One last turn in the passageway revealed the exit, which was a narrow opening in the rocks that looked barely big enough to admit a person. A dark figure stood next to it, the warm daylight spilling across her face and shoulders.

Mouna looked back as Severance approached, giving him a tiny nod of acknowledgement before returning her attention to what lay beyond. He stopped next to her, leaning in slightly so he could peer out without revealing himself in the opening.

As if aware they were trying to be stealthy, Vast sat on Severance's foot—the one that was in shadow—and kept quiet. His long tail found its usual place wrapped around Severance's leg.

Severance ignored the creature's annoying habit, too distracted by what he was seeing. Below them was a secret clearing surrounded by walls of rock. A few stubborn shrubs grew out of cracks, brown and twisted. It was in this small clearing that a group of people fought off a pack of beasts.

They were players, fairly low-level judging by the basic skills they were using, and they were in far over their heads. Their weak attacks only irritated the beasts, which were feline in nature and vicious like a pack of dogs. The players would have been torn apart long ago if it weren't for the Moon Scribe who constantly shielded them.

Severance frowned, regarding her for a long moment. He'd partied with a Moon Scribe before and knew very well how their skills worked. Their shields decreased a portion of damage taken. Yet when he observed the players, he saw them only received small cuts and bruises.

That meant this particular Moon Scribe had an impressively high fortitude attribute. She was also probably layering on more than one shield at a time, which would have required careful timing between the cooldowns. He nodded to himself, admiring of her skill.

Still, he wondered why they were doing this. It seemed like a waste of time. All she was doing was keeping her team alive while they flailed uselessly about against an enemy they could not hope to defeat.

His gaze shifted to three others, who stood well away from the battle and watched the players with a kind of boredom. Two men and one woman, all with visible weapons around their persons, yet they did nothing but observe. When he noticed red cloth bands tied around their upper arms, Severance narrowed his eyes.

"The Chosen," he muttered. "Why are they here?"

Mouna turned her head sharply to look at him. Her hands made a few signs, then paused, as if remembering he didn't know what she was saying. Instead, she pointed at the group below, and arched a brow inquisitively.

He took a guess at what she was asking, and shrugged. "Those three on the side have the red bands, right? I've only ever seen the Chosen wear those. And the rest are Outsiders, like me. I'm not sure what they're trying to do here, though."

In response to that, Mouna unslung the bow from around her shoulder and withdrew three arrows from her quiver.

Severance blinked, then gawked, for she stuck two of the arrows between her teeth and notched the third. As she drew back the arrow, he looked from her to the group below. She seriously wasn't going to—

Twang! She released the arrow barely a moment after she had finished drawing back the bowstring. Severance could only watch as the female Chosen observing the players suddenly sprouted an arrow from the center of her forehead. She fell without making a single sound.

What the heck?! Severance stared at Mouna in disbelief. Why had she just up and shot—

Twang! The man who'd stood next to the female Chosen fell, this time with an arrow in his eye. The third spun around with a cry of alarm, hastily drawing his sword. "Who's there!"

Startled by the commotion, the three players fighting the cats fumbled, and quickly got overwhelmed by the creatures. The Moon Scribe was experienced however, for she quickly renewed her shields and sent a silvery Radiance out to restore their health.

"What are you doing?" Severance hissed. He stepped towards Mouna, though he wasn't sure what to do. Why was she shooting random strangers?

She ignored him, aiming the third arrow at the last Chosen, tracking his movements, before she let the bowstring go. The arrow flew true, puncturing deep into the poor man's throat, dropping him like a rock.

Mouna still didn't look at him. She pulled more arrows from her quiver—four this time—and notched the first one.

Alarmed, Severance reached out to grab her arm. "Wait!"

She paused, and looked at him. The coldness in her gaze sent chills down his spine, causing him to reflexively let go of her.

"They're just players," he exclaimed. "Killing them won't do anything. They'll just go back to whatever town they're from!"

Mouna made no further move, but she didn't lower her bow either.

That was just as encouraging as it was concerning, but he pressed on. "Look, they're just beginners. Probably new recruits that got taken by the Chosen without knowing better. Killing them now for no reason just makes you no better than the Chosen!"

She didn't move, didn't blink. She might as well have been carved out of ice, but something about her shifted, and Severance felt the tiniest inkling of fear. Suddenly he didn't know if she'd shift that arrow to face him, if she'd take the shot and kill him instead.

Staying here in the dark passageway seemed like a terrible idea. He spun sharply, turning his back to her, which was probably the worst idea ever, but he couldn't stay there a moment longer. Vast, as if sensing his mood, had pulled away, slipping into the shadows of the passage.

He broke into a jog, leaving the safety of the passageway and quickly following the descending trail to the chaos below.

Below, the players were struggling. He winced as a cat closed its jaws around a leg and shook it like a dog, knocking the player to the ground. She let out a startled cry, and struggled vainly to get free. A string of silver light reached out and latched onto the her. The Moon Scribe channeled her main healing skill, keeping her teammate alive, but all she was doing was prolonging the inevitable.

Gritting his teeth, Severance called his war fans out of Inventory. As he moved, he invoked Sky Dance.

