I forced myself to wake up and we went through our usual morning routine of breakfast and preparation. During all that, I told Cellestra about my sighting in the middle of the night.

“Think it’s a demon?” She asked.

“I would assume so. I’ve never seen one in my life, but if I am to believe the stories about them, its description would fit.”

“If that’s the case, we better hurry and make our way to the border.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

We quickly finished up, packed, and left as soon as we were ready. Then, about ten minutes later, I spotted a creature of the same kind as before flying in from the north. Again, it circled overhead for a few seconds before flying off from whence it came.

“That can’t be good,” Cellestra said.

“I don’t like the fact that it came from where we are headed. I have the feeling something is waiting for us.”

“My thoughts exactly,” The elf replied.

We didn’t have to wait long before we found out where the bat-like creature came from. After several minutes of running, I noticed a small camp in the distance and approached it until the elf could see exactly what it was too. It was nothing more than two tents, two horses, and the giant bat-like creature. I now noticed that it was standing up like a quadrupedal creature, its two large wings folded on its back.

“What do we do?” I asked Cellestra.

“The elf was scratching her head as I asked the question. “Something doesn’t add up here.”

“Now that you mention it,” I said as I came to a halt. “You may be right.” I took a moment and recounted the situation we were facing. “Demons close to Len Asari and in small numbers. That bat creature is obviously some kind of scout, and I’m going to assume whoever is here knows we were coming this way. Why didn’t they flee?”

“Do you want to go up to them and ask?” The elf suggested. “Do you speak demonic?”

“I do, and I think it can’t hurt to do just that. If they were hostile, it would make no sense for them to stay here.”

The elf nodded and I started running once again.

“Or they are extremely confident they can beat me, but I think that’s a dangerous assumption if you go by the logic that I am the first of my kind in this world. Though, I don’t know if that’s a given.”

“Well,” Cellestra said. “If they use horses, there’s no way they will be able to keep up with your speed, right?”

“Which is why I’m surprised they remained. Oh well, let’s see for ourselves what’s going on.”

As I came closer to the small camp, I noticed a large black patch in the grass near the horizon. I had no idea what it was, but it wasn’t one of my immediate concerns.

I slowed down as I neared the camp, just in time to see two creatures emerge from the two tents. One of them was a male elf with long black hair and simple, light clothing in the form of long green robes. He also had a silver medallion with the engraving of a book on his chest.

The other creature was something I’d not personally seen before.

I had heard stories about succubi. To see one in the flesh, however, felt completely different than I expected. She wasn’t wearing much, which only confirmed the stories about them being masterful temptresses. Stories went around where people would fall in love with them at first sight, but when I looked at her, I felt nothing.

She had long, dark blonde hair, two small horns sticking out from her forehead, a tail that danced behind her, two large bat-like wings which protruded from her shoulder blades, and dark red skin. A small smile was on her lips, which confused me.

I slowly walked up to both of them until I was a few yards away. I thought it was more than enough of a safe distance, but I had my weapon at the ready, nonetheless.

The bat creature next to one of the tents seemed uninterested in my presence, as were the horses, which further confused me.

“Greetings,” The female spoke in perfect Elven. I could see Cellestra frown as she, too, understood what was said.

“Hello,” I replied. Cellestra, confused as she was, still managed to say the same.

Everything about this odd meeting made me feel like these two people before me were non-hostile, but I couldn’t get complacent. They eyed me up and down, taking in the details about this body. If anything, it confirmed they hadn’t seen anything like me before, but they didn’t seem to be fazed, at all.

“An elf, and a half-elf, half-spider. How peculiar...” The succubus thought aloud.

“Ahem,” The male said after clearing his throat.

“Oh my. Where are my manners?” The female continued. “The name’s Gwyn. This here is my… companion, Vyath.”

“Greetings,” The male elf said politely as he took a small bow.

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Definitely not hostile.

“Kealyna,” I said. “Behind me is Cellestra. The half-spider thing,” I continued. “Is a long story. I’m more interested to know what you two are doing in what I was told is hostile territory.”

“Hostile territory?” The succubus said as her lips curled into a smile. “My dear, I am afraid you are mistaken. We, of the Caidrean blood, have recently annexed this territory. If anything, that makes it friendly.”

“Uhhh...” I let out.

“You don’t know the Caidrean blood?” Vyath asked. “Wait. You’re not from around here at all, are you?”

I shook my head. “We are on our way to Len Asari to… visit my parents. Don’t hesitate to explain, though. We don’t quite know how things work here. If you’d be so kind...”

I wasn’t entirely lying when I said we’d visit my parents.

“Well,” Vyath started. “How much do you know?”

“I have been told Len Asari borders two demon provinces, one friendly with the elves and one hostile.”

There was no point lying about this. I already had an idea of where this was headed.

The male elf nodded. “It should come as no surprise that the Caidrean blood are the ones allied to us. That, over there,” – he pointed to the black patch in the grass a few hundred yards out. – “Is the remnant of the last bastion of opposition we faced in this area. It’s safe to say the entire province has become safer after we wiped them out.”

His words made me think. I got the odd feeling that Muck already knew of this.

“When did that happen?” I asked without thinking.

“Few weeks ago,” Gwyn replied. “Vyath and I are one of the teams monitoring the area for anything suspicious.”

I reckoned that the information should have reached Muck by now. Apparently, it hadn’t quite reached the temple in Edhil yet. I shoved it aside as it didn’t matter much anymore.

“Speaking of suspicious,” The succubus continued. “My pet spotted something out of the ordinary. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a certain red beam of light, would you?”

Crap. it would seem she knows about the obelisk.

“I saw it happen when we were in the area and decided to high-tail it out of there. Do you have any idea what that could have been?” I asked.

“I have no idea. I don’t recall hearing of anything like it, but this information will certainly have to be relayed to command. You say you’re traveling to Len Asari, right? Mind if we join you?”

I turned my head to Cellestra.

“I don’t mind,” She said softly.

“We’re fine with it,” I said as I turned back to the succubus and elf. “I just have another question.”

“Let’s hear it,” Vyath said.

“I’d like to know, is there a temple dedicated to Elysa nearby?”

“Why?” He asked, clearly confused.

“I’d like to say a prayer to her there sometime soon,” I lied. The truth was that I wanted to talk to the goddess, but I wasn’t entirely certain yet if I could tell them.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you then. The nearest temple to our goddess is in a village a bit beyond the wall.”

“Wall?” I asked.

“The border wall around Len Asari,” Vyath said.

“I see.”

“Anyway,” Gwyn said. “Let’s start packing. The wall isn’t far from here. We can tell you a few more things on the way there if you’d like.”

“That’d be great,” Cellestra said warmly.

I nodded. It seemed Cellestra was trusting of the people before me. Her confidence made me feel more at ease.

The succubus eyed me from top to the ends of my legs once more. “While we’re going there, I’d love to hear your story as well. I just love long and interesting stories.”

The smile on her lips and the excitement in her eyes made me chuckle. In my eyes, it was a sign that I could trust her and the elven man. “I’m afraid I can’t tell everything yet. Maybe later?.”

“Awww,” The succubus pouted. “I was really looking forward to it.”

“Let’s see how things turn out first. If all goes well, I might tell you.”

I felt bad about using Gwyn’s excitement against her, in order to secure ourselves safe passage into the elven lands. If the other elves were as accepting of me as these two, things might just go easier than expected.

My heart raced at the thought of getting closer to my parents. Hopefully, I'd see them soon.