Purity Forest, three hundred and twenty years ago…

In truth, were it not for the dying words of Ser Galeas el Verde and the map he had given to me, I wouldn’t have come to this place once held sacred by the elves and humans of old.

But, I did! Mister Galeas is a dear friend of mine, you see! He would’ve been a fellow Archon in service to Elicia alongside me, had he survived the war. And all I can say now, in light of it all, is that ever since the Corruption, the mortals of Melodia have had a great many heroes come and go over the centuries like falling snowflakes. But none, like him!

With his last breaths, he told me of a forest held sacred to Sophia, the elven Goddess of Life and Light. Purity Forest. The birthplace of the seed bestowed by the first Keeper of the Forest upon the elven emperors of the Alyssian Empire of old that gave life to the great Sefir, the World Tree that reached up high into the skies above their Capital city. There was as well at the forest’s edge, a human settlement – an estate where Mister Galeas held lordship until the war began.

I didn’t know much about Purity Forest, or this estate that was his ancestral home. But he told me all that I needed to know. That as his friend, I would honour his memory by going there and seeking out the Keeper of the Forest, Elan Vita, to return to her a ring that belonged to him. Only when I promised him that I’d do it, did he finally leave this world with a smile upon his lips. I didn’t know why back then, but now I do!

Even so, I was no stranger to this ring, having seen it so many times in passing. It was always upon his finger, never to leave it. Blessed by the old magics, and it wasn’t anything at all of mortal craftsmanship, being made out of enchanted wood warped into a ring. Felt that way, too! Despite its smoothness and softness, it hurt for me to even feel it upon my fingers, such that I kept it safe and sound in a little pouch so its magics wouldn’t burn my skin!

The ring must’ve been very important to him, I thought to myself back then and there! And so, with dear old Elicia’s permission, I broke off from the main force marching north to the same place that we now know today in Arcadia as the city of Shadowgate, and set off by my lonesome towards Purity Forest! Being a god born from the prayers of mankind, dear Elicia knew well enough about the legends of old spoken and shared amongst the mortals who offered their faith to her. Of the Keeper of the Forest who would always be, as the legends say, a nymph made ascendant by the blessing of Sophia, to hold power over the natural world. And from that knowledge she held, I knew what dear Elicia wanted from my quest!

I followed the map Galeas had given me, and found myself treading through a poisoned weald of frozen and corrupted vegetation as far as my many eyes could see! Purity Forest, much like the Sefir whose seed was born from its frozen glades, as well as the surrounding acres once inhabited by human and elven villagers, had been another casualty of the Corruption. Living or dead, they were all made into effigies, burned in the eldritch rites performed by the occultists of the Alyssian Empire to summon me and my fellow Hellbourne from the realm of Chaos. And so it was, that the land was fated to die. Driven by both the hands of men and elves, as both sides sought our eldritch rites to turn the tide of war!

At the heart of this truth, deep within the heart of the once-sacred glades of ice and snow left defiled and lifeless, I found her, the Keeper of the Forest! Under the waning moonlight, sat amidst a large ring of red and black toadstools left poisoned and rotting like the earth. The husk of a great willow tree, stood before her like an altar of death and decay. As I approached, she stood up and turned around, and she stared at me with a pair of green eyes that I could not help but notice as I waved to her most enthusiastically, were blackened – like they were darkening into absolute nothingness.

“You…” she uttered, with a voice both gentle and musical much like Isha and Claire’s. And yet, there was a guttural accent within it creeping from the edges of her words that strained them out into a fiend’s growl. “Beholder…”

Now that she had turned around to face me, I took a good look at her! She had long hair that was red like a scarlet bloom. And she was tall, definitely taller than Elena! Taller than Claire as well, I might add! Oh, and she was beautiful and pretty like nymphs are! But at the same time, I could see whole chunks of tree bark that had grown densely upon the playful nakedness of her slender body, positioned over her arms and legs in the same way a mortal would wear plate armour to protect themselves in battle. And it was all notched and worn, like it had served her very well in that regard!

“I should crush you…” she uttered to me, her expressionless serenity turning to a frown when she beheld the bejewelled gleam of my crystalline eyestalks. “Like all the other Hellbourne and mortal supplicants sent by the Emperor that I have left underfoot…”

She paused for a moment when she said that, looking at me rather sternly with those green yet darkening eyes of hers. I could see so clearly, the weariness in her gaze.

“But what would be the point? I have already failed in my duty to my Goddess. First, losing the Crown of Life to the Soul Reaper of Eldia, and now this… Corruption. There is nothing left to do but to wait, until we are all reduced to ash and dust.”

“There’s plenty of time for that, yes?” I asked rhetorically with a smile, of which she didn’t appreciate in the slightest. “You’re Elan Vita, aren’t you? The Keeper of the Forest!”

“You know my name, Hellbourne…”

“Mister Galeas told me all about you!” I chirped excitedly as I walked up to her. “He’s a friend of mine, and I’m here at his behest to return something of his!”

Before Elan could say anything to that, I quickly took out the pouch that I had used to store Galeas’s ring. Taking it out, I brought it up towards the glow of the moonlight above, that it’d be clear for her to see despite the darkness of this place.

