Damien finally woke up as the night sky had begun to recede. He'd never really gotten used to how long nights were here on Eleria so even though everyone around him was used to sleeping for around ten hours, he always found it hard to go past eight and mostly woke before the sun had risen.

He'd worried earlier that staying awake for so long in between rests would negatively affect him, but with his enhanced constitution it wasn't even a factor anymore. When he was younger, he'd needed naps throughout the day but now, as long as he slept longer than six hours a night, he was fine. The fact that he could stay awake for a full day on Earth and sleep only six or seven hours was already insane to him.

Not that he did that. He typically aimed for twenty-two on and eight off. The days were long enough as is.

It had been a week since they'd returned from the Dungeon and nothing had drastically changed except Alexa's attitude.

She'd begun waking up early with Damien.

He no longer had to fight to get out of bed. He would simply scratch at her wings and they'd open up, letting him out of his nightly prison. She had become much more serious about their training as well, teaching him better ways to control and visualize what he wanted his mana to do.

What had finally got her mindset to change was painful, but for the waking up and training... Damien would almost believe the Dungeon crawl trauma was worth those perks alone.

That was how today had begun: Damien scratching at Alexa's wings and her letting him out.

He'd tried to convince her to leave his head uncovered but she'd complained about how cold it got at night, and he relented. It was really chilly this time of year. The first few months of the new year always were on the cold side. They didn't get snow at the base of the mountain range, but he could see the mountains were covered in it whenever he went outside.

Damien sat up on his wing bed and stretched, yawning awkwardly and holding his hands far above his head. Alexa joined him without making the noise and while still laying down, moving her legs about under the covers. She'd started doing this morning stretch with him two days ago after he'd bugged her to try it, considering she was getting out of bed at the same time as he. Needless to say, she'd found it enjoyable as well.

One of these days he'd get her to make the weird squeaking noises with him as well. She seemed too embarrassed to partake in that so far, though.

Damien rotated his body to the side and scooted to the edge of the bed, setting his feet on the cold floor. He stood up and turned around, grabbing Alexa's wings and dragging her to the side of the bed where she looked up at him perturbed. Or at least, where she pretended to be. He'd known for a while she didn't mind the feeling of being pulled around by her wings. Apparently, it wasn't any more uncomfortable than if he pulled her by the hand, less so actually. A Celestial's wings were a lot thicker and sturdier than an arm and could also be used as an impromptu club. He'd learned that painful lesson recently.

She stopped staring up at him and sighed, flipping herself around to hop off the bed. They set into the starting stance of the forms next to each other and began moving.

This had become their morning routine for the week once Alexa had started taking training seriously, and Damien was happy to have the company.

Neither spoke though; it was still way too early in the morning for that.

As they moved through the forms, the two carried the element they preferred instead of mana through the air.

For Alexa, it was water. He'd thought that was strange and asked why she'd switched from fire and she explained that the Dungeon had opened her eyes. The fact that she couldn't use fire inside it without there being a considerable drawback was deterrent to continuing with the element.

Ultimately, this lead to her choosing to alter her path. She'd decided on water because it was the most similar to fire in the way it flowed, making it the smoothest transition.

Damien had chosen air to work with during the forms. He practiced with lightning mainly outside of the forms, but it was far more feasible for him to utilize air. Just as Alexa used natural water to practice with, he was using the air all around him, molding it to what he wanted to do.

That was the ultimate deterrent of lightning, Damien had found. Whereas he was limited by the element and amount of mana he could expand outward when imposing his will upon a naturally formed element, he was drastically limited when creating it from mana itself. Not limited in his control of it, but in the amount he could create before he'd overtax himself, never even reaching the threshold of what he was able to control naturally.

When he created, he'd use the mana he had influence over inside his body, refining it into the element he wanted. After that he'd expel it from his body as it took shape. He could create a gallon of water and manipulate it almost all day long if he wanted, but if he tried to go beyond that and create a lake, his mana would run out. When that happened, if he continued trying to draw from his empty reserves to create, his body would begin to draw in foreign mana from his surroundings to supplement his lacking mana and keep up the output of water. The water would be created, but the ambient mana would start to break down his body, unable to process it fast enough into something he could use safely. If even after that painful experience he kept going, he'd either pass out or die.

Most died and those that didn't had damaged their insides beyond repair, never able to convert the ambient mana back into something they could use ever again.

