In the morning, Vincent woke up feeling cold. The weather had gotten colder overnight. His dew-drenched cloak heavily clung to his frame, making him sneeze. Yeriel had already woken up earlier because she had taken the night watch earlier that morning.

“Princess, are you awake?” Vincent gently shook the curled up princess, but his hand froze when he touched her. Through the blanket, he felt her ice-cold body. “Yeriel?!” He called out.

“Did something happen?” Yeriel heard the urgency in his tone and jumped down from her perch.

“Something happened to the princess!” He urged her to be faster.

“What?!” She ran over and placed her hand down on the princess. After a momentary pause, she moved away and mumbled.

“What do you think is happening? Is she in danger?” asked Vincent worriedly.

“I’m not sure.”

“Let me check.” He felt her forehead and felt the heat coming off it. Then he felt her limbs, they were ice cold. Her breathing was rapid, and her cheeks were flushed. This looked like the symptoms of a fever, but she appeared fine just yesterday.

“I don’t think it’s normal. There’s a strange mana coming from her.” Yeriel said.

Vincent heard her mumblings and also closed his eyes and used his mana sense. It was true! He could see a golden light encased in a black aura inside the princess. Was it a curse?

“Are you talking about the golden energy that’s being surrounded by dark energy?” He asked. Yeriel was shocked by his question.

“You can also see mana? Are you a mage?” She studied him a bit but concluded, “No, your body hasn’t refined the wild mana, but this is intriguing. This deserves further study.” Her gaze crawled all over him like a pervert over a young woman.

“Can we not do this right now?” urged Vincent. “What’s going on? Is the dark mana, I assume, attacking her body?”

“Pfft!” Yeriel scoffed, “As if, it’s the opposite of what you’re thinking.”

“What do you mean?” Vincent cocked his head to the side.

“She’s probably poisoned by the church’s Sundew Essence.”

“Sundew Essence?” Wasn’t Sundew Essence a treasure of the church? It was an extraction of pure light from the sun. The extracted essence could purify any darkness from a creature.

“Seems like it.” The church must’ve given her a bit of it to keep the princess under control. Now that the princess’ powers have waned, the pure light essence has begun to wreak havoc inside her body, since she was now inherently an existence of the darkness.

“What should we do? How do we get rid of it?” Vincent hastily asked. He watched on helplessly as the little girl shivered.

“There’s nothing we can do to remove the poison. We can only have her complete the pilgrimage and restore her powers; only that can keep the Sundew Essence poison at bay.”

“Then we don’t have much time. Let’s get going.” Vincent didn’t wait for an answer and tidied up the makeshift campsite.

With Yeriel by his side, he didn’t worry about any dangers. Elves were the most fearful existences in the forest. As long as they don’t enter the inner forest, no monster would approach them. This made the journey more manageable, but they still took care to keep a watch out for the church’s followers. It was nearing nighttime when they neared the world tree.

“This is the world tree…” Vincent commented breathlessly. He had only ever seen the tree from afar. Now that he was so close, he swallowed in anticipation. It felt so surreal, to see something straight out of a fantasy novel, but he was definitely living in one.

“Shh! Don’t you see those people over there?” Yeriel sternly warned.

They have arrived in the outskirts of Ithvije, the ruined elven city. During the initial corruption of the world tree, the city had fallen to chaos. The burst of dark mana corrupted the weaker-willed elves, and a rebellion occurred. After the uprising, the Church of Light also attacked the city in the name of Thaesis. The already weakened elves weren’t able to hold out, and the city fell within two weeks. Now that Vincent saw the elegant architecture torn by war and destruction, he felt a sense of loss.

“What’s the plan?” He could see a hundred men or so patrolling around the tree, their torches like fireflies in the darkness. The majority of them were concentrated on the platform where the ceremony was held. A bowl-like pedestal formed the site where the water of life should be deposited.

“…” Yeriel looked deep in thought.

“Yeriel?” Vincent nervously asked.

“Shut up, I’m trying to think!” Yeriel was frustrated and snapped at him.

In the darkening land, he could see torches lighting up one after another. The city of Ithvije glowed with a mysterious atmosphere reminiscent of a forbidden world. Vincent wanted to explore this foreign world, but now wasn’t the time, when he looked back at Yeriel, she finally came up with a plan.

“We will never be able to perform the ceremony with so many of the church’s people guarding the pedestal. We will need a distraction, the bigger, the better.”

“So what do you have in mind?”

“The royal treasury. It should still be intact.” Yeriel spoke confidently. “There should be an object in the treasury that will help us.”

