Vampa painted the ocean a murky red with its crimson moonlight as Verda failed to make itself known. It was the second night of their journey. The three Scholars and Triss stood observant on the ship’s deck as they were accompanied only by each other and Insomnia.

Veles looked forward and took off his mask. “Ready your magic, kid. Activate the Melancholic Lightsword on my say so,” he ordered Triss.

Triss gripped the dagger and positioned himself to fight. Were they not trying diplomacy? He didn’t voice the thought. His situation was already disturbing enough. There was nothing in sight in the open ocean, not even clouds. He had long since realised he wasn’t beholden to the same protection clause as the rest of the crew as well. It was made abundantly clear when he was told to stay outside in the middle of night while the others were supposed to rest inside for their own protection. Even Randall wasn’t on the deck.

The situation remained serene. Triss wanted to get a peek at Veles’ face but decided not to approach. There should’ve been a good reason for them to always wear those masks, he reasoned.

He wouldn’t have come to such a conclusion back when he was with the Lightguard as his time with the Scholars had mellowed him and made him a lot more cautious, mostly because he thought that infuriating them was a shortcut to death. He shuddered remembering how Shaw had treated Randall in these months. And he was supposed to be the weakest of the masked troupe.

Another minute of silence passed until Tala interrupted it with a whistle. Shaw spoke immediately after. “Elder, I’d like to withdraw.”

Veles raised his left hand in response. An ethereal drum appeared in front of him and it floated midair. He then struck it with his hand resulting in a single beat from it. As soon as the sound escaped everyone’s ears, so did the noise from Insomnia. Everything became deathly quiet.

After a few tense seconds, Triss could perceive a web of magic in front of the ship that appeared like a massive blanket. He assumed that that structure was what he had to cut.

It was a wide reaching magic presumed to be the size of a country’s borders by the Scholars. It probably is a border, Shaw thought. The scale of the whole thing had reached farther than his own perception would allow him to realise. It would also explain how all of Lahally’s exploratory ships were caught mid-journey, they surely couldn’t have taken the same route every time. He would have voiced more complaints but Veles didn’t allow him the pleasure.

Many more drums of various types and sizes appeared in front of Veles. He successively hit each of them in an orchestra that everyone assumed only he could hear. The wide web of magic pulsed with each beat but it always returned to the same position. Veles deactivated his own magic disappointed and everyone’s hearing finally returned.

“Tch, it didn’t work. Shaw, take the kid inside, immediately!” Veles yelled.

Shaw agreed with the decision instantly and ran backwards to pick Triss up. They descended to the lower deck and sealed the hatch tight.

Triss was confused as per his usual interactions with the Scholars, but this time he was also relieved.

“I can’t believe he actually thought you’d be able to do something,” Shaw murmured after having caught his breath.

“What was he trying to do there?” Triss asked.

“Get us some time. That was supposed to be your job as well, but that…” Shaw shook his head as he failed to finish the sentence.

“At the least, we hoped to go by undetected until we reached land for Tala to assist. I suppose they’ll have to make do as they are,” Shaw said and shrugged. He stopped caring for the most part as soon as he was out of harm’s way.

“Why aren’t you helping them, then?” Triss asked as he was puzzled by Shaw’s indifference.

“Something with control over the mists can easily overpower my ice,” Shaw said as the air around became foggy inside the ship.

He then tried to create a small ice spear atop his palm. It disintegrated some time after it was formed. “See? I’m as useless as you are right now. That thing was already waiting for us out there,” he stated.

I knew we should’ve left with a regular ship! He cursed internally.

The ship’s interiors had almost no visibility at that point as the mist became stronger even as they were indoors. The ship suddenly rocked from one side to another and Triss fell down.

“Grab hold of something,” Shaw told Triss as if berating his intelligence.

Triss tried projecting his lightsword to cut away the mists but it didn’t work as he had expected it to. His feeble magic couldn’t overpower a Will that strong. It was like trying to cut stone with a butter knife. The unexpected reaction made him wonder if something was wrong with how he understood his magic. In theory, he should’ve been able to disperse some of the mists at the least but there was no reaction at all.

Tala spat inside her mask and held up her left arm—whatever was left of her left arm—with a makeshift bandage using her tattered robes. The mists were still around and she couldn’t be careless.

She had collapsed biting her lips. “Fuck,” she whimpered with tears in her eyes. “This isn’t fun at all!” She exclaimed with a weakening voice and removed her mask with whatever little remained of her strength.

She turned over to her side as she struggled for breath. She extended the fingers on her right arm and bright orange wisps formed on their tips. Her mana had barely been used in the short time before she had been taken out. The mists around her slightly dispersed and the air became fuzzy. She let out a yelp as she seared the wound in her arm shut and cried. Looking up, she couldn’t see anything but the mists tinted red by the mist. I’ll fucking kill you, she cursed internally and passed out.

