"We made it," Emilie said, her voice light with relief. The gentle slope and calm surroundings signaled that they had arrived at their destination.
Oliver looked around, scanning the area. "This is it," he confirmed, shifting the sword on his shoulder as he glanced over the clearing. "Now, let's hope these rare herbs are easier to find than I thought."
"I found one!" Emilie called out, crouching by a cluster of tall grass. She carefully pulled aside the leaves to reveal a small plant with shimmering petals. "I guess it looks like our supervisor described to us."
Oliver hurried over, kneeling beside her. "Glimmerroot?" he asked, studying the glowing leaves in her hand. They shimmered faintly, just as their supervisor had mentioned. "Yeah, I think that's it."
Emilie smiled, carefully placing the herb in her bag. "One down," she said, her voice filled with determination. "Let's find the rest before it gets dark."
After an hour of searching, the sun had started its slow descent, casting a warm golden glow over the clearing. Oliver wiped the sweat from his forehead, glancing at the handful of herbs they'd gathered so far.
"That will be the last." Emilie said, standing up from a patch of glowing flowers and placing the delicate plant into her bag. "I think we've got everything we need."
Oliver looked at the fading light through the trees. "Just in time too. I don't want to be out here when it's dark."
Emilie nodded, a slight shiver running through her. "Yeah, this forest has a whole different feel at night."
"Let's go then?" Emilie said, looking in the direction where the church stood.
"Have you ever wanted to be like those warriors?" Oliver Suddenly asked.
Emilie glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "What about them? No, not really," she answered, a little surprised by the question.
"I mean," Oliver continued, his gaze fixed ahead, "we're stagnant here, growing up in this church, doing the same tasks every day. Have you ever wondered how great it would be to just flee from here and travel wherever you want? See new places, face challenges, live... freely?" He glanced down at the sword in his hand. "And with this sword... Don't you think even fate wants us to leave?"
Emilie fell silent for a moment. "I get it," she finally said, her voice more serious than before. "But I don't think it's all that great out there. Sure, it sounds exciting, but there's danger everywhere. Wolves, monsters... not to mention people. You could die just for a few coins, Oliver." She paused, looking at him with a thoughtful frown. "And what about our friends? What about the supervisor? He's raised you like his own. Instead of repaying him, you'd be betraying him by leaving."
"Fine," Oliver said abruptly, cutting off the conversation. "Just forget that. Let's return."
Emilie watched him for a moment, but said nothing. She nodded and began walking beside him.
"Sorry for that," Oliver muttered after a moment of silence. "I just thought that if I got a sword, I'd be able to travel, maybe finally get out of here."
Emilie glanced at him, her expression softening. "I understand," she said gently.
On their way back, the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting a warm orange glow across the forest floor. The fading light filtered through the branches, painting the path ahead in soft hues of gold and amber. Shadows stretched long beneath the trees, and the air grew cooler with each passing minute.
As they continued walking, small patches of red began to appear along the edges of the path. At first, it was just a few spots here and there, but soon more of them dotted the ground, standing out starkly against the orange glow of the setting sun.
"Are those flowers?" Emilie asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked closer.
Oliver frowned, glancing at the strange patches. "I don't think so... they look too bright, too... unnatural." He stepped off the path, crouching down to inspect one of the patches. The ground was smeared with something dark and glossy, glistening faintly in the fading light.
As Oliver approached the red patches, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble. The air around them thickened, and suddenly, with a violent burst, the earth cracked open. Flames shot up from the ground, casting eerie shadows on the trees.
A massive fissure stretched toward the village, the church, and far beyond, its reach seemingly endless, extending further than anyone could have imagined. The ground shook with such force that Oliver and Emilie, standing at the very edge of the chaos, struggled to stay on their feet. The tremors were so violent it felt as though the entire world might split apart.
The air crackled with heat as flames shot up from the fissure, licking at the sky, while black smoke poured out, casting a dark, fiery glow across the horizon. In the distance, the village and the church teetered on the brink of disaster, dangerously close to the fiery abyss.
Before anyone could react, the skeletal figure, wreathed in flames, erupted from the heart of the fissure. Its towering, blazing form cast a monstrous shadow over the land. It threw its head back and laughed, a sound both sinister and triumphant, reverberating across the landscape.
"HAHAHAHHAHAAH! At last!" the skeletal figure roared, its fiery voice shaking the very air. "I am free! Time for you to die Elshar!"
The name echoed with dark power, as if the very earth recoiled in dread. The flames around the skeleton flared wildly, casting eerie, flickering light across the forest and the distant village. Its burning arms reached toward the sky, the inferno intensifying as if to consume everything in its path.
And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the skeletal figure vanished. The flames that had once raged fiercely flickered and died, leaving only smoldering embers in their wake. The ground stopped trembling, and an eerie silence fell over the forest, broken only by the crackle of dying fire and the distant cries of animals fleeing the chaos.
Two young figures stood just meters away from the massive crack, the shock evident on their faces. Their simple white clothes seemed almost ghostly in the fading light of the smoldering fires. One, a young man, gripped an ordinary sword in his hand, his knuckles white as if holding on for dear life. Beside him, the girl wore a small bag at her waist, her wide eyes reflecting the glow of the dying embers.
For a moment, neither of them spoke, their breath shallow, still reeling from the skeletal figure's sudden appearance and even more shocking, its abrupt disappearance. The air around them still sizzled with the remnants of the intense heat, the acrid scent of scorched earth lingering.
"The church! I can see it!" Emilie shouted, her voice sharp with urgency as she peered through the smoldering, leafless trees. There, standing near the edge of the crack, was the church. The once pristine, white building now looked like a half-ruined shell of what it had been. Its walls were blackened, crumbling in places, and flames still clung to it stubbornly, burning with no hint of ending.
Smoke curled from the remaining structure, rising into the dimming sky. The air around it shimmered with heat, and the ground beneath the church seemed to tremble, as if warning that it wouldn't hold for much longer.
"Let's go, Oliver! The others are still in there!" Emilie shouted, her voice full of desperation as she started running toward the burning church.