Thalia and Edyrm had worked together for dozens of years, they didn’t need words to reach maximum efficiency. They let the ship advance until it was in the 3km range. Thalia identified five humans on the prow, she wasn’t able to see if there were more in the interior. Thalia nodded at Edyrm and they burst their attacks at the same time. Edyrm used his wind to propel both of them in the air, above the ship. The humans were surprised as they didn’t expect a sneak attack, but they were prepared for any hostile movements. Thalia took out a giant wide brush and slashed, throwing brown paint. Three of the humans avoided the attack, the other two felt like their clothes were a giant mountain and they couldn’t move. Edyrm used the confusion to take out two machetes, he landed on the ship and attacked the nearest person, cutting him from above the waist like butter. Thalia blasted her divine senses to investigate the entire scene and look out for any signals. She found the captain inside about to crush a communication talisman. ‘Code yellow!’ Thalia informed Edyrm with urgency. Thalia concentrated her spiritual energy and made the air around the captain’s head dense, he unconsciously tried to breathe to no avail and the energy invaded his ears giving him an immense headache. This loss of concentration cost him everything. Edyrm ignored the two humans that were trying to escape and dropped the machetes. He joined his hands in the shape of a circle and concentrated his energy for two seconds before shooting a gale. The gale destroyed the upper part of the ship and everything in its path for the next 100m. The captain was killed in an instant. Thalia used this time to paint chains above the two restricted humans. She wasn’t worried about the two escapees, her husband wasn’t done yet. “Two prisoners are more than enough.” Edyrm coldly said. The two humans had barely started swimming away when they were killed by wind knives aimed at their vitals. “They had just advanced to middle E-grade.” Thalia commented on what she had sensed with her divine senses. “Indeed, let’s go back and inform the elders.” Edyrm said. Thalia painted a pattern in each prisoner's face, making them fall asleep, Edyrm put them in a sack and carried both on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Thalia used her divine senses to detect any hidden threat. After five minutes of running, Edyrm made a thin glare upwards and Thalia painted it in green. This way the clan would know that they had spotted potential enemies. They sprinted for half an hour more before coming back, they saw that the entire village was empty. They went to the central plaza where a ruckus was heard from the distance, they had a bad feeling. The bloodlust in the air was palpable, they approached the mayhem and tried to question the elves there about what had happened. They were ignored and just told to go to the center, they’d understand then. They made their way into the crowd, and what they saw made their blood run cold. There were four corpses and a heavily injured elf in the center, the elf was being healed by Elder Kiirion. Edyrm approached the scene and Thalia tailed behind. “What happened?” Edyrm said with storms hidden behind his eyes. “W-we were attacked by humans. We were far away from the village, recollecting fruit trees when suddenly we saw a group of six humans. We tried to talk to them, but they ignored us and attacked us. We managed to kill them all, but I was the only survivor. I almost didn’t make it, but I had to warn you.” The injured elf, Thuridan, said with a weak voice. Edyrm looked at his surroundings and saw the elves’ fury brewing in them. He wordlessly threw the sack off his shoulder, he nodded at Thalia, and he opened it. Two unconscious humans appeared. An instant of silence was replaced by a thunderous roar, ranged attacks were launched without hesitation and the melees rushed to make a killing blow. Thalia painted a wall in the air that absorbed the damage, it endured a couple of seconds before the wall trembled and started to break apart. Edyrm didn’t make any movement to help her, and the indifference in Thalia’s eyes said that this was as far as she would go. “Stop.” The world obeyed. Every elf in the plaza was stunned, every trace of energy dissipated in the air, the momentum of the warriors halted. Silence reigned as she made her appearance. Nature bloomed and flowers waved at their monarch. Deafening steps made the heartbeats of all trembled as the Grand Elder made her presence known. She came mounted on a behemoth, a black wolf 20m tall with criss-crossed scars on his face. The Elder seemed to be in her early thirties, she was about 2,2m tall and fit. She donned a heavy armor made of black metal that seemed to absorb the light of her surroundings. Her aura was like a spring breeze, warm and cozy. It made you want to embrace it and peacefully sleep under her protection. However, the intensity was so great that any fool would be crushed without mercy. Galather moved next to her and made a courtesy. “Grand Elder Pyria, I am glad that you exited seclusion.” Galather said. “I sensed the ambiance agitated. Tell me what happened.” The Grand Elder explained. After getting up to date, Pyria appeared next to the humans and waved her hand. Roots grew next to their heads and pierced their necks, the roots were pulsating and injected a purple liquid that spread through their bodies. Both humans stood up with an unnatural movement and opened their eyes. Their pupils were unfocused and their veins were colored purple, they had their mouths open and were salivating. “What were you doing here?” Pyria asked. The only response was in an