Everything is quiet as I sit on a branch, cloaked in darkness of the night. I insisted to Peter that I want to take the first guard shift, not only because I am better at scouting in the dark with my night vision, but also because today's event unnerves me.

What I have witnessed today solidifies the great danger of those who are touched by the darkness of the Void. The stories of old tells of people who dabbles with the Void. They possess great strength and mastery of magic by using dark arts enough to match even the Elders in magical powers. Kaizer is the best example for that. But their vast power is not what makes them dangerous. Those who gaze at the Void, the Void stares back at them.

I shiver at mere remembering the stories of death and destruction the Void brought to the World of our Ancestors. The sky that used to be so blue turned as dark as the moonless night. The vast sea of dead trees. The rivers, lakes, seas, and ocean dried up. Billions of dead wild life littered across the land. The remnants of our people barely clinging to life. All of that due to the people who carelessly use the powers of the Void. If not for the Goddess Luna who granted mercy on us and took us from our world to this world of Astera, our kind would've gone extinct a long time ago. After the survivors birthed the first generation of this World and nurtured them to adulthood, all of them took their lives and with their death, they took all Knowledge about the Void to their graves. But not before the Old Elder appointed a new Elder and gave him the task of fighting against all influence of the Void he can find. The disaster of our home planet must not be repeated. Those were his last words before he died.

That story, every Elf must learn to their hearts. It is our eternal duty to guard this world against the Void and those who seek to use it for their malicious intents. Which puts me in a dilemma. I have here in front of me one who is Void-touched. Although it is not by his intent that he was affected by the Void, its effect on him can be seen as clear as day. From his cursed energy that saps both Mana and Life energy of those unlucky enough to be near him, and his haunting appearance and fighting style when Kurt tried to subdue him.

Although some blame can be placed on me for that debacle, since I shot the man without warning, what do they expect me to do? I am facing a being that our very race pledged to fight against. Not only that, he might be the reason I was exiled from our Kingdom. Truly this must be a mission from the Goddess herself. If it was up to me I would've killed the man then and there. Unfortunately my teammates wanted to stick to the quest given by the Guild thus I was subjected to a humiliating form of subjugation through a metal net that electrocutes those who were trapped in it. Up to now I still remember the sensation of electricity coursing through me, making my body shake uncontrollably.

I would've made sure to make that insufferable dwarf pay for making me go through something so unsightly, but since it saved me from making the mistake of ruining the carefully laid plans of my sister, even though it was unknown to me at that time, I make this one slide. But nonetheless, I still have to use a blood seal to make sure his vile energy wouldn't corrupt any more of the land and although it links my own life-force to reinforce his seal, since no conventional seal will be effective against the energy sapping taint of the Void and it is the only thing I have in hand to contain such malignant energy due to me being exiled.

The very next day while scouting, I was surprised when a Ranger came to me in secret. I knew that the Rangers wouldn't leave the sacred forest unguarded. Though why they haven't yet dealt with the Void-touched for 3 months was a puzzle to me. The Ranger told me that their Captain wants to see me to discuss about something. My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. I followed the Ranger quietly back to their hidden camp to meet their leader. The Captain told me about her plan and my role in it. At first I couldn't believe what I just heard, but she told me that once the mission succeeds she will help me get back in the Kingdom. I stayed there for a day so that the plan could move forward. But when a Ranger they sent out to scout the camp reported that it was being attacked, I worried about my team mates and rushed to their aid, much to the dismay of the Captain.

Those people put their helped me up when I was down. They put their trust on me and I would not be able to face them if I don't do something.

Along the way I met Philip who was looking for me. It kind of made me happy to know that he was worried that I haven't returned even for a day. When I told him about what is happening at the camp, we both used Full Mana Reinforcement to rush back and save our friends. When the leader of the enemy saw me, she quickly run away. It is to be expected though. To see an Elf Ranger in the Elven Forest usually ends up with the trespasser either dead or captured. Unfortunately the enemies were able to escape taking along the human mage with them.

We must save our mage companion. Our pride rests on it.

Once more I strain my eyes while trying to spot enemies. I continued to look at the surrounding until my gaze is towards the direction where the Void-touched is sleeping. The wooden cage reinforced by my blood rune to contain any of the Void energy as long as they are within the cage and the dwarf's own runes that defends it from both physical and magical attacks by using the rich mana of the forest as its fuel. I close my eyes as I focus my senses towards the sleeping man. I can feel the energy of the Void trapped within him, trashing about, trying to escape the seal. He was left to run rampant in the Sacred Elven Forest for 3 months, the Goddess knows how much Mana and Life-Energy he was able to absorb from the surrounding. Maybe it is the reason behind that monstrous display of Life-Energy he showed us just the night before.