But, the upside to creating something out of his mana was that it was made from his specifically. If he didn't stop concentrating on maintaining it and it stayed within a range away from his body that he could handle, he was able control it as freely as he wanted for hours. It would take a lot of mana to create a solid element, but only a little to maintain it, whereas it was the opposite for something like lightning or fire. Once he let it go of control though, the creation born from mana would break down. It took longer for solids to disappear on average, depending on size, but whether it was flame or rock he could not turn it back into mana.

The fickle substance was non-recyclable.

Lightning was no exception to this. Creating his own source of electricity out of mana was taxing. Not as much so as one with substance like water or earth, but still more than light or fire. However, keeping it in existence when he created it was a completely different ball game. That required him to not only keep it from grounding out on anything, which was near impossible with his level of control currently, but to also continue to fuel its existence with a moderate amount of mana.

At best, he could keep it in an empty room, unmoving, and suspended away from his body. If he let it get too close to the walls or Alexa, it would arc out of his control and disappear down and away almost instantly, much too fast for him to regain control.

Leaving a part of his body coated in electricity was easier. He could keep a much stricter watch on it since it was physically on him, close, with the simplest when on a hand or his head. Unfortunately, that didn't help him learn fine manipulation and control when going through the forms.

Using the air all around him was easily the best choice. Those who chose to manipulate air never ran into the fear of overtaxing their creation limits. Air was everywhere, always present. The struggle with air became not creating but managing and knowing how to utilize the element. Folks in this era didn't understand how or why wind was created, so those who hadn't communed weren't able to get much more than a gust of wind they'd experienced personally.

Due to the lack of knowledge of how to improve the strength of air and the danger communing presented, there currently wasn't anyone who practiced this element as a True Mage. Or at least, none known of. It was seen as a fools element, a tool to be used for practice like Damien was currently doing and nothing more.

He was determined to show them just how wrong they were.

Fire was the second easiest to create out of the elements behind light, but much harder to keep up due to its volatile nature. It didn't require actual physical substance, only fuel, so the mana needed to put into its creation was substantially lower. A mage would use mana to create it out of almost nothing. The drawback was requiring a much higher upkeep than a solid substance. If someone could create ten gallons of water at best and keep it in control for five hours, they could similarly create a flame for the same initial cost almost a hundred times larger but only keep it up for a few moments, dependant on their skill being even between the two elements.

Being able to and actually doing were two completely different things. He had read stories of mages trying to create huge infernos in an instant and read their obituaries on the next page. They had been unable to cut the draw of mana off in time and were immediately overtaxed, dead before a minute had passed.

Knowing your limits was crucial.

Flames that were present and burning on another substance were easy to control as well, like mana fire. A fire manipulator was ultimately limited by the amount they could control, for how long they could control it, and how intensely they could burn their flame during that time. Just like the more they had, the hotter a mage made it, the more mana it cost.

He'd learned all of this through questioning Vanessa and Garrett while also testing it on his own. It was obvious he was going to have trouble getting lightning where he wanted it in the future, but the payoff would be huge. He wasn't willing to give it up just yet. Until then, he'd practice air and the easiest ways to create electricity.

He'd often wished he could have a massive stroke of luck, running across something that generated a charge...

Damien and Alexa moved through the forms without a word until they both finished two instances of it. Once done warming up their bodies, they moved downstairs to eat.

Hurrying downstairs with a spring in his step, Damien looked around for Garrett, a question burning in his mind since he'd thought of it. Finding him in the shop, he immediately walked up to the man to get his attention off whatever contraption he was working on.

"Good morning dad."

"Morning. You sleep alright?" The man sounded groggy, as usual around this time.

He wasn't one for mornings Damien had noticed.

"Slept fine, thanks. I uh... have a question."

"Of course you do. Why else do you come to me first thing in the morning?" Garrett said to him, not with malice but with a slight chuckle.

"Sorry I use you as an encyclopedia dad."

"A what?" Damien watched as Garrett tilted his head at a word he'd no doubt never heard before.

He really needed to watch what he said better.

"Nothing. So, my question. Why don't people just manipulate the air out of someone's lungs to kill them? Or manipulate water into them to drown them? Or... well any element for that matter? Why can't healers pull water out of a drowning person?" Damien asked, curiosity ringing through his voice.

He watched as Garrett put down the sword he'd been working on and turned to face his son, a questioning look on his face now.

