An awkward silence surrounded us as the slender almost ghost-like girl looked inside the empty pot licked by the orange flames from underneath. From where I was, I could see her glowing eyes squint, accompanied by strangely adorable sobs. Her ashen skin reflected the slowly setting sun giving her an otherworldly aura. If I stood up and hugged her small and undeniably soft body...

Stop, I have to get myself together! She is literally crying because there is no more food left and she is malnourished. Yes, the elf's food tasted good but the light soup couldn't fill my hunger and I haven't eaten for only one day, oh how the girl must suffer now.

 

*Sniff*

 

  The girl called Siri sat back on the green grass roughly halfway between me and her elven master. For some reason when the slaver extended her long arms toward her, Siri didn't flinch as she was picked up and sat on the elf's lap like some sort of doll. If I was in her position, I would have snuck a knife or a sharp rock and stabbed the elf's exposed neck but instead of a fountain of blood appearing from the elven neck, a polished bronze sphere appeared in the girl's small hands. 

 

"Elf, can you use magic?"

 

"I do have a name, you know?" 

 

Everyone has a name and you are proving to me that you have no soul by telling me what it is. "Iriz was it?"

 

"Iris," The elf corrected me. Her fingers grabbed the edge of Siri's hood and pulled it down, obscuring the girl's eyes. "I wouldn't call myself proficient at magic but I was blessed with it." She said with a strange foreign accent.

 

  I should have listened when Bauha was talking about the elves. I didn't see any collar or metal bands around the girl's wrists but I was unsure about the girl's glowing eyes. Bauha often said that eyes are windows into the soul but what could cause a person's soul to glow? Grrr... I can't figure this out.

 

*Clack*

 

"What do you want Clack?" 

 

*Clack*

 

"I don't have any snacks." And with these magic words, Clack stood up and shamelessly walked over to Ba. "Traitor." 

 

  Feeling sluggish, I casted a mana light and instantly felt a cold whip strike my hands as my tattoos lit up with dim blue light. As my pitiful orb grew in intensity, Siri suddenly perked up from the elf's lap and stood up on her feet, causing the bronze sphere to disappear into the air.

 

" ኡ-ነጎዪጎ ሠⶴልፕ ልዪቹ ሃዐ፱ ጋዐጎክፏ?" The elf's frown reappeared on her face as she spoke in an alien language while Siri walked up to me with small steps, almost walking into the burning fire. She crouched in front of me, leveling her eyes with mine, deep behind the beautiful eyes torch burned with an otherwordly glint. "Siri?" 

 

"Huh?" The tall outsider's words finally hit the girl and she quickly spun around. Her long hair escaped from under her green hood settling down on her back like a leaden shroud. The elf shook her head while she summoned Siri to her side. The girl's starry eyes narrowed as the elf whispered something in her ear before she glanced at my feet.

 

"Will you extinguish the fire once you are finished?" The soulless one asked us as her fingers pulled up Siri's hood. 

 

  I nodded to the elf's question causing her to turn around and sweep the human girl away from me. As they disappeared from my sight I felt something touch my face as it slid down and covered my eyes.

 

"Ba?" I say as I readjust my mask.

 

"Your soul will be stolen if you don't put your mask on." I hear an all too familiar sentence spoken in this strange way bordering both imitation and concern.

 

"That my line."

 

"Father's." His unusually raspy voice echoed inside my mind.

 

*Tsk*

 

"Thanks for the nightmares Ba," I say as I shove him backwards. Let that be your lesson. "Did you fed and counted the terrors?" 

 

"Yes sister, I counted them all and fed them. Hem and Xiu need their claws trimmed, also I think Aru needs to see Kasheng because his feathers come off way too easily. *Cough*"

 

"Come on, you have to get under a cover before you catch something." I kicked the ground beside the campfire, snuffing it out before heading back toward our caravan. I turned around to see if Ba was following me and saw the golem with a blade the size of Ba's torso for its left arm following us like some sort of spector of death.

 

"No," I say to the golem as it too tried to climb into Ren's coach. It faced me with an unmoving expression before jumping off and climbing on top of the wagon behind us. "By the wyrm." I slid a loose plank into the middle of the floor and grab the huge roll of dark fabric. 

 

"Nu, what are you doing? It's not raining." Ba commented as he watched me struggle with the tarp. 

 

"Don't stare at me, help me!" 

 

"O-okay." 

  

 

 

  I watched as through the cracks between the planks the last beams of light illuminated our home before the world was swallowed by the great wyrm and plunged into darkness. The quiet hiss of water boiling sounded from behind me. I spun around and grabbed the large kettle sitting outside on the driver's seat before letting the tarp fall.

 

"Here." I pour Ba a hot cup filled with hot water mixed with medicine which caused the water to turn greenish. 

 

"Do I have to?" 

 

"Of course, you have to," I force the cup into his hands before sitting on the fur beside him. "After this go to sleep. You have to sweat the sickness out." 

 

 I too pour myself a cup of greenish water. I will not leave my brother to suffer alone especially if I am the one who is causing the suffering. I looked down and the rising steam snuck its way under my mask. It lacked any smell but I knew the taste was just... horrendous.

I took a swing of the null root potion, I did it so fast that the foul and bitter liquid barely glanced my tongue leaving a survivable aftertaste for me to endure. After a tick, I looked at Ba and saw his face pucker and wrinkle as he slowly sipped his portion.

 

 

"N-N-Nu?" He said with the empty cup in his hands.

 

"Yes?"

 

"When will others return?"

 

"You should know this."

 

"I know but I want you to tell me."

 

"Fine, I think they will return around sunrise or maybe afternoon if they catch a large herd since they brought the smaller cart with them filled with salt and other supplies. They are probably elbows high in blood and guts since hornlegs have to be cured quickly for the meat and their fur to not start reeking. I do hope Ruu can trade the furs they got to the other clans for some medicine and food for the upcoming wind season." I explain to Ba who snuggled himself tightly under the soft, fluffy blanket. Hornlegs fur was durable and easy to work with but it was coarse unlike some of the skins from beastmen from the south. He should know everything I told him now and more since he was Ruu's apprentice, not me but he liked when I talked about such things since he was little and Mom and Dad were still with us.

 

"You are so smart."

 

"Don't add more tests for me to study for, I already have my Bauha and her lessons to memorise. Speaking of which, Ba when Ruu uses the ability to conjure the chains to bind his opponent, do his eyes glow?"

 

"I think so. *Yawn* Is this about test from your Bauha?" His head slowly sank deeper into the furs under him as he asked me.

 

"Yes..." I said as I laid down, leaving Ba to rest and leaving me with my thoughts. 

 

  Is the elf a mage? Of course, she is, she is controlling an earth golem with a well-shaped body and if I believe others, she had killed an ogre slaughter champion with a powerful explosion-type spell. She does lack tattoos to control and gather mana but she is an elf so it might be different for her. Does the elf have a reason to enslave Siri? Also yes, she bragged about how the girl could cast inventory which is most likely related to the girl's ability to cause things to disappear. Is the girl a slave? I couldn't spot anything that suggested that but she was following the elf's every wish and whim. Does this mean she is a slave to the pale elf? I am talking about elves so the answer is also yes. Is the girl under a spell? Probably but I have no evidence to prove it except Siri's sun and moon eyes glowing. Let's say she is, how can I help her... nothing... maybe if I go to sleep something will come to me.