A/N: It might be the 28th, but a monthly update was promised, so here it is. I do not think I will be able to publish anything for March, as the mid-terms are coming closer and closer to claim my soul, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for your reviews and the reads, they make me even eager to continue this story.

~Kalafinn

The expedition was far from being easy. Sometimes the forest blocked paths to make them turn in circles and other times, they reached an area so affected by the lack of El that they had to fall back due to the smell. It was not hard for anyone to reach the conclusion that something was stopping them from reaching their destination, but only Rena could get close to the conclusion he had reached. The eighth night of their journey was falling, and they set their camp in a clearing that was half-way to an old farm.

The distance they covered shortened by the breaks they had had to take, as neither Elsword nor Aisha had enough endurance to carry their belongings for more than three hours. Even if Lowe had warned Elsword against the weight of his chainmail, the boy insisted on carrying it on his back. Aisha's strange belongings surprised most, as she would not leave her heavy leather-covered grimoires behind, nor a strange wooden shield nobody had seen on her before.

As far as Ain could tell, the mage had probably been in combat before, as the marks on her shield were enchantments with protective spells made with the Wind El's energy. That was the only thing that made her claims of being a superior mage hold any weight. Only a priestess could have made those enchantments, and not every mage could get such a powerful protection on their belongings.

The moment they sat down, Ciel took out their only map out and looked at the old compass Lowe had given to them. He had written their path through the forest with Elsword's help and although they had advanced somewhat towards Elder, their constant zigzags and roundabouts had only put them further away from both Ruben and their destination. If the Plague forced them further south, they would reach the ocean.

According to Elsword, they were if they could find a way around the Plague to the east, they would be in Elder before the first snow fell. The camp fire was ready to gather around to eat a piece cheese and bread. The little water that remained in their canteens had to be refilled soon, at most two days from now. Even if they did not find a pure spring, the shards they carried with them could come in handy to purify whatever water they found.

"This is hopeless." Aisha sighed. "We've been going in circles ever since we set foot here. We'd better just go back."

"We can't do that. We promised Lowe to come back with shards and information on the bandits!" Elsword protested.

The mage clicked her tongue and crossed her arms as she rolled her eyes. "I don't promise impossible things, you dummy. That's your thing. I wonder if you'll keep saying that when we're freezing in this maze two months from now."

Rena took a deep breath while the two demons simply observed the scene in silence, just like he did. However, Ainchase simply did it as part of his duty to his goddess. The other two were surely enjoying the endless discord inside the group, like other vile creatures of their kind did.

"Alright, everyone." The elf announced. "I think I should remind you that we are part of a team, the group of adventurers that Lowe himself put in charge of this mission. Elsword, keeping your word is a great value to cherish, but you should not let it be more important than everyone's well-being."

Just as Aisha began to smirk at the boy, Rena's severe gaze turned towards her. "And you, Aisha. Tell me, have you gone on an expedition before?"

The mage nodded. "Of course, I studied a lot of ancient ruins, took back valuable magical artifacts for my family, not to mention my–"

"How long did those journeys take, on average?"

The mage was startled to be interrupted in her glorifying monologue like that. The elf's calm voice was exactly what made her lower her head and clasp her hands nervously together. "At least a month."

Rena nodded and rubbed her hands together to warm them. "We've only passed eight days, including this one. I know that it is frustrating to turn around in circles, but we can't afford to become pessimistic so fast."

Lu nodded and smiled at the elf. "You're right, Miss. Rena. I'm sure we can get those bad guys in no time!"

The elf squinted her eyes at the young girl and glanced at her gloves. "Of course, Lu." She said with a smile. Her green gaze stared a bit longer at the slight movement of Lu's tail but quickly shifted her gaze towards the fire and rubbed her hands together before huffing a breath of hot air to warm her pale fingertips.

Ainchase noticed Rena's lingering gaze on the demoness's weapons and decided just to push his accusations a bit into the light.

"You fight quite well for a young girl, little elf." He said, flashing a calm smile at the monster in disguise.

The demoness giggled. "Ciel taught me a lot. I could not let the bad guys get away like that."

The priest glanced at the half-demon and the man nodded to confirm his master's lies.

"I see. But I suppose that fighting with gauntlets must be quite different from doing the same with gun blades. Pardon my ignorance if that assumption is wrong, I don't know much about weaponry myself."

