Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Ashmogg,

There was a war going on between the Kingdom of Azhylum (Dark Elves), led by Commander Jackkal Marzilghar, and the Kingdom of Ashmogg (Orcs).

"Commander Jackkal...., I have news that someone has seen Jacquiz near the village of Phulton," one of the soldiers said to Commander Jackkal Marzilghar.

"All right then," Commander Jackkal said to the soldier.

"You think you can just walk away after destroying my camp in Grimmoldan Forest and killing one of my best subordinates, Jacquiz," Jackkal said to himself.

"DARK URKMAR..., LET'S END THIS WAR, DON'T LET ANYONE LEAVE !!!, ATTACK !!!" shouted Commander Jackkal to all his soldiers, accompanied by the sound of cheers from all the soldiers.

"ASHMOGG..., DON'T LET THEM TAKE OUR LAND !!!, FORWARD !!!" an orc general shouted to his soldiers.

> [ Commander Jackkal Marzilghar is one of the three great commanders of the kingdom of Dark Urkmar, having recently been appointed Great Commander in place of his father, Gyldeffon Marzilghar, who recently passed away from illness.Jackkal is also known for repulsing an attack by the 2000-man Ranchergard kingdom with only 800 soldiers, and for killing Ranchergard commander Hanssel Ford ].

Back to Cyril and Phillian in the village of Phulton,

"Who are you ? How dare you interrupt my fight ?" the elf leader asked Jacquiz angrily.

"You don't need to know who I am," Jacquiz replied.

"Then you'll die with them," the elf leader said as he ran towards him and attacked him.

"Try if you can," Jacquiz replied with a smile. Then Cyril and Phillian tried to get up and continue the fight.

It seemed that the evil elf leader was no match for Jacquiz, it didn't take long for Jacquiz to kill him.

"Yngryd, you know what to do," Jacquiz said to his sword.

With that, Jacquiz's sword flew towards the elf chief and attacked him. The evil elf leader tried his best to deflect all of Yngryd's attacks, but finally the sword managed to hurt the evil elf leader by cutting off both of his arms and plunging right into the elf leader's heart. Then the elf leader fell and died. The elf leader's men were stunned to see what had happened to their leader. Caught off guard, Cyril and Phillian managed to paralyse them.Then the two evil elves who were holding the female elf ran away, afraid to see Jacquiz's figure.

The elf woman finally survived and approached Cyril, Phillian and Jacquiz to thank them.

"Thank you for helping me," the elf said to them.

"It's OK, are you hurt ?" asked Cyril to the elf woman.

"I'm fine, and it's all thanks to you," the fairy replied.

"This area is not safe, we will take you to your home to make sure they don't come back to mess with you," Cyril said to the elf woman.

"No, no, I don't want to bother you," the elf woman said to Cyril.

"Take it easy, please go ahead, we will follow you," Cyril replied with a smile.

"Isn't this inconvenient for you ?" the elf woman said to Cyril.

"Take it easy," Cyril told her with a smile.

"How about it, Phillian, Jacquiz ?" Cyril asked his two friends.

"Do what you want," Phillian replied.

"We'll keep an eye on things," Jacquiz replied.

"Wait a minute, hey Jacquiz, what happened to your arm ?" asked Cyril, who was surprised to see Jacquiz's arm.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later," Jacquiz said.

"Then where did you get the sword ?" asked Phillian.

"This sword was a reward for my victory over Yarwen," Jacquiz replied, smiling at his sword.

"It's good that you found us here, but how did you know Phillian and I were in this village, Jacquiz ?" asked a curious Cyril.

"I was just going to drop in, but a villager said there was a fight between a group of elves and a human teenager and a dwarf, so I came straight to you," Jacquiz explained to Cyril.

"Thank God, it's a good thing you got here in time," Phillian said.

"Oh, by the way, you're not from around here, are you ?" the elf asked the three of them.

"That's right, we're not from around here, the three of us want to go to Halstad to meet someone," Cyril said to the elf.

"Alright then," the elf woman replied.

"Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Rheya Syrr Garmael," the elf said as she introduced herself.

"I'm Cyril and the little human is Phillian and that one is Jacquiz," Cyril said as he introduced his friends.

"Jacquiz is a dark elf, but don't be afraid, he's a good dark elf, hehehe," Cyril said to Rheya. Rheya just smiled at Cyril's words about Jacquiz.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"I live in a temple not far from this village," Rheya said.

"Well then, let's go," Cyril said.

After finishing their conversation, they left to take Rheya back to her place. After travelling for a long time, they finally arrived at their destination, the temple of God Fret.

> [ The Fret deity is the god of music, pleasure, and freedom symbolised by the lute ].

"Wow, quite a big temple to be in the forest" said Cyril who was amazed to see the temple.

"Interesting shape of the temple" said Phillian who was also amazed to see the temple.

"Let's go in" said Rheya happily while inviting her three friends to enter. They entered the temple.

"Do you live alone in such a big place ?" Cyril asked Rheya.

"No, I live with my grandfather, more precisely he is a priest who devoted his life to this temple. I already consider him like my own grandfather because when I was a child, I was thrown away by my parents and left right in front of the gate of this temple. Then my grandfather saw me and took care of me ever since. Because of his kindness, I was able to exist until now and devote myself to taking care of my grandfather and this shrine," said Rheya with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm telling you about myself, hehehe" Rheya continued while trying to wipe her tears.

"No, it's okay" said Cyril.

"Oh yeah, where's your grandfather ?" Cyril asked Rheya. "Maybe he's at the back of this temple, I'll call him for a moment" said Rheya while looking for her grandfather.

