Everett was traveling through the Shrewlants Forest for the first time. The young man followed behind his mentor Riordan Westcott, a battle-harden sentinel. The warrior strode forward at a brisk pace that didn’t give any time for Everett to observe his surroundings. As a warden apprentice, the young man should be alert and scan the forest for danger. However, he needed to concentrate on his steps to not trip like a child on the rough terrain. Everett wouldn’t live through the shame of falling in front of his mentor.

The two men had been traveling for two weeks already. The trip was Everett’s first mission as a future warden. The young man needed to check a site suspected of using the life energy of the Emerald Yew Grove Spirit Guardian for nefarious purposes.

After a short break during which Everett used his connection to the Spirit Guardian to check their direction, Riordan and Everett came upon the strangest sight. Hundreds of yews grew out of what should have once been a town.

“Do you recognize what that is?” Riordan asked in a rough voice.

Everett looked around, too awed by the magnitude of the magic involved to answer his mentor.

Riordan thumped the young man on the head. “Focus! That’s your mission, not mine!”

Everett thought back to his lessons. “That’s the result of a ritual, isn’t it?”

“Of course, but which one?”

Everett wasn’t sure. There were only a few rituals, but their usage was strictly regulated so the young man had never seen them for real. “Can we go in to check?”

Riordan sternly nodded and let Everett lead the way. The warden apprentice followed his senses to the origin of the magic. Climbing over roots and twisting through intertwined trunks, the two men arrived before the old massive yew.

Everett examined the site and guessed it was the “return to earth” ritual. It needed sacrifices to fuel it, so it was forbidden. Riordan confirmed Everett’s hypothesis and invited him to continue his investigation.

Since casting the ritual required blood, Everett followed the spiritual trail between the old yew and the victims’ blood drunk by the tree. Riordan didn’t comment on his choice.

They finally found the withered bodies of an old woman, a mutated dog, a wolf, and several goblins. Everett was puzzled, but Riordan sighed.

“There’s no need to look further. Check the woman’s body. She should have an adventurer tag.”

Understanding that Riordan knew the woman, Everett did as he was told. He respectfully searched the body. They were all fellow adventurers, and Everett would honor her death once his job was done.

However, he didn’t find one adventurer tag but six. “What’s the meaning of this? How could she have six tags?”

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Riordan chuckled. “That’s so much like her.”

Not knowing what his mentor meant, Everett read the names on the tags. Frowning, the young man looked up at his mentor in inquiry.

“Let me guess the names and titles. Rina, the Green Potion Master. She was a well-known alchemist in Swanpeak City for her innovative brews.

Janet, the Stubborn Cleric. She had once been a high priestess candidate for the church of the Light One but chose to marry Alan.

Dylan, the Pack Hunter. He was a recognized breeder of bear-hunting dogs and led a peaceful merchant life with his wife Rina when he wasn’t hunting criminals.

Alan, the Leshy Companion. He was one of the most famous druids of the country for his research on flora and his leshy familiar.”

Riordan paused as he saw Everett react to the druid’s name. The young man looked down at the tags. “What happened to them?”

“Do you remember The Great Horde raid that ravaged Swanpeak City some months ago?”

“They all died there? But I haven’t heard about Alan for several years.”

Riordan sadly shook his head. “Rina and Janet had already been widows for five or six years when the two of them died with their children in the raid.”

“And their husbands?”

“Alan and Dylan died with their father on a mission to the South.”

“Which mission?”

“The king had forced Liam, the Sycamore Trunk, to abandon his charge and station to fight against the demons’ uprising.”

Riordan smiled playfully as Everett didn’t understand why the king would ask an unknown man to fight the demons. “Ah, sorry. His wife had always preferred his old title and kept his old tag as a souvenir. You know him as William, the Emerald Yew Grove Warden.”

Everett’s turned his flabbergasted gaze to the old woman. “She’s my predecessor’s wife? But the tag reads ‘Sondra, the Swift Hands’. Wasn’t her name Alessandra?”

“When Liam first met Sondra, she was a street urchin turned thief in Swanpeak City. Liam’s job was to put a stop to the heists happening in the upper districts. Sondra made endless fun of his unmovable moral stand, and Liam stubbornly caught her again and again to make her give back what she stole. Their love story was made into a song, though it might only be known in Swanpeak City.

After that, Sondra reformed herself and became an adventurer to work with her husband. Sondra took on a new identity to not tarnish her husband’s reputation with her past when he was promoted. How Liam became the warden of the Emerald Yew Grove was also made into a song. You know this one, don’t you?”

The young man nodded. He pensively looked at the bodies scattered around. “Why did she come here? What was she trying to do?”

Riordan’s smile died down. “When her husband and her sons died, she took up jobs as an adventurer again to help her daughters-in-law raise their children. I think Rina was pregnant when Dylan died. Their family fell on hard times, but Sondra proudly refused our help. She said none of the women of their family was weak.”

The sentinel approached the mutated dog’s body. “Sondra must have been away with one of Dylan’s dogs when the raid occurred. She would have never let her daughters-in-law and her grandchildren die before her.”

Everett shook his head in disapproval. “So, she came here for retribution? That’s stupid! What did she expect to do alone? Do you think she used the ‘return to earth’ ritual, and it misfired on her?”

Riordan somberly looked into the young man’s eyes. “She came here to commit suicide. She just did it with her usual flair.”