Ciel hesitated a bit before answering with his usual serious voice, closing the priest's options to cast any more doubts on their peculiar fighting style. "It is true that gauntlets are very different from gun blades, but Lu is a child and is still too weak to wield something as heavy as enchanted firearms. The best weapons suited for her are those that enhance her strength like spears or some light enchanted shields or armour that can both act as defence and offence."

"Gauntlets are more cute than a spear or a shield or an armour, Ciel." The demoness mused.

The man sighed and patted her head. "They're not very practical, Lu. But since you liked them…"

Rena and Aisha glanced at Lu, but it was hard for Ainchase to tell if they all were on the same page or not. In times like this, he would have loved to yell the obvious to everyone around him, but that was not his place. He was an observer, and the goddess had ordered him not to dive deep into the matters of mortals. Being part of this group was perhaps almost over the border he could not cross, but it was necessary to accomplish his mission. He had no doubts that Ishmael would realize that once he could contact her again. Although, it would be best if he went ahead and gathered more information.

The night was falling, and they ate the remaining cheese and bread crumbs they still had in their pockets. They would have to reach the farm by tomorrow afternoon or else risk eating wild berries intoxicated by the Plague. Like every other night, they began their meal in silence, only paying attention to the sounds around them.

Nothing had happened so far, but Ciel and Rena were always on the watch for ambushes. Weapons on their back, always sitting down until everyone was asleep, it often gave the impression that all adult elves became superhuman in all senses of the word. Kid elves were only super strong.

"Don't you guys ever sleep?" Elsword suddenly blurted out, startling Lu and Aisha.

"You almost gave me a heart-attack, dummy."

Aisha stared at the flames of the fire camp, mumbling in Sanderian her scolding to the young knight. She had gone with other caravans of travellers but going with kids like him annoyed her beyond any measure. Come to think of it, she was stuck with a bunch of weirdos: an elf, a creepy girl and her cousin who had the sharpest aim with knives and firearms.

"Yes, Elsword, Ciel and I do sleep, it's just that…" the elf took a small pause and Aisha glanced at her, only to notice that it was only because she was drinking some water. "Elves only need to sleep about three hours."

Ciel nodded while Aisha widened her eyes. "Three hours? I find that hard to believe with that perfect skin of yours."

Rena smiled with a glimpse of pride. "My skin isn't as perfect as it used to be. It has gotten a bit dry for the past days. The autumns here are colder than in my village."

Elsword glanced at her. "I don't think the weather here is super cold or anything. Sis has been in Hamel with father and she told me how damn cold Hamel is compared to here. Is Velder cold, Ciel?"

The blue-haired elf nodded. "The summers there are rather rainy and cool. The winters are not that different."

Aisha let out a long 'hmm' as a breeze chilled her to the core. She got up to search for her wool blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders before sitting down again. Ruben's fall was colder than what she expected, way more so than what the summer was like. The mage could only fear what the winter would feel like in a couple of months. This kind of weather was the reason why she wanted to go back, but her pride as a Sanderian woman would never allow her to ever say so to anyone.

She brought the cover closer to her face to cover the shivers that were getting progressively harder to control in front of others. Mages should control their every gesture to master magic, their every thought, but Aisha's mind was only focused on getting closer to the campfire and making it warmer. It was not the right state of mind to warm herself, as fire magic could get out of her control if she only thought about fire and her fear of cold.

"Aisha, do you need another blanket?" Rena asked, looking for the blankets she carried to give one to the mage.

The mage took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm good."

If her grandfather saw her like this, he would remind her to keep the control over her mind to get what she needed from her magic. A small spark of warmth, a small flow of mana between her and the blanket over her was all she needed. After a few more deep breaths, she emptied her mind from her fears of freezing and only think of the warmth of the evenings of her native town. The crackle of the fire helped her to picture the soothing scenery and now she felt much more aware of the small enchantment she needed to warm herself.

She whispered softly the enchantment in Sanderian, almost reminded of the lullabies she had not heard for years. For a moment, she saw herself as a child, falling asleep in the family's library only to wake up with a soft cover over her shoulders and the smile of his grandfather. In a morning like that, he handed her one of the Landar's most treasured weapons: The shield of Al-Sayyid Ali.

Even if she was the heir to the family, receiving such a treasure only set in the expectations of herself even higher than before. Aisha had to not only be the best mage of the Landar's but the best mage of Fluone or a Heroine of Elrios. It was her only path if she did not want to bring shame upon her ancestor's name.

