Rhucon

The pungent smell of death startles me awake from my groggy unconscious state. Opening my eyes I was greeted with a boundless soft blue sky, the clouds so carefree and unrestrained I couldn't help but sigh. Oh, how I wish I could be like them.

But then reality came crashing back down on me as I remembered I was being stalked by a monster. If the only thing keeping it out of my shack was an invitation to enter I think the lack of roof now qualifies my home as open grounds.

The trickle of fear that normally would have begun to consume me didn’t come through. I was worried but not scared, but hadn’t those two always been synonymous to me? After momentarily getting lost in my thoughts a soft snoring brought me back from my daze as I gawked in disbelief at what had attracted my attention.

A cherub seemed to have popped into existence, as a little girl a year or two younger than me laid resting on the stone ground of the shack. Celestial hair reaching a purity of white that I didn't know was possible. Thick but silky it reached her lower back, as I noticed the ends being a deep violet bordering on purple. With a softer face than my own, her chubby cheeks had a healthy glow that was a stark contrast from my sickly pale sheen. Even with the simple unadorned white dress she wore, the sense of meeting an angelic being that had descended couldn't be denied.

Where had she come from? Filled with this one question my thoughts became muddled, and disorganized still trying to piece themselves together after having seen the astonishing little girl. The question floated in my mind as I subconsciously rubbed my hands, and realized something was missing.

A thunder strike seems to hit me as the fog in my mind cleared and I instantly yelled out. “Ember!” The little girl was quickly forgotten by me as I started tossing the blankets around, anxiety starting to dig its sharp claws into me.

It was during my frenzied tossing and turning that the little girl stirred from her slumber, turning her petite neck in my direction as she opened her eye’s to glare at me in annoyance. A familiar pair eye that couldn't exist anywhere else gazed back at me as I recognized the swirling sunset within those iris’s. “Quiet” A voice entered my mind, cute and childlike but laced with mild annoyance.

“Ember?” I stared at the girl in incredulity, unable to comprehend how the tiny nestling I could hold in the palm of my hands the day before had become this girl.

The sour wind blew towards us bringing the light rotting smell of trees. Sniffing the wind her face curled into a cute pout, obviously not pleased with the smell. Slowly coming to a stand on wobbly legs never before used she made her way over to me then wrapped her arms around waist and promptly fell asleep on my lap, leaving me with a cozy warmth that I could only call divine.

The heat she radiated was like a warm blanket, quickly returning me to my groggy state, as even the rotting smell around us began to fade away. Slowly trying to peel Ember off myself without hurting her I was met with resistance as her beautiful eyes opened once again staring directly into my own.

“Sleep.Tired.Annoying. Rhucon.” Instead of a word this time it was more like her emotions hit my mind with meaning. She apparently wanted me to shut up and let her sleep peacefully but I didn't want to fall asleep with so many questions.

“Wait, what was that last emotion a word?” Is that what she calls me? Becoming distracted at weird meaning the warmth took advantage of my idle mind quickly snagging me away into the dream world. Why am I falling unconscious so much these days I sigh internally as everything goes black once again.

Melanie Kedora's Perspective

The rotting corpses, of millions of trees, was not a pleasant smell, to say the least, and even the Stardrops air filters couldn't stop it completely. Resisting the urge to vomit, I watched my fellow crewmates share my experience.  Having always been weak of stomach since we were kids Fenton actually ended up puking.

“Shit, we gotta get this job done fast” The tone of his voice pitiable as he started rinsing his mouth with some water after regurgitating his breakfast into the trash bin he kept in the main quarters. “The taints reached its peak within the Shades present domain. If we don’t kill it soon it won't even be a week until it doubles its current domain, where it won't just be healed but even stronger than before. If that happens only the elders, and Storm Guard will be able to deal with it.”

Fenton's words were perturbing but I we were all already aware of the danger we could face, but our trust in him was solid, He would never put us in a situation we couldn't handle, though the level of danger was always something to watch for.

Shifting my attention I sense a powerful killing intent to my side. Anita’s composure was a mess but I couldn’t blame her feelings. As a lover, and protector of nature the loathsome existence of a shade slandered, and attacked all her beliefs.

“I'm going to eradicate that filth from the world, and use its revolting cadaver as a tribute to properly send the souls of the forest into the next life.” Vow dripping with bloodthirst, Anita’s promise caused Fenton back to straighten, and even the massive Gorn wasn’t immune as I saw his face twitch at every word. Body shivering barely containing her molten wrath, I wrapped her in a hug as the pleasant scent of pine filled my nose. Her rage started to slowly simmer down, still present but now properly restrained.

