It was dark when Lianne opened her eyes. She felt hollow as if all that darkness around her could swallow her entirely. Her skin prickled, sending shivers down her spine. Her stomach felt queasy and her forehead was beaded with sweat.

Lianne tried to fill her lungs full of air, but it felt difficult. She got up to sit and tried again, but her breaths were shallow as if something heavy was sitting on her chest. Lianne put her hand on her heart, feeling it thumping fast and loud within her.

Amra wasn't sleeping next to Lianne. Her bedroll was not set on the floor. Amra hadn't been there when Lianne had gotten to bed, and she wasn't there now either. She must have still been somewhere with Sionia.

Lianne's heartbeat quickened and she felt cold sweat rolling down her back. She started thinking about how much she had drank last night. Was this because of the wine? Maybe she had drank too much after all?

All of a sudden Lianne had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, like a warning that something was wrong. Then she heard a noise from outside.

A strange screeching sound continuously echoed in the otherwise silent night. It had an ominous quality to it that was a little off, the pitch of it making the whole sound feel otherworldly.

Lianne listened to the sound for a moment, but couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from. She thought about just letting it go, but couldn't. It was bothering her. It was familiar. She was sure that she had heard the same sound somewhere before, but couldn't say where and when. It wasn't an animal Lianne knew of or any kind of object that could make that sound. It resembled the sound of a cricket, but she had never heard any kind of cricket making a noise like that.

Lianne couldn't fight her curiosity, so she decided to get up, the hollow feeling inside her urging to go. She put on more clothes and her boots, and then she left the lodge.

Lianne stepped out of the lodge carefully and silently as if she was afraid to make any sounds, her senses on alert. She stopped at the door and looked around, folding her arms as the cold air made her shiver. A nightly mist was floating above the ground and the whole village was bathing in the moonlight, making the place look like something out of a ghost story.

There were no other people outside. The lodges were dark. Everyone must have been sleeping. There were no animals or even the sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. The screeching was the only sound that could be heard in the otherwise silent night.

For a moment the sound seemed to get louder. It bore straight into Lianne's mind as if it wanted to invade her thoughts and remind her of something.

Lianne had a fleeting inkling of her past, something she couldn't quite grasp. A thought that reminded her of her brother and dark energy that seemed to flow through her hands. She had heard that sound before and it sent shivers down her back, making her instantly feel freezing.

That's when the sound stopped, and everything around her became too quiet. The rustling grass under her shifting feet sounded much louder than it was, almost ringing in her ears.

Then Lianne heard footsteps and saw a figure emerging from one of the lodges.

Lianne quickly rushed to the edge of the lodge, to try to stay hidden from sight. She pushed herself as close to the wall as she could, to try to keep out of the moonlight.

Lianne looked at the figure, which walked out of the lodge assertively and started to head out of the village. The figure was clearly a person but didn't resemble any of the elves in the village. The figure wasn't that tall, had dressed in a long cape, and had a hood covering their head.

Lianne knew that something was wrong. If that figure wasn't one of the elves, what were they doing in the village in the middle of the night?

Lianne looked around, really unsure of what to do. There were no others in sight. The others were sleeping. "Shit," she cursed to herself. She knew she had to do something. Whoever that figure was, she couldn't let them leave.

"Hello?" Lianne tried to call out to the figure unsurely and silently, not even sure if she should. But the figure didn't reply. They didn't react to her voice as if she wasn't even there.

"Hello?" Lianne tried to call out again, raising her voice slightly, but the figure just kept on walking ahead.

Lianne weighed her options. Should she wake someone up, or would that be overreacting? If she would go get someone, the figure might have already be gone by then.

Lianne braced herself and started walking after the figure. "Hello? Do you hear me?" she still tried calling out while following the figure from a distance. But they just kept on walking through the trees, about to leave the village.

Lianne speeded up her steps, determined to get closer to the figure. "Hey, you! Who are you!?" she yelled with a loud voice, and that's when the figure finally stopped.

As soon as the figure stopped, Lianne stopped too.

Lianne was baffled as she stood still before she realized that she couldn't move. She was forced to stay still, her legs rooted to the ground. She looked at her feet, trying to move her muscles, but couldn't even shift her balance.

Suddenly Lianne had a really bad feeling about everything, and she instantly regretted going after the figure.

"Ain't it stupid to ask. You know who I am," the figure spoke with a rumbling voice that seemed to reverberate in Lianne's heart as if the darkness inside her knew the sound.

Then the figure turned around and looked at Lianne.

Lianne's eyes widened. The figure was the same man she had met at her brother's funeral. She hadn't remembered the man well, but now that she saw him in front of her, she was sure that he was the same. He had told her about the spell and the dealer's debt. He was the reason why darkness was now a part of Lianne.