She was set to the path to greatness until that man took everything away from her. No one had ever told her that the Ring of Mimir would take her power away if someone removed it from her finger. The memory still ignited her anger and so did the heat of her spell increase, becoming like the midday sun in Sander's deadliest desert heat. Aisha had to break it, go back to where she truly was.

She opened her eyes again, welcomed by the same strangers she had journeyed with for months and the cold slowly returned to her senses, freezing her rage and the embers of her magic to their core. The night had no traces of the sun and the fire was slowly dying out.

Rena looked at her, silently asking if she was feeling better now. Aisha nodded and looked around her. Lu was sitting with her back against a tree, wrapped in a blanket next to Ciel who was slowly waking up again. Elsword was sleeping deeply, lying down over one of his blankets and using his bag as a pillow to support his head.

Lu also opened her eyes and looked at Ciel, whispering a question to his ear. He answered that they could still rest for four hours more. The girl nodded but did not close her eyes again. Instead she looked at Aisha and wondered if she was getting sick.

"No," the mage whispered. "I was just a bit cold."

It was strange for her to know that Lu seemed concerned for her after what she had said the other day. Now that the bratty kid was asleep, she could ask Lu straightforwardly about her strange actions.

"Lu…you're a strange one. Even for an elf. Between you and Rena I don't know how much of an elf you truly are. You understand what submitting a letter of resignation means without having ever worked yourself, the way you fought…" she sighed and shared her concerns about the way Lu injured grievously the bandits while leaving the rogue soldiers simply knocked out showed a kind of fast decision-making that no child could pull off.

As far as she knew, all of them would either hit with everything they had and tire themselves quicker, which was the case of Elsword, or simply hesitate way too much to ever injure a more experienced opponent. It was even more impressive that she had done so in the chaotic skirmish that the bandits' ambush had put them through at the time.

As she was explaining, Aisha noticed that Lu and Ciel seemed tense, as they suddenly straightened up from their sleep positions and Lu began to tap her knee with her two fingers. Something around her moved, and the young mage had to look twice to see a blue tail curl like a cobra ready to attack. Lu had a tail.

Aisha's eyes widened. "You…have a tail? What kind of monster are you?"

She struggled to keep her voice to a whisper, but the old Sanderian legends of tailed monsters were not the happiest ones. They all originated in the perpetrators of Behemoth's awakening more than ten generations ago.

Lu's surprise soon transformed into a frown that reflected her anger. "I'm the menacing monster now, huh? I have not done anything to prove that I am a foe, have I?"

Despite their childish timbre, Lu's usually nasally Elrian had now guttural r's, making them rougher and the vowels dryer. It was an accent Aisha could not pinpoint to any region she had been in. It made her squint her eyes at the completely different voice she was hearing.

This only made Lu's aggressiveness all the more visible. Her stare was cold and although she was whispering, her raspy voice only made her words seem to be soaked in menace. "Tell me, Aisha. Have I ever done anything against any of you? Has Ciel done anything?"

"Lu, calm down. We both knew these lies would not hold for long anyway."

Although Aisha expected the same strange accent to be noticeable in Ciel, his slightly nasal Elrian was kept intact, although Aisha began to notice the evenness of all his syllables. To her ears, it was closer to Lanox's Fluonian dialect. Or rather the accent those people carried with them in Elrian, especially when they did not learn it while they were children. Even Aisha had struggled to tone down her own Sanderian accent through her travels.

Lu scoffed and crossed her arms. "You're right, at this point we might as well wait for those two to ostracize us. As per usual."

"They haven't said anything, Lu. I know it's hard, but how about we trust them a little more?"

"Honesty brought us nothing but disaster, Ciel. You know it."

Lu's cynical tone was now watered down by regret and Aisha was too uncomfortable to say anything. In fact, everything her mind thought about now would perhaps make Lu's anger return and, unlike Elsword, Lu's anger could easily pose a threat to her and Rena. That much was as clear as day.

Rena sighed. "I knew what you are from the start, but I will answer your question. I will not kick you out of the group only because of the species you belong to. That said, I believe that is important that you tell the truth to everyone eventually."

Lu got up and walked towards Rena. "I will do so, Rena, at my own discretion."

The elf nodded. "We won't pressure you, right Aisha?"

