Primrose stood in the middle of the forest, the ground still had a layer of thin snow. Tapping her staff a small cloud leaked out of it and formed into the visage of Zarall. He held a grave look on his face as he spoke.

“Primrose, I need to warn you, I have found out that one of the demon gods have been sent your way.”

“Are they after Bryson?” Primrose asked with concern in her eyes.

“I do not know for certain, but I assume so. Though I do not know for what end.”

“When will they be arriving?”

“In a day or two. I don’t know how or where, but you must be careful, this demon is very powerful.” Zarall warned.

“I will be ready.” Primrose said nodding her head.

“I wish to go down there and aid you.”

“No.” Primrose denied flatly, “You cannot abandon your post up there. You have the authority and the ability to watch over what happens in the Divine Realm. If you were to abandon your post and come here then we will be completely blind to what events occur.”

“I understand that still, I fear that this may be too much for you to handle alone.”

“Not to worry, I am not the only ally of Bryson, the demon will be a fool to attack the manor. I suspect he will try to sneak in.”

“You are likely right.” Zarall said before nodding his head, “Alright, I will leave the responsibility of killing this monster to you. Good luck and stay safe.” He said before the visage disappeared into mist.

As Zarall was gone another voice spoke to Primrose, “I can offer you another course of action that you can take.”

Turning around Primrose was shocked to see a stranger, a stranger that she never met in person yet but knew who he was immediately. Wearing a flamboyant bright red jacket with obnoxiously large shoulder pads and glowing white eyes he grinned at Primrose wickedly.

“You’re Hallow.” Primrose said hands gripping onto her staff tightly.

“Indeed I am.” Hallow said looking relaxed.

“What are you doing here?” Primrose spat, she tried her best to look angry, but inside she was shaking in fear. She knew what this being could do.

“Relax, I’m not here to hurt you, in fact I really can’t. I’m currently busy masking my presence and killing you will get me spotted.” Hallow said as he began to casually walk around her in a perfect circle.

“Then why are you here?”

“To make you an offer.”

“Why would I accept an offer from you?”

“Because I’m about to tell you what the demon coming this way wants.” Hallow said with a wave of his hand, “The demon wants to kill you.”

“Kill me? Why?” Primrose asked as narrowing.

“Because I tasked him in doing so. Because I want you dead.” Hallow said having stopped walking and stared straight at her, “He doesn’t want Bryson or anyone else. Just you, he won’t stop until he kills you.”

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“So, why are you warning me beforehand then?”

“Because I want to end this quickly. So I am here to offer you a challenge.” Hallow said wagging a finger at her.

“Challenge?”

“You tell anyone else, they will get involved because they like you. But fighting demon is a rather unpleasant time. I doubt you want to endanger anyone else, so I offer you this.” Hallow said as he began to approach Primrose, “The demon once he kills you is to return back to me. He is not to bother with Bryson or anyone else again.”

“Are you asking me to give my life?”

“Oh, no nothing that dramatic. No, if I wanted that I wouldn’t try to warn you.” Hallow said with a laugh, “This is what I propose, I tell you when and roughly where the demon arrives, you fight him. Alone.”

“What’s stopping me from getting help?”

“Oh nothing, but I doubt that you want excess collateral damage to occur. Especially to any of the Coldwaters considering their importance for in the present and future. If you can beat this demon, then great, I will leave you alone. If not, well at least I swear on my power that I will not let the demon get involved in any future events.” Hallow promised.

“I’m supposed to trust your word?”

“Oh there are many things you shouldn’t trust about me, but my word is not one of them.” Hallow said as his eyes glowed ever so brighter, “I think you know a being like me never backs down on a deal.”

“Like the deal you had with Afa?”

“The brat made the deal of getting heroes in exchange for me helping out with the script.” Hallow said with a chuckle, “A lot more vague than the deal I’m offering you.”

Primrose couldn’t help but scream internally upon hearing what deal was made between him and Afa. That was one of the worst things that Afa could have agreed to.

“So what do you say? I tell you about the demon, you try to fight him, alone or with friends. Whatever the result is, he disappears from this realm.” Hallow said as he offered out a hand to Primrose, “What do you say? Accept my offer? Or let the demon run wild across the north for a bit?”

Primrose stared at the grinning Hallow, wanting to do nothing more than to smack him in his face. Not that it would do anything, but still it would at least give her some satisfaction. Primrose clenched her teeth as she pondered her options.

She did not trust this man, he wanted nothing more than to play his sick game at the expense of others. Yet there was a reason why she was approached and why this deal was being offered. Not just to sell false hope no, he needed this demon gone just as much as Primrose did. For what? She knew not. But she figured that he would only approach her if he thought that she stood a chance.

So, should she accept this temporary deal or not? Primrose stared straight into the eyes of Hallow, at the glowing nothingness, the chaos of it. She slowly lifted her own hand and accepted Hallow’s handshake.

“It’s a deal.” Hallow said with a grin.

***

As Bryson and Florence filled the last healing potion bottle Bryson sensed Primrose approach. Turning around he saw that she was already checking the mana potions for their quality.

“Oh I must say these are excellent!” Primrose said enthusiastically, “I think they are even better than the ones that I showed you.”

“They worked together well.” Coni complimented.

“Thank you, here are the healing potions.” Florence said handing her the vials of glowing pink liquid.

“Where were you anyways?” Bryson asked, “You left the garden.”

“I wanted to stroll around the forests, I believed that you two would be fine without me. Besides Coni was here to help if needed.” Primrose said as she picked up one of the healing potions and studied it.

“The confidence is appreciated.” Bryson said as Primrose set the vial back down.

“That concludes this part of alchemy lessons, let’s show this to Her Grace. Tomorrow we will work on invisibility potions.”

“Right.” Bryson said as he couldn’t help but stare at her for a moment.

“Is something wrong?” Primrose asked.

“Nothing, just had a weird feeling for a moment.” Bryson said shrugging it off as he turned to Florence, “Hey, um. After showing Mother, do you think you could show me around this garden some more?”

Florence blinked in surprise as Bryson quickly added, “I like to have a better understanding of what plants to get for tomorrow.”

“Yes Lord Bryson.” Florence said with a bow hiding the slight smile that had appeared on her face, “I would be more than happy to.”

“Good let’s go see my mother already.” Bryson said as he quickly grabbed both the mana and healing potions and headed off with Florence while Coni fluttered above them.

Primrose couldn’t help but watch with a melancholic smile on her face.