“What do you mean you have no carts or horses to rent?” Astrid cries as she slams her hands on the wooden table in front of her.

“You know that nearly everyone from the Flemmington Academy is going home today correct?” The dwarf female says with a sigh. “That and I don’t allow my animals anywhere near the cursed mountain, so even if I did have some animals available I would refuse to let you have one.”

Astrid throws her hands up. “The mountain is as safe as this town! I was born and raised there.”

“Oh, that changes everything, let me go get you a horse here immediately.” The dwarf female says sarcastically.

“Really?” Astrid asks in surprise.

“Please leave my shop.” The dwarf says as she narrows her eyes.

Astrid slumps her shoulders as she leaves the carriage and horse rental shop. “See if I ever come back here for business.” She then storms off, after walking around for a bit she walks in front of one of her favorite places to eat, the inn “The fallen Phoenix.” The old painted sign replaced with a newer one over the last few months. “Well, I guess some talon kabobs would cheer us up.” She says as she looks over her shoulder at Viele.

“I think… masssster… feel better… with food.” Viele says, trying not to sound excited from the thought of food.

Astrid and Viele walk into the Inn, choosing their normal spot, they wait for the usual waiter. When the waiter arrives, she stares at Astrid for a moment. “Where is the beastkin and the two humans you are always with?” She asks as she looks around.

Astrid frowns. “Well, I am alone today, Brittany and Richard already went home. Shortclaw is working at the moment, and I am trying to find a way to get home.”

“Oh that sucks.” The waitress says. “Where is your home at? If I may ask.”

“Ummm… Near the cursed mountain, my parents have a cabin there.” Astrid says as her ears start to droop again.

“Oh, people live near there?” The waitress asks. “Hmmmm, I doubt I will find anyone going near there, but sometimes there are caravans that go near there. You may look around for one. But for now, what would you like to eat?”

“Oh!” Astrid says as her ears perk up. “I would like two talon kabobs.”

The waitress looks over at Viele. “And your usual? Mr. not allowed into the establishment again if you bite me again.”

“I… sssaid… sorry… accident…” Viele pouts.

“Uh huh…” The waitress says as she walks away to put in their order.

After a bit, the waitress returns with a giant grin on her face as she hands over the food. “Well, I have something interesting. You are the luckiest elf I know, well the only elf I know.”

Astrid’s ears perk up again. “What?”

The waitress moves close to Astrid to whisper, causing Astrid to blush slightly. “Well.” She then points at a large table filled with about a dozen or so large men and beastkin. “That table over there has a caravan that is going to where you want, they are some sort of supply caravan. So, if you want to go visit your home they are probably your best bet. But remember, I didn’t tell you this.” The waitress then walks away a big smile still on her face.

“Viele, hurry up and eat your food.” Astrid says, she then looks over at Viele’s plate, seeing it is already cleaned up. She then lets out a small laugh before giving him a kabob and finishing up the one she is eating; she then gets up and heads over to the table filled with people.

“Do we got everything?” A large muscular human with a bald head and a set of brown leather armor says.

“Well, we have all the supplies. But we haven’t found anyone who knows the cursed mountain. All the people around here say that the only ones who would dare go near there are the elves that live there.” A shorter slender man covered in a mixture of black leather and cloth says as he plays with a dagger. “Hopefully we find one fast, or Sken won’t be too happy. You know what happens when you don’t get everything he wants, and we are leaving this afternoon.”

The men at the table all shudder, one of them starts to rub a large oval scar on his hand.

“Excuse me!”

The men at the table all hear a small feminine voice and all turn to look at a cute girl with long blond hair, and a long green and brown dress. Behind her is an angry looking tree ent.

“Damn it Josh! We told you not to get any more prostitutes.” One of the men say as they slap another one in the back of the head.

The entire table bursts out in laughter.

The large muscular bald man leans over and looks at Astrid as she blushes. “Sorry little girl, but this isn’t where you need to be, a lot of bad men here. So, go play somewhere else.”

“You are going to the cursed mountain correct?”

The men at the table all slowly turn to look at Astrid as she asks this.

“Why yes, we are! How did you hear about that?” The man in black leather asks.

“I heard it when walking by. I need your help; I live near the cursed mountain and I need someone to transport me there. I have money and can pay.”