Although she immediately nodded, Aisha did not completely agree with Rena's words. It was not easy to simply ignore the icy menaces that Lu's voice could hold, nor her heightened combat skills. To her eyes, she was the most likely person to violently retaliate against any of them if she was provoked in any way. Lu stared at her for a long moment, but she did not say a word and went back to rest.

It was hard for Aisha to get any rest after that conversation, she closed her eyes, but she would eventually find herself glancing at Lu, remembering the smile she had on her face after they had talked the other day. It was a sadistic smile and her lack of sleep only made the memory even more vivid and even distorted with her own fears.

Although her eyelids eventually closed themselves under the weight of fatigue, it was not long before she was awakened by Rena shaking her shoulder. Dawn was barely rising over the dense forest, but the elf was wide awake and worried. She hushed her to remain silent and made a sign to wake Elsword and follow her.

Seeing the elf suddenly take out her bow and use her blanket to choke the smoke of the campfire only made her fear for the worst. She walked over to where Elsword was sleeping and just when she put her hand over his shoulder, the sound of Ciel's gunfire echoed through the morning silence. It was loud enough to think that he was not far from there and it was loud enough to make Elsword rise up with fear, looking immediately for his sword and struggling to get it out of his bag.

"What's going on?!" he gasped as he looked at Aisha. She glanced around to look for Rena or Lu, but both of them were out of sight. The bushes that surrounded them began to rustle on their own and Aisha leaped for her shield and charged a fireball at one of them and watched the fire spread, but it did not consume more than half of the bush. Instead, the earth began to shake underneath them, and a golem-like creature rose from what had looked like a bush before. It was as tall as a bear standing over them.

"What in Behemoth's name is this?!" Aisha yelled as the other bushes slowly began to reveal equally imposing monsters. She continued to fire fireballs to the monsters, but the fire was no longer spreading. It was not stopping them their advance and the first golem was already close enough to swing its arm to crush her. Aisha lifted her shield to protect herself, but the strength of the hit still pushed her back, making her lose her balance. She managed to avoid hitting her head, but her free hand was stabbed by a sharp stone as she got up. Aisha needed her staff to fight those monsters, mainly to refill rapidly her mana. It was a sprint away from her, over the right.

Other golems were approaching, but they were still too slow to catch with her sprint. Once in her hand, she felt her mana fill up again and Elsword was slicing up the best he could the golem that she had previously set on fire. The golem raised his fist again, swinging it directly towards Elsword's head.

"Watch out!" she barked just in time for the boy to roll behind the golem. The impact of its fist left a small crater on the ground and Aisha could not be thankful enough to have her shield with her. While she was relieved to know that the brat had good reflexes, Aisha could not afford to watch over him any longer. The enemy around her was drawing closer, and although they were slow, they had enough strength to end their lives with one blow.

Elsword, on his end, was struggling to keep up with the number of enemies around him, but he somewhat trusted that Aisha would not let him die at the hands of those golems. The young knight had evaded a fatal blow, but the tremors that the hit had caused made it harder for him to get up.

The moment he could finally stand, the golem was already charging another punch at him. This time, he had enough time to step back, then left, using this small impulse to make his next hit strong enough to cut one of the golem's arms. He swung his sword, focusing all the strength on one slashing movement. His blade shone briefly as it cleaved its way through the monster, cutting in half a strange red gem they had carved on their forearm.

The hit had tired him somewhat, but he turned around to deal a less potent series of slashes against the enemy. Yet, the statue of mud and vegetation was crumbling as if it had been made of glass all along. He widened his eyes and immediately realized how they should fight.

The red-haired knight glanced at Aisha and saw her ignite the enemies from a distance, barely managing to slow them down. He saw something move from the corner of his eye and saw two other golems making their way towards him, a tad bit faster than the one he had defeated.

"Aisha! Hit the gem on their arm!" he yelled as he jumped out of the way of two other golems jogging towards him. Their punches were not as slow as before and, truthfully looked more like fast jabs.

If they had been any faster, that kind of hit would be unavoidable, but now that he knew where to aim, Elsword ran in zigzags, making feints to confuse the slow reactions of the enemies. Each time he came in-range of one of them, he made sure to swiftly give a blow to their weakness. However, this kind of endurance combat was not his forte. His breath grew heavier at each sprint and his legs would no longer change the direction of his course without feeling strained. He had barely practiced magic imbued attacks with his sword, but if he did not deal immediately with the two enemies in front of him, they would get him instead.

