“Carlson? Carlson? Where are you?” Lorien shouted at the wind waiting for a response, but all he got was an eerie silence.

“Hey Carlson? Where are you!? This isn’t funny!” The rest of the group then started joining Lorien’s yelling, and just like before it was a fruitless effort.

“Where could he be?” Lom asked as he scratched his bald head, a question that was only met with a loud sigh.

Lorien then tensed up and started looking around him, as he immediately realized what was going on.

“There’s an obvious answer to this really.” Lorian began explaining. “Somebody attacked him and brought his chained up body somewhere.”

“Hieee!” Fritz screamed, his voice high and shrill almost resembling that of a little girl. “It’s just like a horror movie. Leader please protect me!”

“Shut up you bumbling idiot!” Lorien replied. “You’re a mage for goodness sake why are you shivering like a scared little cat?” Lorien said in an irritated tone.

“This is obviously just another group who ambushed us and is trying to take us out one by one.” He explained as he continued to keep an eye out for his surroundings.

“Isn’t that kind of underhanded?” Lom interjected. “Hiding in the shadows and the striking when least expected, isn’t that the coward’s way of fighting?” He asked as he put his index finger in front of his chin.

“Don’t say that you stupid idiot!” Fritz replied in a loud voice. “Are you forgetting that that’s our strategy? You know, waiting till everyone is tired and taking the box last minute?”

“Yeah shut up Lom, we are using a legitimate and honorable strategy. It’s clear some people will have the same idea as us!” Lorien added when all of a sudden they heard the sound of leaves being ruffled from the distance.

Immediately the three of them stood back to back in order to eliminate any blind sides. When they thought of doing this sneaky tactic they expected someone else would try it too, so they have at least prepared if they were the ones being snuck up on.

Seeing as there was still no one around them, Lorien then opted to try and eliminate a very important factor in an encounter like this. He closed his eyes and gathered his mana and upon gathering the amount he needed, opened them again as he used his spell.

“Illusion dispel!” Lorien shouted and immediately a pulse of translucent energy radiated from his body, spreading outward and reaching about 10 meters in all directions.

Illusion dispel is used to counter and destroy any sort of illusions created with mana such as decoys and the like, if anything was wrong, this spell would notify him immediately.

But, nothing happened.

“Huh, that's strange. No illusions?” Lorien commented.

“Well it looks like our opponents are trickier than we thought.” Lom replied with a bit of worry in his voice.

“Yeah so be sure to be on full alert, they already got one of us.” Fritz added.

All of sudden from the corner of his eye, he saw a figure move in the distance. Immediately turning his head to catch it, he saw a stubby figure with a bowl cut immediately disappear deeper into the wooded area.

“Leader Lorien look look!” He shouted. “It’s Carlson!”

“Idiot, that’s just bait!” Lorien replied. “Go and inspect it with a scouting or vision spell first before we head in. If they are copying the likeness of Carlson, they most likely have him there as a hostage. Although since we’re past the last 30 minute mark I doubt Carlson will be able to help us out, but still.” Lorien then looked up and pointed at the sky.

“We leave no man behind!” He yelled.

“I see! Well then let’s try this.” Fritz replied as he prepared to cast a spell.

“Farsight!” He declared he could see far through the woods, still he saw nothing until all of a sudden a man wearing a tophat a swallow tail coat appeared in his sights.

The strange man was facing away from their direction, so Fritz was happy with his discovery although he wasn’t able to see his face.

“Lorien, I saw a dude wearing silly clothes just in the far distance.” He declared.

“Good, at least we have an idea of their position.” Lorien replied.

“Alright, let’s move out, but be careful because this might all still be a trap.”

With those words, the three then started moving forward in search of their missing teammate. As they continued they started to notice a barely visible mist around them, but it was so light they could simply assume it to be water vapor or something.

However, unbeknownst to them, they have been ensnared in an inescapable trap.

As they slowly moved forward they all sensed a fast moving magic attack that was headed straight for them.

Without wasting a second the three of them immediately broke formation in order to avoid the attack. Something then flew past the gaps that they created and stuck itself into a nearby tree.

It was a translucent arrow made out of mana that almost immediately dissipated when they observed it. But before they could react to this sudden strike a figure was seen just lurking from the corner of their eyes.

It was the man Fritz saw earlier with Farsight, his face now in full view as his clear blue eyes faced them accompanied with a mischievous smile. The man then immediately ran away deeper into the woods as the trio continued to look on.

“There you are, you little shit!” Fritz yelled. “Don’t you think you can run away from me after all this spooky crap you’ve been trying to pull!” He shouted as he ran after the man with a tophat.

“NO FRITZ STOP!” Lorien screamed but his words fell on deaf ears. He then tried to run after Fritz along with Lom when all of a sudden the two of them tripped over an unseen obstacle.

Lorien and Lom fell flat on the floor, their faces smacking into the ground.

“What that hell?” Lorien shouted as he inspected what his foot was caught on and saw what looked like nylon string somehow attached very low between the trees. To Lorien it felt like he was the victim of a very bad prank.

He looked over Lom and saw that he too suffered the same fate and without warning the two of them heard Fritz scream for help.

“Lorien, Lom help me!” He shouted as his voice seemed to drift farther and farther away. Loriem and Lom tried to get up and come to their ally’s aid when a strong gust of wind suddenly cut through between them.

While it did not do any damage directly it however blasted bits of dirt and leaves right into their faces heavily distracting them and reducing their vision.

As Lorien was trying to get his wits about, he felt a large surge of mana launched towards them but by then it was already too late.

A large magical arrow struck Lom while they were fumbling around and immediately broke the traitor barrier causing his body to be wrapped in spectral chains, but Lom’s ordeal didn’t stop there as another arrow followed through straight behind the first one and struck one of the loose ends of the chain.

Everything happened so fast that Lom wasn’t even able to utter a word.

Lom’s figure was then forcefully dragged away from Lorien and just like that, the group of three was reduced to one.

Lorien was now sweating and scared, while he knew this all just a game, he never experienced such a thing in his life. He felt like helpless prey, slowly stalked by an unseen predator. He even thought that this is what people in scary movies felt like as they were slowly plucked out one by one.

But unlike those unfortunate characters, he had a weapon, he had magic! Even if he was now all alone, he didn’t plan to go out without a fight. He was going to stand his ground.

Then at the corner of his eye, he saw a man standing amongst the trees. He quickly turned to face him and saw that his guest was wearing a tophat and swallowtail coat.

“So this must be the guy Fritz saw earlier.” He thought. “Screw it!” He shouted as he gathered mana into his hands, preparing for his last stand.

“Magic spear!” He yelled as a translucent simple spear formed in his hand, throwing it in the direction of his would be attacker. Strangely enough, the man didn’t move an inch and simply smiled at him mockingly.

Normally this act would anger Lorien but for some reason, the smile sent a chill down his spine.

The spear continued on its path until it was stopped by a bright barrier that looked like it was made from a thousand particles of light.

Lorien was then taken aback when suddenly he saw the man from beyond the barrier deform into white mist that cleared up and slowly revealed a woman underneath.

He could clearly see a pair of crimson eyes and the sheen of silver hair, elevated even more by the mana that seemed to be flowing outwards from her. For a moment Lorien was left speechless and dumbfounded.

“Beautiful..” Were his last words before a bright light devoured his vision and he was knocked unconscious.