“Over here!” An arrow pierced through the winds and struck directly into a towering behemoth.

  “RAAAAAAGH!” The demonic beast roared as it smmed its cws down to the ground, sending a shockwave that knocked the surrounding party back.

  “Sunfangs are hard to come by— we need to kill no matter what!” Yelled the archer.

  “On it!” A big burly woman charged ahead with a massive shield and knelt down to a defensive stance when the beast sshed towards her.

  “Good job, Lee!” Another hunter, an Elf this time, took this chance to run fast and hop up the rge woman’s shoulders. He skillfully moved through the air and stabbed his sword into the beast's back.

  The Sunfang roared in anger. Its white and bck striped fur glowed bright and temporarily blinded the Elf who attached itself on its back.

  “Argh! Hotaru! Alina! Now!” The Elf yelled as two people from the back of the party started chanting. It was a bear beastwoman and another elf.

  “With the power of fme, I call upon: Thunderburn!” The Elf stomped the bottom of her staff on the snowy ground and a rush of fme accompanied by sparks of lightning crashed directly into the Sunfangs body making it stand upright from the force of the attack.

  “The light of the World Tree will guide me!” The beastwoman raised her hands and her wand upwards. “Grant my blessing to my allies!”

  A waft of white light floated through the air and into the rge woman and the male elf stuck on the beast's back.

  “That's what I'm talking about!” The rge woman grinned and smmed her shield directly into the opening the fire spell gave. The Sunfang fell backwards and struck its head into a tree.

  It tried to stand up again but it was too te as the Elf on its back roared as power flowed through his arms. He swiftly sliced his sword through the beast’s neck, effectively decapitating it.

  The Sunfang Demonic Beast was no more.

  The party took a moment to breathe before the archer slid down the tree and cheered with enough noise to attract another monster. “LET'S GOOO!”

  “Quiet, Bruce!” The male Elf, who seemed to be the leader, scolded. “We don't want another fight this quickly.”

  The rge woman, Lee, stood up and pced her shield behind her back as she helped her leader down from the rge beast's corpse. “You did well, Nabel.”

  “Thanks.” He coughed and held onto her hand as he stuck his feet back onto the dry snow.

  “Did you see what I did?” The female elf, Alina, pced her hands on her hips as she fpped her cape in the wind. “I am so cool!”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” Hotaru, the bear beastwoman, smacked her upside the head and crossed her arms. “Shall we start harvesting the game now?”

  “Yeah.” Nabel, the leader, walked towards the head and examined its mouth. “We could make use of some of the fangs here.”

  “Oooh! Can I tip my arrows with them?” Bruce jogged over.

  “Do what you like.” Nabel stood up and gnced towards Hotaru. “Send a message to the Hielo guild. We need dispatch for the rest of this.”

  “On it.” Hotaru nodded and turned to the side as she started chanting a spell of her own.

  “We still have some meat and hide from the Thornboar we killed earlier.” Lee crossed her arms and shrugged. “We can probably camp her for a night.”

  “We didn't kill that boar.” Nabel said as he began to skin the Sunfang. “It died in the middle of us chasing it. It also had a perfect hole through its head.”

  “Well whoever killed it didn't bother with the body, so I still count it as ours.” Bruce chuckled. “Also, don't worry too much, Nabel. You're plenty strong as is. Even if that Thornboar didn't get sniped by someone, you would've killed it sooner or ter.”

  “Hm.” Nabel pursed his lips. He could tell that there was something brewing in the North, something he was yet to figure out.

  He definitely needed to leave as soon as possible.

  But he couldn't do so until he managed to convince his childhood friend to come along with him back to Areem.

  He sighed out loud as he stripped more of the white fur and julienned them finely enough to fit into the leather bag.

  The female elf, Alina, examined the beast's paws looking for anything to take. She giggled the moment she saw one of the cws more preserved than the others. It likely hasn't been chipped and damaged since the Sunfang barely used it. “Hey Lee!” She called towards the rge human.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you break this off for me?”

  “Wait, I’ll be right there.” Lee pced down her satchel and walked over to whatever Alina was pointing to.

  “So… how's the wish to leave the North coming along?” Bruce sparked up a conversation the moment Lee left. “You don't really strike me as the ‘leave everything behind’ type.”

  “I have to convince Bou to come with me first.” He said as he finished packing his bag. “You know what happened st time, Bruce.”

  “Yeah, you're an asshole, that's what happened.” The little man shook his head. “Why do you even hate dwarves in the first pce? Aren't your races supposed to be on good terms now?”

  “I don't have to tell you anything.” Nabel gred and the little guy raised his hands in surrender.

  “Okay. Cool down, man. Yeesh.” He rolled his eyes and left the elf alone.

  Dwarves and Elves had always had a rocky retionship. For the longest time, Dwarves were sves under the elves. Forced to work underground and to serve under the elven nobility.

  Elves for many centuries were discriminatory and stubborn to their ideals. They believed themselves superior and put down those who they believed to be inferior.

  This included Dwarves…and half elves.

  The word Hobbit was often used to mock the Dwarves and use it against them. They also referred to half blood elves as Impures and took liberty in chastising them no matter the age nor status.

  It only changed after a certain war ages ago when a time of prosperity welcomed change and revolution across the continent. Dwarves with help of good hearted elves and half elves waged their fg of rebellion and won against the Elven nobility.

  This also split the entire south into their own factions united under the fg of the World Tree.

  Still, to this day, even with all the changes that spanned in the world. Svery still existed despite its abolishment.

  Nabel… was one of them.

  He was kidnapped from his small town vilge in Areem, The Southern Coalition, and taken as an elven sve because of his—impure nature.

  He was a half elf. A half blood. Stuffed into a dungeon purely for just that reason.

