Aaaaaaand we're back! Here is part 2 of Nightfall. I have also updated the cover image of this story, provided by maleficparadokkusu! Check out their Instagram for more of their work! I will be posting a phorum topic detailing the suchwiin on the official Elsword phorums once this story is done! Enjoy!
"Lua… No…" Rena couldn't leave Lua here on her own. "That is… a suchwiin…"
Lua looked at Rena, half terrified and half jaded. "Rena, this really isn't the time for jokes."
"It told me! This eolin-i told me." Lua's annoyance vanished like a puff of smoke. "If I leave you… you won't be here when I get back."
Lua swallowed a lump in her throat. And turned her focus back on the creature. That was a suchwiin? They were supposed to be the boogie men that scared children into behaving. If it was indeed the myth come to life, she knew why it was here.
It was here for her.
"Do you have a plan?" Rena asked, taking a slight step back from the slowly advancing monster.
Lua mimicked her motion. "We don't even know what it can do. Let's just keep our distance and-"
She was interrupted by a brief flash from the monster's third eye. The two elves started to hop back and turned their attention to the eye…
And quickly regretted their mistake when their world plunged into darkness…
Rena felt like she was falling through darkness. All she could see was black and she couldn't hear - or even feel - her heart beat. She couldn't feel anything; Just a sensation of falling, and falling, and falling.
But she could still see the creature in her mind. How the fur hung from its chin, how the air around it seemed to bend away from its mere presence…
How it looked at them, like prey to be hunted.
It was still there, she knew it was. And here she was, helpless to defend against it. She may already be dead and doesn't even realize it yet. She might be taken now!
Lua could be taken now!
She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't!
Someone… someone please help! She could only pray that aid would come on a night that none ventured out. That by some stroke of luck someone would come and help them.
Please!
A flash answered her plea and summoned forth the image of the night sky, surrounded by tiny spirits, and a painful pop returned her hearing. She could feel the cool grass beneath her and her lungs violently expanded to take in much needed air.
Rena rolled over and let out ragged coughs as she choked on her own spit. She must have fallen on her back when she lost her senses.
Were the suchwiin capable of such feats? Were they capable of robbing their victims of their very senses? The spirits worriedly gathered around her releasing a dim healing light to return her strength. Rena waved them off. "Lua… find Lu-"
The sound of heavy footsteps interrupted her. She turned her head and grabbed her bow. She saw the creature leaving the clearing, but it was not empty-handed.
In its right claw was an unconscious elf; The only other elf that was here.
"Lua!" Rena shouted and prepared an arrow. The monster spun around, a look of what could pass as surprise on its face. She must have been unconscious for only moments before the spirits freed her from whatever magic the fiend used.
Terror gripped her, but a desperate cry to action forced her to stand her ground. If she didn't stop this monster, Lua would be gone! She couldn't let that happen!
"Let her go!" She fired the arrow and the projectile sunk into the suchwiin's left shoulder. The creature flinched and looked at the wound for a moment, as though stunned it was injured.
Then came the roar. It turned back to the elf, anger burning in its eyes. It tossed the unconscious Lua to the side before leaping at Rena, its left claw drawn back to eviscerate the elf. Rena sprinted forward and slid under the blow, calling on the spirits' power and the wind itself. "Perfect Storm!" She unleashed a small windstorm that pushed the creature away from her just as it spun around to take another swipe at her.
Seizing the opportunity, Rena ran to Lua's side and shook her. "Lua! Lua, please wake up!" But Lua didn't even flinch. The only movement she made was an erratic up and down motion from her chest.
Unfortunately, the suchwiin did not give Rena a moment more, as it bounded towards her, its third eye glowing sinisterly. Remembering what happened the last time she gazed upon it, Rena shut her eyes and called again to the spirits to guide her.
She felt their pull, heard their frightened words, and she moved. She felt the monster's attacks cut through the air where she stood moments before. And then she moved again, and once more the deadly claws cut air. She continued this blind dance, her mind spinning with plans.
