Arran froze at the mention of his mother—a woman he never knew. He was just a baby when she died.

"I promise to keep you safe here, thus I have let you drink the immortality potion when you reach adulthood, so you can remain here. To be a part of the Order of the Guardians of the Abyss. However, you are also a young man, you need to see the world out there or you'd die of boredom here with only your warrior training, or your books, or your plants."

Arran nodded.

"Your mother loved you with her life, with all her beautiful soul. Let's hope it is ... enough ... to keep you away from darkness," Sylve's quivering fingers traced the sun pendant one more time.

The sorceress coughed, and wheezed, "Let us leave now. The human beings are in grave danger!"

Sylve took her walking cane and walked outside with Arran following a few steps behind.

Arran was somber, there was only Charlotte in his mind. A shot of worry had hit him like never before when he heard that the human beings, Charlotte and her people, were in trouble with Nerra. He had lost his composure for a moment there.

Then he thought about Evinia, a mother he never knew well.

He thought about his difficult relation with Sylve, his grandmother—yes, he had a grandmother, but strange how he never felt like he had any family. He was not allowed to call Sylve grandmother. Of course he understood why Sylve was always cold and distant toward him. He did not blame her for it. He was, afterall, a taboo. The untouchable.

Now his task began.

This was his redemption, his journey to prove that he was of value to humanity. He stared ahead with full conviction, though bad premonitions began to gnaw on him.

<<<>>>

Ellie, who called herself Nerra, kneeled in front of the open metal box now.

"Ellie, what-what is going on?" Charlotte quivered as she spoke.

"I am not Ellie. I am Nerra!" Ellie shot her a look that sent chills down her spine. Ellie's warm eyes had turned so icy cold, devoid of any emotion recognizable by human. Her lips seemed to open in perpetual ugly grin and snide.

"What is immora?" Charlotte pulled Emily closer to her.

Nerra did not answer, her hands reached into the box, and took out something wrapped in tattered black cloth. In a very careful, full of deference movement, she took away the tattered cloth, and lifted something out from the wrap.

A dagger. An all-black dagger that had black wisps of smoke emanated from it.

"Immora. Rogh, my master, my king, I have this for you. Your weapon, half your soul, shall return to your mighty hands soon!" Nerra lifted the dagger high.

Charlotte could see it clearly. It was not a big dagger. The blade, the hilt, all was black. The blade was maybe only about 20cm, and the hilt was just slightly shorter. The tip of the black blade was curved.

It was a simple, plain looking dagger, but the vibe that it brought was what scared Charlotte. Hopelessness, fear, desperation, even anger seemed to be released from it and permeated the air. Heaviness took hold of Charlotte and her tears began to flow. A jumbled mix of emotions engulfed her—all negative emotions that she could not even describe the why and the what. She just felt bad. Extremely bad.

Emily sobbed harder to the point she was shrieking.

"Stop crying, you stupid girl!" Nerra in the form of Ellie stood up and yelled while pointing immora at Emily. Emily cried even harder.

"Immora is hungry. It will need to feed. All of you here will be fed to His Majesty Rogh's weapon. I think it will start with that crying one! Fresh juicy meat of a child is good for immora!"

Charlotte shook her head and shouted. "You have gone nuts, Ellie! Stop!"

"I am Nerra!"

Charlotte did not care, she instinctively put her body in front of Emily, extending her arms while trying her best to be brave, to fight the tsunami of sadness, anger, fear, all those negative emotions that seemed to attack her all at once.

Nerra grinned wider, her face was full of scorn and derision to Charlotte, then she spoke with a sweet lilt to her voice. "How about this? The two of you stand there, and I ... I will let immora devour your family first? Is that a good idea?"

Charlotte shook her head hard in disbelief and fear, while Emily bawled louder.

"No, Ellie-Ellie, if you are still in there, please ... please remember. Dad is your fiance, the ring on your finger is from him! He made it himself!" Charlotte was not sure anymore the logic of what she had just blurted out just now, she panicked.

Nerra laughed and shook her head. "I am here. Nerra, not Ellie!"

"Nerra ..." a voice came out from the direction of the grass plain behind Charlotte.

Nerra seemed startled by something or someone behind Charlotte, the demon froze, and that made Charlotte look behind her too.

She turned around, and saw something strange materialize on the grass plain, twenty or so meters from her. It looked like a wisp of smoke at first, or fog. Then it became a figure. Not just one, but two, three, four figures walking toward them.

The figures became clearer and clearer the closer they walked to Charlotte's direction.

