The night sky left no room for deep darkness. A giant copper-colored sphere hung so low, as if the Earth's gravity were pulling it to kiss the horizon. Its cratered surface emitted an intense orange glow, piercing through the thin layer of clouds and enveloping the forest in an unreal warmth.

  Tonight, the moon appeared closer to the Earth.

  The light not only illuminated but seemed to burn the foliage on the surrounding trees, turning the forest canopy into a silent sea of fire in shades of brick red and deep orange.

  In the air, thousands of glowing particles—whether lost fireflies or fallen leaf fragments—danced wildly, floating among the dark branches stretching out like bony fingers.

  Down below, the surface of the lake no longer looked like cold water. Its small ripples captured the reflection of the moon, turning the lake into a vessel holding molten gold. Every time the wind blew gently, the reflection trembled, breaking the light into sharp glimmers that competed with the sparkle in the sky. Silence reigned over the place, yet this magical light feast would stir any eye that looked.

  Not far from this natural grandeur, three people stood in soothing quiet.

  Someone approached them, an elf woman with features not too different from Meir'Dea. However, the woman had silver hair and wore clothes that looked more like thousands of strands of thread yet to be sewn. The threads were white, faintly also reflecting the luxurious skylight.

  “Neir’Va,” Meir'Dea greeted.

  “Meir'Dea,” replied the woman called Neir’Va. She saw two figures behind Meir’Dea. They looked disheveled. “Who are they?”

  “They are the ones who defeated The Ossuary Stalker.” Meir’Dea turned away, the two people behind her remained silent.

  “The problem in the forest is finally resolved.” Neir’Va gave a thin, forced smile. Unlike her fellow elves, who were quick to smile.

  “I want you to heal them,” Meir’Dea requested.

  “With pleasure, to the hero who saved the forest ecosystem.” The sentence sounded flat, like a template that had to be said to anyone who deserved it.

  Neir'Va moved gracefully to the edge of the lake, sitting in a position that seemed to stare directly at the moon. “Come here, who do I need to treat first?”

  Kars ordered Mira to come forward with a nod of his chin. That woman needed help first after receiving two entities that now inhabited her body.

  Meir'Dea sat leaning against a rock to Neir'Va's right. Mira sat on her left, and Kars followed on the far left.

  “The moon looks strange tonight,” Neir'Va began, appearing to be writing something in the air. “Does it have anything to do with your different eyes?”

  “Different?” Mira asked back, curious about what had happened to her eyes. Had her eyes changed, too? Panic set in, and she suddenly looked into the river water and saw what she meant.

  She touched it slowly with trembling hands, feeling every inch of the edge of her eye that had changed color. Mira turned to Kars, seeking an answer from him.

  “Something happened last night; she underwent an awakening,” Kars lied. He didn’t want the other two elves to know the truth. He had already told Mira that everything that happened last night must remain a secret.

  That's why Mira nodded. “Yes, I just remembered that last night was the awakening.”

  Neir'Va narrowed her eyes. “After the awakening, everything should return to normal.”

  “Why can you connect her eyes with the moon?” Kars asked suddenly.

  “Overnight, all the Intians scattered throughout this forest became... erratic. Animals came out outside of their normal hours of activity. Even the plants reacted abnormally.” As she spoke, Neir’Va rubbed her left arm, which glowed green after writing the spell on Mira’s forehead. The light moved to Mira, then scanned her from head to toe. “And now the moon looks closer.”

  “That's its closest orbit,” Kars replied without thinking. That was the only reasonable explanation, and he was grateful that the laws of nature and science in this world could still be used to cover up all the anomalous events that had occurred.

  Mira couldn't stay still. Her dangling legs couldn't stay still, swinging back and forth, creating a constant rhythm of small splashes. Her eyes moved restlessly, scanning every sight she could see.

  “The veins around your shoulders are tense,” said Neir'Va. Her voice was calm, like the flow of the lake at that moment. After her magic scan was complete, her long, slender fingers, their tips still glowing with a green aura, hovered directly above the large bruise on Mira's right arm, a souvenir from last night's shockwave.

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  “Of course they're tense! I was just used as a ping pong ball by... by the situation!” Mira almost blurted out “dragon.” She hissed as Neir'Va pressed a muscle knot. “And this place is too quiet! Don't you have any music? Or at least the sound of crows fighting? Something alive?”

  Kars smiled; at least Mira's chatty side was still intact. Though he sometimes had to cover his ears when Mira chattered nonstop during the journey.

  Neir'Va didn't respond with words. He simply placed his cool palm on Mira's forehead. Instantly, a wave of energy as cold as menthol flowed into Mira's head.

  Mira's mouth, still open to voice her next protest, suddenly closed. Her eyelids felt heavy. The legs that had been swinging slowly stopped.

  In Mira's mind, the roar of V'nyr and the chill of Er'ryn were muffled by the peaceful green mist. For the first time in twenty-four hours, Mira felt silence within her own skull.

  “Better,” Neir'Va muttered.

  She turned to Mira's chest. The girl reflexively covered her collar with her hand.

