Eliza jolted at the sudden voice, "W-Who-"

The voice cut her off, "Not important right now; I can tell you how to get out of this situation, so long as you agree to return the favor. Are you interested?"

Eliza's mind latched onto the thought of escape, She didn't like accepting help from an unknown party, but she didn't have room to be picky at the moment.

"Fine," She whispered.

"Then we agree." The voice said, "Don't look, or it will paralyze you, but the Wraith is distracted, feeding on the magical flames. So long as you don't suddenly start sprinting or get too close, it won't bother with you. Slowly stand up."

Carefully, Eliza did as the voice directed. On shaking legs, she managed to stand up and slowly took a look at the others. They all wandered around the square with a dazed look, clearly under the effects of the Wraith's attack. Carefully she turned in a circle, doing her best to mimic how the others around her looked. Eventually, In the corner of her eye, she saw it.

It was a dark red orb cast in a constantly shifting black cloak. It floated amongst the fire burning around the statue, the flames burning a deep blue color as they absorbed magic from the Crystal. Making sure not to look directly at it, she watched, praying that it wasn't paying too much attention.

The blue flames danced widely as they surged towards the orb in a constant stream. As the voice had said, it left everyone alone to go for the magic fire. However, their safety would probably only last as long as the fire did.

The voice spoke into her mind again, "If you walk slowly, you'll be able to make it out unharmed; even if it does notice, it would sooner go for one of the other people than you. All you need to do is go."

Eliza wanted to go; every instinct she had told her to run while it was distracted; the Rakna had fled. And anything would be better to fight than this.

She took a hesitant step, and suddenly she was in a field; around her lay the bodies of her fellow soldiers from her old squad. They're dried-out husk blankly stared into the skies. Amongst them floated a wraith, sucking the vitality out of those left with every moment.

Eliza gasped, and she was back in the city. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath, forcing the memory back down.

She wanted to run, but she couldn't; she couldn't let it happen again.

On shaky legs, She slowly went for the nearest person. Demitrus.

"You want to save them? I can't guarantee your safety if you try." The voice said, sounding a bit anxious.

Eliza didn't respond; after a few more steps, she had closed the distance between her a Demitrus.

He, like the others, stood dazed, staring off into space. Eliza approached, doing her best to look like she was in a daze like the others. In a half shuffle, half limp, She intentionally fell forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. She lightly shook him, but it changed nothing.

The voice sighed in her mind. "Alright, I guess we're doing this," it said, "That won't work; pain is the best way to break someone out of the Wraith's trance."

Hearing what the voice said, Eliza did the first thing that came to her mind when she thought of Demitrus.

"Sorry," She mumbled as she let go of him. She drew an arm back and socked him in the face, sending him tumbling to the ground. Intentionally, Eliza allowed herself to fall with him to the ground. She landed on her hands and knees, causing a sharp burst of pain to run up her arm, which she ignored.

"...Pinching him hard would have sufficed."

Bewildered, Demitrus began looking around. When he almost looked at the Wraith, Eliza leapt forward and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her.

A spark of recognition replaced the confusion in his eyes, and a smirk began spreading across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Eliza instantly held a finger up to her lips and leaned down close to his ear.

"Do not look at it. And do not draw its attention. Otherwise, we all die. It's sitting on the Crystal Node." Eliza mumbled. The smile on his face froze before fading, he lightly nodded.

Relieved that he understood, Eliza slowly sat back on her knees. And he slowly sat up.

"What do we do?" he quietly whispered.

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Eliza immediately shushed him again and carefully looked back toward it. Seeing that it was still distracted by the Crystal Node, she sighed in relief. She leaned closer to Demitrus and whispered, "We need to leave before it's done eating. If it finishes before then, we'll be next.

"Can we kill it?"

The mere suggestion was ridiculous enough that Eliza almost laughed, but she restrained herself.

"Sure. If you have a way to avoid being paralyzed and eaten when you look at it. Since it's distracted, we have a chance of saving the others. If we can wake up the others without drawing its attention. Do your best to mimic the others, and you shouldn't draw attention. I'll go right; you go left. We'll meet on the other side with the others and make a break for it. understood?" Eliza replied

He slowly nodded, "be careful. "he murmured as he started to shuffle away.

"You too."

Eliza carefully got up and shuffled to the next closest person. It was an agonizing process, and their surroundings became darker with every moment as the Wraith ate more of the flames. She came to Leah and was able to bring her out of the daze by pinching her cheek.

"What's go-" Leah began to say, but Eliza shushed her and quietly explained.

"Demon. Mental attack. Do Not look at it. Help others. Pinch them. Go. "She said and started to push her towards Leo. To Leah's credit, she immediately caught on and instantly started moving toward Leo. One person taken care of, Eliza, started going towards Xanthe.

Suddenly the flame flickered widely and then dimmed significantly, enveloping them in the darkness. Eliza was alone in the dark for a split second, and then the flame flickered back, noticeably smaller than before.