Veles hissed out at his opponent once they both detected Tala’s presence once again. They were far from the ship but the mists still reached them. The web from earlier was an alarm magic that activates the same mists that they were fighting in, and the mists had appeared along its entire length.

The mists around Veles gained a form and tried to strangle him but he resisted it long enough to disperse them. His clothes were in tatters but there wasn’t a single scratch on his exposed skin. He couldn’t see his opponent but he had a good grasp of the enemy at this junction.

“Peculiar… Was it the mask that concealed that sack of shit?” A nasal voice asked Veles.

“Listen to me, you feathered hag, the agreement is not valid anymore,” Veles spoke to his opponent with a voice soaked in mana.

The voice that would split a normal person’s head open didn’t even register as anything more than the bristles of leaves to his opponent. She couldn’t care less what he said nor how he had said it.

At least, she didn’t care until she was called a ‘feathered hag’. She wondered about the last time someone called her that but couldn’t quite recollect.

“You… I see,” she said slowly as she dispersed the mists to get another look at Veles. “It is not the Ruin Watch’s place to null the agreement,” she stated as she stared down at him from above.

Veles was standing on the surface of the ocean as she flew overhead. “Did Anthir send you?” She asked.

“That order is dead, along with the rest of their kind!” Veles screamed with all the breath that his lungs would allow. “Himmiord is weakened,” he added.

“So the slaves have usurped their masters!” The woman exclaimed in a cheery applause. “That explains the upstarts from the last few weeks, but you…?” She gestured for him to continue.

Veles toned down his voice after finally securing a conversation. “The Firebrood,” he stated with a hushed voice. “Lifacta is not done yet. Not there. Nor here.”

The woman glared at him with sharp eyes. Veles had finally gotten a look of her form. Most of her body was decidedly Human. She sported three auburn wings on each side of her back. Her hair was decidedly copper and sharp talons were in the place of her feet. She had a menacing look that was complemented by her orange robes.

Her hands then suddenly vaporised into mist, and the rest of her body followed. The cloud moved towards Veles and a structure resembling a hand gripped his throat. The rest of her body condensed back into its original self apart from the hand.

“Let’s make a new agreement then, shitsack,” she told Veles with an imposing tone.

It wasn’t until dawn that someone tapped on the hatch from the open deck. The mists had disappeared hours earlier in the night. Shaw forced Triss to be the first to exit in case of any issues. They had brought Randall as a precaution, and he followed Triss up. Shaw decided to leave with them only on hearing Veles’ voice.

They were greeted by the sight of Tala resting unconscious on a broken part of the ship’s railing. Shaw ran to inspect her status and put on her mask for her before the other two could catch a look.

“Do not bring out the rest of the crew, they’re not safe yet,” Veles told the lot of them.

His beautiful robe was shredded all over but the only damage Triss could spot was the region under the Scholar’s neck. It looked like it had been burnt. A bit of his hair was in cinders as well. Triss couldn’t tell if his entire face was scarred or not because of the mask, however.

Shaw returned from addressing Tala’s situation and spoke out. “Elder, I believe you’re the only one who’s safe here.”

Veles sighed. “No, I can guarantee your safety and the boy’s. No one else, though.”

Randall was taken aback. He took a step back looking to run. If the Scholar said he was not safe, he reasoned that he was definitely not safe.

“Go back inside, Randy,” Shaw ordered just as Randall had realised there was nowhere for him to realistically run away to. It was not a difficult proposition for him to accept.

“Lay the anchor and cut off the power. We need to readjust the course later,” Veles added.

A shadow loomed over the group as soon as Randall had gone inside. Only Veles looked up as both Triss and Shaw had their instincts tell them to not bat an eye and stand silently.

The figure descended behind them and scratched the metal plating of the ship with her talons.

“They’re decent for their age,” she commented, “good senses.”

“I don’t concur with your assessment,” Veles retorted.

“Oh? And why is that?” She asked him.

“They didn’t run away,” Veles stated.

Shaw’s head moved up a little and made a deathly glare through the slits on his mask. Triss was too tense to even think properly.

The woman walked closer with clangs from the ship’s floor. She removed the dagger from Triss’ holster and examined it.

“You could derive a Class from this,” she stated and looked at Veles through the glass weapon. “Demonstrate,” she ordered the nervous Triss and placed the dagger back in the holster.

“Use all the mana you have on you to attack her, kid. She can’t tell otherwise,” Veles said.

Triss took the dagger out and projected the lightsword. He turned around to attack with it immediately as he felt the same horror and relentlessness as he had when he had fought against the Threat. He felt like his life depended on that attack.

