Cat Got Your Tongue

Watching the woman, Iseul put the girl down now that the danger had passed.

"Look, Mister!" The girl pulled on Iseul's leg. "It's the hero, lady!"

This caught Iseul's attention. "Hero? Where have I heard that name before…"

Dropping from the rooftop, the woman walked past Iseul. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she grabbed her spear. Pressing a foot into the Lesser Splitjaw's neck, she pulled her spear free.

Sticking her tongue out in disdain upon seeing all the Splitjaw blood on her spear. "Are you two ok?" Crouching, she attempted to wipe the blood off using the Splitjaw's fur.

Running up to the hero, the girl jumped up and down. "Thank you, miss, you saved us."

Unable to dismiss the girl's bubbly attitude, the lady patted the girl's head. "I only helped." Smiling at Iseul, she stood up. "I get the feeling he wouldn't have let these creatures lay a finger on you."

The orange aura around Iseul began to shimmer. As the beasts had been slain, Hunter's Resolve ended.

Dropping to one knee, the pain from Iseul's shoulder came fully back to him. Gritting his teeth, Iseul tried to stand up.

Alarmed by this, the woman put a hand on Iseul's shoulder. "Don't try and stand, let me help you with this."

Turning away, Iseul nodded.

Stabbing her spear into the ground, the woman quickly rubbed her hands together. "I'm still figuring out how this works, so give me a second." After a few moments, mana began to twist around her fingers, water began to form. Flowing between her fingers, she held her hands against Iseul's shoulder. His skin began to glow as the healing magic got to work.

"Just so you know, I don't have much practise with healing or really magic at all, so this could take me a second." Waiting for Iseul to respond, she soon realised he wasn't going to. "What's up? Cat got your tongue?"

Putting a finger up to his lips, Iseul tapped them before shaking his head.

"Ohh, I see... I'm Coraline. It's nice to meet another human, I haven't seen one since I woke up."

"Iseul!"

Iseul and Coraline turned to see Rio appear from the street.

"As I had finally found a stall that would serve me, I heard screams coming from the other side of the square, some beasts had appeared. They were just attacking anything that moved." Still panting, Rio started rattling off what he had just experienced. "I tried to defend the people, but they just started cutting through them like they were nothing. I managed to kill one, then they all ran here-" Seeing the wound on Iseul's shoulder, Rio dropped his bloody sword as he ran up to them. "What happened to your shoulder!"

Crouching down to Iseul's ear, Coraline whispered to him. "A friend of yours? He's very hyperactive."

Smiling to himself, Iseul nodded.

"Your friend is going to be fine, I'm just trying to heal his wound."

Rio knelt down next to Iseul. "Sorry, I was keeping a hold of your stuff. You wouldn't have been hit like that if you had your armour."

With his free hand, Iseul punched Rio's shoulder.

For a moment, the two friends stared at each other.

Without saying a word, Rio stood up. "Ok, ok, Iseul you win. I'll stop." Looking at the Splitjaw corpses. Rio kicked the closest one. "So, spear lady, do you know what's up with these beasts?"

"My name isn't spear lady, it's Coraline." She fumed. "And I'm not quite sure myself. The Elf queen kept mentioning something about a dungeon transporting beasts from someplace called the Wilds?"

"You've met Faylea?"

"Yeah, that's her name. You know her?"

"Not personally, but a friend of ours does." Rio lightly shrugged. Noticing the small girl hiding behind Coraline, Rio crouched down. "Hey kid, did you get caught up in this?"

Seeing the girl hide further behind Coraline, Rio stood up. "Who's the girl?"

"Not sure." The water around Caroline's hands dissipated, as she pulled her hands back from Iseul's shoulder. "Iseul was protecting her from the Splitjaws when I got here. How does your arm feel?"

Flexing his arm, Iseul nodded. Running his fingers over where the wound was, he couldn't feel anything.

Standing, Coraline picked her spear up. She patted the girl's head. "We should find this girl's parents."

Iseul and Rio looked at each other before nodding.

"Good idea, we should also find Savina and the elf queen. I'm sure they'll want to hear about this, that is, if they haven't already."

~~

Within the Elven throne room, Faylea stared at the woman standing before her.

The Elven Queen could not believe her eyes. "You're-" Putting a hand to her mouth, Faylea regained her composure. Looking at the five elders, Faylea put her hands together. "I believe we are due for a break. We can continue this conversion later."

Looking at the new arrivals, the first elder to speak bowed. "As you wish, my lady."

Savina and Filiea stepped out of the way to make room for the old people.

Hearing the door close behind her, Savina couldn't bring herself to look at Faylea again. "Go on then." She spat. "Gloat about how Vesh was able to kill me. How she tore through my own castle and slew me in my own throne room. I bet you were so happy to hear about that, about just how big of a screw-up I am."