The man had slightly greyish, almost waxy-looking skin. His eyes were dark and the circles underneath were deep, lined with years of lived life. He had old scars on both of his cheeks, and strands of light coloured hair stuck out from under his hood.

Lianne looked at the man silently, feeling like she had lost her voice. She couldn't move and her voice seemed to fade away as she tried opening her mouth. She was spellbound by the man.

"Look at you," the man said to Lianne, his lopsided smile revealing his dark teeth as he lifted his hand and placed it on Lianne's cheek, lightly stroking it with his fingers. The cold waxy skin left a tingling trail on her cheek. She wanted to back away from him, but she couldn't.

"You are not ready yet," the man spoke, pulling away his hand.

Lianne started feeling coldness taking over her body with the man's words. Suddenly she felt a horrible sting in her heart as if needles pierced her from the inside. She heard a thumping rhythm in her ears, the darkness inside her waking up. And then a pain that started to spread out from her heart to her head, arms, and legs.

Lianne wanted to run away, but she couldn't move from where she stood. Droplets of sweat started to form on her forehead as she was battling the pain and the ever-growing panic. She wanted to yell at the man, but she couldn't get any words out.

"I do not have time for you now. I will meet you later," the man said and that's when a pulse of pain shot through Lianne's body, traveling from her head to her toes. It hurt so much that Lianne was forced on her knees, the pain making her eyesight blurred.

Lianne gripped her chest as she toppled on her side on the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut as if that would make everything go away. Tears started to stream out of her eyes, wetting her cheeks as her face twisted into a suffering grimace.

As Lianne opened her eyes again, she looked up. The trees around her seemed to distort, trying to lean over to protect her and give her shelter. The branches of every tree reached out as she squirmed helplessly on the ground, praying in her mind that someone would help her.

The man looked at Lianne for a moment, calmly as could be. Then he leaned over her and whispered. "Tell your elf friend to stay away from the Shadows."

Another spasm of pain traveled through Lianne's heart and she screamed without any sound. She couldn't speak words. She couldn't beg the man to stop. He was controlling her body. The darkness had taken over her insides completely.

Lianne heard the same screeching sound again, and the man was gone. Another spasm of pain shot from her heart, leaving a trail of stinging needles all over her body, her eyes full of tears. All the nerves inside her seemed to cry in pain as if electricity had gone through her. It was a physical pain she had never felt before.

As soon as the man was gone, Lianne got her voice back. Without even realising, she had started screaming so loud that people were waking up. They were coming out of the lodges to see what was happening.

Amra and Faolin quickly ran outside. Faolin had taken his bow and arrows with him, expecting danger. As soon as they saw that it was Lianne who was screaming on the ground, sweating and trembling, they both ran there as quickly as possible.

Amra immediately knelt next to Lianne, taking her shivering body into her arms, making her unintentionally flinch at the touch. "Lianne!" Amra called out her name, desperation in her voice that was rare to her, the sound echoing in Lianne's ears loudly.

"You can go back to sleep!" Faolin yelled at all the elves that had gathered around them, wanting to see what was happening.

The elves immediately started shuffling back inside the lodges, to get back to bed. Some of them were still drunk or just gotten to sleep after the long evening.

"Where are you hurt?" Faolin asked as he knelt next to Lianne.

Lianne looked at him, her eyes unfocused. She couldn't answer anything.

"Lianne, where are you hurt?" Amra also asked while holding Lianne in her arms, but she couldn't speak yet.

Lianne closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the tears still streaming down her cheeks. Amra held her body tightly as if Lianne would disappear if she would loosen up her grip even a little. Her touch felt comforting, and Lianne wished that she would hold her even tighter.

When Lianne couldn't speak, Faolin laid down his bow and started examining through Lianne's clothes, to check if there was blood anywhere. He quickly searched over her stomach, sides, and legs, but couldn't find anything.

"Nothing," Faolin said to Amra when he couldn't see any blood. "Where are you hurting? I cannot heal you unless I know," he still tried to ask, leaning closer to Lianne.

Lianne opened her eyes and looked at Faolin's worried face. "...my..." she tried to speak, but when she couldn't continue, she moved her hand slowly on her chest, on top of her heart, showing Faolin where she was hurting.

Faolin looked at Lianne's hand and then carefully moved it aside. "I will try to help you," he said while putting his hands on her chest, closing his eyes, and starting to gather energy.

At first, Lianne felt nothing, as if her whole body was numb. Faolin furrowed his brow, concentrating hard on gathering all the energy that he had. He pressed his hands hard on Lianne's chest, the glow slowly strengthening to warm light.

