"I am not sure this is a good idea."

"Maybe, but whoever saved the princess deserves a reward, Anshalla gave the order, there is no denying her will."

"Really? I thought it was just a rumour."

"No, Faeldin himself said, Anshalla wants to reward the saviour of her conduit."

"Ah, is it again about karma, fate and stuff? She likes it quite a bit."

"Fool, do not speak like this when someone might hear us, you are as irresponsible as always."

"Fine, fine. Anshalla knows the best what should be done, I just do not get the point."

"Just do not spoil the mood."

Faeldin's eye twitched, overhearing the two elves standing guard at the entrance. He was a tall, blue-eyed elf with silver hair, the silver color being the typical sign of the lineage of Anshalla, the Tree of Ages. His clothing was silver as well, marking his status as the oldest of the bloodline, except of ascended Anshalla herself of course.

To understand the hierarchy of elves, one has to start where it all began.

At the beginning there was just a large group of people of the forest, they could be called barbarians. outcasts of civilization, but the bounty of the forest made them flourish and grow in numbers. Yet, with increased numbers, they drew the attention of a bigger force. The ruthless kin of fiends with their brutal ways and reverence for individual strength chose their region as their training area, butchering uncountable ancestors of the elves, starting the dark age that was supposed to last forever.

. .. and it would have been so, if not for a few that defied the tormentors.

Elves celebrated the moment to this day, as the day of their race"s birth. The moment when Verdun, after slaying armies of demons discovered the elven path of ascension, turning himself into a Great Tree.

The moment their greatest hero turned into Verdun, the Tree of Life, many demon lords invaded the forest, unable to bear the humiliation of their defeat and attacked the last vestige of elven hopes.

Ferocious battle raged for hours, the demon lords used all their powers unhindered, but they were doomed to fail when faced with the wrath of Verdun, for in his forest, he was god.

After Verdun's great victory, elves continued to battle against the vile demons and more Great Trees rose to existence, giving birth to elven noble bloodlines, Anshalla beign one of them.

All Great Trees were once elves, but sacrificed their ordinray lives and a part of their consciousness for their power and opportunity to stand guard for eternity against those who wished harm to their home.

"She is late! Why is a girl of her status more irresponsible than an ordinary hunter?" Faeldin's smile faded from his face, locking his eyes onto the door frame the conduit should come out of.

* * * *

"Forgive me my boldness, but why should I leave with him? I do not understand! Why can't you explain it to me right now?" An elven girl kneeled on the wooden floor, only her thin lips and straight silver hair visible from under her hood. She was slender, dressed in a practical armor, looking more like a mercenary prepared for a long journey than an important elven nobility. However, the air of nobility about her could not be denied.

"The situation is grave, I will tell you everything at the edge of the forest, your departure will be much easier that way." A voice said in her head, like speaking from a great distance, hearing it was a part of her ability as a conduit.

"I will do as you say." She had no choice but to acknowledge the command and stood up, knowing her uncle was waiting for her.

"We will speak again at the border." The voice sounded for the last time and the conduit left the room in quick, light steps.

"Irwen, come my dear!" Faeldin greeted her the moment she left the room.

"Sorry uncle, we can initiate the summoning." She bit her lip, not wanting to worry Faeldin with the ominous message of the Great Tree.

In the center of what could not be strictly categorized as a room, given the open roof, there was a chalice with some blood. This was the blood the Great Tree spoke about, the main clue and connetion to her supposed saviour, the traces found on the road had long dried, but they did not need it fresh for their purpose. Irwen watched a group of her fellow elves conducting some kind of a ritual in order to summon the blood's owner. It would not function without her participation, she did not know what magic was used to summon the future hero, it was too complicated for her to understand.

She simply stepped forth, joining the circle of summoners and awaited the result with anticipation. She looked forward to see the one who had saved her life, despite the foreboding speech of the Great Tree.

After a significant amount of energy gathered, Irwen saw a flash of light and the long awaited figure finally stood in front of them in its full glory.

His skin was dark grey, with the overall shape of his body being humanoid. His head was reminiscent of the head of a lion, with two shining blue eyes, his snout not as pronounced as a lion would have had. His mane was flowing down his shoulders, grey as well as his whole body. His feet were closer to human feet than to a beast's, except for the strong claws that adorned the ends of his fingers, as one would expect of a creature of this kind. After a moment, a head of a snake slithered up over his shoulder, reminding everyone of the creature's tail, that took form of a grey, blue-eyed snake with no intelligence in its eyes.

A terrifying figure of a demon took breath away from everyone present. The visage of their saviour shocking them utterly.

