Alaric said, "Look who decided to show up…"
Hana responded with a grin, "What's the matter? Aren't you guys happy to see me?"
Yalla said, "You're a very very bad person now. Everyone is hunting you and-."
"The nightshade crystal. Yessss. You guys don't happen to know where it is, right?"
Caelan answered, "Foolish question, Eolande. You know we have no knowledge of it's whereabouts."
"Hmmmmm. Of course you don't. It's crazy, because the entire Emerald Glades is searching for it to prevent ME from getting it. How's the progress coming along?"
"..We were ordered to kill or capture you on sight if need be."
"I'm just trying to have a civil conversation. Not fair. But I tell you this, I'll let you guys off the hook and NOT kill you. Only if you let me have Lirael, her Emerald sycthe can tear through the fabric of space to create portals."
Alaric stepped in, "Hell no!"
Caelan added, "Do you have any idea… your family, the house of Nenharma.."
Hana (Eolande), responded, "Hmmmm, I didn't think about that. Yeah..yeah I bet they're pretty sad right now. And yes, they did try and talk me out of it, buttttt I kinda killed some of them."
"You bastard.."
"Bad words. Not nice."
Lirael thought, 'I can make my portals now..but I'm limited. I can't make them go anywhere outside of Heartwood. Is this her doing?'
Alaric spit to the right, and said, "Damn this…we'll fight instead!"
Caelan scoffed to Alaric, "You don't make reckless decisions for the entire team!"
"Oh excuseeee me! Thalion passed out for the 100th time and someone has to lead us!"
"You definitely wouldn't be next in line for it!"
Yalla said, "Guysss stop fighting!"
Hana laughed, "HAHAH! Seems like you guys need some motivation to make a decision. My shadow creatures are gonna come at all of you endlessly until you hand Lirael to me."
Lirael said, "…No. I won't go with you."
Hana gave off a malicious and creepy smile, "Hehhh? We'll see about that."
Hana pointed forward, saying, "Go."
"Yalla, right flank!" Caelan yelled, releasing a volley of emerald arrows into the pack of shadow wolves. His arrows exploded on impact, scattering the beasts into misty fragments. Yalla, her skin peeling and regenerating, swung her Emerald Staff and created a solid light energy barrier, deflecting the wolves' lunges.
"Alaric, behind you!" Lirael shouted. Alaric, feeling his skin dissolve and reform, spun around to face a hulking shadow bear. He swung his Emerald Greatsword, creating a field of intensified gravity that immobilized the bear, then released a powerful energy blast that shattered it into dark dust.
"They're in the trees!" Lirael yelled as a flock of shadow hawks dive-bombed them. She swung her Emerald Scythe, tearing a portal in the fabric of space. The hawks, caught in the vortex of emerald light energy, were pulled in and spat out disoriented, allowing Yalla to blind them with a flash of her staff.
"Too many...can't hold them..." gasped Alaric, his skin rotting and regenerating rapidly. Caelan, his own skin in the same state, nodded grimly. "Keep fighting!" he encouraged, firing his Emerald Bow and creating a time-dilated zone. The shadow panthers, caught in the slow-motion field, were easy targets for the team's attacks.
"Yalla, shield!" Caelan yelled as shadow serpents slithered towards them. Yalla swung her Emerald Staff, creating an energy barrier. The serpents crashed against the barrier and recoiled, allowing Lirael to cut a portal and send them away.
"Stags, incoming!" Alaric yelled. Lirael, her skin rotting and regenerating, swung her Emerald Scythe, creating a vortex that pulled in the charging shadow stags. Alaric then swung his Emerald Greatsword, releasing a powerful energy blast that disintegrated the stags.
"Spiders, above!" Yalla shouted. Caelan, despite his skin's painful regeneration, fired his Emerald Bow, creating a time-dilated zone. The falling shadow spiders slowed, allowing Alaric to swing his Emerald Greatsword and create an intensified gravity field that smashed the spiders into dust.
"Can't...keep this up..." Lirael panted. "We must!" Alaric encouraged, his skin painfully regenerating. He swung his Emerald Greatsword, creating a gravity field that grounded the swooping shadow owls. Yalla then blinded them with a flash from her staff.
