Eira woke just before dawn. Dain was already in the middle of his quiet morning stretches, but Arsha hadn’t returned yet, sending a jolt of concern through Eira.

  “Where’s Master?” she asked, her voice tight.

  “She hasn’t come back yet,” Dain confirmed, noting the worry in her eyes. “Get ready here. I’ll go check the tavern.”

  Before he could leave, a knock came at the door. Dain opened it to reveal Arsha, looking pale and unsteady on her feet.

  “Master! What happened? Are you alright?” Eira rushed over.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, Eira. Sorry,” Arsha mumbled, offering a weak, sheepish smile. “We… lost track of time.”

  “Thank goodness. I was afraid something terrible had happened,” Eira sighed in relief.

  “Well, not terrible,” Arsha said with a wince, rubbing her temple. “I just lost… about half my money.”

  “What?”

  “It’s fine! Don’t worry about it. The reward from this quest will cover it,” Arsha insisted, brushing past them into the room.

  Eira felt a flash of annoyance but bit her tongue. Her relationship with Arsha was built on magic, not money, she reminded herself. Pushing the frustration down, she focused on the task ahead, finishing her preparations with renewed determination.

  Soon after, the trio arrived at the village’s front gate, the designated gathering point. Clay, seeing everyone assembled, gave a sharp nod. “Alright. Mission starts now.”

  The group moved out, with the ranger from Aspis’s party taking point, scouting the forest path for threats and treacherous footing like sudden drops or hidden sinkholes.

  “Relax, Eira. Don’t be so tense,” Arsha whispered beside her.

  Eira could only manage a tight nod. This was her first mission with such a large, organized group of adventurers. The atmosphere was vastly different from her outings with just Dain and Arsha; it was heavy with a serious, professional intensity that made her shoulders ache.

  They trekked northward through the dense woods toward the suspected goblin cave when the ranger’s voice cut through the quiet.

  “Movement! A herd of animals, coming from the northeast!”

  “Did we alert the goblins?” Lapuk growled, hand going to his weapon.

  “Unlikely!” Clay snapped. “Stand down. Do not engage the wildlife.” He barked the order as several adventurers shifted into defensive stances.

  A moment later, a panicked stampede of deer and boar crashed through the underbrush, their eyes wide with terror as they streamed past the startled group. “They’re running from something,” Eira observed, her own pulse quickening.

  “Lyra! Scout ahead, find the source!” Clay commanded.

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  Lyra vanished into the trees, returning moments later, her usual calm replaced by urgency. “It’s the warlock!”

  “What?!” The exclamation rippled through the group. Dain’s body went rigid.

  “Kino! Fall back! Fetch every adventurer and Royal Guard you can find in the village, now!” Clay ordered the group’s youngest, yet fastest hunter. As Kino sprinted away, Clay turned to the rest, his face grim. “Everyone else, weapons ready! Prepare for combat!”

  “Hoo!” Aspis’s seasoned party roared in unison, Arsha’s voice among them.

  Dain’s expression turned to one of deep caution, while Eira felt a cold, sharp focus settle over her. This is it. Our chance to capture it. For Cecilia and for everyone suffering from the same unknown illness.

  “Let’s capture it, Dain,” she whispered, her voice firm.

  Clay, overhearing, nodded grimly. “Our primary objective has changed. Subdue the warlock. Take it alive, at all costs!”

  They pushed northeast, guided by Lyra, until they burst into a small, rocky clearing. There, standing atop a large mossy boulder, the warlock waited.

  It was a monstrous humanoid, taller than a man, with leathery, grayish skin. Two massive, curling horns swept back from its wicked, snarling face. Thick, matted fur covered its shoulders and spine like a crude mantle. Below the waist, it wore tattered tribal garments of hide and bone, marking it as something ancient and utterly alien.

  “Is that… the warlock?” Eira breathed, a primal fear gripping her. Its presence was oppressive, and for a terrifying second, its slit-pupiled eyes seemed to lock directly onto hers, sending a chill down her spine.

  “##### ### #####,” it hissed in a guttural, incomprehensible language—the tongue of monsters, they thought.

  The group tensed. Aspis’s party moved with practiced efficiency, falling into a battle formation: Aspis at the front, his massive shield raised; Lapuk and Darius, weapons ready, flanking him slightly behind. The back line coalesced around their healer and mages, while the hunter and ranger melted into the treeline to find vantage points. The speed and precision of it left Eira feeling lost and panicked.

  “Stay with me, Eira,” Arsha said firmly, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder.

  Dain positioned himself between the established front and back lines, a solid guardian for their sorcerers.

  The warlock raised its staff, carved from dark, knotted wood, topped with a bleached skull. It began another guttural chant.

  “Is it casting?!” Arsha hissed.

  An arrow whistled from the trees, aimed for the creature’s throat. A shimmering barrier of dark energy flared to life before it, deflecting the projectile. Simultaneously, Noren the hunter lunged from behind, his blade meeting the same impassable wall.

  “What? It can really use magic…” Clay said, his voice tight with nervousness and realization.

  In the next heartbeat, the earth in front of the warlock’s boulder erupted. A horde of goblins clawed their way to the surface, screeching as they surged forward.

  Arsha reacted instantly. With a crackling shout, she hurled a sphere of lightning into the advancing mob. It exploded on impact, a web of purple lightning stunning the front ranks.

  Corona, one of Aspis’s mages, followed with a barrage of fireballs that turned the paralyzed goblins into screaming torches.

  Behind them, the cleric Ester chanted, golden light washing over Aspis, Lapuk, and Darius. “Attack Boost!”

  Eira noticed Ester immediately gulp down a small, blue potion afterward. A mana potion.

  “Advance!” Aspis bellowed. The buffed trio charged the remaining, disoriented goblins. Dain held his ground, his eyes fixed not on the fight ahead, but on the space between Eira and any potential new threat.

  The frontline warriors cut through the goblins with brutal efficiency, but in their momentum, they advanced too far, creating a gap.

  “Regroup! Close the distance!” Clay ordered.

  It was too late. From the shadows of the trees, two hulking hobgoblins lumbered into the path of Aspis’s trio, cutting them off. At the same time, another wave of chittering goblins surged up from the ground, directly between the separated front line and the rest of the group, trapping Eira, Dain, Arsha, and the back line in a tightening circle of claws and teeth.