“How are you so sure about that?” Vincent was skeptical. “It’s been nearly two decades since the city fell. How is the treasury still intact?” Even if the church is just and righteous, that doesn’t mean all its members followed the same moral principles.

“I just know.” Yeriel shrugged. “It requires the bloodline of an elven royal to open the vault door. How good are your sneaking skills? We’ll be moving using the cover of darkness.”

“…” Vincent eyed her for a bit longer, something still doesn’t add up, but he didn’t have a better plan. “Adequate enough.”

“Good. Then stick close to me.” Yeriel picked up the princess and slipped through the shadows into the alleys of the buildings. Vincent stared in awe at her movements, they matched the movements of a cat as she slinked from shadow to shadow. Vincent also quickly followed after her, although his skills weren’t on the level of Yeriel, he should be adept enough not to be noticed by amateurs like the church’s peons.

As they crept through the ruins of Ithvije, Vincent’s gaze wandered through the nooks and crannies of the dilapidated buildings. The architecture of the elven buildings reminded him of a blend of modern and Victorian styles. The outside of the houses was adorned with elegant swirls and gilded with leaf designs. Each building was as tall as skyscrapers to match the giant evergreens beside them.

While Vincent was mesmerized by the mysterious beauty of a fantasy land, Yeriel had her own troubles she had to deal with.

“It’s getting dark, Brother John. I will light a torch for us.” A person wearing a set of clean robes announced.

“Thank you very much, Brother Simon. I’ve been meaning to suggest this notion for a while.” John, the man who replied, was dressed in a set of leather armor with a mantle draped over his shoulder to stave off the cold.

Simon bent over and began rummaging through his bag. A look of success showed on his face as he pulled out a crude stick. He then took out a set of flint and soon got a fire going. However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a lick of a shadow that didn’t belong to either of the two men. It might’ve been just his imagination, or it might’ve been something else.

“Brother John!” Simon grew alert and waved the torch in the direction where he saw the shadow.

“Did you find something?” John ran over, his hand drawing the sword by his side.

“I think I saw something out of the corner of my eye.” Simon weakly answered. Ithvije was a place of many mysteries and even after the church purged the corrupted elves from inside its walls, there were always stories of their resentment that lingered in the city.

“It’s been a long day, Brother Simon. Ever since we lost contact with Paladin Arcturus’ group, we haven’t had it easy.” John reasoned. “Why don’t we do this instead? Let’s gather a few more of our brothers and then search the surrounding buildings?”

“…” Simon eyed John closely. It was easy to see that John was also afraid of going alone into the alleyways of the elven buildings. Simon wasn’t going to fault him for that. The ruins were definitely haunted. “Let’s do that. Come on, Brother John.”

The two churchmen quickly scooted off. In the spot where Simon thought he saw something, a head poked up. Vincent felt his heart pounding like drums; he was almost caught. He was too busy admiring the city and lost focus for a bit there, nearly being caught by the church. Yeriel also angrily stormed over once they have left, in her hand were a pair of daggers, ready to impale the two men as soon as they spotted Vincent.

“Sorry.” Vincent awkwardly apologized.

“If I didn’t need your assistance, I would’ve left just now.” She berated. “Pay more attention next time.” She carried the elven princess once more.

Vincent meekly followed behind.

‘What if they had seen me?’ He questioned himself. He never thought about it. He was technically fighting against the church, if they saw him, how would the church retaliate? Will they target his family? Call them heretics and devil worshippers and sentence them to death?

“No, I can’t do that. I have to hide my face.” He quietly told himself. He quickly fashioned a cloth out of a thin fabric and covered the lower half of his face. He pulled up the hood of his cloak and covered the rest of his head, leaving only a small slit large enough for him to see.

“What are you doing?” Yeriel asked, just realizing his actions.

“Hiding my face. I can’t let them see me.”

“Oh? I thought you were prepared to openly oppose the Church of Light.” Since Vincent didn’t mention it, she had assumed that Vincent didn’t care if they found out his identity.

“It was an oversight.” Vincent felt a bit of relief knowing that his face was covered and his embarrassed expression wasn’t seen. Like so, their conversation ended, and they quickly crawled through the ruins. It looked like the two men, John and Simon, were oddities that broke off from the main patrols; they were the only two patrolling near the outskirts.

When Vincent and Yeriel neared the palace, Vincent felt some awe and also sadness. He saw the once magnificent testimony of elven architecture collapsed and in ruins. Half the palace had collapsed. The other half was on the brink of destruction. The church’s men were patrolling around the perimeter of the palace, refusing to enter the rubble that once was the home of the elven royal family. How were Vincent and Yeriel supposed to reach the vault in this state?