The table erupts in laughter again. “Sure you do.” The bald man says as he turns around.

“Wait, Tiny.” The man in black leather and cloth says to the bald man.

“What do you want Shawn.” Tiny says, his eyes narrowing.

“We should bring her, since you say you live there, you know the area correct?” Shawn says as he looks Astrid up and down.

Astrid nods. “I have been exploring the area since I was a kid.”

There are a few mumbles from around the table, but they are all silenced by Shawn. “Okay then, we won’t take your money, instead when we get there we will need you to be an… intelligence agent for a day or so how about that?”

Astrid grins and nods happily. “I can do that! When do you plan to leave?”

“Here in a couple of hours, we are going to be traveling through the night that way we are not traveling through the forest in the dark.” Shawn says as he continues to examine the elf. “So go get everything you need and meet us here at the inn, and don’t be late or we will leave you.

At this Astrid rushes to her dorm room, packing up her bow, some clothes, and grabbing a few silver coins.

“Are we seriously bringing a little girl to that dangerous place? Remember when we came here, we were attacked by a fucking griffon!” Tiny says, annoyed.

“I know, but did you not notice? She is an elf! She must be related to the elves that live there.” Shawn says with a grin on his face.

“Wait, she was?” Tiny says as he goes slack jawed.

“Yeah, you can see her ears peak from her hair occasionally. She may be the daughter of the elves the rest were looking for.” Shawn grins and grabs his bottle of liquor and takes a swig. “So she should be useful in one way or another, if not, the wildlife will get her if you know what I mean.”

The table erupts in laughter again.

Later that day Astrid shows up at the inn, a bow and her backpack slung across her back. In front of the inn is the men she spoke to earlier; they are all loading supplies onto four carriages. Astrid recognizes the man in the black armor and walks up to him. “I am here!” She says as she watches him place a bag in the front cart.

Shawn turns around, he then grins. “You had me worried, we are almost done loading up supplies and we were about to leave you if you didn’t show up soon. You can ride in the front carriage with me since you know the woods the best, there should be space for your familiar in the carriage too.”

After they finish packing, the men separate, some hopping on carriages, the rest hopping on horses. The group make their way to the main gate out of town. As they reach the gate several guards come out and stop the carriages.

“Sorry, but I have to inspect the carriages.” One of the guards say as he walks up to the front carriage, his metal armor clanking with each step. When he reaches the carriage, he notices Astrid. “Oh little elf girl! You are with a caravan today? I thought you liked hunting by yourself.” The guard says with a loud laugh.

“Hey John, no, not hunting today, I am actually hitching a ride with this caravan due to they are going towards where I live. Going to see my parents after about six months.” Astrid says with a smile.

“Oh, It’s been that long since you arrived?” John says with a smile. “Then for you, we definitely can’t hold you and your friends up.” John then turns around and looks at the other guards. “Let them by.” John steps to the side and waves goodbye to Astrid with a smile.

Shawn turns and looks at Astrid as they exit the city gate. “Was that a friend of yours?”

“Sort of, throughout the last few months my job sent me in and out of the gate. So, we talked a lot and even joined a few of his card games.” Astrid says with a smile.

Shawn smiles back. “Speaking of talked a lot, I haven’t even gotten your name yet.”

“Astrid, Astrid Thorn.” Astrid says as she puts a hand out to shake Shawn’s hand.

“Well, as you probably already know by now, my name is Shawn.” Shawn shakes Astrid’s hand. “So Astrid, are you a student at the academy there in Flemington?”

“Yep, I just got done with my first semester.” Astrid says proudly. “So Shawn, you are a trader?” Astrid asks as she looks back at all the cargo.

“No.” Shawn chuckles. “You can say that I am a mage mercenary, and I was recently tasked to head this group to gather supplies due to our captain only trusts three people. Those three people are me, Jason, and himself.”

“Oh, so you are important with your group?” Astrid chuckles as Shawn puffs out his chest proudly.

“Of course, I am the third in command.”

“Oooooo.”

“So Astrid, telling by your familiar you are a nature magic user?” Shawn turns his head back and looks at the angry looking tree ent. “He won’t bite me would he?”

“N… possibly not.” Astrid says while looking away.

“That is not very reassuring.” Shawn says eyeing the tree ent nervously.