The fear in my heart when I think of how strong he would become if left alive led me to my next blunder. I let my emotion get the better of me and good thing Philip was able to move in the way, thus forcing me to hit the Void-touched's shoulder instead of his head or heart. Which the man plucks out like it was nothing and the wound closed up within seconds due to his overflowing Ki. He didn't even have to control it like he did today, just his monstrous Ki doing the work like it is nothing.

Is this also how the monster known as Kaizer began? He was used to be the first Prince Reginald Kingscrown of Krishna, known to be a strong Knight but no aptitude for magic. He then vanished after killing his brother and when he came back, we can even feel his sinister energy up to the Elven Kingdom. We heard news of the atrocities he did to his own people. Killing his own brother. Wiping out an army of hundreds of thousands by himself. Subjugating the various Cities who opposed him while destroying some cities completely to serve as a warning.

His growing power made the Elders fear that he will soon set his eyes toward our Kingdom so the council agreed to intervene. We gave assistance to the resistance led by Kaizer's own brother, Arthurius Kingscrown. The Elders planned to give a forbidden book where a way to hijack a Void teleport is written while also providing them with things they might require.

Unfortunately, they failed. Instead of Kaizer, a man wearing strange clothes came out. They blamed us for their failure, even stating that we deliberately did this to make them fail and gave them the wrong guy. That annoying prince even have the gall to ask for reparations after we give them the knowledge and the resources for free. How absurd our Elders will not comply with his crazy demands, is what is going in my mind when I heard about his demands. How shocked was I when I learned that the Elder complied and since I was the one who led the group who delivered the book and supplies to the resistance, I was exiled for giving false information to an allied Kingdom.

I was so distraught when I heard the decision of the Council of Elders. The shame I have wrought over our esteemed family, the humiliation I felt was so great that I would've taken my own life if only they haven't forbidden me to do so, a decision that surely came from my grandfather.

From then on I left the Kingdom in shame. Found friends in this mixture of odd ball companions and took missions to put my mind out from the past. Only for my past to haunt me when we were tasked to capture this Void-touched.

Thinking about it, it is funny how life works out. The reason I was exiled from our Kingdom is my only way back in it.

Only the man is getting stronger at an alarming rate. His progress through the mastery of Ki is astounding that I am made to believe that being touched by the Void allows them greater control of both Mana and Ki. If so we might be looking at a second Kaizer. Although I am positive that my seal on his Void energy and Mana is secure as long as I am alive, his Ki is another thing in total. I would love to seal it too, but I don't know the first thing of sealing chi. The one who knows is that monk and he seem fascinated of the man and enthusiastically teaches him more than he teach Philip, his friend of two years. Secondly, we need him to save the mage once we learn of where they are keeping him. Lastly, we need him for the mission to succeed.

Once this is over, I would want nothing more but be rid of him. When the time comes, I hope I would be the one to put him out of my misery. For the sake of Astera.

--------------------

As I went awake, I let out a loud yawn and stretched my arms and legs, which accidentally hit the side of the wooden cage, eliciting a pained from me. Damn it. Why couldn't I sleep out in a tent? They want me to help them rescue their friend and they treat me like a prisoner? This is unfair man.

My eyes wander around to check if the others were around but it looks like I woke up earlier than expected since it was still dark outside and no one is up except for the Elf sitting on a tree branch. Our eyes met and I her piercing eyes shot at me. I can feel intense emotion from the look in her eyes and it makes me shudder, although I don't know why.

As if just only noticing that I am staring at her, she suddenly avoided my gaze and pretended to look around the camp. Girl, why you confuse me so?

I shook my head and tried to go back to sleep as I still feel tired from last night's ordeal. I hoped I will find myself inside the Void this again this time, but alas it wasn't so. But at least I earned a good rest, even if it wasn't enough. As I try to fall asleep, I ponder on how I get inside the Void. I don't have any clue actually, sometimes I just find myself lying there on my back while gazing at that wonderful sight of ocean of stars in the sky. The other times I find myself just normally sleeping. Although I remember being finding myself inside the Void whenever I go to sleep this last three months of just trying to survive alone in this Forest.

If I think about it, not even a week has passed since I escaped that hell after I meet these people. Funny how it feels like the daily fight for survival against the wild animals day and night, after which I skin them with their sharp claws and eat raw meat and drink their blood for sustenance, seem like the distant past. I am quite surprised that I am not full of scars by now after getting clawed and bitten by wolves, wild cats, and bears.