unintelligible language, she tsked but wasn’t discouraged. She spent the next five minutes asking specific questions, connecting a spiritual tendril with their glabella. Pyria’s high perception coupled with her high spirit allowed her to learn the language in a record time. Then, she asked the first question again. “W-e wer-e sc-outing.” They both said in a stiff tone. “Why?” Pyria asked. “We lande-d at this f-forest after our b-boat got lost in a st-orm. We fou-nd how ric-h in resources w-as and decid-ed to plund-er it.” After fine-tuning their questions for a while, they said this piece of information in a robotic tone. “Why did you attack us?” Pyria asked in a calm tone. “We were o-rdered to attac-k any indige-nous peop-le. We can’t l-et anyon-e have our res-ources.” Their tone started to decay, their time was ticking. “How many fighters and civilians had come and how many D-grade powerhouses do you have?” Pyria said. “We hav-e 100 fight-ers, 300 civi-lians, and 5 D-gra-de powe-rhouses.” They responded. Pyria frowned at the numbers, she didn’t worry about the fighters but the powerhouses were a problem. “Why so many D-grade beings?” Pyria asked. “We were t-asked t-o find n-ew comm-erce rout-es, the-y w-ere th-ere to ens-ure pr-otection again--st the s-ea beas-ts.” They responded in a duller tone. “Who gave you that task?” Pyria made the last inquiry. “The Hiral Dynasty.” Their tone managed to sound respectful even as only their final embers remained. Pyria nodded. She wouldn't forget the name, neither would the Elphyra Clan. She ordered a ceremony for the dead and to bring Thuridan to a peaceful place to recover. She mounted on her wolf with a jump and stood on the border of the plaza. Only the two humans remained in the center. “Don’t use any powerful attacks.” The Grand Elder coldly stated. The restrained forest elves didn’t hold back their emotions anymore. The rage and overwhelming bloodlust brought rainy clouds. Some elves lost their reason and growled. Only the veterans stood still watching the rest venting their feelings. The flood of elves ran into the almost dead humans. They bit, punched, and kicked the immobile targets. Pyria had returned their awareness at the last moment, their eyes shone with despair. They shouted but no sound came out as their throats had been ripped apart, their souls burned with regret and after twenty minutes, only two mangled corpses remained. Even in their maddened state, the elves were careful to not touch their hearts. They were in pristine condition even after the torture. Pyria came back and injected vitality into the hearts, making them beat. She thrust the tip of a lance in each heart and impaled the lances on the earth in a cross position. “Let this be our reminder. We are going to war.” Pyria said. She and the Elders left to discuss the next steps. *** Rydel had seen everything from the sidelines. He was too stunned to do anything. He has personally killed hundreds of beasts by this point. But never had he seen any other sapient being killed. The reality of it crashed on him. They only needed to be unlucky once to end dead. And that’s taking into consideration that they weren’t weak. Sure, they weren’t rangers or elite soldiers, but every elf reached middle E-grade just by simply living about 50 years. If the elf reached the 250 years mark, then he’d probably have accumulated enough energy in their lives to reach late E-grade, and for breaking through to D-grade, that was impossible with just aging. He didn’t know what to think about his former species. It’s not like he suddenly abhorred humanity, but this act of pure greed didn’t sit well on him. He’d have to check if it was just this group, or if humanity in this world was rotten. Even if humanity didn’t have any salvation, he wouldn’t kill them. First, because he wasn’t even ready to kill any sapient being yet. Second, he didn’t have the heart to judge an entire race based on his thoughts. For now, he agreed with the Grand Elder. War was inevitable, touching one of their ones was the ultimate taboo. He reunited with his parents, and the three of them went back home. Rydel saw Neena at the door looking in the plaza direction. It seemed that even she felt that something was wrong. He took her in his arms and hugged her. Neena noted his erratic feelings and consoled him, patting his head with her tails. The family stood in the dining room trying to regain their composure, Rydel was the first to break the silence. “I’m going to join the war.” Rydel said with a serious expression. “Out of the question.” Edyrm said without hesitation. “The battlefield isn’t a place for children. You don’t even have a class, any stray attack will kill you.” Thalia explained, but the refusal was firm on her eyes. “I’ll unlock my trial in one month! I’ll be stronger then, and paired with Naveena we are invincible!” Rydel didn’t give up. “Absolutely no! You’ll still be level 1, if any D-grade decides to exterminate the weaker enemies you won’t even have a chance to run away.” Edyrm didn’t relent. “Little firefly, you will have other opportunities in the future to fight for the clan. This is not a good moment.” Thalia said. “You can protect me then, I won’t be a nuisance.” Rydel insisted. “We can’t have a liability in the middle of a fight.” Edyrm said. Rydel looked hurt at his father. “Is that what I am to you? A liability? Fine, I won’t disturb you.” Rydel said and stood up. “Wait, you know that’s not what I meant!” Edyrm tried to explain himself. However, Rydel ignored him and left the room. Edyrm tried to follow him, but Thalia stopped him. “He is being stubborn, he needs time to reflect.” Thalia said with a gentle tone.