"You're being especially morbid this morning, what brought this on?"

"I was just wondering why no one had said anything about it. It seems like that would be the quickest way to beat someone in a fight, why don't people do it?"

"Because they can't. Simple as that. No one really understands why, but manipulating something inside another person's body has never been done. You can pour ground inside someone's throat, but the fine control needed to do it makes it far easier to just shoot them in the chest with stone. If your target is already so subdued that you can finely manipulate the ground into their body, you have already won the fight. But, if you let go of control of that same dirt before you dissipate it and before your enemy has died, they can claim it before it goes away naturally and manipulate it back out. They could also fight you for control over it and since it is inside their own body, they would absolutely succeed.

On the other hand, if you try to pull air out of someone's body you will get nowhere. Some people believe it has been infused with their mana signature by being in their body for so long that you simply can't touch it. If you try to force your control over it, you will overtax your body so quickly you may not be able to stop in time before you die. It's something that has never been done before; everyone that has tried and pushed through their bodies warning signs has died."

Damien nodded along with a thoughtful expression, cringing out how horribly it would feel to have someone pour sand directly into your lungs. When Garrett finished, Damien began another line of questioning.

"Couldn't you just claim the air around your enemy with your mana and when he tries to inhale, not allow it inside his body to suffocate him that way?" Damien asked, getting a sigh out of Garrett.

"How are you thinking of these horrible... Yes, you could, but it would be easy to sense the mana in the air and rip your control away if you were too far from them, not to mention they could just burn you to a crisp while you fooled around with an air spell. You're better off manipulating two fire spells to get someone from hundreds of feet away than trying to suffocate an opponent who most likely won't need air for two or longer minutes. In those two minutes, he would pick you apart, assuming he and you were of the same skill level."

Damien nodded and sat on a chair while Garrett eyed him. Damien stared blankly back as he tried to work through the new information he'd just received. If this was all true, then while it was impractical, you still could do those things to other people, which was terrifying. He didn't know if torture was a thing in this world, but if it was, and as a war-torn world how could it not be, then that would definitely be how they went about it.

Unfortunately, that all meant he couldn't cause people to black out by pulling the air from their bodies and stopping them from breathing would be obvious. Fortunately, that also couldn't happen to him. He'd been terrified of the thought of some water mage controlling his blood or stomach liquids to wreak havoc inside himself. Luckily this was no longer something he had to worry about. Also, it left him at an advantage in the air element once again. People didn't know that the absence of air could be just as deadly as fire. If he created a vacuum around an area by creating an artificial barrier of high and low pressures to simultaneously pull air outside while keeping air from flowing back in, he could cause an oxygen deficiency in their body without them knowing anything. Sure, they could sense his mana tens of feet away, but how would that affect their bodies? And when he was stronger, able to manipulate air currents on the scale of a village...

Now, he was just curious about one thing Garrett had said.

"What did you mean by they could fight you for control?" Damien asked

"If mana is outside your body, it is possible for someone to overpower your control on an element based on who has a better understanding and higher quantity of mana. Here, I'll demonstrate. Can you make a ball of fire?" Garrett asked, motioning for Damien to take a step back.

Damien nodded and created a small ball of fire above his palm. The moment it stabilized, he felt a slightly warm sensation hovering inches above his hand.

Without warning, the fire began to burn his hand and disappeared from his mana sense, causing him to quickly pull it back while shaking it. The ball danced in the air for a few moments before traveling to Garrett's hand, who then closed his fingers around it and made it disappear entirely.

Damien's eyes widened while his jaw hung loose.

"The closer something is to your body, the easier it is to keep control of it. Unfortunately, if you don't pay attention, your mana creations and things you have control of can be swiped that fast. If it took a lot to create it, its harder for them to take, but still achievable. This time, I'll let you feel my mana coming. Try to keep hold of the flame."

Damien nodded and produced another ball, eager to put his mind to the test. When he felt Garrett's mana begin to wash over his hand, he didn't know what to expect. Last time he didn't sense it at all, only instantly losing the fire. This time, he could feel the mana prodding around at the fire and his hand.

Suddenly, it started to try and seep into the flame, attempting to pull it away from Damien. Concentrating, he kept it at bay, using his own mana to block it out and keep it the flame safe.

Garrett nodded to him and increased the mana he'd sent, applying a much heavier pressure on the flame in his hand. It felt like someone had put a bag of sand around his hand, crushing it inward from all directions but not at all painfully.