* * * *

Gloin found himself encircled by people who drew their weapons the moment they saw him.

He wondered how they had been able to target him, but it probably had to do with his strange condition. Fortunately, some guy with silver hair made them stand down and went on to rant about something, but the thing was Gloin could not be bothered with what they were talking about at all. Additionaly, he felt off.

"If they are not going to jump at me, I should better look at my status first." Gloin ignored further actions of the people who were probably elves, as they were not going to kill kim apparently.

Demons' power was famous throughout the worlds, some believed it had to do with their violence, or ruthless competition, but it was far more simple than that. For some reason, demons could see their status, meaning they were able to evolve in a specific way, they were not simply flailing around, not knowing their way to power, or trying to follow some dubious systems. No one knew why demons were able to do it, it was probably magic inherited along with their ancestral memories, it could also had to do with the origin of The Sea of Void itself. No one was old enough to tell and to Gloin, it did not matter that much.

"How did I die the last time?" He tried to remember and saw his previous demonic self butchering mutants to evolve into a more powerful class after amassing enough skill points and then, he jumped to save some funny-looking animal and was hit by something.

"That is unreal! Status!" His memories might be a crap to a large degree, a fact that quite unnerved him.

Gloin Toby

Level 28 Shadow Mystic Demon Elf Alton

Druid Fitness - 7

Experience - 30

Chronomastery - 5

[Mysticism 2202/2800]

[Demon pjoints 2]

[Expert Level little kittens and Elderly Manipulation] - You are one with little kitten and Elderly energies, manimulating them intuitively and with great expertise.

Unique Bogus Abilities -

[Selfless Saviour] - You do not like killing, you care for lives of even Arcane. You won't receive any experience for killing, but you now receive experience for saving lives of all Arcane creatures. The amount depends on the level of threat prevented and the level of the saved creature.

[Impress The Life] - Nothing warms your heart more than impressing Life with your heroic deeds when he is watching you! Your experience gain is trippled, when you manage to impress Life with your deed.

"Just What The Fuck Is That?!" Gloin felt like experiencing his worst nightmare. He did not know what was all that supposed to mean, but it was definitely broken, like on different level of broken when you imagined the usual meaning of broken.

He should be a shadow demon!

The little undistorted piece of personality he had left told him to chase after more power, leaving him in a difficult position.

He felt like crying when looking at his status, the only good thing about it being that he appeared to have incredibly high Mysticism, but what was it good for with no abilities? To use it to fuel his little kitten energies maybe? Was that the way to regain his power?

He had serious doubts about that!

"Little kitten energies, little kitten . .no that won't do! The only chance I can see now is to use elderly energies. Right, that term is too vague, it might be misinterpreted." Gloin thought that maybe if he could find something that coutned as "Elderly energies", he might have a way to use his high Mysticism stat. He could feel it was high, he was familiar with the feeling.

Meanwhile, the elves grew restless. The white dude leading them appeared to lose patience and began ordering to move him somewhere.

Gloin was not worried too much about the situation. They have summoned him and had not killed him. They must have some grand plan for him.

The elven chick next to the white dude boss looked nice. He grinned at her just to be ignored. He would just enjoy the ride for the time being.

* * * *

The elves got over their initial shock and were taking him somewhere, even trying to communicate with him.

Screw them! Why had they summoned him? He refused to give them any kind of information, just listening to puzzle together their motives, but at times he had a feeling they themselves had no clue of what they were doing!

Elves were stupid.

On top of that he was unable to use little kitten energies and trying to act a cute little lion was too embarrasing.

And how was he supposed to know when Life was watching? What creatures classified as Arcane?

His status was stupid!

Not mentioning every time he got himself into the right mood to gut one of the escorting elves, the image of the grandpa stopped him, spoiling the mood. What was he even doing in his memories?! He clearly did not belong there!

The grandpa was s . .no, he did not dare to say it.

"You know what grandpa, you know!!" Gloin mumbled angrily, still too confused to get his goals straight.

* * * *

It took the band of elves a while, before they arrived at the edge of the forest. Irwen was almost running, eager to finally get some explanation from the Great Tree, she could not bear to tolerate the filthy demon's presence a second longer. It took only a moment for the expected voice to speak up in her head.

"The truth is our elven history is a fable of the victor, made to soothe the minds of our people, but the true story of Verdun, the Tree of Life is a little bit different." Anshalla began to speak and Irwen did not like it one bit where it was going, preparing mentally for something bad.

