Sarah and the others journey through the Gangu Forest was an uneventful one. It was like their former life, only they were moving more often. The route on the map took them through the Gangu Forest, although it was most likely a shortcut Sarah still wondered why the routes on the map were in places where they wouldn't occasionally meet people. Could it be the God of Origins did not want them to show themselves to the world yet?
"It's so hot today." George said as he sat beside a tree and fanned himself with his hands.
"Yeah, Henry, why don't you conjure up some wind for us?" David said. Henry glared at him, but still complied.
"Don't think I would have done this if I wasn't feeling hot as well." He said as he summoned a breeze to circle the group. They all moaned in comfort and stretched their limbs.
"I wonder how our new home would look like," George said, "Probably made out of gold."
David chuckled, "You'd like to live in a gold house?"
"I don't know, David, I've never had a golden house, so I don't know I'd want it or not."
"I want a house with a flat roof where I can lay down and stare at the sky from." Mary said.
"Ooh, Nice!"
"You make it sound like we're going to live in separate houses." Sarah said.
"Of course not," George said, "We're just imagining the house we all would live together in, before we get married."
"Marriage?! You're too young to be thinking about that." David guffawed.
"You're just one year older than me! Stop talking like a grandpa."
Everyone laughed, Sarah sighed and slumped even more on the tree. This was how she wanted their lives to be, free and without worries. Although she knew that it was impossible for there to be no worries, she truly hoped that their freedom wouldn't be taken away from them.
…
Two days later, the map took them out of the Gangu Forest. They bid farewell to the forest and continued their journey; they didn't know exactly where they were though since the map doesn't provide detailed information on the places they travel to. They just had to follow the map till the end. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to walk too far.
As they were walking, they came across a village. The residents of the village were all gathered at one place, and they were all yelling at something.
"Should we go around them?" David asked.
"No. Let's see what's going on." Sarah said. She had a nagging feeling something bad was happening. So, they all went towards the angry villagers. As they got closer, they could hear what they were saying more clearly.
"Kill her!"
"She's a witch!"
"She killed Jamie. We never should have let her come into our village!"
Sarah and the others glance at each other before squeezing their way to the front of the group. The villagers were so occupied with their anger that they didn't notice nor care about them. When they reached the front, what they say left them appalled.
There was a girl tied to a platform with iron chains, she had blue hair that was cut unevenly in different places, her clothes were torn and there were bruises on her pale white skin. The girl was very beautiful, but with her hair and her skin color, she didn't look quite human. When Sarah and the others used [Inspection] they saw that she was a half-elf!
Mary tapped Sarah's arm and pointed at the ground, there were many stone stacked on top of each other. Sarah's eyes widened as she saw them, were they going to stone her to death? There were also some people standing beside a cloth that was covering something which – according to the shape – looked like a human being. Then a wind blew, shifting the cloth just enough for them to see the head of a man. The man's face was blue and there were tiny icicles forming around his face. A woman who was crying beside the body quickly covered the face back.
A man who was most likely the village chief climbed the platform and raised his hand, asking for silence. The crowed gradually went quiet, but the people were obviously still angry.
He turned to the girl and spoke, "Veronica, you are accused of killing the young man, Jaime. What would you like to say on your behalf?"
The girl, Veronica, looked at him with tired eyes, "Yes. I did kill him. But it was a mistake."
"Liar!"
"Murderer!"
The crowd had a fit when they heard her words.
The village chief raised his arm up again, "Please, please! Silence, please!" After everywhere went quiet, he turned around and asked Veronica, "Why do you say it was a mistake?"
Veronica sighed, "You all know that I can' control my magic, I have told you all since the day I came here; anything I touch gets frozen. That's why I wear these gloves," She wriggled her hands to draw people's attention to the black gloves she wore, "But Jaime didn't believe me, he…. He tried to force himself on me…"
"Liar!" the crying woman screamed.
"…and one of the gloves fell off when I was trying to push him away!"
"Stop telling lies!" The woman screamed again, "My son would never do something like that!"
Veronica gave Jaime's mother a look, "Ma'am, your son was found with his trousers around his ankles. I admit to killing him, but please, let's see the situation for what it is; Jamie tried to rape me."
"Shut up!" The woman screeched; she grabbed one of the stones at flung it at Veronica. It hit her shoulder, but she just grunted and didn't cry out.
"We never should have let you in. You are a witch, and you murdered my child!" As she spoke, she tosses several stones at Veronica, they hit her in many places, but Veronica still didn't cry. The village chief didn't say anything and just left the platform, seeing that, the family members and the village people all grabbed a stone and readied themselves to throw it. Veronica didn't plead for them to spare her; she stared straight at the stones that were now flying towards her.
