“Al, are you awake?” A voice called out. Someone starts shaking Al’s body lightly. Al awoke with a grunt. “Oh, good. You’re still alive.” Al vision starts to clear and he sees Luna kneeling down next to him. “How are you feeling?” she asked, and started searching around his bodies for any major injuries. “I can’t feel my left arm.” Al tries to move, but every part of his body starts to hurt. “Try and stay still. The Arachne did a number on you.” Al turns his head and sees Astra standing above him. Astra hands him a healing potion, in which he wanted to, but was unable to grab. “Oh right. You’re injure. Let me help you drink it.” Astra pops open the potion, got down on his knee, and lifted Al’s head to help him drink the potion. Al heard a slight, and creepy giggle come from behind Astra. He turns his eyes in the direction and spots Teiki with a huge grin on her face. After seeing that face, he rolled his eyes away.

“The potion will only help numb out the pain so we will still have to get you to the village.” Astra starts to lift Al up, and then carried him on his back. “Is… Everyone alright? Where did the Arachne go?” Al ask. “Everyone is alive, albeit injured. But not as bad as you were.” Luna answered. “As for the Arachne, didn’t you chase it off? Did you forget?” Al tried to recall his fight with the Arachne, but only remember bits and pieces. He remembers getting caught and then thrown at the wall. “Who knew the Arachne could also spit out a sleeping gas. We all tried to come help you when you got slammed into the wall, but was all rendered asleep when it spat it at us.” Poku said, as he kicked some of the spider corpses that was littering the room. More bits of memories flashed into Al’s mind. They were more like images than memories to him though. Images of the Arachne getting knocked down, and even images of him stabbing it’s back with his runeblade. The last images he recalled was the Arachne crawling up the walls towards an opening in the ceiling. “I… I think it got away…”

“It most likely fled after getting weakened by you. We couldn’t find it’s body when we searched the room while you were still unconscious.” Luna said. “But it’s truly a blessing from the divines that we all manage to survive against a Demigod.” Al was happy that he had fought off a Demigod, even though he didn’t manage to kill it. The group makes it out of the cave with no issues, seeing as most, if not all of the spiders were dead. “We should return to the village and probably spend some time there to recover.” Teiki says. “Should we tell them about the Arachne?” Poku asked. “Maybe they’ll pay us more for fighting it off.” “I don’t think we should. Chances are… They already knew about it.” Luna answered. “I think the villagers knew more than what they told us, but chose not to tell us.” “Why would they keep quiet about the Arachne?” Astra asked. “Maybe they didn’t want to attract too much attention. Or maybe they just don’t have a good enough reward for the subjugation of an Arachne.”

Having decided to keep quiet about the Arachne, the group reaches the edge of the village. A sense of dread came over them all. “Teiki, send in Chad to scout the village for us.” Luna ordered Teiki. “Ok, I’m on it. Kindred.” Teiki falls down to one knee as footsteps is heard dashing off into the village. A brief moment later, Teiki speaks up. “What happened in there? There’s no danger… but we should proceed with caution.” “What did you see?” Poku asked. “You can go in and see for yourself.” The group hesitated, and then headed into the village.

The village was eerily quiet and no one was in sight. Luna couldn’t sense the presence of anyone other than themselves. The group makes its way into the village chiefs house. Astra opens the door and calls out. “Hello? Anyone here?” No answered. The group cautiously makes their way inside. Astra lays Al on the ground. “We should split up and look around to see if we can find anyone.” Luna said. The group nodded and split up to search around the house, leaving Al behind due to his injuries. After a short search, a scream could be heard coming from the second floor. Everyone rushed upstairs, and into the room that had the door opened. They found Poku, frightened in the corner of the room. “What happened?! Are you alright?!” Astra shouted. Poku pointed towards the other side of the room. There was a body lying there, unmoving.

Astra slowly crept up to the body. Upon reaching the body, he reaches down to turn the body. It was the body of an old man who had dried up as if he's been dead for awhile. “Is… is that the village chief?” Luna asked. “It can’t be. He’s much older looking than the chief.” Astra answered while still inspecting the body. “But isn’t that the clothes the chief was wearing?” Teiki asked as she walked up closer to also take a look. Astra pulls out a badge from the body. “The badge of the village leader…” Astra said quietly. “So… it is the village chief. Why does he look so old now? And what killed him?” The room was filled with silence.

The group headed back down after not finding any answers to what killed the village chief. “I think we should get out of here.” Poku said, clearly frighten. “We can’t leave. We will be easy targets for beast out in the wilds. And Al is much too injured to be able to move. We will at least have to wait for him to recover.” Astra answered. As the group reach the room where Al was, they were shocked to see him standing on his own, with a horrified expression on his face. “Al, are you ok?” Luna asked as she slowly approached him. “We… should get out of here as fast as we can.” he replied without even turning to look at them. “What happened? Did you see something?” “No… but I don’t want to be here any longer.” Al realised what had happened and now understands why the feeling of dread he felt when he awoke felt familiar, but decides to keep quiet about it, not wanting them to know what happened and why he would know.