  “It's just a superficial scratch,” Mira said quickly, her voice slightly slurred due to the effects of the calming spell. “No need to check it.”

  Neir'Va stared into Mira's double eyes for two seconds. She knew her patient was lying, but chose not to press the issue at this moment.

  “Unbutton the top of your shirt. Just a little. I need to check your airway.”

  Reluctantly, Mira complied.

  Neir'Va placed her hand on Mira's collarbone. She didn't touch her skin directly. She closed her eyes, concentrating. The green light in her hand pulsed slowly, sending threads of energy inside.

  Neir'Va's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Beneath the fragile-looking human woman's skin, he sensed something dense and hot. It was as if there was a burning furnace behind her ribs, emitting a foreign energy that made Neir'Va's magic tremble with fear. The girl's heart was beating with two overlapping rhythms.

  Without opening her eyes, Neir'Va increased her magical flow. She did not try to heal the “furnace,” but rather strengthened the “walls” around it. Her green threads of energy wove around Mira's chest muscles and tissues, providing additional structural support so that the mortal body would not tear from within.

  Mira exhaled deeply, her shoulders slumping in relaxation as the tightness in her chest eased significantly.

  “You're done. Rest. Don't speak.” Neir’Va withdrew her hand, her green light fading.

  Neir’Va then went to her second patient.

  These two patients were very different. The first was like a raging fire that never wanted to go out. The second was like a chunk of glacier ice.

  Neir'Va was now at Kars' side. That man sat with his back perfectly straight. Kars had removed his outer robe, leaving behind a tunic that was torn at the sleeves from the previous battle, revealing Kars' healthy right shoulder. However, Neir'Va's focus was on the man's left arm.

  That arm was still wrapped in a makeshift bandage, stained with dirt and dried blood. Kars did not move, his gray eyes staring blankly at the lake in front of him.

  “May I?” asked Neir'Va, her hand reaching for the bandage.

  Kars nodded once. Briefly.

  Neir'Va began to unwrap the bandages carefully. The cloth was sticky in places. As Neir'Va pulled, she braced herself for a hiss of pain or at least a tightening of the jaw muscles.

  But there was nothing. Kars didn't even blink. His breathing remained flat and measured, as if the arm wasn't his.

  When the last layer came loose, Neir’Va saw a hand that looked like a dead, charred tree branch.

  From the fingertips to past the elbow, Kars' skin was jet black and gray, dry and cracked like soil in a long drought. His veins protruded, hard and dark, no longer filled with red blood, but with frozen remnants of Intian residue. There was no warmth emanating from it. The arm was as cold as stone in winter.

  Mira, who had been watching all along, looked utterly shocked. Her eyes widened in horror, she covered her mouth with both hands, and she had never seen anything like it.

  Neir'Va's face hardened into a mask of professionalism. She didn't ask, “What happened?” She knew there were no physical weapons in this forest that could cause necrosis like this. These were wounds caused by magic that had exceeded its limits.

  “You can't feel this,” Neir'Va said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

  “Mostly numb,” Kars replied. His voice was flat, as if he were discussing the weather. “But the bones... still feel like they're being stabbed with glass every time I move.”

  Neir'Va nodded. She placed both hands above and below the black arm, without touching it.

  This time, the light emanating from Neir’Va’s hands wasn’t soft green, but a blindingly bright white—high-level purification and regeneration magic.

  “This will be uncomfortable,” Neir’Va warned.

  “Just do it.”

  Neir'Va pressed his energy in. The white light hit the black network. There was a soft hissing sound, like water dripping onto hot iron. The faint smell of ozone and dead flesh filled the air.

  For the first time, Kars reacted.

  His eyes were tightly shut. His right hand gripped the edge of the rock with such force that his knuckles turned white. The veins in his neck bulged. But he made no sound. No groans. He swallowed the pain whole, storing it where he stored all his other burdens.

  Cold sweat began to run down Neir'Va's temples. He summoned all his abilities. Her magic fought against the corruption in his arm, trying to revive the dead cells.

  She succeeded a little. The gray color on the elbow faded slightly, returning to the pale, bruised skin tone. But the lower arm and hand remained pitch black. The damage was too serious. It was no longer a wound; it was a permanent change.

  After ten minutes that felt like an eternity, Neir’Va pulled her hand back, gasping for breath. Her white light faded.

  “I can only stop it from spreading to your shoulder,” said Neir'Va, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. She walked to a small hut not far away, took a new roll of bandages that had been soaked in a healing herbal solution. “And I can relieve the pain in your bones a little. But the tissue that’s already turned black... that’s beyond nature’s ability to repair."

  Kars opened his eyes. He looked at his still-black arm, then at Neir’Va.

  “Enough,” said Kars. “Thank you.”

  He let Neir’Va rebandage the arm with clean, cool, mint-scented bandages. Her movements were efficient, wrapping death in neat white cloth.

  “You two can rest in the hut,” Neir’Va said as she walked away, leaving her two patients still sitting on the edge of the calm lake.