Eliza walked alone at the back of the pack as they all made their way toward the Crystal Node. Leading the group was Xanthe, followed by the other group. Then came Leah and Leo, who were too far away to hear, and Demitrus was directly ahead of her.

She glanced at Demitrus, who, as usual, seemed to be the only relaxed one in the group. She watched as he shifted his jaw side to side with his hand as if it was bothering him. He suddenly glanced back at her, catching her by surprise. She quickly looked away, hoping that he hadn't caught her staring.

Eliza cursed her luck as He slowed down until he walked beside her. An awkward silence hung in the air for a while. Eventually, Demitrus broke it.

“Hey Prin-, I mean, ah, Eliza? I wanted to thank you for saving me and all but do you mind if I ask a question?”

It felt out of place for Eliza to see Demitrus act so awkwardly. “You're going to ask your question either way; why bother asking?”

“Ah, that's right.” He said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck before he continued, “I noticed that you only pinched the others; why did you punch me?”

Eliza thought back to the punch in question and turned her head to hide the small smile growing on her face. She hadn’t thought much of it in the moment, but upon reflecting, something about the punch felt…gratifying.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Come now, there must be more than that..” he said, gently grabbing her shoulder and turning her to look at him,

The smile fell from her face, and she turned her head to look at him again, One eyebrow raised.

He lifted one side of his mouth into a smile that, for a moment, she thought had twitched.

“ I’ve been getting angry looks from the Dwarf over there ever since I punched him. I need an explanation; anything will do.”

Eliza let her eyes wander over to where Kolgit was walking, and he, indeed, did look angry. She looked back at Demitrus and lifted his hand off her shoulder. After giving him a bright smile, she dropped it, leaving it hanging in the air.

“ Best of luck.” She said, and she suddenly sped up, leaving him behind.

“Eliza!” He called out, a hint of desperation in his voice. He didn’t see the smile that was spreading across her face.

She quickly caught up to Leah and Leo, who were engaged in their conversation, which she couldn’t help but overhear.

“Are you sure you can do it? Especially with him there?” Leah asked Leo in a whisper.

“ I don’t have much of a choice; we both know the other groups will run once they get Octavius; if I don’t bring it out, our group will die,” he whispered back. Eliza couldn’t see his face, but she could tell he was grimacing.

“I believe in you. I know you’ll be able to pull it out this time.” Leah said as she reached over and gave Leo a comforting side hug. She let out a small bitter laugh, “ Ironic. The only way to save ourselves is to use your power to save him.”

“I know, Leah, I know,” Leo responded with a deep sigh.

Eliza slowed down, backing out of their private conversation. She had no idea what or who they were talking about. Her curiosity was piqued, but she didn’t want to infringe on something they obviously didn’t want other people to know.

In the distance, she saw the Crystal Node. The reality of their situation fell over her as if a weight settled over her shoulders. Eliza shook her head in disbelief, marveling at how easily she had been distracted.

The group came to a stop, and everyone gathered together. Xanthe turned around and began to address everyone.

“Alright, we’ll go over the plan before we go in. The Condemned will engage the Wraith to draw it away from the Crystal. Once that is done, Kolgit and I will recover Octavius.” He said,

He then turned to look at Caldren and the Blonde haired lady that stood next to him.

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“Caldren and Hasina will recover Lycus. We’ll retreat once Octavius and Lycus are out.” he turned to look at Leo.

“The condemned will continue engaging the Wraith for five minutes. Once the five minutes have passed, you are permitted to retreat. Is that understood?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.” Eliza and the others responded.

“Good, you are to engage. Move out,” he commanded.

Eliza and the others gave reluctant salutes and started down the street towards the wraith.

“So, Before we walk into our untimely demise, does anyone have any bright ideas?” Eliza asked.

“How about we stab it and walk away?” Demitrus said as he drew out the last Rakna spit-sac he had. He made a small incision with the blade of his sword, and some of the liquid began to seep out. Then, hesitantly, he poured some onto his forearm, which immediately seized up from the pain. However, the only expression that crossed his face was the tightening of his jaw. He then passed the sac to Leah.

Eliza sighed, “Sure, we’ll just stab the wraith; what could go wrong?”

“Wasn't it you who told me that if you doubt you can win a fight, you'll never win? Where did all your confidence go?” Leah asked as she passed the spit sac to Leo

“That's different.” Eliza immediately said but then regretted it.

“Is it?” Leah countered. “ You said it applied even in the face of overwhelming odds. So it applies here as well.”

Eliza wanted to say something but couldn’t. Her own words were being used against her, and she realized how contradictory she was being. But she still hesitated; they were dealing with a Wraith; what could they possibly do against it?

Eliza came to a stop as an image flashed across her mind. The face of Dyrene, her best friend, lying amongst the dried-out corpses left by the Wraith. She felt a lump form in her throat as she closed her eyes. She forcefully took a deep breath to calm herself, but it wasn’t working.

“It’ll be alright,” Leo said as he reached back and patted Eliza on her head.

Eliza reached up and pushed his arm away from her head, “ How do you know that?”

“I’ll make sure of it.” he confidently stated as he pulled his arm back. He handed her the almost empty spit sac and then turned around.