A massive crystal screen in front of us gave us a detailed view of the shades domain as we entered it. Death had ravaged this poor land, as the once flowing emerald forests were nothing but whitened trees. Poisonous Miasma drifted across the valleys with the wind, slowly encroaching the edge of the Shades domain.

At the stable speed of 700 km/h the Stardrop was going they would reach the target within a few minutes. The bright violet flash had been a surprise and they were all hoping it was the relic having reacted to the Shades presence once more. The weaker it was when the crew engaged it the better off they would all be in the fight.

Sitting directly across from me on the roundtable that we used for planning, Carvolo stood up, gave me some good news for once. “Captain, During my coming of age ceremony my mother provided me with the gift of 3 Dhiaga Arrows. While difficult to shoot they should be able to deeply harm the Shade if you all create an opening for me.”

Carvolos sudden words left the rest of the crew and myself all stunned for a second as I stared at the radiant aura the azure arrows in his hand seemed to emit. His devotion to the mission made smile as I happen to be aware of exactly how much one of those arrows cost, having seen it in one of my father's monthly catalogs he got from the Mezz continent. Let's just say that two dozen would probably be enough to pay of the rest of the massive debt that I had incurred when purchasing my beautiful skyship.

Even Anita looked at him without the usual disdain, something that the rest of us rarely ever saw happens. Staring straight into his eyes I watched as he remained stoic, completely unlike his normal self, who would have said something idiotic like ‘Like what you see Captain?’.

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“I’ll reimburse you for your arrows after the Seatol island mission.” Those arrows weren't cheap, but if we really did kill the Shade, it’s heart should sell for quite a bit on the market, letting me make headway into my debt, even after I split the earnings. Hopefully, Carvolo won't need to use more than one to kill the shade.

Gratitude in his eyes Carvolo nodded and fell silent as he joined the rest in mentally preparing for the fight to come.

The minutes ticked by as Gorn controlled the ship with extreme precision towards our target. Though I might be the Captain I’d be lucky to be considered half as skilled as him when it came to controlling Stardrop.

Eventually, we came within 10 km of the destination. Anchoring the ship the crew disembarked, while once again controlling the urge to vomit. Gorn then left the ship prep for flight as well as activating its security wards, though this might be the middle of nowhere id like to come back and find my ship in one piece. Lastly, Since Joon didn’t have the ability to keep up with us Anita had him keep watch over the ship as added protection.

Nightful was less than to hours out so we had to get the job done as soon as possible. Not wasting another moment we silently made our way towards the target. Leaving the ship behind as we sped by the rotting remains of the trees, and the littered carcass of a wide assortment of animals we made sure to watch how much noise our movements made. Spooking the shade into retreating before we got eye’s on it would make the situation escalate from dangerous to deadly.

With the miasma to deal with, we had to keep the mana in our Dantian constantly flowing throughout our bodies to prevent ourselves from being poisoned. Turning head to the side after another cycle of cleansing the poison, I spotted Anita close at my heels. I couldn’t help but internally sigh as I noticed the disturbing red tint her eyes radiated. Even after calming down most of her anger back at the Stardrop it seems I would have to keep an eye on her so she didn't do anything too reckless when we came into contact with the Shade.

Since everyone besides Anita unable to moves as fast over large distances, we had to keep our speed to around half of what we could normally achieve. I was in the lead closely followed by Anita, then Carvolo, and with Fenton and Gorn tied for last.

As we were barreling by a small stream I started noticing that the miasma was becoming increasingly thin and eventually it was completely gone as we found ourselves breaking into a small clearing.

Standing solitary at the base of a hill we spotted a miserable shack so short that it couldn’t even accommodate an adult unless they got onto their knees. It didn’t even have a roof from what we could tell leaving me to wonder what the point of even build the measly thing was if it was no different from being out in the open.

“Since when did Shades take up carpentry?” Fenton's words cause the rest of the group to look at him like an idiot, which was exactly what he was at the moment. Glaring daggers at him I emphasized with my eyebrows for him to shut his stupid mouth. I swear it's like the more dangerous the situation the more likely he is to crack a joke.

Closely inspecting the shack that looked ready to fall over at the slightest touch, we closed in. Even though my nerves were a mess as the Captain I kept myself calm on the outside and led the rest of the crew forward with the all the bravery I could muster.

At first mild wind seem to be the only sound in this world of death, but as we approached something else echoed in our ears. The softest of breathing could be heard coming from the shack, leaving us all stunned in silence.

Time seemed to come to a stop as we all stood to stare into the shack, I wasn't even breathing at this point making the blood flow in my ears sound like the pounding of two massive drums. Two petite girls slept within each other's arms, with the larger of the two holding the younger one protectively.