I have to get Lua! But I can't help her as long as the suchwiin is attacking me. And if I look at it, it will put me in that hypnotic state again. It may not have killed me last time, but surely it won't waste the chance if it gets me again…
Rena had to figure something out fast. She couldn't rely on her sight to fight this creature. Fortunately, the spirits were aiding her in her evasions, but she couldn't accurately attack back. But she wanted to break the spell on Lua. And then she remembered: the spirits were what broke the spell on her, so…
"Please… help Lua," she begged them. She heard their terrified protests. If they left her to help Lua, she wouldn't have their guidance and would have to open her eyes to fight the suchwiin. But if she looked at the monster, it would hypnotize her and then kill her when she was defenseless.
But Rena had a plan, so again she begged, "Please, jag-eun geosdeul…" She sensed their hesitation, so she pleaded again. "Please… please…" Again and again she begged as she ducked and weaved around the monster's blows.
And then…
Nahmokkmokk…
Careful… They said. She offered a silent thank you and prepared for that empty feeling when they would leave her.
Just as she rolled under another swipe, it came. She could no longer hear their voices. They were gone. She snapped open her eyes to see the suchwiin's back to her.
She had the moment she needed. She leaped back and prepared an arrow. As the creature spun around to face her, she began channeling mana into the projectile. While the spirits allowed her to use powerful, wind-based spells, she was still capable of using mana to generate her own small windstorms.
The suchwiin barreled towards her, but she didn't move. Her attention was focused on the third eye in its head. She waited, and waited, and waited…
And then the eye shimmered. The monster was preparing its hypnosis. It was now that Rena loosed her empowered arrow, and it screamed through the air, the winds inside screeching through the shaft as it flew. The arrow struck the beast just above its eye, but it didn't falter in its charge and the eye continued to glow brighter.
But Rena smirked. She didn't need to hit the eye directly, only shoot as close to it as possible.
The arrow then exploded. It wasn't a large, spectacular detonation, but it was big to engulf the suchwiin's eye and throw shards of her projectile into it.
The monster roared painfully and stumbled over its feet, its momentum carrying it towards the elf. Rena now leaped out of the way and ran towards her friend, knowing that the monster wouldn't be down for long.
Fortunately, in the time it took for her to disable the creature the spirits had freed Lua from the suchwiin's spell. Lua gasped awake the moment Rena got to her side. "Lua! Come on! We have to run!" Rena shook her friend to urge her to move.
"R-Rena? What happened?" Lua coughed. The last thing she remembered was seeing the suchwiin before she fell under its spell.
Rena shook her again. "I'll explain later. We have to run!" Lua looked at her friend, noticing the sweat soaking her face and the desperation in her eyes.
And the menacing shape right behind her. "Rena!" Lua grabbed her friend and pulled her down on top of her just in time to spare her from being cleaved by the monster's claws.
But now they were prone on the ground, and Rena could feel the spirits' exhaustion. Between freeing both of them, aiding Rena and casting that spell from earlier they couldn't assist the elves further without risking their own lives. So Rena and Lua prepared themselves for the inevitable moment when they'd be impaled.
But it never came. Daring a glance, Rena saw the suchwiin standing over them, its third eye shut tightly from her previous attack. It snarled and paced slowly around them as though waiting for something to happen. What it was Rena didn't know.
But Lua knew; it was here for her. It wanted to kill Rena for getting in its way, but it couldn't risk harming its target. So as long as Rena was on top of her, both were safe. Rena wouldn't be killed due to the risk of harming Lua, and Lua was safe from being taken because Rena wouldn't allow it to happen.
But it was still there, and there was no guarantee it would stand idly waiting for them to separate. She could already see it clawing gashes in the forest floor anxiously. It would attack again soon, regardless if they were together or not.
She had to do something, anything to-
"Lua, I have a plan." Rena beat her to it. "We need to buy time for the spirits to recover. If I can conjure one or two more spells, we should be able t-"
"Rena! The children are exhausted!" Lua saw the spirits hanging in the air, their glow distinctly dimmer than usual. "You can't keep using them like this! They'll die!"
"I won't let it come to that. You know me, Lua." Rena shot back. Lua flinched slightly at the pointedness of her retort. "I just need a couple of spells. Only one or two and then I think it will be stunned enough for us to escape."
Lua stole a glance at the monster. It was now inching closer. They didn't have any more time. She had to send her away.
Now.
