A/N: I got to thank Sei for helping me to write both of these chapters and Aes for his proofreading. Without these two people, it would've taken me at least two more weeks to update. See you in February for chapter 5!

~Kalafinn


Once they were out of the fortress, they were quickly on their way to the tree of El, guided by Elsword. Ainchase glanced at the demoness and quickly thought of a way to get rid of her for the mission. He refused to let a demon even get close to the El, specially under the circumstances their mission implied.

"Ciel, I don't think it would be wise to go with Lu. We're not doing small repairs anymore, and we might face bandits this time. It's a bit dangerous for a child like her."

He felt the white-haired demon glare at him from behind. He glanced at her and saw her pout and look at the other members.

"I can run pretty fast. If it gets dangerous, I can hide. Just like I did when the bad blue beast was around. Ciel can look after me, right?"

The half-demon was surprised to see himself put under the others' scrutiny, but the man was shy, and he simply nodded. He assured them that he would always look after his cousin no matter what. While everyone knew that he had gun blades, no one had seen him use them before. Rena got her bow ready, Aisha took a last glance at her grimoire before taking only her staff with her while Elsword already had his sword on his back.

Every suspicious noise got them on high alert, but besides the animals and insects, no other humans but themselves were travelling on the sinuous dirt road that lead to the El. Since no one had objected against Lu's stay after Ciel's reassurance, the demoness smirked victoriously at the priest before continuing to talk with her servant. It annoyed him to know that his idea had not worked, but he would keep an eye on that vile creature, so she kept her claws far away from Ishmael's creation.

"Ain, I know you're a priest, but can you fight?" Elsword asked him. After some seconds of silence, he continued. "I'm saying it because we might be outnumbered, and I know I can't handle more than two men on my own."

Aisha sneered. "Oh, my. The red-haired dummy can actually say smart things! Too bad they're obvious and Ain passed his adventurer qualification using magic. He isn't as good at is as me, but I think he can fight just fine. I guess you don't notice anything once you're in that fort swinging your sword day and night for absolutely nothing."

Ainchase could not help but smirk at Aisha's ignorance. He could not use much of his power exactly because he did not want to be discovered. Although, that duchess had perhaps travelled around Elrios enough to have doubts about his nature. She could easily become a difficult problem to complete his mission. If she discovered that he was a Celestial, Ishmael would reprimand him for not accomplishing his mission without getting involved the lives of mortals.

'My goddess…I'll do my best so I can finish my mission. I will go visit one of your purest temples soon.'

Elsword glared at Aisha. "Shut up, petty mage."

"Well, make me! Go ahead, Elbrat!" Aisha stopped, blocking Rena's and Ciel's path. She crossed her arms and looked defiantly at Elsword. The boy had continued his way, but after a dozen of steps, he glanced at her and prepared to throw a punch at her. The mage swiftly evaded it and used her staff to make Elsword lose his balance and fall head first to the ground.

She giggled. "Not bad for a petty support mage, right? I hope that shows you and your recluse village that my genius ought to be respected. I'll let you know that I've reached the level of a first-class elemental mage and I deserve to be classified as such."

Elsword got up to continue his attack, but Rena quickly separated the two with the severity of a mother. "That's enough. We're losing time. Precious time we need to find the El. Ain, Ciel, please look after those two. I don't want to hear another peep from you two until we have gotten to the tree. Are we clear?"

The elf's voice had a sharp yet calm pace, like the whistle of an arrow aimed at its target; its menace was surreal, and her warning had called a short piercing breeze that scared the two brats into silence. However, the demoness could not let that altercation die. It was in her nature, so she approached Aisha.

"Aisha…"

The young mage looked at the white-haired girl, seeing in her smile nothing strange, until the kid began to speak.

"Elves are suuper good to detect magic, you know? I can tell who's a really, really good mage right away! With just two glances like this!"

Aisha widened her eyes but continued to listen to the girl and see her squint her eyes to see her worth as a mage. The mage got increasingly paler and rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand as the demon girl continued to stare at her. It was the first time Ainchase had seen the mage truly nervous about something. Demons could not perceive magic that was not of demonic origin, but the mere mention of someone else bluffing to know her worth put the young mage on the edge.

It was sickening to see the lengths demons would go to feed on fear.

"Aisha, you're–"

"I'm a genius magician, that's what I am." She harshly answered, visibly flustered by how terrifying Lu's sky-blue eyes had seemed. Almost like a predator's gaze.

The demoness grinned and nodded before going back to Ciel's side. The half-demon shook his head in disapproval and Ainchase saw her smile fade away. The priest only saw in this a poor attempt to continue to hide their nature, but soon enough everyone would see them for what they were and banish them back where they belonged.

