The four days it took to reach the swamp was a large detour.

Every day, the communications that Blue intercepted painted a picture that grew direr by the day; The siege of Al Dherjza had begun, but the city was managing to hold, thanks to a magical barrier that resembled Rolynd’s signature power. Unable to make any direct attack, Lucina’s plan seemed to be along the lines of starving the capital of resources by taking control of the surrounding area.

Gradually, the proud, towering oaks of the Ellenian forest gave way to the tall grasses and shrunken and twisted trees of the swamp. Despite the swamp’s remote location, there persisted an ancient, overgrown path on which to walk. Even Elwin, who had spent his whole life in Ellenia, knew not who had built the path, for he had no reason to venture so far north before.

Blue let them know that their boar friend would no longer be accompanying them, for it was too afraid.

“Afraid of what?” Elwin dared to ask.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think there would be anything too threatening for a boar to be concerned about… alligators, perhaps?”

Unlike the forest, which was mostly dry on the surface, ponds and streams were commonplace. A single step off the path could lead to one’s foot sinking straight past the deceptively tall grasses, deep into the black mud, or into the unseen depths of a murky puddle.

The sun, previously a pleasant guide through the forest, now beat down on the travellers without the shelter of the canopy above, casting everything in a disorienting, flat light.

Any other foliage in the swamp was a darker, grungier green if it still lived. Thick, choking vines snaked across the ground, across the bottom of cloudy ponds, up the trunks of trees, and across dead branches, sprouting sickly-sweet-smelling purple flowers everywhere.

The ever-present, gentle rustling of leaves was left behind. In contrast, the swamp was populated by various unseen chirps and croaks that would fall silent as Kari, Elwin and Blue passed by. The mud would occasionally belch and burp with indigestion, releasing hot, smelly gases, agitated by the sun’s heat.

A pervasive mist carrying the smell of mould hung in the air, it was invisible at first, but its presence quickly became undeniable as they travelled deeper and deeper into the uncharted swamp. The fog gradually grew thicker and thicker and soon, even the sun’s golden light faded to a pale grey glow through the haze. Had it not been for Blue’s unshakeable sense of direction, it would have been far too easy to accidentally step off the overgrown path and wind up horribly lost.

With the fog surrounding them, the swamp’s strange sounds were suddenly much more disconcerting, hidden from sight as they were. It was deeply unsettling.

Kari wrinkled his nose at the smells of the swamp, pungent and occasionally putrid. He had been through worse, though not much worse. Seeing the mist, he instantly knew that the smell would linger on his robes for weeks no matter how much he washed them.

It must’ve been the late afternoon when Kari suddenly stopped walking along the trail. It took Elwin a few steps before coming to a stop himself, hesitating to take even one more step with Kari by his side, in case his partner became lost in the fog for good.

“What is it?” the elf asked.

Kari cleared the fog between them with his Gift.

“There’s something in the water… that way.” He said, pointing with his right hand, slightly off the path ahead. The seasoned traveller was unusually pale.

“… And? What is it? Is it dangerous?” Elwin asked. The elf could only see fog.

“I can’t make anything out.” Blue notified them.

Kari’s eyes were distant.

Was he… afraid? Elwin dared to wonder. He had never seen Kari afraid, not even with the full might of the Intercessor bearing down upon them.

“It's huge, gigantic. I don’t even know what body part I’m feeling, but it's not even close to the whole thing.” Kari whispered.

“What is it? An alligator?” Blue asked.

“I don’t think you understand… it’s not just some animal. The thing’s size is completely absurd!”

A tingle crawled down Elwin’s spine, all the way from the top of his neck to his bottom.

“And its… alive?” Blue asked, trying to puzzle together the identity of this beast.

“It’s protected by Universal Law… so what do you think?” Kari whispered sarcastically with a tinge of irritated stress in his voice.

“Describe its shape.”

“I don’t know. I think I can feel its head… it’s misshapen. I think it has scales. It’s hard to tell much detail at this distance.”

“Is there a way around it?” Elwin asked.

“No. This is the only path. But it’s in the water. Let’s be quiet, with luck it may not notice us.” Blue answered.

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Kari used his stasis bracelet to conceal the three of them in his cloak of invisibility.

As they approached along the path towards the monster that Kari had described, Elwin could sense the presence of something evil. There was no other way for the elf to describe the sensation. His heart pounded in his ears.

Kari gestured wordlessly to their right, indicating with his index finger where he felt the monster with his Gift.

Following Kari’s finger through the fog, Elwin could see several shapes glowing purple. He guessed that they must’ve been the same flowers that could be seen blooming from the vines strewn all over the swamp.

Mercifully, Elwin couldn’t make out anything else of Kari’s monster, leaving its misshapen form to the imagination.

They had made it around twenty paces past the eerie glowing patch when there came another disturbance, this time from the path ahead of them. Kari wordlessly grabbed Elwin’s wrist to keep the elf from moving, sending a frightened shock down his entire body.

“What is it?” Elwin asked in a whisper.

“Wait,” Kari whispered back.

Heavy footsteps drew closer and at pace. Based on how the earth moved under their feet, it was a humanoid, fleeing from something. The sound of desperate panting soon reached their ears.

“… Oh sweet Catherine’s soul protect me. Protect me!”

Through the fog, only the faintest of dark outlines could be seen of someone running by without stopping. Although Kari was curious, he didn’t dare to clear the fog between them even slightly, lest their presence was noticed.

