Serenity covers every nook and corner of the somber castle in the midst of foggy clouds and standing on top of a hill, not a single sound can be heard, the creaking of wood and the clattering of stones were the only things making a sound.
It has been like this ever since the departure of Rex, Adhara, and Flunra.
From the sun shining its brilliance in the sky until the darkness reaver came and turned the sky dark, there was not much happening except for the fact that danger lurks outside of the castle. A rogue cursed creature is on the loose, roaming with its deadly claws inside the dense forest.
A group of Dark Elves, highly trained elites came to pick Evelyn up at noon.
Due to the message Adhara brought to their doorstep about the rogue cursed creature, King Jorik dispatched his elites to check the place where Rex found the remains of the Dark Elves that should be guarding the Humming Damned Forest.
Each of the Dark Elves that came is an expert in curses, they are adept in dealing with curses.
Since Gistella's condition has become worse and worse, Evelyn was expecting the Dark Elf named Qonvale to check on her. But her hope was drained when the Dark Elves didn't bring along Qonvale with them, they said that the perimeter should be secured first before Qonvale can be escorted here.
Nothing can be done, so she eventually leads the Dark Elves to the place Rex told her about.
While Evelyn was going with the Dark Elves, the people inside the castle were only Naela and Gistella. It's dangerous outside, so none of them have any intention of going out, they are going to stay here until the other came back.
Asked by the Alpha herself to take care of Gistella, Naela hasn't left her room ever since.
Even though she spent most of her time absorbing the Dark Nature energy accumulated by the castle to become stronger, she occasionally paused to check on Gistella and accompany her if she needs someone to talk to.
But inspecting Gistella through the hours, there are a couple of incidents that happened.
Similar to earlier, Gistella a couple of times pointed at numerous parts of the room, telling Naela that there was a cursed creature that is coming to get her. It was hard to contain Gistella when she was in this outburst, she was paranoid and unstable during these incidents.
It came to the point that Naela definitely thought that Gistella is hallucinating.
Most of the time she would say that the cursed creature is by the window, watching her undisturbed and unblinking. But Naela doesn't find anything of that sort, there's nothing by the window except the scenery of the night sky.
Despite these incidents, Naela handled Gistella with patience and comfort her.
Aside from the sudden outburst of seeing the 'cursed creature' that wanted to take her, Gistella acted normal and talked properly. It was only during that outburst she becomes like that, but this clearly indicates that something is definitely wrong with her.
"Do you think I'm crazy, Naela...?" Gistella mutters.
Upon hearing this, Naela looks at Gistella's uncertain eyes before she quickly shakes her head knowing that this must've been tough on her too, "Not at all! You're simply unwell, curses can affect the vessel in many ways. I've seen worst, you are going to be fine" she tries to comfort Gistella.
Gistella smiled when she heard this, she feels better from hearing what Naela said.
Positioning herself on the bed, she faces the other way before she tries to get some rest from the paranoia that is messing with her mind. In this kind of state, it's best that she sleeps so that she will not feel any of this.
A moment later, the rough breaths have become calm and steady.
Looking to the other side of the bed, Naela finds that Gistella is sleeping right now.
Just a moment earlier she was having one last outburst, pointing at the window, before she fall asleep. It seems the outburst exhausts her body and mind simultaneously. Sighing to herself, Naela walks out of the room to take some fresh air, she was heading to the courtyard at the back.
Breathing in the fresh air from nature, she enjoyed her moment of silence.
Now that she has time for herself, her mind wanders to the probability that the Alpha and the others would come back with Kyran. Even thinking about it makes her heart flutters, and she rubs her hands nervously.
It would definitely be awkward for her when she finally meets with Kyran.
"Hah... what should I say when I met him?" Naela mutters to herself, holding her blushed cheeks.
While she was dwelling in her mind, her eyes caught sight of two tombstones in the courtyard. These tombstones are inside the castle and that alone speaks of the importance of the ones buried inside.
Throughout the entire day, Naela made a couple of conversations with Gistella.
As she now knows that the Silverstar Pack, mainly the Alpha is a human before turning into a Werewolf, that begs the question as to why they decided to leave the human territory and stayed in this castle in the middle of nowhere.
Every time she asked that Gistella didn't answer and said it was a sensitive topic.
Naela didn't want to poke her nose into this sensitive topic, she was still a new member after all, and is also not yet fully accepted in this place. But she suspects that it has something to do with these two tombstones, buried in the middle of the courtyard.
"I better go back, Gistella might need me again" Naela mutters and turned around.
Just as she was about to head back to Gistella's bed chamber, her footsteps paused, and her eyebrows sank into a frown. Looking at the wall on her side, she sensed many figures are approaching the castle.
But out of all the figures, she's quite sure none of them are from the Silverstar Pack.
Ceasing her intention away from Gistella for a moment, she quickly stepped out of the castle. Looking up above the castle, she saw the wraith wolf-shaped star circling the sky above the castle that doesn't seem to react.
'It's not attacking? I thought it would defend the castle from anything' Naela thought with a frown.
