Milin, Eren, and Rudra huddled together as they steeled themselves for their upcoming challenge.

"Rudra, the honor is yours." Finally given the cue by Milin, Rudra unfolded the mystery piece of paper and cleared his throat.

"Get on with it," Milin prodded, she, being the most nervous of the bunch.

"I am trying to get my poem voice right. Just wait for a second." With a heavy sigh, Rudra decided to spill the words.

Say these words for claiming the crown, A little gift from the room

A weeping hag with a smelly broom, she might have a Key of Renown

I hate that bitch, so please kill her.

"You call that a poem," Milin was starting to doubt her knowledge about contemporary literature.

"What was that last line about? Don't tell me we have to settle someone's personal grudge." Before Rudra could answer a sound similar to bones grinding against metal filled the cave and a stench similar to rotten meat hit their nostrils. The three exchanged looks, but before anyone could voice their thoughts, the paper in Rudra's hands burst into extremely luminescent violet flames.

"Fuck!" Rudra let go of it in surprise but the flames had disappeared along with the 'poem' even before it could reach the ground. Fortunately, his hand was unharmed.

"Um... Guys, maybe its time to return to the surface." Milin and Rudra couldn't agree with Eren more.

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Tiese scanned the horizon as she levitated a good thirty meters above the ground. Her dusky feathered wings flapped rapidly to compensate for her stationery stance. Normally remaining stationary in the air for more than five seconds would not have been possible for any Alariel of her age, but her teammate Cedric's buffs were able to overcome the limitations.

Why was the stupid riddle so vague? Anyway, I need to find a Fiend first or at least I hope that's what 'creature of sadness' means. Tiese wished she could read the riddle once more, but it had departed with the flames long ago. Tiese closed her eyes and concentrated. Cedric had cast a spell on her which enhanced any two of her senses at the cost of others. Modifying eyesight resulted in losing balance for novices and she wasn't ready to risk it at that height.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

As her eyes shut her other senses took over. The olfactory and audio reception senses went into overdrive as the spell took over. The sound of leaves rustling, insects chirping, the smell of damp soil, the forest all invaded her mind. Her heart raced with the trepidation of experiencing so much information at once.

Focus Tiese. Focus. With some effort, Tiese started dissociating bits of details, her senses merged and branched as she directed until she finally found what she was looking for.

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Rudra wondered if he should curse or praise his luck as his ankle narrowly escaped from getting grabbed by a frail hand with mottled bluish-black skin and ghostly white fingernails caked with dirt.

Eren, Milin, and Rudra took a few steps back in tandem as the frail figure emerged out of the cave. The figure was so frail, that its bluish-black skin seemed to cling to the skeletal frame. It leaned over what looked like a decaying branch, to support its hunched back. The face resembled a skull with its hollow, lifeless eyes and submerged cheeks. A few strands of shoulder-length hair were the only differentiating factor. Tattered rags enveloped the body in a haphazard manner.

"That's a Hag," Eren mumbled.

"Wha...What do you mean?"

"It's a Hag, a subspecies of Fiends." Eren clarified for Milin.

"Impossible. A Fiend this deep into the country. A Hunter or an Imperial Guard should have taken care of it by now."

"I have seen a Hag before and it's not something that you can forget easily. Besides, what makes you think we are within the borders of Tarkhel." Milin had no answer to Eren's question.

The Fiend's head swiveled left to right along with the sound of bones grinding, sizing up each of the human teens with its eyeless sockets.

"We are not enemies," Rudra said loudly with meaningless hand gestures as if he was talking to a foreigner. Sadly he was going to realize communication with a Fiend was never an option.

The Hag's lower jaw sagged, revealing a toothless mouth, and let out an ear-piercing wail. Tounges of blue flames emerged from the eye sockets and licked the cranium. The smell of rotten meat crept into the atmosphere once again.

"Move", Eren shouted as noxious blue flames erupted out of the Hag's mouth. The three scrambled into various directions but the flames had nicked them leaving Eren and Rudra with singed hair.

"Have you two ever fought a Fiend before?" Eren asked Rudra and Milin as he summoned his shortsword, but both replied with a no," we don't have a choice at the current stage we can't run away from a Fiend. Well, there's a first for everything."

Suddenly a javelin pierced the Fiend's chest and impaled it to the massive trunk of a tree behind it. The three turned around to see the source of the throw.

A profusely sweating guy, with chestnut skin and a disproportionately large arm pulsating with muscles and sinews, stood there, his odd arm raised to his shoulder level. "Don't let your guard down, Hags are tougher than they look."