Astrid turns back and looks at Viele. “Viele, please promise me not to bite the nice gentleman.”

Viele grunts in displeasure. “Yesssss… massssster… I promissssse.”

“See, you are good now.” Astrid says with a laugh.

Shawn lets out a laugh with Astrid and turns back to watch the path.

The group travels throughout the night, Astrid and Shawn talking the entire way. The next day they finally reach the woods near the cursed mountain.

“So, where is your home at?” Shawn asks, looking the yawning elf up and down.

“There is a path nearby that will lead me there, where did you say your camp was located?” Astrid asks as she jumps from the cart.

“It’s located southeast of the mountain on top of this hill with almost no trees on it.” Shawn says as he hops down with her. “Here, I don’t want you to go alone, it goes against everything I believe in to let you go in the woods by yourself. Tiny! Come take the front cart.”

“But!” Tiny starts to protest but gets cut off by Shawn.

“I am the leader of the group, so listen to what I am saying. You and the rest of the group go bring the supplies to camp. I am taking the lady home, and I will be coming back shortly, okay?” Shawn says as he looks at Tiny with a stern look.

“Fine, whatever.” Tiny rolls his eyes as he jumps onto the wagon, whipping the horse and causing it to move forward.

“Thank you, but you know you didn’t have to.” Astrid says as she runs a hand through her hair nervously.

“No, don’t worry about it, I kind of wanted to talk to you about the area anyways.” Shawn says as they walk down the path together, Viele following close behind, a hint of anger on his face.

The three walk down a nearby trail, before deviating from it after walking for a while.

“We should be seeing the back of my house soon.” Astrid says as she picks up speed. “See! You can see the roof from here!” Astrid starts to sprint as Shawn starts to slow down.

“Something doesn’t smell right here.” Shawn says to himself as he watches Viele shamble past trying to catch up to Astrid. He watches Astrid as she runs to her house and disappears on the other side. He suddenly hears a scream coming from the house. He quickly pulls out two daggers and sprints towards the house, the strong smell of death and blood becoming stronger with each step. When he reaches the house, he sees Astrid, on her knees and still screaming. He then looks up to see what she is staring at. His mouth drops open as he sees a sea of blood and body parts everywhere, just by looking he can tell that there are over a hundred bodies here. “What? How?” He puts his daggers away and slowly walks into the sea of dead bodies.

“I…. I have to see if my parents are here.” Astrid says as tears flow down her cheeks. She stands up and runs into the hole on the front of the house.

Shawn shambles through the body parts, trying to find a face he recognizes. He finds a large boulder a distance away, underneath it is a man who has the lower half of his body crushed by the boulder. “Shit!” Shawn says as he recognizes the man. “He was one of our best archers.” He thinks to himself as he continues to look around, trying to find anyone else he recognizes. After finding a few more he confirms it is definitely the RexDevils. “The hell happened here? Why the hell didn’t I request a communication crystal.”

“I can’t find them anywhere!” Astrid yells as she stumbles out of the house tears flowing from her eyes. “Everything is gone from the house, and my parents are nowhere to be seen, there is just human and beastkin bodies everywhere.” Astrid suddenly throws up as she sees the bodies again, everything finally sinking in.

Shawn continues to shudder at all the destruction, he has seen many battle fields, but nothing can prepare him for everything he was now walking through. After a bit of walking he eventually finds a spot that looks different than the rest. This area has two skeletons, one cradling the other. What struck him as odd is that these are the only skeletons here. That and around the skeletons are scorch marks like a powerful fire magic spell was casted there. “I doubt an elven mage did this damage, so they are probably her parents.” Shawn thinks to himself as he bends over, reaching towards the skeletons.

“Click click click click.”

“Why are you making that noise?” Shawn yells at Astrid as he stands up frightened by the sudden noise.

“I… I’m not making that noise.”

Astrid looks up as Shawn turns around, in the distance beside the bolder is a strange looking creature. It is about eight foot tall and has the body of a giant ant, but it is covered in grey armor. It also has two feelers coming from the top of its head, the tips of them are slamming together making clicking noises.

“What in Gaia’s name is that!” Shawn yells.

“It’s a clicker ant!” Astrid yells. “We need to kill it fast; it’s clicking to call for backup!”