Faylea was quiet as Savina spoke. "Why would I… I see you're still holding onto old grudges. That was always your worst trait."

Gritting her teeth. Savina turned to look at Faylea, only to find her standing in front of her.

"What, if you're going to say something, go and say it."

Faylea spoke slowly, as if she was carefully picking each word. "You look… much younger than when we last met."

"...what's it to you?"

As Faylea moved closer, Savina clenched her fists.

Putting her arms around Savina, Faylea pulled the girl into a hug.

"How, how are you here?" Faylea's voice quivered. Putting her ego aside, Savina turned her head to look Faylea in the eye. The Queen of the Elves' eyes were running with tears. "I saw your body, the Demon King and I, we there at your funeral."

"...My funeral." The words felt funny in Savina's mouth. This time, Savina put her own arms around Faylea.

The two hugged each other for what felt like minutes until a voice spoke up.

Filiea's voice came from behind Savina. "I would hate to break up your reunion, but sister. I believe we could use Savina's help."

Letting go of Savina, Faylea turned to her sister. "Always so busy, Filiea." Whipping her cheeks with the sleeve of her silk dress, Faylea regained her composure. "Our niece has returned from the dead, and you only want to talk business."

"From what I've heard." Swallowing, Savina gestured to the door. "You seem to be in trouble."

Faylea tutted. "Not you too." Taking a step back, Faylea sighed. "Ok, tell me one thing. Savina, how are you here with us?"

Looking down, Savina smiled. "We have the gods to thank for that."

"The gods?"

"After…" Looking away, Savina quietly spoke. "After Vesh killed me, I woke up to see a Goddess. The Goddess of Wisdom, Nama. She brought me back as her Champion"

"I thought I felt something off about you, Savina." Faylea butted into the conversation. "It is faint, but a small amount of divine energy has been spliced into your soul. I imagine that is how the Gods are able to bring the dead back to life."

"Hmm." Filiea nodded. "Well, with that solved. I guess I should tell you about our, problem. Tell me, Savina, what do you know about the Qliphoth."

"The Qliphoth? I know that it resides within Hell and that it is the dark sister of the Yggdrasil that resides within the Divine Realm?" Confused, Savina looked at Faylea and then back to Filiea. "Why are you asking me this, exactly?"

"Do you know what a cutting is, Savina?"

"You, you mean when you cut someone?"

Rolling her eyes, Filiea sighed. "You truly never had a single care for horticulture, did you. A cutting is when you take a small piece of a plant. You may then use the cut piece to grow a copy of the first plant."

"Sister please." Faylea tapped her staff on Savina's shoulder. "You're only confusing her."

"Ok fine. My inner circle and I believe that we are being attacked by Deauri."

Hearing this, Savina shook her head. "That cannot be true, why would they try and attack the Eastern Oaks? Your people have never been at war with the inhabitants of Deauri."

"That's not completely true," Faylea muttered. "As you know, after the Great Schism that drove the Demons from their original continent. Countless Demons were displaced from their homes, making the perilous journey south. They reached the northern shores of Olozia. At the time this land was a barren wasteland of ice and snow, the kingdoms of the time had no need for it, so they allowed the Demons to take ownership of it. Over time, the kingdom of Deauri was created."

"And this has to do with current day Deauri how?"

"I'm getting to that part." Faylea snapped. "During their colonization of the cold landscape, they came across our ancestors, they found the Eastern Oaks… No mortal could say for certain, whether it was because of greed, desperation or something worse, the Demons tried to take over the Eastern Oaks. I will skip over the events that happened here and go straight to the point. They were gifted a weapon of divine power by their gods."

"The Demon Lords," Savina muttered.

"Yes, it was given to them by the strongest out of the Greater Demon Lords, one who is still in power today. Even after all this time. Suleer, the Greater Demon Lord of Cultivation.

"I know that name," Savina remarked. "Out of the twenty Demon Lords and five Greater Demon Lords, Suleer is one of the seven Demon Lords not contracted with the Demon King. I never realised he was the strongest of the Demon Lords."

"Of course, Suleer is the strongest Demon Lord." Faylea tutted at Savina's lack of knowledge. "It is due to how Suleer is contracted directly with the Qliphoth, that is why he never had the need to contract with the Demon King."

Feeling Faylea watching her, Filiea cleared her throat. "Sorry, as you were saying."

"Suleer bestowed upon them a cutting from the Qliphoth, and with this cutting. They planted it in the Eastern Oaks. For a long time our ancestors were powerless to stop it. Unable to defeat the demonic tree, once a day they had to sacrifice one Elf to the tree... to appease its hunger"

Faylea fell quiet.

"I'm certain I already know what, but, what happened to the Elves that were sacrificed to the Qliphoth?"

Putting a hand on her sister's shoulder, Filiea said it for her.

"The Qliphoth burrowed its roots directly into their bodies, first it drained their mana, and when that ran dry. Then it drained their soul."