“Did you find him?” Hamton asked Volzen, still searching for Voldar himself.

  “No...” Volzen was on his way to exit the forest.

  “Where are you going? We need to find Voldar.” Hamton looked at Volzen.

  Volzen completely ignored him and went on his way. After a few minutes of searching in vain, Hamton proceeded to exit the forest.

  The Nobles had gathered in front of the entrance of the Great Forest. Hamton joined them. He couldn’t control his rage and let it out at Volzen.

  “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU LORD VOLZEN?!”

  Everyone seemed to be surprised at his outburst.

  “What’s going on?” Belzi asked.

  “OH HE DIDN’T TELL YOU GUYS DID HE?! VOLDAR WENT INSIDE THE FOREST, CHASING A PERSON AND WE CAN’T FIND HIM NOW! BUT LORD VOLZEN WON’T EVEN PUT THE MINIMUM EFFORT NEEDED TO FIND HIM!!”

  The nobles looked at Volzen. They were surprised at his behaviour.

  “Listen Hamton....” Volzen stated calmly. “Voldar has always been a weak boy with no power whatsoever. He could make no friends, he would spend his time reading those damned books. Something bad was destined to happen to him sooner or later.”

  “He is your son, Lord Volzen....” Ryoner interrupted.

  Volzen took a quick glance at everyone. They seemed to be disturbed by his actions.

  “Even though I didn’t like him, I did search for him in the first section.... But I couldn’t find him. It was his fault in the first place. He should suffer the consequences. And Hamton, it would be better if you calm down. A Noble shouldn’t behave in such a manner.”

  Hamton was about to say something, when suddenly a bright light covered the entire Soren region. The light was coming from the forest. Even the citizens came out of their houses to view this mysterious phenomenon.

  In the meantime, Azoth joined the other nobles. He was unaware of the situation. As the light disappeared, Azoth looked at Lizle and innocently asked her about Voldar. Lizle took quick glance at Volzen and told Azoth to return to the mansion. Azoth knew something had happened but he wasn’t brave enough to question his mother. He slowly walked back towards one of the carriages.

  “That light, it must be a blessing.” Hamton’s face lit up.

  “It might be Voldar...” Ryoner said hesitantly.

  “Might be...... But don’t forget, many explorers camp in the forest instead of coming back. It could’ve been one of them too.” Volzen countered.

  Lizle was about to say something, when she saw Azoth approaching her.

  “Didn’t I tell you to go back?” Lizle questioned him in a stern voice.

  “The soldiers have disappeared, mother.” Azoth answered.

  Now, the nobles were puzzled. They didn’t understand what was going on. Lights flashing, soldiers disappearing, the entire investigation was in a mess.

  After a moment of silence, Belzi made a suggestion. “Lord Volzen, Lady Lizle, why don’t you look into the soldiers’ disappearance? In the meantime we will search for Voldar.”

  Azoth’s face became shadowed with anxiety, as soon as he heard the phrase, ‘search for Voldar’. He wanted to ask his mother about him, so badly. But he refrained from doing so. Afterall, he had no say in this matter. He was just a child.

  After an hour or two, the nobles regrouped at the city square. Everyone had a disturbed look on their faces.

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  “Did you find him?” Lizle started the conversation.

  “No....” Hamton answered with a saddened face.

  Azoth already had a horrified look on his face. After hearing Hamton’s answer, it looked like he would break down.

  “What did you guys find?” asked Belzi.

  “All of our soldiers are dead. We found their bodies, charred, and piled up, in a small alley.” Lizle looked at Belzi.

  “Did he see the bodies?” Belzi pointed towards Azoth.

  “He didn’t get a good look.... I covered his eyes as soon as we saw the corpses.” Lizle assured her.

  The nobles knew something was wrong. They had to get to the bottom of this.

  “What’s that?” Ryoner looked up at one of the buildings. A black flame was slowly descending down. He pointed towards the flame. A huge ball of water gathered itself at his fingertip. He shot it towards the descending flame. The black flame disappeared. Instead, a silhouette of a woman was seen, falling down from the top of the building. The nobles rushed towards that building. When they reached their destination, they saw a woman, cloaked in black, covering her face with a veil. She was continuously mumbling something.

