Jaden walked lazily through the village, idly brushing his fingers along the rough scar on his cheek. Sunk in thought, he inhaled the many scents of flowers. A surprised, high-pitched squeak broke the serenity. The birds, startled, stopped their cheerful song and took flight. Jaden frowned.

Rising and falling haphazardly through the air, wind whipping through their clothes, a figure flailed their arms and legs futilely.

"Honestly," Jaden sighed. He watched the figure's path of approach and stepped forward four measured paces. And there he waited. At the last moment, he stretched and held out his arms, catching the figure bodily.

"You really need to stop fighting with Mother, Araya." Jaden chastised as he repositioned her in his arms until he held her like a princess, preparing to set her down.

A thousand different thoughts exploded in her mind. He had just flipped her body around as easily as a toy. While she was slightly upset by that, she acquiesced to his display of strength. And his scent-she dazed, her excited heart skipped a beat and bounded into overdrive for an entirely different reason.

"My hero!" she leaned into his embrace smiling coquettishly. She opted to ignore his tone and take full advantage of the situation.

"You-" His words became muffled when Araya boldly sealed his lips with a kiss. The intoxicating flavor of her lips. The way her tongue danced around and entwined with his own. The warmth of her body. The feel of her heart racing. Her hand wormed up and rested on his chest. His world melted into a blur suffocated by her affection. For the next few minutes, she was all that mattered.

Jaden, I can't- Anya's plea was cut short, but those three words reverberated in his mind.

The spell was broken. Jaden opened his eyes and pulled away from Araya. He let her legs slip off his arm and disappeared leaving her standing alone on the path. Araya quickly glanced around and sniffed the air delicately. His scent still lingered, her cheeks flared and burned from this new memory. She softly touched her lips reveling in her success with a soft giggle.

Niren's face bore the brunt of Molli's malice. Cuts and burns intertwined with each other. He had bided his time. All for this moment. With the absence of the poison in his body, the pain had diminished. He pulled against the vines binding him to the chair raising his arms overhead. The vines offered little resistance as they extended. Molli gasped in fear and stepped back, seeking to add distance from the captive. Niren swung his open hand, catching her cheek with the ends of his fingers. Molli's face jerked painfully. Her body followed suit, the force of the impact sent her twirling back against a wall, finally landing in a heap upon the floor.

"It's a shame I can't subject you to the same torment you've already lived." Niren rose from the chair, tearing the vines from his arms in the process. He approached.

"You'll just have to be happy with a slow death," Niren picked up a wooden knife from a table as he passed. He ran the blade across his finger, drawing blood easily. Surprise followed by a sneer enraptured his face.

Anya pulled her body up through the floor, placing herself between Molli and her attacker. Niren bolted forward. Anya fashioned herself a staff as her vines formed a cocoon around Molli. She sent her vines through the floor in an all-out offensive.

"Out of my way!" Niren roared slapping the dozens of vines aside as simply as swatting flies. He weaved towards the final vine, the thickest among them, and caught hold of it under his arm. He sliced with the knife, severing the appendage clean off.

Anya stood firm, a silent guardian even as her face contorted. Undeterred, she reanimated her vines that now surrounded Niren. The knife he held became a blur, slicing her vines as though they were butter. Anya whimpered, unable to completely stifle the pain, and she jumped forward brandishing her staff.

Niren planted his feet and prepared to evade. Anya spun her staff around at blinding speeds during her approach. He raised his arms defensively, the dagger held in a reverse grip for stability. His legs pistoned, he pushed off, jumping to the side. He landed lightly, clear of her range, and dashed toward the unprotected cocoon of vines. Anya watched dumbfounded as her momentum carried further away. Recognizing her blunder too late; she wasn't his objective, Molli was. She reinforced the cocoon with additional vines. Anya raised a vine from beneath the floor. She grabbed hold, swinging around the vine, and launched herself back whence she came.