Four human beings. Three middle-aged women who wore simple grey dress and cape with dark red hood over their head, and a young man with bow and arrows, dark red cape and the kind of clothes that instantly made Charlotte think that he had just stepped out of some sort of fantasy movie—Game of Thrones or one of those Lord of the Rings' Gondor's heroes. The bow of the man was made of wood, dark brown-blackish wood, and the arrows had dark red feather on their nock. Charlotte was so stunned she could not even say anything. No word came into her mind. It was the blue eyes of the man that shook her soul. Light blue, clear like the spring sky. The captivating eyes were such a contrast to a black tattoo in the shape of a jagged thick line that went from his left temple to his left jaw. An otherworldly aura filled him. Tall, muscular, and solid guard—that was Charlotte's impression of him.

"Stop all this, Nerra. Let that woman go, you have no right to possess her body," one of the women, the oldest among them all, spoke with clear and commanding voice. She was old, but she was solid in her stance, her walking cane stuck to the ground, her chin cocked up, and her back was straightened as she spoke. She was an authority figure, she was used to it, and she knew how to do it well.

Nerra shrieked and smiled an ugly smile. "And what? Getting destroyed by you, dear old Sylve? You are going to avenge the death of your husband, aren't you? I killed him, and I am so proud of it!"

The old woman, Sylve, shook her head. "I have no interest in revenge anymore, Nerra. I am old and tired. Let us leave the human beings alone. None of this concerns them."

"No!" Nerra snickered."I have immora, don't you see? His Majesty Rogh will open the chasm and let me go home to the abyss to be with him! I will claim my prize from him for my loyalty, and for getting immora back!"

Sylve did not even seem to listen to any word from Nerra, she walked a couple steps closer, and repeated,"Let that woman go. I will take you to my castle, and I will try to heal you so you can take your physical form again as the beautiful Nerra. That is my best offer to you."

Nerra derided her. "I may be wounded but I am not stupid, Sylve."

The sky turned darker, there was no more spring weather. The wind blew harder, and thick dark clouds hovered on the sky. Lightning flashed, and thunder roared.

At the sound of the thunder, Emily wailed and managed to pry herself off Charlotte's embrace and run to her mother. "Mommy! I want Mommy! I am scared of thunder!"

"Emily! No!" Charlotte screamed and without much thinking she dashed to chase the little girl.

Nerra shouted and was about to throw the immora dagger to Emily, but an arrow landed right in front of her toes, making her shudder and lose her stability.

"You!" she turned in rage at Arran who had just shot his arrow, precise enough to give a warning to Nerra without wounding the body of Ellie which was still possessed by Nerra.

Charlotte did not care what was going on, she had her hands full with Emily who by now went on full tantrum because of fear and that Michelle, her mother, was stiff and unresponsive to her. "Emily, please, please, sweetheart, come with me. Your mommy is not herself now. Please. Come, come with me, with MissCharLee."

"No! I want Mommy!" Emily wailed louder.

Nerra laughed, the sound of her laughter sounded so much like a shrill. "Come, Emily! Come sweetie! I will return your Mommy if you come to me!" the demon in disguise spoke in such a melodic tone she could almost pass as a preschool teacher teaching a group of young kids.

Emily turned to face Nerra. The scared little girl just wanted her mommy back.

"Emily, no! Please!" Charlotte begged.

"Nerra, leave the child alone!" Sylve now sounded anxious. How she wished she could just use her sorcery and blow apart that demon! But she could not, because she would kill Ellie as well, and that could not be. She and her followers worried that the use of sorcery at that moment would cause Nerra to go into complete rage and harmed Ellie whose body she possessed, as well as other human beings there who were under her spell.

Emily flicked Charlotte's hands on hers and struggled to let herself out of Charlotte's embrace, crying she wanted her Mommy the whole time.

The girl finally lost her strength, gave up, and let Charlotte take her farther from Michelle and Nerra.

But thunder roared again, this time was angrier, louder than the previous one. Emily shrieked in shock, rediscovered her strength, pushed Charlotte, and ran back to her mother.

Charlotte was caught offguard with the sudden movement of Emily and scrambled to catch her again, though she only managed to touch the tip of the girl's jacket, and Emily still ran.

In the mess of the moment, Nerra threw the immora, and it flew fast. Arran rushed to shoot one arrow out to try to change the trajectory of the demon dagger, but it missed the immora by the width of a few strands of hair and the dagger kept going.

Charlotte saw something dark fly close to her, and she turned to see the dagger flying straight to Emily. She jumped, pushed the little girl down, and she could feel her world turning around and a shot of severe pain made her scream.

The pain came from her shoulder, and she fell kneeling on the ground, her breath was labored, and pain ravaged her.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see it.

Immora had stabbed her left shoulder.