As they approached the tree, the stench of rotting flesh froze everyone in place. It clung to the air around them and made it hard to breathe unless they wanted to inhale the utterly disgusting smell. Ishmael's agent tried to keep his face as placid as possible without gagging and making it obvious that he was holding his breath as the group trekked deeper through the marsh mass of trees and damp ground.

What was worrying though was the amount of decay increasing the closer they neared their destination. He thought it was only worry that made him think that the El's presence was seemingly getting weaker. It only turned his worry into alarm when he heard Rena speak.

"The forest spirits are dying… something is wrong with the El." came her quiet, worried whisper.

They covered their noses as best as they could, but they quickened their pace to reach their destination. Ainchase felt the strong presence of the El be disturbed by something. Then, he heard it. The weak voice of the goddess he had longed so much to hear finally rang with her soothing tone. It had a hint of worry in it, making his relief rather short-lived.

Ainchase. You must not let them disrupt the balance of things. The Shard must return where it is needed.

Of course, he would not let any petty criminals get away with their worthless schemes. The goddess's warning made him certain that the sudden decay in the forest was caused by the absence of El. They still had a chance, he wanted to believe that. Just as they were approaching the giant tree, they saw horses with the insignia of the El Search Party tied to a carriage along farming horses.

They hid to ambush the carriage and see exactly who was behind such a big theft. Elsword had not heard anyone talk about horses being stolen ever since he joined. In fact, he doubted mere bandits could manage to get past the walls of the fortress to steal something as big and valuable as three horses.

From the entrance of the tree, an imposing shadow appeared, carrying the shard as it coughed.

"Phew, this is really transforming into a grave. Let's get going boys."

"We have company, boss. Y'all need to give ma crew a thousand more. Or the deal's out."

The shadow stepped into the light with the shard, glaring to his surroundings before he unsheathed his sword with one hand and pointed it. Ainchase looked above him and saw the bandit, playing with a dagger. Once the bandit noticed him, Ain threw a light dagger that pierced the man's skull. The body fell with a thud that got the other bandits to jump to subdue the others. The group quickly dealt with them, but once Elsword saw who the leader was, the one that took the shard, he froze.

"Captain…. Captain, we're here to rescue you from the bandits' claws! You can leave the El with us, we'll-"

A guard from the El Search Party knocked the boy out with the pommel of his sword and nodded at the former captain. "Sorry, kiddo, but we retired from that miserable job. This is way more worth it."

The rogue knight whistled, calling more bandits to come. That way, he protected the caravan and Banthus from the group's reach. Rena made her arrows fly, killing some, but other bandits came from behind her, swinging wooden logs at them. One hit from those and they would die.

Elsword was still knocked out, and Lu would not let that poor excuse of a Knight Captain destroy the place she had finally been able to live in peacefully. Without much thought, she summoned her combat gauntlets as the others used everything in their power to defend the unconscious Elsword and make way to follow the caravan, which was growing smaller as it pursued the horizon.

The demoness shredded the poorly armed bandits and knocked the other knights over with her gauntlets. She would rather not kill people that had strong ties to the village. But even after the thirty bandits and the dozens of Party members were either dead or knocked out of combat, the carriage was still a small dot, losing itself in the middle of countless tree barks.

Luciela stopped, clenching her fists. She was out of breath and her sudden power outburst had again burdened Ciel. She could feel his pain. That acute burning over her back froze her in place.

Her gauntlets vanished, as she fell on her knees and wrapped her hands around her shoulders. It hurt. She hurt Ciel. It filled her with shame, and she could only lower her head in bitterness. Lu wanted to defend what she cherished but doing so would also hurt part of what she desired to protect.

It was a cruel dilemma, but she would have no way of reclaiming her throne if she made the wrong choice. Through her vision, blurred by tears, she saw the tree leaves grow yellow, slowly turning black. The corpses of the bandits also reeked, but no flies were around. It was a silent, terrifying death. Her blue eyes glared at the horizon that had swallowed the lowly thieves.

Mere thieves would not escape from her. And they would know how it felt when this terrifying death came to their doors. Just like she had seen it before. All those bandits would know how it felt when she took what they valued from their powerless hands.

'Lu…Let them go for now. The horses' trace won't vanish.' Her servant suggested through the silent bond that united their minds.

'Ciel, it's smelling like death already. Like that place…'

Luciela could not bring herself to even mention the other town they had fled from. It was a quiet place, embraced by the sea. She had loved it, with its salty summer breeze and bitter cold winters. But they had brought its demise with it. Would this village suffer the same fate? Of course, it would. All because she was still too weak to stop anyone from taking what she cherished.