"Verdun was a great warrior among his race. One day on a hunt, he fell in love with a girl, a petite insignificant being, something all who he knew would laugh at him for, but it was a true love and he decided to stay with her. But they were not fated to live in peace, as his superiors did not like one of their most talented warriors wasting his time playing a loving husband and came to discipline him for his misconduct. Verdun fought, but knew he would be eventually killed along with his beloved, thus he cast a great spell at the cost of his life to seal the demon lords, sealing them away for a long time. Still, a long time is not forever. Yes, Verdun was a great warrior among his demonwood race and he protected me with his sacrifice to this day."

Irwen wanted to respond, but was stunned into silence and could only continue listening.

"Verdun used the magic of the demonwood clan to grant some of his friends power, but we will never be able to defeat the demon lords, as the seal keeping them away will eventually be undone. We need to find a new source of strength, for a long time we have been searching for any opportunity and you will be one of our agents."

"W-what are . . ?!" Irwen felt confusion and a crushing pressure of responsibility landing on her shoulders.

"There are some clues to make us believe in the mission we are giving you. For some reason, Gloin's fate is linked to yours, despite he had never met you. Secondly, demons are born in The Sea of Void, but his essence is not corresponding fully to the birth process of demons and his magical energies are incredible. He is an anomaly with unique potential and you must obtain him!"

Hearing the last words, Irwen had to force her gastric acid back down her throat, leaving a terrible aftertaste in her mouth.

"Listen girl, do you think it was all perfect from my side of things? At first, I did not love Verdun, he was just an ugly demon who came into our village! Hunting my people without mercy, the demonic butcher killed most poeple I knew! But a girl has to do what she must to survive and with time, I have found a way to like him in my own way. It was a matter of my survival back then, but it is the matter of survival of our race now! I can only pass the burden to you. Win him over however you can, catch him in your webs and make him strong, he has the potential to help us greatly. This is an immense burden I am placing upon you, but I have learned a sad thing abou life. Life does not play fair, you do what you must to survive."

The whole world spun with Irwen, when she finally connected the dots. Verdun was not an elf, a hero of their people, he was one of the demon butchers bewitched by Anshalla! Verdun, the great hero? Great hero my ass, he must have killed lots of elves before he had changed colors! And Anshalla was basically a whore who fucked him to save her neck!

She wanted to vomit all day the moment she understood the events and all the rest of her days when she thought about the mission the "noble" Great Tree wanted her to be part of.

"You bitch! Let them loose already, they can do as they please with the race of whores!" Irwen could not hold back her anger and shouted.

"Oh come on! Do you want your uncle to be torn apart and eaten? And all the rest? Everything burnt down, elves played with, raped, dismembered, experimented on, cooked, skinned, enslaved? You do not understand the magnitude of the suffering they will bring. Do as you wish, the blame will be yours if you ignore your duty. These are my final words, good luck with the mission. .. oh, and do not cut the hair, they usually like it long. Long and loud."

"Fuck!"Irwen gritted her teeth, hearing no more words from the great tree, but the two sentences keept repeating in her head at random. She shook her head, but could not get them out, like a nightmare.

. ., the blame will be yours if you ignore your duty. Long and loud. . ., the blame will be yours if you ignore your duty. Long and loud. . ., the blame will be yours if you ignore your duty. Long and loud. Long and loud.

She walked like a soulless undead, entering her uncle's tent, crumbling onto one of his chairs. He was sitting at the table, writing, and immediately noticed something was amiss.

"Something wrong?" Faeldin asked and waited patiently. Irwen wanted to answer, but closed her eyes forcefully instead and gulped. She knew she would burst out crying if she was to utter a single word.

"I see. Have you seen my new bow? I have received it as a gift from a foreign ambassador just recently. It will blow your mind!" Faeldin said cheerfully, understanding that the communication with the Great Tree had probably gone worse than anticipated.

Irwen simply nodded, trying to look amused, failing at it completely and followed her uncle out of the tent.

The demon was in their camp under supervision, but he was not a prisoner. She paid attention not to look in the direction where he was and proceeded to try out her uncle's new bow.

They came to a small clearing in the woods and chose an old wooden log as a practice target. She took Faeldin's bow and missed her first shot, but she got into it after a while. Her skill could not be undone even by the enormous pressure she was currently under. Faeldin watched her and after a moment, he looked in the direction out of the forest, looking at the peak of a nearby mountain.

"How bad is it? How many elves do we have to sacrifice this time in the conflict to come?" He asked when he judged Irwen was ready to answer, gazing into her blue eyes. It was a cruel joke of fate that it was the same color as the demon's. In Irwen's mind, the two sentences of the Great Tree repeated once again in her mind.

