Everything started when an Asmodian was sent on a mission to patrol around Ishalgen after the rifts started to appear more often than usual. He finished patrolling for the day and headed back to his camp, until he heard a loud noise coming from the forest. He quickly took out his guns and rushed over the to place where he heard the noise as the sunset set in, then he found a female Elyos who was busy cleaning her clothes from the dust, he sneaked behind her and pointed his gun at the back of her head while the other gun was beside him.
"Don't move."
The Elyos gasped and tried not to make a single move as she trembled in fear and talked in a low voice.
"I-I mean no harm at all..."
The Asmodian switched his place and moved in front of her and examine if she has anything to hide, but she was only carrying a pouch filled with herbs.
"What do you intend to do with these herbs?"
The Asmodian asked with an emotionless tone, she looked down at the pouch and started explaining.
"There is a young child who begged me to collect them for his mother's medicine, and I promised that I'll collect them for him if he doesn't tell anyone, then he agreed."
She slowly raised her head to look at him and see what he would do to her though she could barely see his face. His glowing red eyes glared out at her from beneath the hood of his tattered black cloak. He was silent, and she could read no emotion on his shaded countenance.
"Just let me deliver these herbs first, then you can do whatever punishment that's suitable for me."
The Asmodian thought about her offer and nodded, she started walking to the child's house and the Asmodian followed her from behind. The place was far away and the darkness of the night shrouded Ishalgen, the weather slowly became colder than before and the Elyos started shivering and lost sight of her way, then she stopped walking
"You can't see in the dark, I see." The Asmodian approached her with his gun "Is it still far?"
The Elyos squinted trying to see in the dark, and her eyes barely saw the road
"I-I believe the h-house is over there." She pointed at the direction.
"Stay right behind me or you'll get lost in the dark"
The Asmodian said in the same emotionless tone, the Elyos was wondering if that's how he talks normally or is it because she's his enemy. They continued walking until they reached the house, the child was there and he ran as fast as he can with joy covering his face, he thanked the Elyos as he took the pouch from her and went back inside the house, and she was glad she managed to deliver it with luck, then they went to the woods to have a conversation, the Asmodian raised his gun at her.
"I need to ask you some questions first, you may not go."
The Elyos sighed and knew that there's no way for him to become a bit friendly after what she had done.
"Okay, go ahead."
"Why are you here? and Why did you help that kid?"
The Asmodian asked in curiosity, she looked up at the starry sky and closed her eyes.
"I can't answer your first question directly, but I was asked to come to Morheim and I ended up getting stuck in this place." She opened her eyes and continued "As for the second question... I felt sad about him. And..."
The Elyos stopped and the expression of sadness appeared on her face, the Asmodian ignored her expression and waited for her to answer. "And what?" She slowly opened her mouth to answer but, but the guards came and the Asmodian pointed his gun at her, pretending that he caught her at first to avoid suspicion. Then the guards grabbed the Elyos by her arms roughly and pulled her away to the main camp, and the Asmodian followed.
When they arrived they knocked her out and tied her in a pole inside one of the tents, and one of the guards called the Asmodian to talk to the camp's leader Ulgorn. As the Asmodian entered, the leader greeted him and they sat.
"You did a good job today. Did you manager to get any information from that Elyos?"
"She refuses to tell me exactly why she came here, but it wasn't meant to be here in Ishalgen."
Ulgorn rested him elbow on the table as he scratched his chin. "She may be one of those spies...we'll send her to Pandemonium after tomorrow at dawn, further actions will be applied there. You're dismissed."
The Asmodian got out of Ulgorn's tent and visited the Elyos, and found her awake and still shivering, his eyes were filled with hatred as she shivered from the cold and narrowed his eyes.
"You Elyos are so weak...yet you blame us after the cataclysm war and we did nothing."
The Elyos couldn't make sure of it, they were taught to hate the Asmodians since they were small for centuries and vice versa, then she took a deep breathe.
"Have you ever wondered why I didn't attack you when I had a chance? I could easily summon my wind spirit and ambush you at any second...but I was hoping that somehow...the Asmodians and Elyos can form an alliance and be united as one, there will be peace and the souls of those who suffered will be at ease and maybe...kill all the Balaur..."
