Two days passed like falling sand granules in an hourglass. Erika asked if she could talk with Miiko multiple times, but Jamon gave a vague answer. With slight frustration, Erika was limited to her room; she learned to accept the long periods of isolation. Many of the Faeries said derogatory words or continued to stare. When she asked for a brief tour of the headquarters, one tried to attack her. Jamon fended off the individual and sent him to the prison, but the rest of the tour was cancelled. Erika curled into a ball and furrowed her brow. What if Miiko was purposefully avoiding her? Did that fox girl intend to keep her here forever? A surge of anger welled inside of Erika, but as she continued to think, the feeling subsided. She could ask someone else how to return. With an idea in mind, Erika got up from the bed.

"Jamon, can we go to the alchemy lab? Ezarel asked me to go there...to help with some stuff."

She followed him through the corridors. Erika attracted the gazes of passerby, but the lessened hostility allowed her to relax somewhat.

"You are the last meaning of my life, milady."

"Oh, Nevra…you know how much I hate liars."

"Since when have I ever lied? Milady, without you, my world is dull and boring."

Erika turned her head upward. It was that person whose clothes reeked of blood then accompanied by an eye-catching lass. The two, lost in a world of sickening declarations of love, continued to press against each other. His finger trailed along the lass's soft neck.

"May I?"

"I'll always offer my blood to you, darling."

Erika watched him bury his face into that woman's neck and looked away in disgust. There was a soft moan followed by coquettish laughter.

"Having fun? I was concerned you ditched Jamon when he showed up at the lab alone." Ezarel took long strides toward her, and when he took notice of Nevra and the woman, he sighed in exasperation. "That fool sure likes to chew on my subordinates. At this point, it'll be a miracle if he drank the blood of his own members."

"Can't he eat normal food?" Erika asked.

"It's ineffective in satiating his hunger. Only blood can make a vampire feel full."

Meanwhile, Nevra had stopped drinking. The girl in his arms clung to him, and he said honeyed words into her ear. She giggled. Ezarel murmured a few words, and a sphere of water the size of a bowling ball formed. With a flick, it flew and struck the wall behind the lass. She shrieked; Nevra pulled away with a look of annoyance. Erika turned to see Ezarel had begun to walk away with a snicker, and she hurried after him.

"How'd you do that?"

"I used maana to condense the moisture in the air. You know, magic," he said.

"…Okay, but I thought elves have a greater connection with nature? Wouldn't it make more sense to-"

"Whatever you learned about us comes from misguided stereotypes made by humans."

"Oh…So can you do more than make bubbles and ruin romantic rendezvous?"

When they reached the alchemy laboratory, a sudden rush of wind blew the doors open. Ezarel sauntered in without casting a glance at a dumbfounded Erika. Flasks, tubes, scattered equipment—it almost felt as if she entered one of her university's labs. As she stepped into the room, Erika felt another gust of wind shut the doors behind her.

" I need you to collect these books from the library. Do you know where that is?"

He handed a piece of parchment to Erika. She took the object and glanced at the handwriting; she couldn't read any of the words, but that didn't detract from its elegance.

"…Yeah. Before I go, can I ask something?"

"You already did, but sure."

"Is there any possibility I can go home? My parents and friends..."

"You can go through a portal. However, we just used our remaining resources to create one a month ago. My apologies, Erika, but you're going to have to wait until we gather enough material again."

With crushed hope and an unhappy heart, Erika left. The parchment crinkled in her hand. Would her mother be all right? And what about Father? When she arrived at the library, Erika's jaw dropped. A city of knowledge encompassed an upper and lower floor which were connected by a spiral staircase. Bookcases akin to skyscrapers reached toward the ceiling. Books stuffed every row while some were stacked in piles.

Two people surrounded by documents sat at a table were during an argument. Erika tried to be wallpaper in hopes it would be resolved soon; however, the debate escalated into politics and finances with no definitive conclusion. She cleared her throat.

"May I bother you two for a moment?"

They turned their attention to her. One, who reminded Erika of a kindergarten teacher, took a deep breath and smiled at her.

"I'm Ykhar. Do you need help with anything?"

"I have this list here..."

The piece of paper was handed to her. As Ykhar scrutinized the writing, Erika shifted in awkward silence. Loose papers and dusty tomes overflowed from a shelf; other shelves shared a similar condition. Unrecognizable characters decorated some spines, and Erika felt surprised how some were written in her language.

"Do you want to borrow a book?"

Erika saw the other person looking at her. While Ykhar began to say something under her breath, he set a piece of paper and writing utensil.

"Just read the terms and sign your name. You're only allowed to borrow one book right now, but if you've shown you can return them by the due date consistently, we let you borrow more out at a time. My name is Keroshane, but feel free to call me Kero."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Erika," she said as she skimmed the paper and signed her name.

"Kero, go help her find these books. I'll handle our work here," she said.