"Rena… leave me…" She knew Rena wouldn't stand for this, but she couldn't risk her friend or the spirits getting hurt trying to protect her.
Rena looked at her stunned. "Lua… No. No. No. No! I told you, if I leave you, you won't be here when I get back!"
Lua had to tell her. Tell her that the suchwiin was here for her. "Rena, listen to me-"
"Ani!" Rena interrupted. "You listen to me! We're going to make it out of here together and then go on our adventure, understand!?" Rena eyes betrayed her desperation. Lua hated that she brought up their promise now of all times. It was the most convenient and effective way to shut her up, and she was unable to form a retort.
So she gripped her friend's hands tightly and did the only thing she could manage: beg. "Please… Rena… please… I'm… I'm not…" How those dark thoughts churned in her mind now. The envy making way for the self-loathing, followed by hatred for the ancient customs which led to self-reprimanding, which fed back into the self-loathing; a terrible cycle of self-directed hatred. The suchwiin sniffed the air hungrily, as though it could smell the elf's inner struggle.
Rena shook her head defiantly, oblivious to her friend's dilemma. "Don't even think I'm leaving you, Lua. All I need is five minutes. Five minutes and I promise the children and I will get us all out of this!" With that, she pushed off Lua and broke away from her without sparing Lua a chance to argue.
The monster roared and leapt at the elf. "Five minutes, Lua!" Rena shouted as he dove under the suchwiin's claw. "Buy me five minutes!"
Lua looked on at her friend desperately trying to fight off the monster. Rena gave Lua no choice. If she did nothing, Rena would be killed. If she helped, Rena and the spirits would be at risk from prolonging the fight.
Didn't Rena understand that she was trying to save her and the spirits!? Why must she be such a good friend; and to a wretched person like herself!? She was to be taken because she betrayed the values of elven kind! Why was Rena trying so hard for her sake!?
"Jenjang!" Lua cried as she nocked and fired an arrow into the beast's back. This stopped the creature's next attack on Rena and it turned to face the new aggressor. It looked surprised, as if none of its victims had ever considered fighting it before.
"Where are you looking!?" Rena shot another arrow into its arm. "Over here!" Their arrows didn't seem to be doing much to the creature, but it was dividing its attention between the two of them.
The monster kept its focus on Rena in the ensuing fight, but the constant harassment from Lua would slow it down or distract it enough to allow the other elf a brief reprieve; and how hard Rena fought. She leaped over the monster's low sweeps and fired a couple arrows into its exposed back before pushing off a platform of wind conjured by the weakened spirits to avoid the reprisal. She rolled and flipped away from the beast's higher blows and fired more arrows at its face to force a halt to a follow up. The suchwiin continued its assault despite the many arrows in its flesh, but it seemed to only annoy it, as the projectiles only drew tiny tendrils of black blood
Lua's anxiety grew and grew with each passing second. Even with the two of them coordinating, they were losing this confrontation. She could tell that the suchwiin was getting more and more aggressive. It was quickly learning to ignore Lua's attacks and stay focused on Rena. It was incorporating feints into its attacks, forcing Rena to readjust her footing before striking while she was off balance. It would use its size and reach to attack from multiple angles in quick succession, barely allowing the elf room to evade. It even snapped at her face a couple times with its terrifying jaws when the opportunity allowed. It had only been a couple of minutes, and Rena was now on the defense. The beast spared her no moment to break away or fire arrows at it. Trying any of her martial arts would be suicidal against this creature.
Five minutes… Lua thought. Rena wasn't going to last another one. She had to do something.
Anything.
Her choices became suddenly limited when the suchwiin struck Rena with its tail after she overcommitted to a jump. Rena was thrown to the ground, clearly stunned from the impact. Rena conjured a desperate blast of wind with the spirit's aid to stop the monster's subsequent charge, but only forced it back a few steps. The spirits, now completely exhausted, fell to the ground around her, their light nearly gone.
The creature had won. Rena's desperate plan to save her had failed. And unless Lua did something, she would have to watch as this monster murdered her friend in front of her. All her training amounted to nothing here. All that time at the range, sprinting through the branches, sneaking up on the wildlife; nothing. The only thing she could do was scream.