It was the sudden crackle of electricity bursting into life around him that drew attention to him. The Moon Scribe stared at him, her eyes widening for just a moment before narrowing in suspicion. Yet she couldn't do anything, too busy with trying to keep the sinking boat afloat.

He ignored her. Even if she was potentially higher-leveled than he, she wasn't a threat to him. Moon Scribes had next to no attacking capability.

Once he was close enough, he stopped and immediately focused on one of the cats. "Flare!"

Thunder rolled and an electrical bolt dropped from the skies like a comet. Brilliant blue light flashed upon impact, and the feline beast in question let out a screeching cry.

+1 Intelligence

"Flare," Severance said again, and watched as the second bolt wiped the cat out. He frowned slightly. The cats must have been weaker than he thought if a mere two Flares managed to kill them.

The remaining cats broke away from the players and immediately charged him, deeming him the greatest threat on the field. Severance didn't back away. Compared to some of the other creatures he'd fought in Eliona, these ones weren't very scary.

Severance lowered his stance, just as the cats reached him. It was close enough that he could finally see its name—Enga—but to him, it was just a large cat.

+1 Wisdom

"Skyfall," he murmured, and began the first of the slashing attacks. One slash, two slash, three—and then his vision briefly pulsed red around the edges. Two other cats had flanked him, clawing and biting at him.

Severance ignored them for a moment, dealing the fourth slash of Skyfall. The edge of his fan cut deep into the already bloody side of the first cat, and that was enough to finish it off. He immediately turned to the cat tearing into his leg and let it have the fifth and final attack of Skyfall.

The hooked spokes of his fan caught it in the throat and literally tore out its jugular. Hot blood sprayed against his arms and legs, startling, but not as startling as how it had died so easily.

He knew the final strike of Skyfall was like a mini nuke, but this... wasn't this overkill? Or maybe these cats were just that much weaker than him. It was a strange feeling, being stronger than something for once.

The last cat hissed, crouching on its haunches, then leaped at him. Severance instantly danced aside, evading the attack.

"Pivot Cut," he murmured, and spun around the creature, moving from in front of it to the rear in a single, flowing series of steps. It had no time to turn around before his fans sliced into its back, splitting hide, cutting flesh. A pained screech ripped free from its throat, but he wasn't done.

"Flutterstep." The evasive skill took over, and he moved in a series of rapid, zig-zagging steps that carried him away from the cat. It immediately whirled and came after him, but he'd bought himself a few seconds.

"Flare!"

A bolt dropped from the heavens. With deadly accuracy, it struck the creature. With a last yowl, it collapsed.

Severance lowered his fans, eyeing it for a moment, before lifting his gaze and taking in the situation. Death sparkles lifted off the other cats, while an upwards shower was all that remained of the three Chosen that Mouna had killed.

The other players stared at him in silence. Severance rubbed at his jaw, suddenly feeling all kinds of embarrassed. Right. He'd kind of just waded in and took over the place, hadn't he?

"Who are you?" stammered one of the players, before the Moon Scribe shouldered her way over.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

That's what I want to know. Severance glanced up at the passageway, where Mouna remained hidden from sight. She was watching, he knew, and didn't know what to think about that. Watching, but not lifting a finger to help these players who were clearly in a bad situation.

He exhaled heavily. "I don't know," he muttered. "But if I were you, I'd leave the Chosen. They're a horrible clan."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Moon Scribe asked, eyes narrowing. Her name was Almaya.

Severance shook his head. Was she stupid? How did she get to be this level without seeing what was happening? The Chosen didn't hide their actions. Anyone who'd been to Fort Valkyrie would have seen it.

Or, the thought abruptly occurred to him, maybe she hasn't.

There was a possibility that she'd been one of the unfortunate players who the Chosen had snatched up from the city streets. Severance had seen that happen more than once. She could have been pulled into their ranks without knowing any better, and if that was the case, she might not have seen the full extent of what the Chosen were really about.

"Just think about it," he told her. Then he returned his war fans to Inventory and headed back to the passageway.

A player called after him, but he ignored them, suddenly annoyed and frustrated with the whole thing. When he reached the passageway, Mouna was waiting for him. Her bow was back on her shoulder, her arrows returned to her quiver, but the look in her eyes was still frighteningly sharp.

"Let's go back to the House," he said, and made himself meet her gaze. "And then you can teach me your sign language, because I want to know why you tried to kill people who've never done anything to you."

She stared at him for a long moment. A soft whine from the darkness reminded him that Vast was still there, and then a soft furry body pressed against his leg. Severance took an odd sort of comfort from the animal's presence, and suddenly felt a little braver in the face of Mouna's intimidating stare.

He folded his arms against his chest, trying to appear stern. That was when she did something strange.

The corners of her lips curved upwards into the tiniest of smiles. It transformed her stern features into something brighter and softer, but before he could try and figure out what it all meant, she turned and headed back through the passageway.

He was left standing in the dark, feeling like he'd dodged a bullet and that she had somehow pulled some sort of prank on him. He couldn't make sense of it. What had just happened?

"Vast," he muttered, earning a quiet huff in response, "I'm confused."

The animal leaned against him, its tail snaking around his leg. Severance took it as a sign of the creature's sympathy. He sighed.

"Thanks, Vast."