Erika followed him through the aisles. He handed her catalogues, botany manuals, and fragile journals. Some books toppled from the shelves, but a force caught their fall and placed them back onto the shelf. Kero's horn emitted a faint light whenever it happened. By the time they found all the necessary material, beams of sunset filtered through the library window.

"It must be convenient to use…magic like that." Erika set the stack of books onto a table.

"Haha, I guess. I can't do much compared to others who can manipulate wind or fire."

"So elves…"

"Usually Faeries use the maana stored in their body to cast magic which can leave anyone exhausted after a few spells. Elves are one of the races who can gather maana from outside sources like plants or the air. While all Faeries have an affinity to an element, elven culture upholds elemental specialization."

"Can they only focus on using one type of elemental magic?"

"There are uncommon cases where an elf controls more than one. I think the current sovereign of the elves can use all five? However, those elves have more difficulty controlling their magic compared to one who just uses one element. In fact," — Kero reached for an item on a shelf — "you can read more about it in this book. Why don't you borrow it for your first visit at the library?"

Erika agreed and thanked him before she returned to the laboratory. Ezarel didn't greet her as he grinded something with a mortar and pestle. She set the books in a corner except for the one Kero gave. Its cover had no writing but instead a picture; when Erika opened the book, her eyes widened at readable text. She flipped through the pages to see all of it written in her language.

"Tomorrow, you're going with me to the marketplace."

"…I would rather have a portal prepared to send me back."

Ezarel paused and looked at her. "You can mope in your room and wait, or you can help around here to make waiting more tolerable. The choice is yours."

"Can't I help you guys gather material quicker to make the portal?"

"It's not under my authority. Even then, few Faeries want a human's aid."

"What about you?"

He shrugged. "As long as you don't murder or vandalize anything, I could care less."


"Is that all to report?"

"Yes. Unless you two would like to add something," Ezarel said.

"I just...feel it's wrong to do these sorts of things behind her back. Is it really necessary?" Kero let out a sigh.

"Better safe than sorry. Could she be using a fake name?"

"I'm not sure. But few human spies think to use one," Ykhar said.

"And no signs of communications during the night?"

"Nevra and Lefitan reported nothing so far, Miiko."


A/N: Thank you for reading! Hopefully I can complete this story in the end, haha. Also, there will be some different characterization/ character development changes compared to the game. I hope it will make the reading experience more interesting.

So in my AU, Earth was rich in maana, which led to the existence of Faeries being born. Eventually, there was this "Era of Primordial Magic" when Faeries coexisted with humans. The Faeries were in three factions headed by three powerful races: Dragons, Daemons, Fenghuang who then agreed to form a central government to rule over all Faeries. The peace between Faeries and humans lasted for hundreds of years, but humans began to fear the Faeries. This later developed into what's later known as "The Primordial Wars." The Faeries were defeated and had to leave Earth (which was now exhausted of all maana) in an event known as "The Great Exile." The Dragons and Daemons swore an oath to sacrifice themselves in order for a new world to be born-one all Faeries could call a home. The Fenghuang would be the reigning government in that realm; however, the leadership of the Daemons passed onto an ambitious individual who had no interest in honoring this vow. In the end, the Dragons sacrificed themselves while the Daemons did not, and the new world, Eldarya, was unstable. The Fenghuang and other Faerie races, enraged, killed the Daemons and harvested their maana. Using that maana and the maana from those who died during the hunts, the Fenghuang managed to create the Great Crystal, which brought stability to Eldarya. Yet once all the Faeries began to inhabit this new world, individual Faerie races grew hostile toward one another. The Fenghuang government soon collapsed, and another era of war began. This resulted in each Faerie species having its own government, societal rules, and territories. For those who had no home after the battles, they founded the City of Eel which became its own independent civilization.

Also, the Era of Primordial Magic was the start of spells and magic. They utilized runes, incantations, and maana; while current magic in Eldarya has moved away from the rune system, these spells aren't as strong as their ancestral counterparts.

There are three types of magic: Elemental, Psyche, Odde. Elemental magic is composed of five categories (fire, water, wind, earth, quintessence/aether), followed by sub-categories, but earth and fire lack a sub-category. Lightning magic is a sub-category of wind, and ice magic a sub-category of water. Aether has three: light, darkness, sound.

On a side note, Dragons had an affinity with Earth and Water; Daemons, an affinity with Wind and Aether. Fenghuangs have an affinity to Fire and Aether.

Psyche magic is mainly spells for brainwashing, possessions, illusions, but also include telepathy and telekinesis. Many rituals require the use of a magical object to succeed.

Odde magic can be treated as the classification for spells that don't fit into Elemental magic or Psyche. Magical enchantments and magical contracts/pacts are examples. Magical contracts need a specific item to facilitate the connection between individuals, but vampires are the only race who can bypass this by using blood as a catalyst.