes, and she remembered the time when she met him in the Forest: His valor, his unyielding aura and presence… The fact that he moved through fire to get in front of her. Her eyes widened, and it was then that she realized something was wrong - something was definitely off. She was about to speak to him when Elran loudly said,

“Alright, lead us to where you left off Solace.”

“Yes, sir.” Solace moved to the front. Avice, Veral and Dall stood behind him, and then Elran and his four other soldiers shifted around, Ivan gleefully planting his spot next to Avice. “I hope that we will be able to find Cam… or what’s left of him.” He sneaked a glare at Avice. “We’ve left multiple markers to help guide our way through this forest, sir. Once we reach the clearing, we’ll be left alone.”

The group marched forward, following closely behind Solace as he moved swiftly entered the Black Forest.

Seeing as Avice was fighting for her life on that first night, she never got the opportunity to truly take in the environment around her. The situation was indeed dire, but the fantastical nature of the forest around her took her breath away. The fact that wherever she stepped felt so empty and so dreadful - that no matter how they all moved, nothing ever made a sound… The air was heavy, the darkness so powerful and strong that they could barely see ten feet in front of them. The roots and uneven earth beneath tripped her once in a while, and the intricateness of the trees forced them to move slowly.

After a couple of minutes, Avice looked to Dall and nudged his elbow. He turned to look at her, his expressionless and dark eyes staring into hers. She hesitated, and had trouble looking at him, the words on her tongue falling short, but she looked deeply into his eyes. “Dall.” As she gazed more, a shivering cold ran up her spine. “N-Nevermind.” She turned away.

Shit…

Once in a while they stopped, as Solace carefully watched his surroundings, peeking for any markings that they had made on their prior expedition. The group’s formation curved and changed as they made their way through the forest. They continued on forward when a terrifying growl brought them to a sharp halt. They all readied their weapons glancing around them warily.

Elran’s eyes lit up and he looked around with a smile on his face, “There are Spirits around…”

Avice, too, looked, and she noticed a small, dark green light dancing around. As she rested her gaze upon it, her head felt like it was about to split open and she dropped to her knees. “Avice?!” Dall knelt down next to her. “What happened?!” More lights started appearing out of thin air, and her body burned as if flames engulfed her whole - but she never let out a single scream.

Before anything else could be done, a single White Wolf emerged from the darkness before them. As it growled, the lights disappeared one by one, and Avice’s pain slowly disappeared. The White Wolf eyed them warily, and was about to take a step back before it gazed at Avice. It howled, and even more White Wolves came about and surrounded them.

Their cold, piercing blue eyes studied each person. They growled at every single person, but quieted when they cast their gaze upon Elran. “Interesting.” He whispered. Avice noticed that the Wolves were keeping their distance - different to when they attacked them head-on before. “I would’ve expected them to be much more ferocious, but it seems like you were right, Solace.” Elran skipped over and approached one of them. As he did so, the Wolves inched backwards, and bowed their heads slightly. “Nice dogs.” He grinned as he patted one of their heads.

As his hands ruffled the sharp, thick fur of the Wolf, its eyes widened and it reeled back its head and forced its fangs into his hand, a dark orange glowing from inside its mouth.

Elran panicked and yelled as the surrounding wolves all howled and snarled. They all bent forward, ready to pounce and jump. “I didn’t even think that we were this close to the Clearing!” Solace cried out. Ivan came over and stabbed the Wolf’s throat and set Elran’s hand free. It was broken - his fingers torn to pieces, bone sticking out of his mauled and charred flesh. “By Ignis’s might,” Solace chanted, holding two orbs in his hands. “Slitherec Flare!” Two snake-like figures emerged from the balls, their bodies made of pure, orange-red fire. The orbs flowed bright red, so Solace dropped them, shattering them into pieces. He raised his hands and moved them around his head in circles, the snakes following his movements. He muttered to Elran, “Let’s hurry, Sir.”

The two snakes grew larger and larger until the both of them formed a ring of fire surrounding them.

Solace threw his hands forward, and the flaming snakes tried to force their way through a section of the circling Wolves.

