**Nightfall**
Near the Whispering Forest, a lizard-drawn carriage was parked on the road, while a group of adventurers , consisting of two swordsmen-one belonging to the lizardman race and the other to the human race, a red-haired axe-wielder, a self-proclaimed wizard, and an elven archer, got out from it.
" Hey, Zarr. Stop flirting with that damn lizard already and get a shovel." While carrying bags and a shovel, a dark-skinned man said in a teasing tone as he was looking at the lizardman , who was currently feeding some sort of carrot to the giant lizard that had been pulling their carriage.
"Flirting, my ass. I was just feeding the girl" Zarr replied before he approached the coachman and handed him a single silver coin. He then told him he'd give him an additional silver after they returned in seven hours.
" Now then, schmucks , who's ready for some hunting?" Zarr asked while a crazy smile painted his reptilian snout.
...
(Ten minutes later)
Within the Whispering Forest, a group of adventurers could be seen traveling through the trees, looking for monsters, demons, or any creatures that could earn them a fair amount of coins.
"Adrian..." Zarr called out to Adrian before he pointed toward a group of bushes, twenty to thirty meters away from them.
*Raaaa*: Adrian didn't hesitate or hide what he was about to do and let out a demonic howl, startling a few of his party members. He didn't care, though; he lifted his warhammer as he felt a strange connection between himself and the beast hiding in the bushes.
*OOWHOOO-* A wolf with five bloody crystal shards protruding from its neck howled as it dashed out of the bush and made a ferocious charge toward Adrian. But before it could even close the distance by ten meters, an arrow with a crimson arrowhead pierced its skull.
Whistle~
"That's some deadly magic right there" a red-haired woman said as she held her axe and looked at the wolf twenty meters away.
"You can say that again. That thing didn't even try to dodge Lillian's arrow! Hell, Adrian , are you sure that's not some dark magic you just used?" a dark-skinned man said while wrapping his arm around Adrian's neck and then ruffling his hair.
"It isn't dark magic... I call it howling magic, and that's all I can tell you for now" Adrian said while slightly examining the party's reactions . The lizardman, the dark-skinned man, and the red-haired woman seemed to accept it and didn't want to pry any longer.
After all, they were experienced enough to know that nothing good ever came to those who stubbornly pried into a wizard's secrets. But Lillian, on the other hand, seemed to want to ask something before she was stopped by the red-haired woman.
"C'mon, Miss Archer, this was your kill, so you get to divide the shards" the red-haired axe-wielder said while guiding Lillian toward the lesser demon's corpse .
(Fifteen minutes later)
A wolf's carcass was skinned, gutted, and then divided into sections before being individually wrapped in leather sheets.
"Evelyn, hurry up and pass me a chunk of meat" Zarr said as he finished tying up a piece of demon meat before throwing it into a ditch he and his party had dug out.
"I already passed the last cut off to Dwayne to wrap" Evelyn said, wiping off the blood from her "Demonic Artifact" after having used its "Art" to cleanly cut the demon they killed into pieces of meat to be later sold at a few taverns when they got back to Mudfall.
"Alright then, Dwayne, finish up so that we can cover up this ditch" Zarr said as he got up and wiped his hands with the cloths Evelyn prepared for them.
" Let 's get to covering it up then~" Dwayne said before throwing a wrapped piece of meat into the ditch and then using one of the shovels they brought to begin filling up the small but decently deep ditch filled with meat.
Swiss. Swiss.
Swiss.
The entire group helped in quickly filling in the ditch. Then they marked its location by carving an "X" into a nearby tree before they continued their hunt, successfully taking out three lesser demons within four hours.
"I think we should call it a day" Zarr said with a smile on his face as he looked at the three shards in his hands.
"What do you guys thi-" As Zarr looked back up to face his party members, he found no one .
....
Somewhere within the Whispering Forest, a dark-skinned man walked through the forest while sipping from his flask.
"Hey, lizard lover, don't you think we should head back to th-" Dwayne said as he wanted to ask his party leader if they were done for the night. But as he turned around, he couldn't find anybody behind him.
