Night had fallen. The sun peaked its last goodbye over the horizon as Marcus stood overlooking Bolster from Lucinde's window; an old habit. He felt a cloak of darkness envelope him, like he had just been touched by the Great Dark. It sent a spike of adrenaline pulsating from his chest through his neck and shoulders.

     Taking a deep breath, he refocused his thoughts to Avos, and where it was he must lead him. He knew time was short and they had to get the scrolls back if Avos was ever going to be resurrected to stop the return of the Soulless. He was interrupted by the soft him of Elise's voice. She'd begun the locator spell.

     He noticed Avos studying her as she began chanting in a language the boy had probably never heard before. Yet Marcus knew the language well and could even recognise the locator enchantment that Elise had started.

She spoke in ancient Valtra, Valterra' s voice long forgotten except by those who practice magic. It was a rune song. As the song progressed her voice grew louder and she drew marks along the handle of Lucinde's hairbrush. Avos still looked confused. He did not recognize the symbol, but Marcus could identify the Water rune, Logr, and could even decipher what she was saying.

When Elise spoke:

Logr's es fella

or fjalli, foss;

Logr er vellanda

vatnok visor ketillok

glomming a grund

Marcus heard:

Water falls

forcefully from mountains

Water is a churning lake,

A wide kettle,

A land of fish.

Reddening the hair brush with the water rune evoked the primeval cosmic power of water welling up from the depths of Valterra itself. It was a way for Elise to borrow its essence and help with her intuitive powers. She sat for a moment in silence with her eyes closed.

Avos couldn't help but watch her. He was mesmerized by her ancient tongue. Marcus knew he was thinking about what it would be like to kiss her. The boy had confessed to him on their travels that he had never had the privilege. He must have let his thoughts wander to where those kisses would lead, because he suddenly became red in the cheeks and turned his gaze away.

Elise opened her eyes and reached inside her pocket. She removed a folded piece of worn leather and brought it to her lips. Its thin hide looked like it came from a doe, its edge frayed from age and use. Elise unfolded the pelt to reveal a map of Valterra in crimson ink on its inside. It was an older map but all of known Valterra was represented.

Avos pointed to a place marked The Scourge. It was the most northernly part of flat land, resting above the Northern Mountains.

"What is this place? All the maps of Valterra I've seen haven't included it. The name seems familiar but I can't place where I've heard it before."

"It used to be part of the mountains before the Shattering," Marcus answered. "During the last battle against the Dark it was obliterated when we freed Valterra from its grasp."

"Shhhh." Elise flattened the map out in front of her and placed Lucinde's brush on top of it, directly in the middle. She placed her hands on the brush and began to chant under her breath, too low to make out if it was the common tongue or not. This continued for what seemed like several minutes, until suddenly a bright light began to form underneath the brush.

Avos had a look of worry on his face again, like he thought the map itself had been set aflame. Yet there were no flames, only a bright twinkling light that sparkled and danced underneath the brush. Then it began to move, slowly at first, in a northerly direction. It danced and backtracked a couple of times and then zipped about and shot itself straight up to the place on the map that Avos had just questioned, The Scourge. The little sparkling light stopped in the middle of The Scourge and then slowly started to fade. It bled into the leather map and disappeared as it was absorbed.

Elise looked directly at Marcus, who was still staring at the map disconcertingly. She sighed and began cleaning up her craftwork.

"What is it? What is The Scourge?" Avos asked them both.

"The scourge, my son, is not any place we can go, at least not yet. There must be some other way."

"You said we needed to find Lucinde to get the scrolls. You said yourself it was our only hope for my..." Avos stopped short when he realized Elise was hanging on his every word. "For my problem," he finished.

"Gah!" erupted Elise. "Would you two just stop it! If you are going to enlist my services you may as well stop beating around the bush and fill me in already. Who was Lucinde to you? What scrolls? And Avos, Light! If Lucinde has been Usurped by the Great Dark itself, why are we still trying to find her? We should be trying to stay as far away from her as possible. I mean, if what I think is happening here is happening, and I do think I know just what scrolls you seek, then yes! Stay the bloody hell as far away from her as possible!" Elise was breathless. She looked desperate like her warning was the most important thing she had to say in a long time.