"NO!" Lua sprinted between them and faced the suchwiin. This was all she could do. To save her friend, to save the spirits, she had to do this. The monster stopped its charge and let out a frustrated half-bark.
"Lua…? What are you-" Rena looked on in disbelief. The moment Lua came between them the suchwiin stopped attacking. With the fight now suspended, her mind picked this moment to recall a particular detail from the fight: the suchwiin had, for the most part, ignored Lua. It only tried to kill her, but it never turned its aggression towards Lua.
The logical part of her brain started to put two and two together. When she was freed from the suchwiin's hypnosis she saw the beast trying to take Lua away. And when the two of them were on top of each other the monster would not attack them. Considering all this, could the reason they were attacked was because…?
She refused to believe it.
Lua now spoke to the monster, ignoring her friend behind her "I know why you've come. It's for me, isn't it?" The monster lowered its posture and stalked closer, growling as if in answer. Those words hung in Rena's ears long after they were carried away by the breeze.
Rena couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way Lua was the intended prey! She wasn't hateful, she wasn't envious, she wasn't angry!
She wasn't meant to be taken!
"Lua…" Rena reached for her friend's hand. If she could just grab it, they could run away together. She just had to grasp her hand!
But Lua silently pulled it away and began walking towards the monster.
Rena's desperation began to boil over. "Lua!" She pushed herself to her feet. "Get away from there! It's dangerous!" She had to get her back to her side. If she didn't…
She did not want to think about what would happen. "The spirits will protect us!" Lua stopped walking the moment she said this. Now she had to get Lua back to her! "So come over here!"
An uncomfortable silence broken only by the suchwiin's rumbling breath followed. And then Lua turned slowly to face Rena.
With a sullen, desperate look in her eyes Lua said, "... What are you saying, Rena?" She shot glance at the ground around Rena's feet. "Those children can't help us."
Rena wouldn't take her eyes off Lua to see the spirits scattered around her. If she did, she was afraid when she looked back up Lua would be gone. "Look…" But Lua gestured for Rena to see what had become of the spirits. But still she refused. "They are all vanishing from lending you their power…" Finally, Rena turned her gaze downward. She saw the dim sprites lying weakly on the grass. She could see their light struggling to stay illuminated, but it was all they could manage.
They were dying. And it was her fault, because she had used their powers over and over again to try to protect her friend.
The sound of steps drew her attention up again. The suchwiin was stalking closer to Lua and wrapping one of its claws around her waist. And she was just standing there!
Did Lua want to be taken!? Rena forced her thoughts to stop there. She couldn't believe them. This had to be a mistake, an unfortunate turn of events.
Her knees buckled from the weight of exhaustion and bewilderment. The spirits around Rena reached out to her, but whether it was out of concern or desperation she couldn't tell. Their voices were so quiet.
She looked to her friend, then to the children. Then back again. And down again. She was on the verge of losing not just her friend, but also the spirits that she loved so.
However, her dilemma was of little consequence to the monster and Lua, as they turned and began to leave. Rena tried to voice a plea, but no words came.
Not like this… a voice whimpered in her head. She didn't want things to end like this. If ever they were part ways, she didn't want it to happen like this.
Without a word of farewell. Or an embrace.
Just…
Gone…
Gone…
Gone…
"NO!"
If you have watched/read Rena's official webtoon, the last bit at the end of this chapter should be quite familiar. Basically what I aim to do with this story is provide the whole story (unofficial story, of course) of that fateful event. Now again, these events take place in MY version of Elrios, not the official canon. My telling is based on the canon, but I intend to take it down a much different path than it has been taken officially.
Now for the translations!
suchwiin - Taker/Takers (You know this from the previous chapter)
eolin-i - Child/Little one (Also from the previous chapter)
jag-eun geosdeul - Little ones (I think this a plural form of the above? An affectionate term for many spirits, as opposed to just one)
Ani - No (How else do I describe it? Rena got desperate enough to use a native no than the common no)
Jenjang - Damn it (Another elven curse)
We also do have another spirit word, but that is already translated in the story. Now, if you still want to know more about the suchwiin, you are going to have to wait until the next, and final, update of this story. I promise it will all be explained soon. In the meantime, please Read and Review.
Until next time!