“Stop being cocky and come help!” Lilac would yell at Ethanael, who was simply enjoying watching the creature burn.

“Okay fine…” He’d say, letting out a sigh before slowly walking towards the Deimos that Lilac was holding off. “Guiding Lights of Licht, illuminate a path and vanquish my foes- blinding radiance to dispel the darkness!” Ethanael yelled out, the markings on his body glowing a bright whiteish yellow hue, and suddenly a beam of pure light would come out from his fingertips, “Pew!” The blinding light engulfed the darkness of the forest, and piercing the owl straight through the head.

I couldn’t exactly see what had just happened, only seeing the events unfold from the corner of my eyes and hearing Ethanael yell out those words. I was too busy holding off the monster that I couldn’t afford to get distracted and look away, even for a split second. I kicked the owl in its chest, slightly pushing it off of me, and giving me enough space to use my Magic.

“Fuck off!” I’d yell, conjuring a trident made of pure lightning in the palms of my left hand, gripping it tightly before hurling it towards the Deimos. The trident seemed to disappear the moment it left my hands, and in the blink of an eye, quite literally, it simply vanished, with some traces of shadowy blood left behind.

The deafening sound of the trident was enough to cause a ringing echo all throughout the forest, to the point where everyone had to cover their ears, or else the sound would’ve ruptured their eardrums. “Holy shit?! What was that?!” Damian would yell, his hands still covering his ears. I had forgotten that he wasn’t there when I used this power for the first time at sea, terrifying the others too.

“Didn’t know you could do that, Talis!” Ethanael exclaimed, slowly approaching me and putting his arm over my shoulder, softly giggling as we watched the rest of them fight off the owls that remained. “Nature’s grasp, chains of binding.” He’d softly whisper to my ear, and I’d see his marking glow dark green this time, and the words that came out of his mouth would suddenly appear in front of us, glowing the same color as his markings.

“Thanks man!” Yani would yell, as vines suddenly came out of the ground, restraining the movements of the owl he was fighting. Yani would then change the form of the spear he was holding into that of a large greatsword, one that was even bigger than Yani himself. With one clean and fluid motion, he leapt into the air, greatsword in hand, and sliced the owl’s head off.

Damian on the other hand, managed to win against the owl with ease. It seems like his time fighting off the Deimos from before helped hone and refine his skills, and I could tell from a glance at the way he fought that he was a better fighter than he was when he first fought against Qantheos.

We’d all scan our surroundings to see if there were any more threats in the forest, and after seeing that there wasn’t, we all unsheathed our blades and lowered our guards. “That’s what you were having trouble with, Lilac? That was a piece of cake!” Ethanael exclaimed.

“Tch! Easy for you to say, you and your Magic makes everything a piece of cake.” Lilac said, side eyeing Ethanael.

“Wah, Wah, Wah! Cry about it, Lilac!” Ethanael would say in a mocking tone, laughing hysterically alongside Yani. “But seriously, is that it?” Their laughter would stop, and the mood became tense.

“The reports said there were five owls, I’m not sure where the other one is, but I think it would be best if we got moving.” She’d say, going back to the direction of where we left our horses at earlier. The forest was… Quiet. Too quiet. I still couldn’t get rid of this eerie feeling I had, it was as if the trees were watching me, nothing felt right here…

Ethanael and Lilac were the first to draw their blades, it seems that even they could feel the eeriness I was feeling. Yani on the other hand was walking as if he was taking a simple stroll around the city, he looked calm and collected.

Hoot… The sound of an owl would be heard ahead of us, and by the time we arrived, what awaited us wasn’t our horses, but an even larger owl, eating away at the corpses of our steeds. “Shit.” Lilac would say, and it seems even she was terrified. “It’s a fucking brute.”

“Whatever it is, we just have to kill it, right?” Ethanael would say with a big smile on his face, the thrill of adventure and the fight seemed to rile him up.