Eliza made the rest of the way to the last person on her side of the statue, Xanthe, and, unable to find any skin to pinch, slapped him across the face. He staggered a step back to look at Eliza in shock, fury beginning to burn in his eyes.

"No Time to explain; follow me. It's on the Crystal, Don't look."

They slowly made their way around the Crystal until everyone finally met on the other side.

"How'd it go" She whispered to Demitrus.

"It went well; I got everyone it was safe to get," he responded.

"Safe to get?" Eliza asked quietly and quickly looked at everyone they had with them. They were missing Lycus and Octavius. Looking around, she didn't see them around the outskirts of the circle. That means… She carefully turned to look towards the Crystal Node and saw them there.

They both were knocked out on the ground at the base of the fire, Basically underneath the Wraith.

"What can we do to help them? We can't leave them behind." Caldren asked, a worried look on his face.

Eliza gauged their distance. It was too risky; going that close to the Crystal would certainly draw its attention and kill them all. She didn't like either of them, but she felt her gut sink all the same.

"We can't," She replied.

As if to emphasize her point, The flame flickered again, and then she felt a breeze as air caressed her neck on its way towards the Crystal Node. There was only one problem; they were deep underground.

"Run!" The voice yelled in her mind.

"Cover your ears and run!" Eliza immediately yelled and broke into a sprint towards the open street. She made it about halfway before the screech came again.

Eliza felt her thoughts begin to scatter as the sound assaulted her mind. However, That didn't stop her. She just kept running, and running, and running. Eventually, her thoughts came back to her. And so she ran some more.

Finally, the day's exhaustion caught up to her, and she could no longer keep running. Her legs gave out, and she came to a crashing halt. She lay on the ground gasping for air, trying to calm her pounding heart and trembling body.

Around her, everyone else also stopped.

"By Cendrick's beard, Little lass, what was that?" Kolgit gasped out through ragged breaths.

"A wraith, spectral type Demon." Eliza said, pulling herself into a sitting position, "It's a Demon that steals the mana and life source from everything around it to sustain itself. As you all just experienced, it can easily wipe out entire groups of people."

She wrapped her shaking arms around her knees to hide the quivering. Strangely, it also made it feel a bit better.

"Well, that explains the disappearance of those three squads." Xanthe stood up and began pacing back and forth, murmuring more to himself than anything. He suddenly came to a stop and looked down at her. "Well, Eliza, since you know so much about them, How do we kill one?"

"Are you sure you want to go back there? If we do go, we'll most likely die." Caldren asked from his place on the ground.

Xanthe raised a scaly Eyebrow, "I thought you wanted to save Lycus and Octavius?"

He nervously looked around, and his gaze met Eliza's, "it- it's as Eliza said; we couldn't do anything about it." he sputtered out.

Eliza scoffed, "Oh please, as if you ever had a problem leaving people behind or stabbing them in the back." she said, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "But, as much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Caldren, there's a high possibility of death if we go back."

"Whatever our chance of death fighting that thing is is irrelevant. Our chance of death is guaranteed if we return from this mission without the Duke of Fyre's son."He said, crossing his arms, "So, How do we kill it?"

Eliza sighed internally; she hated to admit that he was right. However, the thought of facing one of them again caused her arms to tremble slightly.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, "I've never killed one, but I suspect destroying the crystal orb that serves as their core, their bodies will disperse. They will paralyze you if you look directly at them and absorb magic through the black shroud surrounding the orb. Finally, they can scream and make you lose any semblance of coherent thought."

"And how do you prevent this?" Xanthe said as he stroked the little bit of hair that hung from his snout.

Recalling what the voice had told her, Eliza said, "Pain."

Now that she thought about it, the voice hadn't spoken since they left the square.

"Is that how you handled the mind-numbing effects of its screech?" He asked, and Eliza nodded

"Leo, when you weren't dazed, were you able to sense the crystal orb?" he turned to look at Leo.

"Vaguely. I saw a high concentration of mana where the fire was; it was hard to distinguish from the fire, but I could sense something. "

"That settles it; you and your team will lead the charge since you know how to fight together. Kolgit and I will take care of Octavius and Lycus while you handle the Wraith. Caldren will draw its attention so that you can get close. Any questions?" He asked as he looked around the group.

Caldren raised his hand, "A protest actu- "

"Denied, anything else?" he said, and Caldren quieted.

He pulled a sharp knife out of the sheath on his belt," if not, everyone cut a part of your body." He said as he lowered the blade to his arm.

Demitrus stepped forward, "If I may, Might I suggest an alternative?" He said with a grin on his face.

"What's that?"

Eliza watched as Demitrus unclasped his bag from his shoulder. She felt her gut sink when he reached inside. With a dramatic flourish, he pulled out one of the few remaining sacs of Rakna spit.

She bent down and picked up her spear that she had somehow managed to keep throughout the chaos earlier.

Eliza sighed; she was getting really tired of the spit.