“Yes yes, but why have you called me?” asked Gray, still annoyed that he had been disturbed from his research.

“Ehem, none of our men can make heads or tails of this thing. We’ve taken samples for study, but the only labs that can process them are in the city of Alegar, and it will take weeks for the lab results to be processed and sent back,” replied Ailre, scratching his beard as he said this.

“So you want me to do an inspection to see if I can find anything?”

“Seems you understand.”

“Before I go in, I’ll need a team, maybe three or four men, and poison.”

“Poison?” asked Ailre, giving Gray a questioning look.

“It’s just to ensure my safety, I don’t want the beast attacking me while I’m unarmed and distracted. Besides, the beast has a high regeneration factor, I doubt that it will die from it,” replied Gray before walking towards the cell to get a better look at the beast.

After a few minutes, Ailre returned with four men and a vial of poison. Gray asked one of the men to tip an arrow with the poison and shoot it at the beast. And after waiting for the poison to take effect, they went into the cell.

{What now?} asked the specter, aware that Gray in fact knew nothing about demonic beasts.

Gray began by walking around the beast, looking for anything peculiar about it, but to be fair, the whole thing was a peculiarity on its own. It was hard enough to look at its exposed flesh, and how it seemed to slither on its own.

{You’re from the underworld aren’t you? What do you know about them?} asked Gray as he moved closer to the beast, feigning a more thorough inspection of it. The officers seemed convinced that he was indeed an expert on the matter as they moved back to give him more space to work.

{Apart from seeing the things a few times, I don’t know much about them. Only that their mindless creatures who require orders to do anything.}

Gray poked the beast’s neck before nodding to himself and mumbling something. Ailre moved a bit closer to try and hear what Gray was mumbling on about, however, he still couldn’t make it out. But in his defense, Gray was mumbling absolute bull shit.

{Wait, you mean like dogs? Then what about a leash? How do the demons put them on a leash?} asked Gray, however the concept of leashes was lost on the specter.

{How do demons prevent them from misbehaving? What failsafe do they have in case one of them steps out of line?}

{Ahh... they usually have a sealing pact. Something like a marking that ties them to their master,} replied the specter, seeing where Gray was heading at.

“Have any of you seen a marking on its body?” asked Gray, breaking the silence that had washed over the jail cell.

“Marking? No,” replied one of the officers, before the entire group began searching for one. After several minutes of searching, one of the officers noticed something odd on one of the beast's hind legs.

“I think I found something.”

“What is it?” asked one of the other officers.

It was a black mark on its ankle, or at least what seemed like its ankle. It looked like some kind of branding stylized with the symbol of a tree with roots that dug as deep as its branches had spread out.

“That can’t be,” whispered Ailre as he took a look at the mark. A few of the other officers gave off the same vibe, making Gray wonder what exactly was going on.

“All of you can go back to your stations. What you saw here is to be treated as classified until we report it to the capital,” ordered Ailre, dismissing all the officers, leaving only him, Gray, and Gazef behind.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? Why are all of you getting so worked up over a symbol?”

“It isn’t just a symbol, it’s the symbol of Yggdrasil, our mother tree,” replied Ailre, an exhausted look on his face.

“Why would Amaymon use the symbol of your mother tree?”

“He isn’t. There’s only one demon associated with Yggdrasil,” answered Gazef. Funny enough Gazef’s expression seemed to lighten up a little, one would almost think he was smiling a little. Well, as good a smile as his perpetually scowling face could have.

“Mordesh,” added Ailre.

“Who’s Mordesh?”

{Bad news,} replied the specter in Gray’s mind.

“I can’t believe it, she’s actually working with her. That explains all the forbidden experiments, but why would she sacrifice the border town? Why would she go through all this trouble when she could easily keep everything under wraps,” mumbled Ailre, ignoring Gray completely.

“I don’t have time for this. If this really is Mordesh's doing then I better get training. Perhaps I was born in the right age after all, if I get to fight a demon god as powerful as Mordesh,” announced Gazef, before leaving the cell.

“Ailre, I need answers. Who the fuck is Mordesh, and why is that lunatic calling her a demon god?”

“Oh, you’re still here. The tale is long… very lon-“

“I have time,” interrupted Gray. He wanted to know more about this world anyway, and this talk of demon god got him excited for some reason.

“Hmm, where do I begin?”

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[System Information]

[Daerythblade]

An immortal rated blade forged using Dravock and the blood of Mordesh using ancient demon forging techniques. Though it is officially a demon blade, it is commonly referred to as one of the deity blades of Arakros, the elven god of war. It is said to have been one of the three artifacts used by the first king of Elden to wage war against Mordesh and chase her off elven grounds. Though in recent years it has gone missing and its whereabouts are still unknown.

For more information read [Elven artifacts].

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