Niren lept into the air, grabbing hold of the dagger in both hands. He came down upon the cocoon thrusting the dagger down into the mass of vines. The dagger lodged into the amalgamation. The cocoon writhed briefly before the entire mass lunged at him. The sudden offensive revealed a bare spot on the floor where Molli had been. Niren faced the onslaught of vines once more, slicing the vines as they came. He turned to face Anya, a pained yet smug look greeted his gaze. She swung her staff like a bat.

The staff cut space, causing a mini-explosion of sound as the air rushed to fill the gap, and carried her into a spin. Niren ducked under the staff and struck back with his dagger catching and slicing her midriff with the tip. She winced and kicked out, catching him in the jaw. His head snapped to the side from the brunt of the hit. Wasting no time, she swung her staff down catching his head when the twirl brought her weapon back around.

Niren got knocked away and landed in a heap upon the floor, and rolled to a stop. He shook his head as he got back to his feet. He turned to face Anya, only to catch the last moment of her head following her body into the floor.

"Are you done playing around now?" Jaden stood leaning in the doorway, appearing disinterested from boredom.

That's not Niren any longer.

I should have seen this coming. You're right though, this is not the mortal Niren.

"That depends on you." Niren rubbed his face before turning his head left and right. His neck cracked audibly.

"I hadn't expected you to find me so soon. As you're here so early, I can't even offer you a cup of tea." Jaden remarked. Anya, please gather everyone and take them as far from here as you can.

"Void Sphere," Jaden invoked his skill. The space around Niren became an ugly semi-transparent bubble, seemingly rippling as distortions and static electricity jolted through it. Jaden leaned heavily upon the door as the skill sapped his strength, he slid down the doorframe until he was resting upon his knees. His body curled into the fetal position as pain hijacked every fiber of his senses.

Alert! Divinity has dropped: 30(40) Void has risen: 70(60)

Niren examined the bubble, his mind sent shivers of fear through his body. He surrounded himself in an aura of divine energy to push against the sphere. The void grew restless, the ripples turned into ravenous vortexes that devoured the divine energy. Niren pushed more divinity into the air. The bubble shrank around him, closing the distance to the source. Niren punched the bubble aiming to pop it, his hand vanished instantly leaving a bloody stump at the end of his arm. The void had drunk from his power and awoke to a basic need. Feed.

The sphere attached itself to Niren and passed effortlessly through his body, turning itself inside out in the process.

Jaden recalled what Anya had done to Othello. Unlike Anya, the void knew what it was doing. Niren had his divinity forcefully extracted in the most efficient way possible. The pure white substance contorted and disappeared within the [Void Sphere].

The void sphere returned to its original shape, the space within empty. It was restless and hungry. It wafted in place seeking another source to quench its hunger. Jaden watched it warily, forcing himself slowly to stand. "Disperse." The line connecting him to the skill became taut and ultimately shattered.

An eerie voice carried on the wind, it reached his ears as the [Void Sphere] dwindled and vanished. "We will be back for you."

Jaden shuddered involuntarily, a cold chill emanated from deep within his body. It ripped through him leaving him drenched in a cold sweat. He exhaled sharply, a cloud of cold smoke exited his nose and twisted into the warm air before vanishing. A series of markers blipped unnoticed into existence on his map.

Jaden panted heavily and climbed slowly to his feet using the doorframe as a crutch. "It will be just a matter of time before the others arrive."

"What are the others?" Vivian frowned as she asked. Looking over the spot where the red marker had vanished.

"This," Jaden sighed. "It's a long story. And the prophecy-"

"What about Mommy, where ish she?" Emily interrupted. Her innocent azure blue eyes burned into him, demanding an answer. Her hands akimbo, her face puckered into a pout.

She'll be all right little one. She just needs to rest now. Anya's tone however contradicted her words.

Vivian had barely resisted a laugh from the cute but serious visage Emily had donned. An unexpected message dragged her attention away.

Displaying the completed map of Jaden.