Mouth agape my mind finally decided it was time to form coherent thoughts. “Children! How the hell had children gotten here!” My mind was a mess as I tried to comprehend how these two girls got so far in the middle of nowhere. Then another thing clicked in my head as I noticed their lack of horns! There not Sarvi! Head spinning with all these questions I turned to Fenton hoping for some answers as to what the fuck was going on.

Eye’s so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets Fenton remained unresponsive, his gaze never leaving the girls in the shack. This was mimicked almost exactly by the rest of the crew. If I didn’t know any better my crewmates were secretly all goldfish.

Second, to recover Anita, eye’s lost the red from before and a deep worry had replaced them as she was the next to speak up. “Why are their children here! We gotta get them out of here before the shade returns!

So many questions to handle, this trip had ended in failure and now the best course of action we could take left before the shade notices us.

As though listening in on our thoughts a hideous chuckle echoed lightly. “He...he...Heee..” The breeze stopped. The scent of rot intensified, as an artic chill seemed to settle on our bodies.

“The shades awake.” While trying to hide the dismay in his voice Carvolo said what we all sensed. Everyone’s blood ran cold as we looked at the children before us. The notion of fighting the shade instantly left us, we simply couldn't afford to engage it under these circumstances.

“Grab them, and head back to the ship! Fenton keep them asleep, we can’t afford the have them wake up struggling in this danger.” With my swift orders, we jumped into action. Pulling out a vial from his bag of holding Fenton directly tossed a small amount of sleeping powder onto the children's noses whose eyes were flickering at the noise, but with the ability to knock out a creature 10 times the children's size they were unable to resist its effects.

Grabbing the two girls, and placing them between my arms, I was alarmed to notice that one of them children was nothing but skin and bones, but with our current predicament, all I could do was push these thoughts to the back of my mind to deal with later.

“Gorn grab Fenton and use one for your toys, you’ll need to keep up with us!” My neck was starting to prickle as a powerful sense of forbidding hit my soul. The shade was coming, and it wasn’t very far from us.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who perceived this as I saw the faces of the crew turn pale. Though within Anita eyes traces of red could be seen again, but the need to protect the girls squashed down her anger giving her intense focus on our current predicament.

Gorn unceremoniously picked up Fenton like a bag of potatoes and tossed him on his back as a floating glowing disk appeared at his feet, which exploded with momentum as he quickly closed in on our heels.

A frigid cold was beginning to enclose us as we madly, rushed our way back to the StarDrop. The thunderous sound of trees exploding into splinters echoed behind us, compelling us all to move even fast than before.

Before long I had exceeded what I previously called my top speed, as the danger spurred my mana to new heights within me. Oh, where all the bravery from before had gone I wondered.

“Thump thump thump. Now, where… are you… taking my meal….?” The vilest of voices reverberated behind us, as its heavy footsteps got closer and closer.

I was racking my brain for what we could possibly do! The ship was less than 500 meters away but the shade was less than 100 behind us, and at the speed, it was going someone was going to get caught. But like a gift from the heavens, my brain lit up as I got an idea!

“CARVOLO!!!! DETONATE YOUR DHAIGA ARROWS BEHIND US IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE!!!!” Screaming so loud I felt the sweet taste of iron in my mouth as hurt my throat.

Now, this was the moment of truth, would he waste all his arrows and guarantee us some time to get away, or would be stingy, and only use one which would likely only enrage the shade.

“DETONATE!!!” I quickly got my answer as a powerful explosion propelled me and the rest of the crew forwards at twice our speed, quickly closing the gap between us and the ship.

As I managed to land safely with the children next to the Stardrop the ghastliest scream of pain I’d ever heard radiated within my mind, and even managing to rattle my soul's defense.

“RUN FROM ME FOOLS, BUT I WON'T BE DENIED MY MEAL! I'll FIND YOU AGAIN AND DISEMBOWEL YOU WITH YOUR OWN HANDS MAY THE HEAVENS AND HELLS BEAR WITNESS TO MY VOW!!! The shades promise was so powerful it even causes the heavenly lightning to streak across the previously empty sky.

Tightly hugging the innocent children the Shade had chosen as it meal, a budding rage was blooming in my heart at its heinous vow. ‘Well, I won't let you fiend, let see how tuff you really are when you come to Yuroto.’ If it even got within 100km of the Capital death was all that would await it.

The ship was taking off as we caught the barest glimpse of the monster that had chased us. Standing 3m tall with thick black fur covering every part of its body, the appearance of manlike moose stared at our departing ship with the ink black eyes the only promised suffering.

Glancing away I brought the children to the medical bay to see if Fenton could find anything wrong with them. Then maybe some answers to all these questions swirling in my head. I guess I now have two new temporary cabin girls. A light smile breaking my face after the stress of the last few hours.