Liri froze, taking in the sight ahead of her.

It was a prison like any other made by humans, with dozens, if not hundreds, of elves, moving from one place to another inside, all wearing what looked like typical prison outfits, with grey shirts and khakis or denim pants.

A few birds roamed the sky and Liri wondered which of those were real and which were elves, shapeshifting.

You wouldn't know what this place was judging by the faces of those around the three of them.

The elves mostly seemed happy.

This was, without a doubt, the most active, buzzing community Liri had come across since...

Well, since Elmira.

The thought of her hometown made her heart ache for a moment. Beside her, Caitlyn put her hands on her hips.

"Follow me," she said. "I'll take you to the Elders."

Arisa and Liri did just that, walking forward. Naturally, the trio drew the eyes of any and all nearby elves, and it was not hard to tell why.

Aside from Liri's peculiar, likely never-seen-before appearance, she was currently wearing a bloodstained maid outfit, Caitlyn was naked, and Arisa was a drasen, far, far from her tribe.

Liri guessed that they probably looked rather funny.

Caitlyn soon began speaking up again which, thankfully, distracted Liri.

"I know this isn't much, but, as you can see, we're trying to rebuild." Caitlyn gestured at the courtyard to her right where some elves were kicking a ball around, sparring, and exercising. A few of them stopped to look at the three of them as they walked by. "We're probably never going to return to complete normalcy, but we're trying. The thoughts of human soldiers coming and tearing everything down without warning does make that difficult, though."

They arrived at a chain-link gate being guarded by a few elves holding rifles. Liri guessed they'd taken them off some humans.

The guards stepped aside and the three of them went deeper into the prison. Referring to it as such felt bad but, when the context of their situation was taken into account, despite the clear sense of camaraderie here, it was still a prison. Just a lively one.

They walked down a narrow hall from which they could see a cafeteria below. The scent of fresh food reached Liri's nostrils and she remembered then that it had been a long while since she last ate.

Her stomach let the other two know about that, prompting Caitlyn and Arisa both to giggle as Liri's face reddened.

"We can get something to eat after this. The Elders will want to meet with you, though."

Heading up several floors, the trio arrived at an old office with a couple more guards standing by, though these were holding shotguns.

"We're here to speak to the Elder," Caitlyn stated.

"You set up an appointment?"

"No."

"Well-"

"HEY!" Caitlyn called out. The guards flinched. "Siran! I have to talk to you!"

"S-Stop that, you f-" before the guard could reply, the door to the office opened, swinging into his back.

"Caitlyn?" An elderly elven woman asked, narrowing her eyes while the guard who she'd just slammed that doorknob into held his side. "You're back."

"I am." Caitlyn gestured at Liri. "I met some people who want to hear about our situation. They're strong," she said, and Liri quickly noticed how she was including Arisa in that statement. "They took down an Inquisitor."

It was as Siran heard that last part that some curiosity finally showed on her face.

"... On their own?"

"Yeah. I think they could be valuable members of our community," Caitlyn stated. "They were curious about our situation and they were interested in helping out. I would appreciate it if you let them know a little more about us than I can."

"Hm. Is that so?" The elf asked, looking Arisa and Liri up and down. Her eyes, understandably, lingered on Liri more than her friend. "I suppose we could. Though, I would appreciate it personally if you'd stop shouting for me like this."

"Sorry. Won't happen again," Caitlyn replied.

"That's what you said last time, you rascal."

"Liri," Caitlyn turned toward the ven. "I'm going to go see my family. Once you're done, just head to the cafeteria and I'll see you there... If you decide to stay, I mean. If you don't, then... I appreciate you taking the time to listen to us. Both of you," she added, glancing at Arisa.

"I'll see you later then," Liri replied. Arisa just nodded at the elf. Caitlyn bowed her head and walked away, leaving them with the Elder.

"Very well. Come in."

As she stepped to the side, Liri found two other individuals in the office, sitting around a wooden table. Both were younger than Siran, a middle-aged man, and a lady, both wearing brown robes.

They produced some polite smiles as Liri checked their Soul Ratings.

Like everyone else around here, they hovered around 1000.

[These people don't have much experience fighting, do they? Unless elves earn Soul Rating at a slower rate than other races, but I doubt that's the case. I'm guessing they've spent way more time running than trying to take on guns and tanks head-on. Obviously, I can't blame them for that.]

"Take a seat," Siran told them, pointing to two comfortable leather chairs. They did just that as the Elders looked at them. "My name is Siran, as you may have guessed. My colleagues are Yalia and Olmon," she explained, gesturing at the lady and the man respectively, before turning toward them. "These two are..."

"Liri," the ven answered.

"Arisa," the drasen said as well.