“That ring you hold…” she uttered, slowly but surely as she approached me with a hand reaching out towards it. “It is my… wedding ring…”

“He told me that it’s very important that I return this ring to you!” I squealed delightedly, as she took the ring from my aching fingers. “He made me swear that I’d do it, no matter what.”

“Is he…?”

When my smile disappeared, and when I gave nothing more than a quiet nod to her question, she nodded in turn and cupped her hand into a fist, enclosing the ring between her palm and her fingers. I could see tears forming in those dying eyes of hers as she looked at me, once again.

“I told him,” she uttered, as those tears flowed down her cheeks and onto the poisoned earth. “I told him this war would kill him. I told him not to go, and to stay with me for the rest of this mortal lifetime of his. That this was another war of his fellow mortals and their mad ambitions for the material, and that we should have no part in it. He just… would not hear me…”

It was then, much to my surprise, that a rather wistful grimace formed upon her lips. She looked away from me, and up towards the moonlight far above the canopy. And then back down to the dying earth, and the trees around us that remained upon it like splinters sticking out of a gangrenous wound.

“And yet, he is right. I… am not. He was right to leave me, and to fight for your mistress. I did not know, the true extent of the madness held in the mind of the Emperor…”

“The Emperor’s rather unhinged, I’ll say,” I stated rather quietly. “And that’s why we’ll stop him, and end this war. Or die, trying.”

Elan gave me a look of wry amusement, like I was telling her a really bad joke.

“Beholder. You serve the human god… the warlord who calls herself Elicia?” she asked me, a serenity returning to her face that I’m not sure, even now as I reflect on it, whether or not it carried her approval. “I sense her aura upon you, unlike the other Hellbourne. I stayed my hand, enough to hear you out, because of it. For she bears the mantle of my Goddess… what remains of her upon this world…”

I nodded. It was indeed, very much so. Althea de Escaflora, the human princess who had ascended to godhood to become Elicia, while indeed born from the prayers of mankind in their darkest hour, had arisen soaked in the blood of Sophia. I should know! I was there when it happened. And Elan, being the Keeper of the Forest, could easily sense the magic of her divine mistress. Wherever it was or whoever held it, upon this world of Melodia.

“I know what she desires of me. For so long I have ignored her call… for so long I thought I could fight this Corruption alone and defend Purity Forest as the Keeper…” Elan added. “If Elicia has embraced the Hellbourne as her allies, then so shall I…”

She then pointed at herself, at her battle-worn body. From the look in her eyes, she was no better off than the land itself that she had sworn to protect.

“I am in no position to protest, Beholder. I am already corrupted, and broken… had I obeyed her summons, I could have been there for Galeas. Fighting by his side…”

“Will you come with me, then?” I asked, unsure of how else to phrase my question after all that she had told me. “I’m not in any position to ask you to do this, but if you join me and fight alongside Elicia, you’ll get to meet…”

“Abaddon...” Elan growled, finishing my sentence with a roar that I’ll admit, made me take a step back as she looked me in the eye with a certainty that seemed to still the very air around us into deathly silence. “ABADDON… HELLBRINGER…”

In light of Elicia’s wish, this was all I needed to hear.

Snap back to the present day…

“Yup, that’s how Elan and I met all those centuries ago!” Nhaka said, smiling brightly as she looked first at Isha, and then at both Elena and Claire. “Any questions, anyone?”

“Aunty Mezalune, who is the Soul Reaper?” Isha asked, looking at her Hellbourne Aunt with eyes wide open as she spoke up. “That seems like a such a silly name…”

With that same smile upon her lips, Nhaka pointed at Elena.

“Oh,” Isha said as she glanced nervously at her other Aunt. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good,” Elena said with a smile as she nodded at Isha, whose frown relaxed into a smile of relief. “Wasn’t me that came up with that stupid name, anyway.”

“I still think it’s a nice name,” Claire remarked out loud, smiling as she patted her mistress gently upon her shoulder. “Not as nice as Elena, of course!”

Elena turned her smile towards her servant. Who, in turn, returned that smile with her own as they gazed deeply into each other’s eyes.

“Um… what about the Crown of Life?” Isha asked, looking first at Nhaka, and then at Elena. “That’s the thing Aunty Elena took from Elan… right?”

“Yeah,” Elena said in reply, her voice low and grim as her gaze veered towards the window. “It’s one of the many things that made me who and what I’m all about right now. Ain’t one of my best moments, I’ll admit, doing that to her back then. And it’s far too late, now… it’s just a hunch, but I’d reckon she’s not exactly my biggest admirer, y’know?”

“Um… maybe you should apologise to her regardless, Aunty.”

At the thought of Isha’s suggestion, Elena frowned. She continued looking out the window. And she did so, only to freeze up with a shudder when she felt the warmth of a pair of hands most familiar and gentle upon her shoulders.

“Isha’s right, Elena,” Claire said, chuckling lightly as she eyed the expression forming on her mistress’s face upon the window’s reflection. “The way you talk about it… you ought to! Especially now that you both serve Her Excellency.”

“Indeed!” Nhaka added with a devilish grin. “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? That she’d say no? I could compel you both to kiss and make up, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Maybe…” Elena remarked quietly, her crimson eyes gazing lazily upon the moving scenery beyond the window. “Maybe not…”