But before they hit her a translucent shield blocked them, then the fell harmlessly to her side.
"What is this?"
"It's the witch!"
While the villagers were in a frenzy five children had climbed the platform.
George looked at the villagers who were pointing at them, "Were we this ignorant before?"
"Yes," Sarah said, "Although, if this happened in our village, we would have driven her out, not publicly murdered her." As she spoke, she formed a sword and used it to cut the chains binding Veronica.
"Who are you people!?" Veronica asked as she rubbed her sore wrists.
"Just passersby, who wanted to stop an injustice." Sarah replied.
"Are you witches too?! You came to save your kind? Did you send her to kill my son?!" Jamie's mother screamed.
"Please ma'am, stop spinning stories!" George yelled back.
Sarah stepped forward, "We are taking her with us, I advise you not to try and stop us."
But the villagers didn't listen, instead they yelled loudly and rushed towards them with their stones. George rose the earth in front of the platform, blocking them from the villagers. The villagers stumbled backwards from the wall of earth that appeared, some ran away, thinking that they were going to be attacked. But after a while of nothing happening, the braver ones walked around the wall and checked the platform. They saw no one there.
…
In the Shadow Realm, a bunch of children were walking in the midst of the villagers.
"Alright, let's move quickly, we can't stay here for long. Stick close to me and try not to touch anyone." Henry said.
"What happens if we touch them?" George stared at the grey figures moving very slowly.
"I…actually don't know. Just don't."
Veronica was still dazed from the turn of events, one minute she was going to be stoned to death, then a group of kids saved her then dragged her into the shadows before she could even scream. Then they appeared in a place that was just like the normal world but with no color and everyone but them moved as slow as snails.
"What is this place?" she asked.
"This is the Shadow Realm," The boy giving instructions answered, "I connected everyone's shadow to mine using [Shadow Hub], so we'd all be able to enter here. But that takes a lot of energy, and if my mp finishes we'll be spat out, so we need to leave this vicinity quickly."
Mp? Veronica was confused by the terms he was dropping, but she didn't stop moving. Soon they left the village and went behind some tree. The shadow of the tree was bright instead of dark. They children started jumping in the bright shadow one by one, and soon it was only Veronica and the boy left.
"Veronica, right? This is a portal to the real world; I have to be the last one to go through. Don't worry, nothing would happen to you, it would be like when you first entered this place."
Veronica looked into the boy's eyes and saw sincerity, so she summoned her courage and jumped in. She popped out from the tree's shadow, and the cold feeling she had felt disappeared. Her eyes had to adjust to the light and color though, but other than that she didn't feel anything else. No dizziness, no fainting spell, nothing. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see the boy standing next to her.
"Hey." He said with a smile, but Veronica didn't know what to say so she didn't reply.
"Good god, that place made me uncomfortable." The shortest boy among them shook his body.
"What would you have had us do then?" The other boy said.
"Fight them? We can easily wipe out that village if we wanted to."
"Geez, we're not thugs you know…!"
The girl wearing white came towards Veronica," Oh my god, look at those bruises! Let me help you with them." Then she rose her hands up and golden light spilled out of them and fell on Veronica. After a few seconds the light stopped, and Veronica saw that all her injuries had vanished. Her body was no longer sore too, which meant even her internal injuries had been healed.
"There, now you are good as new. Sorry I couldn't do anything about your hair though…" as she was talking Veronica broke down crying.
"Oh, don't cry, your hair would grow back!"
"Sarah, I don't think she is crying because of her hair."
Veronica dropped to the ground and sobbed. Everything that has happened came rushing back to her, all the emotion she hid behind a brave front came bursting through. So, she cried and let it all out.
She cried for what seemed like hours before calming down. When she looked up, she found the children looking at her concerningly, she quickly rubbed the tears and snot of her face. Oh gods, that was embarrassing, she blushed.
"Are you okay now?" the girl wearing gold asked.
"Yes, I am. Thank you…um…"
"Gosh, I just realized we haven't introduced ourselves, my name is Sarah," then she proceeded to say the other's names.
"Well, thank you all. You saved my life." Veronica bowed a little.
"You're half-elf, right?" Mary asked, pointing at her ears, "Is that why your ears are like that?"
"Mary! That's rude."
"Is it? I haven't met a half-elf before, or any elf, so I don't what's offensive to them," Then she looked at Veronica, "Was that offensive to you?"
Veronica chuckled and shook her head, "No, it wasn't. You were just asking a question, it's not like you insulted me."
"You don't look older than us, why are you alone? Where are your parents?" George asked.
Veronica's face turned sad after she heard the question, "My parents are dead." She spoke.
"Oh."
"What about you, where are your parents? Are they near here?"
Sarah chuckled bitterly, "No. Our parents are dead too."