Astrid grabs her bow from her back. “Viele, protect me in case it rushes me.”

Astrid pulls back the bow string without putting an arrow in it as Viele stands between the ant and Astrid. After a moment, a long cylinder object with a sharp point appears in the bow. She releases the summoned arrow and it flies directly at the clicker ant.

The clicker ant starts clicking its’ feelers together faster as he sees the arrow come close, it attempts to dodge it but it moves slow side to side. The arrow slams into the thick armor above its’ head, bouncing off harmlessly.

“Bloom!” Astrid yells, the arrow she shot suddenly erupts, yellow dust going everywhere, covering the clicker ant’s face.

Astrid pulls the bow string back again and summons another arrow as the clicker ant starts making a screeching noise, its’ feelers clicking together fast now as the armor on its’ face gets melted off.

The now enraged clicker ant starts charging at Astrid at full speed. The clicker ant continues to screech as it feels its’ face continue to melt, the only two things on its’ mind are revenge and the pain it is currently in. It didn’t even notice the shadowy tendrils wrapping around its’ front legs till it started to tilt forward and flip on its’ back from the momentum. It then makes louder screeches as more shadowy tendrils wrap around it, keeping it from rolling back over.

“Shadow tendrils will only keep it like that for so long! Fire that arrow fast!” Shawn hollers.

“I know!” Astrid yells as she lets loose the arrow. It flies towards the lightly armored underbelly of the clicker ant. The tip of the arrow hits the clicker ant in its abdomen, penetrating deep inside. “Bloom!” Astrid yells again, causing the arrow to erupt again. Astrid cringes as she watches where the arrow went into the clicker ant suddenly start to melt, slowly expanding the hole till it is several feet large.

“That is dangerous.” Shawn thinks to himself as he sees the clicker ant stop moving. He then looks over at Astrid. “Will we be okay?”

“No.” Astrid yells. “Mother and daddy always said that if I ever seen them, run home, they won’t come near the house. But the house is right here.”

“Click… click…. Click… click…”

“Shit, I think I hear more coming this way!” Shawn yells as his face turns white, looking towards where the noise is coming from.

“We need to run!” Astrid hollers. “Follow me, I know a place that should be safe, my parents may even be there!”

Shawn shudders for a moment remembering the two skeletons but he started to run, following Astrid. He looks back to see several trees starting to move and even fall over as the clicking noises become louder.

Astrid sprints through the forest, trying not to run too fast so Viele and Shawn can keep up. The clicking noises don’t seem to be going away and the sound of trees falling can clearly be heard.

“How much further! I’m not known for running long distances!” Shawn yells as he jumps over a log.

“It’s near the base of the mountain! We will be there in a few minutes!” Astrid yells back as she glides between the trees.

After a bit of running they finally reach the mountain, and after a bit more running Astrid finds the cave. She turns around to look at Viele and Shawn, still running up the slope. She then looks down at the bottom of the slope near the forest. “Hurry up!” Astrid screams as she sees several clicker ants appear, these where much larger than the one they just killed, and they are covered in grey spikes.

They all start to let out loud and rapid clicking noises as they look up and see Astrid, Viele, and Shawn on the slope.

“Hurry up and get in here! The cave is too small for them to get in, and there should be another exit!” Astrid yells as Viele and Shawn finally get to the cave. They all rush in as the clicker ants rush the cave, Astrid then turns and raises her hands. “Root wall!” She yells, causing roots to erupt near the entrance to the cave, covering it with thick roots. On the other side of the wall of roots a multitude of clicking noises can be heard.

“Are you sure there is another entrance?” Shawn asks Astrid as he walks up to her.

“I haven’t been here since I was a kid. And as a kid I never went far into the cave, But there should be, hopefully. Viele, guard this entrance, make another root wall if they try to get past that one.” Astrid pulls her bow back out. “Shawn, you can help me find another exit or you can stay here with Viele, your choice.”

Shawn stares at the wall of roots, then down towards the dark tunnel. “I will take my chances in the tunnel.”

Astrid and Shawn make their way deeper into the cave, leaving Viele to guard the entrance.

“So, do you believe your parents may actually be in here?” Shawn asks as he follows Astrid down the sloped pathway.

