The sun blazed fiercely in the clear skies, nearly baking the humid forest below. Birds chirped up in the trees, snakes slithering not far from their nests. Salamanders climbed the tree trunks, their eyes trained on the crickets sitting on top of leaves.

On the ground, a group of cloaked people marched, their heads hanging low. Occasionally, they’d slap their arms, revealing mosquitos on their palms. Sometimes, those who were younger whined, rubbing their stomachs while tugging at the cloak of the adults.

The latter ignored them, they could only do so. They didn’t have the energy to say a few comforting words—they didn’t even have enough energy in their bodies.

They too were starving, all of them were.

At the forefront of the group, a dark elf was walking with a slightly hunched back. On his back was Arloum, his roots wrapped around the dark elf’s torso.

[Embryo T1 - 1/1]

Currently, his focus isn't on the outside world. Inside his body, he stared at the small figure curled up in a ball, resting behind his dark energy.

‘What happened to this?’ His branches swayed on instinct.

After the dark elves fled from the cave system, the druids surprisingly didn’t give chase. Because of that, almost five hundred dark elves managed to escape.

Yet, the attack wasn’t the end of their problems.

To repel the druids, Enis called all their fighters—none of them returned. The remaining elves were the non-combatants, and very quickly, they ran to an issue.

‘There’s not enough food.’

Sure, they could hunt. They did, but the wild animals suddenly vanished no matter where they went.

Later on, they realized that they were being chased by the elves—the sages who mastered Green Magic.

‘After a week of constant fleeing, the majority of the dark elves starved. The others were either bitten by a random venomous creature or had an accident. Either way, there’s less than a hundred dark elves now,’ Arloum sighed.

When the first batch of dark elves succumbed to the other side, he tried absorbing their life energy. However, he failed. Whenever he tried doing so, he’d only find a body full of decayed life energy.

‘Ymer’s curse, tsk.’

He’d be lying if he claimed he wasn’t frustrated.

‘First, we have to escape this forest. There’s no future here, only demise,’ he shook his branches.

Focusing back on the embryo, he couldn’t help but feel strange.

‘Is this what they call fate?’ He wondered, controlling the embryo to lift its head.

‘It has Enis’ face.’

Right after they escaped from the cave, the embryo rapidly stabilized and “matured.” Now, even when he moved his dark energy around, the embryo wouldn’t dissipate.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

‘Is this thing a fairy? Fairies are the “soul” of spirit plants that gained intelligence. However, I have an actual soul… will this “fairy” become a second me?’ He pondered.

During the week, he experimented with the embryo and learned that apart from taking it out of his body, he could fully control it.

‘...or will it act as my second body?’

Thinking about it, he’d rather the result be the latter. When he gained the ability to parasitize another living being, the host would reject him. However, if he has a second body, the rejection problem could be solved!

‘Communication will be much easier if I have a fairy body. However… to use Enis’ face, is this a cruel joke?’ He scoffed.

Enis was a tool in his eyes. Without the sudden intrusion of the druids, he planned on having Enis continue giving him sacrifices while expanding his “forces.”

The Onyx.

‘If I could train a bunch of dark elves with dark energy, then they can compete with druids… that was the plan. Alas, plans couldn’t keep up with the changes.’

He felt a bit bitter.

‘Tsk. That guy clearly could’ve survived with my help. Why did he want to die so badly?!’

He also felt angry.

After all, he already considered the dark elves as his belongings. He even gave them a new name, only for them to be killed so suddenly.

‘Whatever. It’s no use lamenting. Hey, dark elf,’ he moved his dark energy, connecting it with the energy of the dark elf carrying him.

The dark elf looked up, his face pale as paper, dark lines nesting below his sunken eyes.

“...lord?” He asked, his voice hoarse and airy.

Arloum stirred his words for a while, unable to scoop up a sentence.

‘...how long until we arrive at the half elves’ settlement?’

The dark elf slowed down, staggering for a bit as he lowered his head. Mumbling in a barely audible voice, he said, “...maybe in a day, my lord.”

