"I'm telling you..."
"This can be so dangerous..."
"We have to come up with a plan if that thing appeared again."
When Ash regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a soft, unfamiliar floor. His eyes fluttered open, then suddenly widened as if he was shocked.
"What the hell was that?!" he muttered aloud, unaware of the two pairs of eyes now locked onto him in silence.
Aeris broke the silence first.
"Oh! You woke up, Ash!"
Ash looked at him, exhaustion etched deep into his features. Ash didn't say anything afterward, he just examined the room they were in.
He found himself in an old wooden room, its walls marked with scratches and signs of being inhabited. A single bed, where he now lay, stood beside a small table, accompanied by a lone chair and a window above.
There was something on the table that Aeris was holding and examining it. An unfolded sheet of wide paper marked with four distinct symbols, each labeled with a different letter.
It was a map.
Ash finally shifted his look toward the third traveler in the room.
"Yoo! Ash! Glad to see you up." The traveler said with a calm smile on his face.
Before Ash could piece together what had happened, Aeris set the map down on the table and stood up.
"Ash, let me introduce to you," Aeris said with a declaring intonation. Of course with his usual smile running across his face. Ash didn't name him smiley for nothing.
"He is Nyro, the Assassin Traveler."
Standing near the corner of the room was the third traveler, Nyro.
With twin daggers sheathed at his sides, he radiated a calm but dangerous aura. His dark violet hair fell messily over sharp eyes, and his attire was an odd blend of casual streetwear and stealth: bandages wrapped around his arms and scarf-like layers draped loosely over his shoulders, giving him the look of someone born to vanish into shadows.
Ash might have feared him, if only his face held the kind of softness he distrusted. Luckily, Nyro's expression lacked that gentle look.
"Nyro brought you to the river after you finished off the Fangbanes. He told me you were on the verge of death, and that you collapsed after... torturing them." Aeris said, his only intention was to make sure Ash is ok.
"Yes, that's what happened." Ash said, looking at Nyro with a smile. "So, I suppose that sword was yours, Nyro." That sword was what pulled Ash away from death.
Nyro stepped forward and picked up the map from the table.
"It isn't mine. It was just the same sword as Aeris's. I got it from a dead warrior." Nyro said, his voice was barely heard. A hint of sorrow was clear in his tone.
Ash nodded and rose to his feet. Like Nyro, he approached the map.
Nyro handed the map to Aeris, who was seated in the chair. Aeris stood once more and unfolded the map across the table.
Aeris in the middle, Ash on his left, and Nyro on his right. The three of them studied the map for sometime until they located where they currently are.
Aeris, being in the middle, broke the silence, again.
"From what I see, we are currently... here!" Aeris pointed his finger to the lower section of the map with a slight shift to the right.
They were in the eastern south section of the area labeled on the map.
"This area we are in is the Fluffbane forest," Aeris said, tracing on the map an irregular lines that marked the forest. "That is the river, and the other side is another monster territory."
The other side of the river was heading toward the southern area.
"Ash, Nyro, you see that area?!" Ash and Nyro narrowed their gazes. Upon seeing that area, they fell in utter shock.
"That castle is our only hope," Said Aeris while looking at both of them. "Our destination would be that castle." Aeris pointed on the castle which resided on the farthest point on map, The northern area.
Ash and Nyro nodded. Ash prepared his dark gauntlets and the sword Nyro gave him. Nyro unsheathed his daggers which were also violet and evoked darkness. Aeris prepared his smile and ran his fingers through his blueish hair before holding his sword.
The trio are now ready.
Aeris pushed the door of the small house open and stepped outside, Ash and Nyro followed.
Aeris, giving the potential of the leader, walked with a steady pace along the river. Ash and Nyro behind.
"So, did you really encounter that... Vile... Um...?" Nyro Asked.
"Vilewarren, The Hollowbane. Yes, I encountered him." Ash said with a hint of terror in his words.
Nyro was surprised as he didn't encounter anything rather than the Fluffbanes and the Fangbanes, but a Fluffbane boss? That's unbelievable.
"So you really encountered him! How did he look like?" Nyro said. The fact that Nyro personalized the Vilewarren as (He) and not (It) tells how much he is afraid of him.
Ash paused for a moment, shaping the fierce figure of the Vilewarren in his head. With a slight open of his mouth, Ash told Nyro the appearance of the Strongest Hollowbane, the Vilewarren.
With each detail Ash said about the Vilewarren, Nyro was getting shocked even more.
"I-it's like he is a demon in a huge rabbit's form!" Nyro said, his words hardly left his mouth.
"Indeed, he is." Ash nodded in approval.
As they walked along the river, Aeris stopped while holding the map in his hands. They... came across a body, ferociously devoured in four quarters.
Nyro stopped after he realized the massacre on the ground in front of him. His face was a mix of horror and shock.
Ash was the only one who didn't stop and kept walking past the devoured corpse of Elarion Thayr.
"Keep walking, you two. We don't have all time before he comes... again." Ash said. His words felt heavy on him.
Aeris and Nyro followed. Aeris dropped his gaze lower, Nyro asked Ash instantly.
"Ash, w-was that the traveler who died? The traveler whom the system announced?"
"Yes, he is." Ash said without rotating his gaze which was locked only on the road in front of him.
"He died in front of my eyes. I saw him die and couldn't do anything, He..." Ash paused, clinching hi fists so hard it bled. "The Vilewarren... killed him in front of me."
Nyro was shocked, several shivers ran through his corpse. His gaze was locked on Ash's clinched fist which had reeked blood.
Aeris, who walked faster to keep his leader potential, suddenly stopped and said:
"Speaking of the Vilewarren... I think... one of his subordinates wants to say hello to us!"
Both Ash and Nyro looked ahead instantly. They saw a familiar figure, similar to... the Vilewarren himself.
But it was shorter! It's fur wasn't grey and black like the Vilewarren, it was fully white. With two horns instead of four and two eyes instead of three.
Still it was from the Hollowbanes league, the trio prepared for the clash but they waited until the abomination came closer to see his panel.
Eventually, the panel shimmered on top of it.
[Hollowbane]
[Level: 10]