“You guys just watch each other's backs. If one person gets paralyzed, the others will save them. Keep it distracted enough for me to get close, and then I’ll take care of the rest.” He said and carefully entered the square

Eliza watched his retreating figure for a few moments. Unsure if he was stupid or insane, she settled on him being both.

Leah came up beside her, wrapped an arm around her, and started pushing her forward. “ It’ll be alright; I know that he can do it. Before we fight, I just wanted to say thank you. You saved all of our lives earlier. Whenever we leave this godforsaken place and go to an actual city, I’ll treat you to a meal.

“what-?” was all Eliza was able to get out before Leah separated herself and went on ahead. Eliza followed behind, looking at their backs dumbfounded. Was it just her, or were they all being nicer to her?

She looked down at the spit sac in her hand. She grimaced, just thinking about putting it on her skin. While she was hesitating, Demitrus walked past her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder,

"We'll be fine." He said with the most reassuring smile she had seen from him before entering the square.

Somehow all of their reassurances worked, and Eliza took a deep breath and clenched her teeth before she squeezed the last of the spit onto her forearm. Her arm quickly began to burn, and she started walking into the square.

However, She had only made it a few steps before she felt something touch her shoulder. It was immediately followed by an influx of magic energy that flowed through her shoulder and into her stomach, where it settled.

She looked around in surprise but couldn’t see who or what had given her the magic. Then she heard the voice speak into her mind again.

“A little gift; I suspect you already know how to use it,” it said, and then it was gone.

Carefully Eliza mentally reached for the magic and tried to move it. Eagerly it responded to her every command as if it was eager to show her that it was harmless. It was similar to the magical energy she had used before, but something about it was off; it almost seemed…unnatural.

Making sure to keep her eyes away from the wraith, she looked for Octavius and Lycus. Near the base of the Crystal Node, she could see their bodies lying relatively unharmed, considering the situation. Both were still unconscious.

In their time away, the wraiths' appearance had changed. Without looking directly at it, Eliza could see five long dark tendrils extending down around the crystal. She hadn’t looked closely the last time they were here. But the tendrils were a black several shades darker than they were before.

Almost as dark as the one from back then.

Upon her entry, the Wraith let out a horrific screech that reverberated around the square. The screech assaulted Eliza’s mind from all sides, and she felt her thoughts scatter.

She felt the burning on her arm intensify and focused on it. Her mind cleared up, and she broke into a sprint, circling the square to the left with Demitrus. Leah and Leo went to the right.

Out of the corner of her right eye, Eliza saw movement, and reactively she kicked with her right leg to launch her to the left. At the same time, she closed her eyes and twisted. A split second later, she felt something pass by a few mere centimeters from her chest. Before landing, she heard something impact the ground beneath her, accompanied by the sound of stone splintering.

She landed blind and stumbled a few steps to the left. She opened her eyes and immediately sprinted again. While running, she caught sight of a shadowy tendril retracting from the shattered stone beneath it. Where it had impacted the ground, it was a solid corporeal black, while the rest of the tendril was a dark see-through shade of gray.

Eliza clicked her tongue; the Wraith had gathered enough mana to manifest itself. Things had just gotten worse. The unmanifested tendrils wouldn’t kill you in one hit. Manifested ones, however, would. An idea crossed her mind, and she smiled; manifesting itself did make it stronger, but it was also a two-edged sword. If it could hit them now, then they could hit it.

She slid to a stop and ran towards the Wraith, narrowly dodging the tendril that slammed into the ground where she would have been. Lungs Gasping for breath, Eliza strained her eyes, looking for the next tendril aimed at her, a challenge made all the more difficult because she couldn’t look at the blasted thing.

“Eliza! Watch out! It's coming from your top right!” Leo yelled out.

Eliza kicked the ground without thinking and launched herself a few steps backward. She watched as the tendril slammed into the ground in front of her.

Eliza came to a stop and surged forward with her spear, stabbing it down into the pitch-black mass in front of her.

The Wraith let out a screech unlike any Eliza had heard before. She felt the sound tear through her mind, and once the screech had subsided, all she was left with was a painful ringing in the ears.

In a daze, Eliza watched as the impaled black tendril faded into a lighter shade of gray and retracted, leaving the spear behind.

She needed to get moving, to get out of there. The thought bounced around her mind as her body sluggishly moved to respond. She slowly climbed to her feet, and she staggered a few steps backward. Slowly her mind was coming back to her, but it wasn’t quick enough.

The Wraith surged off the Crystal and dashed down toward the ground, dashing right in front of Eliza’s eyes.

Eliza felt her body stiffen and go numb as she dumbly stared into the Blood red orb floating menacingly toward her. She wanted to tear her eyes away, to do anything, but it was no use. Her body wouldn’t respond.

Inwardly Eliza chuckled. So this is what Dyrene must’ve experienced when she distracted the wraith so that Eliza could run. She felt a tear trail down her cheek. She could still remember her screams as Eliza ran.

Then the Wraith lashed out with its tendrils. They surged towards Eliza, darkening to a solid black mid-air. Soon all Eliza saw were the black tendrils.