There was something horrifying at the thought of him clinging at the back of a Deprive. After Nelrue indiscreetly admitted that he perhaps ate the daughter of another Deprive to satisfy his own anger, there's no more reason for him to be clinging tightly to him. Truth be told, Ettran was so afraid that he could feel his own hand trembling.

He wanted to go down. He wanted to be as far away from the man as she could be. For the first time since meeting Nefaaya and Renaeril he wished that they're around him. Because he knew the man wouldn't try doing anything funny if he was under the gaze of the two. Especially under the gaze of Nefaaya, it seems like she had noticed the wrongness with Nelrue before he could even figure it out... before he could even hear about it.

"You'll fall," Nelrue said, his eyes flaring in violet light.

"Eh?"

"You'll fall, Ettran. Hold tightly."

For a second, Ettran didn't do anything. But slowly he put his arms around his neck, and tried to tighten his grip on him without trembling. But he failed.

Above, the fifth moon had finally appeared, lighting the top of the forest as it glowered over them. Perhaps it glared at Nelrue for his sins and to him for he cannot tell to anyone what he had heard and saw. He had lied for whatever reason. He thinks that it might be to save Nelrue, or to save himself or it might as well to protect the other two from him. Whatever it was, Ettran knew he could not speak about it to anyone.

Until I have nothing that could par with him, he thought. He was exactly aware of how powerful Nelrue was, and telling it to the two would only make the situation much worse.

From afar, Ettran's eyes flickered to where a tree was falling.

Nelrue turned at it and started heading in the direction of the fallen tree. He jumped from bough to bough, lightly as if he was just a bird who was flying in different branches to reach the other parts of the forest.

He felt Nelrue stiffened at what he had seen. He wasn't able to see what he was seeing right now. But based on how he looked, he had concluded that it was something that he didn't like. For Nelrue hissed as he headed in its direction.

Slowly they descended, under the light of the five moon. Ettran realized who it was, Renaeril standing before a Venedralis with his palm raised, eyes barely glowing. There are even less Blue Pieces around him and the boy had less Pieces to begin with.

As soon as Nelrue touched the ground, he immediately ran in the direction of the boy. He didn't know what prompted it, but on a normal basis. It was something that he wouldn't do. He hated Renaeril, for he had something that he didn't have.

Perhaps he did what he did that time in order to escape from Nelrue. Just before Renaeril fell from unconsciousness, Ettran had managed to drag him in his clothes and lessen the impact as his body hit the ground.

"Nelrue Aysanier," the man whom Renaeril was fighting stood confidently. His long black hair, glowed brightly against the moon. Unlike the other Venedralis he had met, this man has the cruelest feature he had ever seen. His lips where thick and almost dark, with a hook nose and uneven eyes.

His eyes flickered to them, Ettran pulled back at the intensity of his gaze.

"I didn't know you had fallen so low that you would settle for babysitting," he said.

Nelrue just stood there, surrounded by Pieces of different shapes.

"The Venedralis still stood tall from the day it was first created," Nelrue said. "That's why no one took your organization seriously."

The smile on the man's face vanished and was replaced by a sneer, his black eyes directed a glare at Nelrue.

"The Venedralis tried to prove the innocence of the other Deprives," the man said. "That was something you are continuously trying to destroy, our efforts to clear the name of the Deprives who were trying to resist the Call Of Flesh."

Nelrue chuckled, his head flew backwards as he roared in laughter.

As Ettran watched him, his hand tightened on Renaeril. He was so afraid of what he was seeing that he felt his legs quivering under him. He looked at the boy, his white brows knitted in pain.

Shameful it must be, but Ettran had thought of abandoning the boy. He wanted to run away from Nelrue. He wanted to go as far as he could from him

Stupid, but where would you go? he asked himself and smiled at the hopelessness of his situation.

Nelrue tilted his head, so tilted that Ettran worried that it might break any moment.

"Innocence?" He shook his head and spoke in a glottal voice. "That was something that didn't mean much to your corrupted organization. Especially when you house Rotseekers among you! And you claimed you hate one another?"

His voice changed back to seriousness, "there was no path left for Deprives like you but to die."

Nelrue burst in colors, Pieces swarmed around him like bees. He pulled his sword and slid in the ground as if his feet lost all force that held him back from the ground.

The man also pulled his sword and met Nelrue's sword. But the musicteller had played dirty on him. He used his knee and hit the man between his legs.

The Venedralis fell on the ground shouting in pain. Nelrue stood before them..

"There's no path left but death," he said and punctured his sword at the man's heart.

Nelrue stayed there longer than Ettran had thought he would, and as he wait for him the sense of dread that was building up in him grew more. As Nelrue pulled the sword and walked towards him with the blood dripping from his long sword, the boy was brought in a dillema between running away or staying by Renaeril's side.