“I’m doubting it… but I can always hope. I know they knew about this place because they came here a time or two after they banned me from coming here.” Astrid says sadly.

“Why where you banned from this place? Was it too dangerous?” Shawn asks, as he stares at the too smooth to be natural walls.

“Oh, ummm, I think they were less afraid of me being in the cave and more of my friend that lived here. I don’t think he lives here anymore though due to when I was a kid whenever I was at the entrance he would suddenly show up there.”

“Oh.” Shawn looks around Astrid, he then sees a slight green glow down further into the tunnels. “Do you see that glow down there?”

“Yeah, let’s go check it out.” Astrid says as she continues walking down the path.

When they reach where the light is coming from they enter a round room that seems to be carved out of the mountain. They both look up to see the ceiling and part of the walls are covered in a green glowing moss.

“It’s a luminescent cave moss.” Shawn says as his mouth hangs open.

Astrid looks down to see a black pool of liquid and half a skeleton with leather armor laying near the pool. “What in Gaia’s name!” She says as she moves closer to the skeleton, it’s leather armor looks strange, there are also a bunch of loops to hold daggers, but they are all gone except a few laying at the skeleton’s sides.

“What is it?” Shawn asks as he looks in front of Astrid. His eyes grow wide when he notices the skeleton and the armor that it has on. “Shit, this is where they were.” He thinks to himself. He moves closer and notices the liquid in the black pool. “Be careful Astrid, that pool is filled with miasma, it’s dangerous.”

Astrid steps back from the skeleton as she watches Shawn walk over to the skeleton and pick up the daggers. She then turns around and walks towards a wall when she notices something else. “There is another skeleton over here, it looks slightly different than the one over there. The skull is more… animalistic.” She says as she leans down towards the skeleton. She reaches out towards the skeleton, her delicate fingers touching the leather armor. When her fingers touch the leather armor something in one of the pockets start to glow, scaring Astrid, causing her to stand strait up.

“Hey! Earthtail, it’s Jason, this is going to be your last call to return to base if you are alive. Sken is injured and most of the men are dead. We tried to capture the elven couple but they ended up wiping most of us out before we could kill them. The men from Flemmington have returned, so you have until later today when Shawn returns to get here or you can perish out here.”

Astrid’s eyes grow wide as she turns around. “What is…. Grrrkk.” When Astrid turns around a piece of cold metal can be felt penetrating her chest. In front of her is Shawn.

“Sorry Astrid, I was truly enjoying our time together, but I wish you didn’t hear that, I truly do. But now that you have heard it I can’t let you live, because well, I don’t want to get killed by one of your little arrows there.” Shawn frowns as he lifts Astrid up and tosses her into the pool of miasma.

Astrid tries to cry out as she lands in the miasma, when she enters the pool her body starts to tingle at first. After she starts to sink deeper into the miasma her body starts to feel as if it is on fire as the miasma starts to melt her flesh. Her last thought before passing out from the intense pain is. “Someone… please save me.”

At the entrance of the cave Viele suddenly feels a disturbance from his link with Astrid. “NOOOOO!” He screams as he shifts into his guardian form and starts to barrel down into the cave.

“Noooooo!”

Shawn can hear the scream down in the round cave room. “Shit, I forgot about the ent! Sneff, come on out, we have an ent we need to kill.” Two large paws suddenly come out of Shawn’s shadow, gripping the side of the shadow, a large monkey with jet black fur seems to climb out of it.”

“Master, you haven’t called me in months!” Sneff says gleefully. “Are we going to have some fun?”

“Yeah, we have a very angry tree ent coming this way, so be ready.” Shawn says as he grips his daggers looking at the entrance. His face turns to one of surprise when what comes through the doorway isn’t a tree ent but instead a guardian. “What in Gaia’s name!?”

“Master, I do believe that is not a tree ent, my guess is it is a very angry guardian. Are we in some elven ruins or something?” Sneff says as he lifts up his arms trying to look as big and intimidating as he can.

“No, it was a tree ent just a moment ago. Just help me kill it.” Shawn growls, he then lifts up a hand as Viele charges at them. “God of shadow, bind my enemies, Shadow tendrils!”

Shadowy tendrils erupt in front of Viele as he charges. “I will kill… you both!” Viele roars as the link to his master gets weaker and weaker.