  He was maltreated and abused by his captors. He hated the feeling of inferiority, he hated it so much that he wanted to crush all those who wronged him underfoot.

  However, It wasn't the elves that relished in his torture. It was the dwarves who were hired by the elves that ughed as they did unimaginable things to Nabel’s body.

  He remembered each of their faces vividly.

  The Dwarves who were nothing but dirt to the elves were relishing in his pain.

  He hated it.

  So when he finally broke free when a human with smooth brown hair picked him up and cleaned the dirt off of his face, he felt free.

  He didn't ever learn of this man’s name or why he saved Nabel but…

  As the young half elf watched the dwarves who loved torturing him getting sughtered right behind his savior. That's when he felt excitement for the first time, a sense of bliss that made his heart race. Dwarves were really nothing but weaklings underneath power.

  So he was going to overpower all of them and remind them of their pce.

  That horrible childhood twisted his head into believing that dwarves were inferior and must be disposed of.

  And as he grew up, he remembered the face of the man that saved him but never his words. Nabel was nothing more than a twisted young man with bitterness and spite fueling his damaged heart.

  He relived all those nightmares in his head constantly but there was a shining light behind those shadows.

  Boudicca… She was the girl who picked him up from the streets after he escaped the dungeon and welcomed the young Nabel into the North.

  He was taken from his home all the way to the other side of the continent.

  “Nabel!” Hotaru called. “The dispatch is on their way. Go to sleep for now, it’ll be a few hours before they arrive.”

  “I’ll stand guard.” Lee volunteered. “You guys can rely on me to wake you up when something’s close.”

  “I'll take you up on that.” Bruce grinned and immediately set up his sleeping bag and tent.

  “Hotaruuu~” Alina wrapped her hands on the bear woman’s arms. “Let's go in one tent together!”

  “Get off of me.” The beastwoman clicked her tongue and snatched her arm away. “I’m sleeping alone.”

  “Hotaruuuu~” The female elf pouted and sat down. “Why are you always so mean!”

  “Cause you're annoying.” Hotaru used magic to set up her tent before going inside and doing the equivalent of smming a door shut.

  Lee chuckled and patted Alina’s head. “You, go to sleep too.”

  “Fine.” Alina took no time to set up her bed as well and snuggle quietly in it, grumbling about how selfish the bear dy was.

  “Always so lively.” Nabel sighed as he began setting up a campfire.

  “You can leave that to me.” Lee took the wood off of his hands. “You can rest too.”

  “But—”

  “It's fine.” Lee pced the lumber down and started a fire with some flint and the sharp edge of her shield. “There.”

  “Hmmm…” Nabel pced his hands near the warm fire and exhaled out.

  “You know, you really need to slow yourself down when handling Dwarves.” Lee stared into the fire, the sparks reflecting on her eyes. “Women don't appreciate foul mouthed men, you know?”

  Nabel remained quiet.

  The rge woman shuffled in her seat and turned her eyes to the elf. “Listen Nabel, I don't know what you're going through and I don't know your history… but maybe telling someone can ease out some of that pain.”

  Nabel continued to stare at the campfire. The crackling of the wood seemingly being the only audible ambience in the forest. “I hate them.”

  “The Dwarves?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But why?”

  Nabel didn't say anything. He couldn't move his mouth even if he wanted to.

  Lee sighed and stood up. “You should go to sleep.” She shrugged and started to head to get some more firewood. “There's a long day tomorrow.”

  “Lee.” Nabel called and made the woman stop in her steps. “I want to go home with Bou back to the Coalition, but I feel like this hate of mine is preventing that.”

  Nabel wasn't sure. He didn't even know if all he stood for was worth it. He hated Dwarves with every bone in his body, but was that hate worth the possibility of breaking Bou’s heart even more.

  He’s walked on this hateful path for so long he wasn't sure if there was a way or even time to turn back and fix the messes he's left in his wake.

  Nabel could never let go of his past and he could never look at Dwarves without seeing monsters behind their faces. Hobbits that existed to only cause him pain.

  That was his long stained belief.

  “Nabel, do you really hate dwarves because they're dwarves or do you hate them because you've been hurt before?” Lee asked.

  Nabel couldn't say anything back.

  “I don't think you're a bad person, Nabel. Just a misguided one.” Lee walked back and sat next to him. “You treat us, your party, with a strict attitude but you make sure to keep us safe and healthy.”

  She reached over to wipe some snow off of his hair. “Give yourself some time. Change won't come in the flip of a page. You hate Dwarves now— but learn to realize that those Dwarves who hurt you aren't here anymore to hurt you again.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Next time, as a start, try not to be mean to the next dwarf you see, even silence goes a long way.”

  “Every time I see one of them… the ones that hurt me… their faces come up and I can't help but—” He stopped talking as Lee pulled his arm up to kiss it.

  “Calm down… I’ll stay with you when the time comes. If their faces appear, turn to me instead. We’ll take it slowly.” Lee’s gray eyes were hauntingly beautiful. Her rge hands fully encapsuted Nabel’s and her voice was tender and gentle. “Trust me.”

  “I-I’ll try.” Nabel winced, unsure of whether he was ready to take the first step.

  “Remember who you're doing this for.”

  “Bou.”

  There was a painful expression on Lee’s face as she nodded. “The one you love right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Lee let go of his hand and stood back up. “Now go to sleep like I said. We still have to go to Nieve tomorrow.”

  “Right.”

  Lee felt her chest squeezing as she turned away from Nabel and headed into the forest.

  “Lee!” Nabel called again.

  She stopped but didn't turn her head back this time, afraid of showing him the expression she wore right now. “Yeah?”

  “Thank you.” His voice was rugged, deep, but lovely. “I mean it.”

  “Anytime.” She waved her hand and headed off to get some more firewood.