The next day, Asher looked rejuvenated laying next to Ellen.

“Morning,” said Gale knowing that Asher had got up.

“When did you guys get back?” asked Asher not remembering them coming.

“During business,” said Ophelia as she prepared everyone breakfast. It was a simple meal of Woldre meat.

Asher blushed a little and noticed that he had clothes strewn on top of him. He quickly changed and gently woke Ellen up.

She punched him and said, “I needed my beauty sleep. Don’t wake me up until it’s time to eat.”

They waited and talked about Gale and Ophelia’s findings and ate the meat that was cooked on top of the rock placed on the fire. Of course, Ellen was woken up, she was pleased with the food but you could tell that she was annoyed at being woken up.

When they finished eating, Asher readied his torch and Gale moved into the cave. Not noticing Gale’s actions, he lit the torch and illuminated the surroundings. Gale was within the light but instead of the pain that he was expecting, he instead felt warmth.

“Let’s go.” said Asher as he led the way into the cave.

Gale followed but was still perplexed at the fact that the light didn’t harm him.

“It’s your mother,” said Arc, “I remember that you told me that your mother was raped. There are beings in this world that still leave their genetic makeup even if they are not the primary fertilizer. Whatever that being was, its genetic makeup must have done something to you weakness to light and fire.”

“Genetic makeup?” Gale asked thinking that he had heard of it before Arc telling him.

“It’s what makes every piece of you. Like how a mountain is made up of many stones and clumps of earth.”

Gale nodded and knew that he should not be afraid of fire and light anymore.

Asher led them down the path and into what seemed to look like a temple. There were strange markings on the carved walls, some of a bird, others of an eye.

“Well now what?” asked Ellen, “how are we supposed to find the one altar that we need in this temple? It’s got to be filled with altars!”

“Let’s just look around first,” said Asher.

They continued on and soon came across another spectre.

Ellen screamed and said, “Kid, protect me!”

Asher and Ophelia stepped in and tried to cut the spectre. But they all passed through. The spectre laughed and went for Ellen.

Gale casted “Twilight” at the spectre and it died after releasing a loud scream.

Almost immediately they became surrounded by zombies, almost three times as many as their group.

They started fighting as they were surrounded. Asher, Ophelia and Gale were using their swords at the zombies but whenever they cut one down, another just took their spot. Ellen just kept on screaming and not doing anything.

Arc also helped as much as he could without being noticed. He would trip a zombie or stun it long enough for anyone to take care of them. It was a grueling battle with no end in sight. They started moving to the right bit by bit but none of them seemed to noticed.

Soon enough, one of the zombies was able to get into the middle where Ellen was screaming and was about to bite into Ellen’s neck.

“Ellen!” shouted Asher as he tried to save her but she just screamed and the crystals on her gloves shined. It was a blinding light that engulfed everything around them. It took Gale quite a bit until he recovered his sense of sight again and when he did he noticed that the zombies were no more.

All the zombies were dead and Ellen was standing in the middle with a triumphant expression on her face. Their surroundings were no longer covered by those carved walls. Now it looked ominous as if something was waiting for something to happen. The ground on Ellen’s feet started rising but whether it was because she was elated or chose not to notice it, she didn’t feel any sense of foreboding. Asher and Ophelia got their senses back a bit later than Gale but they also noticed that the atmosphere.

“Those zombies were nothing. Look I took care of them myself,” said Ellen, “I bet I can handle anything that comes to us and all you guys have to do is watch.”

A shadow appeared behind Ellen and it kept on growing and growing.

Asher, Ophelia and Gale readied their swords and Ellen just said, “Oh scared of me now? Hahaha, well serves you right, I mean, I am the most powerful here. You guys did have a tough time with those zombies, are you even fighters.”

She laughed at the perceived powerlessness of the three while the shadow behind her materialized and said, “So you are the most powerful eh? Then that makes this easy.”

Ellen turned around with an annoyed look to her face and when she saw the figure she was suddenly overcome with fear. The reason was simple. The shadow behind her was none other than a reaper. It’s sole purpose was to harvest the souls of living creatures, the true enemy of life. It raised its hand and Ellen suddenly shuddered and fell lifelessly as if the strings of a puppet were cut.

“One down, three to go,” said the reaper as it faced the three, “I would suggest surrendering your souls to me. It is… less painful that way.”

Asher raised his sword and attacked the reaper.

“A pity,” said the reaper as it prepared to fight against Asher.

Knowing full well that his attacks earlier wouldn’t work. Asher infused mana into his sword and slashed at the reaper.

The reaper yelled in pain for the first time in its life. A reaper was supposed to be immune to slashing attacks but because of the infusion of mana, the sword was able to do just that.

“You will pay!” shouted the reaper as it lunged at Asher.

Asher started running away while Ophelia attacked the reaper’s back.

It screamed again and knew that it had to fight against two opponents that could injure it now. As it gazed at the two, it forgot about Gale who casted “Twilight” at its back and it screamed the loudest it had.

The pain from “Twilight” was much more than the two gave it and it’s eyes flashed in anger as it rushed to Gale. Asher and Ophelia attacked the reaper as much as they could but the reaper seemed to be ignoring the pain. It made sure to dodge the stream of twilight against it as it didn’t want to feel the pain again.

It knew that as soon as it reaped the soul of this boy, it would be able to recover its injuries and take care of the other two. As it neared, the reaper was joyful in that it would be able to get stronger and have a feast of four souls soon.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

As soon as the reaper was in range, Gale used one of the runes on his runeblade against the reaper, it was the Rune of Raging Winds.

“Tornadus,” said Gale as his runeblade pointed at the reaper. It split into many tiny different parts as it the winds spread from the center of the reaper, its scream hidden within the sound of rage.