"Please," he found himself saying, voice broken.

Nelrue pulled to a stop, eyes flickering from the Renaeril and at him. He crouched and touched the boy's face, his eyes glowing in violet light.

His red brows knitted, "he barely survived. We could have been late."

"Would he survive?" Ettran said, shocked at the casualness of his own voice.

"I don't know," he said. "But we have to do everything for him to survive. Everything."

There was something sinister in the way he said everything.

"I'll carry him and you climb on my back," he said. "This time no more of those antics of your earlier, we still have to find Nefaaya... and leave this forest, there was something strange in it right now."

Ettran wondered what it was, for him the only strange in this place right now was Nelrue. How come he managed to conceal his identity? Wicked Cernalis? All the tales sang about him, he was what his friends mother used to shout in the village to threaten their children into going outside.

If you go outside, Cernalis would be on the road to meet you. And when that happens you might as well consider yourself death. From that point on, Ettran considered himself dead. But the waiting of the hour when Nelrue would strike was agonizing. When he had smiled at him and flashed his small teeth at him. Ettran accepted his fate. But right now he didn't know what to think. It's like he was expecting something to come. But it didn't. And the wait for him was agonizing, almost traumatizing that he was tempted to just jump and be done with his life.

Nelrue used the bough of leaves and jumped, the leaves squished under his feet created a sound similar to a scratching.

Ettran stared forward as his eyes caught something moving in the clearing below them.

There were two men, clad in all black wearing a black doublet with bald head, and beside him a small figure. He was sure that it was Nefaaya.

Nelrue used his free hand and raised it in the air, his hand twitched in a claw. Long poles of rock rose from the ground below and headed towards the man in black. The other side jumped and dodged what was thrown to him.

But it seems he was not interested in fighting with Nelrue, as Nelrue looked down. Ettran saw that the man had thrown something in the direction of Nefaaya. He jumped and raised his hand, this time he shot rocks in their direction, but his was different. It was covered in fire. Nelrue had mananged to dodge them without them being burned.

The rocks flew past them and fell on the forest, and as it did an explosion took place. Dirt and smoke rose from where it hit, creating a large and strong sound.

Slowly Nelrue descended, Nefaaya was still looking at the direction taken by the man when the three had touched the ground.

His eyes flickered to them and immediately at the unconscious Renaeril. She ran to him and asked him, "what happened to him?"

"He was in a fight and he barely survived it," he said as his eyes flickered around the area. Not a distance from them a man was held in ice coated in blood.

"What happened here? Did you do it?"

Nefaay raised his head. Ettran saw through his discomfort.

"No," he said. "The other one."

"Why would he kill his own comrade?"

She shook her head, "I do not know, they've been sort of fighting ever since they came at me."

Nelrue stared at her and Nefaaya avoided his gaze. Only a fool would believe that she wasn't hiding something from them.

"That man was part of the House of Nahastarith. The House Of Assassins is what they're called. They pretty much control the Lohrin Republic in Loh'rain Continent," he said.

"Better not be involved with that man," he said as if to imply he had seen through to her lie.

"What about you, you're covered in blood, are you fine?"

Ettran froze and Nelrue slowly turned at her. He welcomed her with a warm smile.

"Yes, It's not that much to worry about," he said. As Ettran watched Nelrue's genuinely smiling at her, the dread within him had grown more.

The three were about to leave, when suddenly they heard the scuttling sound roared to life. They were so lost in the battle that they forgot that it even existed in the first place. This time it was much louder and they could even feel the ground trembling as it moved closer and closer to them.

The branches of trees shook. And the wind picked up and with leaves that had fallen from the trees. Nefaaya repeatedly looked around, among them she was the most agitated of the sound's origin.

Ettran slowly looked back, and immediately stepped back as he saw something moving at the top of the trees.

He fell to the ground, eyes fixed at the shadow of the monstrosity slowly coming and descending from its place.

The moon was unveiled by the sky and had shown the monster hiding in the shadow. Its white carapace reflects the glints of the moon.

Nelrue raised his head and immediately took hold of them as the monster with long carapace body slowly made its way towards them. Its many feets lightky touched the top of the forest.

It was a huge white centipede. The centipede raised its body and showed its face to them. The three gasped.

"We have to run," he said.

But as he looked around he found all of them staring dumbfoundingly at the creature. Ettran was about to shake Nelrue when he felt the sudden tiredness in his body. He looked back and saw the moving feet of the white monstrosity, creating a sound that was at the same time sinister and comforting, lulling him to sleep.

Before he closed his eyes, Ettran saw some shadows lurking in the trees that surrounded the clearing. Then it was nothing but nightmares of blood and broken bones.

END OF PART 1