Elsword took a deep breath as he heard the roar of thunder behind him. Aisha could easily do it and so could he. She was smaller than him, after all. The swordsman felt his cheeks red and sweat drip from every inch of his body, but he still had to try. He rushed forwards, reminding himself that this was not different from practice. He would finally summon a flame geyser successfully, or else…death awaited.

This instinctive fear slowed everything around him. The golems were still moving, but now he was moving as slowly as them. They were about to strike, but he was feeling some kind of energy around him connect with him and flow through his sword. It was the sensation Lowe and other trainees often spoke about. Inch by inch, his weapon drew and closer to the ground, and once it touched it, the earth itself pushed all the energy he had felt flowing from him and his blade into a pillar of flames.

The monsters slowly melted within the heat and once the flames vanished, the ashes of the enemies were the only thing left of them.

The silence around him was surreal, he heard a ring cover the wind or other natural sounds that would have otherwise been normal in the forest. He exhaled and all the power he had felt before suddenly left his tired body, forcing him to his knees.

"Elsword!"

Aisha's voice seemed to be faraway, even if he could guess the shape of her shield from the corner of his eye. He had to hold himself together, he had to get up. The boy stabbed the ground with his blade and used it to get up, but his knees still felt weak. He felt dizzy and had to blink a couple of times for the sensation to go away.

"Dummy! You're using that much magic when you're not even a mage! Do you have a death wish?!"

He could not find the strength to tell her that it was precisely to avoid being killed that he finally succeeded in summoning a Flame Geyser for the first time. He looked at her and felt the earth spin around him again. He staggered, almost certain that he would faint again, but Aisha caught him and passed his arm around her shoulders so he could keep walking. She guided him so he could sit down over a tree bark and took out a green potion from her belongings.

"Drink this."

Elsword reached slowly for the potion and took a sip from it. It had a minty flavour, but it helped the ringing in his ears fade a bit away. He watched her take her belongings over her back and his on top of it. Truthfully, he never imagined that she would be able to carry that much when she was smaller than him.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"Rena went south, but who knows where the other two are."

"Other two..?"

The mage sighed. "Lu and Ciel, who else?"

Elsword frowned. He did know that Lu and Ciel were there, but just saying that there was no one else in their group felt old. "Wasn't there someone else?"

Aisha squinted at him. "You're probably still groggy from abusing your mana circuits, Elsword. There's nobody else. We're leaving now to meet with Rena. Finish up the potion and get up."

He hated to hear her calling the shots with her squeaky nasal accent, but he had no better plan. Staying here on their own would be dangerous and they had no food. He drank the remaining half of the minty potion and felt strong enough to stand without much help. Although his hands and feet felt a bit numb, he managed to keep Aisha's pace.

"Thank you, for the potion." he said as they walked through a beaten earth path.

The mage did not bother to look back at him, but a small smile curled her lips for a brief second. "No problem. But that was my last potion so do not ever act like a mage when you're not one."

Elsword noticed something strange in the distance, made of stone. He did not remember old Wilma's farm to be made of stone, but they could certainly ask for directions when they reached that farm. There seemed to be people already gathered around.

Aisha was the first to identify who the people were and called them by their names.

"Rena! Ciel! Ain!"

The three adults turned around, but they still could not see them. The vegetation was still too dense around them.

"Aisha? Is Elsword with you?" Rena asked.

"I'm here, Rena!" Elsword yelled, but his voice was a bit hoarse from the fatigue of the battle.

Once the two kids stepped out of the forest, their relief to see the rest of their group was short-lived. They had not made it to a farm, but to some ruins Elsword had never seen before. He froze in place and asked Ciel for his map. To him, it was impossible. The distance Aisha and he had walked for would have put them close to Wilma's farm, not to these ruins.

"What is this place?" the young knight muttered.

"I am not sure either, but the golems defending it are feisty fellows." Ain replied with a small frown on his forehead, pointing at his bandaged arm. He had some minor scratches over his robes that revealed traces of dried blood. Ciel, Lu and Rena had also sustained cuts and bruises, but thankfully no broken limbs, unlike Ain.

"Rena, what happened this morning?" Aisha asked, even more puzzled than Elsword.

The elf sighed. "It's a long story…"