After another few seconds, the weight disappeared and Damien smiled to himself, excited he'd been able to keep Garrett out, only to have a tsunami of mana slam into his entire body and immediately rip control of the flame out of his hand like it was never his to begin with.

Damien took an unsteady step back with his eyes wide as Garrett let out a laugh, walking over and patting his son's shoulder.

"You did well! Much better than I thought. You have a lot of talent. Unfortunately, your old man doesn't need that talent to beat you at this game," Garrett said, smiling.

Damien took a deep breath, still overwhelmed by the wave of mana. It had felt like wind, whipping past his skin but not ruffling a single strand of hair on his head.

"Why didn't I sense your mana the first time?" Damien asked.

"You probably weren't looking," Garrett stated plainly. "And, I did it quick. It only takes an instant to take charge of someone elses creation if they aren't protecting it. If the foreign creation is inside your body, such as a spike protruding from your arm or leg, it becomes almost impossible, even for children, to keep it in control. Your opponent will lose of it the moment it goes inside and you cut them off. But that is only if you have any capabilities left in your mana veins to cut them off, that is. If not, your life is in their hands, able to move that spike around however they wish. But still, gaining control of anything that has already been infused with someone elses mana inside their body is not to be attempted. Do not try it, ever," Garrett finished, conveying every word of the last part as seriously as he could.

Damien nodded and once again went into thought. All of this should mean it was impossible for anyone to fight him for control of lightning and maybe even air. A good prospect, given they were arguably the two most potent elements he held.

When Damien refocused on his surroundings and out of his thoughts, Garrett was eyeing him still.

"I understand," Damien said, nodding. "No touchy other peoples air."

Garrett eyed him for a second longer before nodding, resting his hand on Damien's hair to ruffle it before turning back to his workbench. He picked up a strange circular object and seemed to be concentrating on it intently.

If Damien didn't know he was infusing it with mana, he'd be concerned with the expression the older man held.

Damien looked around for a moment and then walked to the kitchen, planning to join Alexa for breakfast. Upon entering, he noticed she wasn't present and his plate of food had gone cold. Damien walked to his food and picked it up, carrying it out of the kitchen into their backyard where he saw Alexa moving through the forms again, waiting for their sparring session.

Their backyard was rather large. It was covered in grass and slightly uneven, but for the most part it was perfect for sparring and other exercises. The only part that was not people friendly were the thorn bushes that were planted on the eastern side of the yard.

The grass wrapped around the property, ten feet wide at its thinnest points on the western and southern sides, and fifty feet wide at its thickest. Their house was entirely fenced off with tall, thick wooden posts, blocking all prying eyes. Where one could argue Damien should be able to use mana without being wary, he still only practiced it so obviously indoors.

Their sparring wasn't a place for mana though. Damien had introduced the idea to Alexa in an effort to try and normalize the pain and heightened levels of anxiety in battle, while trying to improve her self defense in a physical altercation. Maybe she wouldn't use it in her life, but there was always the chance she did use it if someone ever got close to her during a fight.

The first day had been horrible. Damien had felt like he was just bullying the Celestial and had suggested they stop after she had incurred multiple bruises and scrapes from being thrown around. Alexa declined the offer, healed her wounds, and kept at it until Damien decided she was too tired to continue.

The next day had been completely different. She had gotten thrown about in their first match, but came at him with ingenuity in their next. Damien had tried to go for his standard opening to get inside her slightly longer range when she'd completely blindsided him and hit him in the temple with her right wing. While he was slightly disoriented she'd immediately grabbed his left side and rolled backward, throwing him hard into their wooden fence, panting harder than she should have for those two moves. The adrenaline and embarrassment from him destroying her the day prior and their first match that day seemed to have taken its toll.

From then onward, Damien was on the defense in their spars and had more than once needed to be healed before they could continue. Alexa still flinched back from pain but not nearly as much as she had initially and had taken to using her wings as shields and mauls.

It was like fighting someone with four arms. Damien had much more experience fighting, but the advantage Alexa had in height, weight, reach, and bonus appendages proved difficult to overcome, but not impossible. His win count was still higher than hers but not by much. She was rapidly improving, turning from someone he usually worried about hurting into a threat.

'I hope I'm not creating a monster by doing this,' he thought to himself, smiling while sitting down on their back steps.