. ., the blame will be yours if you ignore your duty. Long and loud. .

She had to grit her teeth to suppress the wave of emotion. She decided not to tell the others the truth, it would destroy them and what good would come out of it? The tree said the only hope to defeat the demons was the summoned demon, the demon lords were even more powerful than Verdun, the elves or their allies had no chance against them. The most rational option was to leave the forest and flee, but she knew her kinsmen would never leave.

"If I manage to complete the mission, there is a good chance only a few will suffer." She ended up answering.

" .. and if you don't?"

"That . .must not happen." They looked at each other for a while and Faeldin understood she was not going to tell him more. She in turn knew how uneasy it was to not know what was going on.

"The Great Tree told me to get the demon on our side, he should have the ability to avert the coming crisis." It was not exactly what the tree had said, but it was close enough.

"You should talk to it than and Irwen. ." He placed his slender, but strong hand at her shoulder. ". . if there is anything we can do, just ask your uncle."

"I know." She smiled mildly, the first smile since the moment she had talked to the Great Tree.

* * * *

"You bitch! Let them loose already, they can do as they please with the race of whores!"

Gloin looked at his companion who started cursing. She was far away and should be out of earshot, but that logic applied on ordinary elves, Gloin could hear her still.

He smelled her fear.

He liked the smell.

A grin appeared on his face, it was amusing how they treated him. He would have tried to cooperate more, or care about his situation, but the attitude the elves had was giving him a pause. It felt like he was a guest, a strange behaviour indeed considering elves hated demons.

After a while, the elven girl that was called Irwen came to him with clear intention to talk. He had enough of his situation of being a mysterious guest and decided to cooperate more.

"I am Irwen, we need to talk demon, follow me." She said imperatively and led the way into a tent at the edge of the camp. Gloin smiled widely, his senses could not be deceived. Although she acted tough, she was afraid.

"This will be fun." Gloin muttered, amused by his superior position that he could not think of any reason for.

"Have they mistaken me as a reincarnation of an elven king or what? Elves . ." He was curious to find out the source of their idiocy, but it might be just that they were elves and it was in their nature. Too much smelling of trees had made them crazy.

"Arcane creatures, arcane creatures, arcane, arcane . . .something hidden away? Secret, contained or defended? Warded or being guardian of?" Gloin was trying to come up with all possible interpretations of the word. "Mmmm . .most of the times arcane creature should refer to a creature containing something secret or hidden, most of the times magic, thus arcane creatures should roughly mean magical creatures right?"

He believed that he was right. If so, his nonsensical status should reward him for saving magical creatures.

"I need your help demon, state your price." His female companion interrupted his brooding abruptly, as they had already arrived inside of a tent.

"Help? With what?" He looked at her, his figure towering above her.

"As you are now, it is impossible, but when you grow strong enough, I need your help fighting the enemy of the elves." She explained, deliberately not telling Gloin the actual target.

"Fine, but you will pay up front." Gloin decided to play along just for laughs.

"Alright, state your price for helping us." She requested again.

Were the elves really blind fools? How were they to ensure, he wasn't going to get away after collecting the reward? This had to be a trap of some kind.

"Firstly, get me one hunting dog." Gloin smiled maliciously and the elf called for one of the elven hound masters, who traveled along the group.

"Thank you, kind sir." Gloin took the hound master's ring and the elf left the tent quickly. The ring of the hound master was a paired magical item, with the second part being the dog's collar. It was a safety measure to control the dog in case it went out of control.

"Any more requests?" The girl named Irwen asked, he had heard her name when the silver dude addressed her.

"Of course, just wait a sec." Gloin stepped closer to the dog, it was an ordinary hunting dog, and suddenly gripped its head tightly. It wanted to struggle, but before it could, Gloin twisted its neck, breaking it like a twig.

Gloin just let the body fall to the ground and picked up its collar that had been undone after the creature's death.

"Put it on." Gloin's original smile widened even more and offered the collar to his elven escort. To his great surprise, Irwen actually took the collar and put it around her neck, brushing her white hair out of the way beforehand. After the mechanism of the sinister device clicked to its place, Gloin could not hold back and laughed wildly. Never had he expected that his joke would end up becoming reality.

"You are my dog now, but some of your people might spoil the fun. Let's get out of here first." Gloin tore the back of the tent with his claw and stepped through the tear. Luckily, the tent was at the edge of the camp and they could leave without rising much attention.

Gloin expected to be pursued, that was one of the reasons he had taken a hostage, but no one seemed to be following them.

He chose the shortest path out of the elven territory and they soon passed the border of the elven lands.