Gradually Lianne started to feel warm energy piercing her skin, her muscles, and then her heart. It was calming. It soothed her, forcing the darkness inside her to move away. A wave of Faolin's energy eventually spread through her body, driving the pain away.

Lianne's heart finally started to beat a normal rhythm. Her body relaxed and the pain eased up. First Lianne could breathe freely again and then the stinging in her every muscle started to fade away, little by little giving her body back.

When Faolin felt Lianne's heart starting to calm down, he lifted his hands and backed away, letting out a deep sigh of relief. He slumped down on the ground, sweat covering his forehead.

Amra wiped some of Lianne's tears and stroked her hair for comfort. "Lianne, what happened?" she asked again, seeing how Lianne's body relaxed.

Lianne took in a deep breath, feeling better already. The pain was almost gone, but her body was still weak. She had never felt anything like that before, not even when her dark spell had failed and the darkness had invaded her body. This was different.

"...man..." Lianne was able to say, finally starting to feel like herself.

"What man?" Faolin asked while leaning back over to Lianne, trying to hear her better.

"...in the woods..."

Faolin immediately turned to look at the trees surrounding them. He stood up and took out his bow and an arrow. He drew the bow and aimed it towards the trees, looking closely at them, trying to scan the area for anything suspicious.

"I do not see anything," Faolin said as he lowered the bow. "Who did you see?"

"He's gone already..." Lianne said with ragged breaths while trying to sit up. "I saw a man leaving the village," she continued as she turned to look at Amra, her cheeks wet with tears and her eyes still unfocused.

That's when Amra suddenly gasped as the moonlight illuminated Lianne's face.

"Lianne, your hair..." Amra whispered.

"What?" Lianne asked while wiping her cheeks.

"Something's happened."

Lianne frowned. She tediously took a handful of her hair to her hand and pulled it in front of her eyes. Her hair seemed just like it always was, brown.

Lianne twisted her hair in between her fingers and then realized that some of her hair had turned to the shade of ash. Grey strands lingered between her normal coloured hair.

Lianne stared at her hair while turning it between her fingers, unbelieving. "What is this?"

Amra immediately pulled the hair out of Lianne's hand and pushed it behind her ear so that she couldn't see it anymore. "It's not that much," Amra said with a small smile, which Lianne immediately saw through. She was trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

Faolin knelt next to Lianne, addressing her. "Who was the man?" he asked again as he put his bow and arrow on the ground.

"I..." Lianne started saying but hesitated and stopped.

Faolin looked at her, his eyebrows raised, waiting for what she had to say.

"He was the same man who told me about the spell," Lianne finally said, looking at Faolin with a deep frown on her face.

"The dark spell?" Faolin asked while inspecting Lianne's face as if he was trying to search the truth from there.

Lianne nodded.

"Are you sure?" Amra asked, her voice unsure.

"Of course I'm sure. I saw him," Lianne replied, the question instantly making her anxious. "I mean it. I saw him! He spoke to me!" she repeated, raising her voice when Amra looked at her warily.

"Fine. Well, whatever, we still need to get you back to bed," Amra said with a snort as she started to get up from the ground.

Lianne looked at Amra baffled. She was acting like she didn't believe Lianne. As long as they had been friends, Lianne didn't remember a time when she hadn't believed her. Amra always trusted what she said, and Lianne had never taken advantage of that trust.

"Fine. Whatever," Lianne said irritated as she tediously started to get up, feeling her body weak and her balance swaying.

Amra and Faolin immediately took her hands into theirs, helping her get up, which made Lianne even more irritated. At the same time, she hated that she was at the mercy of them, not being able to even stand up by herself. But she also leaned on them gladly, taking their support. Her body felt so weak.

"Should I carry you back?" Faolin asked, but Lianne immediately glared at him.

"No, thank you."

"That would be fine with me," Faolin genuinely suggested, but Lianne shook her head. He was helping her enough already.

Lianne took careful steps back towards the lodge, assisted by Amra and Faolin. All her muscles and nerves were still on alert, sending small stinging bolts of pain through her body every once in a while, making her wince. The worst pain had already faded away, but she wasn't in working order yet.

Amra and Faolin helped Lianne lay down on the bedroll as they entered the lodge. Amra took off Lianne's boots and covered her with the blanket as if she was a child. Lianne let out a deep breath as soon as she was able to straighten out her legs and arms.

For a moment the lodge was quiet. Amra was still upset about what happened and Faolin seemed to be deep in thought. Lianne just lay there and breathed in and out, enjoying the fresh air flowing through her freely.