She felt Ciel's comforting hand over her shoulder and she turned around towards the group. One of the two brats was injured, even bleeding. The elf and the mage were doing what they could to carry him back and Ciel was exhausted.

It was better to go back to the village. She had to dry her tears, erase any trace of weakness or else…what? She was still playing her role as a defenceless child; why would she ever think of not showing weakness? Luciela reminded herself to keep her pride in check. Acting tough now would raise a lot of suspicions. More than those that her relentless attack had caused.

The duchess sighed. One thing was acting like a reckless child and another one was being one. Her outburst was just a slip, an action caused by old emotions she had to keep in check. It was because of those same mistakes that she was betrayed. No more.

She had to stop thinking like that. If she did not plan her revenge carefully, her throne would be forever lost.

Ciel glanced worriedly at Lu, but he refrained to share his worries. This was not the moment to argue about that ruthlessness she had begun to let lose since they had fled from Fluone. His head was killing him, and Rena was already calling them back. He wanted to believe Lu's resolve to not get blinded by her rage, but this was the fourth time she had failed to keep that promise since they had made it here.

They had gone through a lot before coming here; he was used to it, but the same could not be said for Lu. It was perhaps just a matter of time until she could get over her rage. Her outbursts had grown rarer, so it was possible. Lu had not mentioned her revenge for months. He could only hope she would let all of that go and find what she really wanted, after living in Elrios. Maybe she would grow to appreciate it more than the realm where she had been betrayed.


In the middle of their way back Elsword came back to his senses, and although he was able to walk on his own, he was oddly aloof. Even when Aisha mocked him again, he barely reacted. Ciel noticed that the mage's smile faded when Elsword remained silent and contented himself to look blankly at the path ahead of them. Without a word, without an argument between the two kids, the group returned to Ruben in half the time it had taken them to get to the tree of El.

At the wooden entrance of the village, Lowe and some knights stood like guards waiting for them.

"You're back." Lowe's hard tone cut through Elsword's pensive gaze and the boy lost the strength to look forward. The man seemed annoyed and angered. Though he would probably grow even more angry when they told him the news about the stolen El.

"Yes. We are." Elsword muttered with a trembling voice. The boy took a step forward, hesitantly, yet he knew he had to inform Lowe about what happened.

"Hey Lowe…." he began, threading on thin ice "About the mission…." he gulped, nervously fidgeting with the handle of his weapon absentmindedly when Lowe's stern eyes shifted to look at him.

They softened for the briefest moment before they turned sharp once again. "I can only imagine what happened, Elsword. I ran a brief investigation around here. They had three of our horses, didn't they?" he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

He looked at the group of adventurers once more and saw Ain slowly approaching them from behind. Lowe thought that it was odd that the priest had not kept the group's pace, but now they were all there. The lieutenant ordered them to follow him back to the El Search Party's fortress and he now led the group through the village.

Ainchase looked around him and thanked his nature for allowing him to vanish for some time without anyone noticing. The villagers waved at them, but the stern look on everyone's faces soon dissuaded their welcoming greetings. Even Ainchase could not keep a fake smile on his face. He had fallen for the simplest, but unexpected traps. After that little impostor had collapsed to cry, he took it upon himself to follow the culprits and catch them. Yet, his plan was foiled by the lowest class of spirits he could think of: Phorus.

Those trickster spirits had slowly changed his perception and guided him through an unknown path until he came back here. It was frustrating, he was fuming at the thought that mere animal spirits could make a fool out of him. Yet, he had to admit that even the lowest of spirits had a strong influence in their forests. Ishmael's servant sighed as the gates of the fortress opened before the group.

He would not let those bandits go unpunished. They would know the goddess' judgement and would feel divine punishment take away everything from their hands for the greater good.

Ainchase shook his head and reminded himself that he should not look at it from that angle. Revenge was a twisted perception of retribution. One only petty humans and demons carried through. He was a Celestial, a servant of a goddess. He simply had to carry her will and not trouble his mind with anything else. If the goddess chose to punish the bandits, he would execute her sentence, but the priority was the El.

It was with this new goal in mind that he entered Lowe's office once more and closed the door behind him. He had not noticed when the other soldiers had gone away, but now only the lieutenant remained nearby.

Lowe informed them of the theft that some scouts had managed to pull no later than the crack of dawn. A few hours later, the troops Lowe sent out to cover all the paths leading both in and out of Ruben had heard the commotion and thundering of horses, pulling along a carriage as they ran. Their speed far too fast for the men to pursuit on foot alone and any projectiles seemed to be deflected by some kind of powerful magic. In the end, they had managed to get away.

Ain clenched his fists as he got the confirmation that the forest itself was on Banthus's side. It was absurd, but such things were bound to happen when the balance was disrupted. It was his duty alone to restore it.