Alexa stopped and looked up as Damien walked outside.

"Ah, I still have to eat breakfast," he said, motioning for her to continue.

Alexa nodded and continued.

Damien watched on as she began the forms once again.

She was getting very smooth in her execution. Each time she went through it looked almost identical to the last and if she practiced in the same spot for over an hour he'd start to see indentations in the grass where her feet would fall recurrently. She enjoyed practicing methodically like this, keeping her core movements the same while only varying the way she manipulated the water around her body.

It was beautiful. The water glistening in the sunlight, her pure white hair flowing through a gentle breeze, her contrasting intense red eyes, and her serious gaze all danced in what seemed like a perfectly executed waltz and was mesmerizing.

It was moments like this that really drove home the difference between Earth and Eleria. In no place on Earth could he have so casually observed a scene like this. It would have taken special effects, CG, makeup artists, and thousands of dollars whereas this was just another day of the week here.

While he was eating and watching the masterfully displayed art of dance that was happening in front of him, Garrett came out of the house and sat down next to him. Once Alexa finished and walked next to Damien, he spoke to the two.

"Emily and I are going to be leaving for an hour, two at most. While we are gone, please don't leave the house, alright?"

"Can we stay out in the backyard?" Damien asked.

It would be a shame if they couldn't spar. It was helping him get used to his strength in a way that regular moving around couldn't.

"That's fine, but don't leave our grounds. If you need anything urgently, break this and speak into the magic," Garrett said while handing him a brown sphere. "It's a simple messaging sphere I made earlier. Once you speak into it, break up the magic circle with your hand and the spell will send the words off to whomever the sphere is linked to. This one is linked to me. Keep it short though, most messages tend to fall apart if they are longer than a few sentences."

Damien nodded and took the sphere from his dad.

"Are you taking Jasper with you?" Damien asked.

The fox had stopped following him around a while ago now so he never really knew where it was. Ever since Alexa stole him as a sleeping partner, that is. Honestly, Damien didn't really see much of Jasper at all. He'd gotten older and spent most of his days hunting outside their house.

"No, he'll probably be in our bed or hunting somewhere. You know how he is," Garrett answered.

"Where are you guys going?" Alexa asked once they'd gotten quiet.

"To go see Vanessa. We have something to discuss. We'll tell you about it later. Until then, don't leave the grounds. Understood?"

"We won't," Alexa responded.

"Good, thank you," Garrett said, turning around to head back inside before stopping and looking back at Alexa. "Keep him out of trouble while we are gone. You're in charge," he finished, pointing at her.

With that Garrett went back inside. After a moment, Damien glanced at Alexa, who had a smug look on her face.

"Go get me water, slave," she immediately said.

Damien's hand shot out and poked her in the side, or he tried to. She dodged out of the way and grabbed onto his extended hand, pulling him into her body and rolling to the ground with him underneath her. Once she had him pinned under her knees, she continued her smug grin while looking down at him.

'I have created a monster,' Damien thought, sighing inwardly.

It felt strange to him, being taken down in that manner. He hadn't resisted, still full from eating, but when limply rolling around without fighting back Alexa tended to protect him from the ground with her wings. It was like rolling around inside a pillow, ending with him in the grass confused at how he'd ended up there.

"He said I'm in charge, you have to do what I say."

"Good luck getting me to be your..." Damien started, pausing.

'She said slave so casually. Almost as if...'

"Hey Lexi, are slaves... do people really have slaves?" He asked.

He hadn't left his house often and when he did it wasn't to any wealthy areas so he'd never seen any slaves before but... that didn't mean this world didn't have them.

"Yeah, there are slaves. My family employs a few, why?" She responded, staring down at him.

"Employs? If they're slaves, don't they work for free?"

She nodded.

"Yeah they work for free, but in return, they get food and lodging taken care of for them and are allowed to keep any extra money leftover from shopping for food. Our family even lets them have a day off once a week."

"Oh. I just... wouldn't it be better just to pay them as servants and let them have freedom?"

Owning slaves didn't really sit right with him, but it's not like he could do anything about it.

"We could and we do have servants, but slaves are more trustworthy because they are bound. If they lie or do anything likely to harm their master, they could die. So if your slave drops dead while serving you food, you know he poisoned it. Though, if the slave doesn't know it's poisoned, he won't die."

Damien looked at Alexa trying to come up with something else to say, eyebrows scrunched together, but ultimately decided to let the matter go.

