"It was Taea who screamed first." Daleth explained. Kidria, Celos, the doctor, and him had all gone to the Jueno Library; Daleth had rushed out of the room earlier saying they had no time to heal his worthless injuries. He had said that "There were more important things." at which point he had mumbled under his breath. Still, the others had followed him, as Daleth absolutely refused to remain in bed.

"We were all kneeling around Marzinquan at the time." He continued. "Now that I think about it, I did see Marzinquan give an odd expression just before he fainted. I didn't really realize it at the time, but he saw it before anybody else."

"Saw what?" the doctor asked.

Daleth ignored him. "Shortly after Taea screamed, her voice was shut off because the silver thing attacked her and covered her whole body. We were all too stunned to act or do anything. All we could do was watch as Taea's body was knocked to the floor by the silver and it choked and throttled her."

"Oh god." Kidria's mouth was agape

"However, a few seconds later, Taea stopped shaking, and the liquid basically evaporated. She looked dead, but upon closer inspection, I noticed she was still breathing lightly. Then, she started to change." Daleth's voice grew a disgusted kind of apprehension, and the rest of the group looked utterly confused.

"Then the others were taken down as well. Four more of the things went for Seryaa, Takmir, Fxeni, and even Marzinquan, in that order. They went through the exact same process, helplessly shaking and twitching as the liquid "played" with them. Again, they too went into a kind of coma after the liquid disappeared, but they were still alive as well. They started to change colors and grow in sizes and looks. In horror, I backed away into Taea, who was finally standing up again. She was Taea no longer however. She was pale, and her eyes were black"

Daleth started shaking again, and Celos steadied him as he went on.

"They all went white. And their armor changed black, and they dropped their weapons and grew new, darker, rune-engraved ones. It was the nightmare all over again, but this time with my own friends. They had become what we had just killed: The pale warriors. And shortly after they all got up, they attacked me. I stood no chance, and I didn't want to fight my own friends. They were even more powerful than the ones we had fought before. It was Déjà vu, a nightmare that didn't want to end. So I ran. As fast as I could. They continued to attack me until I exited the throne room, at which point they left me alone. All this:" he pointed to his bruises, bandages, cuts, and battered armor. "Was done in the period of about 30 seconds, by my own friends."

"And what about the mark upon your chest plate? The one that said Xenif?" Celos inquired.

Daleth gave her an odd look. "What mark? They were the only ones who left any marks in my armor."

Seryaa studied the armor. "So you are saying, this name" She looked back at Daleth "was carved by the others as they attacked? Is that even possible?"

Daleth shook his head. "I don't know. It's very likely. They were so strong, so powerful." he shuddered.

The doctor looked at the others. "You've never heard the legend of Xenif?" The others just stared.

"Well, here, I'll show you." He walked over to the nearby bookshelf, grabbed a tome off of it and brought it back. "The legend of Xenif and his party occurred in the very place Daleth was just at, only it was hundreds of years ago." He turned a few pages. "Ah, here we are." He pointed at the title.

Evil's Tidings

It is recorded that in Vanadeil year 662, a group of five adventures was sent by the Duke of Jueno to apprehend a particularly nasty monster that was housed in Castle Zvhal. As the creature was rumored to be so insanely powerful, one man or woman of each race was sent to represent his or her own kind in this enormous event. The Tarus sent Xenif; the Mithra Sreaya; the Elvaan Taelos; The Galka Katmir; and the Humes Quanzirman. The five of them met in Sandoria and left the gates headed for the castle encouraged
by the sound of thousands of people cheering them on.

They never returned.

When several search parties were sent to find to lost crew, they disappeared as well. Eventually, the world of Vanadeil gave up on the five heroes, and forgot about them. However, it continued that whomsoever tried to find the heroes rarely returned, and when they did, they were more than often insane. The odd thing was that all of the men, women, and children who returned from the lost castle continued to mutter a mysterious, cryptic
riddle until the day they died.

It has been debated about what the riddle means for centuries, and to this
day scholars continue arguing that they have found the answer to this puzzle. After going out to prove themselves, they disappeared as well or
returned just as insane as those they sought to help.

To this day Rumors continue to circulate that the evil that lived in that castle kills everyone who gets close enough, and drives the few who see it crazy. Others say Xenif and his party are ghosts whom often posses the lost travelers in anger of their lost respect. A final group claims that Xenif and his party still live in the castle to this day, and are stuck behind its walls, waiting for someone just as smart and brave as them to seek them
out.

The enigma spoken by the ones who returned without their insanity is as
follows:

"There is always someone better. Evil knows this. And it does not tolerate
mistakes. So when it finds that one of its creations is a flaw, it effectively replaces it with the item or person who proved it imperfect. In doing so, Evil seeks out perfection, and the day it feels it has attained
it; it will begin its plan of destroying Vanadeil,

of Destroying the world."

The doctor slammed the book shut and looked over at Daleth, who had closed his eyes and was deep in thought.

"They were all wrong." He said. "Xenif and his friends were never stuck behind its walls at all. They chose to remain behind because they had no wishes to leave. They found the enemy they were seeking, destroyed it, and in doing so, proved it imperfect." He sighed, and then continued. "So, evil replaced the flaws with its new ideal of perfection: Xenif, Taelos, Katmir, Sreaya, and Quanzirman. That was who we killed earlier on. And by doing so, we once again proved a flaw, and therefore became puppets much like Xenif and Co. did. Still, that does not explain why evil felt no use for me. But the Shadowlord KNEW about Taea, Seryaa, Takmir, Fxeni, and Marzinquan. He KNEW who they were and why they had come. So why...?" His voice trailed off

Daleth thought back to the Shadowlord. His searched his mind, past the memory of Taea convulsing under a blanket of silver, past the heart wrenching scene of Marzinquan being impaled, past the time of when he had given final blessing for his lost wyvern, and back to the exact moment the Shadowlord had focused on Daleth himself.

"Who are you?" The Shadowlord spoke without moving his mouth. It intimidated Daleth, but he tried to feign courage and hoped he looked unmoved.

"Daleth, the Elvaan." His voice dripped sarcasm.

The Shadowlord took no notice. "Hmm....You have none of your ilk here, so why did you come?"

Daleth's eyes shot open and his jaw dropped. He whirled around to Celos in horror and stared at her as if she was dying right before his eyes, and then moaned.

"You. It cannot be?"

Celos gave him a quizzical look, and Daleth began to open his mouth in reply when the room started to shake. The Library bookcases started to sway, and bits of plaster began to fall from the ceiling. Daleth grabbed a nearby chair to steady himself, and listened as he heard women, children, and even grown men scream outside. Daleth looked back at the others who were all focused on him.

"And so the nightmare begins anew." He said, and then smiled.