Not intending to lament on the Circling Sentinel for too long, Naela heads over to the wall and looks to the forest on the right. About more than a dozen of figures can be seen emerging from the forest, but they seem to be running away from something.
Squinting her eyes, she finds that these figures are Supernaturals, mainly Elves, and Dryads.
'Hmm...? Elves and Dryads are not from around here, how did they manage to get here? And also, why are they running away from?' Naela thought she was not expecting to find these Supernaturals to be here.
But soon Naela saw a couple of cursed creatures chasing after them.
Although none of the cursed creatures are strong enough to make Naela wary, she's still hesitant to come down there and help. There are many reasons for her hesitation, but it was mainly because the castle is not hers.
Taking in these Supernaturals is not her decision to make.
Just then a voice surprised her from the back, it was Gistella that also sensed the Supernaturals approaching and getting up from bed. "What are you waiting for? Go and help them, they would die if they don't get any help!"
"Is it really okay? The Alpha might not like it..." Naela replied, she was extremely hesitant.
Out of everything she doesn't want the Alpha to be mad at her, it would cost the Dark Elves' kingdom and also her potential relationship with Kyran. But Gistella then smiled, "It's okay, their screams would lure more cursed creatures and they might get to the castle. So go and help them"
Upon hearing this, Naela paused before she nodded her head and looks back.
Since she has been given permission by Gistella, and also the fact that she realized the Supernaturals that emerged from the forest are not stronger than the fifth rank realm, she decided to jump down from the castle's wall to help them.
As if her body is very light, she stepped on the wall horizontally before she propel herself forward.
Swoosh!
Naela pierces the air with her body that is already engrossed in the energy of Dark Nature, she then flicks her arm before a beautifully crafted bow appeared in her hand. It was made with hard mutated oak and is dark bronze in color with a glowing orb filled with Dark Nature energy at the center.
Pulling the string back, an arrow made of pure energy appeared, sizzling with power.
"Dark Nature Magic, Infernal Rainstorm!"
Instead of aiming for the cursed creatures chasing after the escaping Supernaturals, Naela pointed to the sky before she let loose the arrow. With sizzling energy, the arrow flew to the sky before it exploded and turned into a maroon orb.
Splash!
While this is happening, the cursed creatures caught up and lunge toward the Supernaturals.
"Kyaahh!"
"Arggh!! Get off of me!"
Like wild animals that haven't got the slightest bit of food in the past month, the cursed creatures lunge on top of the Supernaturals and started biting their skin off. It was a horrifying sight, they were eaten alive by these mindless monsters.
More of the Supernaturals started running quicker, trying to escape death.
But as the casualties were about to increase, the Origin delivers its blessing from the sky as dozens of sharp arrows pierce the cursed creature and zapped its cursed energy away. It takes not but a moment for almost all of the cursed creatures to be killed.
Each of the Supernatural stopped, they were caught in a trance of surprise.
"P-Praise the Origin..."
As they were thanking the Origin for saving them from the cursed creatures' cold claws, a woman landed from the sky with her back against them, facing the remaining cursed creatures that survived the rain of arrows.
Without saying anything, the woman dashes straight at the cursed creatures swiftly.
Her movement is nimble and light as a feather. Her body is nimble, most can tell from the way she dodged the cursed creatures that lunged at her. Somersaulting with the bow in her hands, she fired five consecutive shots at the cursed creatures within her range.
It was quite fast, and she shot an arrow to every side before she landed on the ground.
Landing on one knee, she chanted some words from between her lips before five more arrows appeared on her bow simultaneously. With one pull, five beams shot toward the cursed creatures and exploded their heads like overblown balloons.
Splat!
Splat!
Just like that the cursed creatures chasing them were no more, it only takes a few seconds.
Naela slowly turn around while putting away her bow to look at the Supernaturals that she saved, she nodded her head when she finds most of them are safe, "What happened to all of you? Are you guys lost?"
Snapping out of their dazes, an Elf stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"Thank you for saving us, we really appreciate it" the Elf said politely, thankful for what Naela did.
After expressing his thanks, the Elf scratch the back of his head nervously, "As for your question, yes we are lost and stumbles into this scary forest" he added with a wry smile, he doesn't look like the normal prideful Elves at all.
Even Naela was surprised to find such a humble Elf, it feels odd to hear an Elf talk like this.
But then Naela points at them all before she asks again, "Wait a minute, are you guys together?"
"Yes, we are together. I know it's weird, but how should I put this..." the Elf pondered for a moment, confused as to how he can explain this situation. Different Supernatural races stranded far away from their homes are not a normal sight. "We... we are Supernaturals that lived in the human territory, but the technological breakthrough the humans achieved managed to spot us and forced us to leave their territory..."
"Huh...? Are there really Supernaturals living inside the human territory?" Naela was flabbergasted.
For someone like her that spent most of her life inside the Dark Elf Kingdom, she can't believe that there are Supernaturals that lived in human territory. 'Are they being serious? Is that even possible...?'
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