Rena took out a grey leaf out of her skirt's pocket and showed it to Lowe. "This is what's happening to the forest. And it's spreading. Not even elven magic can revive it."

The lieutenant took the leaf and looked at it in detail, it was dead, but not rotten. It was an ashen colour that was slowly turning black. Ain closed his eyes, knowing all too well that the village was now in imminent danger.

He honestly didn't want to think about it, the lost crops, the famine, then… the image of the once beautiful forest completely withering away stayed in his mind. If it lasted long enough, not even the corpses would be left behind. It would all turn to black, like a coffin. No light would ever return the life to this village, this forest. Everything would go back to the same oppressing darkness he had been kept in for so long…

His mission might take too much time, it was impossible to know for certain. Yet he had to think of a way to not be reminded of that world. Ainchase could not let the cold darkness from Henir's world invade Elrios.

Aisha had begun to speak, trying to put her knowledge of elemental magic to work, but Rena's wisdom soon made her realize that using nature magic might only accelerate the decay. Everyone was still thinking of an alternative to save the village.

"Perhaps we can get a temporary source of El…" he starts, cutting the thoughts of everyone around him and making Lowe squint at him in disbelief. "Using the shards of old equipment, for example." The priest added.

"You can't just replace the El, even if it's temporary." Lowe hissed, eyes narrowing like he was saying the most absurd thing in the universe. That garnered a spark of annoyance from the priest. Ainchase could never get used to humanity's narrow-mindedness to brilliant alternatives.

"I am not saying that my plan will save the forest, but it will surely help the fields and the crops survive. If we do not try anything, what will we eat during the winter?" he asked, a cold bite tinged his tone. He now had everyone's attention even if Lowe still had some disbelief in his gaze.

"Lieutenant, we don't have any other source, and the time to think is running out. Summer is coming to an end now and I am fairly certain that a lot of farmers are preparing for the harvest. Neither Miss. Elf nor the Mage have come up with better alternatives, isn't that so? I must insist, lieutenant: consider my solution unless you have another plan hidden from us. In which case, I think we would all like to hear it now." he finished, crossing his arms and waiting expectantly for a reply.

Lowe opened his mouth for a reply, before shutting it and instead just glared at the priest, feeling his pride wounded. Yet he had to admit that the priest had a point. The safety of everyone was more important than his pride. Lowe took a deep breath and resigned himself to the plan.

"Fine. We'll go with that plan," he muttered in a low voice, glancing at everyone. "all of you look for any shard of El that you can find. Collect them and we'll try Ainchase's suggestion. Ask Ann if you need more help. I'll let some of my blacksmiths to help you to extract the El from the broken weapons we might still have around."

The El shard harvest had proven to be more bountiful than what Ainchase had expected. With nine hundred shards, they could ensure the complete safety of all the farms and beyond. In theory. The month of September flew by without any changes to the crops. However, once the wheat harvest came by with the second week of october, all the theory Ainchase knew was crumbling.

Only half of the usual production came by and some farmers came to them, showing the strange sickness that had made their crops die. Ashen wheat. The corruption was barely being contained by the shards, which were slowly turning mauve. The priest frowned at the shard he had been given. It was their third meeting with Lowe and the news could not be more dire.

"The El is getting affected as well by the decay." he coldly stated.

"Then, you will immediately leave and find Banthus. All of you. Take some provisions and some El Shards. The survival of the village is on your shoulders."

Elsword looked worriedly at his superior. "Hey, Lowe..."

The man looked sternly at him, reminding him that this was not the time for treating him like a friend.

"Excuse me…Captain." the boy could not get used to call him that. Banthus's betrayal still haunted his young mind. "I was wondering if we could come back here sometimes to bring you the bandits' gear and information when we could...Sir."

The new captain huffed as a smirk crawled on his face. "Of course, private. I said that the survival rests on your shoulders, didn't I? I expect no less from a good recruit like you. Have a safe journey, adventurers. You are dismissed."

When they finally left the fortress, the group began to slowly disband as they went to search for some of their belongings. Elsword however, had not moved. Ainchase approached him and saw the boy smile as he looked at his sword. It had been roughly two months since the boy had smiled like that.

"You look better than before, Elsword." the priest said, making the boy look at him.

"You bet, Ain! Lowe is trusting me more than ever, despite what happened back then. We can't let him down, can we? He's our friend!"

Ain nodded and left the boy to his silent pride. He walked back to the village and thought about Ishmael.

He could not let her down. If he did, she might never answer him again.

My goddess, I'm never going to forget my mission. Please be patient as you are with the humans of this realm.

No answer.

More reasons to hurry.