While waiting for the sweet embrace of sleep, I took this chance to Meditate. I Visualized the flow of Ki of my body. My Ki seem to have recovered from last night's endeavor. Although the amount of Ki I have right now still pales in comparison from what I had before, the Ki I have right now must be the maximum that my core could control right now as I feel some strain when I try to absorb more. The color of my body is all good as every part of my body is colored dark green. Except for my forearms which is still in light green which means it is still wounded although it is not life-threatening.

I focus my Ki to cover the injuries in my arms, only this time I don't use too much energy since I am afraid I will almost kill myself again from Ki depletion and with Kurt still asleep, I am only putting myself in danger if I use my full strength to self-heal without proper supervision. It would be rather embarrassing sight if I die from spending all of my Ki to heal a papercut.

I can feel my Ki gather more in both of my arms as it further speed up my healing rate. It was not almost instantaneous like how Kurtis healed my wounds before, but he is some kind of Kung Fu wizard or some shit so I wouldn't dare compare his and my level of control. I continued to concentrate in funneling more Ki on both my injured forearms while also being aware of my own Ki reserve to avoid repeating my earlier gaffe. The warm energy flowing in around kind of making me sleepy but before I fell asleep I quickly stopped healing just in case the process would continue even while I'm asleep like when I forget to turn off the lights before going to bed.

I was hoping that I would find myself inside the Void once more in order to practice the skills I have learned, but it was not to be. It seem like an instant but when I opened my eyes once more from a dreamless sleep, the Sun was already shining bright outside.

"Mornin' sunshine!" Ortho who seem to be livelier than usual for some reason greeted me. "Here, eat up. We have a long day ahead of us." He handed me a bowl of, you guessed it, vegetable stew. He then gave me a cup of water to down the food with.

I glanced around and saw the others preparing for something. Philip was donning his armour with Kurtis helping him. The Elf Alora is twirling her arrows with her fingers, even though she shows her normal cold and uncaring expression, the tension in the air is so thick that I can almost taste it.

"Why is everyone so tense? Is something about to go down?" I asked the dwarf who is polishing his rifle with a smile pasted on his face.

"Indeed lad. Shit is about to go down indeed." He said. He was done polishing his rifle and now turned to checking the bracer on his left arm and slaps in a gem on its' socket. If I remember correctly, that bracer's function is that it raises a shield to block enemy attacks. The same thing he used when we fought the crazy wind lady. "The Elf spotted a group of 10 people coming towards the camp. They are still at least a kilometer ahead but don't let it rush ye. Them buggers seem to be taking their sweet time and wouldn't arrive for at least another 30 minutes or so."

We are about to be attacked? Why is he so relaxed then? I quickly ate the food in my bowl and emptied the water from my cup. I quickly stood up before sitting down as quickly because I got dizzy by my sudden movement.

Ortho laughed after seeing me get dizzy. "That is why I told ye not to hurry lad. It's not like they would come to us faster if you get yourself worked up." He then started putting spherical objects on his bandolier. The small gems on them glows in different colors from red to blue.

"You said there are 10 people coming. We faced less and got our asses kicked. We should get ourselves ready." I told him.

"Lad, ye don't even have an equipment on ye. What would ye need to get ready fer?" He said jokingly.

"Well, I had a pair of gauntlets I used to have before I got captured by you guys." I retorted. I liked that gauntlet. It made me feel strong. It also saved my skin a dozen times over since it is technically unbreakable as long as there is enough supply of mana.

"Nah. That gauntlet is confiscated lad. The items tainted with the same energy you are exuding before and we wouldn't want to risk miss pointy ears here get worked up again and shoot us in the back for tainting more of the forest would ye? He said, which earned him an angry look from Alora. Clearly she didn't appreciate him joking about her. The dwarf then opened the door of the cage, motioning me to get out.

"So we will just stand here doing nothing?" I slowly stood up to avoid getting dizzy again and exited the wooden cage.

"We already did everything to prepare for this moment lad. Better remember your training. You're going to need it." He slapped my back which kinda hurts. Seeing I am still tense as hell, he continued. "Oh don't be so tense. Or else you will miss the surprise we prepared for our dear guests. Believe me when I say it is shockingly spectacular to behold." He said with a wide grin on his face.

Well, he seem sure of himself. I guess I will use this opportunity to see the fruits of my labor. Who knows, they may have meat in their possession for us to take, and maybe even a new set of clothes. I am literally wearing rags right now.