"Left side, lynxes!" Caelan shouted. Despite his skin's constant rotting and regeneration, he fired his Emerald Bow, creating a time-dilated zone that slowed the lynxes' charge. Lirael then swung her Emerald Scythe, opening a portal that swallowed the lynxes.
"Eagles, in the sky!" Alaric warned. His skin, rotting and regenerating, made him grimace. Yalla swung her Emerald Staff, creating a solid energy barrier that blocked the eagles' dive. Caelan then fired his Emerald Bow, his arrows exploding and scattering the eagles.
"Hold them back!" Lirael cried, her skin flaking off in chunks. She swung her Emerald Scythe, opening a portal that swallowed the shadow weasels. Yalla then created a blinding flash with her staff, disorienting any weasels that escaped the portal.
"They just keep coming!" Alaric bellowed, his skin peeling and reforming. He swung his Emerald Greatsword, creating a field of intensified gravity which pinned the shadow beavers to the ground. Caelan then fired arrows from his bow, causing explosions that scattered the immobilized creatures.
"Foxes, to the right!" Yalla shouted. Caelan, despite the agony of his skin's regeneration, fired arrows that exploded upon impact, scattering the shadow foxes. Lirael then tore a vortex with her scythe, pulling in the remaining foxes.
"Keep up the defense!" Alaric roared, his skin regenerating at an alarming rate. He swung his Emerald Greatsword, releasing a powerful energy blast that shattered the incoming shadow hares. Yalla, her skin in the same state, created an energy barrier with her staff, deflecting any hare that evaded Alaric's attack.
"The badgers, they... they're everywhere!" Caelan shouted. Lirael, her skin rotting and regenerating, swung her Emerald Scythe to open a portal, sucking in the shadow badgers. Alaric then created a gravity field, pulling the remaining badgers away from the group.
"Can't...hold them..." Yalla gasped, her skin peeling and regenerating. Caelan, his own skin in a similar state, nodded grimly. "We must!" he yelled, firing his Emerald Bow and creating a time-dilated zone. The shadow squirrels, caught in the slow-motion field, were easy targets for the team's attacks.
"Moose, incoming!" Lirael shouted. Alaric, his skin rotting and reforming, swung his Emerald Greatsword, creating a field of intensified gravity that immobilized the large shadow moose, then released a powerful energy blast that shattered it into dark dust.
"Snakes, on the ground!" Yalla warned. Caelan, despite his skin's painful regeneration, fired his Emerald Bow, creating a time-dilated zone. The slithering shadow snakes slowed, allowing Alaric to swing his Emerald Greatsword and create an intensified gravity field that smashed the snakes into dust.
"I can't... keep this up..." Lirael panted. "We have to!" Alaric encouraged, his skin painfully regenerating. He swung his Emerald Greatsword, creating a gravity field that grounded the charging shadow porcupines. Yalla then blinded them with a flash from her staff.
"Owls, in the sky!" Alaric warned. His skin, rotting and regenerating, made him grimace. Yalla swung her Emerald Staff, creating a solid energy barrier that blocked the owls' dive. Caelan then fired his Emerald Bow, his arrows exploding and scattering the owls.