“Where exactly is the vault in this place?” Vincent was skeptical, there was nowhere in that rubble that could hold the royal vault.

“The main path to the vault should’ve collapsed during the battle. However, I know that there’s an alternate path to it.” She shifted the princess to her other shoulder and took out a map. The leather-skin map looked worn and faded. “In the rear of the palace walls, there should be a fountain. See here?” She pointed to a spot on the blueprint of the palace grounds.

“You mean to tell me there’s a hidden passageway to the vault?” Vincent felt incredulous at the plot device in play. There just had to be another route? Bullshit! “And how do you know this? Where did you get these blueprints?”

“Does it matter at this point?” Yeriel looked impatient and stuffed the map away. “The only way to get there is through the gap in the patrol routes. I can make it, but I’m not sure with your speed…” Her eyes were enough to tell him what she meant.

“I understand.” Vincent blamed poor ability once more. It wasn’t that Vincent was weak, he was stronger than an average man, but compared to monsters like dark elves and templars, he was as defenseless as a newborn chick.

“You’ll have to find another way in.” Without waiting for his reply, she dashed off, leaving a gust of wind in her wake, leaving him behind.

Vincent sat back and studied the groups patrolling the walls of the decrepit palace. There were four groups, each with about four men. Their paths were clear, and they were all in each other’s line of sight due to the design of the palace. Their torches looked like burning wisps in the night as they float back and forth in a mesmerizing fashion.

“She was right, there really is no room for me to enter.” Just as he said so as if by some miracle, two familiar faces ran from the city and approached a group.

“Brother Charles! We think there might be remnants hiding in the city. Brother Simon said he saw something.” John hurriedly called out. They had gotten lost and took the long way to the palace where their patrol group was stationed.

“Are you sure, Brother John?” Charles eyed the two suspiciously. The two were rumored to covet elven-made bobbles and trinkets. “Our orders are to stay here and maintain vigilance.”

“But Brother Charles, there’s evil hidden within the back alleys of these ruins. Don’t you think we’ll earn great merit if we were to vanquish it with our own hands?” Brother Simon begged. It’s naturally well-known that great danger also yields great rewards.

“Brother Simon does have a point. What do the rest of you think we should do?” Brother Charles felt confident. He had been stuck in the bottom rung of the church hierarchy for too long, it was always his dream to ascend the ladder and join the Templar Order of the Church of Light. Today might be his chance, and with such a large group, he felt his confidence grow unbounded.

“I’m for it.”

“Anything but here, this place gives me the creeps.”

“Alright, then let’s go. Brother Simon, Brother John, please lead the way. We’ll find this evil and vanquish it in the name of Thaesis.” Charles said as they gathered up their bags.

From afar, Vincent watched it all played out and didn’t know whether or not he was lucky or unlucky. His mistake from earlier actually helped him. With a break in the patrol, Vincent leisurely approached the crumbled walls of the palace and climbed over to the garden.

He waded through the knee-length grass to the back of the palace, where a lone fountain stood amongst a graveyard of sculptures. He felt a melancholy drizzle down on him as he passed through the once beautiful garden of Ithvije’s palace.

“Good, you’re here. I’ve already gotten the hidden door opened.” Yeriel popped her head up from behind a giant sculpture of what looked like a unicorn knight. There was an opening where two tiles should’ve been. After telling him to follow, her head disappeared into the darkness.

Vincent studied the black hole wondering how deep down it was before he dived in after her. Thankfully, it was an incline and not a straight drop as Vincent slid down the ramp until he reached the bottom. The only light now was the moonlight the seeped in from the hole above. Vincent reached back and was about to turn on his lamp, but a hand stopped him.

“Huh!” Vincent stuttered and kicked back in the darkness at the unknown contact.

“Idiot. It’s me.” Yeriel mumbled quietly, assuaging his shock. “Don’t turn on your light yet; we have to go further first or else they might see it.”

“That makes sense,” answered Vincent. He almost made another mistake. Even though they were underground, they can’t deny that even a speck of light stands out in the darkness, especially from the palace. Not long after, Vincent finally turned on the lamp and saw the brick-laden walls of the hidden passageway.

“Just a bit further and we’ll have reached the vault,” Yeriel said as she hurried. Her urgency could be seen by her unsteady breathing.

“Will we really be able to enter the treasure vault? Isn’t the princess comatose? How will she open the door?” Vincent questioned.

“It’ll be fine, she’s only in an unconscious state to reduce the pain of the poison that’s assaulting her body. We can rouse her if needed. How else was she going to perform the ceremony?” Yeriel asked.