  “Who are you?” Lizle asked, slowly approaching her.

  “Wait Lady Lizle...” Hamton stopped her.

  “It’s her..... Voldar was chasing her.”

  The woman immediately lifted her veil, revealing her hideous face and that disgusting smile.

  The nobles backed away. Each of them were ready to attack the creature at the first sign of aggression. Even Azoth was ready to fight her. The creature gave out an ear-shattering scream and the building in front of them, was covered in black flames. The nobles heard the terrified screams and cries of the residents. They attacked the creature. A mixture of five elements made their way towards her. But she was nimble and her cloak deflected the spiritiz attacks. Belzi found a perfect chance and trapped her inside a huge rock. Then, she created a small opening inside the rock. Ryoner summoned a barrage of flame spears and directed them through the opening. The other followed Ryoner and summoned spiritiz spears of their respective elements. A chain of attacks went inside the rock. It was impossible for the creature to survive this. After all, the nobles were seventh grade spiritiz users. But to their surprise, the rock cracked open, and the creature came out of it, missing an arm. She had withstood the seventh grade attacks. The nobles realised that she was no ordinary creature. She was an Apostle level threat. The creature was enraged by the flurry of attacks. She charged towards the nobles. Her movements were quick. Any normal spiritiz user wouldn’t have been able to follow her movements. But the nobles were ex-Apostles. They were trained in harsh conditions. Their senses were sharper than the other spiritiz users. The nobles dodged the attacks of the creature efficiently and made a coordinated attack on her. The creature was trying her best, not to get caught up in the attacks. Her strange cloak which protected her, had withered. Having no choice, she made a calculated move. She set her sights upon Azoth. She mustered up her energy and dashed past the nobles. Her bony fingers, grabbed Azoth’s brown hair, and she ran as fast as she could, dragging the boy behind her.

  Everyone had named Azoth, a prodigy, because he could use grade three spiritiz spells just by looking at them once, even though he was just a grade one spiritiz user. But he had a flaw. He was unable to materialize his element. He could just shape raw spiritiz energy.

  Azoth used all the spells he knew, on the creature dragging him. But without the elemental boost, his damage was insufficient. The nobles chased behind the creature. But they were unable to attack her, since any misdirected attack could hit Azoth. The citizens had no idea about what was going on but they were frightened by the cries and the shrieks. They stayed inside their house, hoping that they won’t find themselves in harm’s way.

  Azoth’s spiritiz energy was almost over. He was so tired that he couldn’t even lift a finger. He somehow, managed to keep himself conscious. Finally, the creature came to a stop. She stopped right in front of River Hoson. The nobles caught up to the creature and surrounded her. She was trapped.

  “LET HIM GO!!” Lizle was furious.

  The creature seemed to enjoy her reaction. She lit up a black flame on her right palm and pointed it towards Azoth. Her face made a disgusting grin.

  “No..... Please....” Lizle got down on her knees. Her voice was shaking.

  The creature gave out a cry of amusement. At that moment, everything changed..... Azoth mustered up the last of his spiritiz energy and blasted the foul creature’s face off. Although the damage was not enough to kill her, she shrieked in pain and threw Azoth towards the river.

  SPLASH

  “NOOO!!!” Lizle cried out as she saw the current, pull Azoth downstream.

  In her fury, she summoned uncountable amount of wind bullets and unleashed them upon the creature. She screamed in pain as the bullets penetrated her. Black liquid gushed out of her wounds. As a last attempt, before perishing, the creature sent a gigantic fireball made up of black flames, towards the city. Then, she fell on the ground... Her body laid beside the river bank, lifeless.

  The beautiful metropolis of Soren, went up in flames. The black sparks spread out far and wide, eating everything that dared to stop them. Horrendous cries of the citizens woke up the quiet night.

  Lizle sat down beside the corpse of the creature, shedding tears for her son. Belzi tried to comfort her. The other nobles had no idea what to do. The entire Soren region was on the path of doom.