Cyril, Phillian and Jacquiz also looked at the temple while waiting for Rheya to return. Soon Rheya and her grandfather came to meet the three of them.

"Hello good lads, my name is Jaire Mar'Arthel, I am the priest in charge of this temple" said the grandfather as he introduced himself to the three.

"What brings you here ?" he asked the three of them.

"Greetings priest ..., we are friends of Rheya, we are just taking Rheya home because the situation in Phulton village is chaotic it seems" said Cyril to the priest.

"You're right, Phulton village has been in turmoil lately due to the lack of protection from the Sylverian kingdom" said the priest.

"Then why don't you spend the night in this temple ?" the priest asked the three of them.

After hearing the priest's offer, Cyril and Phillian looked at each other.

"But we have to pick up our belongings at the inn in Phulton village, because we were planning to spend the night there" replied Cyril while agreeing to the priest's offer.

"Then let's get our things, Cyril" Phillian said.

"I'll wait here then" Jacquiz said to Cyril and Phillian.

"Alright, we're leaving first" said Cyril and then left the temple to get his stuffs together with Phillian.

"You are very lucky to have friends like them," Rheya said to Jacquiz as she watched Cyril and Phillian leave the temple. Jacquiz just smiled at Rheya's words.

"I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air," Jacquiz said to Rheya, and as night fell, Cyril and Phillian were seen returning from the inn, enjoying a meal prepared by Rheya.

"Your cooking is good too, Rheya," Cyril said, looking very eager to eat his dinner as well as Phillian and Jacquiz.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it," Rheya said with a smile.

"Also thank Jacquiz for bringing the ingredients," Rheya said as she looked at Jacquiz and smiled.

"That's right, thank you Jacquiz," Cyril and Phillian said, feeling happy, but Jacquiz was just silent as he listened to their conversation.

They started talking to each other, finished their meal and got ready for bed. Then the priest led Cyril, Jacquiz and Phillian to an empty room where they would spend the night.

"This is your room, please," the priest said to the three of them.

"Thanks for letting us stay here," Cyril said to the priest.

"No problem, this place hasn't had guests for a long time," the priest replied to Cyril. Then the three entered the room and prepared to sleep.

"We should get some rest before the trip to Halstad tomorrow," Cyril said to his friends.

"I'll go to bed first then," Cyril continued, falling asleep.Not long after, Phillian also fell asleep, but Jacquiz still seemed to be awake. He decided to go outside and look at the night sky.

Rheya was walking to her room after cleaning the dining table earlier when she saw Jacquiz sitting there looking at the night sky. Rheya decided to go over to him.

"Hey, why aren't you asleep ?" asked Rheya of Jacquiz.

"I'm on guard tonight," Jacquiz replied coldly.

"Is something bothering you ?" Rheya asked him again.

"Even if there is, it's none of your business," Jacquiz replied coldly.

"You're right, I'm sorry to bother you," Rheya said to Jacquiz.

"I just wanted to thank you for your help this afternoon, if you hadn't arrived on time, Cyril, Phillian and I might have become victims," Rheya said to Jacquiz with a smile.

"You should be more careful next time," Jacquiz replied.

"You know, the burden we carry is heavy, but if you let others help you, then the burden will feel light, and I am ready if you want to share it with me, because we are friends, right ?" Rheya said to Jacquiz with a smile. With that, Rheya went back to her room. Suddenly Jacquiz was surprised by what Rheya had just told her.

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to carry such a burden," Jacquiz said to Rheya as she looked up at the beautiful moon that night.

" Mother, am I on the right track ?" Jacquiz said to his self as he looked at the moon.

The sun was rising,

Cyril, Phillian and Jacquiz got ready to continue their journey to Halstad.

"Are you sure you want to leave now ?" Rheya asked the three with a sad face.

"Yes, as you can see, our real destination is Halstad, so we can't stay here for long," Cyril said to Rheya.

"Let's hurry, time is not waiting for us," Jacquiz said as he walked out.

"Yes, yes, take it easy," Cyril said to Jacquiz.

"Then we will leave first, thank you for your kindness, Rheya and Father Jaire," Cyril said.

"If you have time to visit us next time," the priest said with a smile. Then the three of them left for Halstad.

The priest and Rheya let them go at the temple gate. But Rheya's face was very sad as she watched her three friends leave.

"Go, Rheya," said the priest.

"Uh, no, no... I have to take care of this temple and you, Grandfather," Rheya said to her grandfather.

"I am still strong enough to take care of this temple and my own life," the priest said with a smile.

"But..." Rheya said. "Go after them before they go any further," said the priest.

"Alright," Rheya said with great joy at the priest's words as she hugged him.

Then Rheya tidied up her stuff, said goodbye to the priest and left to follow Cyril and his friends.

"Rheya... you're a grown-up now. It's time for you to write a new chapter in your book of life, hopefully we can meet someday, my little Rheya," the priest said in his heart with his eyes glazed over.

"Hey guys !" Rheya called to Cyril, Jacquiz and Phillian from a distance.

"I'm coming with you from now on !" Rheya continued happily.

"What about the priest and the temple ?" Cyril asked Rheya.

"The priest told me to go, he'll take care of the temple himself," Rheya replied.

"Looks like we're in trouble," Phillian said with a laugh.

"What did you say ?" Rheya said to Phillian. Jacquiz was silent as Rheya joined their group.

It would take them about six days to reach Halstad on foot.

Next Chapter “Book I : Battle of Myrrie Valley (Part III)”