“Just get it done already!” Lilac screamed as Ethanael covered his ears when she did so.

It would continue eating the corpses of our horses, which were mangled and disfigured, to the point where at first glance you wouldn’t even think it was a horse. Hoot…? It noticed us as we inched closer to it, it would turn its head facing us, tilting its head just as the other owls did earlier. “So, are we doing this the hard way, or the easy way?” Ethanael would ask, signaling us to stop getting close.

“Just deal with it, Ethan.” Lilac would say, putting her rapier away and crossing her arms, as if waiting for him to do something.

“Boring, but okay, if you say so.” He’d say, closing his eyes and holding out his right arm and opening his hand to show his palms, “Let the stars above the sky curtain heed the call from the great beyond- let the astral plains bestow upon me the mighty pillars that hold up the far reaches of the heavens,” He’d say, and suddenly the markings on his body glowed a bright light blue hue, it looked almost heavenly. The words he spoke appeared right there in front of him, but this time forming circles that seemed to wrap around his arm that was extended towards the Deimos, “Spears of Avyssos, pierce through the abyss.” Above him were multiple spears that looked as if they were made of the stars above us themselves, as they started flying towards the creature, mercilessly impaling the large, towering owl made of shadows.

“Nicely done, Ethan. Let’s head back now.” Lilac would say, walking back in the direction of the city. Me and Damian were still in shock at what had just happened, we didn’t know there was a kind of Numen like that!

“What was that, Ethanael!” Damian would ask, his eyes were filled with awe at what he just witnessed.

“Which one?” He’d ask, it seems he was too used to being with people who knew what he was capable of, that he had forgotten that there were people out there in the world who didn’t know.

“Your Numen! What is it!”

“Ah!” Ethanael would look at Damian ominously… “Well, basically… I say shit!” He’d say with the biggest smile on his face, as we kept moving through the forest.

“What?! What does that mean?!” Damian would say, even more confused than before.

“Well… I speak things into reality, and the words move and act according to my will. That’s my Numen; the basis of my Magic.” Ethanael would say, “The longer I… Yap… The more powerful the spell, and for those type of spells, I have to attach a special name to it.”

“Spears of Avyssos? Who’s Avyssos then?” I’d ask, I got curious the more he spoke about his Magic.

“Avyssos is the God of the Stars, I learned about it back then during my time in the archipelago.” He replied, “Back when Yani met Aer’Wynn too!” Ethanael would yell loud enough for Yani to hear.

“Can you just let that die, please! It’s been years!” Yani would exclaim, irritated at the mere mention of the woman’s name.

We slowly approached the town, the lights of the city almost blinding us. In the corner of my eyes, I could see a hooded figure, and their skin seemed… Pale, as if they were a corpse. I didn’t think much of it, and soon enough we made it out of the darkness of the forest and into the light.

Fwip! Slice! We’d all look behind and see Lilac’s left arm sliced clean off, and behind her was another owl. “Fuck!” She’d yell out in pain, dropping to the ground and trying to crawl to us.

“Lilac! No!” We’d all scream, rushing to try and fend off the owl. Unlike the other ones we’ve been fighting in the forest, this one looked more… Human-like. It had a greyish owl mask and had the same signature razor sharp claws.

Before we all had the chance to attack the owl, it would vanish into the shadows lurking behind it, into the depths of the forest. “Do not enter my territory, foolish mortals.” It would speak, which wasn’t uncommon for a Deimos, if it even was one.

Ethanael and Damian would immediately help her up, and we’d all slowly walk back to the town, where we headed straight to a healer that she knew of. It was bad, she was losing too much blood and we were still quite far from where the healer was. “Take this, and bite down as hard as you can.” Yani would say, making a small rag for her to put in her mouth. “Ethanael.”

“I know. Cinders, ablaze.” Ethanael softly said, creating a small, and gentle flame to cauterize the area below her shoulder, where her arm was cut off.