The size of the lightsword expanded during the motion until it was as large as half the ship’s length. The sword was projected through the woman for a short moment until it dissipated and Triss fell backwards.

Triss looked up to finally glimpse at the menacing woman. She seemed completely unfazed by the attack and only looked at him with curiosity.

It was after another moment that some of her skin had become vapours all around her body. The mist quickly condensed and solidified to reform her body. The engines fell silent shortly after.

“I wouldn’t have expected such strength at that stage. Well done,” she praised him.

“Please, leave your empty words for the next person to incur your wrath,” Veles remarked.

“What? Kids need encouragement,” she responded.

Veles pointed at Tala’s resting body and spoke. “I wouldn’t believe that a monstrosity like you would have had a soft spot for kids, not after that.”

“I have a soft spot for a lot of things that aren’t sacks of shit,” the woman retorted.

“Many hundreds of years of life and your vocabulary ends up consisting solely of ‘shitsacks’ and ‘sacks of shit’. Unbelievable,” Veles snided.

“Shut up, shitsack,” she replied and punched Shaw with a force strong enough to knock him out. “That’s one for each of you,” she said.

The woman then flew up with a gust of wind that made it difficult for Veles to maintain his footing. Triss was still seated on the floor next to the unconscious Shaw.

Veles kicked Shaw over a few times to wake him. To the surprise of Triss, it worked. It was either that or he was just pretending to have been knocked out earlier.

The two Scholars then went into the upper deck’s lone cabin and Shaw was simply told to sail to a different spot that Veles had marked on their chart. They couldn’t bring out the usual helmsman, so Shaw had to suffice for the job. Triss was sent to instruct Randall to restart the engines and retract the anchors, following which they had set sail again. He didn’t encounter any of the crew as they stood shut inside their rooms as they hadn’t been given the signal.

Triss joined the two of them back by the helm. It was relatively silent for a few hours until Tala finally woke up. It didn’t make sense to Triss how she was still normal after losing an arm without any treatment whatsoever but the woman had more than enough energy to speak up.

“Elder, where did she go?” She asked in frustration.

“Circling overhead. Give it up,” Veles told her.

“I’m gonna kill her,” Tala responded.

“You and with whose arms?” Shaw asked sarcastically.

Tala grumbled and laid down on the floor.

“Elder, is it a suitable time to ask about our situation?” Shaw asked Veles.

“The ruin has already been occupied,” Veles responded.

“You mean the Firebrood have already descended that far and you still want us to delve inside there?” Shaw asked unhappily.

“It is still winter, and we will have assistance. You’re not coming that far in, so keep quiet. I’m leaving you to guard the ship,” Veles said.

“That is acceptable,” Shaw changed his tune quickly.

“Are you seriously getting a Harpy to help you, though?” He then asked Veles. “I wasn’t even aware that species could get so strong, not that I’ve seen one. I thought they were extinct.”

Triss had seen Firebrood that had taken the form of Harpies before. They only had a single pair of wings, though, and his image was distorted anyway because of their grotesque molten rock bodies. He was curious about that as well.

“No, she’s not a Harpy. You might remember her as the Guardian of Tyrdia from the Newyth Treaty,” Veles informed.

“Eupi Ae Volanta,” he reminded the Scholars of her name.

“You mean she’s that Eupi? I got my ass beaten by an ancient relic…” Tala muttered in defeat.

“The Falca Queen? Are you serious? Veles, I’m having a hard time believing that. Are you sure she’s not a descendent at least?” Shaw asked.

“Falcae like her are effectively extinct as well, it’s not that unreasonable. She remembered the treaty quite well and even mentioned Anthir,” Veles responded. “Besides, why else would she bother maintaining that border?”

“So the treaty was upheld all this time, meaning she had no idea the Elves were gone until now. But now… What are you doing for her, Veles?” Shaw asked.

“Babysitting,” Veles replied. “She’s not the one coming with us into the ruin.”

“Of course she isn’t… Why can’t someone like her just obliterate the Threat from the region, anyway? She’s definitely stronger than a few Lightbringers,” Shaw posited.

“She understands how the Threat works. It scales with the strength of its opposition,” Veles replied. “Tyrdia will have no chance if she appears on the battlefield. What will she guard if she’s the only one left alive?”

Why is he so casual about letting out such important information? Shaw didn’t have access to nearly as much intelligence as Veles but it hadn’t escaped him the meaning of that statement. That was likely the answer to why the Elves were eradicated while the High Humans could still thrive on Himmiord, even though the newer civilisation was much weaker.

Veles wasn’t one to let something like that slip on error. Had he made a mistake? Or was it intentional misinformation? It irked Shaw to no end and he stood silently after that. He also considered whether the Threat was already capable of wiping out civilisation a second time.

He grasped the ship’s wheel tight and had another disturbing thought. Were the Elves really the first to go?