The Asmodian's eyes slowly widened and he was in a shock, no one ever thought of that idea, but he was still in denial, what if she was trying to let him free her and kill him after that? His thoughts were interrupted when she started changing the topic
"By the way, my name is Isromie. What's yours?"
The Asmodian turned around as he exits the tent "I'm Vinaite."
Vinaite talked to the teleporter to send him to Pernon then take a rest in his house. No matter how many hours have passed, Isromie's words still echoed in his head, he finally decided to come up with a plan to take her, then he got up from his bed, took a paper and a pen to write his plan and analyze all the possibilities. After hours of planning he managed to finish it and barely took some sleep.
The following day was his day off from missions, and planned a meeting with his friends at his house. They arrived afternoon and Vinaite showed his friends the plan.
"We'll take a female Elyos from Ulgorn's Camp. Lightning, you'll-.."
"Hold on a minute! Take an Elyos? You mean you're gonna rescue her?!" Lightning interrupted Vinaite.
"I helped you two countless times. It's my turn now."
"Hmm, I guess you're right." Karyos stated as he crossed his arms and continued
"But why are we going to rescue an Elyos?"
"I'll explain later. You'll be responsible to take her with your stealth skills, Lightning. And don't use the teleporter, it'll give them a clue if they find out that you're the one who took her. While Karyos will prepare the place where she'll sleep. Where's Lyenna?"
"She said she couldn't come, she had to do something important" Karyos answered.
Vinaite explained with a map he had a long time ago.
"Sounds like fun! When are we gonna start?"
Lightning got excited and hyped up since he's going to do the most important part.
"When the night sets in"
The night came so fast, in Asmodae the night was the longest and the day was the shortest, unlike Elysea. Lightning prepared his battle suit and daggers, then he headed to the highest building and Pernon and flew all the way to Ishalgen, then he landed in between the trees and breathed heavily. "I...never knew...flying all the way... here would be...tiring." After taking a short rest he continued his way to the camp on foot, he started using his stealth skills and searched from tent to tent until he found a beaten up unconscious Elyos woman, but the guards are standing at the entrance, he sneaked behind them, grabbed their heads and hit them together and they were easily knocked out, but it was strange that the camp isn't filled with guards, even most of the tents are empty. Lightning didn't hesitate and went back to free the Elyos. "Ouch! They surely did that for entertainment more than a punishment" He thought to himself as he untied the ropes and carefully place her inside a large bag, he took a second glimpse outside the tent to make sure no one will see him, then he quickly carried her on his back and got out of the tent. Lightning realized that there was a meeting, that's why not a lot of guards were present, and many of the guards walked out of Ulgorn's tent, Lightning quickly flew away and managed to escape without being seen by anyone.
Lightning arrived in a small but cozy cottage, far away from the population, Karyos was present and was somewhat bothered by how Lightning was carrying Isromie
"You should at least take her out of the bag straight after you arrived! As if you're carrying food instead..."
Lightning carefully put her down and opened the bag "What if she suddenly wakes up and panics while I'm flying? Sheesh."
Isromie was half conscious and barely opened her eyes, her vision was blurred and fell unconscious again. Karyos carried her to her room and placed her in bed while Lightning prepared the bandages and medicines and treated her. Lightning got up and stretched out
"Well, I'm off now. Se-.."
Karyos grabbed him by his shoulder "Nope! You forgot one last thing!"
Lightning raised an eyebrow and remembered what Vinaite said: "You two should stay with the Elyos and guard the place, make sure no one sees her."
"Oohh, right...I forgot about that" Lightning scratched his head as he left the room prepared a mattress for himself, then fell asleep without even getting a blanket. Karyos was the only one left who's awake and went out to hunt for tomorrow's food.
Isromie slowly woke up, her vision was still blurry she could barely see her surrounding, but she knew she's no longer in the camp. As her vision cleared she looked at her hands, she was surprised that she was being treated while unconscious, but her clothes were covered with bloodstains and dirt, then she found a message attached to a bag and read what's in it:
This bag should contain all your needs including clothes, armor and weapons. I was sent on an urgent mission, I'm not sure when I'll come back but it'll only take a few days. You'll meet with two of my friends who are guarding this place.