Veronica's eyes widened as she looked at them, they all just shrugged sadly. Suddenly, Veronica had the urge to laugh. Although it felt insensitive, she couldn't stop the laugh from escaping through her lips. Her laughed grew louder and louder, then she heard someone join her, it was Sarah. Then David, then George, then Henry and Mary. Soon they were all laughing loudly under the trees shade, if anyone heard them, they would probably run away, and a new rumor about laughing demons would circulate the circulate throughout the entire Northern Region.
They laughed for a while, and when they were done, they felt a little bit tired, like they just freed from a heavy load.
"Our whole village was killed by a falling rock. How 'bout you?" Henry asked.
Veronica hummed, "My parents were murdered."
"What?!" The others all sat at alert, "Why? Do you know who killed them?" Sarah asked.
"My mother was an Elemental Elf; those kinds of elves are regarded as sacred because they are so rare. But, because my mom fell in love with a human male and even had me, a half-elf, they were sentenced to death. My parents sacrificed themselves to keep me safe." She closed her eyes and returned to that day, "Run, they said, so, I did. I knew that they were going to die, and I was ready to die with them, but they were sacrificing themselves to give me a chance to live."
She rubbed the tears that were running down her cheeks, "After I unlocked my Elemental power, I felt really lucky. Elemental Elves are rare, But Elemental Half-elves are even rarer. I had imagined getting stronger and taking revenge for my parents, but my magic wasn't right. Anything I touched froze, I couldn't control it. So, I had to wear these gloves. For years I prayed, I prayed for the gods to help me, but no one answered. Maybe I'm just destined to be someone without a home, maybe the elves who killed my parents will find me and help me leave this cruel world– "
"No!" Sarah suddenly grabbed her shoulders, startling her, "That would not happen on my watch! Oh, my goodness, for such a thing to happen to a young girl is so terrible. But, don't say that you don't have a home, because as long as we're here, you'll always have a home."
Sarah stared deep into her eyes, "I know that we just met, but you are now a part of our family. And don't give up faith, there is a solution to every problem, especially in this world. Don't think I'm going to let you give up on your life."
Veronica was a bit shocked at Sarah's actions but still spoke dejectedly, "I've tried. I've prayed and prayed. I have sold every valuable thing I owned to swindlers who promised to fix me. Nothing worked, even the gods have abandoned me."
Sarah growled, then she pulled Veronica's gloves off and clasped her hands before she could do anything, "What are you doing!" Veronica tried to tug her hand off, but Sarah's hands clamped on to them. She was also wondering why Sarah hadn't turn into an ice sculpture yet, her power wasn't instant, but it was pretty fast, then she saw a golden radiance surrounding Sarah's hands that was stopping the frost from proceeding.
"Y-your hand…"
"Listen to me!" Sarah tugged her a little, "I know how you feel, we all know how you feel. You feel tired and depressed, you feel broken down and alone, you feel like you can't be saved. But that changes today, because I want to help you."
"But, why…"
"Because I was saved! I was pitied and given the chance to shape my life the way I wanted. Why wouldn't I do the same to you? Why wouldn't I try help someone who is going through the same thing I have?"
Sarah stood up and stared into Veronica's eyes, and in that moment, her body seemed to glow, "Now listen closely, I am now giving you the choice that was once given to me. Look deep into your heart, and pull out the hope you once had, remember the desires you once had. Hold on to them and say this prayer; In the name of the God of Origins, I pray for new hope!"
For some reason, Veronica felt compelled to follow Sarah's instructions. She remembered all the times she looked to the stars, hoping for a change, she remembered all the times she knelt down and prayed to the Elven God, but they didn't listen to her. 'She's right, I've tried countless times before. One more wouldn't hurt…'
So, she aroused her faith and her hope, and said the prayer in her heart.
In the name of the God of Origins, I pray for new hope!
After she said the words, a page appeared in her vision, then new information appeared in her head. She looked up at Sarah who just nodded, the others were also giving her knowing smiles. Thanks to the information she received along with the system, she knew exactly what to do. She chose The Mage class and chose the Ice Element without even thinking twice. With her choice her body unknowingly transformed because of the set of rules kept in the system.
With an eager expression, she raised up her palm and created a delicate ice flower on it.
"Whoa, you're so good at controlling ice! The last time Henry tried to create an ice flower it looked like a bunch of ice spikes glued together."
"Okay she didn't have to know that, George."
Sarah leaned over and grabbed her hand, but this time she didn't protect her hand. But it didn't matter, because she didn't need to anymore, Sarah's hand didn't freeze. When Sarah dragged her to her feet, Veronica saw a smile on her face.
"Welcome to the family." She said, and for the first time in forever, Veronica felt she belonged.