"What do you think you know, Elise?" Marcus asked quite seriously, waking up closer to her and folding his arms authoritatively.

"Well, from the looks of it, this Lucinde was someone important. Someone working within the Citadel. And if she had access to any kind of scrolls, she most likely worked for The Keeper. Or Light! She was the Keeper herself."

"That much was obvious." Marcus grew impatient. "What do you know of the scrolls?"

"Well, if they are the scrolls that I am thinking of, they are ancient, important, and most likely enchanted if the Keeper herself had protection over them. I can't help but think of the stories my gran told me about the creation of Valterra and it's people. That in the beginning the Light created the Great Primordial's as our protectors, gifted with all its abilities. And that one day, through ancient magic, hence the scrolls, they will return to us when our need for protection grows. I was taught that through them, the balance between Light and Dark is always restored."

"Well, well, well, I am impressed by your ancient knowledge, Elise. I should not have expected any less from a Fae." Marcus internally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner, but he kept his somber composure.

"Thank you, Chancellor, I do aim to plea... Wait... what did you say?"

Marcus smirked despite trying not to. His hunch had been correct, this was new knowledge to her. Human and Fae and Elven blood had been so intertwined throughout the centuries to create witches that even he did not know what came first, the witch or the halfling. Until now he wasn't sure if she had been half fae or elf, but all the signs pointed to Fae ancestry, like knowing the history of the scrolls and the ancient tongue of Valterra. A witch who was half-elf would speak in a different dialect. So now he was certain, Fae blood ran thru her veins.

"Do you not know the origins of your people, Elise?"

"I know what I know, and I know that Faes are tiny little fairytale creatures that live in mushrooms rings and grant wishes. I can assure you, I am not that magical."

"Oh, but you are my dear, you are." Marcus closed in on her, devouring her full attention. "And if I'm not mistaken, you probably have a big part to play when Avos is resurrected. For every Primordial is linked to a fae. However, what is most peculiar about your situation is, the link is usually only made once the resurrection is complete. How the universe brought you two together before then is a mystery to me."

Elise did not respond to Marcus at all. In fact, she had at some point tuned him out completely after hearing Avos was being resurrected to a Primordial. In her heart she knew there was something special about him, but now she saw him in a different light. She regarded him with awe and a curiosity she had felt only once before, when discovering Faeron.

Avos began to blush as he held Elise's gaze. He felt a sudden release of tension within himself now that he did not have to hide this one inevitable truth from her as they began to grow close. She was his, he realised. Linked to him in some sort of ancient and magical way. Was that what he felt when he held her close? Was it only magic that had made his heart race? He would like to believe that this feelings for her were real and not a result of what they both were.

"Elsie. I," Avos began to try to explain what he was feeling but could not find the right words. He stood for a moment with his mouth agape, looking confused, feeling hopeless.

"It's alright, Avos," encouraged Elise. "I knew from the moment I saw you that you would become part of my life. I don't know if what Marcus says is true, that we are linked somehow, that I am Fae..." Elise stopped to take in what she had just said. "No, I do believe him. I must be. It feels right." She took his hands in hers then. "This feels right." They stood together holding hands for a moment, looking into each other's eyes as if rediscovering them for the first time.

"And hope is restored," Marcus muttered under his breath then continued more aloud, "Ah I do hate to interrupt this revelation but there are still things to discuss, our next course of action for one, also..." Marcus was interrupted by the Citadel bells as they began to toll over and over and over again. Not just once for a death or twice for a theft, this was a continuous warning, someone was attacking the city! Marcus flew to the window to investigate but the streets below were dark and silent. And then he saw them.

Three figures moved slowly outside the city walls of the shadows. They all branded the same armor of the Bringers that Marcus remembered from the Great War, but these men were different. They walked staggered as if their limbs did not quite fit their bodies. They did not scout their perimeters like a soldier in action would do. They crept, but with a purpose. They were all headed in the direction of Bolster's North gate. Marcus could not see their eyes, but if he could, he knew he would encounter the blank ghostly white stare of the Soulless.

Marcus turned to face Elise and Avos who still stood together, hand in hand.

"It's begun."