-Vinaite
Isromie thought deeply about the name 'Vinaite' it sounded so familiar that she heard it almost everywhere across Elysea and thought to herself "Vinaite..Vinaite...Oh! Him?!" She finally remembered who exactly is he, she heard that he's lived for so long and became one of the strongest Asmodians, but his back-story is unknown even to Asmodians. He thoughts were interrupted when she heard loud noises coming from outside, she quickly changed her clothes then walked slowly to the door and carefully opened it, making a small space enough for her to see what's happening, it seemed that it was two Asmodians arguing about how the food is supposed to be cooked and hissed at each other, they almost started a fight until Isromie walked out
"Umm..."
She had no idea what to say and waved at them nervously.
"H-hi."
Karyos quickly got up and greeted her with a smile
"Hey! Nice to meet you."
She took a close look at him, he had a fine build, white haired tied in a high ponytail along with few small braids. He approached her and lent his hand for a handshake
"I'm Karyos, Vinaite told me about you. Ah!"
The other Asmodian pushed Karyos away, he was black haired and tied in a normal pony tail style with few hair strands covering his forehead "No time for handshakes! I'm Lightning!"
Lightning seemed to be the impatient type and he lent his hand for a handshake, Isromie was a bit nervous since she never shook hands with an Asmodians, specially that they have long, big claws that cover the half of their fingers, then Lightning chuckled.
"Don't worry, we don't bite."
He motioned with his other hands a biting motion. Isromie giggled and shook hands with him
"Oh, looks who's shaking hands now...I thought it's a waste of time."
Karyos stated as he crossed his arms, Isromie gasped and covered her mouth
"Sorry!"
"Nah, It's fine. We don't have to be so formal with each other."
Karyos said with a slight smile on his face and continued "Lyenna should be here at any moment..."
He walked around the house while Isromie offered to be the one who will watch over the food until it's cooked.
"I'm here!"
Someone shouted cheerfully from afar that sounded like a female, Isromie quickly looked at where the voice came from and saw a friendly Asmodian with a pink hair, she was carrying a harp and a bag on her back as she waved at Lightning and Karyos with a cheerful smile. Isromie stood up to meet her, as Lyenna was about to hug Lightning and Karyos, she changed her mind and approached Isromie "Aww...I wanted to get a hug from her" Karyos whined with a low voice. Lyenna and Isromie greeted each other as if they became friends in an instant, and Isromie started first
"Nice to meet you! I'm Isromie."
Lyenna felt comfortable and really happy since she never expected to meet an Elyos in a very friendly way
"Nice to meet you, too! I'm Lyenna and..oh! I almost forgot to give this to you!"
Lyenna dropped the bag from her back, and took out a warm hooded coat, then handed it to Isromie.
"Vinaite forgot to bring warm clothes so he asked me to give you this after I finish with my mission. So here you go!"
Isromie wore it and she was grateful for the help
"Thanks! I wonder why it takes him so long to finish the mission? ...but for how many days was I asleep?"
She thought quietly about it and Lightning came from behind her
"This is the fifth day. You had severe injuries when we took you...We thought that you'd never wake up."
Isromie was startled with Lightning's sudden appearance as Lyenna chuckled
"Heheh. You'll get used to him soon."
They heard sudden footsteps from afar and saw a shadowy figure, everyone readied themselves for a fight if they have and and Lightning swiftly moved in front of Isromie to hide her. A tall man appeared far away, then they found out that it was Vinaite and still wearing his black tattered cloak, everyone was relieved that it was not an enemy of any kind. The more Vinaite walked closer, the more she figure out how he looks like, he had the palest skin among them all and he was somewhat skinny, and had a long black hair, he still showed an emotionless look on his face with his natural red eyes, Isromie figured out that he got dark circles around his eyes due to lack of sleep, it seemed like a really important mission that didn't make him sleep for five days in a row. Karyos went to the cottage and prepare Vinaite's room as they both went inside, then Karyos finished preparing.
"Alright, everything's ready."
"Thanks."
"Just relax for now, those circles won't go by themselves."
Karyos got out of the room and closed the door behind him, then Vinaite dropped himself on the bed and sighed, he could barely open his eyes and went fast asleep.