Adelaide felt her hands tightening around the handle of her axe, which blade was held close to Luce's throat. She was seething, her muscles trembling with the pain that only unbridled anger could have created and she was not sure why. She looked to Miguel, who stood with an unreadable expression, then to the mayor and his guards.

The elf gave it a second of thought.

Then, she took a step backwards and teleported out of the room.

Reappearing at the town square within the puff of rust-smelling cloud, gasps immediately filled the air as men and women of all age and race stopped mid-action, pots crashing into the ground and crates tumbling off shelves. The busy marketplace stopped abruptly, all eyes on Adelaide who appeared in the centre of the intersection. The crowd dispersed around her, stepping away from the elf with green hair.

Mutters filled the air and slowly, the hushed whispers turned into frustrated grunts. Then, the frustration turned into an angry clattering.

Finally, a man shouted, “Demon Eyes!”

Adelaide turned to the voice and saw an old man, limping towards her with a cane in his hand and a fury in his eyes. He sped up his speed once he was close enough to confirm who she was. Despite her being sure she had not met an elderly human before, something about the man was familiar to her.

He growled, “You monster! How dare you show your face here?” When he was within throwing distance, a young woman ran out of the crowd to him, stopping his advance with gentle force. “You! You! After what you've done! You dare to show your face!”

Adelaide defended, “I've never met you before.”

“Of course you haven't!” he yelled, voice cracking. “You don't have to meet the aftermath of your killings. My son, Kiril, you killed his best friend. He was so guilt-ridden with having survived he ran away from the town. I have not seen him in three decades!”

Unconsciously, she took a step back, her heart skipping a beat as a bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

The old man continued, breaking free of the hold of the woman, shakily pointing his cane at her. “You! You ruined our family! Get your geared face away from us!” He bent over to grab a rock from the ground, almost toppling over as he did so.

But he stood back straight with conviction and threw the rock at Adelle. The stone harmlessly fell to the side without strength, the old man falling to his knees in tears after the outburst. Then, a loaf of bread flew past her face. She turned, and the baker had her arms out in post throw. A stalk of vegetable followed, hitting her in the back of her head. Adelaide stumbled slightly from the impact, but otherwise unhurt. Next came a rotten fruit. Another small rock. A bucket that missed. The townspeople gathered in an uproar and soon, a barrage of random objects flew towards her general direction.

She saw the glimmer of the butcher's knife and stepped aside, the blade embedding cleanly into the ground where she once stood. She shot a dirty glare to the man who threw it, but the reply was not the one of fear she had gotten used to from her prey. It was a stare of fury.

“Adelaide!”

She turned towards the voice that called her to see Miguel jogging forward. She squinted in focus, took a step to the side and teleported to the northern edge of the town.

Behind her, the town continued in a loud frenzy at her appearance. Before her, just a short walk away, was the edge of Valendra Forest. She breathed in deep, clenched her fist tightly, and began her walk back to her home.

“So that's it?” She stopped in her tracks, turning to the familiar voice. Nadier was sitting on a bench against the edge-most building of the town. The dark elf lectured, “Run back to your forest and wait for the next person to kill?”

She gritted her teeth and growled, “Don't you have a brother to avenge? Or a war to stop?Aren't you suppose to be in Ta'Galadul?”

“I do, and, I was.” She saw the bags under his eyes. Even for a dark elf, they were considerably shadowed. He must have travelled through the night to reach Valent. Nadier continued, “But those things aside for now, this is more important.”

“What is?” she asked.

“Saving you.”

She snorted derisively. “I don't need your 'saving'. And don't think I've forgotten how you and Watcher betrayed me.”

“I saw an opportunity.”

“So you used me.”

“I use everyone!” Nadier shouted, smashing his hand against the stone wall behind, dust falling off the shingles of the roof.

Adelaide took a step back in shock. For all the years she had known him, he had never once raised his voice. Before then, she had started to wonder if Nadier could even shout.

The dark elf took a breath for composure. Once he had calmed, he settled into his seat again and continued, “I use everyone. I'm a dark elf. It's what we do. And this is going to be weird, coming from me, but we do have the ability to care. We just don't show it much.”

“Is that right?” Adelaide replied, sceptical in her tone. “You expect me to believe you're caring by betraying?”

“Is there any other way?” Nadier asked honestly. “Humans do it all the time. Little white lies for those they care about. We just go a little further. Little white betrayals.” His tone was flat and without bravado. He honestly believed a betrayal was no more than a lie. It was the way of the dark elves.

Frustrated at his unbelievable attitude, Adelaide angrily asked, “So how did you help me? You sent me into the Undercity. Had me shot by Light and caught up in a stupid war I wanted no part in. How is that helping me?”

“Because the world moved on without you, I wanted to show you that. The legendary Demon of Valendra. You saw how people reacted to you? The fear is gone. You used to be a legend. Then, they realized you were just another mortal, another elf. Now they know your powers. Everyday, your mystery gets unravelled a little, and you get ever so closer to being caught. You've already been taken in once. Without The Watcher, you'll probably be dead.”

“What's your point?” Adelaide asked menacingly, getting tired of his roundabout way of speech.

“I spoke with Luce before leaving Ra'Kalen,” Nadier admitted. “She wanted you in the Titan Rangers. I told her what she should do to corner you. I gave you a way out. To clear your name.”

“That's not what I wanted.”

“You want to say your goal is to protect the forest, am I right?” Though the statement was simple, the tone was overwhelmingly accusing.

She did not reply. Could not. Because he was right.

Nadier continued. “But you and I both know that's not true.” He stood up and walked calmly to her. “You want to protect your forest. If you want to make that forest yours, go build a damn castle. Take responsibility. Otherwise, sooner or later, you won't be able to run any further.”

They stood face-to-face, met eye-to-eye. Adelaide sometimes wondered if all those years ago, were they brought together because of fate or destiny. Even though in all likelihood, it was just because they lived within a rare circle of killers and loners. It was how nobles always met other nobles and how farmers mostly knew other farmers.

Nadier reached out and cupped a hand to her face and her eyes widened in surprise. His expression was unusually stoic, yet eyes held kind. It was a look she had seen twice, both a long time ago, in a village aflame on the face of a man who held her hands softly, and later on the old man who took her in for the few years he had left to live. She sighed, her head lowered in defeat, and leaned her closed eyes into his shoulder, a single awkward hand of a dark elf behind her head.

“I've lost a brother,” Nadier said in an almost whisper. “I can't lose a sister too. It's time we grew up, or we're both going to die alone. So please, Adelle, take Luce's offer.”

“Alright,” she replied without looking up at him. “Just for you, Nads.”

A new voice, cold and calculating, sounded, “How sweet.”

The pair pushed apart and turned to face the newcomer. Standing before them with the background of the forest behind him, the Tower of Everwind further away, Light stood with his bright white robe, practically shining under the Twins' light.

Adelaide drew her axes and Nadier's dagger swung out, the dark elf quickly and swiftly loading two vials into the hilts.

Light smiled menacingly. “My dear Wanderer, I heard you found something interesting in the dark.” His hand clenched and a longsword of pure light burst from within his balled fist. “Let's talk about that, shall we?”