A path opened up to them, and they dashed through it. However, as the fire ring disappeared, some of the wolves pounced on the opportunity and grabbed at one of the soldiers. He yelled and grasped for his blade and tried to stab one of the Wolves’ eyes, but he was too late as the Wolf’s fangs flashed red and his entire body caught fire.

The remaining eight of them dashed forward, the other soldier grasping one of his Magical Orbs and yelled, “‘Aquaria’!” The Orb shattered, but a wave of water flowed out of it, and rushed backwards behind them, staggering the Wolves. But the Wolves continued their chase. The distance between them was cut short, as the Wolves were already at their heels. Dall swung his Greatsword and tried killing one that was near him, but he only managed to knock it back a little bit. Veral ran in front of everyone else, and noticed an open area. “Is that it?!”

“That’s the Clearing! Hurry up!” Solace called out to everyone.

The eight of them jumped and landed in this open area, and the Wolves halted and started walking around the edge of the circle. Avice looked around as she gasped for air, noticing that this place was similar to where she was initially attacked. There were no trees around her - simply an open field, but still the terrifying “dark effect” took place here. It terrified her knowing that this place - where no trees were and nothing above them - could be so frighteningly dark.

“What the fuck happened?!” Elran yelled.

“I don’t know…” James gasped for air.

Avice bent over and breathed in and out quickly, her vision blurring. Dall moved over to her and patted her back slowly and Veral stood next to them, his nose flaring as he struggled to breathe. Ivan, too, was catching his breath, but he glared at the Wolves circling around him, throwing a middle finger in their direction. Elran stared at his hand and cursed loudly, “Fuck! Shit!”

“Sir, is your hand okay?”

“No it’s not! Get over here and heal me!” He yelled at the water-user. He hurriedly moved over and held a Magical Orb. He whispered under his breath, and water trickled around Elran’s hands and a faint blue glowed from it. “Thank you.” Elran snarled and he stomped his foot on the ground.

After Avice finally started breathing normally, she stood tall and eyed the wolves around her. She grabbed her bow and took an arrow from her quiver. She pulled the arrow back quickly, took a brief second to aim at the Wolves, and fired, but her arrow bounced off her target. “What are those things…?” Avice asked. “They’re not normal…”

“They’re Despairities.” Veral said. “White skin and blue eyes.”

“They’re the reason why no one ever steps foot in these places.”  Dall said.

“The Emperor said so himself… And the fact that these places are so dangerous makes it so weird that the Eldreds want something from them.”

Dall’s eyes widened at Veral’s words. “I know why…” He whispered.

“You three.” Elran approached them. “We’re continuing forward, get in front.”

Dall stomped in front and looked down on him, “You’re insane.”

“Oh, figured out what Father wants, have you?” Elran rubbed his hand. “Good. Should’a told me sooner. Lead the way.”

“I refuse.” Dall snarled. “I swore an oath to my Father.”

“Is that so?” Elran reached out for Avice, but she backed away. She quickly notched an arrow and aimed her bow at him, but her strength giving way, her hold fell apar. “And what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Don’t touch me.” She glared at him.

“Me? Touch you?” He laughed. “That’s not my job, girl.” He smiled. “Gaea, Liquid Earth.” Elran formed a fist and the ground beneath Avice melted like butter and her body sunk slightly. Veral took out his blade, but James pointed his sword at him, holding a Magical Orb. Ivan moved over and held a dagger pointing at Avice. James inched closer, and followed Veral’s throat as he moved around slowly. “Here’s the deal, Dall. I’ve beaten your ass already. I don’t think you want that again. So you better listen to me. Otherwise, these two’ll get it.”

Avice tried to notch an arrow again as her body slowly submerged beneath the ground, but it was too late. Veral tried connecting blades with James, but a white glow swirled inside the Magical Orb.

“You’re asking for suicide, Eldred…”

“If it’s for Father, then I’ll do anything.” He grinned.

He looked to Avice and Veral, noting their angered faces. “It’s this way.” Dall pointed in front of him, gazing behind Elran.

“Perfect.” Elran released Avice and calmed his soldiers. “Lead us away then, Dall.”

But before they could start walking, the ground rumbled violently beneath them. "Holy shit."

With a mighty roar, a giant bear-like monster broke through the trees.