"... Caitlyn believes they-"

"Yes, we heard. She's a loud one, that girl," the lady stated. "You," she said, pointing to Liri. "Who... and what, are you?"

[Okay. I guess it's official. No one outside of humanity has any clue about the ven.]

She'd been suspicious of that for a while, of course, but this interaction all but confirmed it. These were "Elders". Unless that word meant something different to the elves, then these were likely some of the most knowledgable people amongst them and even they were perplexed by Liri's existence.

"As I said, my name's Liri. And, I am a ven," she stated. "We are a group of people who live northwest. In the dead forests."

"Is that so?" Olmon asked. "I was unaware anyone lived there."

"I'd wager we all were," Yalia replied, equally as curious. "How exactly do your people get by in such a place? Do you have no need for food? Water?"

Liri understood their confusion because they likely had never ventured past the dead woods they knew.

"Far beyond the dead forests, there are still some live ones. Some verdant parts that have kept their splendor," she explained. "I come from one of them."

After Elmira had fallen, it had taken several months of walking before Liri and the other survivors came across the dead forests the elves and drasen knew.

She figured that, unless one went across them with the specific purpose of finding the ven, they'd likely never run into them.

Which made the attacks humanity carried out much less of a coincidence.

Having talked to that one blonde Inquisitor and knowing just how much of an influence the God-King had over every action humans took, it meant that he likely had knowledge of the ven and went out of his way specifically to eliminate them, all the while keeping their existence a secret.

Why? Liri couldn't come up with an answer, but she knew that much to be true, now.

"How much do you two know about our circumstances?" Yalia asked, putting her hands in front of her face and interlocking her fingers.

"Caitlyn told us about the Purity Act," Liri explained. "How thirty years ago the God-King suddenly became anti... Well, anti-everything-not-human. How he began killing forests, how he began persecuting elves and drasen alike."

"Well, that covers the important bits," Olmon replied. "I would add that although it has been decades since things kicked off, we've made little to no progress in setting things right. Can you guess why?"

"Because the Inquisitors are really strong? And, because of the technological gap?" Liri asked with a shrug.

"Indeed. Between the Inquisitors' dark powers and the way their weaponry outclassed most of what we or drasen had at the time, there was not much we could do about them. Despite that, Inquisitors can, of course, be killed. And, after picking up many of these weapons off fallen human soldiers and using them ourselves, we've managed to win skirmishes, here and there. And yet, we still hide away in settlements like these," he said, waving his hands at the space around them. "Why's that?"

Liri took a moment to consider his words.

"Because of the God-King."

"Yes," Yalia nodded. "Unfortunately, all victories that we've managed to get have been solely because the God-King chooses not to leave his capital often. If he did, if he truly set his mind to hunting down every single elf and drasen personally, we would have ceased to exist years ago, Liri. He is *that* powerful."

"Why doesn't he?" Liri asked.

"We have no idea. Perhaps there is something he needs to protect that requires his constant attention," Siran responded. "Or, perhaps there is something in this world that he fears. Something he'd rather remain behind his walls to protect."

"Ultimately, though," Yalia said, "what matters is that until we can deal with the God-King, anything we do out here doesn't really matter. So, I ask you, Liri, and Arisa. Do you two have anything we could do about him?"

Though her voice was mostly neutral, if a bit cold, her eyes conveyed her meaning.

She didn't think Liri or Arisa could assist the elves in any truly meaningful way.

Liri's answer, however, made her wonder if that was actually true.

"Maybe," Liri stated.

That had certainly not been what the three elves were expecting to hear.

"What do you mean?" Siran asked.

"I... I have this ability," Liri began to say, "it lets me see how strong a person is. I need to see him before I can say whether I can do anything about him or not."

There was a pause.

"... Even if you can tell how strong someone is, what makes you think you'd be able to do anything about him when so many others have failed? Liri, one Inquisitor alone often takes dozens of elves, all sacrificing themselves for the sake of the battle, to take down. And even then, that's if the Inquisitor is on their own, with no help at all. The God-King is far beyond their level, though. It is said that the Inquisitors derive their power from him. That their powers are but a fraction of what he can do."

"Well," Liri shrugged, "I'm pretty powerful too."

Yalia snickered. Olmon just gave Liri a look that asked, "are you serious?"

Siran, however, narrowed her eyes at Liri, as though attempting to judge the validity of that statement.

"Show us," she said. "Can you do that?"

"Siran, this woman is delusional," Yalia stated. "If she believes she has a chance of beating the God-King, she is-"

"I never said that I think she does," Siran replied, cutting the younger woman off. "I just want to see what she can do. Even if she can't take on the God-King if she is even half as strong as it appears she believes she is, maybe she could still do some good. Liri," she said, turning toward the ven. "Can you show us this power you speak of?"

Liri nodded.

"Sure."