‘Hm.’ Arloum gathered his energy back into a sphere. Moving his branches, he rubbed the dark elf’s head silently.

‘This race is a sinking boat. Unfortunately, we’re floating on our own, and I don’t have many choices… or I could settle down and plant myself.’

He pondered for a bit, his branches sliding down to the dark elf’s neck. The dark elf flinched, but he didn’t do anything more. He even slowed down, almost coming to a halt.

‘...tsk. Keep moving!’ He slapped the side of the dark elf’s face with his leaves, retracting his branches.

‘It’s dangerous to bind myself with this race. It’s much less riskier to simply hide underground and wait for dust to settle,’ he glanced behind him.

There, the dark elves followed his lead, neither slowing down or rushing. Their heads were hanging low, and their shoulders were slumped.

Seeing them, he slowly turned around, and then up at the clear sky that the tree canopies obstructed.

‘...what a strange feeling.’

He closed his eyes, focusing back on the embryo inside him.

Watching it silently, he felt somewhat listless. In his mind, an odd feeling muddled his senses.

Like a lemon being slowly squeezed of its juices.

‘Haaa…’

Opening his eyes, a bird nest caught his attention.

There, a snake was coiled in a disk, a bird stuffed in its mouth. At the same time, a second bird was chirping loudly, pecking crazily at the snake’s head. After a while, the snake spat out the bird in its mouth, fleeing down the tree.

The bird hopped around the dead bird, chirping in distress and sometimes nudging it with its head.

‘...strange indeed,’ his branches bunched together, seeing the bird lay next to its deceased partner, covering it with its wings.

----------------------------------------

King sat on a chair in the academy’s principal’s office, his eyes closed. The principal, whose eyes were covered in a golden blindfold, steepled his hands atop his desk.

Behind him, a plate of cake was suspiciously hidden behind a stack of books.

“Sage Olieva, my time is finite,” King lazily spoke, his tone carrying a hint of annoyance. He didn’t even open his eyes.

The principal, Olieva, nodded. Opening his mouth, he wasted none of his words. “The academy is facing issues. Lately, many of the students have gone missing.”

King nodded, not saying a word. Seeing this, Olieva couldn’t help but frown.

“Druid… King, you know this is a serious matter, each elf is a treasure,” he said.

Although from the legends of old, Ymer’s act of increasing their lifespan was recorded as a good deed—which it was—it came with a troublesome cost.

That was, it was much harder for female elves to conceive. An infamous elf king once married dozens of female elves, only to end up with a single offspring. Unsatisfied, he ordered his trusted men to help him fertilize his wives, but it was futile. Instead, his wives rebelled, ending that kingdom’s long history by burning it to the ground.

Ever since then, elves took the matter of romantic partners seriously. Each child was protected not only by the family themselves, but also by the elven military.

Strangely, this matter only concerned the pure blooded elves. If an elf mates with another species, their chances of fertilizing or being fertilized is shockingly high!

The only issue was that most “hybrid” fetuses died in the womb. Even if they survived, they had various abnormalities—ranging from physical deformities to mental illnesses.

Thus, Olieva was irritated by King’s lack of care.

On the other hand, King summoned his fairy, rubbing its fluffy hair.

“Sage Olieva, I believe this is your problem,” he said.

Olieva stood up, slamming his hand on the desk. “King! His majesty has ordered us to work together and deal with the dark elves—”

King scoffed. “Those rats have been dealt with already.”

Olieva froze, his mouth still open. Slowly, he sat down. “The dark elves have been dealt with?”

He couldn’t doubt the druid in front of him. Originally, he suspected the dark elves for the students’ disappearance. But now, if what King said was true, he had no lead.

“Anyway, this concerns me not. Deal with your own problem, sage,” King scoffed.

Standing up, he left the office after slamming the door behind him. Tickling the fairy lying on top of his palm, he whispered.

“Go inform his majesty about this.”

The fairy opened his eyes slowly, standing up with a huff. Then, his translucent green body slowly faded away.

King narrowed his eyes.

“These damned sages might not have reported this matter to his majesty…” he clicked his tongue.

“Hmph. Just who is muddying up the waters?”