“Mmh! Mmh!” She’d yell loudly, her mouth clenching and biting at the cloth rag made by Yani. It was painful to watch, and even Damian looked away as they were cauterizing the wound, but thanks to that we were able to stop the bleeding, but she still needed to get checked by the healer.

After slowly walking to the house the healer was in, Ethanael would desperately knock at the door, screaming for help. It was the middle of the night, so I’m sure that would’ve woken up the people around us that were living here, and after a few minutes of waiting, an old man with scars all over his face would open the door. “What the fuck do you wa-” He stopped the moment he saw Lilac, who looked like she was about to die, at his doorstep. “LILAC! Get inside, NOW!” He'd yell, immediately telling her to lay down at a bed so he could check on her.

“Can you do anything, Father Caritas?” Ethanael would ask, holding onto Lilac’s remaining hand.

“Sigh… I’ll see what I can do, but she can’t get her arm back.” He looked tired, but he felt the need to do what he could, since Lilac was the family head of the Scarsens, after all.

We all sat down by a fireplace, anxiously awaiting Father Caritas’ news. This was the first time something like this has happened ever since… Glenn… It must be hard for the other two, since they personally knew her. “We’re going back.” Ethanael would say, getting up from his chair.

“We can’t.” Yani would reply, “You know damn well we have to stop the empire from summoning a fucking Goddess!” He yelled, and they would start arguing and bickering over what our next course of action would be. Suddenly, Lilac stormed out of the room she was staying in, limping as Father Caritas tried holding her back into the room.

“Don’t go back! This is my problem to deal with!” She yelled, her voice echoing across the room as the two fell silent. “You have to stop them. If they continue the ritual, who knows what was going to happen to Eden- no, to the damn world!”

“But-”

“No. You’re leaving. NOW.” She’d say in a commanding tone, and the two sat back down. As much as I wanted to stay and help her with the whole owl situation, we had to go. So, I could understand where she was coming from.

“You’ll be fine, right, Lilac?” Ethanael would say, the soft look in his eyes were filled with worry.

“I will. Now go, do what you must, Ethan.” She’d say, giving him a soft smile before heading back inside the room she was in to get treated by Father Caritas.

“Tell Fuchsia we said hello, from her uncles Ethan and Yani.” Ethanael yelled loud enough so Lilac could hear it from the room she was in, and the four of us quickly left and headed back to where our ship was still docked. “Sigh… Alright, next stop is… Khasia!” He’d say, regaining his usual energetic self as we boarded the ship and set sail once more.

We were all sleepy, since we barely got a wink of sleep ever since we stepped foot in Owlshold, aside from Yani, of course. “Yawn… What’re we going to Khasia for?” I’d ask, my eyes felt so heavy and I felt like I was going to fall asleep any minute now.

“We’re going to get some supplies, and possibly recruit a friend of ours.” I could tell he was just as sleepy as we were, “I’m going to get some sleep. Yani, wake me up if anything happens.” He’d say, going inside the captains quarters.

Me and Damian looked at each other, and we decided to go to the living quarters to rest as well. Since Yani was the one steering the ship, we were fine anyways. Before going inside, I looked over the horizon and saw the sun slowly rising, it was beautiful. I wonder how Reanne and the others are doing… I know they’ll manage, they have each other anyways.

We had seventeen days left ‘till we reached Trazia, and from where we were right now, it would take around two to three days of sailing to reach Khasia, the city of Mages. I didn’t know how long we were going to stay there, but hopefully we could make it in time.

“Talis.” Damian would say my name from across the relatively small room, on the other bed.

“Yes, Damian?”

“If I die… Bury me next to my sword, at the top of the hill that overlooks our home.” He’d softly say, and what he said worried me to my core.

“You won’t die, Damian. No one else is dying, not on my watch.” I’d say, he softly chuckled before falling asleep. I couldn’t bear to see any more of my friends die. Not again.