"I must admit, I do find it strange that a man like that happened to be here tonight," Faolin wondered aloud, breaking the silence.

"You don't believe me? The man spoke to me," Lianne immediately said while frowning, defending what she had seen.

"No, I did not say that. I am merely trying to wrap my head around what happened," Faolin tried explaining. "I have never seen that kind of pain."

Faolin took a couple of steps inside the lodge, then stopped and leaned against the wall, thinking. Lianne glanced at Faolin, remembering what the man had said about Lianne's elf friend and the Shadows. It couldn't be anyone else than Faolin. What did he have to do with all of this?

"What do you know about the Shadows?" Lianne straight up asked from Faolin, who immediately lifted his head to meet Lianne's eyes, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Shadows? What makes you think I know anything," Faolin replied vaguely.

"I heard you interrogating your prisoner. I heard him mentioning the Shadows," Lianne said firmly.

Faolin looked at Lianne, his expression remorseful. He squeezed his bow tightly in his hands as he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Then he lifted his other hand in front of his face and rubbed his eyes as if they were aching.

"I did not get much out of the man..." Faolin started before pausing and averting his eyes as if he felt guilty or didn't know how to continue.

"The man said that someone was with the Shadows. Who?" Lianne demanded to know.

"I'm looking for Yugtrass," Faolin answered.

"Does this have to do with that mark of yours?" Lianne asked, and Faolin nodded hesitantly.

The lodge became silent. Lianne had so many thoughts running in her mind about the Shadows and Yugtrass. All this seemed so much bigger than she had prepared for. She had just wanted to get to Clandmere and get rid of her darkness, but now she was in the middle of something she had a hard time trying to comprehend.

"Are they the same? I've never heard the cult of Yugtrass being called as the Shadows," Amra wondered aloud.

Faolin shook his head. "That puzzles me too. I have never heard of the Shadows and I am well aware of Yugtrass and his followers," he said while thinking. "This is as much a mystery to me than it is to you."

"Where are you exactly heading?" Lianne asked, looking at Faolin, trying to determine from his expression what was going through his mind. A doubt had formed in her heart and now she had a hard time trying to get rid of it.

"I need to find him. I need to break the bond," Faolin replied firmly while looking back at Lianne.

For a moment they stared at each other, both of their gazes firm as if they were analyzing each other, to really determine if they were friends or foes.

"The man said that you need to keep away from the Shadows," Lianne said, her eyes squinted, waiting for Faolin's reaction.

Faolin just stared at Lianne for a moment. Then he averted his gaze and went to the door. "Have a good night," he said and opened the door, getting ready to leave.

"You know more than you say," Lianne said after him.

Faolin stopped for a moment. He was still as if he was thinking of something to say. Then he decided otherwise and left. He closed the door behind him, his solemn footsteps echoing in the otherwise silent village as he walked further away.

Lianne let out a deep sigh, turning to her side on the bedroll, to get a better position. Even if her mind was wide awake, her body was tired and she felt as if her eyes wanted to close on their own. She was going to fall asleep soon.

"Don't be so hard on him," Amra said to Lianne as she sat down next to her.

"I think he's hiding something," Lianne snorted.

"Well, we don't know him, so I guess that would be right," Amra replied calmly.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling that there's more to that mark of his," Lianne still insisted, but Amra just shrugged her shoulders.

"He doesn't have to tell us if he doesn't want to."

"I have told him why we're traveling, and where we are going, and some of the things that happened to me," Lianne quickly spoke, raising her voice as if she was thoroughly offended that Faolin had secrets.

That's when Amra suddenly smiled.

"What?" Lianne immediately asked while frowning.

"Nothing. Do you also want to know if he prefers women with ashen hair?" Amra said with a small smile.

Lianne stared speechless at Amra for a moment. Then she turned on her other side so that she wouldn't have to look at Amra. "Oh, shut up. You're the one who wasn't even here when I woke up," Lianne said back, an irritated tone in her voice, even though there was a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

Amra stopped, immediately turning serious. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but then shut it instead. She pulled her legs closer and hugged her knees. "You get some sleep now," she said silently.

"You too," Lianne replied, already half asleep, her body relaxing with every breath. As soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep.

Amra looked at Lianne and then her hair, the ones that had changed to the shade of ash. She reached out and stroked Lianne's head slowly and gently as if she wanted to turn the hair back to normal with her touch.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up," she whispered, mostly to herself as Lianne had already fallen asleep.

Amra started humming a song that was Lianne's favorite. Her voice shifted from low to high as her clear voice echoed in the silent lodge. She hummed a tune that was both beautiful and melancholic, the melody dancing from her lips and disappearing into the night.