“That makes sense.” Vincent shut himself up, his curiosity seemed to be provoking Yeriel. Not too long after, they came to a fork in the passageway and Yeriel entered one path.

“The other path leads to the armory, but that way is blocked.” She said without hesitation.

‘The Armory? It’ll be great if I could obtain a few elven-made weaponry.’ Vincent shot a wistful look down that corridor.

“Don’t expect to find anything in the armory, that place has already been cleared out after the initial invasion of the church,” Yeriel said as if she could read his mind. “The rest of the palace is tied to the armory, so they had access from that side.”

“That’s a shame,” Vincent answered, and they resumed their pace. Shortly after, they arrived at a dead end.

“We’re here.” Yeriel let down the princess and took out some smelling salts from her bag.

“Here?” Vincent looked at the wall in front of them. He was going to say that there wasn’t anything there but stopped himself. This was the city of the elves, he couldn’t use human logic to explain how things are around here.

“Just wait,” Yeriel said and woke up the princess.

“*Sniff* Kuh!” The princess woke up with a cute cough, and groggily sat up. Her limbs were shaking as she curiously looked around.

“Princess Arya, please, we need your assistance to open the vault to the royal treasury. This is our only chance of saving your life.” Yeriel pleaded with the expressionless princess.

‘Princess Arya… So that’s her name.” Vincent repeated that name in his mind, intending to memorize it. Meanwhile, Princess Arya looked back and forth between Vincent and Yeriel for quite some time before opening her small mouth to speak.

“Prithee tell me what of my kin? Dost I sacrifice thine brethren for the mere benefits of breathing a second longer? That is a life for naught. Begone from mine own presence. I wish for peace in mine last moments.” Her emotionless words coldly slashed at Vincent’s thoughts.

“Princess Arya! Do not do this. Even if the royal treasury house powerful artifacts, if we were to take it away, it’ll not fall into the church’s hands, but our own people’s hands. Why do you still refuse to do this after knowing this much?” Yeriel kneeled in plight.

“What of it? Will a war not be waged whence these weapons walk the world? ‘Twas for the benefit of peace that mine Father sealed them here. Is it not? Art thou a subject loyal to mine Father? If thou hast loyalty still in thy veins, then honor his last wishes.” Princess Arya adamantly refused to open the gate and laid back down, resigned to her fate.

Meanwhile, Vincent’s memories were brought back from his previous life. A life of fear, apathy, and disregard. He died after giving up on himself, what was he supposed to do? His body refused to obey his will. In the end, everyone abandoned him, even himself. Wasn’t Princess Arya, no, this little girl the same way as he was before?

“You can’t do that!” Vincent angrily swore and grabbed her shoulders. “Life is precious! You can’t just give it up so easily!”

“Vince!” Yeriel hurriedly got up to separate the two, but Princess Arya motioned for her to stop.

“Rightfully so. Mine own people’s life art above mine. Whilst I slept in the halls of Thaesis, mine own kin seek refuge from the light. If’t be true, the treasury to be opened and the weapons to be retrieved, then mine own kin would be doomed. That is a fate I cannot allow.”

“But…” Vincent’s argument began weakening. How was he supposed to argue this point? Princess Arya knew that the dark elves sought revenge if she were to open the vault and retrieve its weapons and armors would there not be another war? It was for this greater good that she refused and would rather let her chance at life disappear.

“Princess Arya, if you don’t open the vault, a war will begin regardless of whether or not we have the weapons. Just like how you will sacrifice your life for us, we will do the same for you. It’s up to you to decide if we arm ourselves will the artifacts of our kingdom to fight, or we fight using sticks and stones. Regardless, we will fight!” Yeriel vengefully shook her fist with determination. Princess Arya froze up for the longest time upon the realization that she cannot prevent the extermination of her people. When this dawned on her, she looked like she aged a few years.

“Prithee tell me dost thou believe that revenge begets more revenge? An eye for an eye? What would’t accomplish?” She bitterly said before breaking out of Vincent’s grasp and approaching the wall. “Weakness, thy name is compassion.”

Vincent felt a surge of mana in the surroundings before hearing a click. What was once a wall of a dead end soon began to move, sliding up like a guillotine before sealing their ultimate fate. Should he enter? If they take out the things from inside the vault, there would be a war between man and elf. Vincent felt an identity crisis upon approaching this dilemma.

“Our enemy is the Church of Light. You don’t have to worry.” Yeriel said as she picked up the silent Princess Arya and paved the way into the treasury.