People had slaves. Another thing he'd have to get used to.

His arms were starting to get sore. Her knees were boney.

"Slaves aren't mistreated, you know?" She stated.

He must have been showing some discomfort at the idea.

"Most are taken care of well. What else are we supposed to do with prisoners of war anyway? We could kill them all but giving them a second life and having them contribute works better with the non-violent ones, though most are still killed. Is it really so shocking?"

He looked at her and shrugged, or tried to. It wasn't really that shocking, just...

"It's... weird. I don't exactly... like the idea. What if some bandits were to capture you and enslave you? Wouldn't you be forced to do... whatever they wanted you to? That's disgusting. And killing all the prisoners..."

"That's just how it is. 'It's war,' my dad always says. Most slaves are treated well, but I've overheard my mom talking to my dad about men that get slaves for that purpose. They rarely ever get caught and hung for it though..." she finished, looking a little angrier than before.

Damien simply nodded at that. At least people were punished for rape here. If it were widely accepted... well, it probably still is among the more disgusting people of power.

"Are you going to get off me?" He asked.

His arms were definitely starting to hurt now.

She looked down at him and jabbed him in the ribs with her finger, causing him to wince.

"Doesn't feel too good does it?" She said mockingly.

"I don't poke you that hard. You probably left a bruise, you brute."

Saying that, Damien pushed his feet into the ground and bucked his body while she processed his words, causing her to lose her balance from where she sat on his stomach and fall forward, rapidly approaching his face.

But who was he if not a master of avoiding cliched situations.

He hastily turned his head to the side and closed his eyes while Alexa fell closer to him, laughing at the fates for trying something so obvious.

Vanessa, sure. He'd not mind that. The moments she pecked him were always welcome.

Alexa, like his parents though, he felt weird about. She'd done it once and he'd forbidden her from ever doing it again. It was weird. He didn't know what the hell it was with the people of this world seeing it so normal to kiss family members on the lips but he didn't like it one bit, no matter how much he tried to accept it.

Expecting an impact but not feeling one, Damien opened his eyes to see an arm on the ground, like a pillar holding up a structure.

Alexa had caught herself.

Obviously. Why would someone just let themselves fall on top of somebody?

He turned his head back to look at the girl and she kissed him right as he looked up at her.

His mind went blank. The girl had another smug look on her face.

"I'm in charge and I say you have to let me kiss you and not only Vanessa. I'm your favorite. If you don't let me I'll make you sleep on the floor."

Saying such, the girl looked down at Damien while he processed what had just occurred. He narrowed his eyes in a glare at her, then threw his face onto her thigh just above her knee and bit down hard while thrashing about with his body.

The girl screamed out and tried to jump away before his teeth clenched but she was late and left with a painful red indent on her leg.

He shot up from the ground and distanced himself from the girl. Why the people in this world were so weird and couldn't just leave him alone about it, he'd never know. He didn't want to know, he just wanted them to stop freaking kissing him.

Well, it was partly his fault though. If that were truly the case he should have long ago stopped Vanessa from kissing him as well.

He sighed and resolved himself to stop it in the future.

'Alas, the fate of us more fortunate,' he thought.

Damien wiped at his mouth with his arm and glared at Alexa who glared back. He lifted an arm and pointed it at her, then made a beckoning motion toward himself with his hand. Damien had always wanted to do that, emulating Keanu Reeves, and he finally got his chance.

Their sparring began in earnest.

He watched as the two parents left the house. If ever there was going to be a time to make the grab, it was now.

Standing, the Human turned to leave from the window he'd been looking out. Lucky, that one of the nearby houses had no inhabitant at the moment.

As he turned, a dagger found its way under his chin and through the roof of his mouth.

The scout watched as the Human rapidly transformed back into a Hellial.

Similar to a Celestial but different in many ways. Wings adorned the corpses back, blackness overwhelming the white as if alluding to the fact that it was a tainted being. The disgusting, warmongering species currently plaguing Eleria.

The scout spat on the corpse before burning it to ash. It would not do for the common populace to learn these vile creatures were back. They'd done a sweep of the town earlier and found several of them scattered around, hidden in plain sight with illusion magic. They'd no doubt find more if they searched the mountains, but their job was to protect, not to hunt.

He pulled a sphere out of his pocket and crushed it to signify this sector was finally clear, then dissolved into motes of light.