“It must be an Angel.” Blue deduced.

Elwin was taken aback. An Angel? In such a dishevelled state? He wondered.

Even when the Angels had been attacked without warning by the mystifying forces of the Ellenian forest, they had stumbled at first, but quickly regained their composure and put up fierce resistance. It was hard to imagine one of their number in such an unrecognisably pitiful, snivelling state.

But from further ahead, there came a deafeningly loud, blood-curdling cry, echoing through the mist, rebounding from all its unseen surfaces. The shriek sounded almost humanoid, but with a deeper, more bestial undertone.

“That was close,” Kari said in warning. He was getting ready for a fight.

“What was that?” Elwin asked, the colour leaving his cheeks.

The Angel ran past the hidden trio in a breathless frenzy.

Elwin found that his hand was raised, almost as if to warn the man from running any further. But it was too late to do anything.

There was another roar, this time from much closer. Right from where Kari professed the first monster to be.

Sure enough, there soon came a great splashing and rumbling. The ground shook beneath their feet as something smashed into it. And, with a final scream that was cut abruptly short, the escaping Angel was snatched up in an instant.

Elwin could feel the holes in the man’s body, punctured like a delicate petal blown onto stormy brambles.

One look at the motionless Kari and Elwin knew it for certain.

The Angel was dead.

“What are you two doing?! Get us out of here while that thing is distracted!” Blue hissed.

Kari and Elwin were happy to oblige, coming to their senses and making their way carefully along the path.

It had taken a tortuous span, but Kari declared that he could no longer sense any monsters. It was safe once more.

Elwin let out a breath that he hadn’t even known he had been holding.

“… Please tell me we can avoid spending the night here,” Elwin moaned amidst the croaking, chirping and bubbling of the swamp.

“Let me remind you that our detour was your idea.” Blue chided him. “Unfortunately, it will take at least 16 hours to get through the swamp, without accounting for having to slow down because of poor visibility… Unless you don’t mind joining the likes of our late friend back there?”

As night was falling, the trio began to notice warm orange lights bobbing in the darkness ahead of them.

Once again, all three of them were put on edge.

“Will-o-wisps?” Elwin wondered. Yet on further investigation, they were just torches.

“Who lit these?” Kari asked. Knowing the fate of General Saxus and his missing battalion, he became incredibly uneasy.

“Be careful. I’m not detecting any signals, but there could be Angels nearby.” Blue warned them.

The trio continued onwards, more slowly than before, following the trail of lit torches. The quiet squelching of their shoes through the muck seemed deafeningly loud.

Though it was likely that they were being led into a trap, it was obvious that they would not be able to rest without more information on enemies who could be close by.

Something about the lights ahead was different.

They stepped onto the edge of a clearing. A ring of torches marked the perimeter. At the centre of the clearing was a large table, and faint lights flickered from candles. Seated around the table were familiar metallic shapes. And at the head of the table…

“Hey, Kari…” Elwin said.

“Shh!” Kari shushed, focusing intently on the scene before them.

“Kari…I can’t ‘see’ the vines with my Gift anymore.”

They had been so intently focused that they had not noticed the change. The thick, snake-like vines all throughout the swamp had at some point become impermeable, much like Blue’s Temple.

Universal Law. Any entity occupied by a soul was unable to be directly manipulated by a Gift or any other magical phenomenon.

Before they could do anything else, the figure at the head of the table stirred, and a clear voice rang out.

“Why do you stand on the threshold, O weary travellers? Come on in and take a seat. Make yourselves comfortable.”

The lighting was dim and unreliable, especially given the unrelenting fog and the distance, but Blue had finally pieced together an image.

“… Do as she says,” Blue said quietly.

Kari and Elwin exchanged a nervous look. Elwin gulped, the sound loud in his ears.

“Gentlemen, please, do not be rude and welcome our guests properly.” The sultry voice said.

The armour-clad Angels stirred, shambled into an upright standing position, and turned towards the trio. Two of them pulled back the chairs closest to Kari and Elwin. Something was clearly wrong with them. That much was obvious.

Yet, the boys had no choice but to step forward on shaky legs. Time stretched out, each step an eternity on the walk to the close end of the table where empty seats awaited.

As they approached, Kari and Elwin noted long slender shapes in the mud, trailing away from the silent Angels. Vines, puppeteering corpses.

Even without this knowledge, Kari could tell the soldiers were already dead. Much like the corpse in Kajesh. Turning to sit down in the chair, Kari glimpsed Elwin’s ghost-white face.

“Ahem. Thank you.” Kari managed to say in a steady voice as he sat down, hands shaking.

“Mmm.” Intoned their host welcomingly.

Despite his every instinct telling him to flee, Elwin followed Kari’s lead… as did the corpses, settling into their cold wooden chairs.

“Who might we have the honour of sharing a table with? It’s a bit far to see your face.” Elwin squeaked out in an unconvincing voice.

At once, their chairs were suddenly pulled towards the head of the table at a frightening speed. Elwin couldn’t help himself from bumping into the terribly cold armour worn by the corpses along the way, as he held onto the chair for dear life.

They came to a sudden stop at the head of the table, all too close for comfort with their unknown host. Behind them, vines placed everything back in order, even taking the effort to wipe spots black mud off wherever they had landed.

“Is this better?” She asked coyly.