The group made their way out of the village and followed the road back to Trisdia. They only made it to the entrance of The Rocky Pass when it was near dark. “Guess we’ll have to camp here for tonight.” Teiki said reluctantly. After setting up camp, the group gathered around the campfire to discuss the recent events they went through. The group started with small comments and remarks, trying to lead up slowly towards the big question that was on their minds. Until finally, Poku asks, “Al, where and how did you get your runeblade?”

Silence overcame the group as they waited for Al’s response. Al debated whether he should tell them the truth or tell a lie. He then remember what he felt in the village. The presence of Death. Then he recalls his deal with it. “I… can’t tell you guys. I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you guys or that I don’t want to… I just can’t.” The group remained silent for awhile. “Ok then. We won’t pry too much then. Forgive us for asking the question.” Luna said, trying to change the topic. “I wondered what happened in the village?” The group thought for a bit before Astra spoke up. “Maybe… they had some kind of deal with the Arachne. But once they could no longer hold their side of the bargain, they decided to kill it?” “Maybe… they were sacrificing the womens in the village… it would explain their absences.” Teiki answered.

“What do they gain from it?” Luna asked. “Maybe protection from the spiders. It could explain why the Arachne haven’t attack the village all this time.” Poku answered. “But if it wanted humans, couldn’t it just attack the village? It be much faster and it wouldn’t have to provide the humans with anything.” “Wait.” Astra interrupted. “What if it wasn’t a simple human sacrifice for some protection?” “What do you mean?” Teiki asked curiously. “The Arachne was a Demigod right? What if it wanted followers and souls. If it gained enough of them, it could eventually grow in power to become a god.”

“If that’s true, it must have made a promise with the villagers and grant them some kind of power to make them its followers.” Luna stated. “Longevity. Powerful dark magic that a god, in this case, a Demigod, could grant to its followers. It would explains why the village chief and other villagers are so young.” Astra said. “And explains why they withered and died after it left.” Al added. “Should we report this to the guild?” “We have a responsibility to. But I think we should only report it to the supervisors and above. It might cause trouble in the future for us.” Luna answered. “Why would it?” Poku asked. “It will draw unwanted attention towards us if people hear that we drove off a Demigod.” The group then agreed to the idea of reporting it to the higher ups. Although Al agreed to it, he was suspicious as to why they didn’t want the attention, considering that they are adventurers, and attention and fame is what every adventurer wants.

The following morning, the group was awoken by a screeching cry. They all got up of their tents with their weapons, ready for anything. “Wait.” Teiki called out. “It’s my messenger bird.” A large bird flies down to them, landing in front of Teiki. She reaches for a pouch that was strapped to it, and pulls out a letter. She gave it a quick read, then hands it to Luna. She reads it, and a worried expression showed on her face. “What is it?” Poku asked. “There’s been reports of demon sightings near Hashut, Poku, and other villages. We are to report back to our commanders.” “Commander?” Al asked. “Sorry Al. The thing is, we are all part of the army. Every elf is part of the army. Due to sightings of demons near the borders between Elvia and the Dead Zone, we have to return home.” Luna answered. “Please report the quest back to the guild for us.” “What about your rewards?” “Give it to Kreyg, he will hold it for us.” Al nodded. “We will split up here. Be safe on your way back.” Astra said, giving Al a pat on the back. “You guys too.”

The group split up at the entrance to The Rocky Pass. The Protection Agency headed south towards the border between Elvia and the Northern Kingdom. Al waits at the entrance, as he watches the group go back down the cliff. “Princess, what do you think of Al?” Poku asks. “Al is a good man. But there’s a deep darkness hidden within him.” Luna answered. “Do you want me to deal with him Princess?” Astra asked. “No. Not yet. For now we will watch him. We will try to keep him out of the path of darkness. But should he choose to follow that path, then I will ask you then.” “Yes, Princess.” The group makes it down to the bottom of the cliff, and after a short walk, they reached a large gorge called the Shadow Gorge, due to its tall cliff on both sides, that covers the path in darkness. “Princess, we have come to escort you.” A large group of armed Elves was at the entrance. “Ok. Let us return with haste. We must investigate these demons. I, Princess Shigi, will not tolerate any demons that dares to rampage this land again.” Luna Fiera is the fifth princess of the Elves. Astragoth Hashut, the General of the Elvish army, and the first Elf ever created by Marellda. Poku Poku, Astra’s Lieutenant, and also Luna’s primary spymaster. Teiki Ahmu is the advisor, and Security Captain to Luna. The Protection Agency is a group of Elves, sent to investigate a rumor of a young man, with a darkness lurking deep within him.