Hana watched as more shadow creatures ran past her. She kept laughing over and over, watching the team struggle. "You know," she began, her voice soft yet carrying an undercurrent of madness. "There's a certain... beauty in darkness. The way it envelopes everything, veiling the world in mystery and fear. It's... intoxicating." She gestured toward the battlefield where the elves fought valiantly, their skin rotting and regenerating with every passing second. "Look at them, struggling against the inevitable. Humans, elves... they're all the same. They fear the darkness, they fear their own shadows. It's pathetic, really." Her eyes gleamed with a strange fervor as she continued, "And that's why I've taken it upon myself to help them face their fears. To show them the power of their own shadows, the strength that lies within their own darkness. Because only in the face of true fear can one truly understand oneself." She laughed, the sound sharp and jarring in the quiet forest. "These elves... they're so proud of their light, of their purity. But they fail to see that it's their own darkness that gives them strength. Their own fears that make them powerful." Hana's gaze swept over the forest, her eyes glowing eerily in the darkness. "All creatures, you see, are born from darkness. Born from the primal fear that drives survival. And it's that very fear, that very darkness, that I want to bring out. To make them realize their true potential." She tilted her head back, her laughter ringing out through the forest as she watched the shadows dance and twist. "After all, what is light without darkness? What is courage without fear? Without these shadows of ours, we are nothing. Hollow. Empty. And these elves... oh, they'll thank me one day. For showing them their true selves. Their true power." Her laughter echoed through the forest, a chilling reminder of the madness that had spawned this nightmarish situation. And as the elves continued to fight, the darkness around them seemed to deepen, the shadows growing ever more menacing under Hana's twisted guidance.
Caelan, despite the agony of his skin's constant regeneration, managed to lift his gaze to meet Hana's gleaming eyes. His voice, though strained, echoed with unwavering determination.
"Fool," he began, "You misinterpret the very nature of darkness and light. Darkness is not an inherent evil, nor is it the source of our fears. It is merely the absence of light, a canvas on which our anxieties and uncertainties are painted." His eyes glowed fiercely in the shadowy fores, still fighting. "We do not fear our own shadows, Eolande, but rather, the unknown that they represent. The uncertainty of what might lurk unseen. Your shadow creatures, they do not awaken our fears. They simply embody the unknown." He tightened his grip on his Emerald Bow, his resolve hardening. "You say we are nothing without our shadows, that our strength lies in our darkness. But you're wrong. Our strength does not come from the darkness within us, but from our ability to confront it, to understand it, and to illuminate it with our inner light." Caelan's gaze was unwavering as he continued, "You seek to drown us in our own fears, our own darkness. But all you've done is show us the measure of our resolve. Each shadow beast we defeat, each wave we withstand, we grow stronger. We grow more certain." He raised his bow, his voice ringing out clear and strong in the night. "You believe darkness defines us, and in a way, you're right. But not in the way you think. It is not the presence of darkness that defines us, Eolande, but our response to it."
Hana's laughter echoed through the forest once more, a chilling sound that seemed to draw the shadows closer. Her eyes, gleaming with an unsteady light, locked onto Caelan. "Oh, Caelan. Always the thinker, aren't you?" she taunted, her words dripping with condescension. "Always trying to dissect, to rationalize. But you're missing the point." She leaned forward, her gaze intense. "You talk of understanding the darkness, of illuminating it with your inner light. But don't you see? That's exactly what I'm helping you do." A slow, twisted smile spread across her face. "Every shadow beast you fight, every fear you face... it's a journey into your own darkness. A journey that will lead you to understanding. To illumination." She spread her arms wide, as if embracing the chaos she'd created. "You say that it is your response to darkness that defines you, and in this, we agree. Because every time you fight, every time you stand against the shadows, you're responding to your own darkness. You're embracing it. You're becoming stronger." Her laughter filled the air once again, a haunting melody that seemed to echo the madness in her eyes. "So fight, Caelan. Fight with all your might. Because every blow you land, every beast you slay, you're proving my point. You're embracing your darkness. And in doing so, you're becoming exactly what I wanted you to be."
…
Inside of the tree, Kaede was backing up, looking Elysion in the eyes.
Kaede said, "Waittt waittt waitttt don't eat me."
"Who are you..? You managed to get in here.."
"I don't know WHAT is going on, but can you let me out?"
"Let you out? You are trapped here along with me."
"WHAT? NO. There's gotta be a way out."
"Moros…he trapped me here…created this prison for deities..even though his essence lurks around the Heartwood himself. Once I am free…I will defeat him."
"I don't know who Moron is but-."
"Moros."
"MOROS. I don't know how Moros is, but I'm gonna cut his ass up too. So we need to find a way out."
Behind him, was Lyra the cat.
She was licking her paw, and she said, "Weird cat. There's no escaping for you. Don't even try it."
Kaede turned around, saying, "You..!"