....
Somewhere within the Whispering Forest, a red-haired woman could be seen running through the trees in panic, as no matter how far or in what direction she ran, she always ended up back at a human-faced tree when she stopped.
*So you've returned, my child* an old, withering tree with a human-like face said in a voice that sounded neither male nor female as it looked at the woman in front of it.
....
Somewhere within the Whispering Forest, a dark-skinned child could be seen wandering through the trees, panting as what felt like days passed without the sun rising even once: one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, twenty-four hours yet the sun hadn't risen a second time.
Ha. Ha.
Ha.
"I give up..." Adrian said as he collapsed onto his knees and rolled over onto his back.
Adrian held his hand above his face and tried to activate "Iron Defense" but to no avail.
....
(Five years later)
Within the Town of Mudfall, in a two-story house that was divided into a small clothing store and living space, a dark elven woman could be seen bathing a small child who looked no older than two years.
"Mama." A dark-skinned child with slightly pointed ears called out.
"Yes, Lily?" a dark elf woman with caramel skin replied, smiling .
"Can you make me dove soup for dinner, please?" Lily asked, looking at her mother with a loving smile on her face.
Hehe.
"Of course, anything for my little Lily~" the dark elf woman said as she lightly pinched Lily's cheek.
Hehehe.
Lily laughed while trying to mimic her mother's laughter.
...
Within the Whispering Forest, a dark-skinned child could be seen frustratedly carving a slash across four ticks on a tree's trunk before he pulled back his fist and struck the tree in front of him.
Thud! Thud!
Thud!
'Think! Adrian! Think! What have I don- ' The dark-skinned child paused suddenly as he felt lightheaded after striking the tree in front of him.
Thud!
"Wha..." Adrian punched the tree one more time before his sight faded to black and he passed out.
....
(Two weeks later)
Within the Whispering Forest, a dark-skinned child could be seen with his arms stretched out towards a tree that had three complete tally marks and four ticks carved into its bark.
*You've got this*: The dark-skinned child said as he closed his eyes and began to construct an ethereal figure in his mind, trying his best to will it into the tree in front of him while a wave of exhaustion began to wash over him as his ethereal body left his physical form and started to phase through the tree he had his hands stretched toward.
Bite!
The child bit his tongue, buying himself a few more seconds of consciousness as his eyes shot back open with a determined light. He decisively bit through his entire tongue.
!!!
The child spat out the piece of his tongue that he had bitten off and then gritted his teeth, savoring the pain that kept him conscious.
Hahahaha.
The child laughed through the pain as his ethereal body passed through the tree's bark, shocking its ethereal eyes. Instead of merging with the flesh of the tree, the ethereal body began emerging from a rotting body, encased in a bloody crimson crystal that was surrounded by gigantic, thorn-like roots made of countless shards.
....
(Two years later)
BOOM!!!
A dark-skinned boy stood before a slightly visible tree that displayed the scene of an ethereal body reaching into an almost decomposed body. while the dark skinned boy repeated a self made mantra: *I will live, I will be free* Over and over again as lightning danced across the blackened night sky, stars faded, and the moon began to fall while world-shaking earthquakes tore through the land.
BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
*I will live... I WILL BE FREE!!!* Adrian screamed out in a ferocious tone while fighting to stay conscious. Suddenly, a pair of ethereal arms appeared from the slightly translucent tree in front of him, quickly grabbing and dragging him through the tree before he fell unconscious and all his efforts were undone.
'I will live no matter what, I will live, I will survive' Adrian thought with his last bit of consciousness as he felt his 'true' body open its eyes for the last time before everything turned into darkness.
April 11th of the holy calendar. Within a region formerly known as the Whispering Forest, a giant sunflower-like object with leaves made of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, overlapping blood shards stood proudly in its demonic glory. Its crystalline roots above ground danced and ravaged the landscape beneath .
But as the creature ravaged the land, a transparent sapphire floated out from underneath it and began drifting aimlessly into the world.