Mocking fairies and mischievous genies, devious demons and zealous angels, and, of course, the almighty dragons and gods. Countless spirits stalk the material world from the layers of the astral plane. Most of them, however, without the necessary strength to interfere in our world.

 

Nevertheless, breaches may eventually arise. Rips in Erdonya's veil, which allow creatures from the Astral to come to us. Evil spirits can infest forests, rivers and plague small villages. It is one of the adventurer's duties to send them back to the depths of the Astral.

 

Our heroine's first quest in her new party will be to wipe out shadow spirits that ravage the small village of Velvet Leaves, in the Velurian Forest in the Principality of Mog-Madholia. The Velurian Forest is known to be inhabited by creatures from the Astral. The village has been threatened by soul-stealing shadows. The journey to the distant haunted village allowed the new member of the group to get closer to her companions.

 

"Each of you must have an incredible life story." Brigia says  as she observes her new groupmates. 

 

"And we do!" Exclaims Fayir, the party leader. "Lady Sarina was a noble maiden who was always waiting for her prince charming. When he never came, she became an adventurer and went in search of him." He points to the large but lovely knight. "Mister Bilos's real name is Bilostdnar Rigr, but no one can pronounce it correctly, so we call him Bilos. They say he was kidnapped from his dwarven village by barbarians." The buccaneer whispers.

 

"Why would a barbarian kidnap a dwarf?"

 

"Who knows?!" They both laugh as they look at the dwarf and the elf riding the same horse. 

 

"What about her?" Brigia points to the elf woman. 

 

"Miss Darneth is a wood elf. She ran away from her clan to live in a city of common elves. She got married and then dumped her husband to run off with a human 60 years younger than him. Today she is our ranger."

 

"What about the human she ran off with?"

 

"She must have dumped him too…" Fayir speaks with a sympathetic tone.

 

"She seems to have a lot of bad luck with men..." 

 

"This is an ill I share with her." The privateer places the back of his hand to his forehead as he speaks dramatically. 

 

"And the other priestess?" Brigia points to the short, chubby spellcasser with black skin and curly hair. Unlike Brigia, she didn't wear any armor, but a white and green robe.

 

"Judith?! She is my younger half sister. My father was a pirate and my mother a tailor in Merenil. He lived with her for a few years, but shortly afterwards he left her and took me with him to the sea. I never heard from my mother again. He later met Judith's mother on the coast of Naramia. But she died when my sister was three years old."

 

"And your father?" Brigia asks.

 

"When Judith's mother died, I promised to take care of my little sister. We left that ship and never heard of any of them again. So I met Mr. Valinzi, a former companion of my father. They were members of a party that no longer exists. Valinzi could not save my father's soul, but promised to save mine. Then he helped me to found the Blue Wyvern."

 

"And how do you find Howell?"

 

"Actually… he found us… But what about you? Where did Miss Brigia meet Howell?" The party leader questions her. 

 

"We grew up in the same village. And we were fellow disciples of the same master…"

 

"That is rather curious… A priestess and a swordsman who are disciples of the same master?!" 

 

"..." Brigia shrugs recollectedly, as if she has a secret. 

 

"I got it!" Fayir has an epiphany. "You were really dating! That's why he never gave me a chance. He still has a crush on you…" The party leader concludes his theory with a hand on his chin as a sign of certainty.

 

"Get ready! They're coming!" The party leader signals.

 

The figures that prowled the village begin to take shape. Shadows of deformed beasts. Before long, they start attacking the group.

 

A bear-shaped shadow goes towards Brigia who defends herself with her holly sword. But it is not enough to defeat the creature. Fayir shoots a small fireball from her magical pistol, drawing the dark bear's attention. Howell, wielding his twin rapiers, wrestled with a wolf-shaped shadow. Somehow, his weapons managed to hit the monsters even when they remained intangible. Paladin Valinzi creates an aura of light to materialize the shadow beasts. Sarina takes advantage of the beasts' moment of vulnerability and enters into a fight of strength, holding the antlers of what appeared to be a moose made of darkness. The rest of the group faced the other shadows in the form of rabbits, deers and foxes.

 

The battle against the shadow beasts  lasts longer than expected. Sunlight would take hours to shine again.

 

"Valinzi! These creatures have weakness to light. Can you group them in one place?" Brigia asks. 

 

Valinzi is a paladin of Mother Hashthir, goddess of fertility and protector of infants. His aura of light was too gentle to be offensive, but even so, his it was a nuisance to the beasts. The dogman shakes his head. He seems to have understood the strategy. He begins leading combat, directing all beasts closer to the cleric.

 

The group was surrounded by the creatures. 

 

"When I give the signal, everyone back away from me!" The priestess shouts as she prepares to perform a prayer. 

 

"How so?"

"What?"

 

The party members were not understanding, however when Fayir sees Howell preparing to clear a path through the crowd of beasts, he reiterates the request. 

 

"Didn't you hear the paladine?! Prepare for retreat!" 

 

Before the beasts can subdue the cornered group, Howell breaks through their flanks allowing the group to escape. Soon after, a huge flash erupts from the priestess. 

 

"Scorching Aura!"

 

The shadows are consumed by light and flames. When everyone opens their eyes, closed because of the blazing light, the battle was already over. Brigia falls to her knees but is helped by Darneth. Almost all of her mana was consumed by this skill.

And after settling paperwork with the village leader, the group departs at dawn. Everyone celebrates the victory as Brigia is treated as the hero of the quest. 

 

"Great debut, rookie!" Bilos congratulates her. 

 

"For a moment I thought we were going to die." Darneth was more incredulous. 

 

"Such a blazing soul!" Valinzi notices.

 

"Miss Brigia, you did a great job. And to think you still haven't earned the paladine title... But when we reach Castelmare, you will receive a reward." The priestess' eyes glistened as she thought of the possible rewards the party leader was referring to.

 

After this quest and seeing the way everyone was treating the new member of the group, Fayir's appreciation for Brigia starts to increase. However, he couldn't help but be bothered by the intimate way she treated Howell and the fact that he tolerated such intimacy. 

 

But now was not the time for that. He needed to report what happened to the Adventurer's Guild. Whoever was responsible for creating those shadow beast was still on the loose. It would be a matter of time before the village was in danger again.

 

--

Deep in the forest surrounding the village of Velvet Leaves, a chimerical entity roared in rage. It had the body of a bear, the head of a wolf, the horns of an elk, the tail of a fox, and the tusks of a boar. However, its body was not visible, only a black silhouette. 

 

"Who has the audacity to come at me?" The beast's voice was hoarse and fierce. 

 

"Lontur, lyrian god of darkness and shadows! I am the one who summoned you into this world." A hooded figure approaches the beast.

 

"Not only a fool, but a liar as well. How could a mere human bring a god from the Astral into the physical world?"

 

"Because I'm no human." The figure removes his hood revealing his devilish features.

 

"Then you won't mind if I get you to return there. But this time no turning back." The beast threatens. At this moment, an army of shadow creatures surround the spellcaster. 

 

"The arrogance of the gods knows no bounds. Even pathetic demigods think they have the right to intervene in our lives."

 

"You talk too much, human. What are your last words before becoming one of my shadows?"

 

 

"Will you… imprison me in a contract as well." The fallen god questions his tormentor. 

 

"I've seen countless gods like you. Countless gods of darkness. Umbra, Tokokuro, Áphotos, Andera... You are no more impressive than any of them. They are all fakes."

 

"What do you want from me?"